Michaels NA6 MX5

[TheDarkside]

So this is my NA6 MX5, Australian model so no LSD is the worst thing but the rest doesnt matter so much to me.

Where it started:



So I put in some coilovers.



Would be lower but I wouldnt be able to go up my driveway to clean it.



Got a better steering wheel.





And gearknob, handbrake lever, the passengers side isn't usually stripped out by the way.



And had a front lip for a short amount of time before it was annihilated by some deepish water.



Also fixed up the braces that hold the soft top in place.





Oh, yeah then I painted it. Satin Black, not great, but better than red, pink, white and random bits of grey.







Attempting to make it look less like a hairdressers car...



Ends up with a bonnet like so.



Can't forget my orange bits, ran out of black so...



Oh and theres a roll bar that was added before it went black I think.



Rims will come after I fix my clutch and brakes.

[Manic.]

Paint doesnt look too bad.

[TheDarkside]

Thanks man, its mainly the bonnet and front bumper, but there is dodgy spots, not bad for my first spray job though.

[lowe]

welcom to stanceworks bro
looks like your off to an exellent start and mods so far are heading in the right direction, its allways good to see people customising there own shit will look killa with the right rims/fitment (i have to admit stanceworks has given me a bit of a soft spot for well modded miatas)
keeo up the good work and posting progress as you go
i look forward to seeing more
cheers lowe

[Jlyons617]

Dude you should sell me your old Momo for my ghetto fab project lol.

[TheDarkside]

Thanks man, cant wait for rims, was gonna go for 0 offset but apparently it has a negative effect on handling so my first set will be +25.

[TheDarkside]

If you really want it pay me the postage and it's yours.

[mike-81-240d]

This is supremely dope! I kind of want a miata even more now...

[Hayden]

Moar low and wheels, but a good start.

[TheDarkside]

I would love to have it lower but its my daily driver and because of where I have to park for work and my driveway so I can clean it I can't go any lower or it'll get stuck And wheels are coming after I replace the clutch and brake pads.

[gofast28]

hard top that ish!, good start tho man. cant wait to see where it goes.

[Funtington]

stop being a pussy, and spin your coils down. it looks sad that high off the ground.

[TheDarkside]

Nah man, I bottom out in the mountains as is, and it'll look even worse if I can't clean it... I have considered it many times, but im not patient enough.

[TheDarkside]

I ordered my brake rotors, then figured I didn't have enough money for the pads yet... But hey, all in good time and after they're in its time for rims and tires!

My mate started on my clutch, I helped but not as much as i'd like but i do think if i needed to do it again I could do it and someone help me.

Everyone like pictures so first thing we did was give it some ground clearance :O



Then we took off the exhaust, so we could undo the tailshaft, so we could undo the brace, so we could undo the gearbox, so we could get to the clutch, so we could undo the clutch...
Now the exhaust has started a rattle, probably because it gets bashed and abused :/ But unfortunately it has to go back on and it will be some time before I get a new one.



So the gearbox out, which actually had oil in it, which is not a good thing what so ever. But thats something that will also have to wait. Now another manufacturing flaw by Mazda is that the hardlines coming out of the brake slave cylinder run right behind the top end of the box making it difficult to get out because you can't simply push the lines aside, why they put it in that spot and made the lines that way makes no sense.
So because of this when we finally got the lines out of the way the box slid out and dropped on my mate, hes okay, but it was still dodgy as all hell.



Underbody, missing something... ah well can't be crucial right?



And the culprit, now for anyone that hasn't seen a clutch before, this is bad, this is really bad, theres very little material left, the small bolts holding it together were actually touching the flywheel and pressure plate, there's no way for air to escape this super smooth flat surface, which is also bad because clutches of course work by friction, which is greatly reduced when its this smooth. My mate was amazed I could drive it at all, but dodgy clutches is something i'm greatly accustomed to having had driven a range of vehicles, and this is the good side.



The pressure plate, which is in very poor condition, with grooves i could feel, various hot spots etc. But that doesn't matter its getting replaced.



The flywheel however, has the same problems, yet has to be re-used.



And thats what we did, took about 2 and a half hours to get out.

[TheDarkside]

Alright, so we put it back in, sorry not many photos of actually doing it, I was busy, sore, dirty and running out of daylight because my mate came round when he finished work because hes so awesome, but this left us with little time, we finished it about 8:30 at night. All in all 5 and a half hours isn't bad for my first clutch replacement and his first on the ground, well to me that pretty good.

Anyways, so the gearbox mount (the long brace-like object) turned out to be alloy of some sort after cleaning it, was so suprised, but theres is HEAPS of grease, oil, dirt and crap attached to the under side of my car its insane, so I cleaned the main area and thats about it.

Anyways, my new organic clutch.



Machined flywheel, they did a great job, no sign of the hotspots grooves etc. Same step height and cheap, highly recommended, Gold Coast Brake And Clutch.



I was outside for an hour and my back got burnt, very unusual for me, took twice as much degreaser as I had first thought but the box was reasonably clean.



And the new pressure plate, will take some getting used to, no where near as much movement etc. But a new clutch that actually bites is something to get used to as well as it engaging right on the ground etc.



So thats all done