ARCHmatux' Roadster Project (Large Image Warning)

[archmatux]

Sept 9, 2018 15:15:36 GMT swordspork said:

Excellent effort. Well done sir.

I think I've seen a few of your posts on Nutz. Can I ask in the image you've taken at the back of the engine what sensor is to the right of the cursed water plug?

Cheers.

I have posted a couple of times on Nutz when I got stuck.
Might throw a project thread up there too.

The sensor with the single blade connector and black plug?
I believe that's the sensor for the temperature gauge in the cluster.

[wannabe]

I bow down to your awesomeness and determination

I get put off by even a minor hassle!

[archmatux]

Sept 11, 2018 16:59:31 GMT wannabe said:

I bow down to your awesomeness and determination

I get put off by even a minor hassle!

Cheers.

I've found the hard part is making a start.
Once I've got my tools out it's easy to keep going.

[wannabe]

Sept 12, 2018 18:09:37 GMT archmatux said:

Sept 11, 2018 16:59:31 GMT wannabe said:

I bow down to your awesomeness and determination

I get put off by even a minor hassle!

Cheers.

I've found the hard part is making a start.
Once I've got my tools out it's easy to keep going.

I think you're right - I struggle to get going but don't want to stop once I'm actually achieving something!

[archmatux]

A few bits have arrived.

• Import size numberplates
• Front side mount number plate bracket
• Floor mats
• Eunos valve dust caps
• Jass performance red towing eye

I've also got a GV style lip on pre-order.

I've fitted the red towing eye, the floor mats and the dust caps.
Hopefully I'll get some time and dry-ish weather over the weekend to do the numberplates.

[archmatux]

Over the past couple of weeks I've got a few other small bits done to the car.

The first thing I wanted to deal with was the slam panel to cover up this fugly mess:



A few minutes later and a significant improvement:



The panel is abs plastic and came from MX5Mods.

The next addition was a Jass Performance towing eye to replace the rusty original:







Certainly adds a bit more "JDM" but not quite enough.

I ordered a GV Style front lip and after a bit of a wait, then a lot of sanding and some spray paint it was ready to go on the car.
I also got replacement JDM size plates. The one on the back was in a very bad state and I didn't like the the placement of the front plate at all.

I used the Jass Performance offset bracket with the original towing eye but I may need to get the bracket that replaces the eye at some point:











Fitment of the lip is far from perfect but it doesn't look too bad.
The front bumper will need to come off at some point for some repairs and a respray so I'll likely be able to get better fitment with it off the car.

I was a bit suprised by the amount of holes that have been drilled in the bumper over time.
I've picked up a tub of Big Boy plastic flexi filler and hopefully I'll be able to make it a bit more presentable.

The only major issue I came accross was that the bumper support stays were completely rusted and wouldn't come off.
I spent some time with an angle grinder trying to get the bolts off but all I achived was melting the bumper around the bolt.

Once I get the bumper off for the above repairs I'll make some new supports.
There are also a few snapped off bolts that will need drilling out.

[archmatux]

I haven't got around to doing much on the car recently as work has been very busy.

I did finally get rid of the MK4 Golf as it had been sitting on the driveway for months.
Surprisingly it fired straight up with a jump pack and drove up the ramps to the flat bed under it's own power.

The old seized engine had also been left on the drive to rust under a black bag as I had intended to tear it down but never got around to it.
I finally pulled it apart this evening with torchlight and salvaged any bits that may be useful as spares.

I have pulled the head off the block. Unsurprisingly due to sitting out, quite a bit of rust has formed and there is a little surface rust on the exhaust cam.... not that I was ever going to re-use them.

Looking in the cylinders did clearly show nice cross hatching at the front and back with some scoring at the sides.
I'll take better pictures in the light tomorrow.


Getting back to the MX5, I don't really fancy doing bodywork on the drive in the cold and that accounts for a high percentage of the work that needs doing.

I am currently having an issue with a high pitched shrieking noise which I suspect to be the water pump on cold start.
I've swapped the belts out as I had spares on hand but unfortunately they don't appear to be the culprit.
I have a troubleshooting thread here: mighty5s.com/thread/3043/shrieking-noise-on-cold-start



I ordered a replacement water pump, timing belt, gaskets and accessories from Autolink this afternoon and they got it dispatched just a couple of hours later! Depending on when they arrive and how well the weather behaves over the Christmas period I may be posting some updates on replacing the timing belt and water pump.

Although I'm not 100% that the water pump is the source of the noise as there are no other symptoms (although I hope it is), the engine I bought came with no history so I think it would be a good idea to do some preventative maintenance anyway.

The next jobs planned for the car are as follows:

1. Waterpump/Timing Belt
2. Fix damp/water in boot
3. Replace radiator (not a problem yet but is clearly original and not in great shape)
4. Bodywork - Dent repair, rust repair etc....
5. Interior - Carpeting, door cards, audio etc...

That should keep me busy until the summer 

[archmatux]

Well today has not gone as planned at all.

Having stripped down the old engine I felt confident to replace the timing belt and waterpump.
I ran into no issues stripping down an engine that had been sitting on the drive for 6 months so how hard could it be?

I did get some classic TSI's over Christmas so here's a picture showing those after I'd pulled the intake pipe and radiator out:




Bits taken off:



(If you can make out what jack I have, don't get one. It's been horrible since I bought it and I'm going to get a replacement in the near future)

Removing more bits:



And the first problem happened:



The Tee nipple snapped right off the thermostat housing as I twisted the hose. No excess force was used, it was simply that weak!



I do have the spare housing from the old engine but it's in horrible condition.
While I could replace the housing I'm probably going to do the coolant re-route in the future so for now have decided to go a different direction.

As part of the pipe is still there I've ordered a pack of brass 8mm barbed tee fittings. I'm going to wrap the pipe in plumbers tape, put a piece of hose on and clamp it down tight.
I'll then run an inline tee a few inches further down. Not ideal but will get the car running again.

Undeterred I removed the accessory belts, the cam cover and locked the cams in place at top dead center.
The harmonic balancer came off with a tap from a rubber mallet.



Good thing I decided to do this job. The timing belt was in a very sorry state. I'm surprised I didn't catch this when I swapped the engine in!



The problem I'm left with now is that I can't get the front ring off the crank so can't get the belt off:



It's very stuck in place and although I've given it a few taps with a rubber mallet I'm a bit scared to use too much force.
It was quite dry and I don't think the front main seal has gone. The oil/wet look you can see if from the rust release spray and GT85 I've been using to try and release it.

I don't believe this part existed on the earlier short nose crank engines and in the video I've been following by TheCarPassionChannel on YouTube his slips right off and he doesn't even mention it:



Unfortunately I don't have a pillar drill or any steel/aluminium bar on hand. I might have to get a bit creative and fashion some sort of tool to get it off.


EDIT: Victory!

I bolted the balancer back on to give me more leverage and after a few smacks with a rubber mallet it finally started to wiggle.
After that it was just a case of pulling it from each side a fraction of a mm at a time until it gave.

Checked the woodruff key and it's in good nick. The old timing belt does have other splits in it though.
Fortunately I got a good head torch for Christmas as I'm going to be working in the dark for a while yet.

I'd like to get the waterpump swapped this evening and if all goes well the new timing belt on.
I may or may not update this post this evening depending on how it goes.

[Zed.]

that waterpipe 'tee' piece is common rust issue, whenI bought my car it had previously failed & the previous owner had blanked the remaininf=g stub in the thermostat housing (pipe & bolt trick ) and joined the pipe from the waterpumo output to the inlet-manifold's 'thermo-valve'

It didnt leak so got me home without issue so not criticising

anyway...

boredom hit & the need to modify/bodge/fix occured........

so I re-joined the waterpump outlet pipe to the thermostat housing & decided to delete the 'thermo-valve' from the inlet manifold & after inspecting the pipe from the 'thermo-valve' to the inlet manifold (below the throttle-body) it was definately a good idea as the rubber was old & degraded, cracked and broke when disturbed

anyway, that was removed / blanked as temporary & still there nearly a year later

maybe oneday I'll fix the thermostat housing by drilling & tapping for a barbed fitting - maybe.....

Rich.

[archmatux]

After struggling to get the balancer and the front ring off the crank I was absolutely dreading taking the timing gear off.

I've read horror stories of people having to literally cut them off.
It was also fairly messy after using various sprays to get the other bits off:



I had bought a replacement front seal but was seriously considering not bothering.

However, the timing gear came off by hand with no force required. Finally a bit of luck!
The woodruff key is in good condition and I was able to replace the seal without too much trouble.
Getting the new one set in to the right depth was a little tricky using the method in the above video as I was very nervous of pushing the seal in too far.

I must have taken the timing gear etc.. back off at least 8 times before it was deep enough.

The old pump came out without too much trouble. I did remove the bolts from the power steering pump and zip tie it off to the side to get better access to the side of the waterpump.
It took quite a while to clean up this mess and get a clean mating surface for the new gasket.



Old waterpump. I couldn't feel any resistance when turning it but I suspect if the bearing was going it might not be a problem until it was spinning at the right RPM.



For those planning to do this job, you do not need to remove the cam gears or the top backplate to remove or replace the waterpump.
It is important though that the grove in the seal at the top of the waterpump matches up with the backplate which is easy enough to do if you put the pump in top first.

After cleaning up the front of the engine with break cleaner on an old rag and a plastic razor blade I installed the new pump.



Looks far far to clean compared with the rest of the engine.
Not to worry, it'll soon be hidden behind covers and not seen for hopefully 60000 miles.





I've now installed the replacement timing belt, idler and tensioning pulleys + spring and timed the engine (got it right first try ).
The power steering pump has been reinstalled along with the timing belt covers, water pump pulley and accessory belts.
Cam cover is back on too.

All I have left to do this evening is to tension the accessory belts, torque the waterpump pulley bolts, reinstall the radiator then I have to wait for the Tee fitting to arrive.
I probably won't take any more pictures this evening but will do a quick update tomorrow night once it's hopefully all back together and running. (Fingers crossed)

[archmatux]

While Amazon said the delivery would be with me by 9pm, fortunately it arrived by 1 so I was able to work in the light.

After a bit of thought, mocking things up and cutting hoses I ended up with this:



I wrapped the pipe in plumbers PTFE tape and used two clamps so hopefully this won't leak:



It doesn't look too offensive and it's got plenty clearance from the belt:



I threw a couple of zipties on just to make absolutely sure there was no way it would ever hit the belt.
Probably unnecessary but better safe than sorry.



All back together!



Filled the coolant and kept topping it up once the thermostat opened which did take a while.
I did have to adjust the alternator belt as I'd made it a bit too tight but apart from that everything seems fine.

There was initially a small amount of belt whine but that went away very quickly.

Took it for a spirited test drive and the car runs great.
I did fix a small intake leak during reassembly which has dramatically improved idle.

As the old belt was starting to crack I suspect it may have stretched some as the engine runs much more smoothly now.
And as a bonus, no more horrible screeching noise!

[archmatux]

So I've done a few small jobs on the car.

First and foremost I made a start on upgrading the speakers.

For the fronts I bought a set of In Phase XTC 17.2 and the typical 4" JVC units for the headrests.

I got some MDF spacers which I got to fit after some work with files and rasps and the speakers are now test fit to the doors.
I managed to break the zipper on the drivers side seat, fortunately I found one that fit perfectly on an old hoodie.



I'm very happy with the headrest speakers but the doors need some work.
The plan was to get new plastic door cards and shape them then get them vinyl wrapped.

The MDF took quite a lot of shaping but I don't really want to leave MDF in the doors permanently.
The plan is to take measurements from the MDF spacers now that they fit correctly, draw up the spacers in CAD and get then 3d printed for a more permanent solution.


On another note I bought a set of replacement front ARB bushes.
I'm unsure what ARB I have on the front but it's 25mm and I've been having a lot of problems finding replacement bushes anywhere.

I thought I'd finally tracked down a pair and although the ID is 25mm, they don't fit in the brackets at all so I'm back to square one.
If anyone knows where I can get replacement 25mm front ARB bushes I would be very appreciative.
I may just have to bit the bullet and buy a replacement ARB kit that I can actually source bushes for.


On the subject of 3d printing, I've replaced my old damaged door bushes with a set 3d printed by a colleague.
They are more of a prototype than a final design but they're a massive improvement over what was there before.



Today I'm doing an oil change and some basic maintenance.
I've also bought a kit to rebuild the fuel injectors as I suspect some leaking but I'll do another post with pictures when I get around to that job.

[archmatux]

As usual I've done a bunch of things on the car and have completely forgotton to update this thread.

I decided that it was finally time to upgrade the steering wheel and went for a Momo Prototipo with HKB Boss:



It's significantly nicer than the previous wheel and is much more comfortable when driving.
There is far less flex when I'm turning which gives me a bit more confidence to throw it into corners.

To go with the steering wheel I also picked up a set of IL Motorsport pedal covers.
The clutch and brake replace the originals and the accelerator and dead peda covers go over the top of the originals.



The old clutch and brake pedals were torn so this was a massive improvement.


I've suspected for a while now that the fuel injectors were leaking and that the seals were bad.
I should really have replaced these when I swapped the engine, however I made do with what I had and used the bets bits from the two sets of injectors I had on hand.

I bought a full seal kit and cleaned and refurbished all 4 injectors.
The kit didn't include replacement pinto caps but the originals weren't too bad.



Replacing the micro fiters was a pain but I got there in the end:




The big job that I've been putting off for some time was the coilovers.
I knew that at least one of the old ones was leaking and the ride quality was getting considerably worse.
The car even started to bounce when going over minor bumps which was quite scary at speed.

After a lot of research I finally went with a set of HSD Dualtechs. I couldn't justify the Monopros and while a lot of people recommend Koni shocks I wanted the full range of adjustment.

Getting the existing coilovers out was painful.
The adjustment was completely stuck and I didn't really want to disconnect the control arms if I could avoid it.



After fighing it for at least 30 minutes, victory!



The new shocks went in very easiy on their lowest settings and I then adjusted them in the car:



Hmm, I wonder which one was leaking?



The rears were much easier to change and the old shocks came out in minutes.
They were a completely different brand to the fronts though:



The fronts were from Gab Sports and labelled as Revo Stroke.
The rears were St. Boeso

Based on this I strongly suspect that these coilovers have been on the car since before it was imported around 15 years ago.

At the moment I've set the fronts to 320mm (wheel centre to arch) and the rears at 330mm.
I'm sure they'll settle some and need further adjustment in a couple of weeks.

I've set the stiffness to 9 all round but I'm sure I'll be adjusting this a lot over the coming weeks to find the sweet spot.

One concern is that I haven't been able to put the front anti-roll bar back on as it fowls the upper control arm.
I suspect that it may have been doing this for some time as I've noticed a clunk under heavy cornering but was never able to track it down.

I'm currently on the hunt for adjustable end links to rectify the issue.
In the mean time the car corners better with the new coilovers and no anti-roll bar than it ever did with the old ones.

[Zed.]

when I swapped dampers on my car both rear lower bolts were problematic as their 'captive' nuts were 'UN-captive'

so had to remove both lower wishbones....

3 out of 4 camber-adjustment bolts snapped

as to the front, I removed one of the arb-link bolts and the top balljoint so the lower wishbone & hub 'swung' away giving clearance.....


was a small amount of swearing though

Apr 7, 2019 17:44:51 GMT archmatux said:

One concern is that I haven't been able to put the front anti-roll bar back on as it fowls the upper control arm.

I'm currently on the hunt for adjustable end links to rectify the issue.

anyone local that is a practitioner of the dark arts known of as a 'Weldist'?

standard links are easily shortened or made adjustable with a nut & bolt* (also some tube to allow the adjustment)

Rich.

*Bolt can be substituted for cutting a thread on the existing stem if you have a suitable die (is it 10mm diameter? so an M10 die for the 'cheat)

[archmatux]

Apr 7, 2019 18:49:02 GMT Zed. said:

when I swapped dampers on my car both rear lower bolts were problematic as their 'captive' nuts were 'UN-captive'

so had to remove both lower wishbones....

3 out of 4 camber-adjustment bolts snapped

as to the front, I removed one of the arb-link bolts and the top balljoint so the lower wishbone & hub 'swung' away giving clearance.....


was a small amount of swearing though

Apr 7, 2019 17:44:51 GMT archmatux said:

One concern is that I haven't been able to put the front anti-roll bar back on as it fowls the upper control arm.

I'm currently on the hunt for adjustable end links to rectify the issue.

anyone local that is a practitioner of the dark arts known of as a 'Weldist'?

standard links are easily shortened or made adjustable with a nut & bolt* (also some tube to allow the adjustment)

Rich.

*Bolt can be substituted for cutting a thread on the existing stem if you have a suitable die (is it 10mm diameter? so an M10 die for the 'cheat)

I think I got lucky with the wishbones.

When I get around to re-doing the underseal under the car I'm tempted to replace the bushes at the same time and expect problems then.

None of my friends weld. However, I have been planning on picking up a £300 MIG welder and teaching myself to weld at some point as I''m going to need to do some welding sooner or later. Might have to be sooner.