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

[wfooshee]

Gah!!! It's been over 20 years since I've been able to autocross. I was hoping to get back into it after getting the Miata I have now, but my region relocated their events to such a distance that it would be over a 6-hour round trip to get there, and both other regions nearby have lost their "good" sites; one region runs but it's an entirely lame site, very small, and the other nearby region no longer even runs autocrosses.

 

[Obelisk]

Gah!!! It's been over 20 years since I've been able to autocross. I was hoping to get back into it after getting the Miata I have now, but my region relocated their events to such a distance that it would be over a 6-hour round trip to get there, and both other regions nearby have lost their "good" sites; one region runs but it's an entirely lame site, very small, and the other nearby region no longer even runs autocrosses.

That sucks!! I hope you find a decent one nearby soon!

Other updates:
Finally got fed up enough with the Midget's right door flying out and cracking the fender, so I've ordered a new door control arm for that side. Being that the Midget shares a ridiculous number of parts with the S100/110 series Hijet, I've picked up a HiJet door arm instead of trying to find the one for the Midget. It should be about the same. Once I've put the arm in and confirms it keeps the door locked in place, I'm going to pull the foil tape off the right fender and take it to a body shop to fix the crack/break in the fender. After that... well, I'll see what I can do about cleaning up the rest of the car. I want to end 2025 with the Midge in better condition than it started 2025 in.

 

[Chris30]

Gah!!! It's been over 20 years since I've been able to autocross. I was hoping to get back into it after getting the Miata I have now, but my region relocated their events to such a distance that it would be over a 6-hour round trip to get there, and both other regions nearby have lost their "good" sites; one region runs but it's an entirely lame site, very small, and the other nearby region no longer even runs autocrosses.

Well don't worry, maybe you can find a hobby similar to autocross in your local area? That would be fun and realistic where you can do it with your friends and family.

 

[Obelisk]

I'm embarking on a new project for 2025 into 2026 - My goal is to end this and next year with the Midget II in better condition than it started each year. That entails a whole bunch of things that I'm keeping secret for now - but it starts with this:

I've ordered a new door control arm for that side. Being that the Midget shares a ridiculous number of parts with the S100/110 series Hijet, I've picked up a HiJet door arm instead of trying to find the one for the Midget. It should be about the same. Once I've put the arm in and confirms it keeps the door locked in place, I'm going to pull the foil tape off the right fender and take it to a body shop to fix the crack/break in the fender. After that... well, I'll see what I can do about cleaning up the rest of the car. I want to end 2025 with the Midge in better condition than it started 2025 in.

I'm starting pretty small - in a literal sense.

This here's a door check bracket for an XJ Cherokee (1983-2001). It was the closest thing I could find to the OEM bracket shape.

I was not expecting to be able to get it into the A pillar, nor was I expecting it to come back through in the correct orientation, so what I did was string an old shoelace through it so I could pull it back out in case it went bad.

It, uh. Was a perfect fit. And by perfect fit, I mean it friction-fitted itself in place.

So for a bit of extra security, I used some steel-reinforced JB Weld to secure the spine of the bracket to the A pillar. I was intending to use the flat surfaces behind the A pillar, but I'd gotten the bracket in and couldn't get it back out. Oops. Only logical way forward was to get the exterior JB welded.

And that's where I'm at for now with this. Once the JB weld cures, I'm going to quickly go over that area with the touch-up paint to blend it in better, and then hurry up and wait for the link and hardware for the door. Getting the door card off is going to be... fun. (sarcasm).


EDIT:
I also won my 4th award for the Midget II - Best Japanese Car, at the NNHS Car Club 1st Annual Car Show:

 

[XSquareStickIt]

Posting this here to steal Obelisk's thunder before he wakes up

(Bad language and crass commentary in video, it's RCR.)

​

 

[Obelisk]

Posting this here to steal Obelisk's thunder before he wakes up

(Bad language and crass commentary in video, it's RCR.)

​

This was a fun experience with the RCR guys. I'm not surprised that the first 20 seconds or so is just Brian ripping my poor car to shreds, I did say to him to do his worst. But, the rest of the video (crude parts aside) is pretty thoughtful. I'd totally do this again if I had the chance to.

 

[Chris30]

Posting this here to steal Obelisk's thunder before he wakes up

(Bad language and crass commentary in video, it's RCR.)

​

Hey, that was pretty cool, I just watched the whole video. Wow...

 

[Obelisk]

So, I had an absolute blast yesterday.

View attachment 1447369

And everything I've done to this car up to this point - it all came together here. It just... clicked.

But let's back up a little bit. The morning was a little rough. We were expecting overcast weather but got some pretty stubborn spots of light rain - enough to make the track damp and wipe out a bunch of the cars attending the event. It got better by my third run, and then the weather dissipated by the final set of heats.

We had 117 entrants, with 18 (myself included) being Novice drivers. By the end of the day, I ended up in 108th place overall and 16th in Novice class... But to be fair, there were like three C5s in class and a C6 among a bunch of other very fast machines; I don't think my slushbox NC2 stood much of a chance to begin with. My first two runs were with an instructor since it was my first Autocross outing.

Over the span of the day, I shaved off a total of 16.4 seconds from my first run.

I've posted all six of my runs in glorious 4k30 for your viewing enjoyment here:

Another round of autocross under my belt! Track was a lot faster and shorter this time, so the total time gain was smaller - bout 8 seconds. That 69.1 on the last run would've been great if I didn't kill the cone on the tricky left-right.

 

[Chris30]

Another round of autocross under my belt! Track was a lot faster and shorter this time, so the total time gain was smaller - bout 8 seconds. That 69.1 on the last run would've been great if I didn't kill the cone on the tricky left-right.

Hi, I just watched all of your autocross sessions, I think you did impressive there. Don't worry about hitting the cone at the end. What matters is that you had fun doing that autocross stuff. I've never seen this before so that gave me a fresh idea of what I may want to do when I get my health stabilized and my mom gets better from this ovarian cancer.

I'm surprised no one has liked this, I gave it a fire-like. When I log back in to my Youtube account this weekend, I'll subscribe to your channel. I'm interested to see how far you can go with autocross.

How did you record, did you have someone in their holding the camera, or did you record it on your smartphone? Just curious.

 

[Obelisk]

Hi, I just watched all of your autocross sessions, I think you did impressive there. Don't worry about hitting the cone at the end. What matters is that you had fun doing that autocross stuff. I've never seen this before so that gave me a fresh idea of what I may want to do when I get my health stabilized and my mom gets better from this ovarian cancer.

I'm surprised no one has liked this, I gave it a fire-like. When I log back in to my Youtube account this weekend, I'll subscribe to your channel. I'm interested to see how far you can go with autocross.

How did you record, did you have someone in their holding the camera, or did you record it on your smartphone? Just curious.

I used a PGYTech triple suction cup mount the camera on my windshield. You can see it sticking out on the side of my windshield here:

 

[Chris30]

Wow, that's pretty cool. Clever and brilliant. Have fun.

 

[Obelisk]

Happy June!! Monthly check-in.

Daishō / Midget II
I rotated the tires and changed the oil as part of a yearly/every 3,000 mile maintenance plan I'm keeping on. She's running quite well and actually seems to, against all odds, be at her happiest in 90°F weather despite the carb tuned for/at a lower temp. I ended up finishing the door check install, but the JB weld failed because the door check exerted more force than I ever could, and yanked the check bracket flush against the frame. I'm going to redo the JB Weld at some point, but I'm thinking I'd rather just have the epoxy shaved off and the bracket properly welded in place instead. The important thing is it works (even if it makes an ungodly noise as it pops against the A pillar), and the right fender is safe now. I also told Hagerty (my insurance) to go pound sand and got the Midget insured as a daily use car. Surprisingly, the new daily use policy isn't really any more pricey than the classic car policy it originally had, but I have no mileage restrictions now!


Mimi / NC2 MX5
Did an oil change on the MX5 and got that sorted out. Currently on the 16 inch wheels and Falken all seasons - using it as my everyday car. I've got an event earmarked for July 13 that I'm looking forward to.

Hakoga / Alto Works
JDM Imports CT keeps telling me they're going to pull the engine and give me the full list of damage, and they've missed their deadline three separate times now. It's getting very annoying. I'm following up tomorrow, and if they keep missing, I'm going to just go get the car and find someone else to do it. It really stinks, because they're the regional experts for kei cars.

 

[Chris30]

Happy June!! Monthly check-in.

Daishō / Midget II
I rotated the tires and changed the oil as part of a yearly/every 3,000 mile maintenance plan I'm keeping on. She's running quite well and actually seems to, against all odds, be at her happiest in 90°F weather despite the carb tuned for/at a lower temp. I ended up finishing the door check install, but the JB weld failed because the door check exerted more force than I ever could, and yanked the check bracket flush against the frame. I'm going to redo the JB Weld at some point, but I'm thinking I'd rather just have the epoxy shaved off and the bracket properly welded in place instead. The important thing is it works (even if it makes an ungodly noise as it pops against the A pillar), and the right fender is safe now. I also told Hagerty (my insurance) to go pound sand and got the Midget insured as a daily use car. Surprisingly, the new daily use policy isn't really any more pricey than the classic car policy it originally had, but I have no mileage restrictions now!


Mimi / NC2 MX5
Did an oil change on the MX5 and got that sorted out. Currently on the 16 inch wheels and Falken all seasons and using it as my everyday car. I've got an event earmarked for July 13 that I'm looking forward to.

Hakoga / Alto Works
JDM Imports CT keeps telling me they're going to pull the engine and give me the full list of damage, and they've missed their deadline three separate times now. It's getting very annoying. I'm following up tomorrow, and if they keep missing, I'm going to just go get the car and find someone else to do it. It really stinks, because they're the regional experts for kei cars.

Great update bud!! Glad your cars are working smoothly. I hope you enjoy your weekend.

 

[Chris30]

@Obelisk let us know in a week or two how your cars are doing. And how long have you owned them, just curious? I don't remember what you originally said back when you made this thread. I know it's a job taking care of all of those. We have a 1999 Toyota Camry which we bought from a seller named Nick. He rebuilt the engine and fixed a lot of parts that were old. It's lasted 10 years. It's been a great car. My mom does not feel comfortable sending photos of it.

We have it inspected and the oil changed 5 times a year.

 

[Obelisk]

@Obelisk let us know in a week or two how your cars are doing. And how long have you owned them, just curious? I don't remember what you originally said back when you made this thread. I know it's a job taking care of all of those. We have a 1999 Toyota Camry which we bought from a seller named Nick. He rebuilt the engine and fixed a lot of parts that were old. It's lasted 10 years. It's been a great car. My mom does not feel comfortable sending photos of it.

We have it inspected and the oil changed 5 times a year.

MX5 - bought and received in the summer of 2021.
Midget II - bought in April 2024, received August 2024.
Alto Works - March/April 2025.

 

[TB]

oil changed 5 times a year.

 

[Chris30]

We do it every 2 months because of the expenses and fees. Well, 6 times a year but that should be enough. See we stopped going out of town 2-3 years ago, so we've been getting our groceries, supplies, gas, and medicine in our local town now, Roxboro NC. We go to my monthly B12 shots at the doctor's office once a month and the regular doctor 4 times a year.

Maybe we should change the oil once a month so the car can have cleaner gas and not have issues.

 

[Obelisk]

We do it every 2 months because of the expenses and fees. Well, 6 times a year but that should be enough. See we stopped going out of town 2-3 years ago, so we've been getting our groceries, supplies, gas, and medicine in our local town now, Roxboro NC. We go to my monthly B12 shots at the doctor's office once a month and the regular doctor 4 times a year.

Maybe we should change the oil once a month so the car can have cleaner gas and not have issues.

Depending on the car, you only need an oil change every 3000 to 5000 miles...

 

[TB]

Depending on the car, you only need an oil change every 3000 to 5000 miles...

If you're using full synthetic, and why wouldn't you be, you can go 10k or one year between changes.

We do it every 2 months because of the expenses and fees. Well, 6 times a year but that should be enough. See we stopped going out of town 2-3 years ago, so we've been getting our groceries, supplies, gas, and medicine in our local town now, Roxboro NC. We go to my monthly B12 shots at the doctor's office once a month and the regular doctor 4 times a year.

Maybe we should change the oil once a month so the car can have cleaner gas and not have issues.

Six, and now contemplating 12, oil changes per year is just flat out insane unless you're driving 60k/year on grocery runs and doctor visits. Which I highly doubt.

And if you sold your PS5 for food and a taxi ride, you're literally throwing your money away on oil changes.

 

[Chris30]

I agree with both of you. Honestly I'm not that good at managing money, that's why I'm glad I have my mom around to help me out. I could never live on my own. We do have neighbors to help us too with errands and if we need any trash taken out.

 

[Obelisk]

If you're using full synthetic, and why wouldn't you be, you can go 10k or one year between changes.

I do a year between changes. I only drive ~ 3,000 miles a year. I've also been told in no uncertain terms to stick to non-synthetic oils for the Midget, very old engine and all that.

Six, and now contemplating 12, oil changes per year is just flat out insane unless you're driving 60k/year on grocery runs and doctor visits. Which I highly doubt

(Sorry for the double post, but adding to this)
If you (Chris30) just go back to the intended maintenance schedule, which will either be once every 6 months per dealer recommendations, or once a year, you're going to immediately save at least $600 a year just from not throwing money away on unnecessary oil changes.

 

[wfooshee]

A two-month oil change schedule would be correct if you drove 30,000 miles a year, which works out to about 575 miles a week. Nearly a hundred miles a day?!?! Unless that grocery store and doctor's office are in the next county, you just can't be driving that far, not if all your destinations are in town.

Oil changes are by mileage, not by calendar. Technically they should be by engine hours, but cars, unlike aircraft, don't have engine clocks. There's not a modern car that won't run forever with 5,000-mile oil changes, and like others have said, 10,000 if you run synthetic oil. That's probably at least twice as far as you're driving in those two months.

 

[Chris30]

Thank you for the advice guys, I'll keep all of this in mind.

 

[Obelisk]

New update, new check-in.

MX5
Have to reinstall spacers. Turns out even with the changes I made to ensure the BM/BN Mazda3 wheels fit, I failed a spot check and the inner barrel of the wheel is still contacting the rear suspension... even with the grinding done to address it.
Which leads me to two new issues:
1) My lugs may be screwed (some are slipping, tire shop told me to tq to 100 ftlb even though OE is 80-87, dismissed me when I questioned it.)
2) The studs on the rear axle are not long enough for safe thread engagement with the spacers back in place. It's borderline (about 6.5 turns when torqued to 87 ft lbs), so I'm not going anywhere soon. But, I'm very certain the spacers addressed the grinding, so that's how I'm rolling for now.

The process over the next two weeks is going to happen fast, but it entails the following:
1) Replace OE studs and (possibly compromised) aluminum lug nuts with Flyin Miata ARP studs (already on the way) and the OEM lug nuts
2) Look into the clearances after that and see if I can/should pull the trigger on the ground out bits


Alto Works
😬
I'll let these pictures speak for themselves first.

Cliff notes from mechanic:

• Head and bottom went too long without an oil change
• valves are obviously toast
• cam has scoring but is "passable"
• cylinders are scored badly enough that it needs to be bored out and oversize pistons installled
• bottom is reusable but cylinders need to be bored (as above)
• entire engine needs to be thoroughly cleaned
• engine "has lived a rough life"

Mechanic looking into rebuild & full replace options, will advise me soon.

Midget II
Trophy #5!!
Rad Stallions, Bring Back The Rad IV (1980s-1990s) - Best Exotic

The organizer's explanation of this award basically clarified that exotic = unicorn/very unusual car in this specific context, and not the traditional definition of exotic.

 

[-Fred-]

"Lived a rough life" is an understatement... Thing looks like it never ever received an oil change in its life.

 

[Chris30]

New update, new check-in.

MX5
Have to reinstall spacers. Turns out even with the changes I made to ensure the BM/BN Mazda3 wheels fit, I failed a spot check and the inner barrel of the wheel is still contacting the rear suspension... even with the grinding done to address it.
Which leads me to two new issues:
1) My lugs may be screwed (some are slipping, tire shop told me to tq to 100 ftlb even though OE is 80-87, dismissed me when I questioned it.)
2) The studs on the rear axle are not long enough for safe thread engagement with the spacers back in place. It's borderline (about 6.5 turns when torqued to 87 ft lbs), so I'm not going anywhere soon. But, I'm very certain the spacers addressed the grinding, so that's how I'm rolling for now.

The process over the next two weeks is going to happen fast, but it entails the following:
1) Replace OE studs and (possibly compromised) aluminum lug nuts with Flyin Miata ARP studs (already on the way) and the OEM lug nuts
2) Look into the clearances after that and see if I can/should pull the trigger on the ground out bits


Alto Works
😬
I'll let these pictures speak for themselves first.
View attachment 1461267View attachment 1461268View attachment 1461269View attachment 1461270View attachment 1461271View attachment 1461272View attachment 1461273View attachment 1461274View attachment 1461275View attachment 1461276View attachment 1461277View attachment 1461278

Cliff notes from mechanic:

• Head and bottom went too long without an oil change
• valves are obviously toast
• cam has scoring but is "passable"
• cylinders are scored badly enough that it needs to be bored out and oversize pistons installled
• bottom is reusable but cylinders need to be bored (as above)
• entire engine needs to be thoroughly cleaned
• engine "has lived a rough life"

Mechanic looking into rebuild & full replace options, will advise me soon.

Midget II
Trophy #5!!
Rad Stallions, Bring Back The Rad IV (1980s-1990s) - Best Exotic
View attachment 1461279
View attachment 1461280

The organizer's explanation of this award basically clarified that exotic = unicorn/very unusual car in this specific context, and not the traditional definition of exotic.

Very neat thorough update with all the pictures. Hope your cars are in good shape. Take care. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

 

[wfooshee]

The spacers I have for my Miata bolt onto the factory studs and include their own studs for the wheel. It's not just a disc that sits between the wheel and the hub. These aren't them, but they are the same type. Basically those nuts that come with it will fasten it to the hub, and your car's lug nuts go onto these studs.

 

[Obelisk]

The spacers I have for my Miata bolt onto the factory studs and include their own studs for the wheel. It's not just a disc that sits between the wheel and the hub. These aren't them, but they are the same type.

I elected to use the hub-centric spacers because I didn't want to hack at the studs for this kind of spacer - given that I'm replacing the studs in the near future, it's a bit of a moot point for me to look at these ones. 'Preciate it though!

I did take the NC for a very short drive today, just to verify over a short distance if the grinding stopped... It seems to have stopped the issue entirely, so I should be good to go once the new studs are on.

 

[wfooshee]

Not sure what "hack at the studs" means. The beauty of these is that you have a full-length stud for you lug nut rather than just the last 6 or 7 threads like you mentioned earlier, and if you replace your studs with longer ones you may have difficulty mounting the wheels if you decide to remove the spacers for some reason. My spacers aren't for clearance like yours, they're just for that slightly wider track.

 

[Obelisk]

Not sure what "hack at the studs" means. The beauty of these is that you have a full-length stud for you lug nut rather than just the last 6 or 7 threads like you mentioned earlier, and if you replace your studs with longer ones you may have difficulty mounting the wheels if you decide to remove the spacers for some reason. My spacers aren't for clearance like yours, they're just for that slightly wider track.

Didn't articulate clearly with my last response, but I mean that the OEM studs might have to be cut dowm to fit that specific type of spacer on without impacting the wheel hub. That was my biggest turn-off when looking at those originally.