Adeeb's Cheese Adventures

[Tar]

Can you throw a 4ohm 25W resistor in series with the LED bulbs?

For the high beams? That’s an idea I didn’t think of but hmmm.

For the turn signals I opted to modify the relay instead and disable the bulb-out hyper flash because I didn’t like the idea of wasting power as heat and having the extra wiring and mounting of resistors.

But for the high beams it might work. I am gonna do the fog wiring mod anyways but it’ll at least shut the high beams off fully. I found last night that with the headlights on the high beams stay on all the time now but dimly lit, and the light in the cluster stays lit. When I actually turn on the high beams it goes full bright and same for the light in the cluster. The dimly lit state isn’t obnoxious or anything, it just lights up the housing basically like the switchbacks but a little dimmer. I think it just looks better with it fully off though. This is how it currently lights up with high beams “off” but low beams on.

The lights look great so far, honestly I'm not sure what size resistor, maybe measure the resistance of the existing setup to be sure. It may also make sense to go with a bigger one, so maybe a 50W or whatever you think makes sense..

[adoob]

Been a bit since I've posted in here.

Took the car to the beach for the first time yesterday after Cars and Coffee. A cheesy boat in its natural habitat. Not the best beachscape with the weather but it is what it is.

Car's been running great mechanically, and lately either something changed with the car or my driving but shifts have been buttery smooth. The clutch bite point is right off the floor some mornings, but after a bit of driving it usually comes back up to its usual area. Was worried it was clutch wear/slip but nope none of that. Maybe needs new clutch hydraulics, might do the kit off Good-win Racing with new master and slave cylinders and a stainless line. Either way, been really enjoying it!

On the downside, it's been having electrical gremlins. Thinking it's just the battery tiedown letting it move around too much (still has that jank fix because I haven't put in the relocation kit yet but using the smaller battery ), but around hard turns or bumps I'll sometimes get a headunit restart or engine cutting out on throttle. Yesterday it had a few stumbles but after disconnecting the battery, cleaning the terminals, and tightening up everything it was solid the rest of the day even with some hard driving.

Gonna see if I can set aside some time this coming weekend to give the car some much needed TLC. Finish that battery relocation kit to isolate the most likely cause of the electrical gremlins, extend the washer fluid pump cable so I can actually use that again (relocated it to make room for battery relocation but never finished it), and give the interior a REAL good vacuuming (oh my god there's sand EVERYWHERE, i only had the top down for 5 minutes how did it all get in here????). Might end up going to help RLWake with Stinky's engine replacement though so we'll see. It's about halfway done and he's done with the car and wants it gone.

[adoob]

Been a while friends! Been busy with life shit and work shit. Just started a new job (software engineer @ citibank) making good money about a month ago thanks to a recommendation from a friend and been getting adjusted to that, and along with that been doing a bit of personal discovery and reorganizing of priorities. Will probably talk more about this in the OT thread, but there's some car updates to share here.

So two weeks ago the brakes started making a horrendous noise on the way home from work

Since I only have to go in 2x a week and already did that week, I worked from home next day and got up at sunrise to pull apart the brakes before morning stand up meeting and investigate. And oh boy was it interesting:







Because one of the slider pins on the front driver side caliper seized to the bracket, only the inner pad wore down until it was metal on metal. I promptly ordered new pads and rotors, and a new caliper since the bracket isn't sold separately. Paid for fast shipping to hopefully have it there by Saturday, and I could knock it out on Sunday to be ready for the next week. Cue disappointment. RockAuto had the caliper here the next day but the pads and rotors from Moss Miata wouldn't be there until Tuesday the next week. Which sucked, because I had a trip the following Thursday through the next weekend, and I also had ordered stainless steel lines while I was at it too which would add more work.

I put the car back together and drove it 100mi roundtrip to work the following Monday and Tuesday making a horrible noise. It still stopped fine surprisingly. Shows how overkill stock NC brakes are.

Tuesday evening, the parts came in and as soon as I got home from work the car was in the air and I got to work.





Important note: those two photos are a week and a half apart. That Tuesday, I got the rear rotors and pads off and the front pads off, but the front rotor set screws were thoroughly stuck. I ran out of time. Wednesday, I drilled out the screws and got the front rotors on and started replacing the driver front caliper. In the process I started also doing the stainless line, but the metal bracket the stock line attaches to was thoroughly stuck on and I wasted time fighting with it. I ended up just getting the caliper on with no line attached. Thursday morning I had no time due to little brother's field trip, in the afternoon the sun was beating down and I was exhausted so I didn't bother, and then that night I had a flight.

When we came back from the trip, I got up every morning to work on the car until Thursday and Friday where I gave in and borrowed parents' SUV to do my weekly in office days. The evenings were all rainy and lack of a garage meant I couldn't work on the car. I gave up on the stainless line and decided to leave the rubber in, and decided to torque all the bolts properly with a torque wrench.

I fucked up. The torque spec listed on miata.net for the slider pin bolts was wrong. ~40 lb ft is what they say...



Friend of mine sent me the alldata screenshot where it's only 18ftlb...



New set of slider pins and bolts from Autozone it is, one more day of delay. And that leads to this past Friday evening. Finally got everything buttoned up and ready to bleed Saturday. Spent all day Saturday bleeding it with fresh ATE Typ 200; did it with a friend in the morning and it didn't work, kept having a soft pedal. Waited till the evening and did it again with a one-man bleeder bottle from Autozone and it worked like a charm. Bled the clutch line while I was at it too. Lost some clutch feel but the engagement is a lot smoother and shifts are a lot easier. I bedded the brakes in a little that night picking my dad up from the restaurant and I could immediately tell these Hawk HP Plus were very different from the Hawk HPS pads before. So much harder stopping and bite especially with some heat in it.



In the morning, buddy of mine texted me asking if I was down to go for a drive now that the brakes are finally on and I wasn't anxious about the car anymore. I said yes. Here's me trying to chase his C6 down.


Such a fun end to a long ordeal that had me anxious for an entire two weeks. And now I can actually afford to throw money at the car for mods...
Thinking about throwing a rollbar and some seats at it.

[D Griff]

Welcome back man! Congrats on the job, that is certainly awesome news, that first time having dece money is a nice feeling.

Glad the brakes all got resolved, looks like you even managed to find some halfway decent driving in FL which is no easy feat.

Word of caution from an 'old guy' I would skip a roll bar. They are pretty dang dangerous if you don't have a helmet on. The minute some crazy/dumb/drunk driver rear ends you, your head can slam into the bar and crack. Think long and hard before doing that and I would skip it entirely on a street car. Sorry for the lecture, but it's a serious thing.

Seats are an amazing upgrade I had Sparco QTR-R in the and it was incredible. https://www.sparcousa.com/product/qrt-r If you're open to something that racey it's very comfy too, only complaint is it's a bit hot. Sparco also has some nice sporty options that aren't quite as track oriented.

[adoob]

Word of caution from an 'old guy' I would skip a roll bar. They are pretty dang dangerous if you don't have a helmet on. The minute some crazy/dumb/drunk driver rear ends you, your head can slam into the bar and crack. Think long and hard before doing that and I would skip it entirely on a street car. Sorry for the lecture, but it's a serious thing.

Been thinking about too. Looking at the Blackbird Fabworx NC RZ bar (https://auroraautodesign.com/products/b ... compatible) and based on how low I sit compared to the headrest (am shortish) and how high the bar is I think I would be fine, but gotta do some more research. Also the seats I'm considering are Corbeau RRX with the black and white plaid cloth center sections. I do lose side curtain airbags though if I swap the seats, since the factory ones are in the seats. Lot of decisions to make regarding safety. I think both of these are a thing I'd do together or not at all. The stock seats are just looking really worn, especially the driver seat.

[golftdibrad1]

Word of caution from an 'old guy' I would skip a roll bar. They are pretty dang dangerous if you don't have a helmet on. The minute some crazy/dumb/drunk driver rear ends you, your head can slam into the bar and crack. Think long and hard before doing that and I would skip it entirely on a street car. Sorry for the lecture, but it's a serious thing.

Been thinking about too. Looking at the Blackbird Fabworx NC RZ bar (https://auroraautodesign.com/products/b ... compatible) and based on how low I sit compared to the headrest (am shortish) and how high the bar is I think I would be fine, but gotta do some more research. Also the seats I'm considering are Corbeau RRX with the black and white plaid cloth center sections. I do lose side curtain airbags though if I swap the seats, since the factory ones are in the seats. Lot of decisions to make regarding safety. I think both of these are a thing I'd do together or not at all. The stock seats are just looking really worn, especially the driver seat.

Another old guy checking in with same advice, having actually had a rollbar on a street car too.

Unless you are doing track and HDPE and they require it, skip a roll bar. NC's have one built in anyway. I'd skip seats too. If you must spend money on the car, wheels & tires and / or suspension.

Or s supercharger I mean good roll bar and seats are about as much as a superblower.

[D Griff]

Seats are a legit upgrade, Miata stock seats are pretty flat/meh.

Even with a high roll bar, your body can move a lot in a crash. Also, even if you're a defensive, attentive, good driver, you can't control the dipshits around you. I say all this and am an avid road cyclist, so I understand taking risks for things you enjoy, just food for thought.

[adoob]

Been a while, friends. Life got in the way and I was feeling pretty bad about the state of the Miata under my ownershit so I kinda stopped posting about it as often, with the occasional Instagram post here and there but that's about it.

The thing is about to hit 96,000 miles by the end of next week. Since my last update back in May of last year, a few things have happened:

• The driver side sideskirt got ripped off by a paver/concrete block in the road I didn't see at night, and what's left of it is currently held on by zipties, just as the front bumper is from the raccoon incident back in October of 2022. It looks fine from 10ft away but I definitely need to start ordering all the body parts this thing needs.

• The Sony headunit with CarPlay died, so it's back to stock radio. Been procrastinating on sending it back for warranty replacement.

• Needed a new alternator because the bearing gave out and was making a ton of noise, which is kinda lame as RLWake swapped it with a new OEM Mazda one not long before I got the car from him. I put a reman ACDelco unit in it last week. Did a new idler pulley and serpentine belt while I was at it. When I went to Daytona to spectate the Rolex 24 a few weeks ago, the parking lot workers asked me if the car was procharged because of all the noise the old alternator was making

• I finally got tired of all the squealing from the Hawk HP+ pads for daily driving and swapped to EBC Redstuff a couple weeks ago.

• The AC has continued leaking slowly, I finally put some UV dye in it last time I topped it up to track down the leak, but now I cannot find my UV flashlight

The latter three items I was living with until I got a girl in the car (for like the first time ever ) and felt really embarrassed driving to lunch with her... but she enjoyed it anyways

In other news, I'm moving out from my parents' place to an apartment in Tampa near work next week. The big news relating to that is will finally be getting a garage

I can finally have space to treat this car the way it deserves. I'm also looking at a daily to pair with it to keep the miles off; something larger, comfier, and faster in a straight line.

I'll send some pictures of the car in a bit, gave it the nicest wash it's had in a while this weekend and I've been staring at it and snapping pics every time I go outside. Forgot how nice it looks cleaned up even with the body issues its got.

[adoob]

Seats are a legit upgrade, Miata stock seats are pretty flat/meh.

Even with a high roll bar, your body can move a lot in a crash. Also, even if you're a defensive, attentive, good driver, you can't control the dipshits around you. I say all this and am an avid road cyclist, so I understand taking risks for things you enjoy, just food for thought.

Yeah as cool as a rollbar would be, it seems unnecessary for street driving which is 99% of what this car does. I do plan on getting it on track at Sebring or Daytona this year, but the org I'm planning to go through (Chin Track Days) allows the stock roll hoops on the NC. All convertibles have to sign a waiver whether they have an aftermarket bar or factory, and ones with no protection aren't allowed.

The seats though are definitely coming once I get the bodywork sorted, as those will be a comfort upgrade too with the cloth centers. Looking at Corbeau RRX with the white plaid cloth centers. Would help in the Florida heat a ton vs the smooth black leather that doesn't breathe.
https://corbeau.com/content/Product-Ima ... 13pr-s.jpg
https://corbeau.com/sportline-rrx/

[adoob]

pics as promised. I actually don't think I've shared anything from the "new" (as of last fall lol) camera here, picked up a Fujifilm X-T20 with the 18-55mm f/2.8-4 for a good deal in August. I love it with these settings that are supposed to mimic Kodak Gold film.

[D Griff]

Seats are a legit upgrade, Miata stock seats are pretty flat/meh.

Even with a high roll bar, your body can move a lot in a crash. Also, even if you're a defensive, attentive, good driver, you can't control the dipshits around you. I say all this and am an avid road cyclist, so I understand taking risks for things you enjoy, just food for thought.

Yeah as cool as a rollbar would be, it seems unnecessary for street driving which is 99% of what this car does. I do plan on getting it on track at Sebring or Daytona this year, but the org I'm planning to go through (Chin Track Days) allows the stock roll hoops on the NC. All convertibles have to sign a waiver whether they have an aftermarket bar or factory, and ones with no protection aren't allowed.

The seats though are definitely coming once I get the bodywork sorted, as those will be a comfort upgrade too with the cloth centers. Looking at Corbeau RRX with the white plaid cloth centers. Would help in the Florida heat a ton vs the smooth black leather that doesn't breathe.
https://corbeau.com/content/Product-Ima ... 13pr-s.jpg
https://corbeau.com/sportline-rrx/

Those are sweet looking seats! Good call on the cloth. I had cloth buckets in my Corvette, Sparco QRT-R (basically an actual race seat) and they were still hot as hell as they cocoon your body. Those should be a bit better.

Don’t feel bad about the car getting rough at times. It’s 15 years old and adulting blows sometimes Hopefully living closer to work saves time to dedicate more to hobbies/things you enjoy.

[D Griff]

back by the way! Glad to have you around and to see the Miata again.

[wap]

back by the way! Glad to have you around and to see the Miata again.

[adoob]

Those are sweet looking seats! Good call on the cloth. I had cloth buckets in my Corvette, Sparco QRT-R (basically an actual race seat) and they were still hot as hell as they cocoon your body. Those should be a bit better.

Don’t feel bad about the car getting rough at times. It’s 15 years old and adulting blows sometimes Hopefully living closer to work saves time to dedicate more to hobbies/things you enjoy.

I also think the plaid is a nice aesthetic touch. Might see if I can get extra fabric and upholster a small section of the door cards to match.

I keep forgetting that the car is THAT old. Really doesn't feel all that old haha.

And on the saving time, maybe not so much. I only commute twice a week, it's just I'm really bad at managing my time and have too many commitments. Really just need to get my life in order and I'm hoping the move and living on my own finally forces me to do that.

[adoob]

back by the way! Glad to have you around and to see the Miata again.

Thanks guys. I'll try not to be a stranger and catch up with y'all more often. Anything happen in the time I was gone?

[adoob]

Also regarding the second car... the hints are it's german and the model name is a 3 character alphanumeric. Should complement the Miata quite nicely.

Also obviously used because I'm not . Need to make sure the finances work after the move and settling in. Ideally I'd like to find it in the rare color so I own 2 rare color cars.


Until it happens though...

[D Griff]

Also regarding the second car... the hints are it's german and the model name is a 3 character alphanumeric. Should complement the Miata quite nicely.

Also obviously used because I'm not . Need to make sure the finances work after the move and settling in. Ideally I'd like to find it in the rare color so I own 2 rare color cars.


Until it happens though...

RS3?

15 years old ain’t too bad It’s pretty hard to manage time though.

[golftdibrad1]

Thanks guys. I'll try not to be a stranger and catch up with y'all more often. Anything happen in the time I was gone?

Max probably bought like 3 cars. including doing a lemon/negotiated buy back on his electric bmw that was in shop for over 2 months for an unplugged tweeter wire. Then, he went full and bought the same model of car after dust settled.

[D Griff]

Thanks guys. I'll try not to be a stranger and catch up with y'all more often. Anything happen in the time I was gone?

Max probably bought like 3 cars. including doing a lemon/negotiated buy back on his electric bmw that was in shop for over 2 months for an unplugged tweeter wire. Then, he went full and bought the same model of car after dust settled.

he also had a kid, is having a kid. Not a ton of other but see the thread. Chris ditched us and maybe a few others. Mario became a rock star. I’m par for the course, same job, whorange GR86, etc.

[adoob]

Max probably bought like 3 cars. including doing a lemon/negotiated buy back on his electric bmw that was in shop for over 2 months for an unplugged tweeter wire. Then, he went full and bought the same model of car after dust settled.

I skimmed through his iX thread but didn't catch the lemon part haha.

[adoob]

he also had a kid, is having a kid. Not a ton of other but see the thread. Chris ditched us and maybe a few others. Mario became a rock star. I’m par for the course, same job, whorange GR86, etc.

Will take a look at the thread and if things go well I'll be contributing to it soon haha. Also I must've missed when you picked up a GR86.

I wonder how much of the group is left here. I keep up with Zack occasionally via Instagram but that's about it.

[adoob]

Got to park for a bit in its soon-to-be new home today. Signed the lease and I get the keys to the place on Monday.

[max225]

Thanks guys. I'll try not to be a stranger and catch up with y'all more often. Anything happen in the time I was gone?

Max probably bought like 3 cars. including doing a lemon/negotiated buy back on his electric bmw that was in shop for over 2 months for an unplugged tweeter wire. Then, he went full and bought the same model of car after dust settled.