James's 99 Miata

[D_Eclipse9916]

Oh my god change your water pump like now. I don't like reading that your overflow tank was bubbling. *cringe*

Water pump probably isn't at fault here. Bubbling is caused by overly high temperatures (which are already indicated) or a problem with the system that allows the pressure to drop when the car is cut off (normally a bad radiator cap or a leak in the system, maybe in the overflow tank itself) When the car is shut off, coolant that was moving around sits in one spot and begins to boil if the pressure is too low - this will not occur so long as the coolant system pressure is sufficiently high to raise the boiling point of the coolant. Water pumps are usually an all or nothing thing, they work until they leak or explode into small plastic fragments because they were manufactured by BMW :thumbup:

I approve of all things said here :lol:

[BLINGMW]

Problem found Remove that ish! By the looks of it that is probably blocking over 50% of your airflow to the radiator!

2nd that. Mine was doing almost the same thing, though I managed to keep it from boiling. Combo of that and license plate was too much, and it was only like over 60, something about the airflow must change then. And the fan shouldn't have to run on highway. If I take off the plate or the mesh (and mine was less obtrusive than yours appears to be), it's fine.
For what it's worth, I found turning the AC on in mine, which kicked on the 2nd fan, would also solve the issue, but screw that.

[Jake]

If you're going to do the radiator, do it right and get an aluminum one. I was able to find one on Miata.net that was a no-name aluminum (which is fine) for like $100 when I had my car. Worth it for peace of mind.

[EclipseTurbno93]

For what it's worth, I found turning the AC on in mine, which kicked on the 2nd fan, would also solve the issue, but screw that.

See that's the thing though, the problem doesn't come up unless I have the AC on in the first place. With it off the car never goes over halfway up the gauge no matter how fast I'm going

[BLINGMW]

Well I didn't see your response to Taylor, a 2nd fan should come on regardless of temp, when you turn on AC.
However I would also propose that the car should not have AC. :dunno:

[EclipseTurbno93]

Lol not a track car, definitely want AC. It's been cooler the last few days and it hasn't acted up at all, I'll wait for a hotter day and take out the mesh and see what happens

[EclipseTurbno93]

So yep, problem solved. Took out the mesh grill and no problem. Thanks for the help!

[ViPER1313]

For what it's worth, I found turning the AC on in mine, which kicked on the 2nd fan, would also solve the issue, but screw that.

See that's the thing though, the problem doesn't come up unless I have the AC on in the first place. With it off the car never goes over halfway up the gauge no matter how fast I'm going

The ac system adds a huge thermal load to the engine. The AC coil in front of the radiator is a radiator itself when the AC is on, pre-heating all air moving through the radiator.

So yep, problem solved. Took out the mesh grill and no problem. Thanks for the help!

Glad it worked

[EclipseTurbno93]

So turns out the problems not solved unfortunately, but I'm doing timing belt / water pump today, so hopefully that will help.

Wood trim is removed! Looks much better. I decided to leave the wood around the vents and emergency lights button because I think they look good and tie into the wood shift knob and e-brake handle.

[EclipseTurbno93]

Timing belt and water pump are done, turns out my water pump was leaking, so new pump put in and now no more overheating! All is well

[EclipseTurbno93]

So, since the overheating problem is fixed and the car has passed inspection and is no longer throwing a catalytic code because I spent forever trying to start the car with a loose spark plug wire, I can worry about trivial things like looks! :mrgreen:

I am planning on picking up a set of 14" steel wheels from a 2000 civic off a guy in Richmond on my way back up to school ($60 bucks for the set w/ "okay" tires) and am planning on using plastidip for a winter set up that will make the car look a bit silly, but I think I can get away with it because its a happy looking little car The only question is color. I put together all of the cheap plastidip colors on a beautiful Microsoft paint photoshop job on a similar car, albeit lower and with the appearance package. I'm not really partial to any of them at this point, so let me know you think! :thumbup:

[Senor_Taylor]

You make me feel pretty incompetent.

[EclipseTurbno93]

But you do have flip up headlights

[SlimKlim]

I vote for gunmetal wheels & top.

You make me feel pretty incompetent.

Well...

[Jake]

+1 to gunmetal gray.

If not that, something obnoxiously bright and neon-y.

[JustinG]

I think the choice is obvious....


[youtube]VhCpcdb_kig[/youtube]

[*insertusernamehere*]

What Justin said..you ARE in MM and yellow IS kind of our color I like all of them except white actually.

[EclipseTurbno93]

I'm kind of leaning away from the dark colors just because it would be too much like my last car.. Yellow might look cool, and as stated, MM colors haha. Here's an S2K with a similar set up


Looks pretty decent on that

[rherold9]

Please no. Not that bright. Orange or white if you don't do gunmetal. But if you like it you do you.

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[Sully]

Safety cone orange maybe? Idk. I don't think i'm a fan of the look of the roof and wheels a different color.

Know I'm super late but mesh like that blocks a ton of air flow. When I was building a fan enclosure for my amps, I looked at different mesh designs and one similar to that is like 50% just like adam said.

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