kevin s's blog

[kstrutt1]

well after saying the aove I noticed a knocking noise like a loose wheel on the way home yesterday, turned out the 3 bolts holding the brake disc and driveshaft to the stub shaft were slightly loose so easily fixed, I also though looked at the clonk it has developed on taking up drive, turns out the rh top diff mounting has failed again, the front tab keeps fatigueing off which is a common problem, so this time I will have make a reinforcing plate, an exhaust flange looks a good starting point.

So the TR was called into action today, started and run with no problems after 6 weeks on the ramp, electric fan was on a bit more than normal but to be expected in 35 degree ambient! needs a clean though as it is thick in dust.

[kstrutt1]

Been working on the minor, the underbody is now painted and sealed just needs stone chip coating, the rear end ius ready for primer and the interior and engine compartment are stripped of all components.

[rich.]

nice.. are you going to modify / improve the engine?

[kstrutt1]

Initially it will be a standard 1098, mainly because my son will drive it when he is 17, eventually we quite like the idea of a supercharger. The brakes will be upgraded to discs and a five speed box fitted now though.
Plan is to get the shell and doors painted this summer which will allow us to build up the mechanicals and interior trim over the winter, then paint and fit the rest of the panels next summer.

I have also been tidying up some of the dodgy areas of paint on the TR, this is an example on the front wing.

[kstrutt1]

Been working on 3 fronts today, firstly on the mx5, while washing it the other day I rubbed a mark on the wing to find a hole appeared as a piece of filler fell out, after cleaning it up I had this.

mx5 wing1.jpg (41.26 KiB) Viewed 2305 times

Cut a piece out to weld in then smoothed off weld with a flapwheel to give this.

mx5 wing2.jpg (47.83 KiB) Viewed 2305 times

mx5 wing3.jpg (37.7 KiB) Viewed 2305 times

Finaly primed and painted

mx5 wing5.jpg (44.38 KiB) Viewed 2305 times

.

Needs cutting back more but I left the paste in the tr at work, so only had Tcut.

[kstrutt1]

While I had the welder out I had also found some more rust on the minor when stripping the paint off the scuttle so this had to be repaired, firstly the damage.

minor scuttle1.jpg (45.06 KiB) Viewed 2302 times

minor scuttle2.jpg (57.74 KiB) Viewed 2302 times

minor scuttle3.jpg (46.64 KiB) Viewed 2302 times

Then welded them up.

minor scuttle4.jpg (46.47 KiB) Viewed 2302 times

[kstrutt1]

minor scuttle5.jpg (39.86 KiB) Viewed 2301 times

Still need to file the holes out but otherwise done now, getting closer paint.

Thirdly I drilled the minor engine backplate for the mx5 gearbox, firstly the input shaft was wedged centrally in the nose of gearbox using alloy strips, it was then dropped into the pilot bearing and clamped in place before using suitable sized drills to mark the centre of each hole, the box was the removed and the holes drilled.

box1.jpg (52.21 KiB) Viewed 2301 times

box2.jpg (57.26 KiB) Viewed 2301 times

box3.jpg (73.92 KiB) Viewed 2301 times

Just need to cut some of the bell housing away to give clearance for the starter and the ring gear is touching the inside of the bell housing so this will need fly cutting out.
That though can wait, at least now it can be trial fitted into the car.

[kstrutt1]

Had a nasty shock today, I couldn't get any lpg so put £20 petrol in, I have done 40 miles and it all seems to have gone!! About 12 mpg, it does over 20 on lpg.
It runs rough at part load smells very rich and a couple of times emmited vast clouds of smoke, on the plus side it goes like stink!

It has hif44s, the mixture adjustment does not seem to have much effect, I think it's probably the jets which have worn, had exactly the same problem on the landrover after running on lpg for a couple of years, easy enough to check with the dashpots off, otherwise could be a leaking float or needle valve I suppose.

I have managed to fill with lpg now, might look At the jets in my lunch hour tomorrow.

On the minor I have cut the Mx5 gearbox so the starter fits and bolted it all together, might even try fitting it in the car at the weekend, tomorow night I plan to stone chip the underbody.

[rich.]

12 mpg? is it a v8?

[kstrutt1]

Yes a sd1 3.5 V8 engine, but as I say it does low to mod 20's on LPG and should do better on Petrol as it has a higher calorific content.