Captain Obvious

Well you got it bad, my friend. You know... That car guy thing that makes some of them do weird stuff? You got it bad. Not saying I'm any different. I'm just sad that I didn't think of that TIU mod first. :laugh:

Chas, Did you do that, or are you thinking of doing that? Did you take those pics?

What metal disk are you talking about? Is there a disk in your picture somewhere? Everything looks black... Can't make out any seams. Are you talking about the piston itself maybe? The part that the rubber seal slips onto?

Yup. Like that. You're having trouble finding HD-30? I've not had that problem. I've found that HD-30 is easy to find. What's hard to find is non-detergent 30W. At least in my area.

If your leaning out at throttle punch, then you're going the wrong way with the oil. Ditch the 20 weight and replace with 30 weight.

Yeah. What he said. (Only additional independent thought I can provide is that the piston max rise is NOT simply max RPM. You can easily run the engine up to max RPM by grabbing the throttle linkage while sitting still, and the pistons will not rise all the way to achieve that feat. They will reach max altitude when the engine sucks the most air. Might be at max torque, might be WOT at max RPM.)

Gotha. I just reread what you wrote before and just realized that you had not made any mods. You just thought about making mods but didn't actually make any.

Or: or a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl.

Agreed. And that also falls in line with what I mentioned about the races being press fits, but not as tight of a tolerance as other bearing press fits I've messed with in the past. It's clear that they designed the system with the intention that you could do things your not normally supposed to do (like apply force through balls) without destruction. That said... When I put mine back together with my new bearings, I worked up this weird fixture contraption with custom ID tubings and drifts, etc. that allowed me to press the assy together and still follow traditional "don't put force through the balls" rules. Was it a pain in the arse? - Yes. Was it worth it? - I wouldn't if I was on the clock. I would just do it simple like they say in the manual. Would I do that again on my own car? - Probably not.

In theory, "No". Reason being, there's no way to get the outer bearing off the shaft without putting force on the balls. You see, when you install bearings, you're never supposed to use the balls as part of the force path to install them because you run the risk of damaging the balls or the race. You're supposed to only press against the race that is being forced into place so that no force goes through the balls. In other words... When you install that outer bearing onto the shaft, you're supposed to press only on the inner race as it slides against the shaft to it's fully seated position. Works fine for installation of that outer bearing, but you can't get around to the other side to grab the inner race when trying to disassemble. HOWEVER!! When you pull that stub shaft out of the housing, you'll be looking right at one side of the balls of that outer bearing. You should be able to get most of the old grease out replace with fresh without ever taking that bearing off the shaft. (And as a side note - At least on my car, that outer bearing is not an incredibly tight press fit against the shaft and mine came off easier than a lot of other bearings I've messed with in the past. With the relatively small amount of force I had to use to get it off the stub, I would have been willing to put it back into service without fear that I dented the races.)

So about your Miata seats... I can see the top of one of them in the background of your pic. Why did you hate them? At the last local import show, I went walking down "Miata Road" looking at the seats. Info was sketchy and hard to put together, but I believe there are (at this date) maybe four different styles? First - something like 90 to 98 Second - something like 99-00 Third - something like 01-05 Fourth - 05-present I think yours are the second generation. A couple generous Miata owners also offered me the opportunity to sit in their seats, so I have some seat of the pants impressions (get it?), but I want to hear yours.

Got any pics of what you did?

Sounds like something that would happen to me. Measure once, cut twice, I always say! In any event, glad you got it together. Another crisis averted. And I bet that after being compressed for a while, the next time you have to mess with the bar (if there is a next time) it'll be a lot easier since the bushings will take some compression set.

Seeing as how it was in the context of the strut work, I'm positive they meant collapsing one coil (to lower the car).

Yeah, I'd just get some longer bolts and call it a day. And I don't see any problem with that. I'm not a suspension guy, but I don't see it as a particularly strenuous application. The bushings will deform and limit the force on those bolts. You guys fighting and struggling to get the nut started and pre-squishing stuff with wood blocks and jacks... What's the point? Haha! Is it really worth the fight? Just get some longer bolts! My car came from my PO with new links. I have no idea where he got them, but the bolts are plenty long enough. I've got maybe a half inch of threads I have to traverse before the nut even contacts the back of the washer. Once the nut is tight, I've got maybe an inch of threaded length sticking out the back of the nut. And so what? As for the lengths front vs rear, I've had all mine off for suspension work, but I didn't compare lengths of anything between front and rear. I just kept everything with the end of the car they came from. I can tell you though that my rear bolts are plenty long as well.

So you don't even have the fourth bushing or washer on and it looks like that? Yeah, something's not right. About the possibility that you mixed up front and rear... You could just compare bolt and spacer lengths from the two baggies. Maybe they got the wrong parts in the bags? If it's not a parts mix-up between the two bags, then your thought about just getting a longer bolt is probably the simplest solution. So where did you get the kit? Do they have anything to say about the problem?

Haha! Thanks for the laugh. Reaffirms that I'm not the only one that does stupid crap like that even when I know better! Ever have someone else helping you and watching over your shoulder and tell them "Never do this." as your doing this? Glad you got to the bottom of the problem!

Excellent! So with the aluminum trim bezel not restricting the needle, what happens when you short the yellow to the black at the tank? Time for another beer! Hey, I really like working with you!! !!

Haha!! Glad you came up with the reference! I was starting to think that I threw that one out there and it was going to go completely unaccounted for! Was that three hours of bouncing off the front and rear of the cars parked in line with you?

Phew. Good. Been a while since I looked into any of this and I was hoping I was remembering it right! At the risk of going off the geek end, here's a pretty good description (I think) of how the gauge works. It's not a Z (Jeep I think), but I believe the principals are the same: The new Gauge Page

I was wondering this same thing myself. I've heard about others cutting a slot in the brake line bracket to allow the hard line to slip through the slot so you don't have to open the fluid part of the system to get the caliper off the strut, but I've never seen pics of such a modification. I was hoping that someone who has done this would chime in with their experiences?

I don't think the yellow is supposed to have a steady supply. I think the blinking is part of the way the gauge works. There is a bi-metallic strip in the gauge (kinda like your thermostat in your house) that makes and breaks the current to the sender as the strip is heated and cooled. If you ground the yellow wire back at the sender, the gauge should read F. But it won't happen immediately. The gauge response is pretty slow. Ground it and wait thirty seconds and then look at the gauge maybe?

Is that the Morris that's in constant danger by being crushed by a piano?

If there's no vacuum advance at idle, it's operating exactly as designed. It's known as a "ported" vacuum signal and it's supposed to peak right off idle at light cruise pedal position. Here's some discussion and theory about such things: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/electrical-s30/44790-ignition-timing-theory-port-source-vs-manifold-source.html

The device inside the red box is called your anti-backfire valve. It has three ports: Clean air IN from the air cleaner by way of the air pump. That's the largish hose on the left. Clear air OUT to the manifold when called for. That's the largish hose on the right. Control vacuum line, That's the small line that goes to the balance tube. The device's function is that when manifold vacuum gets very high (as sensed by the control line on the balance tube) the valve will open and allow air to pass through the valve into the balance tube. It's function is to dilute an overly rich mixture that occurs under high RPM deceleration conditions. See manual EC (emissions control) section.