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

[Obelisk]

Updates:

No word back on Daishō / the Midget II yet. Not surprised.

On Mimi/the NC2 Miata:
I'd been pretty unhappy with the steelies/spacer situation and finally hit the eject button. I bought a set of brand new alloys - 16" wheels intended as OEM on the 3rd generation Mazda3.

Spacers are gone now and the new wheels are in perfect. Just need to figure out where I can source center caps for these.

They actually look pretty freaking good on an NC2...

p.s... Does this qualify for that "Wrong OEM wheels" thread?

 

[Edax 76]

Updates:

No word back on Daishō / the Midget II yet. Not surprised.

On Mimi/the NC2 Miata:
I'd been pretty unhappy with the steelies/spacer situation and finally hit the eject button. I bought a set of brand new alloys - 16" wheels intended as OEM on the 3rd generation Mazda3.

Spacers are gone now and the new wheels are in perfect. Just need to figure out where I can source center caps for these.
View attachment 1436795
View attachment 1436796
They actually look pretty freaking good on an NC2...

p.s... Does this qualify for that "Wrong OEM wheels" thread?

She looks stunning bud

 

[05XR8]

Just posted in another member’s post about a car like theirs racing in the first Super Taikyu race of the 2025 season. Then this gem gets some air time a few moments ago. Good stuff!

 

[Chris30]

Updates:

No word back on Daishō / the Midget II yet. Not surprised.

On Mimi/the NC2 Miata:
I'd been pretty unhappy with the steelies/spacer situation and finally hit the eject button. I bought a set of brand new alloys - 16" wheels intended as OEM on the 3rd generation Mazda3.

Spacers are gone now and the new wheels are in perfect. Just need to figure out where I can source center caps for these.
View attachment 1436795
View attachment 1436796
They actually look pretty freaking good on an NC2...

p.s... Does this qualify for that "Wrong OEM wheels" thread?

Wow, that car looks shiny and clean. Fantastic work!! Keep it up mate. Have a great safe weekend.

 

[Obelisk]

Grumbling about needing to clean my NC2 yet again. It's picked up a bit of dirt from everyday driving.

(excuse my ugly mug getting reflected in the panels, btw)


I mean, look at how mucky this reflection on the driver's side door is.

Just posted in another member’s post about a car like theirs racing in the first Super Taikyu race of the 2025 season. Then this gem gets some air time a few moments ago. Good stuff!

View attachment 1437842View attachment 1437843View attachment 1437844View attachment 1437845

That thing is an absolute beaut - thanks for sharing that.

 

[TB]

I mean, look at how mucky this reflection on the driver's side door is.

As a fellow black vehicle owner, mine was WAAAAAAAY filthier than that. Even after a run through the car wash it probably still is.

 

[Obelisk]

As a fellow black vehicle owner, mine was WAAAAAAAY filthier than that. Even after a run through the car wash it probably still is.

I may or may not be a little obsessed with how good the reflection is when the NC is squeaky clean.

 

[Chris30]

Don't worry about the quality of the car, it's great just the way it is, maybe one day you can take it to the car wash and clean it up. It will being shiny and sparkly after the job is done. Good luck. It's almost April soon, maybe a rain shower will clean up the mud.

 

[Obelisk]

Was trying to tease this yesterday, and maybe made it too vague.

Meet car #3 and the final addition to my garage:
"Hakoga" (translation: "The Box"), my new 1998 Suzuki Alto Works.

This Alto Works is an HB11S chassis, meaning it's the all-wheel drive variant of the Works. It has the turbocharged SOHC F6A engine with multipoint fuel injection and the original 3 speed automatic transmission.

About 65,000 miles on it, and actually came with a service history so I know it's in pretty good shape. In fact, I was able to drive it home.

That being said, despite being absolutely thorough in reviewing the service history of the car and inspecting it at the import dealer's lot, one of the cylinders started missing a mile from my house. So...Got a wee bit of diagnostic and maintenance work to do on it while I work on the plates.

I'm starting with the spark plugs to see if it's just a dud plug in one of the cylinders.

I also finally heard back on the Midget - I will know for sure what the status of the car is later this week.

(for those of you who remember the can of beans proof on the Midget - don'tcha worry, I'll post the beans proof for this Alto when I get a few minutes. Crazy weekend.)

 

[TB]

Was trying to tease this yesterday, and maybe made it too vague.

I see it now.

 

[Chris30]

Was trying to tease this yesterday, and maybe made it too vague.

Meet car #3 and the final addition to my garage:
"Hakoga" (translation: "The Box"), my new 1998 Suzuki Alto Works.
View attachment 1439940View attachment 1439941View attachment 1439942View attachment 1439943View attachment 1439944

This Alto Works is an HB11S chassis, meaning it's the all-wheel drive variant of the Works. It has the turbocharged SOHC F6A engine with multipoint fuel injection and the original 3 speed automatic transmission.

About 65,000 miles on it, and actually came with a service history so I know it's in pretty good shape. In fact, I was able to drive it home.

That being said, despite being absolutely thorough in reviewing the service history of the car and inspecting it at the import dealer's lot, one of the cylinders started missing a mile from my house. So...Got a wee bit of diagnostic and maintenance work to do on it while I work on the plates.

I'm starting with the spark plugs to see if it's just a dud plug in one of the cylinders.

I also finally heard back on the Midget - I will know for sure what the status of the car is later this week.

(for those of you who remember the can of beans proof on the Midget - don'tcha worry, I'll post the beans proof for this Alto when I get a few minutes. Crazy weekend.)

Thanks for the update, keep us posted later this week if you can. Take care and good luck with your cars. I have faith that you can manage them indefinitely for as long as possible. Good luck!!

 

[Obelisk]

I'm starting with the spark plugs to see if it's just a dud plug in one of the cylinders.

This was the right call. Not a dud plug, though. I'm gonna start with the #2 (center) and #3 (side closest to intake) plugs:

And the problem child that caused the cylinder to miss:

Because this happened while the car was miles from home and had to limp home on two semi-okay cylinders, the porcelain debris in cylinder #1 got pulverized into dust. I was able to kludge together a vacuum end to get into that cylinder and pull the major debris off the cylinder head, but the remaining dust is probably in the oil by now.

I've got new OEM spark plugs on the way soon. I'm gonna check the gapping, install those and then once the function check is good and the car is registered, I'm gonna run it to the closest mechanic and get an oil change done.

 

[Obelisk]

Well, Hakoga is dead on arrival.

The spark plug failure destroyed part of the intake valve and chipped the top of the piston. The missing chunk of the valve is completely unaccounted for, meaning it's either further up in the intake, or it's the source of all that glitter all over the cylinder.

I've been in contact with the seller and JDM Imports CT to get a sense of where this is going to go.

We're looking at a rebuild of this engine that could range from $2500 to $3500.

But... This can be fixed. And it'll also solve the issue of the old timing belt since they have to redo the timing as part of the rebuild anyways.

...[bleep] my life, man.

 

[wfooshee]

That's what I was afraid of when you showed that spark plug. It's also entirely possible, perhaps even more likely, that the valve broke from contact with the piston if the timing belt jumped, and THAT debris tore up the plug.

 

[Obelisk]

That's what I was afraid of when you showed that spark plug. It's also entirely possible, perhaps even more likely, that the valve broke from contact with the piston if the timing belt jumped, and THAT debris tore up the plug.

It's a good thing that my first instinct was to order a timing kit and new sparks as soon as I got home on Saturday.

That should at least lessen some of the repair costs...

The seller is, understandably, livid that the car ended up like this, and he's pushing back on his exporter to refund some of the money they put into this Alto. A lot of conversations in the background right now, but the main update is that the Alto is going over to JDM CT to get looked at.

 

[Edax 76]

Gutted for you mate. She looks a little beauty, here's hoping she gets fixed speedily and cheaply for you 🤞🤞🤞.

 

[Obelisk]

I do have a silver lining to all of this:

The Midget II will be coming back home on Saturday.

Summarizing the notes from JDM Imports CT - excellent people over there, btw:

• There was a torn vacuum line in the carburetor that they replaced.
• Carburetor has been fully retuned and the engine stumble/other performance issues are gone
• Clutch issue turned out to be excess slack in the clutch cable, and this has been fixed. I assume they also addressed the grimy feel in the shifter.
• The fried left side mirror screws are finally gone and have been replaced with good screws
• The door locks have finally been fixed. Gas door lock is SOL, there's nothing for it to latch onto.
• Coolant finally flushed, no more dirty coolant in the system
• Washer fluid system fixed and is now running
• The issue with hearing a noise in reverse is not actually an issue. It turns out I have such a wide offset on these wheels (~25 mm due to the bolt pattern adapters) that the tires are rubbing on the front bumper when turned to the side in reverse... oops. #allaboutdatstancelifeyo
• I'm SOL on the headlight bezels. No way to really fix them, the plastic is old and brittle.
• I didn't receive any comments on the timing belt, so I'll ask them on Saturday when I bring the Alto down and collect the Midget.

I managed to secure a replacement set of headlight bezels on Buyee last night, as well as another can of the car's paint. I'm gonna try to deal with a rust spot on the rear right of the cab that I noticed before it went off for repairs... Also a rust spot on the driver's side door where the door stop used to be. I'm looking forward to driving my weird little truck around again, especially with the car show season starting back up.

Once I get through the Alto rebuild and have some money saved up, I'm planning on grabbing a full set of bed panels/fenders for the Midget (color irrelevant) and repainting them if they're not already in Daihatsu G23 (Bright Jade Metallic). This would be like... September or so.

 

[Obelisk]

That's what I was afraid of when you showed that spark plug. It's also entirely possible, perhaps even more likely, that the valve broke from contact with the piston if the timing belt jumped, and THAT debris tore up the plug.

Following up on this - I showed the pictures to the shop, and their mechanic's response was "I think the plug exploded [first] and broke the valve" and pointed out that the car would probably not have made it home the way it did if the timing belt skipped.

That said, the Midget is finally home! And it feels so good to be able to properly lock it up and use the left mirror...haha!

 

[Chris30]

Glad the Midget car is back, great news mate. Glad you fixed the plugs. Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

[Obelisk]

Glad you fixed the plugs

Hey - just to clarify, nothing has been fixed on the Suzuki yet. It needs - and is pending - an engine rebuild.

The damaged spark plug may have destroyed other parts of the engine beyond the valve. I...probably won't be seeing or driving the Alto until late May or June.

 

[Obelisk]

The Midget's headlight bezels have been fixed.

Old bezels:

New (as in factory new what the heck?) vs old:

New bezels on the Midget:

The old girl has also been given a proper wash, and a touch of touch-up paint in the bed and on the roof to address some small cosmetic issues.

 

[Chris30]

The Midget's headlight bezels have been fixed.

Old bezels:
View attachment 1442627View attachment 1442628View attachment 1442629View attachment 1442630

New (as in factory new what the heck?) vs old:
View attachment 1442631View attachment 1442632

New bezels on the Midget:
View attachment 1442633View attachment 1442634View attachment 1442635

The old girl has also been given a proper wash, and a touch of touch-up paint in the bed and on the roof to address some small cosmetic issues.

Wow, impressive job. They got it fixed, it looks brand new and shiny. Excellent mate, thank you for updating us on this. Make sure to be careful with it out there.

 

[Obelisk]

Well, that's one way to find out that NC2 fenders have steel in them.

I got my head too close to the fender while swapping my daily tire set back on, and it yoinked my hearing aid off my ear.

 

[Chris30]

Well, that's one way to find out that NC2 fenders have steel in them.

I got my head too close to the fender while swapping my daily tire set back on, and it yoinked my hearing aid off my ear.

View attachment 1443710

Oh my gosh!! Well the positive thing is that you did not get injured or seriously hurt. Glad you are okay, take care mate.

 

[Obelisk]

Oh my gosh!! Well the positive thing is that you did not get injured or seriously hurt. Glad you are okay, take care mate.

The entire interaction was completely harmless. 👍 Just really funny to me

 

[Obelisk]

Not explicitly a car thing, but highly relevant to it:

I've been messing with action cams a bit, and got an Akaso EK7000 today - a 4k30 cam with pretty good quality. I'd been wanting to do onboards of my cars for various things, but haven't actually been able to go anywhere or do anything to that effect.

But hey, I get to make posts like this now:


For any Massachusites that follow this thread: I'll be attending the Patriot Place Cruise Night tomorrow!

For everyone else: I'll film the drive down and back, so there'll be something nice in this thread.

I'll also be meeting Regular Car Reviews this Saturday for a review on this Midget II.

 

[Obelisk]

Quick write-up for everyone to give the full picture of what's up right now.

Hakoga / HB11S Alto Works:
I got a call back from JDM Imports CT on Friday - they were able to look into the engine via a borescope for preliminary diagnostics. The point of failure in cylinder 1 was the spark plug going off on its own. The cylinder walls and head are scored, so a rebuild is a must at this point. They also found that the spark plug in #3 was very much dead. No clue on when it went down.

So the day it came home, I was limping it back on one cylinder. Honestly, it's amazing it even got moving and held idle after the #1 blew up. I've given them the go-ahead to drop the engine and examine it more thoroughly to find out what the total damage is. Both the seller and I are nervously awaiting the call with the final details. I have a timing belt kit sitting in front of me for the HB11S, so hopefully I can just hand that over to them soon.

Daisho / Midget II
Well, I was able to get it down to the filming location without any issues! It went over pretty well - we were done in about 2 hours, and the impressions that Regular Car Reviews had were positive. I... did kinda tell them to "do your worst", so I am basically getting ready to get roasted alive.

Also: motocompacto! motocompacto!! It fits in the bed!

Mimi / NC2 Miata
I've switched the Toyo Proxes Sports back on as I've signed up for NER Springtime Coneage, my first ever Autocross event! From what I've been able to figure from the ruleset, this MX5 lands in the C Street Touring category. I'm a novice, so that'll put me in a different classification, but I'm looking forward to it!

I now have two 4K cameras, so expect a helmet cam and an onboard cam! 👀

Couple pictures of some testing and rigging I did today.

 

[Chris30]

Cool pictures, I hope everything goes well. Thanks for giving us an update. I'll check back in this thread later this weekend, around Saturday or Sunday.

 

[Edax 76]

I hope the bill isn't too expensive bud 🤞🤞

 

[Obelisk]

So, I had an absolute blast yesterday.

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: