The GF - 2019 ND2 RF 2.0l Sport Nav+ Auto

[DaveS23]

Hi all, new to posting but have been lurking since November.

I’d like to introduce you to The Girl Friend.
Named because the original number plate began with GF and I’ll clearly be spending all my money on her

A joke that fell flat with my wife, who initially wasn’t keen on me having it due to buying it whilst she was away… (something about a midlife crisis and living dangerously )

Until that is, she saw how much pleasure it brings me and I took her out for a spin one sunny day. Now she understands why I’ve been calling it the Sunday Lunch car and is all in favour of me having it!

It’s an MX5, every mile brings a smile!

Thing is, I’ve been on something of a medical adventure these last few years and it’s left me thankful to be alive, albeit with a few mobility issues. Every moment is precious and not to be wasted. There’s no point delaying your pleasure for some mythical point in the future when everything is “perfect” .

I fell in love with the RF the moment I saw the first images in 2017. It reminds me of the Datsun 240z which was parked on my street as a kid. I drooled over that every morning on the way to school, just as I drooled over the RF.

Those mobility issues however have left me unable to drive a manual these days. I can shuffle one around a parking lot if needed but soon tire if I have to drive more than a few miles. An auto wouldn’t be my first choice, and the MX5 desperately needs a DCT box, but what it has is ok for my use case, a toy for the weekend on the twisties.

It’s not a track weapon but I do have an upgrade path in mind as I fettle it to bring more precision and finesse. I’m looking for an OE+ outcome. A “sprightly GT” feel where I’m as comfortable taking my wife away for a weekend in it, just as much as I am throwing it around the B-roads at the weekend

It was stock when I bought it in Nov 2024 with 9,871 on the clock. Overall it’s in great condition with just a couple of small rust blisters underneath (that I can see ofc) and some light swirls in the paintwork

I’ll be taking care of those issues later in the year with a Dinitrol underbody coating and some paint correction/protection.

Since then I’ve swapped the rear cluster and side repeaters for smoked ones and bought some new rims. When the paint protection is done I’m going to swap in black badges. If you knew me you’d know everything has to be black

The old stock rims have my “winter” tyres on, Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3.
The new rims for the summer, are Team Dynamics Motorsport Pro-Race LT, with Bridgestone Potenza Sport

I got the Team Dynamics rims because they only weigh 7.5kg each, less than stock and so removing some unsprung weight

As I mentioned in another thread I recently had an alignment done to the Flyin’ Miata figures which has massively improved the handling. It now feels like the rear is glued to the road. Unfortunately during that alignment, it was discovered one of the bushings on the FOS was spinning and preventing the camber from being adjusted properly so the front end still needs a bit of work.

I’m now looking into replacing the bushings all round and weighing up sticking with rubber or moving to poly.

I’ve put a mild Versatuner remap on it to open up the bottom end torque and let it rev more freely at the top end. This has helped with getting a bit more life out of the long gearing of the auto

Currently, I’m very happy with it. Actually, that’s very much an understatement. I’ve fallen in love…

I’m not going to do anything else but the bushes and protection this year. I wanted to drive it for a full year to get a feel of it and work out how I want to tweak things before any real mods but I do have a path mapped out through brakes, bracing, intake and exhaust, suspension, LSD, and finally, in several years time, a BBR Super 220 engine rework. I’d go for their new supercharger upgrade but I don’t think the auto box would handle it. 220bhp is as much as I’d dare put through it and tbh absolutely plenty for my use case.

That’ll do for now. I’ll update this thread as I go along detailing the changes I make.

[Bullit2005]

Hi DaveS23, Mrs DaveS23 & the Girl Friend/Sunday Lunch Car

Yep…I was all into black cars until I fell in love with Bullit NB 1.8 Icon [orange] in 2007

Yep…I’d be pretty annoyed if I was your missus and you’d bought something without consulting me

But as a female lover of the MX-5 I’d have just been annoyed at not being involved in the choosing

Just wondering whether Mrs DaveS23 drives ??

And if so would you allow her to take the MX-5 out for a spin ??

You never know she may become a convert

I certainly feel safer in Bullit [road grip etc] at 70 mph than some so called ‘safer’ saloons

Sez me [aged 67 years with mobility issues but can still manage a manual gear box for now ]

Totally concur: “Every moment is precious…no point in delaying…mythical point in the future”

[DC04R]

nice. sounds like the right path with all the mods.

Do the auto mx5 not have an LSD? The auto abarths do and use same gearing (I’ve got an auto abarth diff in my manual 2,0). I track mine though, I doubt you’d notice it much on the roads with the restrictive speed limits we have.

ARB’s are always a good idea - only negative is the cost, the prices have gone a bit nuts since covid.

[DaveS23]

@Bullit2005

Hi DaveS23, Mrs DaveS23 & the Girl Friend/Sunday Lunch Car

Yep…I was all into black cars until I fell in love with Bullit NB 1.8 Icon [orange] in 2007

Yep…I’d be pretty annoyed if I was your missus and you’d bought something without consulting me

But as a female lover of the MX-5 I’d have just been annoyed at not being involved in the choosing

Just wondering whether Mrs DaveS23 drives ??

And if so would you allow her to take the MX-5 out for a spin ??

You never know she may become a convert

I certainly feel safer in Bullit [road grip etc] at 70 mph than some so called ‘safer’ saloons

Sez me [aged 67 years with mobility issues but can still manage a manual gear box for now ]

Totally concur: “Every moment is precious…no point in delaying…mythical point in the future”

Hi Bullit2005, in answer to your questions, yes my wife does drive but she’s not the most confident. It’s a means of getting from A to B, not something she derives pleasure from doing, in and of itself. She’s not shown any interest in driving the MX5 but ofc if she did, she’d be welcome to give it a spin.

I did my advanced driving with IAM last year, I’ve been trying to encourage her to do it as I think it will massively help her confidence. Maybe if I persuade her to do that things will change and she’ll want to take The GF out.

Regarding buying it without her input, we sold a business we ran together when I got ill. Paid off a load of debt, went on a much needed holiday when I was well enough, and then split the remainder to do with as we pleased. We never really took anything out of the business for ourselves, so this to me is my reward for 10yrs hard work and coming out the other side of a cancer battle.

My wife being disgruntled about it didn’t last more than a couple of hours in truth. She could see why I was doing it and has had to live with me saying how much I wanted an RF every time we passed one

[DaveS23]

@DC04R

nice. sounds like the right path with all the mods.

Do the auto mx5 not have an LSD?

Hi DC04R, thanks.

No unfortunately the auto’s don’t get an LSD. I don’t know why Mazda decided that when the Abarth’s do.

Maybe it’s the same reason why the auto is only available in the RF not the rag top, they wanted the RF to be more of a GT car (less trackable due to roll cage fitment) and they feel the auto box doesn’t need an LSD as a result

Completely agree that it’s not really needed on our roads at such low speeds. It’s in there as the penultimate upgrade because if I do go for a 220bhp (or greater) remap, I’m going to want to make sure that power gets put down on the road properly rather than spinning out

[Bullit2005]

Hi again

We have some things in common !

My late hubbie was perfectly confident on his Honda 70cc Moped. Tried everything from buying him Xmas Pressie driving lessons to part training as a driving instructor to enable him. [At least your missus passed her test ]

With the benefit of hindsight perhaps I shouldn’t have been so pro-active with late hubbie ??

It’s totally about confidence. I guess I was fortunate in 1979 as I was a newbie police officer and trained by them via Roadcraft. Never got around to doing the Advanced Driving [just their ‘Driving Panda Cars & Transit Van’ Tests] …so Hats Off to you doing IAM [on me Bucket List]

I do recall having a scary but fun hour doing a ‘Are you capable of driving a PSV’ [watch that overhang as you turn a corner] back in the days when females didn’t do such things !

So I totally get the confidence thing

Also similar … re ‘reward for sacrifice’. Sold my house/paid off debt and rewarded myself with Bullit to move in with late father as 24/7 Carer so he didn’t have to go into a home as he’d become a danger to himself and others. [He’d been left brain damaged after severe heart attack] …but survived prostrate cancer after removal

You will find you are not alone here on the Forum re cancer or mid life crises and getting an MX-5 or their appreciation of your works so far

You just might have to wait a bit [once they’ve woken up] to your post

Kindest to you and especially Mrs DaveS23 [have you shown her my posts ?]

[DaveS23]

@Bullit2005

Never got around to doing the Advanced Driving

You should absolutely do the Advanced. With that prior training, it’ll just be a refresher for you but honestly, I’m of the opinion we never stop learning. Thinking we know it all is the arrogance that gets us unstuck at the worst moments.

@Bullit2005

Sold my house/paid off debt and rewarded myself with Bullit to move in with late father as 24/7 Carer

At least he had you there. Many don’t

@Bullit2005

You will find you are not alone here on the Forum re cancer or mid life crises and getting an MX-5

That I can well imagine! What else are we supposed to do?

@Bullit2005

Kindest to you and especially Mrs DaveS23 [have you shown her my posts ?]

Thank you, and the same in return.
She’s away at the minute, hoping the weather holds long enough for a drive out together when she gets back.

[BobL]

Hi Dave,
After some medical issues I’ve decided to enjoy my ‘golden years’ and got “Red 4” (my fourth red car, so seemed apt!)
Wife wouldn’t entertain me getting a motorbike to blow away the mid-life crisis, so a Soul Red MX5 RF was an acceptable alternative. While I wish it did look like a 240Z it is more like a shrunken Corvette C3 Stingray to my eye (not that I’m complaining, as I loved that style of 'Vette) or a 70’s Opel GT (which I lusted after while living in Germany).
I have no plans for any upgrades - I drove it over 1200 miles up to Inverness just after getting it and it performed flawlessly and was a joy to drive on empty winding Highland roads, even during torrential downpours I had to ‘sail’ through en route over Glenshee - I did consider an auto but that manual gearbox is just a masterpiece.
I’ll only get rid of it now when I can no longer get in and out of it with ease…

[DaveS23]

@BobL

more like a shrunken Corvette C3 Stingray to my eye

I can definitely see the Stingray more than the 240z looking at it. That was off my radar tbh, but clearly not the designers at Mazda

Like you, I’m only getting rid of this when I can’t get in and out of it. The “with ease” bit is debatable already, I’m waiting for the day I’m stuck and have to call my wife to fish me out!

[Bullit2005]

Bless you Dave for your feedback…most welcome

As a consequence …decided to visit GP re ‘side effects’ of one of the meds I’m on which I’ve put up with for some time because every drug has side effects

Go figure…managed to get next day appt …albeit with a registrar [medical degree plus two years experience but now learning to be a GP under supervision] …the last registrar I saw we weren’t even on the same page ! But this one listened and we are trying new meds…Yay

[DaveS23]

Well done!

[DaveS23]

Time for a long overdue update on The GF. Oh boy, has she been costing me a lot of money…

Ok, where do I start?

In June I removed the CD player and fitted the deeper cubby. Since I had the rear of the cabin dismantled to do so I took the opportunity to properly clean the drains and fit the SmartTop controller, making life soo much nicer when opening or closing the roof. It’s still set to a reasonably low speed, but not as low as factory (now 18mph I believe). Changing the switch direction and making it so you don’t have to hold it down is a game changer!

Then in July I took her to Croft Circuit for a skills day with the IAM. Superb fun thrashing it around for a few hours (don’t tell anyone, it was purely about improving my driving skills )

The result of which boiled my brake fluid and left things decidedly softer under foot. I could smell the brakes every time I got out and undoubtedly could have fried eggs on them!

Since I’d got myself booked in at Thruxton for a skid pan session in August I figured I’d be best doing the brake upgrade I’d planned, earlier than anticipated.

That turned out to be a right faff and led to some “interesting” events.

I’d chosen to fit the EBC Apollo Balanced Big Brake kit with Yellow Stuff pads, my local garage doing the work.

Problem being the new calipers were catching on the rims. No problem, I just ordered some 10mm spacers.

Problem being the studs were now too short

The longer studs then caused a whole raft of problems, unfortunately not fully understood until I reached the carpark at Thruxton.

My existing closed end wheel nuts were bottoming out and so the wheels weren’t being torqued up correctly. An imperceptible amount but over the 150mi journey to Thruxton it made a difference.

I’d heard some knocking from the rear on the way down but since I knew the sphericals needed replacing (I’d heard knocking from the rear before), didn’t associate it with the wheels. Prior to my session on the skid pan I thought it best to check the wheel nuts were torqued properly where I discovered a couple were loose. Like spinning freely with my fingers loose

Of course I promptly tightened them down as much as I could, only to blow the end off two of the locking wheel nuts long before I reached the correct torque!

You can see the EBC brake disk in the above image. This was off the front, the other blew on the rear.

One skid pan session and a very slow 150mi drive home, stopping regularly to re-torque the nuts, left me with severely damaged rims where the remaining nuts gouged away at them, becoming damaged themselves in the process.

That drive home was not a pleasant experience to say the least!

After getting home I bought some open ended nuts and got the studs replaced as I no longer trusted them. The rims will need replacing eventually as I’m not entirely trusting of the no longer conical seats but I’ve not done any particularly hard driving on them since and won’t be doing much over winter. They torque down enough and hold properly but peace of mind dictates replacing them before pushing it too hard (“making progress with a spirited drive” in IAM parlance) on the twisties.

The old Mazda rims no longer fit, so I’ve put the all seasons off them on to these Team Dynamic rims and then I’ll buy new rims in the spring for my summer tyres, replacing the damaged ones next winter.

That was back in August. Since I’d broken the seal on upgrades at that point, and wasn’t planning on doing much driving due to the damaged rims, I decided to go all in and bring forward my upgrade path…

First up was the bushings, as I’d hinted at in my first post. I went for the AutoEXE rubber bushings via Rev9 in the end.

Reason being I didn’t want poly’s that could be too hard and noisy, or to just retain the stock rubber. It needed to be firmer than stock but not bone shaking.

The AutoEXE rubber bushings are advertised as “more than sports car, less than race car” and whilst made by the same company that makes the stock bushings, are tuned in stiffness for the particular application, ranging from 109% to 146% stiffness over stock.

I also replaced the front arms in the process so the ball joints were new and coupled with rear sphericals from Performance Bushings I couldn’t be happier with the end result. Exactly what I was looking for in feel.

With the bushings done, I then turned my attention to the anti-roll bars. For these I went with the Flyin’ Miata ones so I could also get their reinforcement brackets.

They made huge difference to the way it drove. Felt way more planted and flat in the corners. However the front end felt off, like I’d lost connection with it.

That changed the other weekend when I finally got round to fitting the Front strut brace from Carbing. This has a cross brace as well, not just arms going back to the bulkhead, and has the added benefit of a brace for the master brake cylinder.

This has made an amazing difference to the feel. I’m now back feeling connected to the front and the steering sharpnesss has improved greatly.

During the fitting of this, since I had to install the cowl strut mount, I took the opportunity to reach in behind the engine and plumb in the Verus Air/Oil Separator. Fitting under the cross brace took some doing and I might have to rethink things down the line if I decide to supercharge her but for now it fits and all is good.

Subjectively it feels more responsive now. I don’t know if that’s as a result of removing the sound tube in the process, or the fitment of the AOS itself, but it’s definitely noticeable and not something I was expecting.

Whilst the cowling and cover was off I also took the opportunity to fit the screen for the cabin air filter, however I didn’t have time to take the cabin apart to fit the filter itself. That might have to wait until I have time to pull the seats and carpet out and install some heat shield matting in the cabin so I can stop my left foot being boiled alive every time I drive it for longer than and hour!

A problem discovered in all of this work is an inablity to alter the camber on the front nearside enough. I can get the offside to -1.5º but the nearside won’t go past -0.5º

The guy doing the alignment reckoned the subframe might be slightly out, possibly from a hard pothole impact, which is annoying to say the least.

Next up is the suspension. I’ve got some Tein Flex Z with an EDFC5 active damper controller. Since lowering the car will help with the camber I’m hoping this will improve matters. However I’m holding off on getting the underbody rust protection done right now in case I have to replace the sub frame. No point having a job done twice.

I’m almost certainly going to be taking it up to Roddisons for corner weighting and some alignment fettling/investigation.

After the Roddisons alignment comes more chassis bracing, followed by intake and exhaust.

Hoping to get all that done before spring next year so I can enjoy driving it in the summer.

She’s expensive this one…

[BlueAgave]

I took got the Carving strut brace back in early 2017 as it had the cross brace and brake stopper.

For the brakes I used Wilwood 6 pot calipers (EBC brake kits weren’t around in 2017) with Goodwin Racing 12.88 discs and provides superb braking. It’s interesting to see how other people modify their cars

[DaveS23]

I love seeing how people mod their cars.
For example I really like the gold heat shield around the air filter and pipework on yours.
That’s a great idea. Might have to steal that when it comes time to install the BBR cold air intake.
I’m sure the gains are marginal but keeping the air as cool as possible can only be a good thing.

[BlueAgave]

For the airbox I used Zircoflex 3 which is an excellent heat shield material. Still working on reducing heat soak further.

[DaveS23]

I had a feeling it might be that. I’m actually looking at putting their coating on the exhaust when it comes time to upgrade it, as well as covering the underside of the transmission tunnel in Zircoflex 3

I have to do something about the heat in the footwell from the exhaust/cat and transmission. It’s not so bad for people driving manuals as their left foot is always moving. But for me in an auto, my left foot just sits there and gets boiled alive!

I’ve smelt the glue in my shoes wafting up on a number of occasions whilst on long drives

[BlueAgave]

A gearbox cooling scoop will help in reducing the heat

[ND12]

Although not OEM, I like that

[DaveS23]

You do like your red accents don’t you?

Unfortunately I’ve only seen ones for a manual transmission. I suppose I could get one and butcher it to fit an auto but I think a scoop is an additional measure on top of upgrading the heat shielding.

Looking at the underside most of the heat comes from the cat so I’m actually looking at upgrading the OEM heat shield (going to approach Zircotec and see what they can offer and adding to it with their flex shield inside the cabin and lining the tunnel.

That’s for the future though. It’s winter season now, the extra heat is appreciated!

[BlueAgave]

Is the oem shield on the auto different from the manual, thought they were the same?