Miata Mailing List: September 1993, Message #158
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   From: "Stephen H. An" 
Subject: rattle and hum...
   Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 14:40:19 -0400


Eureka!! no more rattle, I finally found the source of my annoying
squeak, it's the damn metal plate under the steering column, the
protective felt pad had come loose, so i re-glued it onto the metal 
hook and bingo, no mo' squeak. Why is this plate metalic anyway? it is
screwed on to a plastic cover and it is heavy.

I managed to get rid of my engine vibration also, by backing off the
timing to 10 deg. BTDC, I had backed it off to about 11.5-12 and still
got some vibration even with 94 Octane (RON+MON/2) Sunoco. Backing it
to factory recommended spec. did the trick. I noticed some loss in
low-end torque, but I am really happy to have a smooothhh rev'ing motor.
I am really surprised that a couple of degrees of timing advance made 
that much difference. My car is BBR turbocharged, I am wondering if the 
stock motor exhibits the same problem with timing advanced to 14 deg. and
does the vibration go away if you use higher octane petrol? In any case, I
thought the MCA should warn people about this in their recommendation of the
14 deg. timing advance. It took me so long to figure this out because I 
made so many changes to my car.

It was a good weekend indeed.

- Steve.

p.s. my apology for sounding so strongly against the PS, I just personally
dislike it, really didn't mean to offend anyone who likes it. It's down
to personal preference, a test drive is therefore the ultimate test.

I still feel Mazda could do a better job, it's not always money, e.g.
they did a hell of a job engineering the shifter/gearbox while keeping
the cost of the car at a reasonable level.