Lotus Elan, range rover, TR7, Streetka, mx5, minor,

Been busy on diy projects so not much time for cars lately, had to adjust the hardtop on the streetka, the front was about 4mm off centre making one door difficult to open an the other window noisy, just a matter of loosening the latch bolts pushing it across and tightening them up again, also fixed the 12v power socket, the fuse had blown!
Still need to sort the wiring for the heated window at some point and a storage box for when the hardtop is off.

The TR failed to start, the battery has been flakey for ages so I splashed out £90 on a new one, starting seems fine now.

Took the Lotus out for it's first run this year today, started straight away and drives as well as ever, needs a wash and the paint I did a year ago polishing I will then use it as much as possible.

Range rover is being used a a Builders van, do need to do a few jobs on it this summer though, changing the fuel lines and going over some surface rust on the chassis being the main issues.

Son bought the Minor home to fit the gearbox as he is getting towards the end of his finals, noticed a few other problems too, the dodgy handbrake was obvious, one of the abutments has come away from the floor, both rear wheels ends on the axle are leaking (doesen't get on brakes thankfully) probably needs speedi sleeves on the axle where the seals run and it has a few surface rust spots from knocks and chips.

Mx5 also needs a good service and a few bits of bodywork, nothing serious, dodgy paint on the bonnet and a few bits of rust on the front wings but that can wait, might even buy new ones.

I put a new genuine Mazda one on the wife's mx5, surprised they still make them.
She was paying and I didn't want to be mucking about trying to get an aftermarket one to fit, not my best skill.
Plonked in like a charm, no tweaking required. Think it was about £150? From mx5parts although I probably should have checked if a local dealer could get them and saved worryingly about postage damage. Mazda seem quite unique in supplying new parts for a 30 year old model.

One tip i picked up from the forums at the time was about the mud + road dirt packing up between the sills and wings which causes them to rot. I also had to patch the sill here
The advice was to space the wing out slightly at the bottom, think I just used washers. It's not noticeable, but gives a bigger gap which you can fire a hose / pressure washer in and a bigger route for the rubbish to fall out of.

Some pics from the minor, reason there is excess handbrake travel.




Oil weeping at axle wheelends.



Spent about 45 minutes on it, result, Gearbox out.



On the bench ready to remove the clutch actuation.



Also drilled a drain plug, fitted a magnet which is epoxied and peened in place.



Other things we have found, the rear propshaft UJ is virtually seized (good candidate for the driveline vibration) there is a fair bit of oil in the clutch housing which looks like it is coming out of the gearbox and the clutch cover fingers don't seem centred, so a new clutch and uj's should be about it for now, I'll monitor the axle to see how it goes.

I'm lucky enough to have a 4 post lift so most of it was done sitting on a bar stool, also have done it a few times now.

process I use is:

-Undo drain plug, while that is draining remove prop
-From inside remove 3 gearstick and 4 crossmember bolts
-From engine compartment remove battery negative, starter wire, top 5 engine to box bolts and top starter bolt
-from underneath support engine under sump on jacking beam,
-remove clutch rod clevis and line from reservoir, gearbox mount bolts and 4 remaining crossmember bolts, lower the back of the engine(we don't have heater tap to worry about).
-then undo bottom starter bolt and pull it forward, undo the remaining 3 engine to box bolts twist the box 90 degrees clockwise and leave you able assistant to catch the gearbox (my son).

while I am waiting for the parts I'm going to carry out an autopsy on the old box, will also give me a input shaft to use to align the clutch.

Spent a couple of hours on thd minor, firstly swapped the gearbox mounts over then started changing the front cover and concentric slave mount over, turns out I need a 6 thou shim and I only have 4 or 8 thou ones so that put an end to that, Started on the prop pressed the seized uj out, which was seized solid, eventualy got it out using heat. Pressed the new one in, forgot to take the grease nipple out and snapped that off, fortunately the remains unscrewed so just a matter of getting a replacement, still need to do the other end which also looks pretty tightly in there to.

Clutch etc is here now but i'll have to wait for the shim to arrive to put it back together, hopefully get it all done one evening next week.

They can be right swines to remove and replace, those UJs. Been there with the bearing fit stuff myself to try to get the cups to remain in place!

Slow progress before work and at lunchtime, new prop flange fitted.




Front cover and clutch actuation all fitted to the new box.




Also gave the mazda a wash and polish, we are going away for a few days in it at the weekend, while it's far from perfect it certainly improved it's appearance.

It's certainly far better than the minor mechanical set up, I've not tried the midget set up though, with the concentric slave and minor clutch it's very light and progressive hydraulic Also means I don't need the restaining cable or torque reaction rod as it can move around on the mounts far more.