I'm buying* Canada's cheapest, roadworthy**, 50 mpg*** Mazda Miata MX-5

[MetroMPG]

The AC radiator is almost as big as the engine radiator.

It's only half discoloured because that's where the cracks are -- dirty coolant has spilled down it several times.

[iikhod]

About the smaller radiator being enough, remember folks, there's always the good old "heater on full blast-trick" if it tends to overheat. Especially in this case with the open top.

[Stubby79]

Originally Posted by kurzer

the best mod i did to my mx5, was setting the mixture leaner. in open loop the car is so rich, even the power isn´t at its best. inner cooling, i guess.

i opend the black cover at the air flow meter. there is the spring base wich i set now 4 klicks leaner.

You'll be my hero if that works on mine! Dang thing runs way too rich. We'll find out soon!

PS: I put my Miata back on the road this morning. Stuck a new(er) battery in it and it fired right up after sitting for 2 years. That must have been some really good fuel stabilizer I put in there!!!!

[kurzer]

make sure, the lambda sonde is ok first. a weak sonde tends to richer mixture in closed loop. the tune of the air flow meter is working for open loop.

[MetroMPG]

I made up a bracket to mount the Swift radiator and installed it in the car.

I also put in the Suzuki fan & shroud (it fit!) and connected it to the Miata's wiring.

Popped the hoses on (with modifications to the upper hose, since it doesn't lead where it used to), and took it for a spin.

No leaks! And I confirmed the coolant fan goes on (and off) as expected when the hot engine is left idling. (That part of the test was painful. )

Now that I know everything fits & works, I'm going to take it apart again, tidy up some details and re-install it. I'll get some pics this weekend.

It's a Franken-mod, but it works. It reminded me a tiny bit of the way Cubans have keep their 1950's American cars running without access to proper replacement parts.

[MetroMPG]

The original radiator was attached & supported with rubber-isolated side brackets, but the Swift radiator sat on a rubber-isolated bracket at the bottom.

Solution: remove the original side-brackets and join them with a bottom brace + cradle to support the smaller radiator:



I positioned the smaller rad so the original bottom coolant hose lined up. Flipping the top hose over and adding a short extension hose finished the job.



I just need to make an isolated bracket to secure the top tank.

Weight savings: 7 lbs (including coolant). First ecomod done!

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This weekend I also:

1) Repaired a sloppy windshield wiper linkage, which was missing a bushing. (The previous owner had "secured" it with duct tape.)

2) Stitched the zipper back on the top of the rear plastic window. It was half off, so the window was flopping around in the breeze, letting in weather & critters.

[Stubby79]

You and I both need to clean our engines!

[MetroMPG]

Yup! The old radiator barfed nasty old coolant all over the engine bay.

[MetroMPG]

I knew before I bought this turd-vertible that the floor on the driver's side was ventilated. I wasn't sure about the passenger side. Yesterday I pulled the seats and carpets to see how bad it really is...

Driver's side



Above: of course, it's worse than it looked from underneath, but no big surprises.

It'll look much worse than this once I've ground back the rust to good metal!

Passenger side

I kept finding flecks of rust ON the carpet behind the passenger seat, and now I know why:



The seat cushion has been wet enough, frequently enough, that the steel stamping on the bottom started rusting away.

The floor itself is in much better shape than the driver's side, though:



The most alarming sight was around this kick panel (the ECU lives behind it). It's not as bad as it looks though: that's an aluminum stamping, and there's some good galvanic corrosion going on there:



In the floor itself there are a few small-ish holes:



I did pull the kick panel and the ECU, and behind there it's actually fine.

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So I need to pencil in some quality time with my grinder & welder.

[ECO-AKJ]

Maybe some hybrid (Belly Pan/New Floor Pan) material can be used!!!