Miata Channel

12/08/2025

Been a while since I posted an update.. The first picture in The Dalles, Oregon marks my 5000th mile in the Banana, but it also marked the beginning of 6 weeks of drama, and a series of failures that has been keeping it off the road, and testing the limits of my sanity.

During that last drive I noticed a screeching noise that was getting louder and louder, and appeared to be coming from the alternator, so I planned on replacing it when I got home. Once I went to remove it, I found that the alternator mount on the water pump had broken off. Once I took that off, I found that my valve cover gasket had been leaking, and the timing belt had been covered with oil. I also found the exhaust cam seal was leaking as well..

So now I'm doing the timing belt replacement and cam seals again, 6000 miles after it was done the last time. I took it all apart again, and cleaned it up... and then when I went to start it again, it cranked but would not start. I had fuel, and it acted like it was trying to start... this time it appeared the cam angle sensor had failed.

I got it all back together, and it was running better than ever before, sounded great and the screeching noise was gone. And then I noticed... it was still leaking. I could see the oil seeping out of the front cover 🤬

This time I took the advice of many people online and got OEM Mazda valve cover gaskets. I also noticed the o-rings on the VVT system were pretty old and brittle, so I did a refresh of all the gaskets and o-rings on that as well. After cleaning it up and replacing the valve cover again, and following pretty much every piece of advice I found, it was back together and ready to go... or was it? NOPE.

This time is started but ran like absolute crap. And there was this nasty ticking noise. After troubleshooting it a bit, it started to look like the VVT actuator was the issue. I'm wondering if suddenly having full oil pressure pushed it over the edge after 209k miles.

Which brings me to today.. VVT cam gear and actuator are replaced. Valve cover gasket #4 is installed. Tonight I am turning the key again to see if everything is ready to go.

Will it start and run right without leaking? Stay tuned.

21/05/2025

The Banana went on its first drive on May 17, and it seems mostly sorted... there are a few things left to fix, but it feels solid and handles amazingly. I've been daily driving it for the past couple of weeks, and love it!

18/05/2025

In 2002, Mazda produced two different yellows.. On the left, Blazing Yellow Mica 2002 Special Edition (1 of 1000), and on the right, Vivid Yellow 2002 Special Order (1 of 239).

11/05/2025

This weekend's work was a great success. I have been having an issue with the header I bought rubbing on the subframe. It turned out to be due to it being defective.. you can see the difference in the pics below. Also, just turned 205k! Many thanks to Good-Win Racing who saved the day.. they sent me a new one, which fit perfectly! Excellent customer service and I am super happy with the result. I finally got to enjoy a proper drive and the weather was perfect. Next weekend it goes on its first club drive!.

09/05/2025

This weekend is hopefully the last tech session on The Banana before I start using it for Miata drives. I had the alignment redone yesterday to be more aggressive and it was lowered an additional 10mm. This weekend its getting the steering rack and header replaced (it appears the one I got may be defective). Crossing my fingers we come out of the weekend with no issues outstanding... and for The Banana going on its first Miata drive on May 17th.

16/04/2025

I just passed three years of ownership and still love it.
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14/04/2025

I had a feeling the days of the naturally aspirated, light, manual transmission Miata were going to continue... looks like we have some confirmation https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a64474059/2027-mazda-miata-next-generation-details

Mazda is already planning the fifth generation of the evergreen sports car, and there are no plans to stray from the formula.

25/03/2025

I saw a thread where someone was told they drive a Miata because they were "single, lonely and sad." Here's a picture of me leading a group of sad, lonely Miata drivers on a crazy fun drive while many of our spouses were at home, and a few of them came along. So much for that nonsense.

12/03/2025

Out for a drive with some friends... a little bit of rain never stopped us from having a good time! #

12/03/2025

So The Banana ended up having an issue with an exhaust leak and, in the process of trying to replace the gasket, we broke a stud on the exhaust manifold. Since my mantra is "if it breaks, it needs to be upgraded," its getting upgraded! I ordered a RoadsterSport header and EGR delete kit from Goodwin Racing and it should be arriving on Friday.