DanM's Westfield Miata

[DanM]

The sun was out and the garage doors were open!  The weather has been great this weekend and I managed to spend some time on the car.

 

First, I had some loose ends to take care.  Although I had finished the front and tunnel brake lines I still had the two at the rear to install.  Once completed I then blew out all the lines with compressed air to get rid of any debris that may have been lurking inside.

 

Tunnel Insulation 

While the tunnel is still clear and free from wiring etc., I wanted to install my Koolmat heat shield.  First, as it was nice and warm outside I relocated my working area to the patio table where I had a bit more room...

 

...and then I made some cardboard templates.

 

These were then used to draw out the shape of the panels on the roll of Koolmat.

 

Using some tin snips I was easily able to cut out the shape without any hassle.  Then comes the tricky part (for me at least), attaching the cutouts to the panels is a one shot deal because of the strong adhesive backing.  Starting at one end I carefully positioned the insulation and slowly peeled off the backing. For the larger ones I cut them in smaller manageable pieces.  Its not perfect, but I'm happy with result.  I just need to finish the edges and joints with high temp. tape and I'll be done the tunnel area.

Wiring prep.

 

The last activity for the weekend was to start getting my head back into the wiring by starting some wire run prep.  I drilled and tapped the 5mm ground screws at the back and rivetted the wiring zip tie connectors along the tunnel and rear chassis.  Same procedure as always, Drill, deburr and clean, then spray with wax before riveting.

 

[DanM]

Sound deadening

 

While I was in the rhythm for cutting and sticking, I made a start adding some Kilmat to the footwells and floor panels. 

 

 

I'm leaving the bulkhead panel until I figure out how I want to secure the fuel lines there (Rivet or screw).

 

I think this task will continue on an ad-hoc basis throughout the build.  I find it quite relaxing and a nice "Fill in time" exercise.

[DanM]

 Rear Control Arms

 

I made a start on the rear Control Arms today.  It was nice to take some of the larger parts off my shelving unit and see some space.  Looks like progress! 🤣

 

I didn't have a 1/2" tap as the manual suggested (all mine are metric) so decided to gently run through a wire brush to clean out some of the surface rust and debris from the threads and blew it out with compressed air.  The bushings seem to screw in fine.

 

 

It says in the manual to use 7/16 hardware so I emptied out my bag of 7/16 fasteners on the bench and rummaged through them.

 

 

There were 2 sizes of 7/16 flat washers so I went for the smaller size, for no other reason than there were more of them!  If anyone knows different let me know! 🙂

 

 

The lower wishbone seemed to go on without too much massaging of the bracket.

 

 

Not so much joy with the upper.  It seems that the chassis has another "Feature" that may need to be corrected.  The bracket seems to be 2-3mm out and will need adjusting. Any other builders experience this?

 

 

[DanM]

 .....on closer inspection it looks like the brake lines will also interfere (with the diff mounting bracket) so will need to be re-run..... Time to break out the NiCop coil and flaring kit again! 

[DanM]

 So after a bit of time "massaging" the brackets I managed to get the rear wishbones in place on both sides. 

 

With that done, I also tried my luck at installing the diff mounting bracket. I did have to bend the brake lines slightly and reduce the diameter on a couple of flat washers to stop the interference, but in the end it seemed to work out ok.  Tomorrow I will see how the top of the diff mount lines up....I didn't have the energy for checking that today.  Time for beer! 🍻

 

 

 

 

[DanM]

Managed to get 2 half days in the garage this weekend which was awesome!  For those that aren't familiar with the climate in southern Ontario, the winters are  cold and the summers are  hot and humid.  We got a taster of that this weekend with humid temperatures in the 30Cs.  Needless to say the fans were on full!! 🥵

 

Front Control Arms

 

First task on Saturday was turning my focus to the front Control Arms.  To my surprise and joy all the brackets lined up nicely! (Woohoo! Crowd goes wild!) Sadly, however my euphoria was short lived when I discovered that I was sent two different tie rod ends for the front upper Control Arms! One of them was in a bad shape and the threads were not compatible with the arm.

 

 

 

Photos have been sent to Manik, so hopefully I'll get a resolution pretty soon. Not to be deterred, I continues with the front control arms and headlight bracket install which went pretty smoothly. I couldn't for the life of me find a 30mm M8 bolt for the headlight bracket (As per the manual) so I'll leave it for now and see if one mysteriously pops up later!

 

 

 

RHS control arm without tie rod end!

 

 

LHS Headlamp bracket spacer

 

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by DanM

[DanM]

Today was a real mixed bag of stuff...

 

New Front Hubs

 

My garage has shelving all over. On one side is all the donor parts that I stripped and painted last year (Hidden behind the snow blower, garbage cans and other random stuff) and on the other side is all the new shiny stuff from Westfield.  Today was the day that I started to tuck in to the donor stuff!

 

When I tore the MX-5 apart last year there were a few items that were unusable and needed replacing. One of these were the front hubs. I ordered most of my replacement parts from RockAuto.com so it was nice to open some boxes that had been sitting there for 9 months and assemble them.

 

New hubs and Lower ball joint with my refurbished (and painted with POR-15) spindles.

 

Ready to be installed and torqued on the car.

 

 

I thought the lower ball joint mounting bolt would be part of the kit, however reading the manual, it seems that I needed to take that from the donor.  Thankfully I kept lots of small parts just in case and found the original bolts.

 

Out came the Evapo-rust (Love this stuff) and in they went. We'll see what they look like tomorrow......

 

Nothing else I can do here today so on with something else...

 

GRP Diff Panel

 

After a brief reach out on WSCC UK's "Tech Talk" I decided I would screw the GRP diff panel to the chassis.  I bought myself a cheap Rivnut tool on Amazon which I figured would be fine for the smaller screws and then spent the afternoon installing the rivnuts. 

 

The panel didn't quite fit right so I had to trim it a little with the Dremel and smooth it off with some fine sand paper.

 

Happy with that!

 

When I do the final fit I will install some weather stripping underneath to stop any dirt and debris sifting in.

 

More Kilmat

 

This evening I installed a bit more Kilmat. This stuff is so easy to work with.

 

Peeling off the backing...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by DanM

[MV8]

Don't forget to use anti-sieze on bolt shanks and threads that won't get a nylock nut. Comes in brush cap jars in aluminum, copper or nickle for exhaust parts. One jar lasts most folks a life time and it doesn't dry out. Makes future removal a breeze. Keeps bushing liners from sticking to the bolt shanks with corrosion. If you only use one, it should be copper as it will work ok on exhaust parts too. Usually stocked in auto parts stores.

 

 

[DanM]

26 minutes ago, MV8 said:

 

Don't forget to use anti-sieze on bolt shanks and threads

 

Thanks for the reminder. I bought a pot of Copper last week and have been using it for the screw in bushing threads and tie rod end threads. I’ve not put any on the bolt shanks through the bushing liners, I’ll go back and do that.

[DanM]

Differential Prep

 

One item that I did not get around to prepping last year (other than the engine, the transmission.........) was the differential.  I managed to get my hands on a 99-05, 7" Torsen LSD with driveshaft and CV axles to swap out the 6" open diff from my 1990 donor.

 

Not planning a major overhaul, just cleaning it out, installing new seals and plugs and attaching my bolt on Reinforcement plates from KPower Industries.  I also bought Poly bushings, but the original ones look in great condition so I'll keep them. 

 

First job was to separate the gears from the casing.

 

Then gave it a good clean out with lacquer thinner, brake clean and a plastic scraper.

 

 

 

Finally, I cleaned out the bolt threads with an 8mm 1.0 tap. 

 

Tomorrow I'll attach the reinforcement plates, give it one more clean out and fit the seals.

 

 

Edited May 19, 2022 by DanM

[DanM]

So, I didn't get around to installing the seals today, I'm going to do that just before I reassemble the diff. I did however find some time to install the bolt on differential arm reinforcement plate.

 

For those that aren't aware, one of the Miata diff mounting arms has a couple of notches cut out of them.  This is a failure point that has been designed onto the arm so that it will break in the event of a collision.

 

Unfortunately, this is also a failure point for those that have decided to put some extra power in the car and is known to break under heavy load.  As I'm considering putting a turbo in the car down the road I figured I would strengthen the area with one of the many reinforcement plates available on the market.  I decided to go for the bolt on option.

 

The kit comes with two billet plates and the necessary hardware.  You just need a 25/64 drill bit and some wrenches.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2022 by DanM

[Austin David]

maybe a little late, but have you driven a powered miata?  I have a 99 running about 200whp, and if I could change one thing I'd make the diff a little taller.  Shedding half the weight would make me want this even more.

 

I'm only a few hundred miles in my cat (which has the same transmission + similar final ratio), but when touring I also feel like a little lower ratio would be nice.  75mph @ 4k RPM, there's a lot of available power in top gear, but I would also be ok with less power + downshifting...

[DanM]

Hey Austin, 

 

Thanks for the insight on the gearing, what gear ratio do you have in yours?  Mine is a 3.9.

[Austin David]

I think I'm at 3.9 in my NB.  Stock torsen, which is fantastic.  But first gear is mostly for show...

 

I thought I saw a 3.6 option, but I don't recall where.  I only have 175k on mine so it might be a whole before I wear it out

[DanM]

Yes, there seems to be a 3.6 available for Europe and Australia, not sure how available they are over here in north America.

[MV8]

Trying to remember, but I think it is certain year model rav 4s that have an interchangeable diff that accepts the miata 94+ halfshafts and winged case, but the ratio is about 3:1.

[DanM]

Thanks @MV8, definitely worth further investigation for future reference! 

[DanM]

I (Almost) finished off the diff today.  First I installed the new CV axle seals.

 

 

 

Then moved on to the pinion seal.  I needed to buy a 26mm socket for this one, so as soon as it arrived this afternoon I cracked on with the job.

 

Off came the bolt (with a little help from my home made lever).

 

The flange came straight off and there was a destroyed seal underneath....I'm so glad I took the time to check this!!

 

Old seal out and a quick clean up with lacquer thinner on a rag.

 

New seal in.

 

Flange back on

 

I just need to get a new nyloc bolt and I'll be ready to install.

Edited May 24, 2022 by DanM

[DanM]

Today I picked up some nuts and bolts from my local Mazda dealership.  If you recall I hoped to salvage the front ball joint flange bolts from my donor. Well, after a day or so in evapo-rust I pulled them out to find that they were in bad shape.  I searched at my local fastener store with no success, so ordered some from Mazda along with a new companion flange locknut.  Mazda didn't have the ball joint flange bolts in stock but located two in Chicago and shipped them in for me.

 

Ball joint flange bolt

 

Companion flange nut

 

With these in hand I was able to finish the diff

 

...and continue assembling the front ball joints and knuckles. LHS first..

 

and with the knuckles loosely in place.

 

Does this look right to you?

 

and this?

 

No joy with the front RHS yet.  I am still awaiting the upper control arm tie rod end issue to be resolved by Westfield.  The replacement they sent didn't work either!  Weird situation, the end on the LHS fits the RHS perfectly, but appears to be a non standard part for the SDV.  Maybe I have the wrong control arms!? who knows!  What ever the issue, there's not much I can do there until its resolved!

 

Even if I did have the correct part, I wouldn't have got very far. The powder coat on the lower control arm flaked off as I offered up the ball joint.  Had to spray some rustoleum on it and will have to wait until tomorrow to continue.

 

 

[Austin David]

are you using the MSM lower tie rod ends?  I'm not sure how different the 90 knuckles are... 

 

I rebuilt the 4 corners of my 99 NB; my dad got it in '04 with 24k, and I took it at 125k in '12.  Rebuilt the corners at 150k and ended up replacing 100% of the hardware.  Enough of it was suspicious and the rest was relatively cheap.  Compared to coilovers and everything rubber, anyway.  Some of those parts like to hold mud & water, I'm not surprised that they're in rough shape after 30 years -- even on a car that was relatively well kept (if well loved).