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Post by Bilbo on Feb 6, 2023 23:36:01 GMT
No massive update, but have got something sorted that was my main gripe with driving the car. I had assumed at first my exhaust was causing vibration somewhere, but it became clear the engine now it's settled slightly on the mounts was causing the cooling heatsink fins on the sump to just just about touch the subframe at certain RPM. Mainly at idle and cruise RPMs around about 3k. Anyway, nice simple fix. A common thing to do on lowered MX-5s is drop some engine raiser shims under the engine mounts, so I made some. I didn't actually remember to get any photos but like these ones that Destroy or Die make:  So imagine them, but just finished not quite as neatly on the edges, and that's basically what they look like 😂 I jacked the front up, got the engine mount nuts underneath loosened on the threads, jacked the front of the sump up with a block of wood to protect it, and dropped them in. Got everything bolted tight again and fired it up. The difference is crazy haha, it's so much nicer inside the car without the vibration, and it's one less thing to worry about, I didn't want that cast ally sump cracking from the vibration or something. Simple change, and they're small enough that no issues with bonnet clearance or engine being raised too far. The plate I used was about 5 or 6mm I think, so just raised it a bit, and still plenty of thread on the lower engine mount nut, the thread still goes all the way through the nut so that's not a problem. Nice easy job and it's a much more pleasant experience driving it now. Not much photo content but here's a front shot:  This actually reminded me that I need to look at why my bumper is sitting wonky on the driver's side, I think the mounting rubber is turned to a weird angle and causing it to sit lower. Will sort that soon. Other than that the car has been pretty much mint, been giving it some harder driving and it is just great. I mean it's no rocket ship due to the gearing, and the fact it's got a standard 5 engine, but it's plenty quick enough. I'd like to get a proper 0-60 time on it soon, don't think it'll be all that but I'd like to see how it stacks up to my 5. Been sorting a few bits on another car I used to own. Sold it to my uncle last year, my old Yaris T Sport.  Just sorting MOT for him, which it failed on rear discs, rear brake efficiency, and front droplinks. So not too bad tbh, getting that sorted and re-tested this week. This car was hands down the best all rounder car I've ever owned 😂 It's a warm hatch, not quite a hot hatch, not quite an economy hatch. But god it was fun, handles so well, not fast but quick enough, and will get 45mpg without much effort. Girlfriend is considering selling her Alto to buy it off my uncle, I'd absolutely love that. I'd be in it all the time again haha. |
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Post by wannabe on Feb 7, 2023 2:16:13 GMT
Love it  Wish my driveway was that interesting lol re: the exhaust, be careful with it sticking out that far as the AK Automotive exhaust also protrudes and I've had an ex-Traffic copper friend point out that it could be seen as 'using a car in a dangerous condition' and win 3 Points from a pedantic plod having a bad day... lol Haha you're probably right on the exhaust, not to worry, I keep a few tools in the car so if they have a tantrum about it I'll just unbolt the entire backbox and drive it home without one 😂 Oh, and re: people following you - don't go home or to a regular destination like the workshop if someone is paying far too much attention to you/it; drive somewhere like a supermarket with a lot of people and see if they make contact or just stalk you from a distance. Former probably fine, latter probably not fine. lol Yeah I'm being fairly vigilant about it, saw on FB someone in a town very nearby had a Cortina estate stolen yesterday, there's always people about targeting old cars. The immobiliser will help, but I'm going to be adding some other hidden bits that will cause an absolutely horrendous amount of noise if not deactivated before turning the ignition. Saying that I'm going to put my 2 tone air horns on it soon, this horn my mate generously gave me is fine, but it doesn't have the balls, I want it so loud it'll wake up the entire street haha. Drives me insane that we can't have nice stuff because thieving scum help themselves to what is 'easy money' parked up and easily breakable into sellable parts  Perhaps adding some more air horns inside behind the dash could be a useful deterrent to a scumbag driving it any distance... lol |
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Post by Bilbo on Mar 10, 2023 18:37:03 GMT
So, not been on here in a while! Not a dead thread though I promise, just been driving it. It's so good. It's actually so good 😂 I've been driving it a load to "bed it in" so to speak. I've put about 1,300 miles on it now, really just wanted to put it through its paces as a daily driver, and it's been absolutely flawless. I had one very small fuel leak on the fuel filter, a jubilee just wasn't quite nipped up enough, other than that it's been perfect. In the rain, the frosts we've had, it just starts and goes. My heater seal on the firewall has come away a bit so heater is a little less powerful right now than I'd like, but I'll fix that this weekend. I still find it so amusing parking amongst modern cars, it's actually quite a small car really in comparison to the bloated crossovers and the like that are knocking about.  Even gave it a little run down to work, they've put an absolutely disgusting massive rubber speed bump in on the entrance though, which is total misery. Had a couple of people asking "who's Cavalier is that downstairs?". Gets a lot of interest wherever you go really, I'm still not quite used to it yet haha.  Anyway I said I wanted to try a mk1 Golf front lip, so ordered one from Classic VW, was under £30 so worth trying at that price.  Honestly I'm not really sure on it, like it almost looks good, but the way it needs to sit to bolt on is just a little high up for me, and the ends aren't quite long enough to sit flush on the front valance edge. I've got a potential breaker with an OE front lip that I'm currently messaging someone about, so might just go and get that this weekend. Overall though, bloody love this car, it's so great just cruising about in it, and once you get the revs up its actually not a slouch either. So pleased. The MX-5 is being seriously neglected right now, poor thing. |
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Post by wannabe on Mar 11, 2023 5:05:30 GMT
Good to hear it is all going nicely Nothing modern really appeals to me - I read reviews about apparently nice stuff and am tempted, but then I get into a friend's very recent Peugeot 'crossover' thing and it's dripping in totally unnecessary and unintuitive 'tech'... nothing does anything until it runs through the car's brain, and it feels totally detached from your physical actions. And don't get me started with heater and demist controls on a menu somewhere in a Canoeing touchscreen... At least with older stuff you turn something or press something and it just works because it's all direct connections, and if it breaks you don't need a degree in computer science to laptop it until it works. I'm not sure when or even if I'm down your way but I will come and pester you for a passenger ride if I do!  |
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Post by Bilbo on Mar 11, 2023 9:27:59 GMT
Good to hear it is all going nicely Nothing modern really appeals to me - I read reviews about apparently nice stuff and am tempted, but then I get into a friend's very recent Peugeot 'crossover' thing and it's dripping in totally unnecessary and unintuitive 'tech'... nothing does anything until it runs through the car's brain, and it feels totally detached from your physical actions. And don't get me started with heater and demist controls on a menu somewhere in a Canoeing touchscreen... At least with older stuff you turn something or press something and it just works because it's all direct connections, and if it breaks you don't need a degree in computer science to laptop it until it works. I'm not sure when or even if I'm down your way but I will come and pester you for a passenger ride if I do! Haha yeah I completely get what you mean with modern stuff. I'm not against it at all, I do like things to be basic, but the tech in some cars now is pretty mad, which is cool. I think in terms of cars around now the new GR Yaris would probably be my choice. Practical enough and a decent hot hatch by all accounts too. Bit pricey mind you 😂 And yeah that is one issue with some new stuff, definitely a lot more technical than simply replacing a mechanical item and job done sometimes. My manager at work has a Q5, he just took it to Audi for AdBlue fault check and an MOT. Audi quoted £2,500 as apparently the AdBlue system has had it. I don't even know how that stuff works, but I do know I basically bought and restored this entire car for that figure 😂 I don't know how people manage to afford it tbh. Haha yeah for sure, let me know. Going to try and get to a load of shows this year when I can too. |
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Post by wannabe on Mar 31, 2023 22:32:14 GMT
Good to hear it is all going nicely Nothing modern really appeals to me - I read reviews about apparently nice stuff and am tempted, but then I get into a friend's very recent Peugeot 'crossover' thing and it's dripping in totally unnecessary and unintuitive 'tech'... nothing does anything until it runs through the car's brain, and it feels totally detached from your physical actions. And don't get me started with heater and demist controls on a menu somewhere in a Canoeing touchscreen... At least with older stuff you turn something or press something and it just works because it's all direct connections, and if it breaks you don't need a degree in computer science to laptop it until it works. I'm not sure when or even if I'm down your way but I will come and pester you for a passenger ride if I do! Haha yeah I completely get what you mean with modern stuff. I'm not against it at all, I do like things to be basic, but the tech in some cars now is pretty mad, which is cool. I think in terms of cars around now the new GR Yaris would probably be my choice. Practical enough and a decent hot hatch by all accounts too. Bit pricey mind you 😂 And yeah that is one issue with some new stuff, definitely a lot more technical than simply replacing a mechanical item and job done sometimes. My manager at work has a Q5, he just took it to Audi for AdBlue fault check and an MOT. Audi quoted £2,500 as apparently the AdBlue system has had it. I don't even know how that stuff works, but I do know I basically bought and restored this entire car for that figure 😂 I don't know how people manage to afford it tbh. Haha yeah for sure, let me know. Going to try and get to a load of shows this year when I can too. I'm sorry, what? A bottle to hold it, a tube to run it to the front of the car, a pump to create pressure, some injectors to spray it into the fuel mix / cylinders, and some code that is already embedded into (one of) the ECU(s)... How is that 2-and-a-half-THOUSAND pounds... ?? I hope you made sure to point out your build costs  lol Are there plans for a M5s track thingy again this year? Would be good if you can make that! |
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Post by Bilbo on Apr 4, 2023 15:34:23 GMT
Haha yeah I completely get what you mean with modern stuff. I'm not against it at all, I do like things to be basic, but the tech in some cars now is pretty mad, which is cool. I think in terms of cars around now the new GR Yaris would probably be my choice. Practical enough and a decent hot hatch by all accounts too. Bit pricey mind you 😂 And yeah that is one issue with some new stuff, definitely a lot more technical than simply replacing a mechanical item and job done sometimes. My manager at work has a Q5, he just took it to Audi for AdBlue fault check and an MOT. Audi quoted £2,500 as apparently the AdBlue system has had it. I don't even know how that stuff works, but I do know I basically bought and restored this entire car for that figure 😂 I don't know how people manage to afford it tbh. Haha yeah for sure, let me know. Going to try and get to a load of shows this year when I can too. I'm sorry, what? A bottle to hold it, a tube to run it to the front of the car, a pump to create pressure, some injectors to spray it into the fuel mix / cylinders, and some code that is already embedded into (one of) the ECU(s)... How is that 2-and-a-half-THOUSAND pounds... ?? I hope you made sure to point out your build costs lol Are there plans for a M5s track thingy again this year? Would be good if you can make that! Haha, main dealer prices for you! Absolute scum prices haha. I did I was like mate I bought, engine swapped, and restored my car for that hahaha. I have no idea actually, though the Cavalier is in no way a track car, the brakes and suspension are fine on the road, but that's about it haha. |
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Post by Bilbo on Apr 4, 2023 15:35:56 GMT
So, other than a couple of little fuel leaks, and a blocked fuel tank vent that was causing fume smell (both now sorted), the car has been awesome. The sun has come out a couple of times, and it's been lovely cruising about in it. Anyway the other day I hit a bit of an issue. Literally. Smashed into a bit of an issue haha. Was going down a road with some particularly disgusting ruts caused by buses and HGVs, avoided a broken drain and drove straight into a rather nasty deep but short rut in the road. Rear suspension compressed and the exhaust basically just exploded haha. Now my exhaust is not perfectly tucked, but it doesn't hit the floor at all really, only on speed bumps and stuff. I am planning to properly tuck and bend it up nice and high when I get the time and parts to do so. But yeah so this rut caught my centre box behind the midpipe so hard that it ripped the centre box backwards. The clamp was done up so tight as well, but out it came, and pushed the centre box and axle bend literally around the axle itself. Pancaked it around the axle, I've literally never seen anything like this before haha:  Anyway this obviously left my midpipe hanging by the flexi pipe. So dragged it about 200 yards down the road and pulled over. Car full of shopping, girlfriend went looking for any bit of exhaust that might have been left behind, and I tried working out how we were getting home. Luckily I had an enormous white cable tie in the car, so I zipped the midpipe up near the floor, and we limped it home sounding like a Spitfire haha.  A couple of days later I got the centre box clamped back onto the midpipe and drove it to the unit, just held up with multiple cable ties and no backbox. Was pretty grim, but it made it just about. Now fixed with some bodged exhaust bends for now until I make my new tucked system in the next few weeks.  Gave it another wash as well:   I've booked a few retro shows, I'll be at Holmes Hill Launch Day on the retro Sunday, I've applied for Players Classic in June, and I'll book my Retro Rides Goodwood Sunday ticket this week as well. Probably be some others I'll go to as well. |
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Post by Bilbo on Apr 9, 2023 17:02:09 GMT
So my re-bodged exhaust I made last week after the big smash had to go. I swear the pipe I used to jank the axle bend together was about 1.5", if that haha. Was just some bend on an old manifold I had lying around. Not ideal. So here's what we were dealing with. A lot of droop in the middle of the exhaust that needed to go:  You can kind of see the bend I cobbled together here over the axle, it wasn't blowing, but it was ugly and probably fairly restrictive:  Yes the axle is a bit rusty, I'll sort it one day haha, everything around it isn't bad though! Anyway I needed a new axle bend, so I bought one. Well actually I bought 2, at only like £27 each it was cheaper to buy an entire extra one to chop up than buy all the other exhaust bends I needed separately. 2" bore on these, which matches the silencer boxes and most of the rest of the exhaust.  Chucked it up on the ramp to get a look at it all:  Spent hours and hours on this. The manifold/downpipe is one piece and sat too low, so had to remove the entire system from the engine back, shortened the downpipe, and re-angled the exit, completely re-routing the system in its entirety. Angle is slightly different but compare this to the original photo:  So much better, tucked way way higher. I took out the black centre resonator at first, it's straight through anyway so assumed it wouldn't be too loud. I was so badly wrong, I managed one lap of the estate and put it back on the ramp haha. So loud, sounded horrific. Cut the backbox section up, and added the centre resonator in there, keeps it tucked up away from the ground, and same nice tone as it had before.  It was a lot of work, not much room to do it, but I've now got the exhaust tucked up above the gearbox brace. Then it makes a straight run back much higher than before. Gained about 2" ground clearance I'd say, in some places maybe more. The downpipe to midpipe connection is now V-banded too, and I've kept the flexi in there, just to take any strain from vibrations etc.  I have a bit of a blow developing from one of the remaining slip joins I have used, easy fix. And the end of the axle bend where it goes into the black silencer at the back is rubbing on the panhard rod quite a bit. So I'll get those last couple of bits sorted out and it should be absolutely perfect. It's nice having a system that doesn't reduce down excessively like before, and I do love V-bands. I may just V-band the other 2 slip joints as well, they never blow and just one little bolt to undo to get it all off. Think I have another one lying around somewhere in my exhaust boxes. |
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Post by Bilbo on Apr 16, 2023 0:24:46 GMT
Got a few bits sorted out the last couple of days. I had forgotten to fit the moisture sheet things behind the rear door cards when I put the interior together. Still had both originals at the unit, so got them re-fitted:  Should stop any water getting in, which it hasn't seemed to so far, but can't hurt putting them in. My new exhaust is alright, just having some annoying knocks against various things when driven. Adapted the mount points a little bit and it seems a bit better, but going to do a bit more tomorrow. Good news is the ground clearance is pretty good now, and when going over speed bumps I went over before, it no longer scrapes, which is great.  Yes there's a couple of rusty holes at the back there, that's where the old fog light was, it's not too bad and I'll sort it properly soon. The sun came out which was nice. Only the second time I've had to top the oil up just a tiny bit to get it back to the top of the dipstick, this engine uses so little oil compared to my MX-5, it's great.  Took the opportunity to give it another wash  I noticed that the bonnet was starting to fade quite a bit. Went old school and got some T Cut red paint restorer, just buffed it on and off by hand, and then followed it with an old bottle of Autoglym Super Resin Polish I had lying around. The bonnet now beads nicely when wet, and it has really brought back the red. In all honesty the car will probably be resprayed at some point as I mentioned before, but I can't stand faded red, so wanted to sort it before it went pink. Came out alright for not much work to be honest!  |
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Post by howardb66 on Apr 17, 2023 1:07:17 GMT
That paintwork has come back really well. I had to laugh when you said about adjusting exhaust mounts- I’ve done the same & it usually involves getting a bit agricultural 🤣
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Post by Bilbo on Apr 17, 2023 9:32:13 GMT
That paintwork has come back really well. I had to laugh when you said about adjusting exhaust mounts- I’ve done the same & it usually involves getting a bit agricultural 🤣 Yeah it's not bad, and the bonnet now beads beautifully when it is wet, which is nice. I'll do the rest of the car this week, got some shows coming up so might as well make it look presentable haha. And yeah mate exhausts, just the bane of my life. Made some adjustments yesterday again, still having some issues with it banging on chassis at certain points. Change a pipe angle by 1 degree and the whole thing is off by about 6 inches at the back haha, it's a total headache. I'll persevere with it, and then when it's good hopefully I won't ever have to touch the bloody thing ever again haha. |
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Post by scottydugg on Apr 17, 2023 9:59:13 GMT
Just get a custom 3" made up for the eventual turbo  It's looking really good, big fan of the red. |
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Post by Bilbo on Apr 17, 2023 10:38:16 GMT
Just get a custom 3" made up for the eventual turbo It's looking really good, big fan of the red. God sake hahaha, with the live axle sitting closer to the body with it lowered I genuinely think a 3" pipe wouldn't actually fit on the over axle section haha. Also it's not happening! It'd be great but it'd need a stronger diff, massive brake upgrade etc. or it'd just explode immediately I reckon haha. |
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Post by Bilbo on Apr 21, 2023 23:31:37 GMT
Decided to give a couple of other bits a polish. Nothing crazy, just to get the red back a bit. The roof had some fading as did the boot, so just worked on those. Can't see it amazingly in the photo but it came up pretty well, half and half comparison:  And finished:  And boot lid done too:  Not bad for a half rear canoed polish. Gave it a jetwash tonight and the polished panels bead really nicely, which is nice. There's a car show down Madeira Drive in Brighton in the morning so I'm going to go down there, a mate is bringing his AE86 as well. Bit of a mixed group of cars when I've been to it before, a lot of it not really my thing, but it's free so how bad can it be? |
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Wish my driveway was that interesting lol
lol
le sigh