Suspension Ride Height

Andrew Witheford · Post by **Andrew Witheford** » Sun May 09, 2004 4:56 pm

Hi All,

Borrowed my friend's '89 1.6 the other day, parked it next to my 1.8 '93 and
was surpirsed at the big difference in ride height - my car seems at least
an inch lower, with the difference most apparent when you look at the space
between the tyre and the wheel arch. Handling on my car is a lot tighter,
but ride noticeably stiffer. Does anyone know if there were any factory
changes between the two models, or has my car been lowered by a former
owner?

Cheers,

Andrew

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SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Sun May 09, 2004 6:45 pm

Yes the 1800 cars have a higher ride height to the
1600 cars from the factory.
Glenn

Reuben Tarran · Post by **Reuben Tarran** » Sun May 09, 2004 7:57 pm

What year/model were the 1800cc models produced? And are there many around ?
Cheers
Reuben

Michael & Kate Cooper · Post by **Michael & Kate Cooper** » Sun May 09, 2004 8:10 pm

The first 1.8L MX5's were released in Japan in July 1993, however there seem
to be some early 1994 models were still 1.6L. Anything newer than 1994 will
have the 1.6L engine, unless, of course some enthusiast has done their own
upgrade! Since the import standard rules change there will be a lot more of
the later model MX5' coming into the country, as I understand that MK1 models
are not allowed to be imported anymore. (Anyone feel free to correct me on
this!)

Kate Cooper

Penzance Kennels & Cattery
www.penzance.co.nz

jeff · Post by **jeff** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:02 am

The ride height seems to have steadily risen from '89
onwards ... my '96 had a centre-hub to wheel-arch
measurement of nearly 15", vs less than 13" for the
earlier models. Also the sway bars are smaller and the
suspension bushings are softer on later models.
Aaarrgh!

I've driven a couple of '89s and '90 models and
they're great - feel like go karts compared to mine
was originally :p .

Jeff

--- Reuben Tarran <mrt@maxnet.co.nz> wrote:
[...]

EricW · Post by **EricW** » Mon May 10, 2004 8:27 am

As I understand it the first 1.8s were 93s but they also put the 1.6 into a
few 93 1.8 chassis, we have one of these on the Whangaparaoa, identical in
every respect to my 1.8, except for the engine, but from 94 on all were 1.8.

You are correct that we can't import anything earlier than 97 these days as
the earlier ones, which I assume means all NAs, do not meet the required
frontal impact standards. This applies to all Japanese "domestic" vehicles,
not just MX5s. The cars produced for the local Japanese market were built to
far lower standards of safety than most of what they built for the export
market up until 97' when the Japanese consumer caught on.

It is still legal to import non-Japanese pre 97 cars that do meet the
standards, such as BMW, Volvo etc.

Regards

Eric

Michael & Kate Cooper · Post by **Michael & Kate Cooper** » Mon May 10, 2004 11:10 am

Sorry, I got a bit muddled there - that's what happens when it gets past by
bed-time!

I meant to say that any MX5's newer than 1994 will have the 1.8L engine - not
the 1.6!

Sorry again.

In some European countries, the 1.6L engine was around for a lot longer, as
less powerful cars were cheaper to insure.

Kate Cooper

Penzance Kennels & Cattery
www.penzance.co.nz

my2cta · Post by **my2cta** » Mon May 10, 2004 7:23 pm

I've seen a couple of 98 NB cars with 1.6 motors for sale. I know that 1.6
continued to be available as an alternative engine size in the UK at least,
assume also in Japan, hence some used imports in NZ car yards. I have no idea
though how these more recent 1.6 motors compare to the 1.8 or to the earlier
1.6 motor. After all, the 1.8 has kept getting more powerful over the years,
so I guess the 1.6 did as well.

Tim
MY2CTA

Mike Constantine · Post by **Mike Constantine** » Mon May 10, 2004 9:46 pm

According to "Illustrated Directory of Sportscars" by Graham Robson, the later
1.6 was a 88bhp "entry level model"

Mike

graeme.hakin · Post by **graeme.hakin** » Mon May 10, 2004 11:05 pm

The 1.6 is still available in the UK, and has an output of 110ps (110 bhp more or less). The 1.6 engine hasn't changed much at all since the NA model. I've not driven a 1.6, but I'm told that there's not a huge amount of difference. 9.7 secs to 100km opposed to 8.5 sec 0-100km according to Mazda UK.

Graeme H

[...]

Andrew Witheford · Post by **Andrew Witheford** » Tue May 11, 2004 10:41 am

Surely they meant 88 "Kw"?!

[...]

Andrew Witheford · Post by **Andrew Witheford** » Tue May 11, 2004 11:05 am

I guess they might have detuned it to enable some product differentiation
from the 1800 - 10 Kw is not a huge difference.

[...]

Mike Constantine · Post by **Mike Constantine** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:19 pm

No, it's an English book and they still use bhp... the early 1.6 is
quoted as being 114 bhp, and the 1.8 140bhp

Mike

From Davidm@Snackmate.com Fri Apr 27 18:18:29 2007
content-class: urn:content-classes:message
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Subject: Nosiy fan
Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 17:05:14 +1200
Thread-Topic: Nosiy fan
Thread-Index: AcQ3FYolT19HA6NoEdiVZQBQ/DC5eg==
From: "David Moughtin" <Davidm@Snackmate.com>
To: "MX5List" <mx5list@mx5club.org.nz>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Precedence: list
Message-ID: <4g8hvB.A.tdG.HZZMGB@L733>

Hello everyone
My 1989 car has developed an intermittant nosiy squeal in the area of the radiator fan. Has anyone else experienced this and come up with a solution?
I would rather not buy a replacement fan if it is not necessary. If this is my only option, I see that Repco offer a 12" universal fan for $184 but I do not know about its capacity or mountability.

Thanks for your help.

David Moughtin
National Vending (NZ) Ltd
PO Box 58 556, Greenmount
24 V Allright Place, Mount Wellington, Auckland
New Zealand
Telephone 64 9 570 1647
Facsimile 64 9 570 7146
Mobile 021 907 109
Email DavidM@Snackmate.com

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