Practically Classics Forum

Phew!!

Had a spare hour after work so decided to sort the lights out after fitting them yesterday.

Faults were:

Drivers sidelight out,
Both spots not working.
Drivers spot worked when separate feed hooked up, passenger didnt work at all.

Electrical gremlins are not my forte but got the multi meter out and went for it.
Sidelight was due to a blown bulb so thats sorted. One sidelight is slightly dimmer so I will replace both bulbs at some point.
With the lights on, there was no power to the spot light feed. Traced this back and found an inline fuse holder. Opened it up and hey ho, blown fuse.
Luckily I inherited a box of bits years ago. Loads of fuses and bulbs etc so a quick route and a new fuse was found..What fuse would you recommend for a pair of spotlights?
With the fuse sorted, the drivers spot was illuminated but the passenger was still out. Took it apart and checked the bulb......blown. Changed the bulb, still out.
The spots are wired using 2 core, only the live was connected, relying on the mounting brackets to provide the earth. I decided that for reliability purposes I would run a suitably grounded earth to the pair..also provided me with a good excuse to use my recently acquired period uninsulated crimping set inc the proper crimping tool. That done all is fine and nicely lit..happy days and another job off the list.



Kev

great! when is the mot?

rich. wrote:great! when is the mot?

Dunno!

gonna insure it for road use from 1st April so somewhere after that id say

Kev

fingers crossed for you mate

Great find - 50 years old next year.

Freddie wrote:Great find - 50 years old next year.

yes she is .

had a spare hour after work today so ventured into the garage.
unpacked the last of the chrome and gave the various bits and bobs a clean.

fitted the badges..



then fitted the boot trim strip and centre lock/latch, stuck the number plate on with a bit of double sided tape just to see what it looks like. The machine head bolts have arrived and i have painted them gloss black, they will be left to harden for a few days before using them to fit the number plates.



Finished off by refitting the front wing mirrors.



Coming along nicely, just the front screen to remove and refit with the new seal and the side window waist seals to fit.
Everything can have a nice deep clean then (interior and engine/bay)

Then I need to fit the diff pinion oil seal, change the transmission oils and engine oil and filter (again)

Kev

Had a weekend away with my family but got home about 12ish today...best pop in the garage as one does to make sure all is in order .

I painted the stainless bolts i had bought to fix the number plates so thought id get them fitted.

As the new plates are pressed metal, they have a gap that if bolted up, would pull and distort the plate quite easily.



I decided that in order to make them fit and look correct, I would pack them off the body work.
Ive used these rubber washers as packers previously so thought I would do so again




All bolted up and looking quite correct I think, drilled and fitted the rear using the same packers but also added 2 washers at the centre as there is a slight curve to the boot panel and whilst there was a nice gap between plate and bodywork at the fixing point, it disappeared at the centre, the centre packing sorted this however.



Just enough time to start her up and reverse her out of the garage so I could do a quick sweep and keep things tidy,

A few boring shots but I need to show them as I aim to copy this thread as a blog/record of the works I have done.





Busy week ahead but I need to source 10 litres of (reasonably priced) G grade ATF for the gearbox (5 to flush the older stuff out and 5 to top up - I will run her for a few weeks then drop the fluid for a 3rd time and hopefully have nice clean fluid in the torque converter)
Whilst the front end is on the extendable ramps I will drop the engine oil and filter then clean and check over the front half before applying some black Dinitrol, then i can turn her round, do the pinion oil seal and Dinitrol the rear half.
Just the front screen and side glass seals after that.

Kev

I will soon be looking for something to treat our mx5 with, what is dinotrol like, does it creep better than waxoil?.

kevin

kstrutt1 wrote:I will soon be looking for something to treat our mx5 with, what is dinotrol like, does it creep better than waxoil?.

kevin

It's better in every respect than Waxoyle, in my opinion.