Miata thread 2.0

[golftdibrad1]

I hit a very deserted tail of the dragon on a very cold friday afternoon, had a good run. That high compression engine felt like it had 10 extra torques on that cold day. This car is great.

[max225]

[golftdibrad1]

I'll post a miata update this week.

[golftdibrad1]

Gave the beast a bath this weekend, despite knowing it was about to rain, it was that dirty. Stayed pretty nice

9750 miles, approaching first oil change. I have a feeling it will be a pain, but what car isnt these days. Well, the beemer is pretty easy i guess; its THE ONLY easy thing on that fucker.

anywho, miata stuff. Miata is great, is the best, still love the thing. Its so pretty. Its fast. It's like the baseline for how cars should feel and behave. I really love it stock, just the way it is. I might get stickier rubber when these tires wear out. I guess if I was being ulta critical the steering wheel could be a little beefier, but there are good aftermarket options if I ever decide to make that upgrade. honestly, not a lot of wants to fuck with a good thing tho.

This one will be around for a while. I guess in a few years we will see what mazda comes up with for the NE; rumors are it will be some flavor of hybrid . Anyway, if the NE doesn't suck maybe I could end up in one of those, but I think this car is hard to top.

[MrH42]

This happened to me on Sunday. I posted this on the other forum I'm on. Just thought I'd repost here as a warning to Brad.

I'm on a roll just fucking things up in my life these days. First I clipped a truck with the Lightning. Got that back after months in the shop. I think to myself: "Great, I can finally get the new wheels on the Miata now."

I go to take off the ugly ass OEM wheels, so I can throw those with the new wheels into the truck and get the tires and TPMS sensors swapped.

I start jacking up the front of the Miata. It has a very small front jack point on the subframe, and the car is really low. Using my tiny low profile aluminum jack from Harbor Freight. The vehicle slid off the jack, with the jack still almost fully extended.

The jack went up through the underbody panel and hit the steering rack. It's toast. Broke the casting.

I feel like I'm going to puke. Now I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to do. Car isn't drivable. I would have to tow it to a Mazda dealer to get it down.

I bought the shop manual for 24 hours to do some investigating. It doesn't look too bad? Turns out: there's a YouTube video made by a guy where the same fucking thing happened!!!



There are a lot of comments, many of which are very recent, of the exact same thing happening to other people. I guess that front jack point is very slick and small. The video at least gave me some courage to do it myself. I'm buying Quick Jacks so I never have to worry about it again and to make this project easier. I can use them to service the other cars too.

$1500+ for a new steering rack. $1500+ for Quick Jacks. And a handful of weekends laying on the garage floor and cursing.

[MrH42]

The yellow highlighted part is what you're supposed to use for the front. So tiny. And the undercoating is all black and slippery. The jack has to slide forward as it keeps going up, and just slid right off the front. The red X is where it punched through.

[Melon2.0]

This happened to me on Sunday. I posted this on the other forum I'm on. Just thought I'd repost here as a warning to Brad.

I'm on a roll just fucking things up in my life these days. First I clipped a truck with the Lightning. Got that back after months in the shop. I think to myself: "Great, I can finally get the new wheels on the Miata now."

I go to take off the ugly ass OEM wheels, so I can throw those with the new wheels into the truck and get the tires and TPMS sensors swapped.

I start jacking up the front of the Miata. It has a very small front jack point on the subframe, and the car is really low. Using my tiny low profile aluminum jack from Harbor Freight. The vehicle slid off the jack, with the jack still almost fully extended.

The jack went up through the underbody panel and hit the steering rack. It's toast. Broke the casting.

I feel like I'm going to puke. Now I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to do. Car isn't drivable. I would have to tow it to a Mazda dealer to get it down.

I bought the shop manual for 24 hours to do some investigating. It doesn't look too bad? Turns out: there's a YouTube video made by a guy where the same fucking thing happened!!!



There are a lot of comments, many of which are very recent, of the exact same thing happening to other people. I guess that front jack point is very slick and small. The video at least gave me some courage to do it myself. I'm buying Quick Jacks so I never have to worry about it again and to make this project easier. I can use them to service the other cars too.

$1500+ for a new steering rack. $1500+ for Quick Jacks. And a handful of weekends laying on the garage floor and cursing.

OOF

Man that sucks, but at least there's a documented DIY fix for it.

[golftdibrad1]

*miserable story of terrible thing*

$1500+ for a new steering rack. $1500+ for Quick Jacks. And a handful of weekends laying on the garage floor and cursing.

Holy shit man, thanks so much for the heads up, 'cause I will be putting her in the air soon for the oil change. Thats an awful mishap, and my shiny new jack does struggle bus this inherent trigonometry problem on my rough as fuck old asphalt driveway.

I should also just buy a quickjack even tho I just dropped 200 plus on the floor jack. The issue to overcome is mostly where to store the fucking thing.

Amazon chinacom ripoffs for 7kip version are 1500. Would make servicing the qx80 much more pleasant as well.

[MrH42]

*miserable story of terrible thing*

$1500+ for a new steering rack. $1500+ for Quick Jacks. And a handful of weekends laying on the garage floor and cursing.

Holy shit man, thanks so much for the heads up, 'cause I will be putting her in the air soon for the oil change. Thats an awful mishap, and my shiny new jack does struggle bus this inherent trigonometry problem on my rough as fuck old asphalt driveway.

I should also just buy a quickjack even tho I just dropped 200 plus on the floor jack. The issue to overcome is mostly where to store the fucking thing.

Amazon chinacom ripoffs for 7kip version are 1500. Would make servicing the qx80 much more pleasant as well.

If I had to do it again, I should have just gone up on ramps first, and used my giant jack that's more stable.

I spent $1500 for mine. Quick Jack has 20% off through today. I got the 7,000 lb one. Apparently it's right on the ragged edge for the miata though and it's tiny frame. I wanted something I could use on the Lightning and RDX too though. We'll see how it works out. Some made some wooden blocks to go with it to make it easier to use on a miata.

[Desertbreh]

*miserable story of terrible thing*

$1500+ for a new steering rack. $1500+ for Quick Jacks. And a handful of weekends laying on the garage floor and cursing.

Holy shit man, thanks so much for the heads up, 'cause I will be putting her in the air soon for the oil change. Thats an awful mishap, and my shiny new jack does struggle bus this inherent trigonometry problem on my rough as fuck old asphalt driveway.

I should also just buy a quickjack even tho I just dropped 200 plus on the floor jack. The issue to overcome is mostly where to store the fucking thing.

Amazon chinacom ripoffs for 7kip version are 1500. Would make servicing the qx80 much more pleasant as well.

They sell hooks to put them on the garage wall or just use your own.

[golftdibrad1]

Holy shit man, thanks so much for the heads up, 'cause I will be putting her in the air soon for the oil change. Thats an awful mishap, and my shiny new jack does struggle bus this inherent trigonometry problem on my rough as fuck old asphalt driveway.

I should also just buy a quickjack even tho I just dropped 200 plus on the floor jack. The issue to overcome is mostly where to store the fucking thing.

Amazon chinacom ripoffs for 7kip version are 1500. Would make servicing the qx80 much more pleasant as well.

They sell hooks to put them on the garage wall or just use your own.

yes. Here is my problem: no garage.

Option one is close ish to the cars in the screen porch closet, 4 steps of stairs. Also, enivitibally shit will get put in front of them (only hanging space is back wall, tiny closet 4-5' deep) and increase PITA factor to use.

Option two is the shed / shop where there is plenty of space, but its far away from cars down a hill with 12' or so of elevation and an unimproved path. so every time it needs using there is 400lbs of 'quick' jack to drag up the hill and prob three trips to do it.

All this being said, I think i'll watch for sales and/or used locally and snag one next time they are on sale. MrH's sale ended yesterday.

[Desertbreh]

They sell hooks to put them on the garage wall or just use your own.

yes. Here is my problem: no garage.

Option one is close ish to the cars in the screen porch closet, 4 steps of stairs. Also, enivitibally shit will get put in front of them (only hanging space is back wall, tiny closet 4-5' deep) and increase PITA factor to use.

Option two is the shed / shop where there is plenty of space, but its far away from cars down a hill with 12' or so of elevation and an unimproved path. so every time it needs using there is 400lbs of 'quick' jack to drag up the hill and prob three trips to do it.

All this being said, I think i'll watch for sales and/or used locally and snag one next time they are on sale. MrH's sale ended yesterday.

They are heavy and unwieldy betches no doubt and they roll around on these itty bitty rubber wheels that really only work on flat concrete. You are beeg and strong but you'll be doing some farmer's walks with those things.

[D Griff]

Damn man, sorry to hear about the steering rack stitch, what a PITA. Sounds like it could/would happen to anyone though.

Quick Jack does sound nice but man storing it does not sound nice.

Knoxville area had no garages either? I guess it is just a southern thing. No houses here built before the 80s have them.

[golftdibrad1]

Damn man, sorry to hear about the steering rack stitch, what a PITA. Sounds like it could/would happen to anyone though.

Quick Jack does sound nice but man storing it does not sound nice.

Knoxville area had no garages either? I guess it is just a southern thing. No houses here built before the 80s have them.

We do have tons, lots of basement houses. Our house has lots of history; OG build didnt have one, big expansion in the early 70's had one added, and it was later converted into an apartment.

[Melon2.0]

Quick Jack does sound nice but man storing it does not sound nice.

It's not too bad keeping it in the garage but, beyond that I'd have hesitations.

[Desertbreh]

Quick Jack does sound nice but man storing it does not sound nice.

It's not too bad keeping it in the garage but, beyond that I'd have hesitations.

Hydraulic hoses and fittings which in concert put a 5000 plus pound item into the air that you intend to lay under? Nah.

[Melon2.0]

It's not too bad keeping it in the garage but, beyond that I'd have hesitations.

Hydraulic hoses and fittings which in concert put a 5000 plus pound item into the air that you intend to lay under? Nah.

There's a safety bar!

I still use mine frequently, although the CT4 doesn't fit, it's too long with very specific jacking points.

[MrH42]

I'm going to see what it looks like when it gets here. I have a 3 car garage, with all 3 vehicles parked in it. It's pretty tight though, with the snow blower, a mower, etc in front of the miata.

I'll probably go the route of hanging them on the wall once I figure it all out. Once you do the initial setup and bleed of the system, when you go to store, you can just disconnect the hoses, right? You don't need to go through a whole bleed procedure when you reconnect? If you do, I'm going to try to find a way to mount the power unit on the wall or something with them so I don't have to do that everytime I want to use them.

[golftdibrad1]

I'm going to see what it looks like when it gets here. I have a 3 car garage, with all 3 vehicles parked in it. It's pretty tight though, with the snow blower, a mower, etc in front of the miata.

I'll probably go the route of hanging them on the wall once I figure it all out. Once you do the initial setup and bleed of the system, when you go to store, you can just disconnect the hoses, right?

Correct. I've used them before, its a pretty great tool.

[max225]

I have a 3 car garage,

[MrH42]

I have a 3 car garage,

I just wish they it was like 6 feet deeper. The truck has maybe a 1.5' total of wiggle room front to back from the wall to the door.

[Melon2.0]

For oil changes and simple maintenance, I got some Race Ramps. Initially for the long approach angle to get under the C5, but they're so light I can store them out of the way on my shelves.

[Desertbreh]

Hydraulic hoses and fittings which in concert put a 5000 plus pound item into the air that you intend to lay under? Nah.

There's a safety bar!

I still use mine frequently, although the CT4 doesn't fit, it's too long with very specific jacking points.

Oh I use the safety bar. I'm still not storing that stuff outside. The BMW jack points are very close together, the Mercedes is ALMOST too far apart, but it works.

[Desertbreh]

I just wish they it was like 6 feet deeper. The truck has maybe a 1.5' total of wiggle room front to back from the wall to the door.

Skimping on garage size is a national tragedy.

[Melon2.0]

I'm still not storing that stuff outside.

We're on the same page and, in agreement.