gm's unhealthy obsession with mx5s - look who’s back

[horriblemercedes]

Just now, gm said:

go on then ?

He was in a traditional Locost with the 1300 Ford crossflow engine and four speed gearbox. Being a gearbox that was near 50 years old and with unknown history, it had weak selector forks and a very vague action. On the grid, he was asked to reverse about a foot to put his car on the correct marker, having overshot it. He put it back into first gear, dialled up 4500 rpm and dumped the clutch at the green light. He shot backwards. Luckily he had qualified last so there was nobody behind him to make a pile up!

[brownnova]

Saw this and thought of you... 

Was parked up outside my work! (My 5 in the background) 

I nipped off to Tesco and came out and the owner was just parking it up. It was awesome to look at, makes me think I should’ve done this to that white one! It was awesome! 

[gm]

excellent ! nothing impractical about these cars at all, you can do your weekly daily shop at tescos in it  

this one is a great looking build, it featured as the cover photo on the fb group after the owner got pulled over by the feds before he'd had it in for an IVA

they stopped him because he'd "forgotten to switch off his indicator" but as he was on the way to his mates garage for an alignment, he somehow talked his way out of bother  cops even put the blue lights on for him to take the photo 

34 minutes ago, brownnova said:

makes me think I should’ve done this to that white one! It was awesome! 

couldn't agree more - yes, you should have  

[hairnet]

weekly shopping in something that you could shop for 50 people in

try doing that with a cubby thats only 22 litres

 

[gm]

not much progress recently but I managed to squeeze a couple of hours in this evening

job 1, sort out a bit of annoying wiring - that yellow one (radiator fans) needs tucked away safe and the horn needed relocated

hmm, that'll do

there's a hole in the air intake that needs a 16mm grommet but I have no such grommet (and am too tight to buy one) 

but I do have a 26mm

and a cone drill  

sorted  

@stuboy pointed out the exhaust rubbers might rub back and forth and potentially saw their way through those home made 'brackets'

simple problems, simple solutions  

none of which was very exciting so I opened the garage door and revved its nuts off, just for shits and giggles  

time to get the proverbial finger oot and get this thing on the road - two weeks off work coming up soon, should see the job done !

 

[gm]

Steering wheels : quite important, and especially choosing the right one to please the man from the ministry

 

this is what I want to fit

but this has hard edges, will not pass  

this is what I currently have fitted

same problem, will not pass

so tonight, I went to collect this ‘thing’ from a really nice bloke down in teeside

no hard edges, happy iva man  

but look at the size of the thing - it’s bigger than me dinner ffs ! 

will be fitted for one day only then consigned to the darkest reaches of the garage for evermore  

 

(still not booked the test, before anyone @Tickman asks)

I’m off work for a few days now so will get stuck back into this - the to do list is prepped - standby for action 

[tom13]

14 hours ago, gm said:

Steering wheels : quite important, and especially choosing the right one to please the man from the ministry

 

this is what I want to fit

but this has hard edges, will not pass  

this is what I currently have fitted

same problem, will not pass

so tonight, I went to collect this ‘thing’ from a really nice bloke down in teeside

no hard edges, happy iva man  

but look at the size of the thing - it’s bigger than me dinner ffs ! 

will be fitted for one day only then consigned to the darkest reaches of the garage for evermore  

 

(still not booked the test, before anyone @Tickman asks)

I’m off work for a few days now so will get stuck back into this - the to do list is prepped - standby for action 

What's with the hard edge thing?

I have both those top wheels. I hate the top one just not the aesthetic I like and I don't like all the groves. The standard Eunos Momo is a gem. Could you not fit an Eunos pad over it to cover the edges?

[dome]

15 hours ago, gm said:

 

Hope you don't get the two mixed up or your tea will taste funny.

[gm]

1 hour ago, tom13 said:

Could you not fit an Eunos pad over it to cover the edges?

Absolutely, but I don’t have one and the last one (just the horn pad, not the whole wheel) I saw on eBay went for £40 ! The eunos wheel was a fiver and a pack of beers so will do just nicely for the test

[gm]

I test fitted the eunos one

then stuck the momo back on quick sharp - so much nicer (looks bigger in the pic somehow)

the one I really want to fit is on the right of this pic

which belonged to my grandad, he had it fitted to his old Datsun Cherry which he adored. He always said that if won the pools, he would buy a Morgan for me and him to blast around the country roads in  I think he would love the Exocet, especially as I have used a good few of his old tools while building it.

 

the boss has a different spline pattern so I’ll need to work out a plan but I think it would be a fitting tribute.

 

 

[gm]

something that has been bothering me for a while is this

the donor car never had airbags, the pop up lights are no longer a feature and my gearbox does most definitely not have a hold feature

time to break out the dymo

but what to put ?

that'll do for now (top line is the chassis number)

 

and while I had it handy

I think we can call the instrument panel done

[gm]

37 minutes ago, dome said:

Hope you don't get the two mixed up or your tea will taste funny.

thankfully I cooked dinner before opening the beers ! pizza was tasty, steering wheel probably a bit chewy  

[gm]

my 'nut covers' (not to be confused with 'budgie smugglers') arrived

look at these lethal top mount bolts - you could have a small childs eye out 

hmm, much safer, £20 well spent, I don't think  

pleased with my rapid progress, I had a go at relocating the wiring loom that runs front to back - much disassembly was required  

while I was at it, I relocated the battery to the passenger side

did a bit of invisible* mending on the rear panel

and got everything back together again

 

 

[gm]

apparently I need to cover that big ugly bugger in the middle too

what have I got knocking around that might just do the job ?

thank you wilkos bicycle chain lube - sharp edges, be gone !

it's actually a really good fit and quite unlikely to fall off, looks a bit totally shit but it will do for test day  

 

[gm]

other things that need covering 

I've been looking for a while for a gear gator but not yet found anything suitable

then I noticed the leather* one that came off the donor car, with the frame removed it might just do the trick

not bad but there's a bit of a gap at the back of the stick

time for a bit of blue peter style creativity

that should help bridge the gap

 

 

I'd call that a success, at last until something else comes along

[gm]

I set up an especially long workbench (an old wardrobe door, very handy) and cut out the drivers side panel 

with a bit of tinkering, it was persuaded to fit

held in place with a bead of PU adhesive and neatly spaced screws

looks pretty good

I'm undecided on graphics, possibly a white racing roundel or maybe just "gm" in a fancy font ?

the Exocet stickers aren't the best, I probably won't be using them

 I still need to find a home for those pac men ?

 

[big_al_granvia]

ere matt, just found you your next project https://tipo184.com/

[gm]

that sure is a bonny looking thing, not cheap but worth it. 

I spotted something similar a while back which looked to be a bit of a bargain for someone

interesting location for the gear stick  

 

[big_al_granvia]

aye good luck getting that through iva, or good luck doing a trackday and having meat and 2 veg after 5 laps

[gm]

when I was planning to sell the mx5, I replaced the lowered suspension with standard stuff

the sporty stuff got cleaned up and fitted on the Exo

but it was too low, I re-replaced them with standard height mk2 suspension

which left me tripping over the sporty stuff - only one thing to do with that then

mmm, nice and low again  

  

drives great, can't wait to get it out on track next week

 

[gm]

the brackets I used to fit the headlights and mirrors needed to be a tighter fit - I tried various bits and pieces to pack out the gap but settled on nicking the rubber bit off some spare P clips

mirrors are rock solid

headlights too

it's all about the details now  

[loserone]

make the noi

 

oh.

 

 

Have you booked the IVA yet?

[Tickman]

1 hour ago, loserone said:

 

Have you booked the IVA yet?

How about now? 

 

[gm]

The paperwork is giving me the fear - not to mention the fee  

[gm]

The problem with using spare wheels to support the car while I work on it 

is what the hell am I supposed to do with them all now ? 

anyone looking for a set of 15" steelies ?  I might be able to help  

[gm]

Nice tidy garage

 

side panels completed and looking good

 

the speedo now works - I have driven 0.1 km so far  

[gm]

Tonight's fun and games are brought to you courtesy of MPM Radiator Flush and Conditioner !

when I fitted the engine, I filled it with plain water - over the course of several running cycles, the plain water has metamorphisised into something that looks an awful lot like an expensive pint I had in a trendy bar that I wasn't sure should look like that (tasted fine so I went along with it, still alive  )

system drained and refilled with water

Gentlemen, start your engines

hmm, soda streamy

a quick check of the radiator cap revealed it was on its last legs so I nicked the good one of the mx5

added the flush

Temperature was achieved

i had a couple of cheeky runs up and down the street and then all hell broke loose

I wasnt quick enough with the camera but that heater bypass hose had totally blown off and was pishing steam all over the place, just as well I was outside in full view of the neighbours  

the jubilee was a wee bit loose so I nipped it up, refilled and started again. 

Several buckets of poundland iron bru have been extracted and it's starting to run clean. I'll order up a new rad cap, give it a few more rinses and eventually put some coolant in there  

 

[gm]

more edge trimming and nut covering. exciting stuff 

[gm]

Blue Peter time again

A template was made

transferred to mesh and the edges taped

which fits neatly in here

to protect any hapless pedestrians from contacting my lethal looking pedals !

I would imagine if a pedestrian was that close, they would have more to worry about than getting tangled in the pedals 

looks fairly neat

there is no need to do the other side but I think it would look odd if I didn’t. I’ll need to order more mesh off that ebay 

[gm]

 

with all of that bubbling in the expansion tank, I thought I’d better double check this engine

An omghgf kit was purchased off that ebay 

the bung was too big so I cannibalised the duff radiator cap and drilled a geet big hole in it

let the sniffing commence

five minutes later, dark blue has turned to a slightly lighter blue (but definitely not yellow)

no omghgf here then, thank goodness

just to test the liquid, I stuck a funnel over the exhaust and fed it some fumes

that’ll be yellow now then.

I’ve got a genuine mazda radiator cap ordered, aftermarket ones are notoriously rubbish, so will finally stick some proper coolant in next week