gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - squeezing in a few last drives before Exo goes into hibernation

[1duck]

Mx5s feel so much nicer de-power steering'd, I always think they are over assisted as standard.

[paulplom]

14 hours ago, gm said:

the long bolt fixing the rear offside lower arm is seized in the hub carrier - no amount of plusgas and abuse with the windy gun will shift it  

but that's a mighty tighty space to get the grinder in

 

I see you managed but I reckon you could've used a junior hacksaw blade in there.

[loserone]

London snot, never heard that before.  

[gm]

5 hours ago, paulplom said:

I see you managed but I reckon you could've used a junior hacksaw blade in there.

It would have taken all week though  I'm too busy lazy for that !

[1duck]

12 minutes ago, gm said:

It would have taken all week though  I'm too busy lazy for that !

you need a reciprocating saw in your life.

[The Moog]

Ideally would be the headlight covers (going to modify into cold air intakes), the metal door window trim (mine is rusty), tombstone (to adapt for gauges), grill if it is spare and indicators is still about.

I can top up the Exocet fund

Those bolts are utter twats - they seized solid in the middle for mine.

[gm]

I'm looking to sell the headlight units complete but if no one wants them like that, I'll save you the lids. The rest is no problem, I'll put them aside for you.

Do I remember you doing polybushes for one of your mx5s ? The bushes on my wishbones aren't the best so it makes sense to change them before getting stuck into the build but they do seem to be rather expensive for what they are - even the cheaply eBay ones are over a ton for a set and it looks like an arse fitting them  any advice gratefully received  

[The Moog]

I got a full set from eBay. I haven't finished putting them in as AVO went to the scrapyard and I was intending to do BAL but then bought the turbo. Still sitting in my garage along with camber bolt set.


The cheap ones are fine but you will need a press. Don't bother otherwise as they are a right pain.

More expensive ones are split bushes so easy to fit.

[gm]

So the best way to go would be to find a set of arms that have already been bushed ? As it happens, there's a guy on the facebook selling such a thing but the fucker isn't responding to my messages  buggernuts 

[The Moog]

So the best way to go would be to find a set of arms that have already been bushed ? As it happens, there's a guy on the facebook selling such a thing but the fucker isn't responding to my messages  buggernuts 

Yes probably. Or borrow someone's press .. or chuck some money in the biscuit fund of a local garage or just get the more expensive ones but only the ones you need.

I am going to see if I can borrow a press to get mine in. Then get then fitted with full set of camber bolts, before getting AVO alignment.

[gm]

I'll see if Andy (scaryoldcortina) might be able to help there  

right then, today's progress : 

first off, I almost missed the postie as I was mid Jim Bell but managed to catch him as he was sticking the red card of doom through the letterbox (the postie, not Jim bell, that would be weird) - I now have some (not all) of the bits needed to sort the engine, diff and gearbox.

a coffee and a bit of procrastination later, a nice chap arrived from Leeds to buy the soft top roof - mazda chat was had and he disappeared leaving me with no option but to do some actual work

so I broke out the tools and pinged (pung ?) the clutch off

which would have been a bugger had I not thought of using @junkyarddog 's crank locking tool - handy piece of kit, that.

the clutch, it would seem, is bollocksed

pressure plate and flywheel have had a hard time too 

hmm, should I fit a lightened flywheel, I wonder

yes, I probably should !

lots more petrol based cleaning and we have

then someone else turned up to buy the wind blocker - more mazda chat and pointing at engines ensued

but now it's time to have a go on the cam cover. 

I've been aware of the presence of a dishwashing machine in the kitchen for a while now, I'm quite content washing up by hand so have never investigated if it actually works. 

Let's find out then !

Intensive  that's the one for me 

and we shall see what happens in a while - it's been making sloshing noises for a good hour now, hopefully there will be shiney parts a plenty when it's done it's thing.

 

almost forgot, I found the engine number under all that grime

[Tayne]

If you're never going to use that dishwasher you could go the whole hog and clean a diesel egr valve and inlet manifold.

I'm actually curious as to whether a dishwasher could manage that.

[gm]

the kitchen isn’t smelling too good just now  might not do this again 

[gm]

hmm, a bit better but I think I’ll stick it in for another cycle

[paulplom]

Great write up. Keep going.

[The Moog]

Yes definitely do a lightened flywheel. It's on my massive list.

 

Good work on valve cover 

[The Moog]

Second half of this video he fits new polybushes

[cort1977]

Fuck me you're brave. I might put a cheeky washer bottle in the dishwasher when swmbo is out but a cam cover would see a frost settle on the marital relationship.

[gm]

8 hours ago, cort1977 said:

Fuck me you're brave. I might put a cheeky washer bottle in the dishwasher when swmbo is out but a cam cover would see a frost settle on the marital relationship.

you'd be right there but there's no current mrs gm to spoil the fun

 

[gm]

so what did I find when I opened the door this morning ?

well, yes, it IS cleaner but what's all this powdery shit everywhere ?

I blame the Powerball (pinched the posh tablets off me mam)

thankfully, it just rubs off

but is going to be a pain cleaning all of the baffled bits inside

 

[gm]

I took it outside and gave it a good hosing (!) but the residue was persistent. time to break out the big guns - a good rub down with thinners had it all smooth again, but still not very presentable.

on the shelf next to the paint thinners, I happened across a half full can of wheel silver

that'll do the trick

not sure that stone chip was the best choice to do the crank pulley though ? looks like melted liquorice

 

 

[gm]

meanwhile, the postie had been

gaskets ahoy

plus the one that was missing from yesterdays parcel - that's bloody good service from Andrew at Autolink

so todays task was to get stuck into replacing various engine seals

camshafts

cam angle sensor (was so old, it fell apart when I removed it)

crankshaft front and back

a new timing belt went on, I wire brushed the manky thermostat housing, popped in a new 'stat and fitted the timing covers

the cam cover is still drying so will go back on tomorrow.

but this weeks Top Tool Tip would be to get yourselves down to Wilkos and pick up a set of these little chaps - made pulling those seals so easy - and they only cost £2 for the set      

 

[gm]

good news is that the dishwasher appears not to have come to any harm, there were a few rusty flakes in the filter but, once I clean that out, i can't see that anyone would be any the wiser. I am annoyed that I didn't think of bunging the coolant tank in last night, it's grim  

[gm]

13 hours ago, snagglepuss said:

Second half of this video he fits new polybushes
 

so two piece bushes are easier to fit than one piece bushes ? how much work would it be to cut cheap eBay one piece bushes in half, I wonder ? 

[Wack]

On 5/27/2020 at 8:12 AM, loserone said:

London snot, never heard that before.  

It's a 70s & 80s thing , every trip to London resulted in black snot , last time I went was about 5 years ago , no coal fires meant it's no longer a thing

 

I wish I had the skills to do something like this, I've got the perfect donor car , a 97 Mk2 that's great mechanically but really crap bodywork, loads of dents in it

[New POD]

On 5/27/2020 at 5:19 AM, 1duck said:

Mx5s feel so much nicer de-power steering'd, I always think they are over assisted as standard.

We fitted power steering to a none powered steered mx5. 

???

[gm]

My old G reg mariner blue one had manual steering which I thought was smashing out on the open road or track but was a bit of pain in daily use. When I changed from 15" to 14" wheels with a slightly narrower tyre, low speed manoeuvres were notably easier.

For a daily driver, power steering is a good thing but the kit will be a fair chunk lighter and  certainly won't be in daily use so de-powering is the way for me. I can always reinstate it if needed later on.

^Croft

^Knockhill

[gm]

1 hour ago, Wack said:

I wish I had the skills to do something like this

me too ! it's been a bit of a learning curve but I'm enjoying it so far  

[1duck]

45 minutes ago, New POD said:

We fitted power steering to a none powered steered mx5. 

???

to be fair my other half complained at first, because it does make it a bit of a pain to park...but i wouldn't say it's any worse than a 1980s un assisted golf, could do with a slightly bigger steering wheel for extra leverage, but all in all not bad.

[gm]

It is rather satisfying to be actually putting something back together after so many hours of taking it apart

the intake manifold rather lets the side down now  

but overall an improvement.

In the first pic, notice how the shelf above the engine is sagging under the weight of my stereo, fixed in pic 3 by cunning use of a curtain pole