Exhausting Miata Repairs

It's been a few weeks away from competition for NMS South but that doesn't mean we've been resting!

Mufflers, and catalytic converters and piping, Oh my!

While competing in Bristol, the Miata had an audible exhaust leak.  By the time the mighty number 86 made it home, there was a very bad rattling sound.  A quick exam revealed the exhaust pipe had complete cracked where it was welded to the muffler.

The "old" exhaust.

Luckily Kyle had just found a Miata parts car and hooked me up with a very cheap OEM replacement. Four bolts later and it was back to a solid exhaust system.

Close up of the old exhaust. Pro tip: wear heavy gloves if you want to work on your exhaust after driving for 30 minutes.

Hopefully the future will bring a new cat-back exhaust system to save a couple pounds and add a little better sound.  The big benefit of this new exhaust was replacing one big welded pipe with one that still had the factory flange for more easily being able to replace the rear muffler or axle-back section.

"New" muffler installed. No leaks here! Pay no attention to that terrible vinyl job .

On the way home from replacing the exhaust I made a couple stops and each time the car would not crank up.  Not to worry! The great thing about lightweight manual transmission cars is you can put it in neutral, give it a push to get it rolling, hop in the car, shift to first, bump the clutch and zoom zoom, you're running again.  You will also impress nearby grocery shoppers with your mad car skillz!

The new exhaust flange to allow for future replacement of the muffler / axle-back section.

The local parts store checked the battery and after finding exactly zero electricity hidden inside, they replaced it with a brand new one under warranty! Hopefully this isn't some bizarre NMS trend that will continue.

Old battery, it was fun, but you just don't have the energy this team is looking for.

Also in the works is a brand new vinyl wrap livery for the Miata.  Another post will follow with full details and a complete reveal later this week when the full scheme is complete. Also up in the coming weeks we'll be dealing with (another) leaky front crank seal and some air conditioning issues. All that AND two back to back weekends full of autocross!