Picked up this spacer on the weekend from MX5plus in Brisbane, Australia. This allows the thermostat to be moved from the front of the engine to the rear to allow for a more complete coolant distribution. The original configuration meant the cylinder closest to the firewall flowed out only through the heater core which is insufficient to keep temperatures even across the head.
You will also need a Kia thermostat cover with the part number: 0K24715172A
Thread detailing a similar installation from miataturbo.net
And another from Australia.
I was reading the mx5cartalk forum and it has been claimed that Jay Leno quite likes the Mazda MX5 and has used a supercharged one as his daily driver.
In the same thread was a link to a James May article where he suggests putting an Alfa V6 into one.
My DIYPNP engine management kit arrived today. I haven’t had a chance to do much with it yet but I hope to regularly post updates of my progress.
As you can imagine I have a fair bit of work ahead of me. A workmate has given me a challenge of getting the ECU running and tuned in my MX5 by mid December. We’ll see how I go.
When I purchased my Mazda MX5 it came fitted with Koni Sport shocks which were set to their lowest setting. These particular shock absorbers have three different adjustments for height based on a sliding spring seat and a circlip. Whilst they are a very popular replacement shock absorber for many different vehicles the best guides I’ve seen for adjusting the suspension height refer to ‘compress the spring and then move the circlip to the next slotted position but without any photographs describing exactly what that is.
I thought having recently raised my MX5 from the lowest setting to the middle setting I would give back to the Koni Sport owning community with some photos of exactly what the circlip system looks like.
First step is to compress the spring to take the load off the spring seat.
I purchased the spring compressors from a generic autoparts store locally. They were pretty cheaply made but more than adequate for the job. Unfortunately they seem to have an extremely long thread which made them awkward to work with in the small space available to me around the MX5 rear suspension. I have considered cutting them down but I managed to get it to work ok.
Lifting the spring seat to show the next circlip slot.
Once the spring tension has been eased you can lift the spring seat up to expose the middle circlip slot. I just used a flatbladed screwdriver to lift the circlip from the low slot and slide it up into the middle position. After I had ensured that the circlip was securely placed I lowered the seat and released the spring tension.
The circlip and seat in the middle position.
This last weekend I have been helping a friend to paint their car. Well I’ve been getting them to do all the sanding and surface preparation and I’m silly enough to do the paint spraying (and inhaling). This weekend we got an undercoat layer on the outside of the panels and did a coat of colour on the inside of the panels just to seal them off. Next weekend we’ll do the final outer coats.
The unfortunate thing of spraypainting with just a dust mask for protection is you’re really without much protection. Fortunately I’m not spraying two pack but I’m still not feeling the best after the experience of spraying in a comfined space. Before I do any more I’ll be buying a proper breathing mask that can supply an external air supply.
Wet and dry sanding of the door.
The undercoat was looking so good my friend said he was tempted to paint his whole car that colour.
Inside of drivers door painted.
Inside of front guard painted.
Pallet used to hold panels whilst painting.
The wooden pallet and wire hook method of holding the automotive panels proved to be a very effective way to suspend the panels whilst painting whilst keeping them very solidly mounted.
I’ll try to post an update on our progress next week but it will depend on whether the weather is suitable for painting.
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