Sorting out the Miata

Evil MS3 · Postby **Evil MS3** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:12 pm

Took my wife out this evening for her first ride in the Miata. With two people in the car the rear tires rubbed pretty good on sweepers and bumps at speed.

So first, I'm going to roll the fenders, because i have access to a roller for free, and.... Why not?

But... I'm going to wager a guess that my rear bump stops are non existent. Is there a preference folks have for bump stops, or are the $6 Amazon ones good enough to get the job done?

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Postby **Loren** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:20 pm

Do you want/need to be SCCA "street class" legal?

They require the replacement bump stops to be stock length.

Other than that, I've never heard anyone complain about the cheap Honda bump stops. Full length, they are a little longer than stock, and will just barely make contact at static ride height. The first 10mm segment is super soft, and they're progressive from there. So, you end up with a nice progressive bump stop that absolutely does what it's supposed to do... and you absolutely never feel it "engage".

For a lowered car, you'd have to trim them a little bit and lose some of that progressiveness... it's possible that if you're really low, you'd benefit from a stiffer bump stop. In that case, you're running much stiffer springs, and the bump stop becomes less of a progressive rubber spring more of an actual "protect the shocks and other metal contact points" bump stop.

Evil MS3 · Postby **Evil MS3** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:24 pm

Not concerned with SCCA stock classing, as long as they're kosher for FAST stock class then sounds like they'll work perfectly. And I like the price of them lol

Can I run the same ones on the front and rear?

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Postby **Loren** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:33 pm

You can. Front should have less travel than the rear on an NB, you might need to trim the fronts a tiny bit.

But, your stock front bump stops might be okay. They're nothing like the rears. They're more similar to the material of the Honda bump stops. Much more less affected by age and weather, or whatever the hell it is that causes the red NB rear bump stops to crumble so quickly. I've seen those front stops look slighlty ragged on the small end that contacts the top of the shock, but that's about it. Of course, NB's are getting "old". Everything I know about their "reliability" issues is beginning to evolve. Same with NA's... they used to be completely bulletproof except for plug wires, clutch slave cylinders, CAS O-rings, shifter boots, short-nose 1.6 crankshafts and 1.6 diffs. Now there are a lot more known problems that creep up because they're older.

Make sure you replace all of your hoses. All of them. The little ones that run from the back of the head to the oil cooler and the throttle body up to the coolant neck in the front, all of the heater hoses. All of them. Whenever you do the timing belt/water pump job. One of those little guys will pinhole on you at some point if you don't.

Evil MS3 · Postby **Evil MS3** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:37 pm

Ok, I'll inspect the fronts to be sure before I order.

I've been checking over hoses here and there for old cracking hoses and thankfully I think the guy who had it before my brother replaced a lot when he did the timing belt service. But I'll def keep checking them. I replaced both of the main coolant hoses just recently when I put the Koyo in, so I know those are good.

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Postby **Loren** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 9:43 pm

NB's are maybe slightly less prone to this because they don't have a CAS on the back of the head (but, they do still have the CAS hole with some kind of seal over it, and they do still have a cam cover that can leak). NA's are bad about getting a leaky CAS o-ring, which then drips onto those tiny hoses on the back of the head (and/or the dreaded rubber coolant nipple on the 1.6 from the non-existent turbo coolant feed line). The hoses deteriorate, get super soft and spring pinhole leaks that you can't detect... but, they leak coolant until it gets low enough that the engine quietly starts overheating. Probably the cause of every blown head gasket or warped head that you've ever heard of on a Miata.

Hoses are cheap. Replace them every 10 years whether they need it or not! (I used to say every 5 years, but I think that might be overkill)

twistedwankel · Postby **twistedwankel** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:05 pm

Loren is totally reliable when you do not run in his class. Steve is totally reliable if you don't run for money.

Postby **Native** » Sun Sep 02, 2018 11:21 pm

I'm totally reliable for taking Doug's money...

Taylor - did you say free fender roller?

Postby **Loren** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:04 am

Yeah, I read those words, too. Taylor, when you come over here to play with your alignment... bring that fender roller!

Evil MS3 · Postby **Evil MS3** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 7:21 am

Of course! I can hold onto it for as long as I'd like, so we can roll all the fenders. Haha

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CaptainSquirts · Postby **CaptainSquirts** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 9:04 am

Hmmm, I gotta get in on this rolling fenders party

Magooiii · Postby **Magooiii** » Mon Sep 03, 2018 11:09 am

Did someone say fender rolling party?

Evil MS3 · Postby **Evil MS3** » Tue Sep 04, 2018 10:34 pm

Fender roller acquired. Now to find the time. Haha

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Postby **Native** » Wed Sep 05, 2018 7:06 am

I heard that.

Evil MS3 · Postby **Evil MS3** » Fri Sep 07, 2018 7:54 pm

Yeah... Something is missing... On all 4 corners. Ordering two more Amazon bump stops.

Will i need to trim the fronts? If so do i trim the small or the big end?

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Postby **Loren** » Fri Sep 07, 2018 8:47 pm

Front bump stops are shorter, are you sure they're not wedged way up in there? They shouldn't be completely missing unless someone didn't install them.

You can use the same Honda stops for the front. If you want to trim them, I think you're safe to take a half inch off of the fat end. That retains all of your soft progressiveness. If you need to trim more than that, then you could start cutting the other end. You do need some meat on the fat end to act as the actual "bump stop" to protect your shocks.

Evil MS3 · Postby **Evil MS3** » Fri Sep 07, 2018 8:51 pm

I squeezed the dust boot but don't think I felt them but I'll check again to be sure.

What's your preferred method of taking the front suspension off? Removing the long control arm bolt?

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Postby **Loren** » Fri Sep 07, 2018 8:56 pm

Nah, I don't like doing the long bolt. I unbolt the lower ball joint and lever the lower control arm down.

Getting the ball joint back together is a little "fussy", but once you master it, it takes no time at all. (Put the through bolt in first, that gives you a pivot point. Then shove a heavy flat screwdriver in under the ball joint to lever it up so that you can thread the top bolt. It does take "just the right screwdriver" to pull it of easily.)

Evil MS3 · Postby **Evil MS3** » Fri Sep 07, 2018 8:59 pm

Hopefully i just didn't feel the bump stop and it's in there so I don't have to bother haha

Kind of a pain doing all this just for bump stops. Feel like if I'm taking this all apart i should be putting better stuff in there haha

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Postby **Loren** » Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:23 pm

Better bump stops. That's a good thing.

Think of them as "progressive springs". They're SUPPOSED to be there. If they're deteriorated or gone, you don't have the spring rate that you're supposed to have. And it's not like the car is heavily sprung to start with! You don't want it to be any LESS than it was designed to be.

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