/mg/ Miata General - Where the fuck is all my coolant going Edition

I'm going to be trying to determine the source of an oil leak that's dripping shit all over my garage floor.

The oil appears to be dripping from somewhere near the front of the engine, any ideas?

Bump

Check the heater core

>dripping from somewhere near the front of the engine
Front main seal, oil pump gasket, cracked block

Found a miat with upgraded bushings at the local upup, woth $150 for upgrated bushings and stock upper and lower control arms?
Already took the rear spindle knuckles to easily replace my wrekd wheel stud.
Also, 91 open diff, how easy to weld for a weekend of skids while saving for a real LSD? Or should i pay 450 for a full 1.8 lsd w/ drive and halfshafts?

Well it's not a cracked block the car runs perfectly. I'll look into the other two, the car will be down for a clutch job in the near future so I may not those two things at the same time

Pay for the lsd those viscious lsd 's are very weak. The 1.8 will hold any power you want to throw at it as well so just spend the extra cash

is it worth getting a half decent head unit (kenwood kdc-x501) for my na or will it just get swiped? all the connectivity options on that one do it for me.

Nobody steals radios unless you live in like south Africa or something. But I Personally wouldnt Recommend Getting A Super Nice Stereo Since Youll never Hear it on The Highway Anyway

it's a $130 unit, so not super fancy. i like it for every reason except potential sound. thanks.

>Nobody steals radios unless you live in like south Africa or something
>something

bump

Is it supposed to look like it's been abandoned for years?

S-someone with the same bumper cut as me?? And a subframe brace?

>Saskatchewan plate.
Where's your truck farmboi?

aggressive drift car

neat

thats not my car. Its from a drift even called Final Bout

Looks good except that droopy ebay hardtop spoiler. You can always tell when they cheap out on those cause they sag in the middle. Would look better without it imo.

Your cut is cleaner

Out of curiosity, can a fat guy fit in the passenger seat of a miata? I've been thinking of getting one for a while now, but I spend a lot of time with a friend that's 300lbs+ so it's probably a bad idea.

>What are you doing to your Miatas this weekend, /mg/?

1.8 brake caliper swap + pads, rotors, SS lines and master cylinder brace along with flushing the dark fluid out.
The brakes are horrible as it is, the harder I push the pedal the less it stops, impossible to lock them up.
Also wondering where the fuck my coolant is going, just realized my expansion tank is suddenly empty but rad is full. I refilled it just a month or so ago when I was doing the thermostat and fan switch.

Thanks bud! I even went through the trouble of cutting the tiedown hook icicles, takes a long time.

Rebuilding my engine

I picked up a 96, pretty much stock, gonna register it today. I'm a big fan of the Cobalt dual beam headlights but I don't wanna spend $600 to get them... was thinking about fabrication myself. Questions are, 1.) Has anybody here done any headlight fab work, and 2.) If yes, can you still flip the headlight housing up and down, despite a lower profile?

I'm about to buy a ND and it will be my only car, so i will drive it in the winter. they salt the roads here rather often, do you guys know what can i do to prevent rust?

Making sure the lube is full. Riding the shifter raw hurts

Pop ups died for a reason. They're shit.

>2015 MX-5 2.0 158hp

>1991 Corolla 1.6 158hp

Explain this Miatfags!

A miata is a bit like sex,
Sure it's great to cum in 2 minutes but what you really want to do is take you time and make sure you get good at it

a miata may take 9 seconds to get to 60 but you'll smile the whole time anyway

You could fit him in but you're suspension will take a beating.

My bud is 6'4"/340lbs and has never had a problem in my slammed miata when the tops down.

To anyone with a cut bumper, what tool did you use to get a nice clean cut? Might be picking up a second bumper to cut like pic related, but I just want to be sure it doesn't come out all jagged and uneven.

Use a really soft sanding block to get a smooth finish on it.

Yeah it'll keep it clean but if your intake manifold is caked on the inside, it's not going to magically clean it.

Doing any upgrades while you're in there?

take it to one of those diy car wash places and spray off the undersides of the car bi-weekly.
I have also heard of underbody coatings but i don't know if they're worth it, that's something you could look into.

>torque
>mpg
>emissions

also the 2.0 skyactiv can be made to make 200 whp for about 3k. Look up the super 200 bbr kit

>torque
4U-GSE makes more torque and actually has decent power.
>mpg
A modern engine should have power on demand and fuel economy otherwise.
>emissions
4U-GSE

super 200 is 200 (roughly) at the crank

So 100hp/liter after $3k+ in mods. Gay.

that didn't stop me (i got it on my NC though)

hp/l is irrelevant

>mfw the ND is still faster than the 86

R8 my collection

>Brakes sticking when warm.
>Lubed the caliper sliding pins, replaced pads and replaced brake fluid on all 4 corners. Problem persists. Uneven wear on old front pads.
>Blew the brake booster hose both ways and it works. Problem persists.
>No brake fluid loss, stays on the max line then and now.
>Brake hose looks fine.
Brakes only start to stick after about 10 minutes of driving, and the problem seem to go away after pumping the brakes a few times at stop lights. All happens randomly and I really can't diagnose the problem. What else is going wrong, how to fix this?

I'm seriously considering buying this car, I'm going to look at it tomorrow. What do you guys think?
>73k miles
>really clean
>supercharged
>hardtop
>lots of high quality mods
>not beaten or owned by a jackass kid
It's pricey, but if I can talk the guy down to $7500 I think it will be worth it.

sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/cto/d/1995-mazda-miata-blk/6257558337.html

What do you think?

I might buy a NC miata sometime in the short future. What should I know, give me the rundown on what to look for

Hoses or caliper really.

I thought my heater core might have been leaking too, but it was somehow draining out without shitting up my floor.
Wasn't until the crank nose bent until we got the block out and found the leak(s). One of them I washed up and it was about 90% sealed by metal and 10% by dried/crust coolant and rust. I was probably one good spirited drive away from blowing its tits off.

2001 with 130k miles for $3500

Should I do it anons? It has a massive dent on the door tho. And seats ripped...

just bought a miata..i like it alot. but when it rained recently i couldnt grip for shit. turns out the tires are from 2002. i bought some continental extremecontact sports but i want to know is there anything else i can do to keep from losing control and maybe even have a little fun

0/10 for shitty resolution

An alignment will do you wonders. A stiffer front sway bar is another good upgrade

949racing.com/miata-race-alignment-info.aspx

anything as far as technique?my first manual rwd.im coming from auto fwd cuckbox

I have to bypass the heater core tomorrow so its a trip to the pvc aisle of home depot for me

>mfw go to heel-toe
>hot coolant shoots out, burning me through my socks
That was so fun. Can I just stick a plastic pipe in between the two hoses and call it a day?

Many people say no, depending on 1.6 or 1.8 as the 1.6 coolant route is shit and kinda needs the heater core mixing.

I have the 1.8. I've already done a bodge job connecting the two hoses, going to do it better tomorrow. I did hear my coolant bubbling in the container today though.

Revmatch downshift into a lower gear before cornering, especially in the rain. It's very important to control the torque of the drive wheels while cornering with limited grip, and the engine braking that occurs before you step on the gas again stabilizes the car in corner entry. This creates a bit of understeer that can be mitigated with a very light throttle application and the car will turn perfectly without sliding.

When you step on the gas again, gradually roll it on if it's raining, as the short wheelbase of a Miata means it can get sideways very quickly.
In the dry, you can pretty much just give it a bootful and it will stick.
Find a wet parking lot and try driving in figure-8s to see where it breaks loose so you know what to expect when it does slide, and try in different gears to see how that affects the handling.

Just stripped down and removed my rear subframe, coated everything with POR15

I need to remove a lot of oxidation and swirls from my NA. Does this kit seem worth it?

amazon.com/Chemical-Guys-BUF-209-Detailing-Accessories/dp/B003UW1IQU/

I'd say practice rev match downshifts in general/in a straight line before you do them entering corners. If a noob fucks up a revmatch it can easily spin the car. Just my two cents.

I personally bought a DA polisher at a boat store for $50, then bought some mothers polish and wax for super cheap. But for all the shit this comes with might be worth it, idk.

Good advice with the parking lot practice. That's definitely the best way to learn how to predict the car on the limit. Way way safer than trying to learn how to drift on a touge or something

Got it in feb for a joke, its grown on me.

>a miata may take 9 seconds to get to 60 but you'll smile the whole time anyway
What...
Do na fags actually believe this?
You need a turbo, then see how much you're smiling going 0-60.

Caliper piston is probably rusted or pitted and picks up in the caliper piston when hot (expanded).
Strip the caliper and see if you can get away with a rebuild.
I had one sieze up and I had to get a new caliper as the piston was totally stuck in the body.
I was able to rebuild the others though.

I would fug a Miata driver

Look out for Veeky Forums parroting that it's shit and not a real miata even though it's better than the NA and NB

Would you rather have an ND club or a 135i?

It's better once the suspension is sorted out. It needs stiffer springs and better dampers and the roll bars are also weak. The oem tires are also bad.
But after those basic mods the car is really really quick.

I think you are thinking of the Z4. But between those two in your question i would go ND for the jdm simplicity

Thank you folks. Im gonna make myself a big breakfast first thing in the morning and check them pistons. I should have some left over brake cleaner laying around and paper towels. Sticky brakes can fuck right off!

came here since someone will probably have the experience
is it bad idea to get NB as a first car?
my main concern is how well they would hold up against rust in slav shithole where they salt roads every winter

Question for you guys, I changed my oil last night and poured in 5 quarts. I've never had a car that used less than 6, but I just read I should have used 4 (3.6 to be exact)
Will this hurt anything?

Miatas aren't good for rust. That being said my car is 28 yrs old and has no rust because it was undercoated with truck bedliner. If you find a miata that's been underscored you should be fine. make sure you do the screwdriver test where you go under the car and poke the floorboards and frame rails with a screwdriver, people use undercoating to hide holes a lot

Yeah it can cause your motor oil to foam up inside your engine

I wouldn't think just an extra quart would cause that desu. I'd siphon it out but you should be fine

I'm gonna do brakes too. Anywhere from dropping in new pads on the front (wilwood brake kit) to doing all the pads and lubricating everything and using squeak stop stuff, also maybe change the brake fluid. See how motivated I am.

>Also wondering where the fuck my coolant is going
Not leaking? Not in the oil? Maybe you just need to top it off. Could have had some big air bubbles in the system that burped out.

Looks bad ass! Nice paint.
But.... no mention of mods to make the blower work and not destroy the motor. Does it have fuel/ engine management? Bigger injectors? Anything? Or did they just slap a SC on and call it good? At the minimum you need an ecu piggyback to squirt more fuel under boost. If that's all it has it should have an air/ fuel gauge too.

I know the general course of action is DUDE LS1 LMAO, but would the 3.0L V6 from the Mazda 6 fit well in the NA Miata?

a quick google search wouldve gotten you your answer god damn

youtube.com/watch?v=1RM7qfje__U

...

Bump. How did this get to page 10 so fast?

denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/1992-mazda-miata/6224701574.html

Whaddaya think of this Veeky Forums? I want it! Good price though? Ads been up a while.

is the FM turbo kit a ripoff?

My furnace as of this afternoon.

>Flying Miata
>Rip Off

I can't afford it nor can most Miata owners on here so please don't think I'm shilling for them but its got all the R&D into it hence the price.

you can piece a turbo kit yourself that'll be cheaper and probably just as reliable but it won't make the same amount as the Flying Miata turbo kit.

They have been making turbos for Miatas since the '90s so they know what they are doing.

If anything you would be ripping yourself off by buying an eBay turbo kit because your car wouldn't last long

I'd say slightly overpriced but it does work well; they have all the kinks and problems comoletely worked out, so it's a great system. They're kind of arrogant too though.
I have a pristine MSM with tons of FM upgrades on it. Only 45k miles. Two years ago I brought it to FM's shop for some computer tuning and they kept giving me a hard time for having an MSM, which I really didn't understand. They also had no respect for my car and left several permanent scratches in an otherwise 10/10 car. Keith threw my glovebox door on the ground which left a bunch of ugly scratches on it- he didn't even say anything just put it back on like nothing.
So, that whole experience soured my relationship with FM, but, they do make quality products and know what they're doing. Just arrogant assholes.

NB in particular suffers in salted areas, as the dual-layer body construction retains water and rusts from the inside. The front frame legs are just kind of pinched shut and can easily pick up moisture especially if damaged. It is however, a very good first car.

man, that makes me never want to buy anything from them, they seem like Hennessey kind of people.
then again, I bet most of their contact is with stance idiots and ricers with no money.

>then again, I bet most of their contact is with stance idiots and ricers with no money.
Yeah that's what bugged me, I'm not one of them. I'm like their perfect customer.

Yeah, I dunno, working in a shop is occasionally stressful and maybe the dude was just in "strip everything because racecar" mode. Mechanics are strange creatures. When my car got rained in and I had to take out the center console to remove the carpet and dry the metal, I chucked my ashtray onto the ground without even thinking about it and chipped up the lid.

He should have apologized and offered you a replacement, I sure as fuck would have.

FM kit owner here.

Can attests. 0 problems out of it aside from the turbo coolant lines blowing up on me after a few years. Installed hard lines no issues since.

NJ MIATAS :D

3 of the studs for my rain rail broke off and it's leaking. Really don't feel like taking the top apart :(