alf892

Perfect for him…….his stubborn refusal inability to recognise common sense or apply logic would see him head of department in weeks

Might be tight on length…….although the bellhousing to front pulley is ok the quoted overall length (with coils and water fitting) at 26” is a bit much. Presumably these can be moved? At top of block height (ie no head) total you’ve got about 22” between bulkhead and front suspension cross tube…….but below this bulkhead slopes off backwards. Looks like the complete Mazda engine height is about same a riley block height. Can’t see width being a problem…….the o/s footwell does go into the engine bay a bit but could easily be trimmed

Got to be the mx5 unit……..I’ve got an RMA and there is not a lot of room in the bay but the Mazda engine would go in a treat and look similar. Original was twin cam…….cams in block and quite tall. Not sure about gearbox as rear axle part torque tube but then the Mazda engine is maybe a little shorter. Being live the rear axle mounting methods is very simple though…..just a matter of welding a couple of spring perches on the axle case

I had mine for about 3 years and in that time had a couple of things crop up. It had an air suspension warning a couple of times so I fitted the upgraded piston ring to the compressor. Fixed the immediate problem. Good idea to change the plugs…….the ones on the rh bank often get left as you need to remove the inlet manifold. Easy enough just a pain. If you leave them too long the gaps get so wide it kills the coil pack trying to jump it. The battery died…….preceded by various error messages from several systems and culminating in it showing every amber message followed by every red one. A speed sensor went on o/s/r……put up abs and transmission fault warnings…… but cheap and easy fix….decent sensor was under £30. A couple of times had epb fault. First couple of times just connections at wiring on rear axle……last one was internal break in wiring over axle which took a bit of finding. For quite a while it had a very slight tremor through the steering……..I checked every joint and bush and found nothing. The cause only came to light when I took the rear suspension control valve off to clean and it couldn’t pick itself up afterwards. The cause was a fucked compressor ……it could supply enough air to keep the warning off when all it had to do was maintain a height but couldn’t start from nothing. With hindsight it also caused the tremour on a slightly rough road it would get out of breath. Fair to say the compressor transformed it. lovely cars though

Nice looking thing…..proper old car