I did a little more work on the Miata this weekend. First, I replaced the standard air filter with the K&N high flow filter. It’s supposed to increase the horsepower. I have no idea how effective it is, but I did notice the RPMs stay about 1K higher on a completed shift. I also replaced the PCV valve. Those changes were very easy.
The next thing I intended to do was to replace the brake pads and brake lines. The pads are in fine shape, so I left those for another day. I replaced the original brake lines with the stainless steel braided lines from Goodridge. I ordered the red ones by mistake, but think they look pretty good.
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I purchased the brake caliper paint kit from G2. I chose black paint because I didn’t really want the calipers to stand out, but didn’t want them to look dingy either.
Here’s a picture of the front left caliper after it was painted.
Here is the finished look
The hardest part of this job was getting the whole car off the floor. I couldn’t really split the job into the front and back brakes because the paint has a useful life of 4 hours. I do have 2 floor jacks, but only 2 jack stands. I can’t even use the floor jacks unless I use the scissor jack first; there simply isn’t enough clearance under the car. I used the scissor jack and another jack to take the place of the missing jack stands.
I’m happy with the look, and it gave me the chance to replace the brake fluid. The brake pedal is definitely firmer. The original squishy feel was a big departure from the feel I have in my G35.
Next step is the clutch slave cylinder replacement. I’ve had a slow clutch fluid leak for many, many years, and I read this article that explains the reason. I would have done it this weekend, but the part didn’t arrive on time. The delay gives me the chance to order a new braided clutch line too. I’ll replace the clutch fluid while I’m at it.
