PAUL !!! If ever in the UK, I´ll buy you a pint. I spent 7 hours yesterday and today together removing the both front hubs (to get the remnants of old dust shields out) in my Miata NC. Slide hammer and svearing and heat = no use. The bolt trick: stripped the first bolts, the bearing didin´t move a millimeter, I then took to grinder and 1mm disk and made small cuts between the bearing hub and the knuckle, then took a set of gradually lager chicels and went aroud the knucle and got it moving. And then the bolt trick worked.

Ive always used the trombone brush method, twice a year on my wife's 06 soft top. Only had a noise problem once on the girst tine when I made the mistake of pulling the brush out which flipped the flaps the wrong way. Instantly moticeable. Ever since, I push in from the top and take the out from below, one direction, no problem. I'm not keen on adding restriction in the tubes to be honest. If the debris will clog an open tube, it will certainly clog a filter gauze.

How is it secured on car by the manufacturer? Is it press fit behind the hub? cant see any bolts on it.

Dose the mk3 have sill drain holes like the mk 1 and 2

E bay

Hi Paul, thanks for the very informative video. My 2007 MX5 NC 1.8L has been idling rough and the local dealer diagnosed it as a faulty front oxygen sensor. They’ve quoted €775 for the job which seems incredibly excessive even if it isn’t an easy install. Thinking about doing the job myself and your video has been very helpful. Would you have a link to where you purchased the replacement sensor? Or a company name? Thanks a million, James

Oxygen sensor replacement, extremely awkward but doable

Hello, thanks for this video! Brilliant technique and made it so easy

Hi Paul . Brilliant idea paul but Please can you tell me how permanentntje fix was over time As I'm considering do the same to my mx5 Thanks for your video Kind regards phil

Excellent! Can’t believe this has only 300 views We all needed a little humor during Covid and we still do now. I stumbled upon this watching DIY MX-5 video. Well Done Paul from South Carolina

Great video. I've been looking at buying a Mk3 (soft top or retractable roof) and after drainage issues with my much-loved (and missed!) Mk1, I wanted to see how the Mk3's drain. Very similar! Out of interest, does the insertion of the scouring pad/metal pan scrubber mean the water takes longer to drain or is it uninterrupted? And finally, how do you get the roof to part-open?

Thanks for that is the brake sensor very difficult?

Great solution! I had the same problem with the NA I owned for about 20 years. I now have an NB so I'm still behind the times.

Hello, thanks for the vid. I've picked one up with some already quite worn hex bolts. Got one out so far. Others are gonna need one of those spiralled nut extractors. I Can you remember if your replacement bolts were 1.5mm, 1.25mm, or 1.0mm metric fine thread?

Thanks, well worth a subscription! My additional thought is to block the bottom exit hole and carefully fill the tube with drain cleaner and after a suitable pause flush with warm water. The exit hole is easy to find- inside of the rail that runs the length of the car, just in front of rear wheel.

Great vid Paul. My Mk3 is identical to yours, even down to the same colour. I have not had it long, but following your tip on the drainage I looked at mine and found that a previous owner had installed a hard plastic grill over the top of each drain hole, which were partially clogged with debris, so a quick clean and Bob's your uncle. These grills also reduce road noise so hopefully, job done, but thanks for the vid and I know where to go for info now.

Painful

Thank you for this!!! doing mine right now

I always find if I activate the noise suppression system any road noise is reduced if not cancelled completely 😊. The noise cancelling I recommend is ( supertramp genisis yazoo or any noise you head unit can generate). 🤪 the best method is turn it up until the noise goes away or you grin like a 18 year old like you still are in your head. Always worked for me.

Thanks for sharing. I was surprised to see the rust underneath your car and wondered if this was normal for mk3 MX5’s?

The 2 bolts as you showed can be soaked inside the subframe through the holes, the single bolt is easily accessible from within the car to soak with penetrating oil. Set the seats all the way forward and unclip the plastic panel behind them. Undo the plastic bucket that the seat belt mechanism sits in and pull out. The bolt is right there to access under the hood drain pipes.

Great content. thanks for sharing. At 3min 30 sec you show a book with images from the bottom of the car. Can you share the name of that book? Thanks

Excellent, thanks 👏👏👏👏👏

Excellent. Every time you have access to the rear end just do the lubing in preparation for the time you may need to take these bits off. It’s an example of ‘good practise’. living with an older vehicle.

You made that look so easy. With a rachet spanner it would ha been even quicker. ThanX-5 for the video.

Great informative video. Would love to see a how to on how to remove the pipes to clean them thoroughly

Viewers who maybe don’t feel able to do this should note the replacement grommets are less than £5 for both sides

I mean, this feels like a prime job for an impact wrench surely? The impact / hammer action is superb for dealing with exactly this kind of fixing. I’ve had way way more sheared bolts trying to use a breaker bar than I ever have with an impact gun. I’ve yet to have my Nc defeat my dewalt lol

Sehr schön ,unser selbst gebautes Spielzeug vor 60 Jahren....Ps. jetzt noch Einkerbungen , dann kommt der "Panzer " auch Steigungen hoch ! greeting,s from germany !

Thank,s watching !9/2023 germany !

Thank,s.....9/2023 germany

9/2023 Betr. MX 5 NC 2014 Schrauben ausgebaut ,mit Molykothe Gerwinde einbalsamiert und wieder eingescraubt ! PS. Gehen auch noch nach 60 Jahren raus ,siehe JU 87 aus einem See in Schweden/Norwegen ! Streben with much rust ,no Problem ,mit O-Ring Kettenspray im Neuzustand behandeln hält 10 Jahre länger ,spezial O-Ring chain- oel ist wie Honig ung greift keinen Gmmi an !

love your solution. i am going to try it. i feel it will also improve the ac system in doing so. thank you for the video

Did this pass the mot, thanks great idea

That was pure genius. It just goes to show how easy it is to overlook the 'Simple Idea' and start throwing money and tools at project. Not got an NC yet !! but will try this tip on my next bearing change on other vehicles. Well done.

Excellent video! I especially appreciate the drawing you made and the detailed explanation for how the drains work. I periodically pour water through each funnel using a plant watering can, in order to flush out any accumulated debris. My funnels have plastic grates in the top, and I did not remove them. I’m curious…do you think that the scouring pad inserts at the top and bottom are sufficient to suppress sound transmission sufficiently that the flaps inside the tubes can just be removed? It seems like the flaps, especially the top one, are the reason why those tubes get clogged, causing a backup and flooding of the car interior. So removing the flaps and leaving the scouring pad in place could be a good solution to preventing future clogs.

Excellent demo, simple and to the point, well done sir.

Thanks, you have given me a hint as to why the road noise is so loud in the cabin of my PRHT MX5. I had the rubber flaps replace with new one at the dealer and it did reduce the cabin noise a good bit. I will probably follow your lead and add the SS scrubbing material to help keep the tubes clean and further add to the reduction of road noise being pumped into the cabin. Thanks, again. Brilliant!

The rubber band is the best part of this, It can be used in so many ways. They are good for triggers or projectiles, shock absorbents or even systems like a marble pump for marble runs. Big up the rubber band.

Tried this method .didn't work for me used slide hammer .that did the trick for me . Worth a try .

I throw a cover over my mx5 soft roof when parked up and can see how much muck/debris it stops going inside those drainage holes after only a couple of days.

I found out about the flaps when I went a bit back and forth with the brush wire trying to prevent cabin leakage and that damaged the valves on one side of the car adding a lot of noise to the cabin. I put in a foam at the bottom but your solution is a much better one so thank you.

Did you find that when it's really pissing down that the steel wool 'filter' created a blockage which made the drain back up? Or does it keep acting as intended, even during torrential rain?

Mine (2014 hard top) has plastic grate covers over the drain holes. How do you take them off without damaging them?

Here is a simple care taking tip to prevent the drain blockage and debris buildup blocking the water draining. The outlets for these drains exit the car on the inside of some structural rails under the car. Periodically I get my wet n dry vacuum cleaner and suck these pipes clear by simply lying on the ground and reaching under with the nozzle, they are just forward of the rear tyres. For me the water ingress was in the boot and a small pool of water was visible in the draining collector when the roof was half open. So many helpful but over complex solutions are on KZbin with pushing things down the pipe from the top and making things worse by getting things stuck in the drain pipe, best to keep it simple and suck from underneath. Hope this helps.

Hello Paul, I have the same car (a late 2008 Niseco, 1st registration in 2009, bought in 2020 with 36000 km, brilliant condition, German car, so LHD) . In case of heavy rain I found a minor amount of water in the carpet in the passenger footwell. So I handled this with a rupper mat, as the amount of water over night was less than filling up the rubber mat. It does not happen when driving in the rain, but only when the car stands. Today I found your YT video by coincedence. So I will check the situation with this plastic clip. As the car will be in the carport until April (in Germany we can have a seasonal registration, as we called "Saisonnummernchild " ) I will have time to do this . So thank you for your explanation and best regards from Germany Hans

I just bought by NC MX-5 (2014) about two weeks ago. I inspected the car before purchase for evidence of this overflow condition (amongst other things), and I'm pleased there was none. But I also have no reason to believe the drain has ever been cleaned., so I was looking for the best recommendation for doing this. This is the first video on this topic I've found that reveals there is a stop valve at the bottom of the channel as well as the top. I've heard people caution vigorously against snaking anything down the channel to keep it clean, but rather just insert something far enough to free the upper valve (flap) if it gets stuck. I'm sure this is for the reason you mentioned that it is easy to damage the valve if you pull something back through in the direction opposite the intended flow through the channel. All the other videos I've watched that contain this caution usually only push something fairly rigid into the entry of the tube, far enough to push on the upper valve to free it, but not so far as move beyond it. Clearly, this does not offer a completely solution Your solution regarding keeping the grime out of there in the first place is rather brilliant. Nice to hear in the comments that Mazda added a filter to the NC2. I would imagine that needs to be maintained regularly. Also, it will only block large debris. So, your solution is better. In the US they make cleaning pads that are like steel wool (you call it something else in the UK), but it's made of some sort of ABS plastic. This may work well, and wouldn't have the downside of rusting over time. I also appreciate the pictures, showing me precisely where the entry to the drains is.

Here's a helpful tip for everyone. Take sand paper or a wire wheel to your rotors hubs. Then paint them with rust oxidizer. They will turn a nice black color and won't rust again.

How dumb of Mazda to think two rubber flaps will reduce noise. Because of lack of proper insulation my 2008 PRHT has a very noisy cabin while driving with the top up. I doubt your solution does anything to reduce road noise.

Thank you Paul, My 2006 rears are rotten, I will be doing both with your method.