"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
01/29/2018 at 10:53 • Filed to: None
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"Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To" (murdersofa)
01/29/2018 at 10:53 • Filed to: None | 2
| 13 |
Lots of work done on the Miata last night. It was a fun time but first I had to get a small car onto a large lift.
DOES NOT FIT. Arms are too long to reach any jacking points.
Ended up just pulling forward more and using blocks of wood to lift the car midway on the rear arms. Meh. It worked.
How on earth does a sway bar walk sideways?
Behold the most adorable resonator.
Anyways. I’m here to replace my clutch. Step 1 is to remove the enormous front underbody chassis brace. Optional on NB2s, standard with the Special Editions, this has a similar effect to a Flyin’ Miata butterfly brace and greatly stiffens the NB2 vs its NA brethren. It’s also kind of heavy.
Next go to harbor freight for some ball and socket impact swivels and use a bunch of extensions and bullshit to get the world’s most poorly placed exhaust flange bolts off. Then crawl all over above and below the car to undo the stupid O2 sensor wire. Fuck this midpipe and everything it stands for.
Rear chassis brace now! I believe NA8s have a version of this.
This is weird. For some reason Mazda hard-mounts the exhaust to the bell housing with a big-ol bracket and a tiny-ol stud. Said stud was broken. I believe my “suspension clunk” is actually the exhaust hitting this bracket.
The bracket will not go back on the car #weightsavings
Driveshaft off the diff and slid back to give the trans room, unbolt the shifter from inside the car, undo the speedo plug and neutral safety switch plug and two grounds from the top-passenger side, undo the PPF and swing it sideways out of the way, use a ridiculous amount of extensions do undo several bell housing and starter bolts...
Don’t forget to take a moment to marvel at this absolutely hilariously dumb curly-Q clutch line
Old clutch and new clutch.
Press out the old pilot bearing which was super crunchy and awful, resurface the flywheel, press in new pilot bearing, replace throwout bearing, replace the rear main seal because why not, toss the flywheel and clutch back in the car, spend 4 hours trying to stab the trans back in place. Swear. Bolt driveshaft and PPF back up. Put bellhousing bolts back in. Spend 4 hours swearing at the stupid fucking clutch line brackets and starter motor. Bolt up exhaust. Snap 1 of 3 studs on the manifold. Swear. Forget rear donut gasket. Take exhaust back off, put gasket in. Put back together. Swear. Put bracing back. Go into cabin and spend 3 hours trying to get the shift bushing to line up and go back into the cup properly. Swear. Notice your 1-year-old shift boots are already torn to hell. Swear. Reassemble interior, realize you forgot to put the insulation/sound deadening back over the shifter. Swear and disassemble center console again. Replace deadening. Reassemble interior. Start car. Drive home. Enjoy clutch that no longer shudders like the car is having an orgasm every time you leave a light.
Things the Miata still needs:
valve cover gasket
40k overdue for water pump and timing belt
front main seal
motor mounts
hardtop brackets
bodywork
more bodywork
even more bodywork
I should just give up all pretenses of any of my cars ever fucking looking decent because the universe seems to disagree with me on that on a fundamental level
Stapleface
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
01/29/2018 at 11:35 |
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At least you’re working on making the car better. A lot of people will just complain about shit and never fix anything.
Not to be a nag, just curious. Why haven’t you done the water pump and timing belt yet? Are they on the short list to accomplish next? I would think out of everything those are the worst issues you could have.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> Stapleface
01/29/2018 at 11:45 |
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They’re on the short list but just another pain in the ass I haven’t gotten to yet. Noninterference engine so if the timing belt snaps it isn’t catostrophic, and the water pump is more a mazda-recommended “while you’re in there” sort of thing.
BeaterGT
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
01/29/2018 at 11:46 |
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That last point resonates with me so much. Good work on the clutch, hell of a lot more than I’m capable of.
TheTurbochargedSquirrel
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
01/29/2018 at 12:01 |
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My car is probably going to need a new clutch next year. I am not looking forward to tearing the entire front of the car apart just to get the trans out.
ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
01/29/2018 at 12:08 |
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Two pro tips for miata clutch jobs:
First, remove the ppf in its entirety. It is only two more easy bolts at the diff, and it makes the job so much easier.
Second (and most importantly), before removing the trans, pull down on the tailshaft of the trans a slide a 2x4 block between the engine’s oil pan the subframe. This keeps the engine tilted at an angle and makes removing and sticking back the transmission a straight shot. If you tried to stick the trans back on with the engine sitting at it’s normal angle, I’m moderately surprised you got it back on at all.
Good job on doing the rear main seal.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com
01/29/2018 at 12:39 |
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Hm. I was told *not* to remove the PPF all the way as reinstallation is a bitch. I removed one diff bolt and loosened the other so I could just shove it out of the way. I jacked up the front of the engine with a screw jack to get it back on. Still took a ridiculous amount of time to dick with. We noticed the engine had fallen forward and were like “oh” and took off the undertray to rock the engine back, lol.
DasWauto
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
01/29/2018 at 13:46 |
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That “hilariously dumb” clutch line isn’t dumb. It’s done like that to absorb vibrations and movement from the transmission without breaking the clutch line. A shorter, more directly routed clutch line will bend in its weakest spot and more quickly fatigue and break. The curly bit allows much more movement (elastic deformation) without getting near the limits of what the line material can handle (yield strength) and therefor has a much longer fatigue life.
(Hard to see but I’m assuming that’s the line from the clutch master cylinder to the slave cylinder.)
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> DasWauto
01/29/2018 at 13:56 |
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So why make it a hardline?
Nick Has an Exocet
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
01/29/2018 at 14:22 |
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When I did it, I jacked up the front of the engine for re-installation. That seemed to work okay. It was still a bitch - but not as much of a bitch as getting that midpipe off. PB Blaster should come with a gift card for free meditation classes.
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DasWauto
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
01/29/2018 at 15:12 |
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Clutch feel and probably durability. Rubber lines will expand and contract with pressure from pushing the clutch in, which will slightly delay the action, and the rubber itself will degrade with heat and road debris, salt, etc. The alternative, much like with brake lines, is a braided stainless line but those are much more costly and will probably fatigue quicker than a hard line.
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Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
> DasWauto
01/29/2018 at 15:36 |
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But there already is a section of rubber line.
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DasWauto
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
01/29/2018 at 21:20 |
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Intredasting. Googling suggests that goes from the hardline on the firewall to the hardline on the engine. The rubber line is to allow for the movement of the engine within the engine bay. A curly hard line can’t quite handle that much movement (1-2” side to side isn’t unlikely) either so rubber it is. In this case the curly bit protects the hard line on the engine from the engine’s vibrations.
ateamfan42
> Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
01/30/2018 at 10:21 |
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How on earth does a sway bar walk sideways?
This is really common on the rear anti-roll bar on the NA and NB cars, especially when driven hard and/or with upgraded bars.
A lot of folks add collars on the bar just inside the mounting brackets (or weld on washers). The Flyin’ Miata rear bar has an extra set of bends to help keep things located laterally.