ScottyDugg's Eunos (1.8)

where'd you get'em ?

Update #3:

In preparation for an upcoming road trip and with heavy rain forecast I thought I’d get the car up in the air for some maintenance/modification, this turned out to be bad timing with some of the hottest weather on record. What was meant to be a weekend of work turned into a 4-week ordeal……”if I’m doing that I may as well do this….and this….and that”….it escalated.

So what’s been done since the last update, in a sweltering garage, with an out of commission convertible….in the hottest weather of the year.

Revlimiter “Alpha” gauges fitted with some red needles, following the Revlimiter tutorial, with some white LEDS. I’ve always loved the offset rotation in comparison to stock, quality service was great so I’ll be buying more parts in the future.



IMG-20190706-WA0005 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

IMG_20190706_171723 by Scott Reid, on Flickr



Jass Performance Heavy Duty Frame Rails fitted that were picked up locally, these would have been easy to fit if my frame rails weren’t crushed and my floor pan dented on the passenger side. In conjunction with the roll bar and inner wing stiffeners these have made a huge difference, reducing scuttle shake and rattles drastically, it now takes a bigger bump/undulation to unsettle the car now. I’ll maybe look into some door bars if a set pop up, but I’m in no rush at the minute.



IMG_20190808_202531_614 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

IMG_20190804_172035 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

IMG_20190805_193808 by Scott Reid, on Flickr



After trying out a budget bucket seat to see if it’s a direction I’d like to go in, the stock seats are great but I was having to brace against the door and transmission tunnel. Budget seat bought and test fitted, then sold as it had served its purpose.



IMG_20190721_191315 by Scott Reid, on Flickr



Proceeded to pick up a set of Cobra Clubmans locally that were previously fitted in a classic mini clubman, black vinyl with red piping. They’re in pretty good condition and have since been fitted with some GSM adapter brackets, which seem to come with no fitting instructions.



IMG_20190809_170404 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

IMG_20190809_223200 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

IMG_20190809_201656 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

IMG_20190809_201705 by Scott Reid, on Flickr



First impressions: I think you sit slightly higher but not by much, support when going round a corner is great, no longer need to brace against the door/transmission tunnel. Compared to the other bucket seats I tried these are maybe more road focussed, after doing 6.5 hours in them recently I wasn’t in too much discomfort, certainly no more than the standard seats.

Picked up some Willans 4 point harnesses in black and installed eyebolts so these can be run in conjunction with the standard seatbelts, these haven’t been fitted yet.

I’ve been running an Ebay-special stainless manifold for the last year, due to cutting the stock manifold off due to seized bolts. As far as I can tell it’s just a copy of the stock manifold in stainless steel, short runners into 2” pipe back to the cat area. I found a cheap second hand mx5-Parts 4-2-1 manifold that collects into 2.25” that matches the rest of my existing system.



IMG_20190803_162830 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

IMG_20190814_222326 by Scott Reid, on Flickr



Unfortunately, the change in manifold led to my silenced de-cat (370mm) being too short, so as a quick fix I got an M2 Motorsport unsilenced de-cat (440mm), benefit being that the full exhaust system is now stainless steel. Whilst I was there I also replaced all exhaust hangers with polyurethane.



IMG_20190815_191324 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

Serviced all the oils on the car following the BOFI Racing guide for the diff and gearbox, oils that were replaced had only been in there a year at best, the gearbox turret oil seems to go black fairly quickly as this is the third time I’ve changed it now. Engine oil replaced with fully synth Motul Sport 5W40 from OPIE OILS and a K&N oil filter (handy as it has a hex fitting on the end for fitting/removal).



I’ve since replaced my Uniroyals with some Pilot Sport 3’s on the front, budgets moved to the rear as the excessive camber will chew through them in no time. Next task over the winter is un-seizing all the alignment bolts and fixing the 2 degree camber in the rear, which I think is causing the tendency to understeer when pushed.

Just replaced the door speakers and looking to get a bit more bass so a slimline sub may be fitted if I can decide where to put it. Ideally where the spare wheel used to be as I’ve never used that. I’m also in the process of changing out all exterior bulbs to LED’s, as well as looking into the LED ring mod to the rear lights, I’ll do a comparison once complete.

In bad news it looks like I’m going to need two new sills sooner rather than later (probably before the next MOT) so I’m starting to look into what it’s going to cost. I did consider splitting it and trying that 350Z I’ve always wanted, but I’ve been informed from the wife that that won’t be happening, I’m too invested in this one.

Still plenty work to be done, still flirting with the idea of saving for some forced induction, we’ll see how far that gets, see what’s left after the rust is fixed.

Couple pictures since it’s back on the road.

IMG_20190819_201326 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

#10 (Large) by Scott Reid, on Flickr



Next to my dad’s mk1 TT, he bought it after we finished the mx5 as his next project.

IMG_20190825_135340 by Scott Reid, on Flickr



Thanks for reading.

S.

Do the door bars. You won't regret it... they triangulate the door and really stiffen the car up.

Quick update, the BP4W project is still under way, but with the car having gone and passed its MOT with no work required, getting the car sorted for the summer with all these salty roads can break up the never ending valve lapping.

So first things first, the exhaust has been hitting the rear ladder brace since fitting, it's been an issue of constant irritant, any touch of the throttle resulting in a metallic rattle until a speed is achieved to drown it out with wind noise. So in a moment of clear and rash thinking I bought an ebay exhaust that's come off a BRSCC MX5 Race Car, made good power on BLINKS dyno apparently, Sold the MX5parts cat-back and can only hope this solves my problems rather than creates a new one (awaiting delivery).

The cars also now up in the air for some maintenance/cleaning, since I was taking the exhaust off, plans are:
- Clean the front wings out.
- Treat and underseal any rust underneath.
- Replace the seized drop-link I left last year.
- Bumper cut the rear bumper.
- Treat surface rust in the boot.
- Replace all alignment bolts (they are all seized!)

Also, fitted the hardtop to the car, after installing an MX5Mods headliner, that matches the door cards, a last minute black Friday purchase. Whilst in there I swapped my mk1 rubber screen surround for a mk2 version that wasn't split (I think they're identical), treating some surface corrosion hiding under the rubber.

Before:
IMG_20200126_135145 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

After:
IMG_20200127_001642_163 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

Corrosion surprise:
IMG_20200126_141451 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

IMG_20200126_142124 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

Definitely worth getting, Mx5Mods does some good stuff, I've bought a couple things from him. Thinking about the dash top cover next.

With the car back on the ground I took it to Autotec in Port Glasgow for the alignment. I asked for the fast road setup listed on BOFI, which I think is the standard settings after some research.

PSX_20200310_172853 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

IMG_20200306_171057 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

The rear camber is the best we could get, since one of my HSD's is seized at a slightly different height, not ideal but fine for now.

Fitted a 4 point harness I've had sitting about for a while, still retain the standard seatbelt, these are easily removed from the bottom and kept behind the seat, so I don't need to faff fitting it to the roll bar everytime I want to use them. They're not to bad to use in a daily driver in all fairness, but I've not gone on any massivly long drives yet.

PSX_20200310_173115 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

Lastly, took part in my first autosolo, thoroughly enjoyed it (despite finishing near the back of the field) I'll be booking up for the next event whenever that is. I'll need to try some different setups/tyre pressures as running the road setup resulted in massive understeer.

PSX_20200316_140432 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

Quick snap of some of the cars there that day, the black 5 in front of mine was the overall Autosolo winner that day, it's running a supercharger (maybe one day!)

PSX_20200314_184238 by Scott Reid, on Flickr

The Autosolo was great fun, itching to try another but who knows when that'll be. I spent some time yesterday reading through your progress thread on the other site, the cars come a long way since the last time I saw it. Be interested to pick your brain about A9/Knockhill track days etc.

Engine rebuild has stalled but I'll get back to it this year at some stage, depends how long I'm stuck at home for!