Obelisk's Garage - Daihatsu Midget II, Mazda MX5 (NC2), Suzuki Alto Works (HB11S)

[Obelisk]

July check-in!

Mimi / NC2 MX5
The car received its ARP studs just in time to make a 700+ mile round trip to an Autocross race in Philly, where I ran a 32.2. My codriver, who was at autox for the first time, ran a 32.8. We ended up near the bottom (111th and 114th PAX), but it was still a lot of fun.

I had to throw away the alumimum(!!) open top lugs because, well...

Yeah. Ready to let go on me. I replaced them with Gorilla Automotive steel lugs for durability and for thread engagement - essentially a big upgrade for both safety and functionality.

Plus, they complement the accent on the daily wheels nicely!

The MX5 has gotten an alignment as well (it developed a drift) which I took advantage of. The front camber has been raised from -0.5 to -0.9 to give me more bite on the front tires without compromising the tire wear much.

Daisho / Midget II
Parked for now - something is knocking in the steering, and I decided to be proactive. It's probably the u-joint in the steering starting to go bad, so I already have a replacement part. I just need to find someone who can work on the car...

Hakoga / Alto Works
Engine is at a machine shop pending eval, but both shops are taking way too long to get back to me...

 

[Chris30]

July check-in!

Mimi / NC2 MX5
The car received its ARP studs just in time to make a 700+ mile round trip to an Autocross race in Philly, where I ran a 32.2. My codriver, who was at autox for the first time, ran a 32.8. We ended up near the bottom (111th and 114th PAX), but it was still a lot of fun.

I had to throw away the alumimum(!!) open top lugs because, well...
View attachment 1465773
Yeah. Ready to let go on me. I replaced them with Gorilla Automotive steel lugs for durability and for thread engagement - essentially a big upgrade for both safety and functionality.

Plus, they complement the accent on the daily wheels nicely!
View attachment 1465774

The MX5 has gotten an alignment as well (it developed a drift) which I took advantage of. The front camber has been raised from -0.5 to -0.9 to give me more bite on the front tires without compromising the tire wear much.

Daisho / Midget II
Parked for now - something is knocking in the steering, and I decided to be proactive. It's probably the u-joint in the steering starting to go bad, so I already have a replacement part. I just need to find someone who can work on the car...

Hakoga / Alto Works
Engine is at a machine shop pending eval, but both shops are taking way too long to get back to me...

Glad everything worked out for you mate, great update. Take care and hope your cars keep going for a long time.

 

[TB]

Glad everything worked out for you mate, great update. Take care and hope your cars keep going for a long time.

You need to read a little closer. He said two of his three vehicles aren't running.

 

[Obelisk]

You need to read a little closer. He said two of his three vehicles aren't running.

The Midget technically is running. I'm just holding off on driving it (much) until I can get the new U-joint in.

 

[Obelisk]

Midget update:
(Boothill impersonation) Son of a nice lady, this forking thing is driving me crazy. (/impersonation)

Problem:

• Midge is struggling with ac / accessory load
• Midge is stalling on throttle, idling weirdly
• Midge feels 'tired' on long drives

Root cause:

The Midget's vacuum valve between the intake and ECU was installed backwards the entire time I've had it.

I've flipped the valve to the correct orientation, but it's definitely compromised. New valve coming in this week. Also pending a steering U joint repair and new alignment next week.

 

[Obelisk]

Midget update:
(Boothill impersonation) Son of a nice lady, this forking thing is driving me crazy. (/impersonation)

Problem:

• Midge is struggling with ac / accessory load
• Midge is stalling on throttle, idling weirdly
• Midge feels 'tired' on long drives

Root cause:
View attachment 1468640
View attachment 1468639

The Midget's vacuum valve between the intake and ECU was installed backwards the entire time I've had it.

I've flipped the valve to the correct orientation, but it's definitely compromised. New valve coming in this week. Also pending a steering U joint repair and new alignment next week.

Old lady started buzzing nicely once the valve was in. I had to adjust down the idle because it was set high - I reckon it was set high to get around the behavior I noticed, but the valve failing just brought it back up to the surface.

I have it sitting ~950-975 idle, and it's handling driving as if nothing happened.

 

[Chris30]

That's great news mate. Glad everything worked out for the Midget. Take care.

 

[Obelisk]

Update 2:
Autoshop did diagnostic work on the Midget and found that the thumping I'd been hearing is typical old car noise from the steering rack. The U joints are good and tight.

At least they fixed the alignment. It was toe out of center - to the right side of the car.

 

[Chris30]

I'm glad the Midget is okay, thank you for giving us an update on it. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. It will be fall before you know it. That's good crisp weather to take a ride in it every now and then.

 

[Obelisk]

I got the repair bill for the Alto.

$3,800. The car was $5,700.

 

[Obelisk]

I have it sitting ~950-975 idle, and it's handling driving as if nothing happened.

So I took another pass at the carb tuning, because I wasn't happy with it in its factory spec. It was getting sapped especially bad by the AC, plus idling roughly/unevenly. I now have it dialed in at 1050-1070 (which is really about the maximum you wanna go beyond factory spec of 900 to 1,000 rpm), which puts the AC drop down to about 1,000-1,020 RPM. This has now revealed another gremlin in the Midget's long list of beater-car problems: the idle-up (if it has one) for the electrics is either not responding or not tuned, as it's dropping to about 860 RPM when trying to sustain the running lights or full lights. For the majority of use cases, the Midget is 100% fine. I just need to examine that issue with the idle and find out if it needs to go back to the mechanic or if I just need some curse words and a screwdriver.

I'll be bringing the Midget II to the 44th Annual Spindles Autofest, if any local GTPers want to pop by and say hi!

While I'm at it, might as well quickly check in:

ALTO WORKS/Hakoga

I've been given a semi-concrete estimate of about 2 to 4 weeks for the completion of the engine rebuild! I've already started moving papers along on my side so I can throw its plates on the day it's ready to come back. This time... I'm taking side roads back home instead of I-95.

I discussed it elsewhere, but the verdict is that the plug in #1 is what caused the catastrophic failure. It took out the exhaust valve and the piston, and thankfully only necessitated a minor honing of the cylinder walls. The rest of the car is mechanically in good shape, so I'll be able to take it around to the end-of-season car shows. I do have one action item I'll need to deal with once I get Hakoga registered: replace the lug nuts. Those are pretty rusty, despite the rest of the car being clean...Don't wanna risk one chewing itself up and flying off the car.

MX5/Mimi
Nothing of note here - I still need to get the Tochigi Fuji LSD swapped in, but I need some time to save up before I do that. Other than that, I don't really have any plans right now. I may want to throw down at one or two more Autocross sessions before the season's fully over, and at least promote myself out of Novice class.

 

[Joey D]

Getting Reddit famous now!

https://www.reddit.com/r/regularcarreviews/s/zIwY4HdNRO

 

[Chris30]

That's awesome news, @Obelisk

Thank you for the updates.

 

[Obelisk]

Getting Reddit famous now!

https://www.reddit.com/r/regularcarreviews/s/zIwY4HdNRO

What's even better is that the guy in the black shirt in that photo is also an RCR fan, and we were talking about that around the time the photo was taken!

 

[Obelisk]

September check-in (for now)!

MX5
I had to toss two of the lug nuts because they spalled when I was switching my 17" wheels onto the car. I'm looking to run one more autocross before the season's out entirely, then spend the winter saving for a 17x8 set. That makes the Toyo Proxes set my new daily set. Just a practical decision because I'm pretty sure my whole idea of running 16 inch wheels was doomed from the start, and it took me almost a year to come to that conclusion.

Midget II
Currently working on dealing with potential carb/ignition issues that've been haunting the car for a while. I'm waiting on new NGK plugs to come in to go with the new ignition wires I already have. I have a new carb, but I think I ordered the wrong one... See, I thought the S80 series Hijet and the Midget II used the same Aisin single-jet carb. A lot of the screws are in the same places and do the same things, so it was not necessarily an unreasonable conclusion.

So the current diagnostic path is looking at three things:
1) Switch the fuel back down to 87 AKI (it'd been on 93 and I only realized I was running the wrong petrol grade recently)
2) Plugs / ignition cables
3) Get the correct carb for the Midget II, replace carb to ensure it's all good and retune to idle

Alto Works
I'm in the window where they said the car'd be ready (about 2-4 weeks from my past mention) and haven't heard back from the mechanic just yet, but I'm hoping to pull the trigger on everything very soon and get this car on the road.

 

[Obelisk]

Midget II
Currently working on dealing with potential carb/ignition issues that've been haunting the car for a while. I'm waiting on new NGK plugs to come in to go with the new ignition wires I already have.

So the current diagnostic path is looking at three things:
2) Plugs / ignition cables

There's four cables on this. Three for the spark plugs, and one that runs to the ignition coil.

The one for the ignition coil sheared off inside the distributor, likely something failed that locked it into place... which then caused this failure.

New distributor on the way, but the Midge is now dead for the next week.
That makes only one of my three cars operational, the NC2.
The Alto has been pushed back another 2 to 3 weeks...

 

[Chris30]

Well, let us know how the Midge is doing later, this doesn't sound too great. Take care.

 

[Obelisk]

View attachment 1479869

There's four cables on this. Three for the spark plugs, and one that runs to the ignition coil.
View attachment 1479870
The one for the ignition coil sheared off inside the distributor, likely something failed that locked it into place... which then caused this failure.

New distributor on the way, but the Midge is now dead for the next week.
That makes only one of my three cars operational, the NC2.
The Alto has been pushed back another 2 to 3 weeks...

I've gotten the new cables and new distributor cap installed, and the truck is running noticeably better - the main thing is I'm no longer hearing a "hollow" sound in the engine (a weak spark on... 2 i think?).
The shop confirmed the plugs are in good shape, so it was likely that the cables were going bad. It hasn't fully addressed my issues with the idle - but I've isolated it to two factors now: the grade of petrol I've been running on it (93... like a doofus.), which I'm incrementally going back down to 87. I'm going to run out the current tank and just run straight 87 in it for best results. I also suspect something in the carb may actially be clogged. My understanding is I should only need about 2 turns out on the idle mixture screw for the truck to meter fuel correctly. It's sitting at about 4.5 turns in its current condition.

Also struggling a tiny bit with the cold idle because the absence of a tach and the spottiness of my RPM listening app means I can't get a reliable read on what it's doing for cold idle. Woe be the deaf man with a tachless car, I guess...

Oh, also:
OEM shift knob.

Dunno why my phone is embedding those sideways.
The throw on the shifter is a lot heavier on the factory configuration, and it feels even more mechanical on top of that.

 

[TB]

Dunno why my phone is embedding those sideways.

I asked that, too. No answer.

 

[Obelisk]

Another mini update:

I have a busy couple of weeks ahead. I'm attending the following events:
Larz Anderson Auto Museum Japanese Car + Motorcycle Day (Oct 5 - taking the Midget II)
Friends of Borderlands 3rd Annual Car Show (Oct 11 - Midget II again)
Great Pumpkin Classic Car Show (Oct 12 - yes, midge)
EMP Charity Car Show @ Palmer Motorsports Park (Oct 18 - debating car/cars on this one since I get charity laps on the track)

Car specific things:
Midget II -

• Picking up a set of the original 10" wheels from my fellow Midget owner in about a week and a half, will mount tires to them and finally strip the spacers/adapters off my Midge to reduce stress on the running gear and lugs, as well as finally make the full size spare useful. Debating on whether I should keep the OEM color or paint the 10" steels.
• Also going to be running Redline S1 through two or three tanks of petrol to blast the carb thoroughly.
• Intending on talking to a local body shop about welding the door check on the right side to finally fix the looseness/knocking, since it didn't take to the JB weld.

Alto -
Things are finally, FINALLY starting to inch towards an end. The shop has confirmed that they are waiting on one final part which is due early next week (a new intake valve), so the engine and car should be ready by late next week.
With that:

• I am starting to look into new lug nuts as the current ones are rusting
• I've started the registration paperwork on the Alto
• I'm currently looking for a summer set of wheels/tires for the car and have managed to find a decent 14" set - going +1 over OEM/current to absolutely guarantee fitment. I've learned my lesson!!!

 

[TB]

Debating on whether I should keep the OEM color or paint the 10" steels.

Seems to me that if you're removing the spacers, etc. that the wheels should be stock.

Unless the body color isn't stock, then go nuts.

 

[Obelisk]

Seems to me that if you're removing the spacers, etc. that the wheels should be stock.

Unless the body color isn't stock, then go nuts.

Body color's stock, but I was thinking bronze might go nice with the car's bright jade color. Or I could color-match?

 

[Chris30]

Thank you for the updates, and enjoy your special events with your rides. Let us know how everything goes in a week or two, or whenever you're ready.

 

[Obelisk]

End of October update:

Midget II
Finally fixed my biggest ongoing mistake with the car: Ordered a set of 12x4 wheels that were pulled off a 1993 S80-series HiJet. I'm going to transfer my tires off the AZ Sport wheels onto the Hijet wheels and then mount those onto the Midget. The issue I've been having with the current wheel setup is... it's lug-centric on the adapter AND on the wheel, meaning nothing is being centered at all. I might be lucky and have no damage to the studs/hubs, or I might be up the creek and have to order replacements/get it repaired (which would also give me a chance to diagnose a brake issue).

I'll be pulling the carburetor off today to try and clean everything at home - I finally have the means to mark every single vacuum line and take it off/reassemble it.

NC2 MX5
I went autocrossing last Saturday with the NE-SVT guys! No onboard, unfortunately - I tried a new camera setup which was a dud, will need to experiment with that later when I'm not under a time constraint.
Initial sighting run was a 89.x, and my final lap was a 76.0! My paddock buddy, a guy named Corey, had a 1979 Mercury Zephyr that was essentially an autocross spec 1991 Mustang underneath. He kicked my butt.
I finished 10th of 12 in Novice.

Alto Works
Hoo boy. I finally got my ducks in a row with the mechanic. So I just picked up some steelies and all season tires, since I intend on making the Alto my daily driver, and I'll have those sorted out soon to mount come spring. The reason I have been getting extremely unreliable estimates on the Alto's ETA is because the supplier for the intake valve apparently, after a few weeks of silence, discreetly updated their Alto Works valves to be marked as out of production. The upshot is that my mechanic found out that the valves in the Suzuki Carry cross-reference to the Alto engine, so he has a new one on the way from a US supplier. ETA on the valve is Thursday, and he says he'll have the engine running next week. He also told me he was going to break in the engine and do the first oil change, in order to make sure the rebuild is going to take. He noted he "wasn't that concerned" about the engine but is still doing his due diligence - the extent of the damage was mostly localized to Cylinder 1, and nothing in the top or bottom got damaged.

 

[Obelisk]

Midget update

We found the problem.

The PCV line to the idle-up dashpot fell off.

No wonder I couldn't get it out of its lean state.

 

[Chris30]

Ok Obelisk, thank you for updating us on this. Take care and good luck with fixing the Midget.

 

[Obelisk]

Alto:

Waiting on a new valve cover gasket (eta this week) and the mechanic wants to go through the initial break-in himself to ensure it's sound.

Midget:
Got a new shifter cable, disconnected the old one and took a break after fighting a single metal collar for two whole hours. It was so badly slacked that I had 10mm of free travel on the pedal hook (like 25% pedal travel) evem with it tightened up. Looks like the original clutch cable, go figure.
New 12x4 wheels are on the way, which are pull-offs from a 1993 Hijet. I'll be getting rid of the spacers and holding onto the AZ sport wheels for now. <<Especially important on this point - I have to take the Midget to a shop to verify the health of the studs, as well as deal with whichever drum brake isn't working. If I am insanely lucky, the OEM studs are fine and I can just toss the Hijet wheels right on (with hubcentric rings to fit the bore of both the car and wheel).
New wiper motor coming in to replace the current suspect motor.

 

[eran0004]

New wiper motor coming in to replace the current suspect motor.

For a second I read that as "Viper engine" and thought you were planning a very ambitious engine swap 😅

 

[Obelisk]

For a second I read that as "Viper engine" and thought you were planning a very ambitious engine swap 😅

I'm pretty sure all of the viper engines are longer than the entire drivetrain of the Midget.

 

[Obelisk]

Another check-in, another frustrating back and forth situation.

Midget
The new wheels are stuck in customs right now. Once they arrive, I'll be able to just pull the tires off the other 12" set and toss these on. Still debating painting them or not.
Clutch cable: I got one that was 2.5 feet too long (intended for a Hijet), and could not resolve the mounting and internal friction issues I was experiencing. I ended up ordering the exact cable I need from a German retailer, and the lead time is really long on that - 14-21 days if not longer.

The things I do for this little glorious truck.

bonus picture tax: midget is in air jail as of right now

Alto
Engine is alive and they are running it through initial break-in/cycling + the initial oil change.
However, the rear brakes and entire exhaust are rotted and useless.
The shop has gotten the go ahead to fix both, which will add to the lead time on the Alto coming back plus add to my expenses I still owe on that bill. The things I do for this turbo box.