Early mid-life crisis: the MX5 story. ***Minor job 16/8***

[The Moog]

Very shiny car!

 

Not massive fan of the gingercators but it's your car so do what you want.

[fatharris]

Very shiny car!

 

Not massive fan of the gingercators but it's your car so do what you want.

I think I'd prefer them a bit more if either a. The entire indicator was orange (either covering the sidelight or sidelight was relocated) or the sidelight section was on the inside of the indicator.

 

Ah well, I may warm to it more.

[The Moog]

Other option is those mesh ones which hides the sidelight and indicator.

[Noel Tidybeard]

jinja FTW

[gm]

That's an interesting twist, I went the opposite way and got all clear lenses fitted with dual filament orange bulbs - dimly lit as sidelights and bright as indicators, a sort of usdm look. I like it, even if the mot man didn't

 

Your new wheels look much better, she's coming along nicely

 

ps. tax disc ?

[Shirley Knott]

I also went the other way quite often.

 

Those lights can be baked briefly in the oven then prised open in order to remove the orange inner ginger section (De-tango-ing is what the process used to be referred to IIRC)

 

As gm mentioned the new wheels look sweet as does the car in general, black is by far the fastest colour for MX5's

[loserone]

Awesome, have a jaffa cake.

 

Not a shitty McVities one either, a proper M&S one with better chocolate and orangier orange bits.

[purplebargeken]

That looks good to me. However, I have an MGF so I know nothing lol.

[fatharris]

Took it out for a drive yesterday and by the first corner, something felt off. Got home and noticed the tyres looked low.

 

Checked the pressure with the tire inflation rig, and it said 30 psi.

 

Put on my much more reliable tyre pressure gauge, 20psi!

 

Quick blast with air and all is groovy

[fatharris]

Nothing much to add today, hoovered the interior and boot, removed the tax disc holder (and copious amounts of residual adhesive!) And washed the car.

 

 

Also scrubbed the roof and reprotected it with some cleaning products generously donated by a friend who no longer lives the soft top life.

 

 

We'll see how it looks in the morning, it's not a perfect job (should have scrubbed with a brush instead of a sponge as suggested by the instructions) but it's hopefully another layer of protection.

[purplebargeken]

The Renovo stuff is ace for floppy top happiness.

[fatharris]

I finished work at lunchtime today, so I grabbed the camera, and popped to the local golf course

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More photos can be found at https://flic.kr/s/aHsmkrmH6N

 

Enjoy

[mrbenn]

Nice work on the gingermacating, like it!

[fatharris]

Nice work on the gingermacating, like it!

Cheers, I am warming to it a bit!

 

I had to Photoshop the passenger door a bit darker as it stood out like a sore thumb - some polishing required over the holidays.

 

On the plus side, the wheel wobble at 65 has disappeared since I changed the alloys too, which is a relief!

[Guest Midget]

I thought I had a spare set of JDM ginge'd indicators in the big bag of light fittings ? 

 

Never seen someone make them ginga before, it's a big thing on nutz to remove any gingeriness from the roadsters.

 

 

(FYI I think the tape was from holding down an L plate I stuck on when teaching the other half how to 'drive a stick' in the UK)

 

 

 

... also hello shite-ers from the old owner and aforementioned "man-giant"  -x-

[fatharris]

Good point - I have yet to delve into the bag of lights yet - I've only just managed to get the bonnet, bootlid etc, in the rafters of the garage, lot of manoeuvring about amongst Herman's spares and parts for the Mini....

[fatharris]

I had a free afternoon today, so I completed a small project in the garage.

 

Had some wood left over from pulling down the garage partition wall.

 

 

Had some very thorough drawings and brain-thinky juice.

 

 

Screwed the wood together.

 

 

Used these bad boys to carve a hole in the plank where it would sit flush with the wall.

 

 

Then, I used high tensile nyloc nuts, normal nuts, bolts and washers to create some locating lugs.

 

 

Screwed it to the wall with four big screws

 

 

Et voilà. Hard stop stowage.

 

 

Will probably be repositioned in the future as it's touching the Mini's inner wing, but it holds the weight of the top beautifully.

 

Total spend: £2.50. Result.

[Jim Bell]

(Hard) Top work man. You can hang (things) with me any time.

[fatharris]

I did relocate it in the end. Loads of clearance now!

 

Aside from that, it's all quiet on the MX-5 front. Only niggle at the moment is a slow puncture on the OSR tyre, which requires a top up every five or so days.

[Guest Hooli]

Gingerfercation is always good

[purplebargeken]

Good work so far. How is that lovely Kia doing?

[fatharris]

Good work so far. How is that lovely Kia doing?

It isn't, it'll get there eventually though I'm sure!

 

Today, I took the cover off the Mazda, to try and cheer myself from the fiasco that is the Beat.

 

 

Should have dehumidified it to be honest. Thought I was being clever by cracking open the windows instead.

 

 

Grim.

 

 

So, I cleaned the interior quickly, connected the battery, safe in the knowledge that the most reliable sports car in the world would fire up no worries.

 

Except it didn't.

 

What it did instead was start up sluggishly, with a constant squeal in the engine bay and battery charge light remaining on the dashboard. A few seconds later, the acrid smell of burned rubber told me all I needed to know and I shut the engine down. Clearly, something wasn't right.

 

Much dismantling later, and the alternator was found to have seized. I managed to get it rotating, but only with a big spanner on the pulley nut. Not good enough, so it had to come out.

 

I'm amazed that Mazda made such a large engine bay, yet provide such poor access to the components. After an hour of swearing, scratched forearms and copious amounts of Plusgas, the alternator was finally free.

 

 

Luckily, the bottom pivot bolt didn't shear despite being tight as arseholes, as that's a common issue with Mk1s.

 

Another round of sarcastic applause to Mazda for designing it so the bolt is on the awkward end of the alternator and obscured by an inlet manifold bracket, the unbelievably tight bolt was made much much harder to loosen as a result, so thanks Mazda. Really.

 

Time to hunt for a replacement then, I guess. The car cover can stay off now, it's done more harm than good I think.

 

Cheers

[The Moog]

I will have an alternator available shortly if you want one.

[fatharris]

I will have an alternator available shortly if you want one.

If it matches this part number, then yes please

 

[NorthernMonkey]

If it doesn’t, I think I’ve got a spare one on the oddments shelf you can have.

[The Moog]

I am going to pull engine out of AVO so will have a look then - will be couple of weeks.

[fatharris]

Thank you chaps - it's pretty depressing thinking that out of a fleet of six cars, only two work at the moment! Hopefully the Mazda can be an easy win when it goes for MOT soon.

[fatharris]

Well, it's been an emotional rollercoaster at HarrisTowers.

 

Moog very kindly sent me an alternator for the cost of postage, saving me a small fortune!

 

I got the package a couple of days later and excitedly ripped off the packaging (baby for scale)

 

 

 

 

Ah.

 

 

That pulley was different to mine.

 

No worries, an impact wrench sorted it out.

 

A bit of a bastard to fit, and a bolt hole that needed drilling out when in situ, but otherwise, fairly straightforward and both belts got replaced whilst I was there.

 

 

 

Success! Fired up nicely, albeit a bit smoky in the engine bay from a perished CAS o-ring.

 

Next up was a handbrake adjust. Jacking the car up and removing the OER wheel revealed a snapped spring, and when I opened the cover bolt for the adjuster, loads of fluid pissed out, indicating a failed rear seal.

 

So, I inspected the rear quarters for rust.

 

Jackpot.

 

 

 

 

Luckily, a local MX-5 specialist will do the necessary repairs for £300, so it'll be getting booked in soon. Winner!

[motorpunk]

Never jack the thing or leave it on stands on the jacking point on the sill - it's wafer-thin even when new!

 

I hope that's not tip of the iceberg rust there. Here's my retro thread on my very early mk1 - http://www.motorpunk.co.uk/articles/total-restoration-of-one-of-the-oldest-mx-5s-around/

 

The bastards rust from the inside out, looks like your has been patched already. Here's the 'after' pic of the same spot on my car...

 

 

Good luck!

[loserone]

That bit on mine was made out of marshmallow box lid, and covered in underseal. Passed many MOTs like that