Project Collectioneering - Moogs Mootahs

[NorthernMonkey]

2 minutes ago, snagglepuss said:

it keeps me out of mischief ??

and me in Elvis juice ?

[hairnet]

apart from the obrut dont think its that bad for a 15 year old car

least its not french ?

[montytom]

30 minutes ago, snagglepuss said:

Sent you a PM - honestly mate I am over the moon with the car.

It's all bits that all cars need doing - it keeps me out of mischief ??

Ahh thankyou I just didn't want people thinking that I did that on purpose. Thanks again

[The Moog]

15 minutes ago, montytom said:

Ahh thankyou I just didn't want people thinking that I did that on purpose. Thanks again

Not at all!

 

A+++ Highly recommended sellerwould buy again (but not an astra estate thanks)

[The Moog]

And the Getz has gone to another AS.

 

 

Little bit sad about it to be honest, I hadn't realised how much I liked the fact it was low hassle, easy to drive and never let me down.

 

In between rain showers I decided to fit a new earth strap to the little Mazda. It has been having little electric issues (mainly due to the PPF frame earth has broken) but when I checked the battery earth it looked a bit manky with slightly frayed wires.

 

New cable was £3 from Halfords so seemed rude not to.

 

Old

 

 

The new one is a wee bit better wrapped

 

Plans for this weekend are to fix mx5 earth underneath, swap in poly drop link bushes, do 14 degree timing mod and if I get a chance change front ball joints plus tie rods.

 

The new hood is doing its job and the car is nice and dry inside which is great!

[The Moog]

Mx5 fettling at the house of northern monkey.

First up was to fix the dodgy earth. It had snapped off the PPF.


I had bought some new earth rings plus heat shrink


Man applied fire




Cleaned up
PPF

Bonded


Sadly it hasn't fixed the earth fault. I think I am going to have to have dash out to sort that.

Next on the job list was polybushing the drop links. They had been knocking a bit and were an advisory.

Unbolted - bit manky


NM is a whizz at getting old bush out


Poly pushed in


And fitted with new bolts (slightly too long I know)


Drive home showed what a difference they made. No more knocks or bangs!

Whilst we were at it - ball joints and TRE.



TRE old and new


The balljoint on the drivers side put up a fight. Wouldn't yield to hammer blows, first splitter


Fucksticks

Fork it


Job jobbed.
More work


Excellent job.

I had an odd noise driving home from having the hood fitted. We had fitted an odd bolt last week so to eliminate that we swapped in same bolts

Rattle gun improvisation



All fitted

Other issues to sort - earth issue, battery drain issue,exhaust is running against rear bumper and need to change top dust covers on front ball joints. Also thinking of changing all the new bolts for stainless items to avoid rustage.

We put the little car up on the ramps and ran it in gear to see if we could find the noise. It was very quiet and nothing obvious.

On the way home the noise started again. I think dust shield on the brakes are rubbing at the front - so that is next port of call.

[HMC]

Great result. Is that your own lift?

[The Moog]

Great result. Is that your own lift?

Nope - Northern Monkey lets me borrow his. Its invaluable in getting stuff done quickly, well plus the professional experience and impact gun

We are doing autotesting next weekend so needs to be in decent fettle for that. I also need to slip a stereo in as Mr N Monkey doesn't do silence on his runs!

[Broadsword]

Nice work as always. Access to a ramp must be like a gift from shite gods. This thread and test driving your car is basically why I now want an MX-5!

[The Moog]

Nice work as always. Access to a ramp must be like a gift from shite gods. This thread and test driving your car is basically why I now want an MX-5!

Come autotesting - then you will want one even more

[Shirley Knott]

MX5/Eunos are the ultimate in terms of the pleasure principle,  fun vs cash spent there's literally nothing that comes close for me.

I think I'd actually had 8 of them by the time I sold the last one, if things were different life wise I'd be driving them now but times change! I'd like to think in another 20 years time I'll be growing old disgracefully and razzing round in a ropy Mk4.

 

[gm]

 

some interesting repair work going on here at the mx5restorer, the red mk2 is in a bit of a bad way

 

[The Moog]

Awesome another YouTube channel to watch. Cheers GM

[The Moog]

Last night having beers and pondering the strange mx5 noise I realised I had upgraded the front brakes. When you do this you have to trim the back plates because otherwise they run on the bigger discs.

Guess what I hadn't done! With the hood being fitted I had forgotten I had done them. Time to rectify it today

Bits at the ready

Backing plates are a bit rusty but not too bad.


My new aldi grinder (cheaper than a new battery for my Ryobi one) plus full face shield - after having explained to me how much fun* having metal picked out of you eyes is I have started being a bit more careful

Trimming


Other side

You can see here the issue

I guess this counts as weight reduction as well


Took it for a spin and noise is gone! I call that fixed

Sadly the electrical issue hasn't sorted itself. Looks like someone has been in there before

[gm]

that wiring looks like a nightmare - alarm / immobiliser stuff ? 

[The Moog]

Just hanging down under the dash on passenger side - I think I am going to have the have the dash out to get to the bottom of it all.

Will remove the immoboliser at the same time - although may replace it with a different one.

[gm]

dash out is a horrible job, when I was stripping the v-spec, I tried to take the dash out to paint but gave up and just masked and painted in situ. good luck

 

[The Moog]

Hmmm what I read online made it sound easy. If a wise man like you says to wary I will need that advice.

[Cavcraft]

Good stuff, wiring looks fun* though, good luck with it.

[The Moog]

Took the mx5 for a spin which was very grin worthy.

I tried to have a look at the wiring.

These are the boxes dangling down


Googlefu brings up a post saying these were Mazda fitted alarm things.

This wiring is a bit scary

[gm]

if they are genuine mazda, they are a disgrace  what if you just disconnect the boxes and see what happens ? 

mine had those little ultrasonic things stuck to the top corners of the windscreen - I carefully* took them off and binned them, the alarm still works (I think) 

[The Moog]

Reading mx5nutz it seems these are factory fit boxes ( to control windows and central locking) that once they stop working people replace with a new immobliser plumbed into the system.

This is what I suspect has happened. So aftermarket system tied tot the Mazda finish line.

[The Moog]

Back from autotesting so thought I would try and track down some of the new noises that appeared over the course of the day.

First up I think the current tyres have had their day


They were put on AVO by tickman and have done many trackdays plus autotesting since then.

I have stuck on the semi slicks for now


Whilst changing over the tyres I gave things a prod and pull. The shocks are done - not sure if they are actually original

Some of the knocks I think are bushes so will add that to the list to do


Couldn't help poke at the electrics.

Earth strap between the block looked horrible so removed it, cleaned and put it back - I think it may be worth replacing


Headlights have been reluctant to pop up and when they do one doesn't work.

Passenger side one out
Bowl is a bit crusty


May have found the issue - the connector has done the melty trick.


Will replace with a ceramic one.

The other light was a pain - the screws are well rusted so took the lid off




This connector is fine


Will leave it for now.

All back together and the earth strap clean seems to have sorted the glowing light




Job list
New suspension (most cost effective)
Replacement tyres
Fit roll bar
Order poly bushes
Do timing mod
Repair headlight connector
Remove alarm siren
Replace earth strap

[hairnet]

two new lamps also??

[NorthernMonkey]

Get you, mr bloody efficiency!!

I’ve come in, had a cuppa, a hour in the chair with assorted spaniels and finished off some chicken legs on a bed of chilli infused rice...

[hairnet]

7 minutes ago, NorthernMonkey said:

 a hour in the chair with assorted spaniels

whu?

[NorthernMonkey]

54 minutes ago, hairnet said:

whu?

Don’t worry...it’s not a euphemism.

When I’ve been out all day, these three fight for space on my knee for a bit.

Until they get distracted by something else.

Usually food.

[Matty]

Most cost effective with suspension refreshes tend to be budget coilover units. They come fully assembled and ready to bolt in and generally are cheaper than a full set of OEM springs and dampers. JOM blueline are good and cheap, used them a few times now

[The Moog]

Household discussion were had on the way to the train station at 6am this morning which has resulted in some decisions made.

1) Rover needs to get an MOT and be gone. It is just sitting there and has outlived it's welcome. Have agreed to hand it over to a professional to get it ticketed up. Unless someone wants a project?

2) Tein adjustable coilovers and a set of tyres have been ordered (Costs set against Rover selling). Mx5 is to be the tinkering car.

3) 205 will need to go when it comes home. I need to stick a ticket on it and then will probably Roffle - it's a luxury I don't need at the moment. It has got indicators and brakes here waiting to be fitted.

4) SMARTs future is in the balance - new owner hasnt taken to it that well. Will give it a month to see how we get on with it

5)reduction in car related expenses and activities - got house bits to do, PhD to study for and that has to take short term precedent. Plus already got non car holidays booked.

So need to get back to Golf, Mx5 plus one other car.

Scarily when I add up insurance tax plus car bits it gets to a big figure quickly.

[Matty]

205 how much mister?