ok, it’s nearly 3 am and my mind is going a mile a minute thinking about this issue.
so instead of lying in bed not sleeping so, I thought I might as well be sitting at the keyboard while not sleeping, and maybe by typing out the stuff in my head, I might be able to get some sleep afterward’s.
so.
I was looking on my phone earlier trying to find what the original ride height was and came across a thread on here.
I can’t link to it but in short, it says the ride height should be roughly between 400mm and 350 for PRHT with 17in wheels.
now my front is at 370 and it looks too high, my pas rear is at 365mm and looks too high.
BUT my driver’s rear is at 350mm and looks about right.
so I am thinking I want to go to about 355m all round.
now because my 8-year-old springs have dropped there is a chance that by fitting a 20mil drop spring I could actually end up with a higher ride height!
And that would be BAD.
so that made me start reevaluating coil overs!
secondly thanks to scarlet pimpernel I have finally seen a set of coil overs that have the top hats on!
every other set iv seen this far didn’t have them on and because of that, I was thinking that I would either need to buy them separately or salvage the current ones.
.
so because of all those points, I now not only feel that adjustable coil-overs is the way to go but also feel comfortable with the idea.
as to what set, well I know scarletpimpernel wouldn’t recommend anything bunk.
so right now those meister zetaCRD are at the top of my list.
but it is 3 am right and I’m not gonna go looking for other options at this very moment.
and btw my birthday is only a couple of months away!
as to seting height once done.
i think that i will start at 360mm and then run them in for 500miles so they can settle and then make the final adjustment to 355mm.
as i said one corner is alrdy at 350 and i am not grounding, so if i lift that corner to 355 and drop the others to match it should still be a usable street car and it wont look like a 4by4 anymore!.
as to changing the roll bars, i can not make the desision on how stiff to go untill i see what the new coil over set up is like.
humm, well, turns out that i do feel somewhat better now i got that out of my system!
hopfully i can now sleep!
Sway bar? Next we will be talking about fenders, rotors, rockers, hoods when we mean bonnets, curbs, tires, licenses, trunks, highways, turn signals, gas, parking lots, sedans, windshields, stick shift, back up lights, counter clockwise, freeze plugs, alligator clips, your ground wires, vice grips, drive shafts, tachometers, traffic circles, the cowl, mufflers, wrenching, oil pans, lug nuts.
It’s a slippery slope before someone asks about changing the color of their ve-hic-le, is the hood made of aluminum (causing monumental confusion), gas is getting expensive at $3 a gallon and that 30mpg is really good.
A sway bar is something I’m propping up on a cruise.
I thought I was getting old with my ‘intolerances’, how delighted am I that someone else is as p155ed off as I am with the continual American drivel being used. Thank you.
as to sway bars, yes it irks me too that people don’t call them by the proper name, anti-roll bars!
but everyone and his dog in the mx5 community use’s the American word, so why row uphill!
well, the swa , anti-roll bar, drop links arrived this morning! from mx5parts.
gotta say I’m rather impressed. I ordered them at 1 pm yesterday and got them at 10 am today.
I also ordered some chrome dust caps with the Mazda logo on from the dreaded amazon site on Thursday and turns out they haven’t even been sent out yet!
as to the coil-overs as yet there is no update!
so i don’t know if they have been sent yet or are still being processed.
went to get some quotes for having the coil-overs fitted today.
i was very surprised by how far apart the cheapest and dearest quotes were.
the most expensive quote £580 was fitting, alignment, and corner weights.
so question do I really need the corner weights doing and aren’t the meisters I’m getting all ready preset?
I know I need to set damping and height but pretty sure the spring rates are preset for the NC anyway.
at his price of 580 i would need to wait until the new month to get it done and because of the bad spring i need to get the coilovers on there as soon as possible.
so i am thinking of going for the cheaper fitting and while there have them do a normal alignment.
and then next month i can defo get a proper mx5 alignment and maybe the corner weight thing.
tho tbh i need to get the underseal job as soon as possible so after the coilovers are on its underseal and then maybe corner weights if that’s something that does actually need doing.
As soon as you adjust corner heights, you might also be changing corner weighting!
Don’t count on the units being preset; they might well be when they left the factory, but it does not preclude someone having had a fiddle on the way, eg “Oooh, what does this do?”
The experts cost more because they also have all the right tools and offer a better value-for-money end result.
I’m obviously very lucky as my mechanic fitted my CRD’s for £40 (I did help him). Hunter alignment was free too as everything was so close to perfect the guy didn’t see the need to make any adjustments and they don’t charge unless spanner’s are required. So the -30mm springs I had fitted years ago were close enough to the required set up.
Spring rates are a property of the spring included with the kit. They are not something you can adjust.
You are in Grantham; have you tried Thrussington Garage in East Goscote. Mike would do all his setups in house. He’ll probably do corner weighting if you want that.
Fit yourself. Fitting NC units is even easier than a NA/NB, and you won’t need a spring compressor. Its basically the same method front and rear; drop the upper wishbone and remove the complete shock/spring assembly. Loads of guides around to study.
If you undo alignment bolts, just mark off with tippex where they were. For the NA, I’ve never had to touch these. If you et the shocks up to be about the same as presently, you will be close to the current alignment. The springs take a little while to settle. If you are panicked about alignment, but can’t afford the full job (and Thrussington can do that), the usual tyre places can do the basic checks and adjustments so you are within Mazda specs (as opposed to setting to a specific alignment, eg fast road).
If you book into Thrussington, they do have a courtesy car, which is a bit of a hoot, because you really have to work the gearbox.
I rang Thrussington and they quoted me £380 for fitting and alignment!
I can’t say what garage because I’m not sure if the guy is planning to put it through the books but I’ve been quoted £100 for fitting alone.
right now,
I’m thinking that I should take the cheep fitting (which I will observe) and then take it for a normal alignment, then run it for 500 miles or so for it to settle in, and then take it for final adjustments and a proper mx5 alignment, and a track and balance.
as for the whole corner weights thing, it’s something i might like to have done but it’s expensive and i need to get that underseal job done first before they start salting the roads, so the first week of December.
basically, i have money constraints at the moment and time(season) sensitive items to get done. (get car ready for winter weather)
Number 1.
I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone to contributed to this thread.
I would also like to give particular thanks to. @Scarletpimpernel for suggesting the meister zeta crd’s. @McTrucky for the PM conversation we had that settled my worries. @ast for his post about Thrussington. @alben for all the great and informative posts
the path forward!
so after A LOT of thought and back n forth. I have finally committed to a plan.
so,
I am having the coil-overs fitted by 2 friends, the week after next.
they both work at a chain brand garage in Grantham.
they are both car enthusiasts and both of them have coil-overs on their cars and they have fitted many more sets while at work.
once fitted they will do a basic alignment.
I will then use the car as normal and let everything settle in for a couple of weeks
then, I am booked in at Thrussington garage for the 2nd week of next month and they will check the fitting, do corner weights and final adjustments and then they will do a full underseal job on the car!
so basically by going to Thrussington I am going to kill 2 birds with one stone, as they say!
I can get the suspension job finished off and get the underseal job done that iv been desperate to do!
Hi, we have just recently fitted new Pedders suspension to all four corners of our NA. There were two options for us to pick from, standard or lowered. We went with lowered. They come as complete pre-assembled kits including top hats. They also came via next day delivery direct from the Pedders website. They have lowered our NA by about 20mm. The mechanic that fitted them for us reckoned they are good bits of kit. I’d highly recommend having a look at the Pedders website. Having them come as assembled units takes out the hassle of having to find separate shocks and springs etc and they are also good value.
, anti-roll bar, drop links arrived this morning! from mx5parts.
