What have you done to your MX-5 today? (Part 1)

There has to be a line not to cross, I’ll probably find it soon. :wink:

This: All ok apart from the (now removed) spots on the paint due to my poor masking.

Washed and detailed the wheels, washed and detailed the engine bay, went over the bodywork with rapid detailer, now already for the MOT next Monday and sparkling like a new pin.
Just out of curiosity i thought i’d check the wiper blades and as the car doesn’t go out in the rain and the wipers haven’t been used in twelve months apart from clearing bug splat, i didn’t think i’d need to, it’s a good job i did as the offside blade was knackered, new blade now fitted, job done.

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Rounded off some wheel nuts over the weekend (car is on axle stands as I was mid brake change)… and the other car is with the garage this morning… so in the space of a few hours I went from having two cars available, to having none, bloody typical

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and now broke a nut extractor whilst trying to remove said rounded off nuts… Buy cheap, buy twice… :confused:

I’ve just fitted the ILMotorsport pedal covers. Had a set on the previous NC, really like them. They really not any bigger than the OEM pedals so are very good size wise. The clutch and brake covers can be awkward (as reported on many reviews) a liberal amount of washing up liquid helps here :+1:once installed they are a very good fit. Accelerator and dead pedal rely on nuts bolts and self tappers, again, great fit when installed. The little rubber grips on the front faces are actually part of a one piece solid rubber rear moulding, so they’ll never pop out or get lost. Here they are in situ.



Royal mail 24 hr service was a bit out though, ordered last Thursday lunch, received today Wednesday lunch. Not having a gripe as things are certainly not normal at the moment, just reporting my experience if other folk are wanting something delivered quickly.
Barrie

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If you’ve split the nut extractor, normally I would suggest using a nut splitter. Snag, in this case, the tricky bit is finding one that will reach enough of the wheel nut, probably impossible with alloy wheels where the nut is recessed.

If you simply try chiselling it off you risk snapping the stud! So don’t even think about it.

Knowing the nut is scrap, the easiest and best idea is to tack weld another nut or bolt onto its end and try again. The welding might well have heated it enough to help a lot, as shown in the next (slower and more trickey) way of doing this.

The next option (ie no welder) is to heat it up with a blow torch (while masking the wheel from the heat - old tin can cut, shaped and wrapped as a wide funnel around the nut, also useful when welding above to protect the wheel finish from hot metal splashes)

While it is still very hot, give it a tap (not a big whack) straight in line with the bolt using a steel drift and medium weight club hammer (a kilo maybe). This should break the seal and it should undo quite easily.

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I’ve often done this with the bolt on the end of crankshafts, reducing the effort from bending breaker bars (300+ ft-lbs) to easy undo with the normal socket bar or ratchet (maybe as little as 10 ft-lbs).

The worst ever was (fifty years ago with no air-gun) on the front of a 3.8 Jag engine where the bolt is done up to 125-150 ft-lbs to wedge a taper seat for the TV damper. Two of us could not shift it with a pair of six foot scaffold poles and 3/4" drive socket set, one lifting on one side of the engine the other bouncing down on the other side, we could see the walls of the garage starting to move apart relative to the floor where we had braced the engine with several 2 x 4s. Bolt head heated to not quite dull cherry, gentle tap with club hammer, and it was suddenly easy.

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:thinking: :thinking: :thinking: :thinking: … i’m sure its tuesday today barrie :rofl: :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: :rofl: :rofl:

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thanks Richard

Actually it’s not the wheel, it’s a bloody width spacer (which is not a great idea in the first place) but I think the previous garage just rattled them on with too many ugga duggas on the air gun… and the fact that they are half-nuts…

14 of them came off fine, 2 got rounded off (6 point socket on a breaker arm - no heat) I will try tomorrow with some heat, some love taps and a fancy (read expensive) snap-on nut extractor that is currently in the post… Failing that I’ve got a friendly garage which should be able to weld a nut there for me…

Hmmmm? :thinking: you could be right Geoff! God bless Royal Mail!
Barrie

Those weedy half nuts look like they are made of butter! I bet the reason they are not coming off is because the nut thread is partly stripped. I just hope the stud threads are OK.

Fearing this damage, I would be strongly tempted to use a slim 1/4" cold chisel to split them.

Use a fat cable tie to hold it tight to the proud bit of stud thread, chisel axis parallel to the stud with the chisel cutting edge radial to the stud and aimed at a meaty bit of the nut so it can’t slip off.

Once cracked, repeat this on the opposite side of the nut so it does not need to be unscrewed.

The idea is that none of the hammer energy or impact is aimed at the stud or its thread, and the cable tie holds everything in place and in line. Several gentle taps with a club hammer are infinitely better than a big uncontrolled whack with a smaller hammer.

With any luck the stud thread will be undamaged, at worst running a die down it should clean it up. Even the spacer should survive without marks if the chisel doesn’t escape from the tie.

Good luck.

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Just out of curiosity what make are the nut removers?

My 91 year old Mother with Alzheimer’s can usually have a good stab at what day it is. Not a lot of hope for you now Barrie.

:rofl:

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I think I’ve lost it Paul? Stir crazy :rofl: come to think of it, I dont remember ever having it in the first place (whatever ‘it’ is) :crazy_face::crazy_face::crazy_face::crazy_face::crazy_face::crazy_face:
Barrie

Allegedly Chrome Moly Steel

I’ve recently bought a snap-on one for that job, which was, for one extractor, the cost of the whole amazon kit… should arrive today or tomorrow…

Thanks again

you could be right regarding the half-nuts… let’s hope that you’re not :smiley:

Yeah I will try the new extractor in the next few days with some wd40, heat and taps and hope that is enough… otherwise I will probably be splitting them off as your said

Washed the heads of both with “Fred & Flo” to get the pollen dust out!

I would ask for money back on that set from Amazon, enclose the photo as evidence. It claims a 1 year guarantee.
Others have broken them too, check out the 1* and 2* reviews here and abroad. Post a review with the photo to protect others.

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yeah, I’ve sent them a note to claim the return…

I’m not a big fan of bad mouthing products, but you’re right, it is a service others…

Have you tried proper Penetrating Oil? WD40 is nowhere near as good. I have successfully used impact drivers in similar situations in the past. :+1:

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