jimbo

Hi Tony I was very interested to read your post re- NC 3.5. Reg KG07 FPX You set up our NC 3.0 a couple of years ago after I had fitted the Eibach springs. I remember that lowereing the car brought the settings much nearer to the ideal but you tweaked it to perfection. The ride and handling is great, with only one downside that is present whether lowered, realigned, or not, that being the car tramlines Additionally when I fitted the rear springs I had no need to remove the adjuster bolts Thanks again Jimbo

I bought an NC Sport last April and was quoted £300 for the Eibach springs which the dealer confirmed did NOT include a geometry set up . MX5 parts ere offering the Eibach Pro kit for about £120 which I ordered and fitted. These SPRINGS were BLACK. A couple of weeks later a friend also bought a set from MX5 parts at less than £100 and they were YELLOW. They were identical in the number of coils and wire diameter to my BLACK ones. I went over to Tony and had a full Geo set up, the car is now absolutely A1. with a measured drop of 25mm from standard. 1/ In addition Mx5 parts sell Mazdaspeed springs which visually are different, the fronts look the same, but the rears have an extra coil. These visual obsevations were made at the MX5parts stand at the recent MX5 O.C National rally. Maybe we should find the correct blue paint, this will ensure that they are of the "correct quality" !!!!!!!!!!!

I had a similar problem once and had to have the wheels balanced whilst still fitted to the car, the unbalance was in the other parts of the rotating assemblies. It was a problem finding this type of balancing equipment but it solved the problem as long as I kept to the same marked stud positions and keeping the same wheel/tyre to the same hub. Jim

Thanks for the set up yesterday the car is now terrific, a creamy ride, dead straight line with excellent turn into corners, bump steer also seems much better. So in conclusion it is apparent that the geometry came much nearer to the correct settings by initially fitting the correct ride height springs (Eibach Pro) and then your final geometry adjustments. What a shame that a very well designed car comes unstuck when the manufacturer fits "the wrong springs" As we all know these Eibachs are specified by Mazda themselves, as their own approved accessory. Guess their overseas sales dept put their oar in to fit higher springs to suit Euro import regs??? Thanks again Tony Jimbo

Sent the "tenner honest" Maybe if you are willing we could work together and discoverer what the hell is going on with the MK3. If we collaborate there maybe an opportunity to confront the dealers and open the doors for many owners displaying the MK3 is or is not correctly set. I am more than willing to volunteer my support technically.

The immediate problem seems to be that you have a an unwanted battery current drain, same effect as leaving your lights on all night. First job is to insulate all those connectors in the boot, should they be shorting together or to the body work then this would drain the battery and be a potential fire hazard. Second you need to check with an ammeter in series with the negative battery connector to see if a large unwanted current is flowing. To drain a fully charged battery sufficiently to give starting problems next morning then the unwanted current would be in the order of several amps. If you do disconnect the battery beware you may need your code to reset the radio but I'm not sure if this is the case with the Mondeo radio. The only other problem that I have come across with severe battery drain is a faulty starter motor but since yours is Ok with a fresh battery then maybe not. I guess if you are unsure of these checks then you need a good "sparks" to help

Thanks for the info Tony, perhaps no surprise that even new cars are not set up right. I will check to see what facility Milcars have for Geomety set up under guarantee and ask them to check it first. Then we can see if they are any good. Hope I dont have to resort to paying for it, but will do if needs be. My Mk1 that you did was perfect after your "set up" even though I never had the chance to bring it in for the free check. Dont forget you said after my praise on a post last year that you owed me a tenner !!! :graduated: Best wishes to all jimbo

Tony Just sold MX-5 Mk1 (set up by yourself) to buy Mk3. At speed the steering seems very quick and twitchy. the tyres are Mitchelin and the suspension set up is standard, being quite a high ride height. The questions are :- does this sound normal handling and should I ask Mazda (Milcars) to check it? Do you have the standard geometry figures for this model so I could compare them to what Mazda may have to say. I know that the Mk1 had several set up adjustments, is it similar to Mk3 ? Any other comments welcome jimbo