Been busy modding

[thebears]

Bit of an intro, recently, well two weeks ago I brought a Eunos 1.8 v-special I think, it's Laguna blue and has some fancy yellow shocks, engine brace and a black hard tops well. Bodywork needs some tlc but not bad for a car of its age.

So far, the door spring broke, luckily I already had the door card off as was messing with the stereo. I have replaced the MSSS system with a Sony XPlod head unit with full iPod control. Installed a cubby hole below the double din with a perfect fit and have some extra storage up front. Took the door speakers out, all the cone rubbers where perished and replaced with a component 6" fusion speakers. Had to mod the tweeters (basically cut them apart and glued the to the inside of the original Mazda covers to keep a stock look. Put new springs on door locks at same time. Thanks to the forum for guides on eyeballs, dash removal, door card removal and the springs.

Next set on the headrests, hacked out the old ones, cut some of the metal support away to get a perfect fit on two 4" sony xplod speakers. At the same time re-drilled the plastic cover to allow more sound out. Re-fitted everything including finding a blown bulb for the ashtray.

Got a beer and the iPod, sat in the car and cranked it up. All sounds pretty good for a $300 spend from supercheap in the sale. Prob about $500 at normal retail.

Next on the job list K&N 57i pod filter with cold air feed, got the kit from uk, very good price compared to what repco sell. After that front and rear brake pads, just need to make my mind up on what to fit.

The list goes on, hard top re-paint, replace rear window of soft top..........

Thanks for the forum as I don't think I would tackle this stuff without the advice.

[thebears]

found out from reading the USA forum that the wheels on my motor are the BBS 14" rims that are lightweight. There are in good nic with centre caps and removal spanner. I read the centre caps alone are worth a fair bit.

Nice wheels, may have to get them refurbed.

[m4vr1k]

We want pics!
A good stereo is essential to the enjoyment of any car IMO, sounds like you have a damn good setup.

[thebears]

We want pics!
A good stereo is essential to the enjoyment of any car IMO, sounds like you have a damn good setup.

Having the new rear panel of the roof fitted tomorrow, fitted new number plates today as the front looks like it was trashed with a few tow bar reversing/parking incidents. Does any one know of a better front mount for the number plate as NZ plates don't fit the original to well.

Had a shocker today, the oil pressure gauge dropped to zero whilst doing a few K's over the limit, pulled up, checked oil all good, water temp all good. Limped home and had another another look with the belly pan off, no major leaks and still a full dipstick. Read that the oil sender unit could be buggered, hard to locate, but pulled the lead off and gave her a clean, restarted and running on idle (warm) just less than 1 kg.cm2 and at 100k about 2.1 is this norm.

Once i get the rear window done, and get the last of my swissol wax onto the body work i'll be taking some pics?

Anyone up for an evening cruse from Auckland? Blat out, head to a pub and talk the crap out of MX5's

[Mr. Shine]

My oil pressure gauge plays up sometimes. It's pretty much constantly reading a bit low now, but if I give the oil pressure sensor connector a bit of a clean it sorts it out... for a while

[Angreal]

I am keen if I buy myself a new socket to get my front shocks swapped. Also need to make a trip down to Hamilton first.

There's this plate holder I've been looking at but could never justify bringing across which hides the plate... Not sure it's legal and i'll have to track down the link

[ham]

Ross at MX5Mart has a rego plate holder made to suit NZ plates. We use them on our NA's. Keeps everything neat.

[Euen]

Are you sure you have a proper oil pressure sender or do you just have the switch. The early NAs had a proper guage and sender however, at some stage, in thier wisdom, Mazda changed the sender to a switch so the guage was just reading an on/off signal. This could explain what you saw on the guage if the connection was dirty.

[thebears]

Are you sure you have a proper oil pressure sender or do you just have the switch. The early NAs had a proper guage and sender however, at some stage, in thier wisdom, Mazda changed the sender to a switch so the guage was just reading an on/off signal. This could explain what you saw on the guage if the connection was dirty.

I think it's the last of the proper gauges as its marked in kg.cm2 and goes up in increments of 2. Working fine today, flicks around a bit but seams ok. I thought the idiot gauge didn't have measurement marks numbered?

[Euen]

2kg/sqcm is about 28psi which should be OK.

Edit: have just been out in my 91 1.6 and the guage sits at 2 kg/sqcm at idle (hot) and rises through 3 at 1500 to about 4 at 2500. Rises to about 4.5 at about 3000 and above. Not bad for a 230K engine that is due for an oil change.

[Ben.Nakagawa]

Mazda changed oil guage sender in 93 or 94. A 1.8 model has no proper guage unless someone replaced the sender.

An older model does constant change over the rev through 2-6 depends on the oil temp and condition of oil.

[m4vr1k]

Anyone up for an evening cruse from Auckland? Blat out, head to a pub and talk the crap out of MX5's

Always keen on a blat in the Mazdarati. Especially if it ends at a pub!

Have a funny story regards oil pressure gauges. Friend had a C35 Laurel with an RB30DET in it. Turbo the size of your face, was laggy as buggery, but as soon as it came on boost, the world ended, anyways.....
He turns up at my house one day, complaining that his oil pressure gauge had shat itself, however, the engine was making some fairly awful noises, so I advised him that his oil pressure gauge was just fine, and to draw a conclusion from that. Friend refuses to beleive me, goes fanging down the road. Five minutes later I get a phone call, which I shall document here verbatim
Me: Hello
Friend: My car just stopped going
Me: HA HA, fucktard -click-

TL;DR friend had a fast car. No oil pressure, bang

[thebears]

Mazda changed oil guage sender in 93 or 94. A 1.8 model has no proper guage unless someone replaced the sender.

An older model does constant change over the rev through 2-6 depends on the oil temp and condition of oil.

some 1.8s do have a proper gauge, mine is one of them as it does change across the rev range, cold start will be about 4.5 dropping to less than 2 at idle whan fully warm. On hard revs it's prob back up to 4.5 again and at 100k around 2.2.

I am due an oil change so will get that done to see if there is a difference.

[Angreal]

My 1.8 also has the proper guage.

[Ben.Nakagawa]

Ah yes, It must be sometime in '94 then. I might red them wrong in some other source.

[Angreal]

http://www.miatamania.com/Shop/ViewProd ... exID=77917

Here's the number plate mount I am looking to get but I'm not sure they're entirely legal and all...

[Skilfil]

Definitely not legal, but if just by looking at it, you can't tell its not normal, I'd say go for it. The risk of a fine is up to you, and depending on how closely Mr.Officer looks at your plate holder.

[Mr. Shine]

I've always thought the lower/side license plate mounts to be quite attractive while still remaining legal.