Dommo Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 Put the deposit down on the completion kit today. Gone for: Orange bodywork No dashboard FW front end Sport turbo seats 4 point harnesses Cat silencer Detachable rear arches Meant to order the carbon effect rear lights too but I forgot. I hate carbon effect with a passion, but I think if I spray them black it should look better than the standard lights. Going to drop the flywheel off tomorrow then sort out some timescales for getting this head sorted. I also need to pick up a long bolt to help fit this spacer as I can't find a g-clamp big enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark (smokey mow) Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 that's going to look very nice and it should be a nicely colour co-ordinated engine bay with the orange hoses too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 Ok I think I've muffed this spacer up. Picked up a bolt today, got it through it and started tightening it up. Decided to save some effort and got the impact gun on it. Wouldn't budge. Back to manual labour, eventually the bolt snapped. I guess that's stuck then! I'll order a new spacer tomorrow as the top has started to deform. Theoretically I should be able to beat the current one out as with the standard one. Then I guess it's clean up and try again! In other news, head should be done next week, flywheel is having some minor lightening, just removing the ridge on the back for locking it rather than anything structural. In the meantime, with the diff causing grief and not a lot of engine in my posession, there's not a lot being done at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIG Brother Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 If you fancy lending me the carbon effect lamps so I can take some moulds for real carbon ones before you fit and paint them I'll do you a good price on the carbon units Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 Deal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted November 3, 2011 Author Share Posted November 3, 2011 I managed to rescue the spacer. Off to the garage (of the commercial variety), got it pressed out. Sorted the slight deforming on the top with the lathe, cleaned up the diff holes and it pressed back in pretty easily! Doh! Full of enthusiasm I head back home and hey presto it's nice and flush and the bracket slides right on. Two 4 1/2" bolts to fit. So where are they then? Not even on the pick list. Grrr! Fortunately I also managed to notice that they've missed off the spacers for the mountings too. Reading Rick's blog, I wonder if he inspired those! Another thing that doesn't make sense, the upper rear wishbones are fitted with 2.5" bolts, but it looks like 4" or something will be required to get the diff brackets on. No mention of it in the manual though. I'll ask the technical department when I phone up tomorrow for the right bolt length. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIG Brother Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 They still don't get the bolt length right. I used 4.5 inch bolts and cut them down a bit to fit with the diff carriers. Dom - send me an email again with you're address with regards to the lights :H ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KugaWestie Posted November 3, 2011 Share Posted November 3, 2011 Tig Is it acceptable to insulate the rear loom with tape, or does it need more for IVA? My build thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikpro Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Tig Is it acceptable to insulate the rear loom with tape, or does it need more for IVA? My build thread I've not been through IVA but I think leaving it as tape is perfect. The convuluted tubing retains moisture and 'rots' cable - use it only where extra protection may be need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dombanks Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Tig Is it acceptable to insulate the rear loom with tape, or does it need more for IVA? My build thread I've not been through IVA but I think leaving it as tape is perfect. The convuluted tubing retains moisture and 'rots' cable - use it only where extra protection may be need. shouldnt you use some some sort of loom tape rather than just plain electrical tape as over time elctrical tape goes gooey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted November 4, 2011 Author Share Posted November 4, 2011 I've been using Rayon cloth tape for now: http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onl....ape.php Under the general construction bit of the IVA manual it states: 7. All electrical cables/wires must be free from chaffing and secured at intervals of at least every 300mm unless contained in a secure hollow component. 8. All electrical components must be secure be of adequate capacity and insulated as required as to prevent short circuiting during operation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KugaWestie Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 I've been using Rayon cloth tape for now: http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onl....ape.php Under the general construction bit of the IVA manual it states: 7. All electrical cables/wires must be free from chaffing and secured at intervals of at least every 300mm unless contained in a secure hollow component. 8. All electrical components must be secure be of adequate capacity and insulated as required as to prevent short circuiting during operation. So according to that I should be ok then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mooch Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 I used a combination of standard black Insulation tape and convoluted conduit throughout - I think just about everything exposed was encased. PVC wiring does not degrade very quickly so I'm not sure that there will be any 'cable rot' issues, not for the way I plan to use the car, anyway. I flew through IVA and had positive comments - the testers seemed to like this arrangement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted November 14, 2011 Author Share Posted November 14, 2011 Weekend over, got a little bit done but not enough to warrant photos quite yet. The infamous 4.5" bolts and diff spacers never did arrive, so I picked some bolts up on the way home on Friday. With the front bracket attached, and the help of a less than elegant assistant the diff was placed in the chassis on some protection. The wood that was used as packaging for the fuel pipes was just right! Swapped out the 2.5" bolts on the wishbones for 4" ones and fitted the outer diff brackets. Seems like there was some typical british build tolerances in the diff brackets with one being a complete pain in the A*** to fit. With some loosening of some bolts, tightening of others it was eventually persuaded to fit. The other was miraculously much easier and pretty much went straight on. With that feat of comedy engineering done we moved onto fitting the rear uprights, with driveshafts attached because I forgot to loosen off the hub nuts whilst the MX5 was still a car. Naturally, we were stifled a bit by further slight differences. With one of the bushes on each side we could get a 7/16" bolt through, but not the stud. Laying it down on a flat surface it seems the body of the stud was slightly thicker than 7/16". Out with the file! With the bush and stud fettled, the upright was attached and the driveshaft offered to the diff. Would it go in? Would it heck. It seems the clip on one of the driveshafts is out of tolerance (manual suggests 28mm max) and so it won't go back in. I've phoned Mazda, and they're on back order. I'll try again tonight and if I still get no joy I'll have to bite the bullet and put up with the wait. Back to the spacers on the diff, I found the original spacer in the front of the diff was M12 sized. I've phoned Westfield, asked them what size the spacers should be and will use that one to make my spacers from. Beats waiting for postman pat to give them up. I wanted to get it on the ground towards the end of this week but unless that driveshaft plays ball, it doesn't look likely. No big issue of course, the completion kit isn't due until mid December and I've only got this diff, the steering column and the engine to do really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dommo Posted November 15, 2011 Author Share Posted November 15, 2011 Another boring non-photo update! Got the passenger side upright fitted yesterday - that driveshaft when in without putting up much of a protest. There's no way of rescuing the clip on the drivers side though so I've ordered a new one. Hopefully be here Friday, but most likely early next week. I can't see Mazda making a profit on this ~£1.20 part! I've got one spacer cut (that's some pretty tough steel) but have blunted the hacksaw blade so will do the other tonight. Also started lopping the ears off the diff 'cups'. Finally for the diff, I also just about remembered to fit the seat belt cover before the diff was tightened too. I'm not going for inertia reels so should get away with fitting it now, rather than having to remove the diff later which isn't that appealing. On the engine front, the head only needed one skim so wasn't that warped as originally thought. I checked the block with a metal rule last night and it looked true so it must have been poor fitting/dodgy gasket that was causing the coolant leak. I'm comfortable to rebuild the engine now so will crack on with that this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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