DaveyR
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Posts posted by DaveyR
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Spent some of the Easter weekend playing about with the damping settings. Tried a number of softer settings than the WIM preferred 14F 12R (Clicks from soft) to get an idea of how soft the ride goes. Surprisingly supple at 8F 6R, with a slight trade-off in terms of loss of general sharpness, slightly softer turn in etc. I'd say that the ride is more comfortable in most scenarios than the previous suspension at this setting, soaking up lumps and bumps very nicely and controlling body movement well. Apart from on the most broken/sharp edged tarmac (i.e. the bits that really should be repaired!) where there is no escaping that this is suspension oriented at performance rather than comfort and you do get shaken around a little!
I've set the damping to 12F 10R for my daily commute this week to see how I get on, as I prefer the sharpness and tighter control over the softest settings i've tried so far. All in all enjoying the handling of the car and playing with different settings (and boring my lovely wife by describing the changes I have made each time
).Next on the agenda is taking my car to my friendly mechanic to try and track down and remedy a noise or two. Also thinking about some of the IL Motorsports underbody braces, as although considerably stiffer than previous generations there is definitely noticeable flex on occasions and numerous people seem to report good things about some of the braces available. Does anyone here have any opinions on these?
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"progressive coefficient tyre saturation limit..."
Brilliant, love it!
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The Gaz shocks from MX5 parts look quite similar to me, I may be missing something but they look like they are the same? Anyone feel free to correct me! It looks like changing ride height on the GAZ shocks will change the preload on the springs, as opposed to the BC Racing for example where you can adjust the shock body length without changing the preload on the springs, meaning you can lower the car without affecting either the overall travel or preload. I may be wrong, but from what I read when I was considering options for my car that seemed to be one of the major talking points.
Re. the ride quality Funky, I have yet to play around with the damping settings. It's currently set to 14 Front/12 Rear clicks from full soft and I will probably play around with that, and also allow a few hundred miles for the shocks to bed in. Once I've done that then I will be able to give you a more comprehensive opinion, or as I mentioned you can come and find out for yourself
The quality of the damping is far better than the Mazdaspeed setup I had on the car previously, but it is significantly firmer overall (at the current damping settings, so my opinion is solely formed on these currently!), however it doesn't crash or ride the bump stops over harsh surfaces like my previous setup, and the wheels actually stay in contact with the ground over rough surfaces rather than the car skipping sideways across the road as it seemed to previously.
In handling terms, with a slightly less "safe" setup than the standard WIM fast road, so far I am loving it. The combination of the Coilovers and the geo have made it incredibly agile. It doesn't understeer and it takes so little time to settle when going into a corner or changing direction. Also, potentially the LSD at play as well as the geo settings but squeezing the throttle part way round a corner or on corner exit noticeably tightens the line and the car just pulls out of the corner.
As I say though, I will give you a more comprehensive opinion once the shocks have had a few hundred miles on them and i've played with the damper settings.
Hmmmm, I seem to have waffled for a quite a while.........
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The MX5 went to WIM yesterday to have the BC Racing coilovers fitted. My previous shocks had completely blown at the rear, prompting either a replacement of current shocks or something different. I wasn't too impressed with the mazdaspeed setup, it was alright in terms of stiffness/roll but the damping was lacking. The wheels tended to lose contact with the ground over bumps, not to mention the car seemed to spend a lot of time on the bumpstops making for crashy progress at times. So I decided I didn't want to spend my hard earned replacing something I wasn't all that enamoured with in the first place!
So given a lot of positive feedback about the BC Racing coilovers across the internet and from WIM themselves I took the plunge. Joe has the fitting down to an art it seems as it only took 2 hours to remove and replace all 4 corners before moving onto Tony to work his geo magic! Although it's a poor phone pic and the car is a little dirty I thought i'd pop up a picture of how the car is currently sitting:
Thanks guys!
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Ok Joe, will do! Thanks
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Yep, you guys were busy! Which is great because it obviously means business is good, as it should be with your expertise and customer service mentality! And don't worry, i'll definitely have a play around with the adjustable side of things and get an idea of the range of soft -> hard and possibly the balance of the car. Although right now the balance feels pretty nice, zero understeer at sane speeds, the front of the car just turns and points exactly where you ask it to.
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Funky, if you ever want to sample an MX5 just like yours, but on coilovers and are in the area (Chesham) then you'd be more than welcome to come for a ride in mine. Not Gaz, BC Racing, but should be relatively similiar in terms of the ride quality attainable.
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Just want to say thanks to Joe and Tony for the install and setup of the BC Racing coilovers on my MX5 today. Also it was nice to speak to you both face to face.
It looks fantastic. It was already lowered over standard but now it sits even better! I'll post up impressions on ride etc soon when I've had a chance to drive it a little more, but already impressed with the improvement in quality of damping over what was on there.
Re. The noise Joe noticed on the test drive, that's a new one to me, so I now have 2 separate noises to track down! Hehe. Really appreciated you guys taking a little extra time to try and track down the noise though regardless.
Will be back with pictures and impressions soon!
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That's good to hear Tony! Really looking forward to having some decent suspension on the car, and who better to sort that than yourselves.
Once the suspension is sorted, next job is tracking down what is causing a noticeable click (more a click than a knock) from the front right area almost every time I brake! Not always instant upon applying brakes, but doesn't do it when just decelerating without braking. I replaced the drop-links on the front about a month ago myself (that was a learning experience, I officially hate rusted nuts, what a ball-ache!) as trundling along in traffic was causing a constant light knocking every time I accelerated or decelerated. New drop-links seemed to fix that, but now I have another noise!
I will eventually get everything just-so!!
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The MX5 is going into WIM tomorrow morning to have the BC Racing coilovers fitted. Quite excited really! I can't wait to try them out, and also be able to drive the car properly again. I've been driving around like a Granny the last week or so to avoid the banging and/or any extra damage! And thanks to Joe for being very helpful and polite when i've been on the phone to sort this out, much appreciated.
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Just thought i'd add my appreciation for this car. Love skylines and this looks like a beautifully looked after example and credit to you. Would love to own one one day!
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Have to agree with you on that one, I do like the mk2 best out of mk1 and 2. Yep, they are not the largest cars and I can see that taller people would have serious leg and headroom issues!
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Thanks for the kind words Tony! It does look great when it's clean eh. Agreed on the timelessness of the design. Looking at the Mk1 and Mk2 MX5s which still look so right, hopefully this design will age in the same way. I'll try and take some more photos when it stops raining long enough to get it nice and shiny!
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Oooh, that sounds good Tony.
How comes they are going cheaper? -
Having posted in the forum when I originally got this car I thought it was about time I actually posted up a picture of the car! It's relatively standard, the only real changes from original are the small rear lip spoiler, removal of the badges other than the Mazda emblem on the rear, nice shiny new gear knob, and until now the car has had Mazdaspeed shocks and springs and ARBs (Springs are Tokico blues, and springs and ARBs are identical to Eibach's offerings I believe. Although as per my original thread in the suspension section hopefully there will soon be improvements made in this area.
This picture was taken before I actually fitted the gearknob properly with some threadlocker!
It's nothing too special, and could really do with a slightly more vocal exhaust, but this is it as it stands so far!
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It's been a little while now since I bought the mx5. Firstly I shall address the last comment that Tony made, Gear knob was one of the very first things to address! Now has one of these machined aluminium knobs:
The car has now covered almost 10,000 miles in my company since September. I need a second car so I can stop racking up the miles on this one! The suspension is showing the signs of the mileage on Bucks/Herts roads as my left rear shock now appears to have leaked all of its fluid and every time I go over the smallest bump in the road it sounds like someone is hitting the inside of my left rear wheel arch with a hammer!
I have been on the phone to WIM about sorting it out. In the end I wasn't all that impressed with the control of the Mazdaspeed option suspension (turned out to be Tokico blue shocks and similar springs to the Eibachs from what I have gathered), as soon as the road gets choppy the shocks seem to lose the ability to control the wheel movement and it gets very choppy and crashy. So rather than replacing shocks I am thinking of going for the BC Racing coilovers. Hopefully they will offer a nice balance between the stiffness and lack of roll of the old setup, but actually do a better job of absorbing the bumps and keeping the wheels in contact with the road!
Anyways, I will throw up an update once the final decision has been made and the work completed. And whilst I'm at it I should probably throw up a picture of the car in question somewhere, although it doesn't look all that special, mostly a fairly standard MX5!
Dave
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Oh I do subscribe to that law Tony, i'm just not sure my wife shares my enthusiasm for shiny car bits! Otherwise i'm sure I could rack up a fair old credit card bill on this car, new wheels, bc coilovers, full ss exhaust + remap, etc!!
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Just another quick thanks to the guys at WIM for bringing my attention to my rapidly seizing bolts and for sorting them out this morning.
Now to try and resist spending money on shiny new bits for the car!
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Ok, brilliant! Thanks
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Yep
And don't worry, I have plenty of those too -
Yeah, that makes sense, no point in solving one issue only to have to solve another if they stretch and start to get loose. Are the relevant bolts something I can order through WIM in Chesham when booking the car in for the bolts and re-alignment, or should i order them from mx5parts for example? I see that there are quite a few bolts in total, and a couple of different sets at the front. No mention of rear alignment bolts though? I looked under the back of the car last night and could have sworn I saw what looked the same as the alignment bolts with a cam plate holding one of the rear suspension components on either side.
Sorry for asking so many questions. I feel like a nagging pain in the ass!
Just trying to make sure I don't miss anything. -
If the alignment nuts/bolts are so corroded they are near seizing, would it be best if i bought replacement sets to be fitted, rather than just have the old removed and re-greased? Or would that be a waste of money?
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Hi Tony, it is definitely my intention to keep it for a while, unforeseen circumstances aside! I'm not keen on skimping when it comes to looking after my cars so I wouldn't want to leave it be and hope for the best that's for sure
I'll have to work out when i'd be able to bring it in for a couple of hours and then phone the guys in Chesham to book it in. Thanks for the input -
So, the car has now been into WIM and geo set to WIM's fast road setup. All done by Luke I think, who explained all of the original positions and changes required. thanks Luke!
Have only driven to work so far, although immediate impression is increased steering weight, more of a connection to the road through the wheel compared to before where i found it a little light. I look forward to some more spirited drives!
One thing he did flag up was that the adjuster bolts are not far from seizing and that it would be wise to have the bolts removed and re-greased within the next 6 months, followed by geo again. I'm a little but worried about things seizing in the meantime, is it worth me just stumping up the cash now rather than later and bringing it back into WIM to have the bolts re-greased and geo done again, for the sake of saving myself money down the line if things seize up? Combined with rear p-zero's with 4mm or so tread remaining, it could be an expensive first few months of ownership!
Another MX5 2.0 Sport!
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Will definitely look into some bracing then.