Well, the car runs great and ran great until the other day. I have had several people come to take a look at it over the past month or so and it never skips a beat, that is until, BANG!

I have a rather large parking lot at the shop and there is one new patch of nice level pavement that just begs for hard launches and burnouts. So on the way back to the shop, I couldn’t resist. Pull up, first gear, some revs, let the clutch go and get some wheel spin. Then slowly get into the loud pedal, gain some ground speed, hit the shift light, grab second and then hear a loud BANG. Immediately push the clutch when I feel the car lose drive. I blipped the throttle, quickly released the clutch but to no avail, still no drive. I immediately knew it was an axle. I guess that it could have been a clutch, but usually there is more “crunching” involved. I know those sounds from experience unfortunately. Also couldn’t be a driveshaft for the same reason, there would be some sort of “flopping around”. I was able to coast to the garage door then push it in.

Up on jackstands it goes to reveal a broken drivers side axle. That’s what I expected. Last week while under the car I noticed grease coming from the passenger side cv’s, so I pulled that axle and replaced both boots. The drivers side was dry. The passenger axle is a unit from Martin @ Monster MotorSports. The drivers side is a “home-made” piece from the original builders and is made from T-Bird and Mustang axles cut/sleeved/welded together. There is a bit of a back-story to these axles and why there is one MM axle and one DIY axle. During the 2003 Grassroots Motorsports Challenge, the team broke the passenger side DIY piece that they made and Martin sent them a single axle so they could continue to compete. Up until the other day, the DIY axle performed just fine, but that last hole shot was the proverbial “straw that broke the camels back” or in this case “the burnout that broke the Miata’s DIY axle”.

So, here I am with a car up for sale and sitting in the shop on jackstands. What to do? I can go to Monster MotorSports and buy 2 axles for $500 and probably never use the passengers side one. I called FFR and they no longer support the 8.8 rear in their cars and have no supply of axles left. They suggested calling The Driveshaft Shop, which I did, but they only will sell a complete assembly including CV’s, ready to slide in for $525.

Since the car makes good power, runs 15x9 wheels with stick 275/35-15 Hoosiers, I really don’t want to go the DIY route again. I’d hate to pay an entry fee, travel to an event and have a DIY axle fail. Lots of unnecessary expense if that happens. A lot more than not buying the correct part up front. I’m just looking to see if anyone knows of another supplier who I can contact to see if they offer axles and where I can just buy what I need not the pair.

Anyone know now of another supplier?

Devlin,

Thanks for the info, but I don’t do the FB thing. If you happen to be a part of that group, please let him know about this thread and have him get in touch with me.

Thanks,

Dan

Well, it was an easy fix. Picked up the phone, dialed Martin’s number, gave him my credit card info and waited 4 days for the UPS man to arrive. $550 lighter in the wallet, 3 hours to rebuild the CV and tripod joint and an hour to reinstall the axle and exhaust is all it took.

Went for for a quick spin today and all is well again. I had to buy 2 axles since Martin doesn’t sell them as singles, but now I have a spare should anything happen in the future.

I’ll try to get a driving video and post it next week.