What have you done to your Mazda5 today?

[MR6]

MR6, when you do spray it up, make sure you get all the rollers. There is one big obvious one when you look at each slide but there are 2 more above that one , 6 in all. The big one I think is the bottom roller to keep it from popping up off the track. The other 2 are the ones the door actually rides on. I would stay away from any type of grease as its going to collect dirt and is largely inaccessible to clean properly. You must use a thin spray with a straw to hit your mark and so that it makes its way in. Everyone is re-calibrating their effort to operate it, its getting slammed open and closed by the kids since it takes them a bit longer Once it gets above freezing they should close themselves on level ground.

Will do. Thanks.

 

[hibern8r]

Great job Guide. It looks good!

 

[loosenut]

I modified a cheap auto organizer tray to fit in the cubby at the rear of the center console. I think that I'll get more practical use from this area.

 

[Secondtyme]

Oil change at 151K I cannot WAIT for warm weather, the van needs a large amount of TLC. I'm gonna be three days buffing out all the new scratches in the paint from this winters ministrations.

 

[sac02]

...
That's awesome. You gotta get us some videos from the audience perspective or any view for that matter. Have you tried a road course with her yet?

No road courses yet, or possibly ever with this vehicle. I have other more "appropriate" cars for track use.

I actually took my first ever in-car video at this event. It is a bad angle (you've got a nice view of my registration sticker though), and upside down. I'm at least competent with lightroom/photoshop for still images, but I'm clueless (and software-less) for video. I'll work on figuring out how to rotate the video 180deg, then try to share it with you guys.

 

[Vasy]

No road courses yet, or possibly ever with this vehicle. I have other more "appropriate" cars for track use.

I'll work on figuring out how to rotate the video 180deg, then try to share it with you guys.

If you are on windows, you can use free windows movie maker to rotate, cut boring parts out, and upload to youtube.
It is not a super complex software but does ok super basics things like that for free.

 

[rodslinger]

I went chasing rattles today. Shitloads of kids toys under the seats. Found the intercooler was moving a little and touching the front bumper cross beam when in reverse. Fixed that. Removed the Tri-Point rear sway bar and put the stock unit back on until I find something a little softer. Seems to be noise free now.

 

[hibern8r]

Installed Nokya Yellow 65watt H9 bulbs in my H11 fog housings. Also changed front and rear wipers.

 

[sac02]

Here is video of my winning run at the auto-x last week. Again, sorry for the really poor camera placement, it was my first attempt at in-car video, and I definitely learned where NOT to put the camera, lol. The comment from the starter while I was at the line was because he apparently saw some humor in my minivan being followed by the car that was behind me was the aforementioned fire-breathing tube frame "Miata" with 15" wide slicks that set FTD.

At the beginning you can hear the announcer call out the time of the MINI Cooper that finished 2nd with a 42.6 second run - his run was briefly good for first place in class until I ran my 41.9sec time. There was definitely more time left out there for me - I got behind at the fifth slalom cone, I could have been a bit smoother in the second half of the sweeper/360, and been a bit tighter in the second to last element before the finish.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/saFmIFwT30A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[MR6]

I went chasing rattles today. Shitloads of kids toys under the seats. Found the intercooler was moving a little and touching the front bumper cross beam when in reverse. Fixed that. Removed the Tri-Point rear sway bar and put the stock unit back on until I find something a little softer. Seems to be noise free now.

Intercooler? In the US?

I also went chasing rattles (and painfully loud clunks). I pulled the rear shocks to tighten up the mounts. I was able to get another 3/4 turn on each before the hex key slipped. Also discovered one of the adjustments collars was loose again so it got another squirt of thread lock before re-installing. The rattle is thankfully gone but the LOUD clunk from the rear over sharp bumps continues to drive me nuts!!! Sending an email to BC for warranty support. This can't be normal.



a little thread lock for good measure

 

[sac02]

Intercooler? In the US?

(In case rodslinger doesn't check in soon) He's turbocharged with the Tripoint Engineering kit.

I also went chasing rattles (and painfully loud clunks). I pulled the rear shocks to tighten up the mounts. I was able to get another 3/4 turn on each before the hex key slipped. Also discovered one of the adjustments collars was loose again so it got another squirt of thread lock before re-installing. The rattle is thankfully gone but the LOUD clunk from the rear over sharp bumps continues to drive me nuts!!! Sending an email to BC for warranty support. This can't be normal.

The way that nut sits on that washer looks awkward, would a flange nut be better? (You can get locking flange nuts too)

Have you inspected the rear sway bar endlinks as a possible source of the loud clunk over bumps? I think the endlinks are a known weak spot, and the first time I took out my ms3 RSB, I was in a rush and didn't quite get one link all the way tight and had a clunk from it.

 

[MR6]

(In case rodslinger doesn't check in soon) He's turbocharged with the Tripoint Engineering kit.



The way that nut sits on that washer looks awkward, would a flange nut be better? (You can get locking flange nuts too)



Have you inspected the rear sway bar endlinks as a possible source of the loud clunk over bumps? I think the endlinks are a known weak spot, and the first time I took out my ms3 RSB, I was in a rush and didn't quite get one link all the way tight and had a clunk from it.

oh that's right. i didn't notice the name.

That nuts does look like a poor choice for the job. It's too late for me though. I stripped the hex on the passenger side and the driver side just gave up completely...split open like 1/4". the adjuster is holding it together. I muscled the hell out of them

I torqued everything related to the ms3 sway to ms3 spec...To test, all i did to the endlinks was whack them with a rubber mallet and listen. No comparison to the weight of the van though, i know. Sometime this week i'll just pull the links and zip tie the bar then go for an "off road" drive. I so hope your right!

 

[loosenut]

sac02 that is awesome, the video was good but the audio was even better. The announcer sounded dumbfounded at the end - "Mazda ...... minivan". Very cool. Please post more as you compete.

 

[sac02]

dumb question, but - you did use ms3 endlinks for your ms3 bar, right? The mz3/mz5 bar has a 10mm hole, for 10mm diameter of the mz3/5 link. The ms3 bar has a 12mm hole for 12mm link. If you put a 10mm mz5 link into a 12mm ms3 bar hole, that can definitely be a noise source.

 

[rodslinger]

Here is video of my winning run at the auto-x last week. ...

Nice run. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. It looked slow, sounded smooth but ended up fast. NAILED IT.

 

[twintrbo]

Great run, faster than me of course but screaming kids adds that X factor

As for the coilovers, I know my OEM Mitsu has a keyed shaft that locks into the top spring perch, does this setup have that? It seems to me there shouldn't be any rotation in the shaft to come loose in the first place. I agree with other people that you should change that nut but a nylon locking nut shouldn't come loose in the first place. I would either do double nuts or a lock washer with a flat bottomed lock nut.

 

[MR6]

dumb question, but - you did use ms3 endlinks for your ms3 bar, right? The mz3/mz5 bar has a 10mm hole, for 10mm diameter of the mz3/5 link. The ms3 bar has a 12mm hole for 12mm link. If you put a 10mm mz5 link into a 12mm ms3 bar hole, that can definitely be a noise source.

Indeed i did. Brand new OEMs

Great run, faster than me of course but screaming kids adds that X factor

As for the coilovers, I know my OEM Mitsu has a keyed shaft that locks into the top spring perch, does this setup have that? It seems to me there shouldn't be any rotation in the shaft to come loose in the first place. I agree with other people that you should change that nut but a nylon locking nut shouldn't come loose in the first place. I would either do double nuts or a lock washer with a flat bottomed lock nut.

Too late to change the nut The hex on the top of the shaft gave under the torque while i was tightening. I basically gave it all i got as a "last turn" with the box wrench and the shaft couldn't take it. A hex on the ratchet has great leverage! Stripped one and in the other, the tip of the shaft just split in half. Wasn't catastrophic. the split was small enough to get 3 or 4 threads of the dampening adjuster on. But i wouldn't risk forcing a nut past that split. Not worth it. I think sac is right with the RSB end links. I did have a hard time getting leverage on the top nuts.

 

[TonyC]

kappa 629i installed in front. I'm hoping the 2ohm (actually rated 3ohm by Crutchfield) speakers don't blow up the stock HU...

 

[tuanies]

Swapped the vinyl factory wheel for a leather one, cost all $55


20140314_145011_Android by tuanies, on Flickr

Even kept the silver lower trim piece too. Brightens up the interior a bit compared to the all black of the stock wheel.


P1090663 by tuanies, on Flickr

 

[Secondtyme]

I like it! I wonder if the later gen wheel would function in a first gen car? Mainly the cruise control and the lighting I mean. I installed 3w LED tail lights, they have a three second flash feature that I really like.