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MX5 Fun Car

Completely brain dead this afternoon, so i headed home early and did some work on the car. Pulled the old cracked dash out:

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/19/20180419234827-7aa6aa33-xl.jpg[/img]

Massive pain in the arse, as you take the entire dash, reinforcement etc out as one piece. Sure makes for far fewer bolts, but its a pain. Will let me pull the carpet out and actually clean 25 years of crud off it. Just a pity that none of the aftermarket carpet people make one for the MX5, as having nice fresh carpet would be nice.

Also found that the shifter boot is pretty perished, so that will need to be replaced

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/19/20180419234853-497a6755-xl.jpg[/img]

Now to tidy up some wiring and stuff, and finish off the half arsed AC delete. Might replace the heater core too while I have the entire dash out, cant hurt.

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MX5 Fun Car

Had a bit of time between the rain on Saturday arvo, so i fitted up the wheels (mainly to get them out of the garage)

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/15/20180415020815-d7b222be-xl.jpg[/img]

Need to let them settle a bit.

Then i started doing some general automotive archaeology:

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/15/20180415020943-d08bfc38-xl.jpg[/img]

Spare chips and change under the seat.

Half a central locking system

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/15/20180415020905-35db270f-xl.jpg[/img]

Someone who actually cared about their car audio install:

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/15/20180415020837-27430546-xl.jpg[/img]

And someone who didnt care about the concept of gaskets:

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/15/20180415020708-d9e1bce4-xl.jpg[/img]

Finally the reason i bought Hella Supertones

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/14/20180414041823-d0fc0e89-xl.jpg[/img]

Air compressed truck horn thing that takes about 2-3s to charge before it makes any noise. Sure, its loud, but that soccermum in the people mover has already run over the bonnet by the time it makes any noise.

Then it started pouring again, so i shifted to cleaning the garage instead to bring it inside.

But got distracted, and mocked up this one:

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/15/20180415020742-13447938-xl.jpg[/img]

Today i finished cleaning the garage up, so i could bring the car in, and then finished off a basic bracket for the mirror:

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/15/20180415020618-08cac08d-xl.jpg[/img]

3mm Alu is a bit overkill for it though, so i might make it again out of something thinner. Also not sure on how i want to finish it, whether it is brushed or painted black, or even covered in carbon vinyl. Whichever option, it is already a damn sight better than the stock mirrors that drooped over every bump (drivers side), or folded up at 80km/h (passenger). Plus you can already see more out of them as they sit at a much better location.

Finally i pulled the rear garnish off to see if i can fix up the number plate bracket, and perhaps fix the cracked bit.

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/04/15/20180415020645-289b8a78-xl.jpg[/img]

Now it is in the garage i will be able to do the cage and other bits without having to put the soft top up and down every 30s when the showers come over. Plus I figure I may as well just pull the dash out to fix that at the same time as rewiring a few bits and fixing the central locking. Its certainly a damn sight easier to do that than being contorted around to get up under the dash.

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MX5 Fun Car

So this is what happens when you have a couple of months to accumulate parts before being able to start work on the car, pretty much 90% of the parts for the initial build have arrived.

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/i.php?/upload/2018/04/11/20180411041004-e2d85b9d-xx.jpg[/img]

Just waiting on time to be able to get stuck into it. Knocking off a few other little jobs to clear out stuff before getting into it, and hopefully can bottle up the 140L of barrel aged beers that is currently taking up floor space between kegs and the empty bottles that need to be filled.

But hopefully can get into it this weekend.

Until then, anyone able to pick the problem with this sucker?

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/i.php?/upload/2018/04/11/20180411040853-86f4641b-la.jpg[/img]

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MX5 Fun Car

Today was the first chance i have had to turn a spanner on the car since buying it, and i had to pull the stock suspension out to return it, and popped the Teins in

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/i.php?/upload/2018/03/18/20180318012424-cc313366-la.jpg[/img]

Of course found that the other rear LCA also had a spinning captive nut and a cross threaded bolt:

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/i.php?/upload/2018/03/18/20180318012439-d67ceec4-la.jpg[/img]

Whoever had put the old coilovers in had rattle gunned in some M12x1.75 coarse thread bolts, that were the wrong length to boot. They really didnt like life. Had to pull the entire LCA out with the strut in it, and eventually get the MIG onto the nut to hold it in place while the uggadugga pulled the bolt out.

Now to go get another LCA and put that in too.

Still, i had to get it back down on its wheels, so i popped in some spare M10 bolts to hold it off the ground, and it looks like this lowered:

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/i.php?/upload/2018/03/18/20180318012348-d75ac255-la.jpg[/img]

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/i.php?/upload/2018/03/18/20180318012356-087240e2-la.jpg[/img]

Parts for it are slowly trickling in, and by the time that the AE86 goes in early April there should be enough to get some movement on the car done.

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MX5 Fun Car

As some probably noticed i was looking around for an old NA MX5 to put on club reg as a mixed occasional drive and a track car now that the AE86 is about to go to a new home. Well last weekend i went and looked at this one, and today i picked it up, and put it through RWC with spare bits from the seller. As it sits it has NB stock struts, hence the rally car look 😉

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/_data/i/upload/2018/03/03/20180303001145-db22ade8-xl.jpg[/img]

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/i.php?/upload/2018/03/03/20180303001159-a471186b-xl.jpg[/img]

[img]http://images.plebeians.net/i.php?/upload/2018/03/03/20180303001230-8dfd1b21-xl.jpg[/img]

Pretty stock for now, at least to get it through RWC. Reasonable condition, little bit tatty in places, but seems quite mechanically solid. Also picked up a set of Tein coilovers for it, and the hard top at the same time. Have some Avanti Storm’s winging their way over from the US for it (sorry Brendan, had already ordered them), and probably pick up a roll cage for it from Brown Davis eventually. Has an NB soft top under the hardtop too, so need one of the NB roll cages. Kind of wanted a black hard top, but at the price that this one was offered for it was a good deal.

Other than that the main things that need to be done are just maintenance. Water pump/timing belt, full fluids change etc etc. Should all be pretty easy to do, especially as its all so open and easy to get at everything.

First things first though, time to get club reg on it.

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Garage Takai IPRA AE86

Havnt had much time to work on this for a while, but had a couple of hours today.

Did up the new brake fluid res’s with new lines and res’

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/34680-1/_7260025.jpg[/img]

Resprayed the tank, and remounted it, and also flared the lines for AN fittings

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/34688-1/_7260027.jpg[/img]

Fitted the new wing mirrors

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/34692-1/_7260028.jpg[/img]

Started setting up the new datalogging stuff, 100psi sensor there

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/34696-1/_7260029.jpg[/img]

Plus this arrived for some more fun

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/34684-1/_7260026.jpg[/img]

Need to go out and get more fuel line for the connections in the spare tyre well and under floor, and then i can finish that off. Really need to source a few wiring bits so i can finish off the engine bay loom, and then ill have to redo some of the interior loom too. All fun and games.
Oh and the exhaust is half done, ish.

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Garage Takai IPRA AE86

Update has certainly been a long time coming, and that is mainly because i have done approximately SFA to the car since Nationals. I basically threw it back together again with a new sprung brass button clutch so it could be transported over to Vic on a car carrier. Since then it has just sat on stands for 8 months while i have been busy with the rest of life. In the intervening period i have sold off the current ECU setup, and started collecting stuff for the upgrades while travelling around the world. Firstly:

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/34202-2/img0924123371.jpg[/img]

Haltech Sprint 500 from Dale, DTM mirrors and various connectors from Goodwood FoS stands, Racepak interface cable and 4 sensor addon, Deutsch HDP 20 29 pin bulkhead connector and some other bits.

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/34197-2/img0924123344.jpg[/img]

Stainless exhaust bits and an Ultraracing panhard rod that i picked up in Malaysia on our way back, with new Whiteline bushes.

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/34222-2/img0924123590.jpg[/img]

Small assortment of AN fittings and fuel filter etc that i have picked up from various sources for the new fuel system.

On the cards now is the following:
[LIST]
[]Wire in new Haltech []Wire up Racepak Dash to Haltech CAN bus
[]Redo engine loom with Deutsch QR connector []Build new rear exit exhaust
[]Redo entire fuel system with new hardlines and AN fittings throughout []Redo rear suspension with different rate springs and new panhard
[]Build new oil catch can setup []Replace front calipers to change braking ratios
[/LIST]

Have a few other bits and pieces to do as well, just tidying up some parts, and making it generally more reliable (knock on wood).

Currently trying to decide on two things though, firstly where to put the QR and secondly where to put the oil catch can. Options below:

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/34225-2/img0924123550_001.jpg[/img]

Thinking that the QR would be good in the right hand spot as its easy to get to and would mean that i can get a nice gentle 90deg curve out of the wiring loom. However its right ontop of the extractors. According to Deutsch the connector is good for 125degC, and i woudl probably heatshield it too, but still not sure. The AS connectors are only 150deg too, so im probably worrying over nothing. Thoughts?

For now though have some photos of the car from Nationals:

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/33890-2/IMG_4549.JPG[/img]

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/33893-2/IMG_6254.JPG[/img]

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/33896-2/IMG_6200.JPG[/img]

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Garage Takai IPRA AE86

Well thats the end of another year of racing for me.

Nationals weekend has come and gone with some good racing and some bitter disappointment. The car was performing quite well in the first qualifying session until it started bucketing down, managed to get my fastest qualifying lap in as a warmup lap before it started bucketing down properly, and then the V band clamp came of the exhaust and it dissappeared, never to be seen again. So we welded the primaries to the secondaries before Quali 2
Second qualifying session went pretty well, although i had a weird ignition issue at the end of that session. Basically it would hit something like ignition cut at ~5500rpm and wouldnt go anywhere.
Before the first heat we changed the coils and plugs and it seemed that the ignition problem was fixed, at least mostly.
The first heat showed up something a bit more annoying, we had a weird issue with it hitting redline oddly, but it was only happening around 7700rpm, so i just thought it was the ignition problem back with vengance. So we fiddled around with it some more, changed dwell settings and again its seemed to be fine while free revving.
Went out in the second heat and it just got worse. Quickly realised that it was actually the clutch slipping not the ignition dying. So after that race we started to pull the gearbox out, only to find that it got about an inch off the engine and then wouldnt go any further at all. Just jammed up solid.

Packed it in for the day and retired the next morning. Got it home after the end of the day and after dinner i pulled the engine and gearbox. After working through the starter motor hole i eventually managed to remove all 6 pressure plate bolts. This is what i found:
[IMG]http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/308345_10150464205150944_646995943_10816860_604287785_n.jpg[/IMG]

Bang, the clutch had let go in fairly spectacular fashion. I think the main chunks of the friction material were only being held in place by the protruding rivets. And im not sure whether the center damage was done by us reefing the box around to try and get it out, or whether it was done in car. Either way its busted.
The reason the box wouldnt come out was that the spigot bearing was jammed on the end of the input shaft, and that was holding hte friction plate together enough. When i started pulling the engine out the second of those springs fell out of the bellhousing 🙂 and the other had fallen out when we loaded it onto the trailer.

What i really should have done is looked at the data trace from the datalogger and i would have seen this:

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/33446-1/rpmclutchslip.PNG[/img]

The green trace is the RPM and you can quite clearly see it slipping a lot from 7500rpm onwards. In the later races this started from about 5500-6000rpm and would just slip to redline.

Oddly enough this isnt the first time ive made an Exedy clutch go bang in this way, back in 2006 i did this:

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/6925-1/DSC00383.JPG[/img]

Back then the friction material jammed up the clutch entirely and i couldnt disengage the clutch at all. Thankfully this time it held together enough for the two heats i did on Saturday.

Ohwell, thats the end of another year for me. Next year ill be moving to Vic, and hopefully we can start over again 🙂

Hoping to have the car rebuilt soon at least for transport. Thinking about doing a few upgrades while im at it 🙂

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Garage Takai IPRA AE86

Ive been waiting to make this update for a while, as i had some cool stuff coming in.

Firstly though i had it out a couple of weeks ago at the practice day. Bloody hot day it was, and i certainly wasnt feeling my best, and i didnt perform at my best either. On the other hand the car ran pretty much flawlessly.
Coming out of that day i had a short list of things to do, all niggly things, like getting a new starter motor, and resealing the catchcan oil level fitting which was weeping a bit.

I think the car needs less front camber, so im going to dial it out a degree or so and see how it goes. But once i refit the starter motor (easy job) then its all good for Nationals…… almost.

The big stuff i had coming in was a new harness:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/33418-2/6DA9EB43-A077-482E-80A2-919DD8153429.JPG[/IMG]

An OMP 806 SuperLegerra from a friend in the UK who has decided to go circuit racing rather than rallying, and was ditching one of his harnesses.

The other thing was this:
[IMG]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/33424-2/FEF8F6A4-F051-4E5A-9F67-039DDCFE5D38.JPG[/IMG]

A 3 hour old Racepak IQ3 logger dash. A mate in the UK had it installed in his track car and ran for about 3hrs before he ran out of talent (its ok Dan, we know its true :p). He was debating whether to sell it, but evidently i made him an offer too good to refuse. 🙂

Mocked it up this morning in the dash:

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/33420-2/D8EACD5F-5420-4DF2-A231-7D8F38E588C3.JPG[/img]

Just needs two holes drilled for the mounting bolts, and three wires joined into the existing loom, plus the button loom. All of which is easy enough to do, and will be done before Nationals.

Thats about it for now, i need to get my head down and study for an exam on Thursday before i then pack the car up to head out to Mallala sometime on Friday.

And one gratuitous shot of the office:

[img]http://gallery2.plebeians.net/d/33442-2/EF9FCC34-4ED0-4785-9A49-A8D9A5539A55.JPG[/img]

Still needs to be put back together properly, but its all in now.