Weekend Projects

[///M Compact]

That saddens me!

It saddens me too. I was really enthusiastic about the car when I bought it; I thought it would be fun to try something different from my usual diet of used German RWD iron. The MS3 was the first new car I'd bought in over twelve years.

 

[jmsj578]

I would think cold weather would improve performance. We've had two cars with turbos, in the past. I never noticed a decrease in power during the winter months. You mentioned letting the smoke out of the turbo at the Sonic. Are you sure you didn't damage the turbo when you let the smoke out of it? Oftentimes, letting the smoke out of something ends its usefulness. Electronics are good for that.

 

[Moultese]

Man that sucks that you are having such a bad experience with the MS3.

 

[///M Compact]

Man that sucks that you are having such a bad experience with the MS3.

Tell me about it. When we first got it my wife was ready to trade her X3 for a CX-7. Now that she's seen the hassle of having to drive to Cinci to get competent service that's never going to happen...

 

[DaleNixon]

Back on topic, I am getting a Hotchkis RSB this Saturday that will go on before a car wash and Christmas party.

I'm considering those redline hood dampers and a COBB shifter weight next. I just took off my HKS SRI and put the factory air box back on while I wait for someone to get a CP-E Nano in stock... KENNN HEEEELLLPPPP!

The Amsoil filter on the COBB intake has me intrigued. How's that working out for you? Have you checked to see if it screwed with your AFR and/or fuel trims?

Edit: Oops this is the Kentucky area... :backs away slowly:

 

[08cosmic3]

Back on topic, I am getting a Hotchkis RSB this Saturday that will go on before a car wash and Christmas party.

I'm considering those redline hood dampers and a COBB shifter weight next. I just took off my HKS SRI and put the factory air box back on while I wait for someone to get a CP-E Nano in stock... KENNN HEEEELLLPPPP!

The Amsoil filter on the COBB intake has me intrigued. How's that working out for you? Have you checked to see if it screwed with your AFR and/or fuel trims?

Edit: Oops this is the Kentucky area... :backs away slowly:

I have the hood lifts due here any day now and can't wait to get them installed. SU has them discounted $7 right now, days after I ordered them. I'm still waiting on my Medieval MM form Dark Star Motorsports. I would have thought it should be here by now. I'm calling them Monday if it's not here by then. I also ordered the vent gauge pod that has been a year in development.
I'm not installing it anytime soon because I can't afford the Aeroforce scan gauge, that I want to install into it, until summer.

I don't have a way to check AFR but the car seems the same as with the Cobb filter. I would get the Cobb or Corksport intake before the Nano. There have been people who bought Nano and are getting the Cobb now that it is available again. Seems that they were not happy with it. The CS has a turbo inlet that comes with the intake.

I hope to get sways soon. I'm keeping an eye on the sale sections and Ebay looking for a deal.

 

[08cosmic3]

Installed Medieval rear motor mount.

I've had the Cork Sport inserts for 11,000 miles and decided to upgrade to a full mount. I installed a Medieval rear MM which resembles the SU MM and cost less. I was worried about increased vibration in the cabin but was surprised that the vibrations were not as bad as I was expecting. It did increase a little at idle and even more with the compressor on, but I can live with it.

Went for a drive and noticed immediatly that the car felt more solid when running through the gears. It's raining here so I won't be able to put the car through a hard launch till it dries up.

 

[08cosmic3]

Installed Redline Tuning Hood Quicklift Kit today. See pics and video below.

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[jmsj578]

Nice lifts. Just be aware that they may not be all that nice in wind. I have them on my airplane's canopy; and, I've had the canopy slam down. Not good. It cracked one corner of the canopy when it did it. They are more apt to fail during cold weather.

My big project for this weekend was to copy the Miata's photos from the builder's photo gallery before he loses it, again. I have about 100 of them, now. Getting ready to go talk to a couple of painters.

 

[DaleNixon]

You beat me to the lifts! Mine arrived yesterday, but I'm too busy with the holidays to install them yet. This weekend they'll be on.

I've got my Greddy turbo timer in as well. That's gonna be quite an adventure to install. I want to make sure I get it hooked up so that I can use the remote lock while the car is idling.

I've seen wind bounce a hood off the hood prop and slam the hood shut. I'd say no open hood is gonna be super safe in high winds.

 

[08cosmic3]

I took my prop off and left it on the shelf in the garage. It looks so clean without the prop in the way. If you don't have a rivet gun go to Sears and get the craftsman they say to buy in the instructions, I purchased the standard $11. I bought a no name brand from Lowes first and after two rivets the damn thing broke, took it back then went to Sears. Good luck.

 

[DaleNixon]

Thanks. I got a contractor grade rivet gun from amazon.com. We'll see how that works out.

 

[DaleNixon]

I now have nasty damage to the upper part of my fender and hood thanks to the quicklifts. The install went great until I closed the hood and the passenger side quicklift made a loud POP and broke loose from its fender mounting bracket. It lifted up the upper fender from inside the hood. It's kinda hard to explain, but it looks pretty nasty

I guess I won't be using these quicklifts :\ I have the brackets riveted in place on the car as a nice reminder though. I really don't know what went wrong. I followed Redline's instructions exactly. I sent them a very calm email explaining what happened... We'll see what they say. I'm not really pissed off right now or anything, I'm just in disbelief at how this whole thing went so wrong for me.

Hopefully my turbo timer install tomorrow will go more smoothly (shrug)

 

[jmsj578]

Now, that's the kind of luck I'd have. I think I'll just stick with the support rod and let it go at that.

 

[DaleNixon]

I'm in touch with redline customer service. Extremely nice folks. We're working on a solution to my problem. I'll keep you guys posted. They are refunding my money even though I'm the one who botched the install.

 

[08cosmic3]

Sorry to here about that. I feel bad for you. I hope you can correct the problem and make it work, if not you can drill out the rivets to remove the brackets. My install went well considering that it was the first time I have ever used a rivet gun. Keep us informed on thye solution.

 

[DaleNixon]

I drilled out the rivets and removed the top brackets. I filled the holes in with some kind of liquid metal crap from Autozone. I then sanded it down via dremmel and painted it with touch up paint. The bent part of my fender was easily bent back with a hammer wrapped in a towel and some tough love. That was touched up with paint as well. I'm looking pretty good now considering what happened. Most people will never notice it but I sure as hell will every time.

I'm going to attempt to reinstall the brackets on my car further out towards the outer edge of the hood, but I'm waiting on Redline to ship me some replacement locking springs, rivets, and possibly new hood brackets. In the meantime, I took the Redline sticker off the spring that was scratched to all hell, cleaned it up, and painted it with black duplicolor. It looks great!

I opened up the plastic around the steering wheel yesterday to take a look at the ignition wires. I suddenly had second thoughts about installing my turbo timer that day. I decided to get the hood lift thing under control before I take a whack at another part of my car

 

[///M Compact]

Man, you are taking things much better than I would have. That's got to be a major league PITA.

 

[08cosmic3]

Man, you are taking things much better than I would have. That's got to be a major league PITA.

I agree, I feel bad and it's not my car. I guess it's because at one time or another all of us have experienced something like this. I have, but I won't tell what I did but it's way worst than this, not on my Speed though.

 

[DaleNixon]

Well overall I was pretty upset, but there's only so much you can do when s*** happens.

When I had my Protege5, I was constantly nervous about dings/scratches/etc. I vowed to chill out and accept them as facts of life when I got the MS3.

I wash the car weekly and touch up any paint scratches I find. That's really the best I can do with a daily driver.

Of course, in this case, I caused the damage by screwing up an install. I'm just glad Redline are being so cool about it. They really don't have to do anything but they've chosen to. The customer service guy I've been emailing pointed out the error I made in my install before he told me they would refund me and send me some new parts.