NEW INTAKE ETC.

First, an Oil Change to record:
October 28, at 27,565 miles.

I've installed Flyin Miata's Complete Intake Package, and a larger intercooler, which by the way looks much cooler!

The Complete Intake Kit
Drove to Indy to have my cousin's help for all this. The Intake package consisted of the intake itself, a stronger throttle body inlet pipe, (the rubber oem unit is reported to expand and even blow off under increased power), a manual boost controller, a new blowoff valve, and an 02 signal modifier.

I delayed installing the 02 signal modifier, so that I could see the results of the rest by itself, and then see the change the modifier makes. Big difference. Okay, with all the rest installed, I CLEARLY had more power! But not all of those additional horsies were working until I hit about 5000 rpms. To test the difference before and after the 02 signal modifier, I did several identical runs starting from 4k rpms in 4th gear, both before and after installing the modifier. Before, I would have nice power from 4k rpms, but then at about 5k it would really start laying down the power. After, I had all that additional power immediately, from 4k all the way up. :)

BEFORE
AFTER
Then it was time for the intercooler. Flyin Miata has a very nice one available for over $500. A more popular solution among 'Speed Miata owners are the units available on eBay for around $50-60. The typical choice is 28" long, 7" tall, and 2.5" thick. Installing it requires a bit of a rearrangement of the power steering lines, and the top couple of inches is not in the direct air flow through the mouth of the Miata. So instead of that unit, I bought a similar unit on eBay that was only 5.5" tall. No rearranging of the power steering lines, the whole thing is in direct air flow, AND I just feel a little more comfortable with the radiator not being quite as blocked. Intercooler cost was $37 plus shipping, plus some silicone couplers and clamps. The front end looks MUCH nicer now, with this wide aluminum intercooler instead of that little factory unit.

Factory Intercooler
New Intercooler
More info still to be added.....
(some special touches in these installations, and before/after dyno runs)

COSMETIC CHANGES

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1. COMPLETED '04 INTERIOR

As I commented in my first entry, I bought this Black '05, planning to install the '04 red interior accents: red insert seats and red insert door panels. IT'S DONE! I bought the seats soon after I bought the car, and just recently ordered the door panel inserts from Online Mazda Parts, out of Montgomery Mazda in Charlotte NC (better than average parts prices). Mike aka Droptopdrifter/Doppelganger had done this same installation a couple years ago in his car (different colors), and since he has a heating tool that proves helpful for a factory-like installation, and since I also knew I'd like to meet him and his awesome car (260 whp and Garage Vary front bumper), today I went up to Atlanta. We got the job done and just enjoyed talking Miatas and modding. And man does his car move.

Anyway, I wonder if my car is now the only Black Mica Mazdaspeed Miata with the red/black interior. Quite possible since that arrangement was never offered. That would be kinda cool. Whether or not, I think it looks great.


2. HEADLIGHT & TAILLIGHT BEZELS

For a long time I wasn't sure if I thought these were an improvement or not, but I was sure that (to me at least) the Black Mica cars are the only ones they look really good on. Well I just came across a Black Mica set for $25! -normally $70+ for new, and painting costs on top of that. So they're mine! I'll get them mounted in a few days and see what I think.

FIRST DYNO

I recently ordered and received Flyin' Miata's Complete Intake Kit. It will free up the car's breathing, allow me to raise the boost a couple pounds, prevent the ecu from seeing a rich condition under boost (in which case it would pull fuel), and solve a problem with the throttle body inlet pipe. Installation comes later this week!

Before doing the install, I took the car today for a dyno test: a first for the car, a first for me. Without any power mods, the car shows 151 horsepower at the wheels (as opposed to the factory number of 178 at the engine). Those are smallish horsepower numbers....until you remember they only have to push 2500 pounds down the road. :)


I'm looking forward to feeling the change my shiny new car parts will make....and to posting new numbers when I dyno the car again after the installation!

Odometer: 25,626

UPGRADING THE SIDE MARKERS

Most (or just many?) cars have turn signals visible from the side, but the side marker lights on the Miata are just that. No blinkage happening there. And then there are the rear side marker reflectors - no actual light at all (but of course the tail lights at the corner are perfectly visible from the side).

Tonight I finally got around to doing the side marker turn signal mod on the front side markers, as per the tutorial at Miata.net. The side markers now blink with the turn signal and hazards, in addition to shining with the lights. Improved communication to cars on my flank! And it just looks good. With the lights on (as I always drive this car) they blink alternately to the front signals, with the lights off they blink simultaneously.

There's another tutorial for adding lights to the rear side reflectors, and instruction is included in that first tutorial to add the turn signal feature even to the rears. I'll be adding the rear lights sometime soon, and I'll probably incorporate the signaling also.

Miles: 25,418

TAIL OF THE DRAGON, CHEROHALA SKYWAY

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All kinds of Awesome on these two roads!

Returning from a week of study near Crossville Tennessee, I picked up my "nephew-in-law" in Knoxville and headed down the Alcoa highway for the Dragon on Friday afternoon. It was my first visit there. For any who are sadly uninformed, the Tail of the Dragon is an eleven-mile stretch of US Highway 129 south of Knoxville, as it approaches and finally crosses the North Carolina line at Deals Gap. Those incredible 11 miles are blessed with 318 wondrous curves and turns. The mountain road is a mecca for bikers and sports car enthusiasts alike, though the bikers clearly outnumber the rest of us.

It’s a great road for sport, mainly (obviously) due to its twists and turns, but also since there are no side roads from which unsuspecting cars might enter the highway, and because everyone on the road knows it’s used for sport, which means everyone is driving with the knowledge that a car or bike is likely to be flying around the next curve. Predictability, and the awareness not to venture across the yellow line, makes for a good degree of safety.

Diving into hairpin turns and accelerating out: pure bliss. Exactly what Mazda designed this car for (unfortunately this is best seen in the long video I can't seem to upload). Watching the sport bikers dragging their knees on the curves, and keeping pace with them: more bliss. It’s easy to find videos of cars driving the Dragon faster than I did (my runs are better described as merely “spirited” than truly “fast”), but during my 3 runs it was only bikers (and only a few of them) that outpaced me. I’m sure on other days I’d see faster cars there.

A couple of my videos, but not the one with the best hairpins and best driving
That one is too long for YouTube or Blogger to accept :(





I made my third and final run on Saturday, as I couldn’t resist taking this route home to middle Georgia, even though it would add 2 or 3 hours to the journey. Another good run, and exiting the Tail of the Dragon I continued on 129 southward, seeking the Cherohala Skyway which I had seen mentioned on some Dragon sites.

The Cherohala runs east/west, crossing the mountains to connect Robbinsville NC to Tellico Plains TN. Like the Tail of the Dragon, it’s park land, so there are no homes and businesses, and only the rare side road leading to hiking trails etc. It differs from the Dragon, in that it lacks the hairpin turns and concentration of really tight curves. But curves it has, some of them long sweeping curves, as it takes you along the tops of the mountains, offering views that can only be described as spectacular. Truly a Skyway. The run is 35-50 miles long, depending on what you call the endpoints. With its proximity to the Dragon, there are bikers and the occasional sports car enjoying the opportunity for speed in non-linear form. Best of all, even though it was a Saturday, there was little traffic.

Cherohala Skyway
It looks like my trips to Maryland and Pennsylvania will be longer in the future. They’ll now include a detour via the Cherohala and the Dragon, probably every time. Well, every time I’m in the Miata. Maybe not so much, if I’m in the Rodeo. :)

SMOOTHER SHIFTING

Earlier this year I removed the console and shift lever to replace a torn shift lever boot, and to remount the bushing on the bottom end of the shift lever (incorporating a washer to prevent the bushing from detaching itself again - I was happy to see today that the washer has done its job well). While I was in there that earlier day, the ball at the bottom end of the shift lever got cleaned of its grease; while a little bit remained, it has probably been lacking some smoothness ever since. So today I took it all apart again, and lubed up the ball and bushing with a spray can of white lithium grease. Much faster disassembly and reassembly this time, after having done it once before. And the shifting seems to be smoother and more accurate! :)

(odometer 23,265)

OIL CHANGE #4 AND TIRE ROTATION #1

I've waited a bit longer than I wanted for my current oil change and tire rotation, but just finished them both, with the odometer reading 22,570. That's 4639 miles since my last change of the Mobil 1 synthetic. Of course folks say you can go 5000 miles with synthetic anyway, but I don't want to make that a habit. As for the tires, it comes to 6007 miles between originally mounting these tires and this first rotation. But it was not without drama. On the third wheel, I broke the locking lug nut key.

locking lug nut:locking lug nut KEY:
I'm not going to record here the depth of my stupidity at that third wheel, which resulted in the ruined key - though I will say the piece of the lug nut key that takes all the pressure was made of plastic(??!!). Got out the original accessory papers that came with the car, and had a new key FedExed to me overnight from the company that made them, and finished the rotation.

STRIP WASH - CLAY - WAX, and PICS FROM FLORIDA BACKROADS

It was time for a general clean-up, before traveling to the Florida College Lectures last week. I addressed the paint finish first...

First step: strip the old wax from the finish by washing it with Dawn liquid dishwashing detergent. Second step: clay the car to remove fine, embedded dirt particles that normal washing can never ever get (never used a clay bar? see this discussion). I use "MOTHERS California Gold Clay Bar Paint Saving System." I HIGHLY recommend using a clay bar on your paint. It went much faster than it went the first time (last May?), since the first time was less than a year ago. And then third, fresh new wax:



Then I moved to the interior with my bottle of Armor All: not an overdone wet shine, but just the nice clean sheen of a new interior. The neglected area behind the seats -the windblocker and the rest of the area where the top folds down- benefitted especially. And man, the combined result of all the general clean up was sweet!

En route to Tampa, I ditched the Interstate in favor of the back roads of rural north Florida...and had the camera along for some pictures. Just north of I-10, I got off I-75 at Exit 439 for a route I had already planned out. I chose roads that missed towns for the most part, and which had curves when possible. Not that there are many curvy roads in flat, flat Florida. A few miles south of Fort White the road crosses the Santa Fe River: a beautiful little river and photo spot. Toward the southern end of my route it was pretty much impossible to avoid cities like Dunellon, Hernando, and Inverness. I rejoined I-75 at Exit 314. The backroads detour, with photography stops, added about an hour and a half to what would have been maybe an hour and forty on the interstate.



Above, and the next few photos:
At the Hwy 47 crossing of the Santa Fe River, south of Fort White





Above and below, in Bronson: These two houses were on a very short street called Main Ave., just off the main road Hathaway, and appeared to be preserved rather than currently lived in. Just thought they made a nice backdrop.

SHIFT LEVER: TWO ISSUES RESOLVED

Working the gears in this car has been pure pleasure compared to the other sticks I've driven, so much better than my 5-speed Camry for example. But a couple things weren't quite right.

1. When one of the guys at a Miata shop drove my car months ago, he knew by the sound that the shift boot seal was torn - that's the smaller and lower of the two boots under the decorative leather boot. As far as I know, a torn seal doesn't cause any likely problems in shifting or transmission performance since it's under a second boot, but it can certainly stand being replaced.

I've removed the console;
the upper boot lies in the passenger footwell;
the lower boot ("shift boot seal") is still in place, at the bottom of the shift lever.
2. At the bottom of the shift lever is a bushing. It's been somewhat common on Miatae for that bushing to come off and rest at the bottom of the turret in which the shift lever stands. When it comes off, the shifting feels notchy: finding the next gear doesn't have a real smooth feel. I had read about this on the Mazda-speed forum, and about a solution as well. While my Miata transmission shifts better than any stick I've owned, and while the actual shifting of the lever also feels better than any of those others, I could feel that notchiness.

The torn shift boot seal;
the white bushing that had fallen off, now back in place.
So last week I used a great how-to on the forum to guide me through removing the console etc., and upper shift boot, and confirmed that the lower boot seal was indeed torn. I ordered a new shift boot seal from Jason at Montgomery Mazda in Charlotte NC (half the price quoted by my nearest Mazda dealer). Today it arrived, and I went to Lowes and bought a 3/8" washer. Removed the shift lever, and sure enough, that bushing I mentioned above was just resting in the bottom of the turret rather than on the shift lever. Put it back in place, and removed the old shift boot seal and put the new one on. The 3/8 washer is to keep the bushing from falling off again: placing it in the bottom of the turret, under the bushing, does the job.

Put it all back together, and SWEET!! -the notchiness is gone, and the shifting is better than ever. I love this car. Cost for the boot seal, shipping, and washer: $30.73.


The car is still under warranty, but I wanted to do this myself. First, I'm sure they wouldn't put the washer in there even if I asked them to, and second I just don't want dealers touching my car if I don't know enough about them to trust them...and I haven't had occasion yet to have to get acquainted with any Mazda service guys. Well, not here anyway. The service manager in Joliet IL was great with my MX-6 some years ago...but that's a few states away.

OIL CHANGE #3

Haven't been careful about documenting my oil changes. Time for reform. Changed it today, @ 17,931 miles. That's the third change since buying the car with just under 7000 miles on it: once at a 15-minute joint, once when I added the oil filter relocation kit, and today.

Last time and this time (and into the foreseeable future), I'm using Mobil 1 synthetic 10W-30, and Mobil 1 filter. Instead of the Mazda prescribed filter size, I'm using the filter prescribed for the Mazda Millenia. Same diameter, but longer. More capacity can't be worse, and I figure it's better. Mobil 1's number for the filter is M1-110.