MX5 Mk 2 tidying up
Discussion
Evening,
I've recently got hold of a '99 MX5 in decent order. The sills are OK, a bit of corrosion but no penetrating rust yet so I am hoping a cleanup and Waxoyl will hold it back for a while. Likewise the front chassis, which should last a little longer, I hope.
The faults I have are:
- A slight weep to the rad drain valve. I want to change the coolant but not if I need a new fitting, or worse a new rad. What's the fix?
- Heater position knob broken, is this a dealer job or are they 10 a penny in breakers?
- There's an aftermarket air filter, conical type. It's a bodge up, lying in the bottom of the original (rectangular) air filter holder. I told the insurers "no mods" so I need to either sort it out properly or if the gains are minimal I'd just as soon revert to standard and save myself the aggro of declaring it. Are these worth having in the absence of any other mods?
I need to tighten or renew the fan belt, it slips under load. No drama here I hope. It also needs a brake service, again no biggie.
Finally, it needs 2 new tyres, maybe 4 before long. 195/50/15 VR. There are 2 Pirellis showing 3mm ish on the rear, and 2 ArrowMax (something cheap) showing about 1.60001 mm on the front. What's a good choice, without going mad? No Korean washing up bowls, no Long Wang Ditchfinder specials, but no Yokohama 048Rs either, thanks.
I'll put up some pics soon.
Thanks
I've recently got hold of a '99 MX5 in decent order. The sills are OK, a bit of corrosion but no penetrating rust yet so I am hoping a cleanup and Waxoyl will hold it back for a while. Likewise the front chassis, which should last a little longer, I hope.
The faults I have are:
- A slight weep to the rad drain valve. I want to change the coolant but not if I need a new fitting, or worse a new rad. What's the fix?
- Heater position knob broken, is this a dealer job or are they 10 a penny in breakers?
- There's an aftermarket air filter, conical type. It's a bodge up, lying in the bottom of the original (rectangular) air filter holder. I told the insurers "no mods" so I need to either sort it out properly or if the gains are minimal I'd just as soon revert to standard and save myself the aggro of declaring it. Are these worth having in the absence of any other mods?
I need to tighten or renew the fan belt, it slips under load. No drama here I hope. It also needs a brake service, again no biggie.
Finally, it needs 2 new tyres, maybe 4 before long. 195/50/15 VR. There are 2 Pirellis showing 3mm ish on the rear, and 2 ArrowMax (something cheap) showing about 1.60001 mm on the front. What's a good choice, without going mad? No Korean washing up bowls, no Long Wang Ditchfinder specials, but no Yokohama 048Rs either, thanks.
I'll put up some pics soon.
Thanks
Hmm, seems I'm not the first to do some swearing faced with the bottom alternator bolt. It's not moving. Penol hasn't persuaded it to undo so far. Anyone got any clues? My best idea to date is to remove the bottom shield and get a jack under a tommy bar or ring spanner, I really really don't want to have to drill it.
Quite possibly the most frustrating "undo" on the MX5,( apart from any bolt to do with the front bumper !!!!!)
very limited movement, always tight as hell, the carbon canister vent pipe gets in the way constantly, as does the plastic dirt shield, lying on the floor unless you are lucky enough to have access to a ramp !!!
Anyone want to offer a "worse" one ???
very limited movement, always tight as hell, the carbon canister vent pipe gets in the way constantly, as does the plastic dirt shield, lying on the floor unless you are lucky enough to have access to a ramp !!!
Anyone want to offer a "worse" one ???
A bit of patience and lots of WD40 (Remember that other similar products are available) also try and lever the alternator itself just a tiny bit to break the join and let the stuff do its work. I have a couple of small crowbars as used by burglars everywhere which have been great for loosening, levering and hitting recalcitrant bits of car.
Thanks folks,
I thought it looked like the dirt shield was going to have to come off again. I don't have a ramp but I can stick it on drive-on ramps which will help. Good tip levering the alty about to get the penol in. I must say that WD40 isn't a very good penetrating oil/fastener release agent. PlusGas and others are better IME, and I have (being geeky) tried them back to back. I think a smear of Copaslip will go on when it gets reassembled. If the extension bar on the spanner trick doesn't work (never had much joy with that myself) then it will be a socket and a breaker bar, if I can get it in.
Thanks again.
Re tyres, the better pair (~3mm) are Pirelli p6000 so in the absence of any horror stories about these I'll get another pair of 6000s for the rear and I'll have a matched set, with a few miles in the thinner ones.
I thought it looked like the dirt shield was going to have to come off again. I don't have a ramp but I can stick it on drive-on ramps which will help. Good tip levering the alty about to get the penol in. I must say that WD40 isn't a very good penetrating oil/fastener release agent. PlusGas and others are better IME, and I have (being geeky) tried them back to back. I think a smear of Copaslip will go on when it gets reassembled. If the extension bar on the spanner trick doesn't work (never had much joy with that myself) then it will be a socket and a breaker bar, if I can get it in.
Thanks again.
Re tyres, the better pair (~3mm) are Pirelli p6000 so in the absence of any horror stories about these I'll get another pair of 6000s for the rear and I'll have a matched set, with a few miles in the thinner ones.
Mattlan said:
Quite possibly the most frustrating "undo" on the MX5,( apart from any bolt to do with the front bumper !!!!!)
very limited movement, always tight as hell, the carbon canister vent pipe gets in the way constantly, as does the plastic dirt shield, lying on the floor unless you are lucky enough to have access to a ramp !!!
Anyone want to offer a "worse" one ???
Yes! Those bloody huge ones that go through the brace between the gearbox and diff. What a cow they are to shift. 6 ft tube and 19 stone of lard arse to even make them creak a bit and show willing.very limited movement, always tight as hell, the carbon canister vent pipe gets in the way constantly, as does the plastic dirt shield, lying on the floor unless you are lucky enough to have access to a ramp !!!
Anyone want to offer a "worse" one ???
eltax91 said:
Why do you need the bottom bolt out?
If you are just changing the belt, then lever the alt to pivot around the bolt, fit new belt and lever back, let the tensioner do the rest?
I haven't done this on an MX5 but on every other car I have owned there's no way you are moving the alty and getting the belt off without slackening the bottom bolt, esp when it's been done up by Hydraulic Jack the 20st mechanic and left to corrode in place for 15 years. It might be worth a shot though, if you reckon it will pivot round with the bottom bolt done up.If you are just changing the belt, then lever the alt to pivot around the bolt, fit new belt and lever back, let the tensioner do the rest?
battered said:
eltax91 said:
Why do you need the bottom bolt out?
If you are just changing the belt, then lever the alt to pivot around the bolt, fit new belt and lever back, let the tensioner do the rest?
I haven't done this on an MX5 but on every other car I have owned there's no way you are moving the alty and getting the belt off without slackening the bottom bolt, esp when it's been done up by Hydraulic Jack the 20st mechanic and left to corrode in place for 15 years. It might be worth a shot though, if you reckon it will pivot round with the bottom bolt done up.If you are just changing the belt, then lever the alt to pivot around the bolt, fit new belt and lever back, let the tensioner do the rest?
Maybe it's my lack of care for the car, since one day it'll be a kit car and therefore i don't care so much about the body, but I just got my big pry-bar in, wedged it against the body near the intake manifold and levered it up to release the belt. Slid the new one on in the same fashion. Then used the tensioner to set the tension on the belt again.
It's worth noting i didn't actually attempt to take the bolt out, so I've not idea how tight it WAS. I then swung a fair bit of weight on it to make sure it was done up again, can't remember if it moved any though!!
The bottom bolt is bad, my advice work from the top of the car, only a spanner will do it sadly, it's easier with the inlet manifold brace out which is easy to remove and has to be removed if you intend to remove the alternator anyway. Just when you think that bolt won't loosen put a bit more effort in and it will go.
Don't try to use the adjuster to force against the bolt it won't work and will possibly bugger the adjuster, if someone had left the bolt loose happy days but that clearly isn't the case. Don't waste time with wd40 it doesn't work get some plus gas or a bit of diesel and atf mixed on the bolt thread.
Fit a new rad, it sounds like yours is tired. They are very cheap.
I've got a temp control knob if you struggle.
Do you have the top and bottom of the air box, if so it is probably just a case of taking the cone filter out and putting a panel filter back in. No difference in power, less noise and better filtration.
Toyo T1r, currently about £120 a set of 4 delivered. P6000s should be killed with fire.
Don't try to use the adjuster to force against the bolt it won't work and will possibly bugger the adjuster, if someone had left the bolt loose happy days but that clearly isn't the case. Don't waste time with wd40 it doesn't work get some plus gas or a bit of diesel and atf mixed on the bolt thread.
Fit a new rad, it sounds like yours is tired. They are very cheap.
I've got a temp control knob if you struggle.
Do you have the top and bottom of the air box, if so it is probably just a case of taking the cone filter out and putting a panel filter back in. No difference in power, less noise and better filtration.
Toyo T1r, currently about £120 a set of 4 delivered. P6000s should be killed with fire.
wildoliver said:
The bottom bolt is bad, my advice work from the top of the car, only a spanner will do it sadly, it's easier with the inlet manifold brace out which is easy to remove and has to be removed if you intend to remove the alternator anyway. Just when you think that bolt won't loosen put a bit more effort in and it will go.
Sounds like a plan, I'll have another go, if nec I will take the brace out, if a longer lever alone won't see it.[quote]Don't try to use the adjuster to force against the bolt it won't work
[quote]Fit a new rad, it sounds like yours is tired. They are very cheap.
[quote]I've got a temp control knob if you struggle.
[quote]Do you have the top and bottom of the air box, if so it is probably just a case of taking the cone filter out and putting a panel filter back in. No difference in power, less noise and better filtration.
Thanks again.
Edited by battered on Wednesday 16th December 21:44
Well, hours of fun. It's off and all I need is a new belt.
As you said it came undone with a ratchet ring and an extension bar to increase the leverage, once I'd got the dirt shield off. Well, I say it came undone, it sheared the bolt. Oops.
I did get the PAS belt and alty belt off, so all is well. Hopefully I can get away without having to drill the remains of the old alternator pivot bolt, I can wedge the remains back in. It only needs to pivot on it as the tensioner does the rest. If not then it's drill and extractor time, joy.
So I moved on to removing the manifold brace, discovered the bottom bolt was missing. OK, no probs, get one out of the bits box. Except that Mazda favour M10 fine, 1.25 mm pitch, all my standard M10s are 1.5 pitch. I thought I had fasteners to cobble dogs, what's going on with people using M10 fine FFS? Anyway, fixed that, got an M10 / 1.25 die and butchered an M10 coarse. It'll be OK for the brace, not something I'd do for structural stuff but the brace was in place without any bolt so it has to be progress.
Hours of fun. Jesus though, is it always this hard? Coming soon, a basic brake service turns into a multi-hour drama of fabricated parts and sheared bolts.
As you said it came undone with a ratchet ring and an extension bar to increase the leverage, once I'd got the dirt shield off. Well, I say it came undone, it sheared the bolt. Oops.
I did get the PAS belt and alty belt off, so all is well. Hopefully I can get away without having to drill the remains of the old alternator pivot bolt, I can wedge the remains back in. It only needs to pivot on it as the tensioner does the rest. If not then it's drill and extractor time, joy.
So I moved on to removing the manifold brace, discovered the bottom bolt was missing. OK, no probs, get one out of the bits box. Except that Mazda favour M10 fine, 1.25 mm pitch, all my standard M10s are 1.5 pitch. I thought I had fasteners to cobble dogs, what's going on with people using M10 fine FFS? Anyway, fixed that, got an M10 / 1.25 die and butchered an M10 coarse. It'll be OK for the brace, not something I'd do for structural stuff but the brace was in place without any bolt so it has to be progress.
Hours of fun. Jesus though, is it always this hard? Coming soon, a basic brake service turns into a multi-hour drama of fabricated parts and sheared bolts.
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