Really? Another Miata thread....

[V1GiLaNtE]

Jeez, looking at the OEM shot that's a massive improvement in cooling. I didn't know the OEM air box was that damn big.

[ScottyB]

my OCD organization feels are much more calm with the new setup. looks like it'll get a good cold air charge from the front end.

[rherold9]

The stock airbox is hilariously huge. I'm hoping to see a decent drop in temps. Especially once the hood vents are in I'm hoping for under 200 coolant temp wise when on track. Most 80 degree days with the upgraded radiator I'd still hit 218 which is when the fan would kick in. Never rose above 218 though as temps dropped to 212 or so with the fan on. Stock cooling I was hitting 228-ish in HPDE3 on hotter days. A little near the danger zone.

Just reminded myself to purchase Element Fire Extinguisher with roll bar mount. That's on its way now. Taking a precaution due to having the Li-Ion battery

I've had several people comment on the coolant res and how yellow it is. It's only a 2012 car, but has close to 108k miles. Not sure if it's worth replacing or not? It's not leaking or anything. Hmm...

Another thing I thought of that hasn't been done is the belt. I don't see any signs of streaks/tearing or anything on the belt. Are there any other signs to check on the belt to know it needs to be replaced?

[.RJ]

I'm hoping for under 200 coolant temp wise when on track. 

Why?

What is your oil temp?

[rherold9]

I'm hoping for under 200 coolant temp wise when on track. 

Why?

What is your oil temp?

Not sure on mine, but similar people's cars oil temp with a proper gauge were 40-50 on top of coolant temp

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[.RJ]

Get a gauge on it.

[rherold9]

Eventually, just not going to happen right now. 

Here's one example I commented on awhile back in someone else's build thread on the Miata forums. They hit around 203f on coolant and saw 257 oil temp on a 90 degree day with the super cool kit and oem rad. Huge difference from stock. Their oil temp sensor is in the oil filter housing relocation adapter

[.RJ]

worry about your oil temp not your water temp, and if oil temp is good so will water.

[D_Eclipse9916]

worry about your oil temp not your water temp, and if oil temp is good so will water.

Opposite of what I have always learned.  Is that a saturn thing? 

Oil can hit 300 as far as I am concerned, since that's what modern oil can do.  Water gets over 205 and that freaks me the fuck out.

[rherold9]

I'd like to keep oil temps 240ish range if possible which means coolant temps should be 190ish range. So far nothing has exceeded anything danger zone, but everything will be less stressed when it's on the cooler end of the spectrum. Obviously not getting oil or water hot enough is bad, but I won't be in the too cold zone

I was on old factory coolant when it hit over 220 so no worries there. Now that I'm only water + wetter + like 15% coolant I'd like to stay closer or under 200.

The sayings can vary by car. Since my car has a factory "cooler" aka heat exchanger. Coolant lines go to the oil filter housing and exchange heat to warm up faster as well as help keep oil temps cooler a little. So, there will be a direct correlation for water->oil temp as well oil->water temp. Downfall is water temps will be higher

[ScottyB]

It's not leaking or anything. Hmm...

Another thing I thought of that hasn't been done is the belt.

if my mechanical misadventures have taught me anything, unless its a service interval or obviously about to fail, leave it alone.

belt though? probably worth replacing for cheap insurance since its easy to access.

[rherold9]

Both of them don't have service intervals, but both can also fail. Thankfully after the supercool kit there is nothing in the way for the belt. Coolant tank is just 3 clamps and then have to probably burp the system again... I'd have to guess how much coolant to water to wetter ratio I'd need. Or I hope no air gets in the system when replacing the tank

[Jake]

You'll need to move that kill switch to the dash to pass tech when you go W2W with this thing And why do you still have AC in it? Get that weight off the nose!

[rherold9]

You'll need to move that kill switch to the dash to pass tech when you go W2W with this thing And why do you still have AC in it? Get that weight off the nose!

Of course, glad they made it easy though by providing one with the kit. Just a simple ground switch it seems

Because A/C is glorious when you are sitting on grid for 30+ minutes because a car decides to drop oil for half the track

Seems like after reading online. No interval on either item. Just a peace of mind thing. Idk. Probably won't touch either. Belt isn't slipping, belt isn't torn, belt isn't missing any teeth. Belts usually slip before breaking. Coolant tank isn't cracked just yellow. But people with other NC Miata's have tanks that have cracked on the cap neck at like 12k miles on the reservoir

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[Kaan]

OMG... AC? I wish

lol I had to upgrade the radiator/fan setup on the civic because we sat on grid for 50 minutes and the car just kept creeping up.... and with the micro battery I could hear the cranks getting harder and harder.

[JPolen01]

n00b question directly mostly at Kaan - if you are sitting on grid for an hour why don't you just turn off the car? Most NASA cars I've seen don't need to be push started...

[Apoc]

worry about your oil temp not your water temp, and if oil temp is good so will water.

+1

I think I maybe looked at water temp once a weekend.

For windows, we used plexiglass cut to fit with a fabric strap attached to the bottom. You'd slide the window in from the top with the strap hanging out the top of the door/window on the inside of the car. On the other end was a snap that has a matching snap on the door. By pulling down on the strap to connect the snap, you'd also pull the window up and into the door window channel, getting a good seal.

[rherold9]

LRB Speed got back to me and they can't currently make the undertray with bottom fender liner so looks like I'll be running without front fender liners. Just not worth the cost of going off track once and they are torn off. More reason to get a splitter in the future.

So without front fenders liners is there a point to cover front fog light holes?

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[Kaan]

n00b question directly mostly at Kaan - if you are sitting on grid for an hour why don't you just turn off the car? Most NASA cars I've seen don't need to be push started...

we had roughly 4-5 3 minute calls while on grid... i cranked the car over and the battery seemed to be getting weaker. I think i also had to go to the bathroom now that i am remembering.

[rherold9]

TL;DR - Rear knuckle out, front hubs out, dampers/springs out, and almost made the decision to burn the car down only 4 times

Probably tons of grammatical/spelling errors here. Just don't have the effort to re-read/fix it at this time. So bear with it.

Started the day pulling the rear knuckles to easily do the wheel bearings using a friend's press. Everything was going to so smooth. Too smooth. After some struggling with the breaker bar and jack handle. I sent it with my DeWalt impact and the axle nut came right off. I removed the brake caliper and safety wired it out of the way. I removed the damper/spring with ease. I impacted all the arms nuts off no problem. With a few taps of the sledge all the normal arms came right out of the knuckle. Then there was one arm of course that was different than the others.



Fuck it all at this point. That bolt would not want to come out. I've never seen a bolt held in that much except wheel studs (you'll see why in a bit). Took about an hour of countless attempts with different tools. 800 sledge hits. Impact just spinning it. Etc. Etc. Took a c clamp and put a large socket on the other end. That was enough force to pop it out of it's place. Couple sledge hits and it was out.



As you can see the bolt head end is ridged like a fucking wheel stud. Wtf Mazda. Just, honestly, why? Why? All the other arms were simple flange nuts.........



Finally. Wow. I celebrated a bit too soon thinking the other side would come out that easily now that I got the working strategy!

2 hours later... Still trying to to get the passenger bolt out. Passenger side tool victim.



At this point thinking this isn't budging. I'm consistently dousing it in WD-40 penetrating oil. Trying so many things. I hit it with a harbor freight 2 setting heat gun full blast for about 5 minutes. Doused it another time in oil. Took the impact on the bolt head in and got it spinning. Had the nut on the other end to protect the tip of the bolt and just beat the piss out of it with a sledge while impacting. It finally fucking broke free.



But wait, the arm of course didn't want to come out of the mount. Other side had no problem. Had to take a chisel and hammer it out with the sledge. Literally 20 hits later it finally came out....

At this point I'm just over everything... Yet I continue to the fronts. Tie up caliper. Thankfully front are just 4 bolts. Undo those no problem. Of course the fronts are the most seized up against the knuckle I've ever had. A friend had arrived to pick up the rear knuckles, etc. to press them in. He helps step in with the slide hammer. He breaks out his torch. About 30 slide hammer hits and oil isn't doing shit. Not gonna lie at this point I'm pretty beat up. Feels like tore my tendon in my elbow as it significantly hurts. Shit aches everywhere. I've hit myself on the hand with a sledgehammer a few different times.

So, what do you do when desperate times call for desperate measures? You bring out the big fucking hammer. We took turns smacking the ever living shit out of the poor hub. It's working... very slowing, but it's moving. We continue that for 20-30 huts around the hub and eventually it pops out. Switch sides and keeping our lesson from the first time. We beat the piss out of the hub. After I give it about 5 slide hammer hits with just my right arm it comes flying out

Then proceed to remove the front dampers/springs. Everything came out pretty smoothly once laziness stopped getting in the way of productivity. In by that I mean just simply unbolting the sway bar endlink so the suspension could droop easier and pull out the coilovers with ease lol

I called it a night after that. 7 hours of working on the car was enough. I wanted to be able to swap the springs, but I'll hopefully be able to get that done tomorrow along with other tidy bits. Maybe start on he hood vents if I'm feeling up for the task

I'm moving as fast I can with the car fighting back along at mostly every step. Pretty standard car stuff. It'll be close, but we should make VIR. I'm just worried about stuff coming loose based on everything I've touched which will be close to almost everything. I'll have to pay close attention to torque settings and bolt checks. I'm going to definitely throw anti-seize on everything including where stuff presses into and more to hopefully help with making this stuff easier in the future.

Onward we go!

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