Megan the Merlot M edition

[Senor_Taylor]

So the "problem" is that it sounds cool at idle and runs great? Just wanted to make sure I got that right. :dunno:

[ViPER1313]

Stupid question, but could it have cams in it?

[Senor_Taylor]

It's not stupid. I asked the same thing. Jake drove it and says it's just a really healthy motor, but if you told me it had a pretty mild cam in it I would believe you 100%. It feels really good at the high end.

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[Jake]

It's not stupid. I asked the same thing. Jake drove it and says it's just a really healthy motor, but if you told me it had a pretty mild cam in it I would believe you 100%. It feels really good at the high end.

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I thought it felt just as slow as every other Miata. Healthy, but slow.

But I have no idea how a cammed 1.8 would feel. More noisy?

[Senor_Taylor]

Okay, definitely not cammed. When the AC is on it idles at 800 RPM much better, so I'll clean the ISCV really well once I get back from Danville tomorrow or whenever I get time.

I had some pads and rotors for my car from when I mistakenly ordered them for my first Miata so I threw the fronts on. Yay new brakes. I bled them in a hurry because the only person I had to help me was a guy that works for my dad and I didn't want to take up his time. I got a few air bubbles out but they definitely don't feel much better. When I put the driver side caliper back on, it was a tight fit, but it went back on. The caliper stopped retracting and looked all the way in, but it must not have been, so the pads were sitting on the rotor and I couldn't turn it by hand. I figured it would back itself off or the pads material would wear away enough to not drag anymore. I bedded them and only drove a total of maybe 10-15 miles today, but the rotor on that side has some blue on it from the heat.



I also took out the radiator grill guard thing and mounted my license plate. I need to add a piece of metal that cover the entire license plate so it won't bend. It'll be okay for now.





Edit: Went back outside and checked out the brakes. Added even more lube to the slide pins and it seems that the caliper backed off a little. I think it'll be okay.

BUT

I found this. Only rust on the car except a little on the battery tie down, sway bars, and brake booster. Just this one spot, and it's pretty bad. I also found a metric shit load of oil on the bottom of the engine when I pulled the splash guard. I guess that explains why they replaced the valve cover gasket, cam seals, crank seals and everything else on it a few thousand miles ago.

[Senor_Taylor]

The brakes did okay on the ride down. Definitely a little hotter on that wheel, but I'm sure it'll all even out.

I ran it at Danville airport today with BRR-SCCA and it was such a blast. I've never done an autocross that wasn't a special one like the College Solo or the one after the show, so hearing that we would have 8 runs today was such a surprise. Going that many times really lets you get a feel for things and it was nice to have that much seat time. The one thing that become very apparent today is the need for new tires and nice brakes. They definitely need to be bled WAY better than they were and I'd like to rebuild the calipers/get rebuilt calipers, but they did the job today. I even felt the ABS kick in once or twice, which was pretty cool in an NA Miata. The car ran great and it was nice to have more torque and a little more power than my NA6 did.

The track was insanely fast. I found myself almost hitting the rev limiter in second gear a few times on good laps and it definitely put a strain on my tires considering I beat this car like it owed me money. Sitting in the car this much also helped me get comfortable and get a feel for the car's quirks, like I figured out that it only hunts for idle when the brake is pushed in. That narrows down the vacuum leak hopefully to one of the lines running to the brake booster. Not sure if those can be replaced like regular vacuum hoses, though.

My times got better and better as the day went on. We did 2 sessions of 4 runs each, one in the morning, and one later in the afternoon. The track heating up really affected things and I could turn much better laps later on. I was VERY consistent which made me happy. Every time I turned today was 71 seconds except for one or two in the morning and I improved basically every time. I ended up placing 3rd in the Novice class so I finally got a trophy. I feel very confident I can place higher if I had better tires. I kicked the rear out way too easily considering the lack of power this thing has, and the front pushed REALLY hard in every turn. Check out the shoulder on the front left tire in the picture below. Overall, I'm super happy about this car and with just a few improvements, it can be a really competitive car in E Street. I can't wait to see what I can do with tires made this decade. Seriously, these tires were made in 2007.



Warming up food on my engine is a tradition.



R.I.P. Mirada whatever-whatevers





Video coming soon.

[JPolen01]

Left over Dominos pizza?

[Senor_Taylor]

Double cheese and bacon.

Here is my fastest lap of the day. 70.825

[youtube]zU3ZFAPHAA4[/youtube]

Here are all of my laps. The video is still uploading but it'll be up soon.

[youtube]sMydr2zPfr8[/youtube]

[Jake]

Nice writeup and that course looks really fun! From my not-enough-coffee-yet hazy perspective, I'd think that smoothing out your inputs would help in pulling some more time off of your runs. It'll keep the car more settled. Also, it seemed a bit like you were driving point-to-point - which may be the cause of the jerkiness. Keep your eyes up higher and it'll be an immediate improvement (this is way harder to do in practice than in concept and I struggle with it to this day).

New tires will also help, the ones you have were junk 9 years ago and age hasn't been kind to 'em.

Congrats on the podium! :thumbup:

[Senor_Taylor]

I agree, Jake. I tried my best to keep my eyes at least one gate ahead, but it's tough when this is only my 3rd time doing anything competitive. You can see in the video I do it more and more towards the end of the day. I'm confident it will come more naturally.

It was fun meeting a new group of people that only go to Danville and not Verona as they were from North Carolina. I made sure to tell a lot of them about trying a hyperdrive at VIR soon.

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[JustinG]

Throttlllleeeee!

Seemed like you were coasting in sections, Brake or Throttle, there is no in-between

Also get a lower angle for the camera, that way you can see how close you are getting to the cones, will help you realize how small the car is and can help you adjust your turn in.

Looked good though, +1 to Jake too, takes seat time but eyes up and get used to looking at the cone you have to drive to. I hate it when they set a course up with a wall of cones like the slalom, that could have been done with an upright and a pointer.

Good work! And get some tires/springs/struts asap

[Senor_Taylor]

Thanks for the tips!

This idle issue has me confused. I pulled the throttle body and cleaned it some more. Intake was pretty full of stuff, but there's not much about that I can do until I get gaskets for it and a day or two to mess around with it, also need the balls to dive into removing all of that stuff. I couldn't get the ISCV off of the throttle body since it is held in with round head bolts so you need a screwdriver. No matter what I did, it started to strip the head, so I gave up. I sprayed some carb cleaner (wrong stuff, I know) down into the ICSV, careful not to get it in the TB and swished it around a little and poured it out. I let it dry for a minute and threw it back on. Car didn't hold an idle AT ALL at first, then started to gain it back. Now it holds an idle at 800 just fine, but still has a miss. Here is the breakdown.


TEN-GND jumped:
AC OFF - Idles at 800
AC- ON - tries to stall out but idles rough at 800

TEN-GND NOT jumped:
AC OFF - Idles at 800 rough with a miss, but steady idle at 800
AC ON - When compressor is engaged, it idles at 800 smooth with NO MISS. Perfect idle. When Compressor clicks off, idles resumes having a miss.

I AM NOT having an issue with idle dip, but instead the engine develops a miss with the AC not on. Electrical? I guess I should be safe and replace the plug wires since the plugs look great? Maybe both? Check for dead cells in the battery? Alternator? ICSV doesn't seem to be the culprit and I can NOT find a vacuum leak anywhere.

[ViPER1313]

Go buy or borrow a mechanics stethoscope and listen to see if the misfire is on a single cylinder or all cylinders.

Before replacing the wires, check the firing order. I know it sounds stupid, but a car can run pretty well with 2 leads reversed - ask me how I know.

Edit: Or just throw parts at it, do any and all jobs with a "I think I did that wrong but lol f-it" attitude, get frustrated and give up, then sell the car to me 8)

[Senor_Taylor]

WHAT IF THERE IS A VACCUUM ISSUE WITH THE AC DRYER CANISTER?!?! That makes a lot of sense. I'll check it tomorrow morning.

[Kaan]

sort out idle issue and put a for sale sign in it. you dont have the space/time/skills to deal with a car that has rust at the jack point.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Looking at your best run I think you did great. Focus on just getting out there, don't read into things too much. If this was your 15th autox, I would have some advice but your aggression level looks good and working on technique only works when you get comfortable. Go ahead and just toss it in and see what works

[Senor_Taylor]

sort out idle issue and put a for sale sign in it. you dont have the space/time/skills to deal with a car that has rust at the jack point.

You're not serious right? I figured I'll just scrape out as much as possible and put some por15 stuff in there or something. All of the other rockers are perfect. It just needs to last one year until i can pay to get it all cut out and replaced professionally.


Thanks DJ! Definitely seat time over anything. I'm not going to buy anything except to fix broken stuff so I can do more autocrosses.

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[Kaan]

You're not serious right? I figured I'll just scrape out as much as possible and put some por15 stuff in there or something. All of the other rockers are perfect. It just needs to last one year until i can pay to get it all cut out and replaced professionally.

you could end up with a hole depending on how bad it is. its an option to scrape and seal... but if it becomes a hole, it will be tough to work on the car. you are supposed to look for stuff like this before you buy!

[BLINGMW]

Yeah it's trash. I have a nice white NA miata I'll trade you for it.

[Senor_Taylor]

You're not serious right? I figured I'll just scrape out as much as possible and put some por15 stuff in there or something. All of the other rockers are perfect. It just needs to last one year until i can pay to get it all cut out and replaced professionally.

you could end up with a hole depending on how bad it is. its an option to scrape and seal... but if it becomes a hole, it will be tough to work on the car. you are supposed to look for stuff like this before you buy!

I'm at a loss as to how I missed this spot. I checked everything and got under the car the best I could while the sales guy watched. It's not the most common place for a Miata to rust at. Usually it's the rear rocker. The other sides are clean.


I reset the ECU and checked the date on the battery. It's from 2009, so it may have a bad cell. I'm going to see if my uncle has a stethoscope I can borrow and maybe he can look at it with me. Spark plugs are wired in correctly and the evap canister has no leaks.


Chan, you've got a deal as long as I can throw in some money on top.