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>For Miatas made from 1989 or new, with few exceptions.
>Everybody has their own taste, but some tastes are wrong. If you aren't sure if your car is a Miata or not, it's not.
>Your Honda Miata belongs here.
>Jap, Jap, Jap, or whatever.
>Post your Miata, your work on it, your hackery, and get advice.
>Any and all discussion about Miatas welcome, but may not necessarily generate responses; don't get butthurt.
>Pop ups > flush.
>Metal > rust.
>Classic Miat > modern Miat.
>JBweld and RTV can fix anything
>If you see rust there is more.
>Rust and bodywork are the most difficult thing to repair.
>Electrical work is difficult until you read the forum posts and buy a multi-meter.
>Low oil pressure? Check your dipstick.
>Do NOT buy a Miata and plan to pay someone to work on it. You need to be able to do 90% or more of the work or you will be mocked.
>You will spend twice your budget on the Flyin' Miata or BOFI websites.
>You can’t tuna fish, but you can tuna piano
>Nothing is as hard as it seems
Showing all 117 replies.
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>>28964885
Behind the seats. No idea if ND's have them from factory, but they make a huge difference.
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Why does my NB keep killing clutch safety switches? New one lasted a week before I have to spam it to get it to start again just like the last one. It still has the little rubber pad that pushes the switch and I have the pedal free play adjusted as per the FSM.
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>>28965402
Yes and yes. It streamlines air going over the car with the top down to minimize buffeting.
Nta, I’ve only had NA/NB, it’ll make a difference but these cars are really loud and wind is part of having a convertible. I don’t know if that will make quite the difference you’re looking for, maybe.
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>>28965132
Just checking this thread out of my usual compulsive curiosity and read
>Nothing is as hard as it seems
Thanks OP, I really needed that
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>>28965754
>i love it when they run~
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>>28965132
Thanks for making a new thread anon
>>28965402
My NA8 came with a style bar that I haven't removed yet because it has 3 tinted panel inserts. It blocks a lot of wind and noise. With the windows up I get a warm little pocket.
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>>28965402
Noticeably more quiet. There's a reason you see them on so many convertibles.
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I'm too lazy to respond to the exact post from last thread, but I'm curious if the anon complaining about wind buffeting has an RF. I take my (soft top) Miata to the highway all the time and the noise isn't that bad if I have the windows up.
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>>28965983
66-4D0 in this diagram. It's an electrical interlock that does not allow power to the starter if you're not pressing the clutch pedal while cranking. It's more of a North American market thing, JDM/AUDM/EUDM cars may not have one.
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>>28965990
Okay, I'm in Australia, so I didn't get that "feature". I'd hate it and would bypass it if it was on my car. Much like warning buzzers on some cars.
>>28965313
Is it an adjustment issue?
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>>28965964
>>28965987
>I have the RF
ha, I knew it
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>>28966018
As much as I would prefer that, I like the potential anti-theft it provides if the would-be thief doesn't know to push the clutch to start it, especially given NB1 does not have an immobilizer.
>>28965999
I don't think so, there's not really any adjustment in how it mounts.
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>>28965997
Miatas are not safe. That’s part of the deal.
That said I got hit in my old 95 while stopped by an Explorer going ~40mph and barely felt sore, car got destroyed though. Have an NB now, it’s great. Danger excites me.
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>>28965997
Fun car go vroom.
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>>28965990
>>28965999
Regional differences are interesting. Euro cars have those side markers, Canadian had DRLs I've heard. I just assumed all the cars required the clutch press on start.
>>28966773
There's a few different ways to it, plenty of YouTube tutorials. Putting a switch on the line to the relay of the starter or fuel pump is one.
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>>28967035
>Putting a switch on the line to the relay of the starter or fuel pump is one.
https://files.catbox.moe/3dgofo.jpg
I put the isolator on my E46 on the main feed into the fuel pump; so long as the switch is rated at the same amp as the fuse, it's all good to go. I also prefer a pump isolator to a starter isolator due to the fact that, with a pump isolator, the car *will* start very briefly before shutting back off, which may alert you to the thieves presence and increase the chances of you discovering that your car is in the middle of being stolen. It might also make the thieves think that something is wrong with the car, making them give up and move on after trying to crank it over a few times, whereas a no crank situation might lead them to think an isolator is present, and also give them time to look for said isolator if they feel it's worth it.
I also have one of those twist battery isolators the goes on the negative terminal on a couple of my cars, and if the car I'm in has a distributor, I'll also take the rotor arm out if I feel it necessary.
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Fuck the earplugs make things 100x worse, the studs on the end catch the wind with the windows down and jackhammer buffetting directly into your ear canal. I also think my straight pipe exhaust is resonating in the cabin with the windows up so I can't even quiet things down like that.
Early spring was great because I had my toque pulled down over my ears which acted like muffs.
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>>28967864
The clutch safety switch has no idea what the shifter is doing. In the event of clutch hydraulic failure you can still start it in gear to get it moving off the starter because the pressing the clutch pedal won't actually actuate the clutch, but still make the switch happy. Also, I don't want to bypass it as I said earlier, I want it operating as designed.
t. did just that a couple times
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>>28968309
>>28968340
>zinc green
found pics. this fucking sucks. where is the BRG paint that everybody and their mother is asking for?
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>>28968396
I couldn't find it on Mazda's Japanese website, however there was this swatch online.
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>>28968396
I like the colour. Also like that the top isn't black. The gray soft top was used on a special edition model (known as "SILVER TOP" in Japan). Would be much cooler in summer. Link:
https://newsroom.mazda.com/en/publicity/release/2026/202605/260531a.ht ml
Unveiling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amP0wQcmTcU&t=98s
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>>28968309
https://www.carsized.com/en/cars/compare/mazda-mx-5-1989-roadster-vs-m azda-mx-5-2015-roadster/front/
I was driving next to a lowered NA in my ND and it felt like I was towering over him, I could see into his passenger cabin and it looked like a much smaller car.
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So I was taking my brand new ND3 for a drive and it scared the ever living fuck out of me with how unstable it was in turns, even low speed stoplight turns. Body roll wasn't anything serious so there should be no reason it was so willing to toss the rear out. I figured it had to be tire pressures, and sure enough I was showing 60psi in all four tires. I assume the dealer jacked it up to make the car tail happy for test drives, otherwise I have no idea. By chance yesterday morning, the dealer also sent a spam email about selling me tires for my new car (???) so I'm thinking they tried to set me up to blow one or more up.
Fuck dealers.
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>>28968975
Yeah the ND feels a bit different, doesn't it? I always smile and wave to fellow miatafags but you definitely have the feeling that you're in a Different Car when your ND crosses paths with a cute little headlight-popping NA. It actually is noticeably higher up, bigger, etc. Wouldn't be surprised if the eventual NE pushes the envelope farther into conventionally sporty territory with a big wide body and stuff. Cars can't fucking stop enlargening.
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>>28969068
>I always smile and wave to fellow miatafags
I throw out the shocker like it's still the '00s street scene.
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>>28968396
It's like looking at a very desaturated picture of my own Miata
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>>28969017
They're clearly going after old boomer customers hence their cars getting softer, more luxurious, slow to brake etc. They don't want the young and fun crowd anymore since young people are broke.
>>28969063
Hmm, so I can make my autotragic more fun just by pumping up the tires...
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Insurance renewal came up and managed to get new cover for £410 (was £570 last year).
One perk of growing old I suppose ~~ (>﹏<) ~~
>>28968396
why do they only sell this thing in shitty uggo colours? Aquatic Blue on mine is quite nice.
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>>28969201
No idea how old you are, but consider joining up to the MX5 Owner's Club and getting their Specialist Insurance with Peter James. Cheapest I got on a comparison site was around £300, Peter James quoted me £160. You also get a discount when buying things at Halfords and a couple other places, so it really doesn't take long for the membership to save you a fair chunk of money.
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>>28969063
>60 PSI
were they trying to kill you lmao
should've reamed them, that's crazy
>>28969235
making it lighter is the only way to adhere to increasingly insane emissions standards without performance losses
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>>28969063
There are boomers who religiously believe the max PSI printed on the tire is what it should always be inflated to.
Have had many heated conversations on this when I worked in a tire shop. Usually sent them away because I will not be liable
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Parked next to a giant pickup truck today. These kind of masculinity supplements are not common here, so it was shocking to see its size from up close and compare it to my Fiata. The wheel being taller than my hood was the most impressive thing.
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>>28969201
>Aquatic Blue
It's my favorite ever blue on an Mx-5.
>>28969017
Watched the reveal here >>28968944 and the designer said that they want "industrial colours", like polymetal grey.
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I've a few project cars and can wrench, but I've never looked at miatas. If I wanted one, what years should I look at? Are there still clean examples that are affordable, or are they all destroyed from being drifted into a median?
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How much of a sin is it to just swap out the timing belt rather than doing the whole timing/pump service? I've a new NB with 170,000km and a ever so slightly weeping rocker cover gasket, I wouldn't mind just swapping out the belt while I'm in there so I know it's not going to snap on me. I did the accessory belts the other weekend and one was very brittle so I don't trust timing belt.
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Looking at a 2003 1.8
>52,000 km in 2014
>54,000 km in 2016
>54,000 km in 2018
>57,000 km in 2020
>57,000 km in 2022
>60,239 km in 2024
>60,xxx km today
Exceptional cosmetic condition, but how fucked will it be from being barely driven?
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>>28970250
I've done a few NA/NB timing belts and never seen one with good idler/tensioner pulley bearings. They're not expensive, have one bolt each, and you have to touch the tensioner pulley bolt anyway even if you don't replace it, plus the time you'll waste with the car down if you get it apart and find they are in fact not good and have to order some. The water pump is a little more involved but it also has the possibility of having a bad bearing and/or a leak you can't see with it together. Same goes for the front crank seal and both cam seals. It's your car but I wouldn't skip any of these listed items unless I had personally done them myself on the vehicle in the last few years and they still check out.
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>>28970250
I'd say it's a sin, not on miat but an earlier car I owned I did exactly that and the water pump went out two months later at 150k+ miles (probably due to the new belt anyways considering the timing)
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>>28970265
>>28970586
>>28971118
Thanks, I'll try and get it all done in one.
Follow up unrelated question: Who's swapped out the stock non-bose speakers? I consider the stock ones particularly bad and would like to replace them, is a component set the way to go? I just have the floor speakers and the door tweeters, nothing behind the seats. I'm a solderlet so would rather just run them from the headunit.
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>>28971499
Replacing speakers doesn’t require electrical work. There are positive and negative quick disconnects you just pull off. The hard part is taking off the door panels without snapping any of the clip things, but that’s less of an issue with miats than most cars.
Also, soldering car wires the traditional way, while I do it, is supposedly bad anyway as the solder material can crack and degrade with vibration and humidity/temp changes.
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>>28971499
>>28971545
>The hard part is taking off the door panels without snapping any of the clip things
This. A previous owner of my car had the interior reupholstered, but whoever did it had broken most of the screw hole pegs as the top pad just kind of fell off the door card. I repaired it by slotting some some 8mm ID aquarium tubing over the top of what was left, then I filled them with JBWeld Plastic Epoxy. Still holding up 4 years later, so pretty good bodge if I do say so myself.
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>>28969681
I had the opposite experience in burgerland yesterday. you could probably park this little fucker sideways
idk about the reputation of Rams over there but over here they're the DUI chariot
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>>28971644
Idk if you ever saw a vintage Fiat 500 or Mini, but those are tiny even compared to a Smart Fortwo: the people inside sit lower than in a Miata.
>the reputation of Rams
They're almost unique here in pastaland. Fuckhuge pickups are very rare in general and as such they have no reputation over the obvious "imagine how small their dick must be". Personally I see those trucks as a power fantasy, and I associate them to nutjobs because, on top of the implications of needing a power fantasy on wheels, they're so out of place and impractical that one needs to be not entirely sane nor well adjusted to make such a deliberate choice.
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>>28971687
>Idk if you ever saw a vintage Fiat 500 or Mini, but those are tiny even compared to a Smart Fortwo: the people inside sit lower than in a Miata.
nta, but you'll be surprised at how tall a classic 500 or Mini actually is compared to an MX-5; they're still obviously very small cars, but they're more narrow than they are short, especially so for the 500. Minis are pretty comfy to sit in, but 500s genuinely feel claustrophobic thanks to that excessively narrow body.
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>>28969773
Plenty of clean ones out there. They've sold over a million now. If you're interested in NA or NB, check thoroughly for rust in the rocker panels. Otherwise you can buy most parts used on marketplace from part outs.
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>>28972178
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>>28972242
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>change out clutch master, slave and remove pigtail, replacing with braided line
>now there's a weird rattling noise when I use the clutch even slightly, although not in neutral so it's hard to troubleshoot.
wtf
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Need to get a new exhaust for my NA6, as my original has rusted a hole in it over the back axle. Can't get an original from Mazda, so I have to go aftermarket. This X-Force one is half the price of other brands, but it claims "enhanced sound" on one dealers site. I'd prefer a stock sound. Any ideas? (Australia)
https://xforce.com.au/products/mazda-mx5-na-cat-back-exhaust?_pos=1&_f id=71911661e&_ss=c
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>>28965132
I was doing a clutch job and accidentally pinched my O2 sensor wire.
I cut it off and ran a new one.
Should I loosen all the trans bolts and remove the crushed wire? could it be causing any misalignment issues?
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>>28974927
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>>28975233
>I always liked black windshield frames with a black top.
And the black mirrors.
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to the anon that asked a a thread or two ago about the verus rear diffuser weight - didn't get a chance to actually weigh it, but by my hand estimate it can't weigh any more than 6-7 lbs. the mid body panels, rear suspension panels, and diffuser combined couldn't have weighed more than 12-15 lbs when I held them all together.
that said, after installing them there is now a strange engine/exhaust resonance bordering on rattle that I have to figure out because it's not pleasant.
>do the aero panels work?
idk, it's hard to tell because I swapped my OEM BBS wheels w/CC2's for 17x8 hypergrams with ECS 02's at the same time which make way more of a difference. might be my imagination but it definitely feels like it pulls harder downshifting into 4th at 60-70 mph. butt dyno perceives less overall turbulence around the car.
if I figure out the resonance shit I'll report again after more seat time
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Header wrapped and painted
ITB filters finally cut down to size so they don't hit the shock tower anymore.
Finished the fittings on that big ass fuel filter and the send and return lines are done
Just need to figure out how hard it will be to poke a few wires through the main harness grommet on the transmission tunnel/firewall.
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>>28975839
So far only this episode has a miata, the other time (prior episodes) they took a drive it was another car model can't recall what it was.
Anyways, if there is another scenario where the two main couple needs to go to a remote hotspring location maybe they'll take the miata again but then again it was a friend's car and they were just borrowing it.
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>>28975691
I love the sound of ITB's.
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>>28974962
looks like mine
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>>28978094
It's a fresh self tapper, right at the edge of the wheel which is the only accessible part from the wheel well. Makes me think it was done on purpose and not just bad luck. Canadians are some really shitty people.
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Ok nc+ cucks with tcs enabled every time you turn the car on. What happens if you just rev it up at a standstill and dump the clutch??? like how does it stop you from doing a skid? You have to literally disable the shit anytime you have to do a skid? My problem is I don't plan my skids, the shit it just happens. so like you have to plan skids? Am I understanding this right?