Ok, folks, this morning, I got engaged into a conversation with a pal up in Canada who owns the Mega Monster Miata built by Bishop Motors (monstermiata.ca).  This pal and I started discussing about how the fuel pump seems to be somewhat erratic with the 302.  Turns out that my fuel pump, that I supposedly thought worked fine, really wasn’t working optimally.  Well, what is expected out of a fuel pump that is 16 years old?

I came across an OEM replacement fuel pump at AutoZone for $130 and bought a matching strainer for my 1993 Miata and the pump.  I spent a couple hours carefully extracting the old pump on a full tank.  I let the apparatus dry out over a period of 20 minutes.  I started extracting the old pump.  My apparatus seems to be different than the 94-97 vehicles.  There are three pieces in the flange that you do NOT want to lose.  So take extra caution pulling things apart.  I had a fire extinguisher at the ready in the case…

Here are the pictures of what I did:

Oh my gosh… performance increase was significant. The fuel pressure gauge was showing a perfectly stable pressure. I think I need to lower the pressure just a tad bit maybe to about 40.5 or 41 psi. I’ve been running on an increased pressure of 42 psi, but balls!

Folks,

As you may know that I went in for an alignment job to get everything all straightened out and dialed-in… I discovered that the rear-right wheel was not responsive to the alignment adjustments which suggested the bearings were shot. Sure enough, when I took the hubs off and rotated the race to get a feel of how bad it was. It grinded so badly and it was very resistant to rotation. That is not good, folks.

Fortunately, this problem was spotted long before it became a real problem. I took both the rear hubs to a machine shop nearby – H.D. Auto Parts and Machine Shop in Apache Junction. The shop looks pretty dirty or like a grease-pit. But MAN, those guys there know their machining stuff. The guys had my hubs’ bearings replaced in a couple hours and they even put the race back in perfectly.

I put everything back on the Miata and took it down to the same place that did my alignment and finished the rear-right wheel’s alignment. This time, the rear-right was responsive to the adjustments. The Miata now rolls MUCH smoother and straight. I drove around the car for a good 80-90 miles and noticed that the fuel mileage nearly doubled. I was doing a horrible 8-ish MPG and now with the alignment, new tires, and new bearings, I’m doing about 14-18-ish MPG now.

Impressive improvement. That means more fun in between fill ups!

Word of note: The Falken Ziex’s that I put on are OK… Not as impressive as the Yokohama S-drives. If I were y’all, I’d stick with the Yokohamas for aggressive driving. But, if it’s a daily driver, use the Falkens because the Yokohama S-drives are summer sport driving tires while the Falken Ziexs are all-season.

I’m working on acquiring a lip for the front, a grille to cover up the weird looking fan boobs. At the same time, I’m going to acquire a triple A-Pillar gauge pod to put 52mm or 2 1/16″ gauges to report the fuel pressure, vacuum pressure, and then the water temperature. I desperately need a new ragtop.

I got new tires on my Miata today. Falken Ziex ZE-512 215/40R-16′s. They were on sale so I picked them up and my Yokohamas were all ruined because of a crappy alignment. I thought I had it dialed in. Turns out that I didn’t. I was a bit off. The front camber was pretty spot-on. But, the rest of it was all messed up.

Check the before and after paperwork of the computerized alignment work:

Now, notice something odd about the right, rear wheel. Yep, same camber… -2 degrees. That’s the discovery that the hub bearing is bad and I didn’t even realize it until now. I realized it immediately after the alignment was done and I could feel the grinding of the bearings. I picked up new bearings on the way home from NAPA for some $30 each (I’m going to do the left rear as well).

The car drives much better now. Steering is much easier now and I can finally see why power steering really doesn’t matter in a car this light.

Ok, folks. I learned my lesson about alignment and its effect on tires. Here’s a lesson for y’all, if you take apart the suspension in any way, manner… Get an alignment done (computerized is best for precision). The car drives unbelievably better now.