Yesterday,
I replaced the tires with a virtually new set of used pirelli p7000's. They were already mounted on miata wheels. It was an excellent deal I found on craigslist. After replacing the tires the first thing I noticed was how much quieter the car was while driving. Wow. They certainly beat the old wore out, bulged, generic tires that were on the car. The next thing I noticed was that the car was much better behaved when cornering.Then for the bad, it didn't seem to fix the pull on deceleration/acceleration. So, today I had an epiphany. I swapped the back to the front and the front to the back on the passenger side. Double checked and corrected air pressures, and voila. The pull appears to be gone, or minimized to the point of not being noticeable. After I install the spec miata suspension I will take it to the performance alignment shop for a full alignment.
I took some time to replace the old air filter, or should I say air blocker, and the PCV valve.
On top of all that, I was greeted with a package on the doorstep. It was the factory service manual. Despite getting a looseleaf version when I ordered a bound version, I am happy with the purchase. When compared to some of the other brands of service manuals, its almost always pays to purchase a factory service manual.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
First day digging in
Today, I spent sometime digging around the car. Overall it appears solid. I found a few things that I expected but it was nice to see some of the symptoms explained.
The car tended to pull to the left when accelerating and then back to the right when letting off the gas. It felt very similar to when one has a donut spare tire on their car, but not as exaggerated. So I did a little tire inspection and realized that one of the fronts is virtually new while the other three on the car are quite worn and ready to be replaced.
Actually they are all ready to be replaced because the odd tire has a giant goose egg on it. As illustrated by the following photo.
I found a few other things while digging around. Like a plug wire that seems to have been repaired with electrical tape.
It needs some fluids changed. I opened the clutch master cylinder and its virtually opaque and certainly not the right color. In the image below, it looks like you can see the bottom of the reservoir however, that's actually the reflection of the top of the reservoir. The brake fluid did not look much better.
Also, I found quite possibly the dirtiest air filter I have ever seen. It was impressively dirty, which could explain why the car seems to run just a little rich. It could also be the fact that the injectors are probably due to be serviced. Regardless, its a simple variable to eliminate.
So in the near future, I have several things to get squared away. Fluid changes, valve cover gasket, tires, plug wires, plugs, inspect wheel bearings, and slave cylinder.
The car tended to pull to the left when accelerating and then back to the right when letting off the gas. It felt very similar to when one has a donut spare tire on their car, but not as exaggerated. So I did a little tire inspection and realized that one of the fronts is virtually new while the other three on the car are quite worn and ready to be replaced.
Actually they are all ready to be replaced because the odd tire has a giant goose egg on it. As illustrated by the following photo.
I found a few other things while digging around. Like a plug wire that seems to have been repaired with electrical tape.
It needs some fluids changed. I opened the clutch master cylinder and its virtually opaque and certainly not the right color. In the image below, it looks like you can see the bottom of the reservoir however, that's actually the reflection of the top of the reservoir. The brake fluid did not look much better.
Also, I found quite possibly the dirtiest air filter I have ever seen. It was impressively dirty, which could explain why the car seems to run just a little rich. It could also be the fact that the injectors are probably due to be serviced. Regardless, its a simple variable to eliminate.So in the near future, I have several things to get squared away. Fluid changes, valve cover gasket, tires, plug wires, plugs, inspect wheel bearings, and slave cylinder.
New Contacts
In a chance encounter at a local store yesterday. I happened to meet a member of the Indy Miata Club. We ended up talking about the cars and what various people do with them. I also got the name of a local person and shop who has experience with spec miatas and the build process. I will be getting in contact with this person or his shop after I get through some of my inspection and maintenance.
Introduction
This blog will be devoted to my experience of building a spec miata from a 1990 red mazda miata.l I have worked on cars for the majority of my life. It started as a matter of necessity and then became a hobby. I have tackled a wide variety of repairs at various time, sometimes as a helper sometimes doing it all by myself. Sometimes I had the tools necessary sometimes I did not. I suspect this project will really be no different than many of my previous projects. There will be times where I will be flush with help. There will be times when I do not know what I am doing and there will likely be times where I do not have the right tools. Honestly, these are all reasons why to take a on a project like this. Time spent with friends, time spent alone, opportunities to learn new things, and excuses to buy new tools.
Who knows if it will ever be complete. If I do not make it through the build process I will at least have a fun, safe and reliable car in which to autocross.
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