If it were me I’d replace the wires where you know the mice have got them then test for continuity. Once a wire is replaced you know that section is definitely right. With a replacement loom you’ll just never know quite whether what you’ve replaced is correct or not.
Is the damage confined to just the engine bay?
1 Like
I think carl-s has the right idea in doing an initial patch-up.
That way even if the loom might look a bit tatty you will then know the connections are correct and can see if the rest of the car is working.
This will give you a lot more confidence before taking the risk of stripping it all out on what might be a wild goose chase.
Thanks for the replies. I’ve sat and looked at the loom again this morning and honestly, the amount of damage to the loom means almost every piece of wire will have multiple repairs, I’ll take some more photos later to show how bad it is.
Also more reading around the forum suggests that the ABS on the NA series wasn’t very good and I’ve found a kit that replaces all the brake lines on the car which takes the ABS out Mazda MX5 MK1 - ABS Delete Kit Standard Internal (Grommet Style) Braided Brake | Stainless Steel Braided Brake Lines
Completely get what you’re saying about what a new loom would be like but I would probably strip off the old tape, continuity test all the lines and rewrap with fabric loom tape. It’s a pain to remove and refit but the amount of fiddly soldering on the current loom would be a nightmare I think. As I said, photos later.
Not sure if that ABS delete kit is useful for your circumstances, especially if you are going to use the big brake kit that you’ve found. That will include a bigger master cylinder and brake servo, then you’ll have to add a brake proportioning valve (adjustable is a good idea) The kit you link to seems to replace all the hard lines including bringing the front-to-back line into the car which is quite invasive.
If you fit the BB servo then in theory you’d need to make some lines up from there to the valve then patch them into the existing lines.
Are you sure you want to remove ABS? you have to remove the ABS electronics as well…
OK, so here’s the state of the wiring loom, almost every single wire is attacked at some point, even the ones under the headlights. Hopefully the pictures will give you an idea of the state of the loom
I think I’m definitely leaning towards removing the abs. There’s so much to do and repairing that would be a really long and difficult task. many of the wires are so short you’d have to remove them from the plugs to replace and that’s bound to end up damaging the plugs beyond repair and then you’re back to square one.
Current plan is to get it up on stands and possibly build a frame for the chassis rails to sit on rather than just have it on axle stands. Then in no particular order do the following.
remove wheels, brakes and shocks
remove bonnet
removes seats
remove interior carpet
remove front wings & bumper
use a suspension bar to support engine
remove loom
remove front subframe
remove suspension wishbones etc
remove rear subframe
remove abs system and all brake lines
strip bushes from suspsension arms and subframe
blast and powder coat suspension arms and subframes
repair rusted sills and possible rear wings if needed
treat surface rust on inner wings and coat with undersea of some type. Not sure which options to use for this yet.
treat surface rust in engine bay.
treat surface rust under car and wheel wells
treat surface rust in boot
fit new loom
new braided brake lines throughout
new poly bushes into suspension arms and subframe
new silicone hoses throughout engine bay
refit subframes and suspension arms etc
fit new suspension (coil overs already in hand)
fit new brakes (big brake kit already purchased)
refurbish wheels and fit new tyres
refit wings/carpet etc
see if it starts
service engine.
MOT
Drive it at last.
1 Like
Hi Its a long shot, but there is a seller on eBay selling an 92 se steering wheel it maybe worth sending an email to him to see if he is breaking the whole car as you may get a loom?
Good luck with all the work…
1 Like
Hi Rob, thanks very much for that. I’ve messaged the seller but not heard back from him yet.
OK, so it’s been a busy few months, however there’s finally a bit of movement on the car front.
Decided that working on a dirt floor for what’s likely to be a couple of years with everything getting covered in dust was a fools errand. So, yesterday I poured a slab in the barn, I’ll be putting up a stud and plastic sheet wall around it to create an enclosed garage. The floor is (mostly) flat and smooth, at least as well as I could get it on my first go with a bull float. There’s a couple of ripples I attack with an angle grinder and then it’ll get a coat of epoxy floor paint. Some LED strip lights will go on the roof beams and that should create a much better workspace.
So, a dolly makes more sense now. I’ve seen a sealey one that looks like it’ll do the job as the engine is coming out of the car so should be within the load rating of 900kg. Anyone used one of these
they’re £350 on amazon which, over the course of a couple of years working on the car sounds like a reasonable investment.
8 Likes
This just a thought as an alternative to using the dolly. My brother in law when restoring a MG Midget bought and used successfully a SPIT. This meant mounting the chassis on it (from back to front) and had the ability to revolve it so you could work on the underneath standing up.
I have no info on where to get one from.
As i say just a thought
1 Like
Good idea.
This Mini was restored on a spit a couple of years before this ten year old photo, but that was apparently “easy” because the Mini has a hole in the bulkhead (speedo) and a matching one behind the back seat.
A scaffold pole, clamps, some appropriately shaped wooden grommets and two well-braced A-frames = one Mini spit.
Someone else on the forum has done this with an MX5, but I can’t find it right now.
Looked into some spits but I think that’s either very expensive or beyond my build ability. I’ve now discovered CJ autos who have a couple of heavy duty axle stands https://cjautosheywood.co.uk/product/heavy-duty-mobile-axle-stand-cm05b/
and with a very handy looking tilting system https://cjautosheywood.co.uk/product/basic-car-roller-with-4-stud-ct01-4/
I think I’d probably need either the axle stands or both as the tilting unit, while very handy, would probably not do everything needed. The car will spend a lot of time without subframes or suspension arms taken off for renovation and rebuild.
1 Like
OK, so it’s taken me nearly a year, but the garage is finally done and drum roll, I’ve finally got the car into it.
One of the front tyres had come off the rim while being pushed around the barn as it was flat and it was so low that I couldn’t get a jack under it. Figured I’d pop the bonnet off and put a strap on the engine lift points and lift it with the loader on the tractor. It’s only 4 nuts to remove to take the bonnet off.
Of course one of the bonnet bolts decide to come loose inside the bonnet so couldn’t get that off. To take the hinges off the body you have to take the wings off. To take the wings off you have to take the front bumper off. To take the front bumper off you need to take the wheel arch liners out. To take the liners out you need to take the wheels off which means jacking up the car. You couldn’t make this ■■■■ up if you tried.
Anyway, managed to get a lifting strap around the anti roll bar and lift enough to use the airline to pop the tyre back on the rim with some physical abuse of the tyre. Once that was done, I was able to jack it up properly and onto axle stands. Took a few hours of swearing at every corroded fastener and whoever in the past had replaced the proper ones with nyloc’s and other wrong headed screws and bolts but the front bumper eventually came off and revealed the steel bumper than I could use our ATV to push the car up the ramp into the garage.
I was going to get started this weekend but this afternoon our farm worker cut through the steel armoured power cable that supplies the barn with a mulching blade so there’s no lights in there until I can get a sparky to repair it.
At least it’s at long last in it’s new home and I can properly start pulling it apart for the long journey back to the road.
awesome space to work on it very jealous
1 Like