@eatcustard, I have that exact unit as an underseat in another car, never occurred to me to fit it like that!
I think today was the last big day of painting stuff. Still got some smaller brackets etc but for the most part. So either tomorrow or the day after (depending on how I’m feeling about how cured the paint all is) I should be able to do most of the reassembly, get the diff and pff and shafts and hubs in. That’s kinda important because I want the hubs in to roll the arches and that’s got to happen before I can finish up the underbody rustproofing.
Also because it’ll mean I can actually get tothe back of the shed, it feels like for 6 months there’s been more mx5 bits in there than there is in the bloody car!
I thought green LEDs would fit the the original green cap halogens more but the colour was completely wrong because they were just too bright and vibrant. I think the white ones look better and closer to OEM personally!
Interesting.
As I understand it, if you shine white light through a coloured filter, it only allows that colour through, so the rest of the spectrum is blocked. If you shine the same colour through the filter, all the light gets through. So if you want bright stop/tail lights, use a red led.
In this case, the green filter is allowing more light through from the green led than the white, so it’s brighter.
Note how the red section looks weird with the green led.
In theory, there will be no red light from the green led, so it should appear black. However, nothing is 100% efficient, so some red light must be being emitted.
Phew… Diff bushings replaced (not fun), diff back in car (also not fun, I am too puny), PFF and driveshaft back in. Much more room in shed Also got the rear hubs rebuilt, new shields on, etc so they’re ready to go.
Waiting for diff fluid and pads (and some injector spacers for the 550cc injectors) so the goal now is to get the rear end rebuilt and the wheels on the ground before those arrive, then it can be driving straight after, with any luck. Getting real close, barring disasters.
This all ended up looking much nicer than expected considering it’s a total friday afternoon job , almost a shame to hide it under teh car
Got any pictures and did you use a kit, or just disconnect and leave it in place?
Any tips for my upcoming attempt to do the same on NC3 2-litre would be appreciated
Gah, most of the rear end is rebuilt and rebushed and refitted but both driveshafts need new boots! I either hadn’t noticed, or I think maybe I damaged them during the epic battle to get them out of hte hubs. So that’s a wee delay but I reassembled the rear anyway to make sure there weren’t any problems, it’ll have to come apart for the axles of course. But the pads haven’t arrived yet anyway so that’s no biggy, just a bit inefficient.
I bought the shocks like 8 months ago and only fitted them today so that’s an excellent use of warranty
Next step is an epic powerwashing session, car is covered in rust fallout from all the wire wheeling and the bumper and side skirts have lying in the garden all winter so they’re full of slugs. Bit less fun!
Simple job today , out with the old and in with the new, Yuasa seem a popular choice so went with that . Flexed my massive 8% discount at Halfords (road car , too heavy for track car)
I’ll confess that I cheated! Someone kindly recommended a mobile radio fitter, and he sourced everything for me. His 20+ years of experience meant he sourced a good choice of kit for me, and he knew the best ways to route the various cables and wiring around the car. He was also kind and patient, and happy to explain to me what he was doing as he went. So if you want a recommendation in the Manchester area, I’m very happy to recommend him (David Bailey).
He got everything fitted in one 8-hour day. I suspect I’d have taken three days to get it all done, so it was money well spent in my view.
And I’m delighted with the results. It makes driving the car even more pleasurable. I love how the technology has come on for “In-car entertainment” over recent years.
Rear end is all back in… What a difference these stretchy CV boots with the cone make, Bofi had them cheap so I figured I’d give them a try and I am in love. No more dismantling and fighting circlips, no more fannying around with orrible old grease, just cut the old one off and pop the new one over the end. Fantastic.
Put it back on its wheels for the first time in months, just so I could look at it. Then took them back off because it has no rear brakes. Still needs the exhaust, and a bit more paint/underseal/etc, and some bodywork fired back on but it’s almost done. Well, not done, there’s a long list of other things but basically it ought to be drivable and MOTable real soon.
Injector tophats arrived too so I can get the bosches in, and a full set of PBS Protracks and some RBF600. I’ve spent 8 months trying to make it go, I should probably make it stop A wee bit scary as the 2.5 has never run properly- an injector failed mid swap so it only ran on 3, causing much confusion post-swap, naturally I assumed it was something we’d done wrong in the build or install and so I didn’t even check the basics, I went direct to “I’ve put the cams in backwards” or similar.
So fingers crossed and it’s not all horribly ****ed up, I do not want to be taking it back out.
I’m with you there, it would only end up being a nightmare if I attempted to do it myself.
I’m all the way down south so your man is a tad too far away from me but just out of interest roughly what did you pay?
Cheers Mark
Today, a s**tshow Rolled the rear arches, which didn’t just crack all the paint as expected but also burst some holes in the offside arch which had just barely stood up to having all the structural rust removed. Rolling arches is one of those brilliant jobs that you start out with the right kit and the hot air gun and the best intentions, but by the end you’re whacking things with hammers, this was no exception. But no biggie, I knew there’d be paint damage to fix so this is just an extra step.
Also, rebuilt the rear calipers. Which sucked! Those ****** dust seals! Wish I’d just bought new calipers, considering the time refurbing and painting these has sucked up. Ah well.
On the bright side that’s 2 demoralising jobs out the way, tomorrow my mate’s coming over and hopefully we can smash out a load of items on the list. Might be drivable even?
Car passed MOT in the week with 2 minor things (roll bar link joint cover and roll bar link joint has slight play, will get these fixed at the end of summer, so today took the car for a good wash and spending the rest of the day waxing it, and also going to try and restore the headlights with the turtle wax stuff from Halfords.
Also got the rear hubs rebuilt, new shields on, etc so they’re ready to go.
(road car , too heavy for track car) 
