Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

I still can't decide whether I like the new MX5. There's something very kit car about the styling and it looks like the big swollen arches would look better with bigger wheels.

Don't mind the bike tho, would ride.

Biggest difference I noticed with the Conti Sport Contacts is high speed performance; felt stable and assured at 100mph+ where the budget efforts started to lose faith and go all light

Altho balanced mine go through a resonant frequency around 70-80 which dissipates towards the ton. Then nothing but assured hum and speed records. (fines) B-)

Heh, yeah but that stretch of M6 toll is just too perfect to resist. I've got a horrible mechanical drone above 40 I'm trying to diagnose, it's not tyres or wheel bearings. Could be rear diff, haven't got a record of when that was last lubed. Could that whine if it's low on oil?

My car is on eBay. 43 watchers and 472 views in 12 hours. I'm hoping this actually translates to bids.

I see your fixie bike and raise you a shooting brake

It will.

it did.

Shades of Z3 M Coupe.

Is there a Mazda Sport release?

Wow that is cool

Just a fantasy rendering m'fraid!

Full article:
http://blog.caranddriver.com/miata-to-the-max-mazda-miata-shooting-brake-rendered/

Boo.

Right, why is my fucking car stalling in traffic?

Matt reckons it's flooding - only three things can affect fuelling, coolant temp sensor (gauge stays rock steady) MAF (changed that today) and Lambda sensor (WTF would that overheat in traffic when it didn't whilst I was going round Castle Combe?)

I am at a loss.

Presumably it doesn't run closed loop fuelling through the rev/load range... Does it not swap to open loop above a certain load (ie it then ignores the lambda...)

Glad to see you made it round in one piece ;)

It does, but not at 800-1,000 revs, in traffic.

It switches over when the MAF saturates, which it would have been doing round Combe.

Speaking of which, some stuff about today:

• My brakes are fantastic
  
• I need to do more track driving
  
• I'm not very good at it, but I'm learning
  
• Road tyres become very greasy when they get hot
  
• I slide left and right in my seat a lot, which I'd like to stop
  
• I need my own helmet
  
• I wish my car didn't have a sunroof so I fit in it whilst wearing a helmet
  

Because you have ruined it.
:-)

Could be lots of other things. Whilst it's true that only those three things should affect fueling (are you sure - are there not ambient or intake air temperature sensors too?) because those are the things which are designed to deliver variable outputs, that logic relies upon the rest of the system working.

failing fuel pump?
clogged injectors?
air leak or blockage? (do you have an idle air hose? do you have an oil overflow that goes back into the intake?)
vacuum issues?
faulty wiring - how hot does it get under there?
dizzy cap / HT leads / plugs / rotor arm / plug coils (delete as appropriate)
some silly electrical thing like a fuel pump relay an ECU, a valve.

Does the car have a diagnostic port of some kind? Does the EFI?

OBD2 port, nothing comes up on the Volvo tool.

Something is getting hot, I think, but what gets hot in traffic that doesn't get hot when being driven hard on track? Something that is in air-flow on track but isn't in traffic.

What is that thing?

failing fuel pump? Matt thinks it's flooding, not dying. I could not smell fuel today though.
clogged injectors? They are new, and work find when the cars "aired" for 10 mins
air leak or blockage? (do you have an idle air hose? do you have an oil overflow that goes back into the intake?) All the pipe work is new, PCV does go back into the intake, yes it has an IAC valve.
vacuum issues? What type of issue?
faulty wiring - how hot does it get under there? What wiring?
dizzy cap / HT leads / plugs / rotor arm / plug coils (delete as appropriate) All new a month ago.

That's handsome. I would.

Reminds me of the M Coupes which still look fabulous.

Bear in mind that's the sort of list I had with the Merc and I never did solve the problem, but:
Things which get hot in traffic but not when moving - sort of rules out anything connected to engine temperature, as cooling system is working fine. Therefore, look at electrical components - switches, sensors, valves, connectors etc which live in the hotter parts of the engine - on an NA car that would be the exhaust side, but on a turbo it might be other places too.

With wiring, older cars get brittle insulation which then flakes off. When wires get hot they might expand/soften and sag, and you get a short. Sometimes the wires themselves corrode inside the insulation (Italian cars are terrible for this) or sometimes connectors fail (old British cars usually). Could be anything, but wires to and from sensors, relays, etc.

Does underbonnet heat have anywhere to escape? Do you have vents in the bonnet or scuttle? Have you ceramic coated or wrapped the exhaust to keep the temps down?

To confirm the flooding, what are the spark plugs like? black and wet?

Then of course everything might be working perfectly and it's your fuel mapping. If it was a carb I'd be looking at jetting. EFI offers too many variables.

Spotted whilst out for a ride last night. The noise it made was wonderful.

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Thats badass

Flooding is an assumption, the precise sequence of events is:

• Driving in heavy stop/start traffic
  
• Car is idling
  
• Engine stops, too fast to poke the throttle to try to keep it alive
  
• Won't start
  
• Pop the bonnet, wait 10 mins, starts on the first spin, runs absolutely A1 thereafter
  

IATs? Around track your IATs are kept low by airflow over the intercooler, but in traffic your ECU is getting so alarmed by intake temps it's flooding the engine in an effort to cool it.

Are you monitoring your intake temps? On track my chargecooler kept my car within 10 degrees of ambient. 30 mins in London traffic and I can be 40 degrees above ambient.