A great day out at the White Waltham members day airshow along with some other rather nice people 
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I’ve taken this week off for the next stage of the project which has been waiting in the wings, a couple of months ago this arrived 
This weekend I started the strip down of the car, the exhaust system fought me all the way but almost there just waiting to get a tool to release the fuel line tomorrow before we remove the engine & box.
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Wow! A thing of beauty 
That radio looks to be just what I want. Please can you tell the model number?
Also, does it work with the standard electric aerial?
Thanks
Blaupunkt Madrid 200bt, Amazon are out of stock at the moment but it looks in stock in the link below. Yes it does work the electric aerial.
At the moment I have a tiny bit of static when the ignition is on but I think that’s because I need to sort out a dedicated ground.
http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/blaupunkt-madrid-200bt-bluetooth-mechless-tuner-radio-mp3-usb-aux
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Thanks. All the Blaupunkt units there are ‘mechless’ (no CD player). I’m not sure I’m ready to go down that route yet 
Thanks anyway
I have this unit in my NB and it looks proper period. Phone answers even if you turn radio off which is nice. I listen to my music via bluetooth which works well.
Day 2
Managed to remove fuel clip with a couple of small screwdrivers bending the plastic tags (not using the connector again anyway)
Engine and gearbox are out
Gearbox modified to accept Jaguar starter, bellhousing edges chamfered for clearance
New release bearing fitted
Front suspension & steering removed (track rod ends were a pain in the proverbial)
New subframe test fitted, RHD rack mounts fitted
Charcoal canister & assorted electronics removed
Clutch line removed (refitting with braided single hose)
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The rocketeer conversion is an amazing bit of kit, awesome work so far, hopefully the kit is easy enough to install, I’m sure itl drive amazingly when it’s done
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Day 3
PAS pump needed modifications to fit on AJ30 engine, rocketeer mounts very nicely made
Mounted starter motor
Mated gearbox onto engine
Modified engine mount cup for steering column clearance
Mounted engine & box to subframe
Moved entire assembly under car and used crane to raise up into place
Took a couple of hours to align everything up, the subframe bolts, engine mounts, ppf bolts, gearstick position etc. But with a bit of trial and error it all lined up.
Once the engine and box were in we needed to get the car back on the ground so the front suspension was refitted (minus the steering rack)
Waiting in anticipation!
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Looks amazing in there, can’t wait to hear it ripping about
Really surprised more people haven’t jumped on this thread because rocketeers are for ballers 
I’m poor so I’m going boost instead 
I would love to do this conversion & am deeply envious of anybody who has one. Much better than FI as most folk who have that seem to spend more time fixing than driving.
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Looking really good so far! Excited to see it when it’s all finished!
Bit more of an update, lot’s of time spent on the car over the past week and I’ve learn’t a lot. The quality of parts and design is very good, however what a kit can’t account for is all the little nuances of differences between cars made between 1989 and 2005. It caters for the big things but there’s lot’s of little ones where Mazda tweaked bits here & there which doesn’t make anything incompatible, just requires more work to fettle so it fits well.
The steering rack is an example, mk1 & 2 racks differ in their hard pipe routing, left & right hand drive, power and non-power steering, so that’s six different potential setups! To get mine to fit with enough clearance that I’m happy with the rack went in & out 3-4 times and I spent a whole afternoon re-bending the hard lines, then trial fitting, then re-bending again etc. until it was right. Very satisfying when you get it right but it all takes time.
There’s also a lot going on in the engine bay so clearance particularly round the sump & subframe is pretty tight. A good 1-1.5 days were spent adjusting the engine mounts, the PPF, then eventually making up some 3mm spacers to get it all lined up. I may be being a bit too much of a perfectionist, but it keeps me happy 
So now the steering is all in & aligned, I also spent all day Saturday doing a complete brake swap for NBFL Sport brakes. The calipers I previously rebuilt where put on, along with new disks, OEM MAzda pads & fitting kits, new sliders & seals all round, and new braided flexi lines all round. In keeping with the OEM look I resisted repainting the calipers in red and chose silver instead.
The stainless exhaust system is also now fitted along with two Bosch Lambda sensors, plus I made a template for the bumper & cut out clearance for the left side exhaust. getting the tips level was a bit of a challenge until I remembered the old jubilee clip around the exhaust rubber trick
A new oil Mann filter, swapped over the oil pressure sensors, also fitted a smaller alternator belt 5mm shorter to give me more clearance for the power steering pipes and had to cut down the rather nice stainless turnbuckle adjuster to accommodate it (which was painful to do 
)
Gearbox oil was refilled with Ford synthetic stuff from the US which I’ve used with success on past cars, plus new turret oil, gearstick refitted along with the centre console etc. Propshaft in & aligned, Probably lots more done but that’s all I can recall for now.
engine mount riser spacers I made from 3mm alloy
After all the fettle for clearance & pipe bending, looks like it’s supposed to be there doesn’t it!
Exhaust trial fitting
And fitted…
Also replaced the hard clutch line with a simple braided one which clears up so much more space for the extra Jaguar components.
Sport brakes on the right, 1.8 standard on the left !
Fronts done
And those huge Sport rear disks which are actually bigger than the fronts! glad I went to 16" ND wheels now for the clearance!
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Never did savvy why our Sport brakes are bigger on rears.
My guess is probably corporate parts bins full of 'em from other cars/vans so a good way to rid.
In 15 years of sometimes brutal X country forays, never got close to fading even with standard pads.
Nice and smelly maybe…at worst.
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That’s my experience too with the genuine Mazda pads, I’m sure there are some great track pads out there but this isn’t a track monster and when I used uprated pads in the past they were worse than standard when cold. I fitted new OEM pads & 1.8 brakes to my old Eunos and they were brilliant!
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Seem to recall having a go at either Green or Yellow Stuffs on my Mk1 many years back. Just to be fancy really.
Nothing but trouble…squeals and I recall vaguely…laminating.
Went back to OEM. Job jobbed.
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Well done Carl, I didn’t realise you were starting so soon after the waltham members day, I shall have to pay you a visit soon.
Keep up the excellent work
Steve
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The car’s now back on it’s wheels and in the garage with the bonnet back on permanently, to my pleasant surprise the original bonnet stay fits! (I had some of the gas struts before and I don’t like the way they seem to bend the bonnet up after a while)
Started on the cooling system today, water pump, thermostat, temp sensors installed. Hoses are test fitted at the moment to check & double check clearance 
Mishimoto big core radiator fitted with a quick modification to allow it to sit further forward in the car by using the aircon rad mounts. This has given me more room for the fan & bottom hoses. For now I’m running the original Mazda fan for more room but have a dual fan setup waiting in case I need more cooling.
Normal rad bottom mount holes on the left, a/c ones on the right. quick trim of the bracket sticking out and I’ve gained a few more cm room 
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I also went red reflectors on the rear, coupled with white side markers and front reflectors it really works well. Can’t believe Mazda didn’t do this as standard.
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