goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,889
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Jul 29, 2014 21:56:12 GMT
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OK, so the Lancia went off to it's new home on Saturday, which means that it's now full steam ahead on the mx5  So lets bring this thread up to date, once the Lancia was all set to go I did find a few hours last week to spend on the Mx. First up was the mouse chewed wiring.  It had looked like it was going to be a complete nightmare, but working with the interior totally stripped out made inspecting the wiring easier. On top of that doing the soldering itself is much easier with the dash out, much less lying upside down in the footwell  It's all looking much better now  While working on some of the wiring that's under the dash, I noticed that quite a few of the mounts that hold the plastic dash 'shell' to the metal frame work were broken.  Which would explain why my dash always seems a bit flexy! Driving my mums Mx5 the other week, it did remind me of one of the things that always bugs me about mx5s, the rattles! I might be fighting a loosing battle, but I'm going to do my best to minimise the squeaks and rattles in the car. With that in mind the broken mountings definitely needed looking at. I found a simple solution/bodge was to just use some new longer crews with a selection of spacers and some araldite. Time will tell if it holds, but it seems pretty sturdy for now The only other thing I got done last week was to wash the carpet. Not much fun but I really wanted to be sure any traces of dead mouse were gone!  I went at it with a good old bucket of hot soapy water and a brush, then hosed it down and with the lovely weather we've been having it dried quickly. That brings us up to the start of this week. Before I put the carpet and dash back in there's one more job to sort; the seat mountings. I'm adapting the vx220 seat mounts so they will bolt up to the mx5 floor. Making the Vx seats fit on mx5 rails is probably a bit easier but it's not so elegant really. The vx seat mounts are wider than the mx5 ones, this is the passengers seat where I've started adapting the back of the mount to fit the mx5 spacing.  It was a bit of a slow process, lots of fettling and going back and forth between the bench and then bolting the mount in to see if it fits. The passengers side is especially restricted for space as there's a hump in the transmission tunnel where the exhaust runs. Luckily there was room to move the right hand box section over to clear this hump without hitting the bottom of the seat. I'm pleased with how the end result of the passengers rail came out, the mounts seen in the previous pictures were heavily braced and re-enforced and similarly strong front modifications made.  The drivers side was a bit easier. The rear monte were modified in the same way as the passengers side, admittedly with slight less bracing as it needed to new more slim line so that the runners can still slide over that section of the mount. The easiest way to to do front mounts was to weld new captive nuts and spreader plates into the mx5 floor, then the Vx mountings will bolt down as if it was standard,  And that brings us up to date. Next time I get out to work on the car, probably Saturday, I'll be putting the interior all back in Also hopefully some of my new parts will start arriving soon, I did got on a bit of a spending spree on Sunday once I had the money from the Lancia. I've got a Momo Prototipo steering wheel, a full set of polybushes, braided brake lines and rear disks and pads on the way. I'm also bidding on some seatbelt stalks/buckles on eBay and have messaged a guy about some wiper arms and a window winder mechanism. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a sensibly priced second hand set of coil overs |
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I've got some P5 coilies.....
Btw did you see the article on wishbones cracking due to dodgy polybushes on MX5nutz?
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Koos
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,889
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Oooooooh! P5 collies you say……. Interested in parting with them? I did read about the polybush issues, and tbh if it weren't for the fact that pretty much every standard bush would fail the MOT I'd not bother changing them. I've ordered the super pro bushes that everyone says are the best |
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wow- you welded those seat bases with a pencil torch?!!!
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,889
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Jul 30, 2014 22:18:31 GMT
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Well you know what they say Alex, the pen pencil is mightier than the sword! Motivation is running high at the moment, especially as the next jobs were the sort of relatively quiet/clean jobs that can be done while listening to the radio and drinking a nice cup of coffee, so I've spent some more hours in the garage tonight. The plan was to refit the carpet and dashboard, so I could test fit my seats! All of these fixings need to go back into the car to hold the interior together….  … this is where it pays off that this is far from the first mx5 I've taken to bit. It's quite worrying really that I know exactly where each of these go, even down to which screws should be yellow passivate and which should be black.  Proof that I remembered where the screws went….  The dash went back in fairly easily The carpet is a bit crumpled in places, hopefully it'll flatten back out over time. I've still go to assemble the centre console area, but I figured there was no point doing that now when the gearbox will be coming out at some stage in the not too distant future. The wiring could do with a further tidy up here, not due to mouse damage but due to my functional but not neat previous wiring approach, oops! Anyway, after that it was time to drop the seats in  They fit, they feel awesome to sit in, it's awesome  The passengers side fixed rail bottled up just fine, the seat sits a little further forward than I'd planned but is at a nice angle and there's still ample leg room, unless you're really tall. On the plus side, with it slightly further forward the useful 'behind the seat storage hole' is bigger and the passengers head is further from the roll bar which is for the best The drivers side rail did bolt up ok, but once fully tightened down the sliding mechanism is very stiff. I think it's going to require a bit of fettling. It's not a big deal, but at the same time when I've gone to the effort of retaining the sliding mechanism, I damn well want it to slide! haha. I'm pleased with how far the seat moves though, from far to close for even my short legs, right back till the seats hard up against the roll bar. So yeah the interior is really coming along, time to look at some of the other problem areas. Next time I get out to the garage, it'll be back to the dirty loud horrid jobs (boooo!), as I'll be stripping the rear suspension to fit the new bushes and generally give it all a once over. |
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Last Edit: Jul 30, 2014 22:20:32 GMT by goldnrust
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eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,556
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Looking good, those seats! And a little fettling here and there is all in the game when you do stuff like this, putting in parts that never were meant to go in. I had a lot of work custom fitting my modern interior as well.
Those mechanical jobs though louder, dirtier and generally a bit heavier on the muscles are also nice motivators. I'm sure you'll get it done and done right.
I do hope you'll consider repainting the car at some point, cause after the work going in, it sort of deserves to also look the part. But hey, I like shiny paint!
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Mazda progress makes me happy!
There's a really clean one at Bucklands if you need bits...
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Koos
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So someone who claims to be a specialist in these cars can't be bothered to repair a fuel line? Hmmmm. I'm not into sticker-bombing and whacky-panel painting, but I like where you got the inspiration for stencilling the bootlid. |
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,889
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Sorry eurogranada, paint isn't on the cards for a long, long time. I'm not gonna let it rust or anything silly like that, I want to keep the car safe and protected, but I'm just not worried about shiny paint. There's a time and a place, like on the Lancia where shiny paint was the only way. For me the mx5 isn't about how it looks, its about how it drives. And as such I've no motivation to spend the hours and hours needed to both initially paint it and then keep it looking good after that. Darryl, I'm not a sticker bombing fan really either! If the boot lid wasn't already ruined, I'd have not painted it stupid colours in the first place. I guess my attitude is if it can't look 'good', it might as well look 'fun'. That said, I'm pretty sure the red boot lid now fitted to the car will get painted stupidly, mostly just because over time the silly boot became one of the defining features of this car between my friends and I. Well I didn't fancy doing loud dirty work yesterday Had a nice relaxed day instead sorting a few more of the interior type jobs out. First up I popped the drivers seat out, and opened up the mounting holes a little. It now bolts in easier, and while it's not OEM smooth on the sliders it's not too bad. Next up I fitted the rest of the centre console trim, along with the radio.  It was about now that I realised that any hope of making this a rattle/creak free car died. haha. I messed about with it for a while, but didn't really get anywhere. The way the sections of plastic clip together it's pretty much impossible for it not to make a noise, oh well! While I was in the car gave the dash and door cards a clean up and a once over with some vinyl protector stuff.   The rest of the day was taken up with changing the lock set. As part of preparing the break the car, the previous owners had removed (and misplaced…) the original ignition lock and keys. They did supply a replacement lock set with the car, though frustratingly the ignition isn't the same as the door/boot locks so I've now gotta carry two keys  Fitting the ignition lock was fairly easy, the boot lock not too bad, but replacing the door locks was majorly fiddly. I didn't take any pictures because it seems like the sortta thing you don't want spread all over the internet 'this is exactly how the locks work in my car'  Final job for the day was to give the roof a once over the with vinyl protector stuff.  I'm not sure how long the roof will last, it's feeling pretty 'crisp' from being left out in the weather uncared for. The spending doesn't seen to end at the moment! Talking of spending… I've got wiper arms, a drivers window mechanism and seat belt stalks in the post now too So that's all the missing parts accounted for now. |
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crahel
Part of things
Posts: 210 
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I also find rattles irritating, I use clear silicone on the joints between the plastic parts, it helps quite things down and the parts can easily be removed again.
C
P.S sad to see the fulvia go. However ive always had a soft spot for the mazda too, keep up the good work.
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1973 Lancia Fulvia s2 coupe (sold)
1998 Audi a4 sedan (sold)
2000 Nissan maxima (sold)
2007 Audi convertible.
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,889
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Cheers mate. I see how rattly it is when it gets on the road, if it's still bugging me I'll try that tip out I can't hide from it any longer, this evening things had to get loud and dirty. On the drivers side this is the offending area.  After some grinder action, it's clear how much work there is to do….    Having owned a 70's Lancia, that really doesn't look so bad! haha. I've taken the easy way out and ordered a repair panel for the outer skin, and the inner structure patches needed are pretty simple. I'm pretty pleased with that really, it could have been so much worse… I offered to do some sill repairs on my Mums Mx5 a couple of years back, it looked about the same as this one on the outside, but ended up with replacement inner, middle and outer sills along 3/4 of the length of the car, as well as inner and outer wheel arch repairs on both rear arches and some floor pan repairs in the front!  Seeing as it's all gotta some off at some stage anyway, I figured I might swell strip the rear suspension out also so that I'd have better access to weld the sill. The rear subframe kinda looks like it's spent a few years at the bottom of the sea.  I'm pleased to say it's superficial though, mostly a mix of flaking paint and dirt with some surface rust. Nothing swollen, or going thin. While the rear suspension it out I'll try and wire brush it down and get something on it to protect it. The rear suspension came out with relative ease, no sized bolts or anything, though some were very tight. Like the subframe, the suspension arms look pretty awful, but like the subframe it's relatively superficial.  Next task is to remove the bushes ready for the poly replacements, always a fun job…not! haha. |
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,889
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My friend Jesse popped up yesterday afternoon to chat rotors and help out a bit and we plugged on with the welding. It was the usual process of CAD (Cardboard Aided Design)...  … then transferred to steel and welded into place  Then lots of this….  …. leaving more holes to fill!  Like when I removed the outer sill, I was pleased to see here that the rust has definitely started on the outside and worked in, and I've caught it relatively early meaning that the inner structure is still rust free with it's factory paint on. Makes life so much easier than when it rots from the inside out! It didn't take long to sort that bit of metal work out, it's not the prettiest job but it's strong Generally compared to doing the work on the Lancia, I'd say the work here isn't quite as pretty, it's more speedy and functional. But then for me the quality of the metal shaping here is less important.  That just left the big one to sort, the outer sill and lower rear quarter section. I did cheat by using a repair panel but it still required quite a lot of messing about to get it lined up, in the end I got too much heat in the vertical line near the door and it sunk anyway, grrr! Oh well, its strong, and I don't care!  While I was on a roll, i got on and sorted the rear arch lip that needed fixing. This has ended up a bit neater, but was fairly simple in the big scheme of things. Again I cheated by suing sections of the same repair panel that I used to do the sill. I need a shrinker/stretcher so I can me my own arch lips really!  That's all the metal work on the drivers side done There's some to do on the passengers side once I've sorted the suspension and brakes on this corner and can move the car over. The good news is that it's less that the drivers side was, a smaller arch section to do, and just a small spot on the sill to sort. I've done so much welding on the last year, not just on the Lancia but on the wife's KA and helping friends out, it's really nice that this car doesn't need too much. |
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MK2VR6
Posted a lot
Mk2 Golf GTi 90 Spec
Posts: 3,329
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I've just bookmarked this thread. Your Fulvia thread was always very entertaining and it's clear you have masses of determination! I love the story of your MX5 so far and am intrigued in what the finished product will look, sound and go like... Keep up the good work  |
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,889
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Aug 17, 2014 22:30:25 GMT
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Cheers MK2VR6 Been a little while since the last update, I've mostly been waiting for the postman. But I've now got a good stack of parts and can plug on  A full set of Super Pro polybushes, replacement wiper arms, new rear discs and pads and braided brake limes there all waiting to go on. On top of that little pile, I've also received my Momo Prototipo steering wheel.  I still need to fit the horn push it came with (needs some minor mods) but wow, I'm really really pleased with the wheel. It feels great to hold and looks spot on. There post man also brought me a replacement drivers side window winder mechanism. Now I tired a number of times to photograph the mechanism in the door, but all the photos came out awfully, or just like a shot of the inside of the door. So instead here's a shot of the drivers door card and handle now all fitted up, the last major chunk of interior that needed sorting.  Before I started on the suspension and brakes I figured I ought to protect the new metal from the weather. I was toying with ideas like just clear coating it, but in the end my welding wasn't neat enough for that, so for now I've just stuck some Halfords off the shelf 'Mazda Classic Red' on it. That'll do for a few years….  Fitting the new polybushes to the suspension arms, as ever, is messy and relatively time consuming. So far so good though, I've done all the drivers rear suspension components and got them re-assembled on the car.  Before I moved the car round ready to start on the passengers side metal work, I thought I'd look at the rear brakes. From when the car arrived on the flatbed, and the trouble I had pushing it into the garage, I knew the rear brakes weren't happy. It's pretty common for mx5 rear brakes to seise, but I have to say this is the worst I've ever seen any. Once I'd managed to get the piston out, which was a battle in it's own right, it was obviously very heavily pitted and would only be good for the bin.   Both sides were the same  The most cost effective way forward is going to just be to buy a pair of replacement re-furbed rear callipers. After that I thought I better check the front brake,s the good news is both front callipers are perfectly useable, they might benefit from a clean up but there's no pitting or signs of seal damage.  One last addition to this update, after a bit of thought I decided there was no point me keeping hold of the track day tyres currently fitted to the car, I'm going to need to use this car every day and they'd just be a waste. So I put my wheels up on one of the mx5s forums to see if anyone wanted to swap. I got an offer to swap for some Mazdaspeed MS-01r, which look 'ok' (not quite my thing with the fake centre lock really) but nice to be Mazdaspeed wheels which try to emulate the look of the ones used on the 787b and not overly common. More importantly the deal was for 4 wheels with 6 part worn Bridgestone RE002s.  I'm tempted to spray the centres back to their proper gold, so they look more like this…  |
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Last Edit: Aug 17, 2014 22:39:02 GMT by goldnrust
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randywanger_
Part of things
Nissan Bluebird P510 SSS Coupe
Posts: 946
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Adding this to my reading list. Very cool little car. Looking forward to the progress.
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Clement
Europe
ambitious but rubbish
Posts: 2,095
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I had missed this update, great to see things are moving at an awesome pace! Attacking bodywork, interior brakes and suspension at the same time is brave, it looks like you're quite motivated |
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crahel
Part of things
Posts: 210
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whats happened to the front spoiler. Red and Blue cable ties?
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1973 Lancia Fulvia s2 coupe (sold)
1998 Audi a4 sedan (sold)
2000 Nissan maxima (sold)
2007 Audi convertible.
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Great thread and great skills. Love it!!!
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1974 Lancia Beta Saloon
1975 Mazda 929 Coupé
1986 Mazda 929 Wagon
1979 Mazda 929 Hardtop
1982 Fiat Argenta 2.0 iniezione elettronica
1977 Toyota Carina TA14
1989 Subaru 1800 Wagon
1982 Hyundai Pony 1200TL 2-dr
1985 Hyundai Pony 1200 GL
1986 Maserati 425 Biturbo
1992 Rover 214 SEi 5-dr
2000 Rover 45 V6 Club
1994 Peugeot 205 'Junior' Diesel
1988 Volvo 760 Turbodiesel Saloon
1992 Talbot Express Autosleeper Rambler
2003 Renault Laguna SPEARS OR REAPERS
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Aug 24, 2014 11:51:06 GMT
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whats happened to the front spoiler. Red and Blue cable ties? Garage Vary lips are susceptable to cracking |
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Ginetta G15 BMW K1100 conversion Sold
Mk1 Mx5 on ITB'S Sold
TVR Chimaera 400 supercharged
MR2 Red Roadster 2ZZ
Bee*R 324 Skyline
95 Cherokee Jeep
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goldnrust
West Midlands
Minimalist
Posts: 1,889
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Aug 24, 2014 14:04:27 GMT
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Cheers guys Clement, I flip between entirely motivated and then kinda entirely apathetic, haha. I'm really looking forward to getting this car back and driving it, it's also nice to be spending my garage time doing a mix of mechanical and bodywork, rather than pure bodywork, so that's all driving more forward. On the other hand I'm frustrated with having yet another rusty car that doesn't work…. it's been a long time since I've had a car I can just 'drive' and that's just a thought bubbling away in the back of my head questioning whether it's gonna be everything I'm building it up to be. I think I'm just a bit cautious seeing as I've basically done big builds then starting over practically straight away 3 times now, I don't want to end up doing that again. Craig, the splitter didn't like being used as a snow plough in early 2010, and shattered when it hit a particularly big chunk of snow/ice. I didn't have the money to replace it so I cable tired it back together, it's held up ever since They're red and blue because they were the brightest cable ties I could find at the time, just like the multi-coloured boot lid I'd rather just have fun with the look of the car than try to cover up it's imperfections. I made some good progress yesterday but I've been busy this week and haven't had much evening time to spend on it, and I'm not going to get any time this week at all, which is a shame as I was really hoping to have hit the target I set for myself of starting on the engine by the start of september. Anyway I put the right rear suspension back together, which went fairly smoothly  This meant I could turn the car round and start on the left hand side. It's going to be pretty much a repeat of the right hand side Things didn't start especially well, when one of the lower wishbone bolts sheared….  … damn. It's far from uncommon for them to seize in place and consequently shear, which means they are available from numerous suppliers and pretty cheap, just gotta get round to ordering one! Other than that it came apart fairly smoothly. Having just done the right hand side, with the techniques fresh in my mind, it didn't take long to get the old bushes out and the new poly ones in.  The reconditioned brake callipers I ordered arrived, so there was nothing left to do but start on the rust, damn again! First up, a spot on the arch that was already going when I sold the car 3 years ago.  That didn't take long to sort, especially as I had a bit of arch repair panel left from the other side.  The inner arch needed a small patch, which was fairly quick and simple.  The sill on this side looks worse, due to a poor previous repair, but usefully the lower arch is less far gone. With that in mind I've decided not to buy another repair panel but to just make these sections from scratch. Anyway, this is how it looked after I'd poked at it with a screw driver…  Grinder time next, and it's about as bad as I expected. The rust is slightly further reaching than the other side, but still nothing like as bad as my Mums mx5 was, and usefully at least some of the inner sill structure is still solid which means the shape of the sill is easy to re-create.  Getting into yesterday evening now, I figured Id made enough noise for the day, so made some templates ready to hit the ground running with repairing the sill next time.  There's no way I'm going to get any time on the car till after next weekend now, with a very busy week of work and then the gathering, but hopefully it wont be too far into september before I can start on the engine. |
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So lets bring this thread up to date, once the Lancia was all set to go I did find a few hours last week to spend on the Mx. 
It's all looking much better now 
Proof that I remembered where the screws went….
The passengers side fixed rail bottled up just fine, the seat sits a little further forward than I'd planned but is at a nice angle and there's still ample leg room, unless you're really tall. On the plus side, with it slightly further forward the useful 'behind the seat storage hole' is bigger and the passengers head is further from the roll bar which is for the best 
The most cost effective way forward is going to just be to buy a pair of replacement re-furbed rear callipers. After that I thought I better check the front brake,s the good news is both front callipers are perfectly useable, they might benefit from a clean up but there's no pitting or signs of seal damage. 
