Month: April 2020

Now that things are about as buttoned up as they will ever be for the Craigslist Miata, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to head into the hills for an afternoon shakedown just to make sure all those “improvements” that we’ve been making are holding together. The route was Mullholland Highway through the rolling hills of Malibu. After over 200 miles in the canyon, we can proudly report that this car feels better than ever.

Another excuse to head up to Malibu was a little first-hand research for a little secret project I like to call “Malibu Pizza.” It’s essentially an Initial D ripoff relocated to Southern California. The new Takumi drives an NA with a stack of pizzas on the parcel shelf and masters the downhill momentum drift to make sure he doesn’t smoosh the cheese.

Continue reading “Malibu Shakedown”

Hopefully, this is the last piece of the puzzle that will remedy the Craigslist Miata’s shortcomings on track. While on the phone with the guys at Mazda Motorsports, in addition to selling me a bronze shifter bushing and a new slave cylinder, suggested I upgrade to their “competition” motor mounts. Part of the problem I was facing, as explained by the expert, is the way the Miata’s power plant frame can flex and actually twist under extreme load (like 7,000 RPM) and is a known issue when upshifting from an even-numbered gear. This is due to everything not quite lining up like it does when the car is at rest. Whether or not the Mazda Motorsports mounts prove themselves to be superior, anything is an improvement over running with bent and broken motor mounts.

Continue reading “MAZDASPEED Motor Mounts or That Doesn’t Look Right”

This one has been a long time coming. Ever since first seeing some of Marco Fernandez’s (better known as MFREX) artwork laid out on adhesive backing I wanted to commission a sitting for the Craigslist Miata. After quite a few friendly notes we have what lay before you. A limited run of slaps have been printed, available in person only.

As we found out during our last attempt at Time Attack the Mazda Miata clutch slave cylinder is known to be the weak link in that system and apparently requires regular replacement. As it turns out, the most likely culprits for my non-shifting misadventures were either boiled brake fluid (in the clutch) and or a blown-out slave cylinder. One look at the fluid and it was quite dark in color indicating all the bad things that could happen to hydraulic fluid. Once up inside the wheel well it was also apparent that some major leaking had been going on before.

The job was explained to be simple and straight forward: car in the air, wheel off, one bleeder screw, one threaded fitting, and finally two bolts holding the item in place. Super simple, as long as you can snake a socket through all that suspension and subframe. So, as long as you have a swivel socket adapter and about a foot and a half worth of extensions you should be fine, and some quick scavenging will help when it comes to bleeding the system yourself because no one will want to smell you at this point.

Continue reading “Replacing a Slave Cylinder or Intro to Creative Mechanics”

Anything worth doing, is worth doing right the second time, right? While I was a little impatient to delete the cupholders in the Craigslist Miata, it was only after spending some time on the phone with the guys at Mazda Motorsports that I received all the parts needed to clean up some of the slop in the shifter. With the latest parcel signed for, the center console came out again so the work could begin. Fully embracing the while you’re in there attitude; some old vinyl was ground off the shift lever before being refinished with a fresh coat of paint, the pesky light switch was relocated right to where you’re hand can reach, and a new white shift knob to replace the original 8 ball became the final touch for the interior transformation.

Continue reading “Rebuilding the Shifter the Right Way and a Few Other Things Too”