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50 Shades Of Silver (Na Eunos)

62328 Views 686 Replies 22 Participants Last post by  Zed.
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in January I bought my Eunos, I'd liked the idea of one for maybe 10 years but I'd not had thew time or space for one.
so, heres my '50 Shades-of-Silver (amongst other colours)

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as bought and home (ok, I've too many cars....)

replaced the TSW wheels with BBS from a BMW E30 :thumb-up:

the car was imported in 2000 so had avoided UK's salted roads for it's first 8 years life, being a Eunos the online vin decoders are next to useless and the dvla's regestration details are 'suspect' to say the least (it's regestered as a 1992 mx5, I guess thats the importer creating a car thats easy to sell & insure)

the previous owner had replaced the clutch, cambelt & waterpump, swapped to a mk2 dashboard conversion, fitted a cobalt stainless exhaust and a few other jobs like rust prevention.

when I was inspecting the car before purchase I noticed that the pedlebox was cracked with the throttlepedal almost hanging off, this had a major impact on the cars performance (possibly why it was for sale?)

when I got the car home I decided to remove the dashboard to investigate the wiring conversion as well as check the heater pipes & fix the pedlebox (the throttle pedal had actually dropped off after I got home!)

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while the dash was out the seats & carpet followed, then I noticed that a rollcage had been fitted previously with holes drilled in the front & rear floors as well as the parcel shelf being cut (not a problem to me as I'm looking at fitting a cage :yes: - wonder what cage had been previously fitted? )

when the dash was out I decided that the conversion wiring was a bit of a mess so started looking for a replacement, this was put on hold for a while untill I spotted an advert for a UK spec 1990 MX5 for sale as a breaker...

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https://i.imgur.com/Lw1e4Lx.jpg
1990 UK spec '5 with 1.8 conversion
as you can see, my 1991Discovery working for its living :driving:

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little while later, some bits removed :whistle:
was easier to remove the engine by chopping the front of the bodyshell off, nice un-rusted chassis rails - unlike the sills, wheelarches & floors :rant:

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dashboard loom needing repair, one of the reasons behind the tango'd 5's purchase....

annoyingly theres diferent looms fitted - unknown if this is age or engine related :rant: :rant: :rant:

discovered after re-building and fitting a mk1 dash into the Eunos :yes: :rant: :baseballbat:

so, ended up repairing the Eunos's origonal....

call for the solder & heatschrink......

bought some Compomotive wheels, unsure if they are destined for the Eunos or my mk2 Golf tdi....

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another purchase, set of Ohlins adjustable dampers with springs & rosejointed topmounts, these were 'pre-loved' so a lot cheaper than new (although cost £400 so almost the same as the Eunos)
had fun when fitting, both rear damper bottom bolts were not wanting to undo as their 'captive-nuts' were 'UN-captive' :whistle:

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:rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: :rant:

so had to remove both lower wishbones....

3 out of 4 camber-adjustment bolts snapped :rant:

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weld to the rescue & re-captive nuts :thumb-up:

random stupidity & reading crap on forums later ('Coil-On-Plug' conversion ideas :dance: )

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ready for future turbo conversion (thats my excuse....... :whistle: )

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twin cylinder adjustable bias pedlebox :thumb-up:

Another 'Random-boredom' idea, I've always had bias/adjustable pedleboxes on rallycars so as the Eunos is hopefully going to hillclimb & sprint its getting one :yes:

this is the 'mk1' design, not a working prototype but just pushing ideas....

the standard NA pedal ratio is 4:1, this is fine with servo asssistance but un-assisted will be harder than hell and a massive effort to stop the car so I'm looking at 5 or 5.5:1 ratio so that means shortening the pedal & moving the cylinder position.

also, I've picked up some new AP-racing 'dumpy' mastercylinders on egay for a very reasonable price :dance:

more to come once I've recovered from typing this........

Rich.
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last time I checked there were some rear arms (cant remember bottom or top) that were unavailable as pattern parts
rear top I believe are not available as a 'pattern' part.

all wishbone positions are ~ £150 each if buying Genuine Mazda (unless you can get cheap on ebay;)) and the only wishbone that ha bushes already fitted are top front - all others have bushes as extras 🤠

subject of bushes, started looking at fitting the 'bushes'....


test fit.


next is to make press-tooling to position them in their 'tubes', will look into a tube-spacer between positions so I dont collapse them if I use the hydraulic press :unsure:

might get an hour later....

Rich.
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how comes the welds are rusting already?
its not rust, its 'glass' from the weld process


Rich.
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So, despite me being wrong, they are in fact still a problem if not removed before being painted.

Learn something new every day.
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Also.....

I've found (I think :unsure: ) similar metal balljoint type bushings that are (on paper) a sorta fit for the front & rear / Lower wishbone inner positions.


from a Subaru (p/n SUBARU : 20257XA000 )

these have a 40mm outside diameter, 50mm length and 12mm bore so suitable for the subframe / adjuster bolts:cool:

I'll be buying one to try :ROFLMAO:

Rich.
Keep us updated. I am trying to find alternatives for the ball joints and I had no luck i.e.reasonable cost and long lasting . At least on paper. Just to stack some more parts to my toolbox.
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Subaru bushing update...


these were the cheapest I could find - it's an experimental bushing so not buying expensive!
these are from Autodoc and are a replacement for SUBARU 20257XA000 bushes.

40mm outside diameter.
50mm wide.
12.5mm bore (for a 12mm bolt).


these are a spherical / balljoint / pillowball type but have a rubber dust-boot so look a little like a conventional rubber bush (from a distance anyway)




boot removed, can see the 'ball'


against a wishbone, should have a 10mm spacer each sise for the subframe 'ears'


offered up to the wishbones tube.


inner & outer bushing positions hopefully finalised, just need time to machine some fitting tooling for pressing into tthe tubes as I dont want to damage the bushes or the wishbones :eek:

maybe on the weekend......

Rich.
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