Ronald the Crappy Miata

In reply to spacecadet :

What have you checked so far? Ball joints? Control arm bushings? Tie rod ends? 

I have a coilover spring in the right front of my miata that pops/creaks at the right wheel angle and bump.

So, maybe the mount up top?  The na design is odd.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

I would lean toward your idea at this point. Something is the spring/shock stack. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

My only other thought is that the sheetmetal bracket that the sway bar mounts to is broken. Im not sure how often that happens, but i could see it with big sway bars and rough treatment 

Dusterbd13-michael said:

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

My only other thought is that the sheetmetal bracket that the sway bar mounts to is broken. Im not sure how often that happens, but i could see it with big sway bars and rough treatment 

I've inspected that bracket and there's no signs of tearing or damage that I can see. If it shows any in the future, I'll swap them out for the beefy FM ones. 

Daylan C said:

In reply to spacecadet :

What have you checked so far? Ball joints? Control arm bushings? Tie rod ends? 

can't find any play in the tie rods. ball joints all seem fine, I can't find any play at the moment. 

I need to loosen the control arm bolts and then retighten. 

Dumb question but could it be something loose in the engine bay and knocking around up there

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

the sound is distinctly popping. 

May be up in the engine bay.. but idk

It's suspension. Loading and unloading the front left (like pulling in somewhere with a slight ramp) will do it. You can feel it through the wheel/car. It feels VERY much like an endlink. Could it be an A-arm bushing loading/slipping? Did you tighten the A-arm bolts again? I tightened everything with weight on the car on the Paco stands in that helps at all. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

if you set it that way then it was set properly. I'm going to check the upper ball join you installed is not moving. I also may buy another upper control arm just to try and see if that is our issue. 

It happens sometimes under braking or slow speeds when I'm moving in a parking lot, but it's most prominent when pulling out of the driveway that's an incline. 

With that mileage, have engine mounts ever been replaced?  I've had a clunk/pop like you describe from a loose motor mount on a Miata... 

In reply to M16ta :

thanks for the input. I'll keep it in mind. nothing is off the table right now and motor mounts are pretty cheap for this car.. 

So yesterday was an interesting day to say the least. 

It didn't snow... it rained small ice pellets... which I was familiar with but couldn't place why. 

then I realized where I knew them from, they're basically what they do for "snowmaking" on Sugarloaf up in Maine. 

my office area in north Ft Worth was experiencing this, but at home north of Dallas was not.

Drive was a little bit hairy but everyone drove with their heads screwed on well and I actually got home faster than usual because traffic was light.  

couple corners from hom I was pulling into a turn lane as the light changed to green and I had 3 lanes of space..... So I went in a little overeagerly to the corner aiming for the inner lane, rear end let go and I lost about a 1/4 lane of width and just carried it out into the middle lane. 
 

Westlakes are a riot, stay in the box and don't be stupid with them and they work great as tires... get outside the box and they let go fairly progressively. 


I looked at the front end, I wondered if my popping might be the upper press in ball joint moving.. but it does not appear to have moved and the clip ring on the bottom is still in place.. 

The car makes the noise when i pull out of the driveway, when i turn the wheel to go forward the direction I want, I hear the pop. 

I have a new upper control arm on the way as well as a new lower ball joint..

we're gonna find the source of this stupid noise.. but for the time being I'm not overly worried about it, the suspension parts have no discernable play, so there's not an immediate safety issue. 

and I finally remembered to bring in my headlight shroud today and hit it with the dremel.

My 128 is making the same noise. If i find it i'll let you know. Have you joined the North Texas Rallycross facebook page?

In reply to shagles :

yes, I've followed the page since it was started. 

There's also a Texas SCCA Rallyx group to be a part of as well. that is where the Houston SCCA and Rally Ready Events get organized through. 

Thursday night prep before the weekend! 

Packing the car for the drive down tomorrow after work to COTA. 

I'm working the Gridlife GLTC event that's happening during Super Lap Battle. Going to be a lot of fun. 

Uneventful weekend running to COTA and back. 

Saturday night the car started making a clicking every time i pushed the clutch in a little and the cruise would not work. 

I looked into it Sunday morning and the little screw clip that was acting as the backstop on the pedal for the cruise control clutch switch actuator was out of position. Put it back in position and all was normal. 

We took the car into downtown Austin on Friday night to hit a ramen joint on the far East end of 6th Street. 

I love small cars! Ronald was able to fit into a free street parking spot right up against the limit of legal parking. 

This stuff is amazing on locks. I ordered it over the weekend and it arrived today. Ronald's tumblers we're not bad by any means.. but now they're buttery smooth. It's awesome. 

In reply to spacecadet :

yea, i have some here at the house cause the front door lock gets sticky

Ronald doing crappy Miata things...

Hazmat's motors is having a not good time... So Ronald was called back into service...

Pulled him out of the driveway after 5 weeks and turned over without issue.. ran rough for a second when i started it... But smoothed out in a about 20 seconds and ran to Walmart just fine. It's a silly little car. But it's a known quantity and it works.. I love it. 

Now to get serious on finding the front end pop. 

Put the front left corner up in the air today. 
 

working the suspension up and down using a jack did not yield any pops. but it seemed to pop when I lifted it off the ground.. 

I am really beginning to be suspect that it is the shock and spring after they have time to settle, but it could be bushings.. idk... i'm not overly concerned about it right now.. steering rack feels fine so I don't believe the issue is with it.. and bushings aren't an immediate safety issue.. so I will wait to start tearing the car apart. 

i also took some photos of the driver seat lower foam insert that Seth made. 

I didn't have a ruler handy and didn't feel like going to find a tape measure. so I grabbed a 12oz coke can since it's a standard size that someone can easily reference. 

This is not an exact science on the size, but with these photos someone else could easily replicate to pretty close to seth's original one. 

Spent some time today working on Ronald. 

Tightened up a few bolts just a bit more on the top of the shocks and on the sway bar bushings. And I threw on the track wheel and tire 15's 

Also pulled the grey fender to toss black paint on it. 

Still looks absolutely terrible up close. But now from the street it looks a lot better. 

Also took a few minutes to remove the stickers that looked the worst. 

The maxxis fender sticker and the D Mac tire shop stickers did not look good at all. 

Car really needs to be cleaned ..but i mean... It's the crappy miata.... 

Changed my mind... Ronald was overdue for a well earned bath.

Looks fantastic sopping wet. Used wheel cleaner on these wheels and they've never looked this nice the whole time Seth and I have had them...lol

Still looks pretty solid once it dries off too. 

This rear 3/4 view looks pretty fantastic... Not gonna lie .