newbie questions

suburban_ennui · Post by **suburban_ennui** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 7:14 pm

hi, I'm Lawrence and I've been an MX5 owner for about five days now, having bought a 1990 manual Eunos Roadster in British Racing Green.

Anyway, I have a couple of questions. Firstly ... fuel. The guy who sold it to me reckons he used 91 octane fuel, whereas I assumed it'd probably run better on 98. Any suggestions as to what I should fill it with?

Secondly, any suggestions for cleaning the rear window of the soft top? I figure it's going to need replacing eventually anyway, but right now I have enough other car-releated stuff to worry about so that's a way off. The window is a bit milky, and I was wondering if there were any good tips for getting it as clear as possible in the sort term.

Any info appreciated ... I've admired MX5s from afar fro a long time, and am excited to finally own one, but it's all a bit bewildering.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 7:31 pm

Hi Lawrence and welcome to the MX5 club!
I run my 1992 MX5 on 98 octane. Runs better and works out slightly cheaper
because of the improved economy. Same goes for my 1998 NB 1.8. My Honda
Odyssey also benefits from 98, even more so than the MX5s. My daughter is
now using the 1992 MX5 and its done around 210,000km with no apparent
problems.
The window was quite milky when I bought the car. Tried special cleaners /
polishes and couldn't improve it. It was too far gone. It finally cracked a
few weeks ago so I finished up replacing the whole roof. The roof was
showing many signs of old age so wasn't worth replacing just the window. The
new roof was a budget model with fixed window (i.e. no zip) and cost me
$540.00. I fitted it myself. I had no previous experience doing this work
and am very pleased with the result. Perfect fit and a window that can be
seen through!
Where are you? Join your local club and get plenty of advice and help from
fellow friendly members!

Grant.

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suburban_ennui · Post by **suburban_ennui** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 9:28 pm

hi Grant

thanks for the tips ... I'm in Auckland, BTW, and do intend to join the club just as soon as I get the kinks out of the car and get it running to my satisfaction. (It needs a wee bit of work ... new electric window switch, new internal doorhandles, and the mountings for the rear spoiler had rusted through so I took it off, but am left with left and right had mounting brackets which seemingly can't be removed because the bolts have fused together, and two holes in the centre of the boot from the certral mounting stem.)

Anyway, I'll try 98 octane. Do all stations sell it? I seem to recall only seeing 91 and 96.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 9:59 pm

Not all stations sell 98. If you can't get 98 (easy to find in Auckland
though) then use 95. I use BP Ultimate as it's very convenient for me plus
the AA rewards points are handy. My vehicles do about 80,000km a year so get
through a bit of fuel.
Electric window switches are notorious for getting dirty contacts. If it
looks ok, then pull it apart and give it a good clean. Probably work after
that. I would think a good panel beater would have no problem removing the
remains of the spoiler and repairing the holes. My car doesn't have a
spoiler.
Have fun with the car. We all do!

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Ian · Post by **Ian** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 10:11 pm

Hi there..

Your car is designed to run on 91.
95 is something of a safeguard esp if you run under hot conditions/high rpm/advanced timing.
I use BP Ultimate all the time, in the belief that it 'may' produce a little more power, but mostly as a safeguard as I run 14 degrees timing advance (10 is standard)....the timing advance is the very first performance tweak for your car...and essentially costs nothing and is quite noticeable! Thousands of MX5 owners world wide have done this mod.

Good luck with your new toy.

Ian

suburban_ennui · Post by **suburban_ennui** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:02 pm

another question ... can anyone recommend a good place to get my car serviced? (ie. somewhere where the people know something about MX5s.) There's a Mazda dealer (East City Cars, I think) in Mt. Wellington/Panmure who advertise in "Top Down" ... is it worth going there? I plan on doing as much routine maintanence as possible myself, but since I've just bought the car and the service label is faded, I'd like to get it done really thoroughly before I start doing too much driving.

Post by **jif** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 4:26 pm

If you're worried about the cambelt, it's a non-interference engine... no risk of bent valves here! So you can live dangerously

and lotsa info here:
http://www.miata.net/garage

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Richard and Robyn Glass · Post by **Richard and Robyn Glass** » Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:02 pm

we heard all the hype about running on 98...... didnt take long for us to go back to 91....... the car rocks on 91.....just didnt run right on 98.,

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Tue Sep 05, 2006 8:09 am

Hi Richard and Robyn....

98 Oct ane fuel is demonstrably better in some cars (eg some European and Japanese high performance cars ie in those cars whose computers will recognise fuel octane and adjust timing accordingly)
An unmodified MX5 is not in that category.

Your MX5 should have been unaffected by 98.

As newbies, you might want to get a handbook plus the Performance Projects book which is quite widely available....lots of useful info about such things as plug leads, oil change intervals, and fuel filter changes. I bet there are MX5s running around with their original fuel filters!

Good luck with your toy...enjoy.

Bluesgeek · Post by **Bluesgeek** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 5:13 pm

My timing is bumped up to around 16 degrees and I still run 91 with no knocking or noticeable difference in economy...