Had a very productive day on the car yesterday!

With a lot to do before the first trackday of the year at the end of February, I thought I'd give the guys at Hooligan racing a shout to see if they could help with a few things. Naturally the list grew and grew... So I loaded up the car, left warm sunny Kent at 5:45, and drove non stop to Malvern to start "The List":

- Most importantly, brakes. I've suffered with rubbish pedal feel for ages. Rhys has a funky compressor driven bleeder that pulls fluid through. No more air! He also sorted some brake line routing as he wasn't happy with it. Pedal is strong. Handbrake now works too! Bonus 🙂 10/10, small effort, big difference.

- Swap gearbox - I had one with a shorter final drive but no LSD, so some swapping to do. Turns out my old gearbox was past it anyway 😅 Jimmy had that switched over without too much drama. Shorter final drive is mega - car feels much more eager now, but motorways are boring (no change there). 10/10 would recommend a lower top speed.

- Install RoadsterSport oil cooler kit - got this yonks ago but didn't feel confident doing it myself. Took some figuring out, as it's a bit of a puzzle, but it's in, it's working, and I now have more oil capacity, better cooling, and provision for oil pressure and temp gauges in my thermostatic sandwich plate. 10/10 would not recommend doing this. Pay someone else to, just isn't worth it 😂

- Whiteline anti roll bars - pretty straightforward swap, but a drop link died so need to get another. Malvern needs more motor factors. Can't comment on whether the ARBs make much difference as a result, but can report that no front ARB is surprisingly... quite nice in the wet! 10/10 would disconnect in bad weather again.

- Whiteline camber bolts all round - again, pretty straightforward, can now dial in all the camber! 10/10 would recommend joining Camber Gang. Did a quick alignment to get me started, and Rhys gave me lots of tips (that I've already forgotten) on tackling a DIY alignment too. Man officially taught to fish.

- Hardtop solid side mounts - Rogue mounts, as I don't have the soft top frame, sadly don't work with the hardtop trim, ruining my dream of having a GT esque interior. Nothing a dremel won't fix 😈 5/10 wish I had more trim.

- Fresh clutch as the gearbox was out. Was going to do flywheel as well, but I was sent an MX5 one in error. They are good, but not that that good! 😂 10/10 for light clutch pedal. 0/10 to the eBay retailer who sold me the flywheel.

As you can imagine that was a lot to do in a day, but do it they did. Was a fun way to spend a day off! Great value too. The drive home was... long and tiring. I had to stop every other services for a break, but glad I did as I got to hang with an AE86 Sprinter Trueno and an S2000 for a bit.

10/10 would recommend Hooligan Racing as a pleasant retreat for a day off, good chat and banter, lots learned, and a good result for the car too. Bring a Creme Egg for Rhys if you go. Worth the trip for sure.

Now, what next? 😁

Yeh, that was a brilliant productive day, well done.

Bought new droplinks for the front. Really struggled to find a set with nuts on both sides in the UK - guess it's just not a thing, so went for the 21mm RoadNutz ones.
The company that sold me the flywheel has agreed to swap it too, which is decent considering how long ago it was!
And I just watched a video of Max Orido and Tsuchiya changing the fuses on an AE86 and netting 6hp, so guess I'm shopping for fuses now too 😂

The drop links arrived this morning - now that's service! Thanks to Spring Loaded for that! Better pop out to the car and get some stuff done then

Got distracted by other bits so didn't get to the droplinks, but did get a few useful bits done:
- Swapped 02 sensors as one was duff. Hope the replacement is ok, it's my last spare! Reset the ECU by disconnecting the battery.
- Tweaked the mounting for the oil cooler to give it a bit more clearance from the engine mount, and nipped up some screws that weren't tight. Need some spring washers on them really... Next time. Unfortunately one of the mounting screws snapped 😣 so I'll have to drill that out and retap sometime. It's solid enough for now.
- Reconnected a rogue earth cable.
- Found there was no noise suppressor. I don't have a radio, so not the end of the world, but I did have a spare so bunged it on. Can't hurt. Zip tied the evap solenoid to it to secure.
- Tweaked the exhaust tips. Still not sitting perfect. Malian quality 👌🏻 If there was a single exit with a similarly sized silencer, I'd be all ears 👀
- Secured a coolant hose - should be supported by the airbox, but that's gone now. May invest in a plastic welder and fashion a new mount.
- Emptied the car after my trip to Hooligan Racing, hoovered and cleaned the carpet on the passenger side, and put the passenger seat, mat and fire extinguisher back in. Gave the plastics a scrub too.
- coppaslipped a number of screws at the front, when I get a spare few days I'll strip the front end and give it a good brush and a spray. Some crusty looking bits in there. Snapped a rad bracket screw 😣 another one to drill out.
- Went to swap a whole bunch of fuses but most seem to be mini blades, and I had none. So knocked that on the head and ordered a bunch. Need to do an inventory of the J case fuses too, so I can replace them as well.

So lots of little bits, but all needed to be done and all take too much time!

Bedford in a month - will get the droplinks done before then, and hopefully get it on a Hunter too.

Fitted the droplinks today.

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Pretty straightforward, only one on there to remove and that came off without a fight which was nice. Set to full soft to start with.

Also, on the drive home from having the gearbox fitted (amongst other things) I noticed I had very little self centering. I'd rotated the top mounts so adjusting would give me more caster as I increased the camber, with the camber bolts making up the rest. Probably should have started at the top and worked down, but live and learn! So cranked up the caster each side:

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Now a member of camber gang and my toe out looks a little ridiculous, so time to get some string and make a box! That will get me to the alignment place at least.

Removed the wing to clean up the brackets etc. Also couldn't help a look at the Stage 2 bumper I acquired 🥰

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I measured the plinth recess at 343mm wide, and the minimum size for a 5 digit plate is 338mm! It's a sign. Time to transfer my reg 😈

Drove the car to my parents, handling sucked 😂 self centering is no better, time to try something else! I wonder if the the polybushes are adjustable...

On today's episode of "Jobs you wish you hadn't started":

Broken bolt extraction!

I got some Grabit bits - only heard good things about them - and set to it. I used the dremel to take off the top, and then the first end of the Grabit to drill a little hole. Flip the bit down and boy did it grab!

Then it shattered.

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First I tried mole grips to grab the remnants, but they just crumbled. I tried knocking it out. Then I ground it down. Then I tried drilling it - with regular drill bits, then the Grabit bits. I tried grinding some more. I tried every other Dremel bit, some broke, some did nothing, tried a drill, nothing, then they snapped too.

So that's that for now! Closed the bonnet and walked away.

Washed the car today. The I plucked up the courage to tackle a different snapped bolt today. Armed with all the tools, I noticed that the end of the bolt protruded in to the wheel well... so slotted it and used a screwdriver 😂 it came out so easy I can't imagine how on Earth the bolt snapped in the first place. The radiator bracket bolt needs the frunk taking out to get to the other end, so saved that for another day.

Removed the spacers on the rear in prep for a track day while the wheel was off for the extraction.

As I had the dremel out, I thought I'd have a crack at the hardtop trims that no longer fit due to the Rogue brackets. I think I did ok. One side done, will do the other tomorrow. Really need to grab some trim for the door frame...

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As I was washing the naff TRD badge came off so removed the sticky stuff. Looks much better, will remove the vvti badge next. I have an MR-S badge... I may use it...

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Slowly ticking off things on the to do list!

So I was pretty unhappy with how the expansion tank hose was secured in the engine bay, and really the right solution is to re-route the hose so it's travelling around the engine bay rather than across it, but I'll do that when I do the coolant next.

For now I present... Hose hook v1.0! Chopped up an old air box to retrieve the mount that goes through the V brace, and a hook.

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Then glued them together!

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Once that's set I'll pop it on the car

Update: the hook fell off, trying a different glue 😂 Must have been too much man handling for it.

I tried securing it in the hole with a ziptie, but it just wouldn't hold well. But I was prepared for this - you'll notice the hook isn't central, that's so I could drill a hole for a bolt

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Excuse the cut on the rubber hose, was a rush to test it will work - and it does!

Update: v2.0 was a raging success. The wonky cut actually helped straighten everything out, just used it on the hook side. Happy with this.

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Also chopped up the drivers side hardtop plastic today.

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Fairly happy with the nip/tuck. I'll get the brackets coated black at some point so it's less janky. Should probably carpet those sides too, so scrappy!

The Border bucket seat now belongs to me and is in its rightful home in the MR2 again 😁
I am a happy bunny.
Bedford on Saturday... if I get a chance I will be removing the anti squeal shims on the pads to see if that's affecting the pedal feel, and also refitting the wing. Otherwise I think I'm pretty much ready to roll!

Interesting comment about the fuses, is the plan just to replace every fuse with similar new ones?

Quote from: Topdownman on February 22, 2022, 07:55Interesting comment about the fuses, is the plan just to replace every fuse with similar new ones?

Don't seem to be able to get the magic fuses so easily over here, so thought I'd try regular ones for now. Makes sense that they might degrade over time, but at the same time, I don't have replacements for the big ones so it'll only be a half job... figured it can't hurt either way! I expect zero change though 😂

I do remember getting stuck in a friends fully rebuilt, immaculate mk1 golf when it overheated on the way to an early season show in his first use of the car after winter. It turned out to be a bit of corrosion on a fuse for the fan.

Quite embarassing as everyone else going to the show drove past us!

Probably a good idea to pull out and replace every fuse every few years to clean the contacts.

Looking forward to seeing your link to the magic fuses!

Quote from: Topdownman on February 22, 2022, 14:19I do remember getting stuck in a friends fully rebuilt, immaculate mk1 golf when it overheated on the way to an early season show in his first use of the car after winter. It turned out to be a bit of corrosion on a fuse for the fan.

Quite embarassing as everyone else going to the show drove past us!

I have experienced that. We were four in my Imp in the early 60's at the entrance to Brands Hatch, such is the benefit of a light, small car so easy to push when it won't go!
A tool kit then  an essential item of ballast.

Quote from: Joesson on February 22, 2022, 17:43I have experienced that. We were four in my Imp in the early 60's at the entrance to Brands Hatch, such is the benefit of a light, small car so easy to push when it won't go!
A tool kit then  an essential item of ballast.

Not that embarrassing at all! It happens 🤷🏼�♂️ My most embarrassing 'breakdown' was popping a spark plug in the 2CV on a slip road... car suddenly sounded like a machine gun and lost power... upon seeing the plug dangling from the HT lead I grabbed it to pop it back in and burned my hand too 😂 had to sit and let it cool down while waiting for mum to bring the spark plug spanner, fortunately just wound straight back in so given I'd only just changed them, definitely an ID10T error 😬

Quote from: Topdownman on February 22, 2022, 14:19Looking forward to seeing your link to the magic fuses!

Here you go: https://www.rhdjapan.com/max-orido-x-magical-fuse-standard-version-full-kit-a-t-brz-zc6-86-zn6.html

Wow, they are actually sold as magic fuses!

You would have thought they would have sold them individually so people could make their own kit.

Out of curiousity, how much is 60k yen?

£393.40 at yesterday's rate.

Itai!

Quote from: Topdownman on February 24, 2022, 09:47Itai!

Ouch!

Quote from: J88TEO on February 24, 2022, 10:35Ouch!

A bit more than ouch!

Itai-itai disease (イタイイタイ病, itai-itai byō, "it hurts-it hurts disease") was the name given to the mass cadmium poisoning of Toyama Prefecture, Japan, starting around 1912. The term "itai-itai disease" was coined by locals for the severe pains (Japanese: 痛い itai) people with the condition felt in the spine and joints.

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