kevin s's blog

[kstrutt1]

Spent all day sunday on the MX 5 and only got half the jobs planned done so not a good day.

Plan was to fit the 4 mk2 springs / dampers I had bought , fit the new gearshift gaiters and fix the fog lights prior to the MOT which is due on the 9th.

for the fog lights the switch , a cheap aftermarket one has failed so I bought a proper Mazda one but then I realized there would not be a tell tale as I have the Eunos cluster, I have come up with a solution though, the switch is backlit with a green LED, the plan is to put an additional bright orange LED inside so when the lights are on the fog light picture glows orange, when it is off the green backlight will still be visible. This though means I can't fix this until the LED I have ordered arrives though.

Next up the dampers, I started on the front, at first it went well the bolts al came undone and out easily with no internal corrosion, I think it has always been a summer car. After this though things went south a lot of fiddling around messing around with spring compressors etc. and I concluded you can't get the front ones out without dismantling the suspension, frustratingly in the end it was quite easy to undo the large inner pivot for the top arm and slide the bolt out, the damper then it then came out easily, If I had done this in the first place I would have saved an hour of messing around.

I then made the mistake of prodding at a dodgy looking area of underseal and light surface rust, I suspected loose filler over an accident repair as on the other side where underneath was a nice clean weld which just needed cleaning and painting. On this side though the repair section had obviously been a bit short so they had left the crumpled remains of the old chassis leg in place and tacked a piece of steel over the top to bridge the gap then covered it with 10mm of filler. I concluded the only way to do this properly was to cut this mess out and replace it. Fortunately the inside face which would have meant removing half the contents of the engine compartment for access was neatly repaired so it was the top bottom and outer side which needed repairing once the outer face was cut out the top had minimal damage and could be straightened out, the bottom was worse so I cut out the twisted area out and replaced this all working from the inside it was then pretty easy to add a plate over the wheel side , finally it all needed priming, sealing and painting with black stone chip (a very good match for the original matt finish paint in the engine compartment as well).
The above excecise led to more problems though, to gain access I needed to remove the undertray, when I did this half the M6 bolts holding it on sheared off, so these all had to be drilled out and replaced with self tapping bolts.
By comparison the other side was a breeze, after all the lessons learnt from the LH side and with the under-tray already off it only took half an hour.

By now though it was getting on for six so the rear still has the original Bilsteins on the rear, they look a lot easier to change (don’t pass through the top arm) and I have checked the bolts undo already so hopefully I will be able to do these one evening. The gearshift gaiters are also a pretty quick job so could be done in an evening as well.
And to think we bought this as an low maintenance modern, I have spent more time on this than the lotus and TR put together this year! Hopefully things will settle down now all the niggles have been sorted out.
As for the others, no progress on the minor lately, the Lotus is still fine, there are few bits of trim which could do with tidying up but nothing to worry about, the landie is not making any new noises and seems OK it will just need a service before the winter, the TR on the other hand has started making some ominous gearbox noises, sounds like the layshaft bearings are going, I have a known good spare box so I guess will be changing that soon, the leak from the crank oil seal can also be fixed at the same time, with the 4 post ramp changing the box is pretty straightforward so it’s not the end of the world.

[kstrutt1]

Changed the rear dampers on the mx5 today, rear ones went pretty well, stragely the only nuts which were difficult were the ones inside the boot, it appears they were not plated from new using a hex head impact socket got them undone easily enough though. I also looked at the electric aerial which does not go all the way down, it turned out to be kinked so I have ordered a new mast for £25. I did notice the base of the sill is begining to bubble up on one side though, I have done these before if you catch them early enough before the main sill starts to rot it is a pretty simple job to cut the lower 3 or 4 inches away and weld a new piece in.

I also fitted the new foglight switch, I wanted a matching mazda one but because mine is a jap import there is no tell tale in the cluster, so I fitted one in the switch. The switch is backlight normally so pulled it appart drilled a hole through to the back and added an addional bright orange led inside the plug also had to be cut away to clear the wires, now when the lights are on the picture on the switch glows bright orange.

On friday my son had to be at school at 5am for a trip to france, when I got back it was a n hour before I needed to leave for work so I washec and polished the lotus and mx5, the end results were very rewarding.

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[kstrutt1]

I have also been addressing the dodgy door trim on the tr, the backing board had distorted and torn at the bottom, new door trims are £160 so that was out, as the covering was fine I decided to repair it. Normally I would replace the whole board but in this case the top edge is moulded so not easily reproduced. I therefore decided to replace the bottom 6 inches or so disguising the joint under one of the moulded feature lines.l cut the damaged part out:

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I then cut a new lower section out of 4mm ply.

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I then used grp tape to join them

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The covering was then stapled back on and the trim refitted to the door, end result as good as new.

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Finally while it was on the ramp I checked the gear box oil level, it took about half a litre, not enough to explain the noises which are still there, so once the mx5 has passed it's mot changing the box will be next, I am thinking about getting the rear casing modified to take a better gear selector shaft seal first though.

[kstrutt1]

Mx5 passed it's MOT so that's all 4 done, I still have to deal with the begining of corrosion on the RH sill and wax it and I Might splash out on a new condensor and fix the A/C as well then it will almost be as good as new!.

I have been using the lotus every day for the last couple of weeks, apart from the weather reminding me to wateprorf the hood which gets damp on the inside it has been suberb.

On the minor front I have started on the A pillar area, the wheelarch has been repaired and door aperture braced, next up is to cut out the bottom of the kidney panel and front of boxing plate, though the weekend will probaby be spent on building the Green house.

I am trying not to use the TR much until I fix the gearbox, I would like to keep the one in it as a spare I could re-build in the future and not damage further.


kevin

[kstrutt1]

Done a little more on the minor today, braced the door apperture then cut all the rust out the base of the A pillar and cut the rusty front floor out.

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Then welded new metal in, the corner is now nice and strong.

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I have also decied to weld plates over the four large holes in the boxing panel at the base of each pillar, from a strength point of view they are in the worst possible place, I Suspect they were put there for weld access, but this is not needed when mig welding together.

[kstrutt1]

Just come back from classics on galleywood common very close to where I live, some fantastic cars, a few pictures,

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f

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g

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[kstrutt1]

The mk10 jag was superb, a twin supercharged v8 producing around 800 bhp!

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[kstrutt1]

On our own cars I have done a little more on the minor, the sill boxing plate is repaired and I have made a new floor panel, I knocked the form into it using a hammer and old lathe bed, just need to drill some holes for spot welds and the floor bolts then this cabe welded in too.

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[JPB]

Looks like a good little meet, that's the Anglia from SOS isn't it?

[tractorman]

Looks like a good little meet, that's the Anglia from SOS isn't it?

I wondered about that, but wasn't the SOS one "dechromed"? Or, if not totally dechromed, less chrome was refitted. Of course, the owner might have had more taste and fitted new stuff (I always liked that grille!).

It's a nice selection of classics though, plenty to drool on!