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minispeed · 03-31-2012, 10:44 PM

I had a busy weekend working on the car. First off my second tank, not as good at 6.33l/100 which involved 100km of stop and go rush hour vs the previous tanks 50, and also more city driving this tank.

I started my work on the car with trying to adjust a noisy belt which started a chain of very annoying events. The power steering belt was removed to test the econo benefit from that. That was easy enough, but the alt/water pump belt was the one making the noise. I turned the adjuster and snap, bolt broke off. Easy enough to fix though so I went to turn the bolt that holds the adjuster on.... snap.... ok so now I have to take the alternator off and drill out that snapped bolt so the bottom bolt has to come off. Can anyone guess what happened? Yes, snap... So I can't get a drill in that space so I have to use the dremil to drill out that snapped bolt which would be fine except my dremil breaks....

So I borrowed my dads, drilled it out, got the belt back on and as tight as possible, a little better but still a small noise from the belt so I figure now I get to do the fun stuff.

Oil change with Mobil 1 0w20.

I added LED stripes for the day time running lights DRL. I'll be using all LED for the lighting with the exception of the front turn signals so that less energy is used during EOC.

I also removed the stock DRL/turn signal and drilled a new hole in an unused side portion of the light. I then added some H3 lights inside the spot that use to be the DRL/turn signal to use as headlights and avoid the aero hit of the pop ups.

I wired these up to come on with the parking lights so I can turn them on for night driving but still use the pop up low and high beams if I ever need the full lighting system. I will also be adding 50w HIDs in 4300k to the system. I ordered them after trying out just one of the lights and thinking it was a little too low, but after both were hooked up I was starting to think it might be enough.

Next came the front grill block. I went to the local dollar store and picked up some coroplast garage sale signs, $1.25 each. They also had some blue duct tape that looked really close to the miata blue. I bought that only thinking it would be for the passenger side mirror holes but then decided to use it on the coroplast instead of painting that black. I sized the hole in the middle so that in the winter I can simply turn the license plate bracket upside down and lower the plate to block it.

Next I turned my attention to the front wheels, a well know miata aerodynamic nightmare. I ran out of tape so only covered one. I will be going and getting some steel L brackets from the home depot tomorrow to hold the sides in against the high winds.

And with the left over coroplast I started on an under tray extension as the miata has what looks to be a pretty decent undertray already. This is a really horrible picture, I should have got it from the side to show how the corners have been fully filled prior to the front wheels.

Now I'm very excited to see how I can do on my next fill up. I will probably then re hook up the power steering to see exactly how much I can attribute to that mod.

03-31-2012, 10:44 PM	#12 (permalink)
minispeed EcoModding Apprentice Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Burlington, ON Posts: 158 minispeed-Insight - '00 Honda Insight 90 day: 82.15 mpg (US) MDX - '01 Acura MDX Touring 90 day: 22.29 mpg (US) the wife's car - '13 Toyota Prius Plus 90 day: 45.99 mpg (US) leaf-one - '15 Nissan Leaf SV Thanks: 4 Thanked 36 Times in 26 Posts	I had a busy weekend working on the car. First off my second tank, not as good at 6.33l/100 which involved 100km of stop and go rush hour vs the previous tanks 50, and also more city driving this tank. I started my work on the car with trying to adjust a noisy belt which started a chain of very annoying events. The power steering belt was removed to test the econo benefit from that. That was easy enough, but the alt/water pump belt was the one making the noise. I turned the adjuster and snap, bolt broke off. Easy enough to fix though so I went to turn the bolt that holds the adjuster on.... snap.... ok so now I have to take the alternator off and drill out that snapped bolt so the bottom bolt has to come off. Can anyone guess what happened? Yes, snap... So I can't get a drill in that space so I have to use the dremil to drill out that snapped bolt which would be fine except my dremil breaks.... So I borrowed my dads, drilled it out, got the belt back on and as tight as possible, a little better but still a small noise from the belt so I figure now I get to do the fun stuff. Oil change with Mobil 1 0w20. I added LED stripes for the day time running lights DRL. I'll be using all LED for the lighting with the exception of the front turn signals so that less energy is used during EOC. I also removed the stock DRL/turn signal and drilled a new hole in an unused side portion of the light. I then added some H3 lights inside the spot that use to be the DRL/turn signal to use as headlights and avoid the aero hit of the pop ups. I wired these up to come on with the parking lights so I can turn them on for night driving but still use the pop up low and high beams if I ever need the full lighting system. I will also be adding 50w HIDs in 4300k to the system. I ordered them after trying out just one of the lights and thinking it was a little too low, but after both were hooked up I was starting to think it might be enough. Next came the front grill block. I went to the local dollar store and picked up some coroplast garage sale signs, $1.25 each. They also had some blue duct tape that looked really close to the miata blue. I bought that only thinking it would be for the passenger side mirror holes but then decided to use it on the coroplast instead of painting that black. I sized the hole in the middle so that in the winter I can simply turn the license plate bracket upside down and lower the plate to block it. Next I turned my attention to the front wheels, a well know miata aerodynamic nightmare. I ran out of tape so only covered one. I will be going and getting some steel L brackets from the home depot tomorrow to hold the sides in against the high winds. And with the left over coroplast I started on an under tray extension as the miata has what looks to be a pretty decent undertray already. This is a really horrible picture, I should have got it from the side to show how the corners have been fully filled prior to the front wheels. Now I'm very excited to see how I can do on my next fill up. I will probably then re hook up the power steering to see exactly how much I can attribute to that mod. Last edited by minispeed; 03-31-2012 at 10:50 PM..