Funnily enough, all the warrant waffle just arrived 
No news from the dealer yet which is the norm in my experienceâŚI have decided not to chase just now, the ball is in their court and I have already told them I am not interested in the try this/try that phaff. It is frustrating but letâs see what they come back with!
Yes I know, I was wanting to make sure Kenny didnât think there wasnât anything beyond 30 days. I have personally had dealers trying to tell me there is only a 30 day warranty etc.
I sympathise with you KennyP and would accept nothing less than the latest spec gearbox. As for the oil change, well⌠Failing that reject it.
Am I missing something hereâŚ
Just thought I would chuck my opinion in.
Is this just relevant to the 2.0 or 1.5 as well.
Did they use the same gearbox in both cars, I donât know.
So Mazda fine tune the NC2 gearbox which I have and it is a dream.
Many tuners use this gearbox.
Surely Mazda would have âdevelopedâ that gearbox and fine tuned that for an even better one for the initial production of the ND?
But from what I understand they didnât and made a new one which lets say is rubbish for a modern sports car.
May have something to do with the production of the parts perhaps or is it the design?
Correct me if I am wrong, but does the Fiat Spider 124 not have the NC gearbox?
So many people are saying donât make any power upgrade to the ND1 because of gearbox problems.
Likewise, from what I have read tuners are using the NC box on NDâs for power upgrades.
It doesnât make sense to me.
Yes, I get that âMaybeâ a few have failed on track or other use, but come on, the NC, (along with the NA/NB) has been used on the track for a while now.
The MX5 no matter which one is a sports car and did they think that the ND would not be used on the track and driven hard and just be used to go to the Post office or Marks and Spencers!
Apparently, Mazda are âcontinuingâ to develop the ND gearbox due to reliability issuesâŚ
When Mazda first introduced they ND, they only intended it to be a 1.5 litre⌠This changed when the US market said the engine was not big enough, hence a 2.0 litre engine option being offeredâŚ!
2 Likes
If it were me I would send an email to the Managing Director of the firm (copy to the branch manager) confirming the faults and informing them that you intend to return the car for a full refund and expenses within the 30 day sale/return period unless the faulty gearbox is replaced. Then they will have no doubts about your serious intent and reduce the time they have to âhuff, puff and faffâ about. As it is the car is not fit for purpose! Good luck
2 Likes
Ahhh, okay and thanks.
Which sort of proves my point why didnât they just use the well proven NC box. 
Weight
Hi 'Pimpernel
(looks like others beat me to this!)
The story as I understand it is that the decision to offer the 2.0 engine was made late in the development cycle and the gearbox was designed for the lower torque of the 1.5 engine. Almost all of the probems are with 2.0 cars and especially from the US since they donât have the 1.5 at all.
Mazda have been changing the design (fout times?) but BBR for example reckon that, especially for track use, the only practical answer is to use the NC 6 speed gearbox.
That is what Fiat did for their version of the MX5 but IIRC that engine produces even more torque than the ND 2.0.
Iâm holding onto my NC - a glovebox, more boot space, less body roll and a better ride I reckon!
2 Likes
If anyone wants real information about ND gearboxes I suggest they look no further than OC member âroddersâ (Paul Roddison) he has dismantled, rebuilt (and redesigned parts) more than anyone else and he drives and races the cars - go to him, heâs the expert!
2 Likes
Just remembered there is another issue. The ND has a direct drive top gear not an overdrive one so the diff las a lower ratio than the other MX5s - 2.866:1 versus around 4:1 for the other MX5s (depends on the model). This means that the gearbox output shaft is running more slowly with about 39% higher torque than it would be with a 4:1 diff.
Thanks, but all the technical stuff is way above my head, thatâs why I referred to âroddersâ who has held âstripdown/rebuildâ tutorials at his workshop for OC members. Heâs the kiddy!!!
2 Likes
Maybe Mazda wanted to carry at least some essence of the NC in to the ND so they gave it gearbox problems.
1 Like
I completely agree with you. However, around a year ago we were all discussing this exact topic and âAdminâ shut it down (wrongly in my opinion) when Rodders started to get involved and we never got to the bottom of it.
PS I remember exactly who that was and he also deleted various posts including mine from the thread.
Evening guys
As was mentioned above the issue is the torque that is loaded on the gearbox. Trust me other than minor modifications i.e. DMF and a shorter input shaft to facilitate the DMF the gearboxes are the sameâŚthe difference is the ND2 makes less torque than a ND1
Obviously Mazda used the 184bhp as a selling point but kept stum about the lower torque.
On another day Iâll tel you how they perform back to back data log testingâŚ
AnyhowâŚback to topic.
We do have a solution that IS tried and tested with many race & road cars running our modification.
Only last week I bought a 16plate 2.0 in black with a damaged box, it will be for sale once we have fitted a manifold and re map.
I did say this would happen 4 years ago when I was telling everyone to do oils annuallyâŚ
Paul
4 Likes
Thanks for the update. Would you mind telling us (me) if youâre using 75w90, or 75w140 oil please.
Thanks
We use an oil that is specifically blended but to answer your question the best I can you need a very high temp oil
1 Like
This subject becomes more intriguing the further you delve! Rodders, I had been onto your webpage a few weeks back and had plans to get in touch re oils and alignment etc. I kinda thought I might have managed more than 3 trips in the thing first though! Food for thought here is, the TVR Cerbera I owned never let me down over 4 years. Yes, it required lots of preventative maintenance but there again I have already been underneath the â5â cleaned the steel subframes and treated them with Dinitrol and got into the main chassis rails front to rear as it was intended as a keeper with the possibility of some BBR bits once I got to know it. I have clay barrâd it, machined polished it, waxed it, treated the âleatherâ bits with Gliptone and when I went to remove the locking wheel nuts (terrible things) with spare nuts that came with the car I discovered that all 4 wheel bolts on the front r/h/s were only finger tightâŚThis was also passed onto the dealer yesterday. They admitted having gone through âa few techs in the last few weeksâŚâ, make of that what you will. Personally, no-one will be more surprised than me if this goes the way we would all hope and I can just get on and enjoy the car, but that nagging feeling isnât going away.
KennyP
1 Like
KennyP feel free to call me for a chatâŚnext week best as Iâm racing tomorrow at Cadwell