[B_hawk111]

So, engine is all back together now, replaced all the coolant hoses, tried to get a nice spring clamp on the rear reroute pipe but it's so tight it doesn't quite fit, tried to be clever, then filled it up with water to check and it all leaked our so not so clever 😂

20220219_134553 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Managed to sort out my alternator tensioner problems, turned out somehow I had a mk2 tensioner block which is threaded, and the alternator was also threaded so they never tightened up properly!

Drilled the thread out of the block and added some safety nuts for added safety!

"20220219_135842 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Then started on the oil filter relocation and cooler.

Fitted the bit to the engine no problem

20220219_212439 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Going to make a little bracket that mounts to the engine to stop it from twisting, as apparently with the movement of the engine compared to the lines they can start to undo!

The filter side of this kit was quite badly machined, lots of swarf that had been anodised in, and it looked quite restrictive!

20220219_164153 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Attacked it with the die grinder and got that looking much better!

20220219_194301 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Fitted the filter, then found a nice spot on the wheel arch for it to live! This means I can change the oil filter mess free without having to drop the undertray!

20220219_204825 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Added a couple of extra rivnuts ready to make a shield for it, just to stop any Debris etc smashing it!

Next job is to fix the leaking coolant line on the back of the the engine, then get this oil cooler mounted and get the lines made up!

I've ordered the correct spanners and vice clamps to make up the an lines so hopefully will go without a hitch!

 

[Zed.]

Going to make a little bracket that mounts to the engine to stop it from twisting, as apparently with the movement of the engine compared to the lines they can start to undo!

use one of the 'ports' on the side, should be good threads there and can go full 'racecar' and use lockwire from the plug / sender to somewhere on the cylinderblock

The filter side of this kit was quite badly machined, lots of swarf that had been anodised in, and it looked quite restrictive!

thats not great qc there, wonder how many just get fitted like that

Rich.

 

[B_hawk111]

use one of the 'ports' on the side, should be good threads there and can go full 'racecar' and use lockwire from the plug / sender to somewhere on the cylinderblock

There isn't any sensor ports in that part of the kit unfortunately, but it has got a nice flat section on both sides of the inlet/outlets so should be able to make a nice simple bracket to hold it steady 👍

thats not great qc there, wonder how many just get fitted like that

Rich.

Yeah it's not great is it! I don't know how restrictive it would be in reality, but for a few minutes with the die grinder it was worth opening them up!

Burbyeah bet a fair few just get thrown in like that

 

[B_hawk111]

another small update, after trying to be clever and get a spring clamp on the rear coolant hose, it all leaked!

so had to once again assume the coolant reroute work position and put it back to a worm drive clamp!

20220226_165805 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

then once it was holding water, rigged up a little pressure tester with a bit of silicone hose on the overflow pipe, a bicycle track pump, and a rubber glove pushed over the rad filler!

20220226_175008 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

this sprung up a couple of little leaks from where pipes hadn't seated nicely etc, so managed to fix all them and it held 20psi, I think the rad cap is designed to hold about 15psi so all good!

20220226_175250 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

now just waiting for some angle aluminium to arrive so I can mount the oil cooler to the back of the rad, then start on the oil lines..

 

[B_hawk111]

Productive weekend so far!

got my oil cooler fitted to the rad finally!

made a start with a bit of 25x50mm angle Aluminium

202203
05_135530 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

then tidied up the top mounts a bit

20220305_173450 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

then knocked together the lower mounts

20220305_190156 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

the offside mount fits through the anti roll bar bracket quite nicely with a little spacer, nearside mount is clearly a bit bigger, and mounts to the bottom of the rad

20220305_190851 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220305_190920 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

so that should all work out nicely!

still have a bit of room on the bottom of the rad, or the back of the oil cooler for a small fan if I feel the need.

I've also made a bracket to hold the section that replaces the oil filter to stop it coming loose, which is apparently a problem.

went to go fit it this evening and realised if I want to change the engine mounts then I need to do them first!

so just done a bit of shopping,

a pair of duraflex 70a engine mounts, as I have noticed the uprated Il motorsport engine mounts allows it to move from side to side quite a bit under load, which is probably why the supercharger keeps hitting the bonnet.
a set of diff void fillers, as I'm stiffening the front should probably stiffen the rear too.
a length of stainless exhaust pipe
2 sets of V band clamps to re make my exhaust.

replacing the old decat with a straight length of pipe, and replacing the flanges at either end with v bands.

this way I can easily make up a silencer that can slot in instead of the straight pipe, with no need for gaskets etc, so if i get black flagged for noise at a track day I can quick and easy fit a silencer to quieten it down.

 

[Shadowraven]

Iv the mazdaspeed mounts and there is a noticeable increase in engine vibration, it's only done 100 miles or so so they might still be breaking in. Swapping them is a piece of cake.

I'd strongly recommend the bofi 80a diff bushes over void fillers though, they are very good, a noticeable improvement and no extra NVH.

 

[B_hawk111]

Iv the mazdaspeed mounts and there is a noticeable increase in engine vibration, it's only done 100 miles or so so they might still be breaking in. Swapping them is a piece of cake.

I'd strongly recommend the bofi 80a diff bushes over void fillers though, they are very good, a noticeable improvement and no extra NVH.

Oo and cheaper!
How much of a pain are they to fit though? Don't really want to mess about removing the diffwas hoping to get the void fillers in place by just dropping the diff slightly, I hate changing bushes 😂

 

[Shadowraven]

Iv pulled diffs a good number of times now, I think the space required to fit void fillers would mean you'd basically have to pull it anyway. It'd likely at least need the axles pulled out of the diff to get low enough which tbh is the hardest part. If you can get someone to help you it shouldn't be too bad, doing it alone is tricky as you need to lower and keep it level/balanced at the same time. Putting it back in is actually pretty easy. Getting the bushes out has a knack to it, but it's really not that hard, you need to hammer the split metal ring in on itself at the split point to relieve the tension holding it in the diff and then they knock out easily. The bofi bushes are super easy to fit, lube them up a touch and you can press them in by hand (with some effort) or they just tap in easily with a mallet.

 

[Jake_W]

After 4 years ive just stumbled back across the forum, updated my old thread for the first time in 4 years, and straight after, found yours! Crazy man 😅
Never seen exactly how much work you've done on this mate! Amazing to see the progress!

I'm also needing Diff bushes, MOT next week and really worried it'll fail on them! Have you decided what ones your going for yet?

 

[B_hawk111]

After 4 years ive just stumbled back across the forum, updated my old thread for the first time in 4 years, and straight after, found yours! Crazy man 😅
Never seen exactly how much work you've done on this mate! Amazing to see the progress!

I'm also needing Diff bushes, MOT next week and really worried it'll fail on them! Have you decided what ones your going for yet?

Ha! I didn't know you were on here either!!

Yeah it's had some major changes since I've owned it!
Daily driver to weekend car to now a track car 😂

Diff bushes I've bought the bofi poly ones fitting them tomorrow fingers crossed!

Then I'll update this again as plenty has happened!

 

[B_hawk111]

So update time!

during the last week and over the weekend I smashed my way through loads of jobs, which im very pleased about as my first trackday looms!

first job was fitting the new duraflex engine mounts, I went for the 80a middle ones so hopefully not too ratttly!
the old ones still looked pretty good, but they did move quite a bit which meant the supercharger kept hitting the bonnet!

I had a bit of trouble with the red and blue an fittings that came with my oil cooler kit, they tended to be a bit stiff to tighten, and then unfortunatley wouldnt tighten correctly and ended up leaking!

I ended up biting the bullet and replacing them with better quality connectors from Torques on ebay, which seem excellent.

it also meant I could re do the pipe runs and get it all a bit neater and more out of the way of any moving parts.

20220322_204729 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220322_204724 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220322_204715 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220322_193912 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220322_193549 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220322_193546 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

so that is all done, and tested at engine cranking up to pressure with no leaks, so fingers crossed that is all good!

also good times for checking for pressure with just engine cranking, as I had got the lines around the wrong way going into the filter and apparently they are directional so I had no flow or pressure! ]
swapped them around and all good!

so while I as waiting for connectors I cracked on with the exhaust.

Ive cut off my dodgy welded flexi, and got rid of the old official decat pipe.

then welded up a couple of angles onto the manifold, and added a 500mm straight section on V bands.

20220322_075230 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr


20220322_081005 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

then shot blasted the old ceramic coat off the manifold...

20220323_082026 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

then laid on some fresh gold cermamic coat

20220323_174629 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220327_165748 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220327_180606 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

much better, and hopefully now much less leaky!

 

[B_hawk111]

so whilst the exhaust was out and everything was easier to access, out came the diff!

20220325_205830 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

and following Shadowraven's advice, out came the rubber bushes!

20220327_112026 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

I used a hammer and punch to fold the metal sleeve in as much as I could, and then once its fully folded, I heated it up with a blow torch and punched it out from the other side.

20220327_112026 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

took about 10 minutes per bush to remove them.

then about 2 minutes per bush to refit the Bofi poly ones!

20220327_113923 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

so far the most noticeable difference is that when jacking the car up using the diff, it now doesn't move at all before lifting the car, before it used to lift by a good inch before starting to lift the car up so they are definitely stiffer!

then again whilst everything was out under the car, I replaced the fuel filter and both rubber lines

20220327_122214 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr


20220327_121632 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

so now all I need to replace is the feed and return line from the tank to the hardlines in the cabin, and the in tank line & sock filter and the fuel system is all refreshed!

and finally I've refitted the intake, HT leads, vacuum lines and wiring, along with fresh fuel lines in the engine bay.

also good to put all the bits back on the intake, as I was apparently missing 3

and then on the other side the TDR manifold blanket and then the supercharger!

20220327_180558 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

next on the list is to get a new adaptor made up to replace the pre charger throttle body, so I can just mount the filter straight on there which should be easy enough, then also means I can take the throttle body and cable with me in case it fails a noise test on the supercharger!

and then the new tensioner plate with the auto tensioner!

again for the first track day I shall probably take the old tensioner plate and power steering pump, just in case it doesn't work as I can no longer test it out on the road first! and then just re assemble the last bits of it, and if I have time swap out a few more bits in the cabin to save more weight.

 

[B_hawk111]

Few more little bits happening!

Removing the pre charger throttle body, but want the ability to re fit it, again if it fails a noise reading at track!

So here we go!

20220330_202940 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220330_203733 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Bit of 2mm plate, with a 64mm hole drilled in it!

It!

Then I realised all my batteries where dead 😔

20220330_203821 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

But then remembered the impact driver battery which still had a bit left in it!

20220330_211036 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Managed to drill the 4 bolt holes, then cut the rest out with a hacksaw rather than the grinder!

Then added a bit of left over 63mm pipe from my BMW exhaust and ready to weld it up!

20220330_211615 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

And then finished off the rest of the fuel lines!

Pulled the hanger out of the tank and replaced the in tank pipe with a fresh bit, totally worth buying half a metre of pipe for 2 inches 😂

20220401_142824 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220401_142830 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

And the last two pipes going into the the tank!

20220401_143900 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

I was also shocked but the inside of the tank is absolutely spotless! I was a little worried but it is perfect in there! Only one shit photo of that as I was starting to get light headed with the petrol fumes 😂

VideoCapture_20220402-225941 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

So it's now full of fuel again and almost ready to start! This week's plan is to get the tensioner plate done!

13 days till the track day!

 

[B_hawk111]

Sort of had a day off today after getting home from work at 0530 this morning 😂
So a few hours sleep and off to screw fix to buy a Pillar drill!!

Finally getting on with the belt tensioner system!

Started out with my nice sheet of, 6mm steel I bought abour a month ago! It's the same thickness as the old tensioner so in theory all the pulleys should line up!

20220406_143117 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Drilled the first two mounting holes, turns out the two mounts for the power steering pump are perfectly in line with the bottom pulley so the belts should run nicely over them!

20220406_144407 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

 

[B_hawk111]

So my original plan was to fit the old left hand idler pulley back where it was before, then fit a 4 rib pulley where the PAS used to be, and then the auto tensioner would take the place of the other top pulley.

This didn't fit unfortunately, but I'm quite pleased with what I came up with.

I fitted the second idler pulley at the top to give the maximum wrap possible around the supercharger pulley
20220406_153209 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Then the 4 rib pulley underneth that

20220406_154950 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

And finally the auto tensioner under that!

20220406_160607 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

This seems to give the best wrap around the supercharger pulley, and also a good amount of tension applied by the auto tensioner!

Finally knocked up a bottom brace to brace back to the engine

And marked it up for cutting the corners off.

20220406_205249 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

I also put in an extra bolt hole to tie it into the supercharger too so nothing should be able to flex!

I fired the car up this evening and it all ran as expected which was good! Except a high idle which I realise was down to me forgetting to plug back in a vac line! But the belt didn't throw itself straight off so hopefully I've got it all about right!

And it uses the same 4pk 1230 belt I used to use, so I can keep all the spares.

But i did drill the plate with some extra holes to allow the tmauto tensioner to pivot slightly, which should allow it to run slightly longer belts if it is all I can find!

 

[B_hawk111]

Got the tensioner plate trimmed this morning, managed to drill one big hole in it for weight saving, but didn't have time or the energy to drill the second one so that will get done next time!

And all finished in the finest of satin Black 👌

20220407_122831 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

So I'm now just waiting on stainless nuts jolts and washers and that will all go together and back on the car!

I'm the mean time I've bolted up the filter adaptor onto the supercharger charger and plumbed in the last of the lines for all of that!.

20220407_201331 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220407_202457 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

And in a bit more boring news, I've ordered some wheel straps to strap the mx5 to a trailer next week!

The one I was hoping to borrow isn't available so hopefully going to make do with one from work and some try and make some ramps to get it on and off!

Photos of that incoming!

 

[B_hawk111]

I will have an update soon when I get a chance to sit down at the PC and get it all sorted! but trackday went really well! had a great day, except for the end where I slid it over a kerb into 2 marker posts at 90mph!!

 

[B_hawk111]

so yes! got the rest of the engine bay put back together! the belt tensioner works perfectly, I have never had a very good experience with gates belts, but It was the only belt I could get in time for the trackday and it was fine all day, no slips or squeaks at all!

20220415_143928 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220415_143918 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

Then last bits of track prep that I had time for was to strip out the electric windows and fit the manual mechs I bought a good few months back!

luckily they worked perfectly after cleaning out all the old grease, and gave the very bottom of the windows a clean while they were out

20220409_163733 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220409_162109 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

oh and quickly spun the V band clamp around so the bolt wasn't facing straight down making it the lowest point of the car

20220409_174950 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

and finally got my lazers out...

20220409_130445 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

to fit the sunstrip!
20220409_203502 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

20220409_204018 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

so all very excited came round to trying to get the mx5 on one of the work trailers as my friend was using his proper car trailer the same time I needed to borrow it

20220410_161233 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

made some ramps out of some scaffolding decks and some plywood, and had toi jack the trailer right up to get the angle shallow enough to not let the mx5 scrape

but It went on! and the e39 towed it like a champ, and even averaged 28 mpg doing it so did work out cheaper than driving the mx5 if it was on the road!

20220413_204146 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

DAMN TAILGATERS!!

20220410_144412 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

and then came the trackday!

the mx5 was pretty much faultless all day! dripped a tiny bit of oil from the filter relocation, but not enough to worry about, and it took a bit of gettign used to the manual steering rack, but it worked nicely

BAV_0881 (352) by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

BAV_0881 (604) by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

definitely making sure I was using all the track here!!

BAV_0881 (333) by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

and then on my final session out, I came in a little too hot to a corner, ended up sliding out at around 90mph, almost held it on the track, but then went across the kerbs and collected two marker posts on my way over!

20220414_160016 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

bit of a scuff on the side, few marks on the front bumper, paint on the splitter has cracked and the wheel caught the front arch and pulled the lip down!

but all the scuffs and marks polished out, the lip doesn't really matter, just glad I hadn't fitted a larger one like I was planning otherwise that would have been in peices! and the arch knocked back into shape with a little hammer!!

20220415_143957 by Ben Hawkes, on Flickr

so now its all tucked back up in the garage ready for the next trackday, which I think might be blyton in july!

and there is of course video of the entire day! but now the new gopro is shooting in 4k, I need to wait for a new computer before I can edit it properly!

if any of you really fancy it ill stick down a link for the crash and a lap that I stuck on tik tok

 

[B_hawk111]

TikTok - Make Your Day

TikTok - trends start here. On a device or on the web, viewers can watch and discover millions of personalized short videos. Download the app to get started.

vm.tiktok.com

 

[Shadowraven]

TikTok - Make Your Day

TikTok - trends start here. On a device or on the web, viewers can watch and discover millions of personalized short videos. Download the app to get started.

vm.tiktok.com

I had a brown pants moment just watching that, looks like you nearly tipped over!