Living in So. Cal with 10 million and constant stop & go traffic I’m
thinking about a new Miata with an auto trans. Comments?

Hi,

I’m planning to add a supercharger to my 1991 1.6L Miata. As I try not
to use too much money for the unit, I’ve been trying to find a
second-hand unit to install. (Yes, I have already upgraded the
suspension with Konis)

Looks like there are used 1.8L superchargers available more often than
1.6L units.

I’d appreciate any info on how the 1.8L supercharger could be
installed to a 1.6L car. I believe the pulleys for different PS/AC
setup can be ordered separately but are the basic parts in both 1.6L
and 1.8L supercharger units the same?

Has anyone done this (installed 1.8L supercharger on a 1.6L car or
vice versa)?

Here in Finland in order to make the installation street legal, I will
also need to upgrade the suspension and brakes to the same setup as
with 1.8L model. I know I need to upgrade the brakes as described in
http://www.bigllama.com/miata/brake/bigbrake.htm but are there any
other security-related changes between the 1.6L and 1.8L cars?

Thanks in advance!

We just got some snow and the Miata is a great car to drive in the
winter!

Regards,

Kirmo Uusitalo
1991 Classic Red
Helsinki, Finland
—
the correct email address is kirmo.uusitalo (a) iki.fi

hi,
could a jrsc from a 95 miata be put into, say, a 2001 miata?  would it
be an even swap in that the parts from the 2001 would fit onto the 95
and vice versa?
thansk,
peter

Looking to acquire some steel brake lines (stainless steel?) for brake
work I will do on my ’95 M in the spring…  anyone know of
suppliers/specifications of available stainles steel brake lines?

–
Mark G. Matel
http://mgmatel.tripod.com/
e-mail & MSN Messenger: mgma…@hotmail.com
’95 M: http://communities.msn.com/ColoradoM/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&Ph…

Get your own custom web page from http://cenv.hypermart.net/

It was finally warm enough today, so I washed the car and after I was was done
I  noticed thousands of extremely tiny specs of something all over the car,
everywhere.

At first I thought that something like a sandblaster was sprayed on the car and
nicked up the paint. But after closer inspection at night with a flashlight, it
looks like white paint. I was able to use a razor blade to scrape it off the
winshield and side windows, but its everywhere else. Its visible in the
daylight, but the car’s finish is black and at night its just
unbelieveable–thousands and thousands of specks. I guess I parked or drove
downwind of somebody spray painting. I don’t know.

I tried some swirl remover with no luck. Obviously, I’m heartbroken about the
car that’s an everyday in use ’92 C Package that I’ve kept in pretty good
shape.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

Questions answered in the Rotary (Engine) FAQ:

     1.How does a rotary engine work?
     2.What’s a boinger?
     3.Why does a rotary engine make as much power as a boinger twice its size?
     4.Why does a Renesis make so much more power than prior rotaries?
     5.How reliable is a rotary engine?
     6.Is the rotary engine dead?
     7.What do the 10A, 12A, 13B & 20B Mazda engine designations mean?
     8.Why two spark plugs for each rotor?
     9.What spark plugs should I use?
    10.Why does my rotary Mazda have an oil cooler?
    11.What oil should I use?
    12.Should I use synthetic oil?
    13.Do oil brands matter?
    14.How often should I change my rotary engine’s oil?
    15.Should I mix oil in the fuel?
    16.What’s the best fuel for my rotary car?
    17.What gas mileage should a rotary get?
    18.Does a rotary have any booby traps I need to watch out for?
    19.Will removing my thermostat help my rotary run cooler or make more power?
    20.When should I shift?
    21.What is an apex seal?
    22.How do I know if my engine’s apex seals are OK?
    23.What should my engine’s compression be?
    24.What are the differences between earlier & later Mazda rotaries?
    25.What are the differences between 6-Port & 4-Port rotaries?
    26.How do I tell a 12A from a 13B?
    27.What is a thermal reactor?
    28.What’s the best way to test changes I make that affect my car’s power?
    29.What if I switch to a light flywheel?
    30.How do I get the old flywheel off?
    31.How hard is it to stop oil from leaking?
    32.O-rings? What o-rings?
    33.What’s that foamy stuff under the oil fill cap & inside the filler tube?
    34.Why does my engine smoke when I first start it?
    35.Why does my engine smoke when I shift at high RPM?
    36.Why won’t my engine start? What can I do to start it?
    37.Why is my engine locked up, and what do I do about it?
    38.My engine just failed its emissions test. Now what do I do?
    39.What’s the best way to make my rotary car accelerate quicker?
    40.How hard would it be for me to rebuild my rotary?
    41.What is porting all about?
    42.Can I add a turbo to my NA?
    43.Why is rotary exhaust replacement or improvement so expensive?
    44.Why not hollow out the cats?
    45.How do I remove my air pump?
    46.How do I stop the backfiring?
    47.How can I tell if my car has a limited-slip differential?
    48.Where can I race my rotary car?
    49.Corvttes, Mustngs, Firbirds, Camros, Porches & RX7s?
    50.What are the RX-7 "generations"?
    51.Which model RX-7 do I have? How do the various RX-7 models differ?
    52.What other regular production cars have had rotary engines?
    53.Why did Mazda stop selling the RX-7 in the US?
    54.How do I subscribe/unsubscribe to the mailing list?
    55.Is there an RX-7 club I can join?
    56.My question’s not on this list. Where do I go from here?

Plus, links to the RX-7 generational FAQ; tech goodies, such as the "Rotary
Parts Interchange" & "replacing 12A with 13B", in "The Garage"; links to
information on upcoming rotary models and rotary history; acronymn dictionary;
instructions for subscribing to mailing lists; links to vendors, like:

        Gallery Group Mazda
        Mazda Auto Recycling
        Mazdatrix
        Racing Beat
        Rotary Performance Online
        Sun Auto
        Yaw Power Products

and much more.

The *complete* URL to get to Felix’s is below.
—
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men
to do nothing."                                    Edmund Burke

 Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** Rotary ONLY since 1973

Felix Miata  ***  http://mrmazda.members.atlantic.net/ <- Not just a FAQ

Can anyone point me to a website that has detaled instructions on how to
replace shocks/struts on a Mazda Miatta?

Thanks,
Shaun

I have a 1990 Miata with the factory radio/cassette player.  My Miata is a part-time car
at best, I don’t drive it very often.  Periodically if I don’t disconnect the battery, it
goes dead.  I can jump start it back, drive it again, and all is well.  I did that once
this time, everything was OK, but the battery could not hold a charge, so I figured I
would have to replace it after I jumped it once more to drive it to Mazda to get a new
battery.

But this time, I screwed up.  In my haste, I connected the positive and negative terminals
incorrectly at the other car battery, and I blew the main 80A fuse in the main  fuse
block.  I went and bought both a new battery and fuse, replaced them, and everything now
seems to work – lights, engine, horn, wipers, lights, etc. – *except* the radio.  There is
no sign of life.  I checked the fuse in the fuse box underneath the driver side dash, but
it looks OK.  The lighter works, which is supposed to be hooked on the same circuit (I
checked, and when I took out that fuse, the lighter did not work).  I checked all the
fuses, but everything looks good.

When I say the radio is dead, I mean it absolutely looks like it has no power.  I expected
to have to input the anti-theft code again, but the LCD did not come up with "code" as I
expected.  Nothing.  Push the knobs, nothing.   I didn’t try and input new codes in it at
all.

Any suggestions?  I figure if I fried my radio, the fuse would be blown, but that’s not
the case.  Any suggestions?  I’d hate to take it in and find that I just needed to reset
some switch somewhere.

-K.A.

Not sure how to describe the sound, but when I first start the engine (’96 M
edition), it makes a rapid clicking sound that is in sync with the revs.  It
doesn’t always happen, and when it does it dissapears after a couple of
minutes.  Sometimes I need to gun the engine for a few seconds to make the
clicking go away.  Also, this did happen for an extended period, a few
hours, while on the road a few weeks ago, but this extended behavior hasn’t
been repeated.  Any hints?

Thanks,

Hector

This is something I expected to happen.
I was actually pleased that it wasn’t
happening as quickly as I expected. Now
it’s an annoyance.

I’m at 2200 miles on my oil change and
I’m now down a quart for the oil change.

I added half a quart about 750 miles
ago, and I’m down half a quart again.
I’m reasonably sure she’s burning oil,
because I had the oil pan seal changed
and that leak has stopped. That too was
an annoyance leak. It wasn’t very bad.

So now I’m pretty sure she’s burning
enough oil to notice on the dipstick,
but not enough to show up in the
exhaust. She doesn’t mark my driveway.
I’d speculate it’s going through the
rings. But I don’t watch the exhaust. I
watch the road.
Also, the engine bay is as clean as to
be expected.

Any advice on how to slow her oil habit?
I’d prefer not to replace the rings at
this point in time. Ditto for any lifter
seals.

She’s a 90 B with 135,000 miles. She
seems to go through about the same
amount whether I run 10w or 5w-30 oil. A
little less with 10w, not much. It’s
getting sooner and sooner. Creeping up
about 50 miles per half quart added. I
do very little city driving, so I’d
probably go through more if I did.

–
"WARNING: Armed with a dangerous mind"