The Mazda lives on! The battery definately wont be going anywhere from now on…
nice work, love the look!!!..
Small Update:
Had this arrive in the post this week:
It was just taped on,need to get it sprayed and then it’ll be fitted 
Yesterday i removed the fog lamp that was bolted to the bottom of the bumper:
And converted one of the Reverse Lamps into a Fog
Also trial fitted my 14s that i had laying about (where gonna be my Winter wheels for the Micra,but had an issue with longer rear studs + wheel nuts = would tighten but still able to move the wheel!)
I think they suit the car quite well,shame they werent wider…or had a smaller offset
how long you been cutting the vinyl out to get that pattern??
I love Norfolk Arena - I used to go there a lot until I had to work away at the start of this year. Do they still have the black/grey camouflaged BMW 325? That was one of my old cars. Is Malx still doing insane 360 spins on demo rides?
I’d comment on your pics, but I’m working through a severe internet filter that won’t let me see them - I’ll try from somewhere else later.
Also - do you know a guy who works in an archery shop? We were talking about you I think. He suggested I try drifting my MX5 - I qualified for my Eurodrift licence at Norfolk Arena in 2007 and did a couple of years of BDC too [:D]
I should drag myself back to DriftWorks…
The October session was my first ever visit to Norfolk Arena,unfortunately i didnt see a camo’d BMW 
Yeah Malx is still doing those 360 spins,truely awesome to watch!
No i dont know anyone who works in an archery shop (well,not that i know of?) I’m now booked in for the 26th Nov for my next session 
I drew all the shapes on the back of the vinyl then cut it all out with a pair of scissors 
Took quite awhile lol
My new Lockwood Dials arrived today:
With abit of help from a mate,they were swapped and fitted back into the car:
And Illuminated at night:
First lot of photos were taken on my phone,and photoshop has stopped working,so apologises for the quality
Just got the Heater dials to swap,should be a job for Sunday
nice!!!
Heater Dials now fitted!
Diff will hopefully be removed and welded Tuesday (providing taking it off goes to plan)
Apart from that,still waiting for some bits to be sprayed
[:D] welded diffs rock.
Saw you car on Saturday in Norwich, looks ace.
Those dials and heater surround look absolutely awesome! How did you do that? Are they already lit (only driven mine once in the dark!)
The dash lights (normal lights for dash dials) light up the blue numbers and markings and creates this glow around the needles. If i use LED bulbs the glow would be white (or blue if i use Blue bulbs etc)
Met up with a mate yesterday to start work with the diff removal. Was quite suprised how high the jack went…
Once on axle stands we doused all the bolts/nuts with penitration oil,with the help of an impact gun the drive shafts and prop shaft was removed. Last thing to do was to remove the brace which goes between the gearbox and diff,one of the bolts was stuck and wouldnt come out.
Abit of jiggling about and the help of more WD40 and a blow torch,the bolt finally came out. Now came the fun part and that was to strip the diff down. Heres the majority of the diff stripped down and all cleaned up
The diff ready to be welded!
A 40 mile round trip later and the diff is welded. The guy who done the welding said he tacked it and clamped it,and upon welding it the planet gears had moved. Which then made the centre out of line. Abit of filing/cutting and it’ll line up with the grooves in the basket. So we done that and it still wouldnt fit,the shorter half shaft went in fine,but the other one wouldnt go in. With the planet gears out of line,the plate on top (where the larger part of the half shaft goes into) was also out of line,which meant the half shaft wouldnt go in.
So after stripping the diff back down again,we still couldnt think of any other way to fix it. Our only option was to source another set of planet gears (which was highly unlikely) or another whole diff.
Today i met up with my mate to collect the diff,where he then took it to H&S Performance where Mike managed to remove the planet gears and re-welded it. Having the half shafts there,they could fit them to make sure it was all lined up. Dale then went back to the garage and re-built the diff,which is now ready to go back onto the car which will be Friday.
Heres some photos of the diff being re-built and with it complete:
Will report back Friday when its all back together with my thoughts on a welded diff! Might even go for a cheeky play about to test it out haha
I’ve been using welded diffs on daily driven cars for 6 or 7 years now. Watch out for low speed understeer (on wet mini roundabout especially). Other than that it’ll be fine if you can live with the comedy wheel skip when parking.
Took the Mazda out for a ‘test drive’ with the new welded diff. I know i’ve named the video Drifting,and i know i’m not actually drifting…but you know what i mean!
Thoughts on the Welded Diff:
ITS AWESOME! Makes drifting/skidding sooo much easier,just need to practice feathering the throttle to make the corners better,but i’m slowly getting the hang of it.
Driving the car day to day feels exactly the same! (probably because i dont floor it round corners anyway) Reversing is abit sketchy,feels like the car wants to kangeroo but then decides it doesnt.
All in all…a thumbs up!
Couldnt do a test run without a short video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHPtH6eSYf8
Still waiting for my bits and pieces to be sprayed,i guess the weather doesnt help either
Popped over to Ian’s last night to collect and fit my Hard Top Needs painting which probably wont be till nearer xmas or possibly new year when funds allow. It doesnt look too bad as it is being silver as it goes well with the Camo graphics
Small update…
Diff oil got changed today ready for the Drift day this saturday
Fitted my TSIs
The reason they’re blue is because it’s my new colour scheme, Vauxhall Arden Blue (but only details will be going blue). Heres a teaser of my wheels:
Thought it was time to upgrade the headlights,so bought some Crystal Clear 7" units from Ebay
Before (left) and After (right)
Had major problems with the screws rusting,but managed to sort it out.
With the TSIs fitted,they only allow a single light. So i decided to wire up some indicators to my front reflectors. Abit of cutting and wiring later they were working! Luckily i had some bulb holders from my Micra side repeaters that i bought ages ago,knew there was a reason why i kept them…
Heres a short video
Last but not least my Tow Hooks were fitted
Yet another epic day at Norfolk Arena! Weather was dry but was quite windy and very cold! The track was damp to begin with but dried up by lunch time.
First few runs and i just kept spinning and the car had far too much grip. So a swap of the front wheels to green steels and the removal of the quick release boss,just leaving the dished Momo wheel and i headed back to the track.
The car started to kangeroo down the back straight and no one could figure out why,checked the rear tyres and i had 1x 185 and 1x 165 tyre. A swap around and the car pulled like a train! The car was still understeering very badly,so once back at the pits adjusted the tyre pressures and went back out. This time i had absolutely NO grip at all,a quick inspection and the front tyres were bald and the O/S front tyre had a bulge in it. Swapped them for a pair of 13s and dropped the tyre pressures,headed back out and it was perfect! Managed to get a couple of runs in with the new found set up (after spending all day swapping things). First in the que for the next run and get told theres no more runs due to the flood lights not being able to be on.
All in all,a very good day once the car was sorted,still need ALOT of practice,but that sadly wont be till next year now.
Heres a short video of a few runs,mainly highlighting the better parts/runs of the day. Massive thank you to those who came and showed support,also big thanks to those who helped aka my mini Pit Crew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdhW5sOYnfA
Some images courtesey of Mark Callf (plenty more to come though!)
Few more photos:
