So, for those who don't really care about its lack of whatever the twins may not have, here is a neat thread on what is under the skin.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6914
I like this picture because it hows me how simple it should be to get rid of the stupid noise maker that feeds into th cabin.
Yup, i jizzed.
Interesting!
And the first product is...a pulley that deletes the harmonic damper. Sheesh. Put one of those on your turbo Miata and you'll never get to your next oil change before the pump shatters.
They're all excited over a bump on a grommet. Like the bump on the wire grommets from a 1990 Miata 
I suspect they're part of how those grommets are installed.
Too bad about the Showa shocks. Although good for the aftermarket. If the Showas on stock Miatas are any indication, Toyobaru owners will be shopping for shocks in 30,000 miles.
So the radiator stack is actually like a pac-man mouth when viewed from the side, with the radiator up top and AC condenser below? Pretty serious setup for a production car.
It also looks like their direct-drive electric PS system acts on the column shaft rather than the rack - every time this has been tried until now the feel has been horrible. Great work if they got it to work properly, that setup is great for packaging.
Looks like maintenance isn't too bad, I wonder how hard it is to change the spark plugs.
What I'm taking away from this is...imagine working on a brand new car 
, without years upon years of caked-on grime and dirt and oil and seized bolts.
Keith wrote: Too bad about the Showa shocks. Although good for the aftermarket. If the Showas on stock Miatas are any indication, Toyobaru owners will be shopping for shocks in 30,000 miles.
I'm just guessing here... but a proportion of the new owners will have ripped all that stuff out within the 1st 6 months....
Huh, looks like ST(?) tire clearance is going to be more limited than I thought.
I've taken apart a car with 80 miles on it. It's awesome
So the issue that keeps coming up are spark plugs, the layout looks similar to the 2.5RS except that the heads line up with the frame rail, Aussie Toyota is saying the engine has to be raised 100 mm (4 inches) to get to the plugs...
I bet taking a new car apart is LOTS of fun Doubt I will ever get to do it though
Raze wrote: So the issue that keeps coming up are spark plugs, the layout looks similar to the 2.5RS except that the heads line up with the frame rail, Aussie Toyota is saying the engine has to be raised 100 mm (4 inches) to get to the plugs...
Once the LSx is in there, plug changes should be a breeze
Lots of room side-to-side,
In reply to NOHOME:
IIRC that's the same radiator layout that the 3rd gen RX7 used.
The NC Miata has a steeply raked radiator. Not a V though.
I wouldn't be worried about width with an LSx install. I'd be worried about height.
Raze wrote: So the issue that keeps coming up are spark plugs, the layout looks similar to the 2.5RS except that the heads line up with the frame rail, Aussie Toyota is saying the engine has to be raised 100 mm (4 inches) to get to the plugs...
I wonder if you can get to them through the wheel wells, like on an Astro van?
dculberson wrote: I wonder if you can get to them through the wheel wells, like on an Astro van?
That's what I was thinking, but I'd say there's a good chance the plug holes happen to line up with the frame rails...
Keith wrote: Interesting! And the first product is...a pulley that deletes the harmonic damper. Sheesh. Put one of those on your turbo Miata and you'll never get to your next oil change before the pump shatters.
Totally different design of engine with much less harmonic imbalance to begin with.
carguy123 wrote:Keith wrote: Interesting! And the first product is...a pulley that deletes the harmonic damper. Sheesh. Put one of those on your turbo Miata and you'll never get to your next oil change before the pump shatters.Totally different design of engine with much less harmonic imbalance to begin with.
Sure, and I've seen it "proven" that you don't need one on a Miata either Well, except for the whole 500-mile-oil-pump-destruction thing. We've seen power gains on Miatas from improving the damper, not from taking them off.
A flat four isn't a totally different design of engine. It's still got the pistons applying power at different points and at different times to the crankshaft. It's still got the same number of main bearings as a straight four. Yes, it's got nice inherent balance against shaking, but that's not what the damper is for.
If I'm going to take rotating mass off a crankshaft, it's going to be off the flywheel - as that's exactly what the flywheel is for. I'm not going to do it by taking off an damper. The factory engineers put those on for a reason, and it's usually a good one.
Look how shiny
Seems like that car has some pretty cool touches. I may have to fake wanting a new car and go test drive one.
Do want! I didn't know that there were cars without grime coated on them...
GameboyRMH wrote:dculberson wrote: I wonder if you can get to them through the wheel wells, like on an Astro van?That's what I was thinking, but I'd say there's a good chance the plug holes happen to line up with the frame rails...
Frame rails? This is a unibody, right?
Anyway, Ace Hardware sells hole saws for a few bucks.
ShadowSix wrote: Frame rails? This is a unibody, right? Anyway, Ace Hardware sells hole saws for a few bucks.
Hey they still have rails, you just can't separate them from everything else.
GameboyRMH wrote:ShadowSix wrote: Frame rails? This is a unibody, right? Anyway, Ace Hardware sells hole saws for a few bucks.Hey they still have rails, you just can't separate them from everything else.
Yeah, I thought you were talking about the subframe (visible in the photo above, and probably not in the way). I bet the plugs are good for 100k miles, but if you have to unbolt the motor from the tranny to get them out that would suck.
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