Mr Poo the MunteR2

Started by AdamR28, August 23, 2020, 11:02

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Joesson

It may also succumb to drilling out which may be a less hazardous procedure than dissecting the heat shield. Advantage would be that you would retain the heat shield for your garage shelf. As you said you will be replacing the manifold so the threaded section does not have to be removed at this time.

Joesson

I am aware that Mr Smith is popular but maybe still worth a telephone call.

AdamR28

Thanks guys. Grinder it is. Can't be arsed with drilling when there is a more destructive method which will do the same job  :))


Anyway, after a couple of hours on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Poo now looks like this:

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Quite a sorry state all round, sadly, with some pretty big fluid leaks that have clearly been there a while. Perhaps not as much rust as some of the MX5s I have played with in the past, but being nearly 15 years younger I hoped it wouldn't be quite so crusty.

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Power steering lines are rotted through and weeping fluid.

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Clear evidence of the front end prang.

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Tensioner O-ring definitely needs doing (arrived today, thank you @Carolyn !)

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Engine oil was absolutely grim, thick, gloopy and stinky. Seller told me he had it serviced in October. Methinks not...

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Aux belt tensioner pulley was knackered, and had a really weird bolt holding it on which I didn't have anything that would grip the head properly - apart from Mr Lathe!

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Luckily my hoarding instincts came in handy and I found a normal bolt.

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Shifter bushes were sloppy, so changed for 608 sealed cartridge bearings. These are a direct fit, 22mm OD, 8mm bore, just squeeze in with a set of mole grips. If anyone wants a pair of these at no cost let me know, have tons kicking about.

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In positive news, the gearbox oil is pretty fresh from when the replacement gearbox was fitted a few years back. Bizarrely though, there was a hiss when I undid the fill plug, yet the breather appears to be working just fine. Any ideas there?

Also fairly sure the car has a shirt shift kit fitted, the gear lever itself appears to be bent / curved, and it if's not a short shift then it is the shortest OE shift I've ever come across!



I have a relatively free weekend coming up, so plan to get stuck in and perhaps have it back on the road again for Sunday.

The to-do list stands at:

- Swap tyres over (the two current fronts will go on the rear, then two new tyres to go up front)

- Fit bonnet pins (if I can find anywhere to locate them in that awful mess of a front end)

- Remove PAS ('properly' - will pull the rack apart and remove the internal piston)

- Refill engine oil (have left the bottle on the drivers seat so I don't forget!)

- Swap manifold (the 'Three Amigos' came out really easily somehow - perhaps my special brew of 50:50 mix of acetone and ATF in a spray bottle, which always works brilliantly, was the key)

- Alignment (at this point we will see just how much of a dog the car is!)

- If the silencer I bought today arrives in time, cobble together a less muted cat back exhaust. Figured out I can just chop up the standard one, there's three 90 degree bends in there I can re-use, rather than shelling out 50 notes for new stainless elbows.

- Bleed / flush the clutch. My word that fluid is grim. Pretty sure its never been changed.

- Quick bleed of the brakes because they feel pretty naff.

- Cross my fingers that the other aux belt pulley I ordered arrives, fit that if it does.

- Sort the pedal setup, moving throttle pedal closer to the brake and closer to the bulkhead.


I think that's all for now... but as they say, jobs make jobs!

thetyrant

Wow even more to do that I thought!

I noticed a hiss when I undid filler plug on my gearbox as well, which I thought odd but couldn't see a reason for it.
Ex-2005 roadster  owner, i will be back :D

bigfootisblurry

Looks a lot of work involved there but hopefully worth it.

Plus, nothing can be as crusty as your average MX5 these days.

Roj

Good work! You'll have plenty satisfaction with the end result.

RE: the shifter - the standard shift lever/shaft is curved/bent, where the short shift kits have a straight lever/shaft.

Will be interested to hear how you find the bearings in the linkage. I'm going to do a back-to-back with bearings and poly bushes to see if there's any difference. Decent SKF or FAG sealed bearings only cost a few quid compared to £30+ for PU bushes, so it'll be interesting to see how they both feel.

On the clutch fluid - I haven't done it myself on one of these yet, but it seems to be imperative to have the car level if you're not using a vacuum pump, and don't let the reservoir run dry (which seems obvious but loads have fallen foul of it!).

AdamR28

#31
Thanks for the info! Looks like it's a standard shifter then. Can't imagine why you'd want shorter than this, there is almost a borderline lack of feel as it is.

The bearings have made a huge difference over standard, enough that I won't play with it any more. There is now much less slop at this point of the linkage than elsewhere, so that'll do me.

Removed the PAS and sorted the bonnet pins this morning, then have been on a roadtrip with a mate for him to pick this up...

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Seems to have been an absolute bargain, very much the opposite of my recent purchasing experience!

Maurici also has my old tyre machine, so that helped get the Ditchfinder Pros find their new home.

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Carolyn

Quote from: Roj on August 28, 2020, 16:24Good work! You'll have plenty satisfaction with the end result.

RE: the shifter - the standard shift lever/shaft is curved/bent, where the short shift kits have a straight lever/shaft.

Will be interested to hear how you find the bearings in the linkage. I'm going to do a back-to-back with bearings and poly bushes to see if there's any difference. Decent SKF or FAG sealed bearings only cost a few quid compared to £30+ for PU bushes, so it'll be interesting to see how they both feel.

On the clutch fluid - I haven't done it myself on one of these yet, but it seems to be imperative to have the car level if you're not using a vacuum pump, and don't let the reservoir run dry (which seems obvious but loads have fallen foul of it!).

The genuine TRD short shifter has bends in it. I know'cos I've got one.
If you're lacking a bit of feel, may I suggest spray-lubing the external mechanisms on the gearbox?
Perry Byrnes Memorial Award 2016, 2018.  Love this club. 
https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?topic=63866.0

AdamR28

Ah-ha, well maybe I'll whip the knob off to check it out sometime. Thanks!

Perhaps feel was the wrong word to use... its a nice action, smooth, tight; just right on the edge of too short to feel what the gearbox is doing, if that makes sense.

Topdownman

The standard shift lever is 19cm from the top of the side pivot to the top of the shaft.

People have also moved the pivot point by about 15mm using brute force to create their own quick shift kit.
"Racing" tax disc holder (binned), Poundland air freshener, (ran out), Annoying cylinder deficiency,  (sorted),
Winner of the Numb bum award 2017
Readers Ride

06 not V6 readers ride

AdamR28

Thanks! Had mine apart but forgot to measure, d'oh. Looks like it might be standard though.

Have ordered an extension to lift the knob up, for £7 it wasn't worth the lathe time!

Total spend now: £399

Ticked a load of jobs off this morning, now time for alignment (well, front and rear tracking, as nothing else is adjustable) and pedal setup, before a drive later. I may well get some camber bolts or tweak the camber in some other way if it needs adjustment and / or more camber.


Clutch fluid. Mmmmmm. Did the brakes too, one caliper had loads of air.

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Mr Angry Grinder sprinkled some of his magic dust in the engine bay, then the manifold was free (and bloody heavy)!

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Bleeding brakes and clutch with the aid of my leg extension. I always put the car on the lift the 'wrong' way!

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Shifter setup. Looks standard? Greased all the joints and took out those stupid rubber bobbins.

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Handbrake was having a hard time returning and couldn't be bothered to change the cable right now, so an MX5 handbrake return spring sprung into action to assist.

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Brilliant little set of tools from Teng, recommend everyone has one for fiddly jobs. Made removal of the centre console a breeze (without removing seats).

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Wheels balanced. The bubble balancer looks pikey, but I have seen them in the pits at an F3 race, and I've never had a wobbly wheel even well into 3 figure speeds (another car, on track).

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Pikey front strut brace knocked up, interior crap removed.

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Car back together now and back on wheels ready for alignment.

Lunch time!

Topdownman

Shifter looks standard to me. Making good progress!
"Racing" tax disc holder (binned), Poundland air freshener, (ran out), Annoying cylinder deficiency,  (sorted),
Winner of the Numb bum award 2017
Readers Ride

06 not V6 readers ride

AdamR28

#37
Good to know - thanks!

Car is ready for a spin this evening...

Chucked her on the platforms, and checked the weight:

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Quite surprised at how light it is - this is with about 2/3rds of a tank (25kg) fuel on board:

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Then plonked my weight in the drivers seat (imperative for doing a proper alignment) - 3 bags of sand from B&Q is bang on my weight of 73kg.

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Which gave this... corner weights really quite close for a completely standard suspension setup. The cross within 0.5% is said to be a good target for setting up race cars (I would normally go to within 0.2%), so definitely happy with that!

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Toe done with a TrackAce laser tool - great bit of kit, especially for the cash. A little bit iterative and slower than a Hunter system, but gives perfect results with good care.

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Cambers and rear thrust measured & set up with my home made tool. Before above, after below. Had a faff around a lot to get any negative camber at the rear left. Perhaps some funny business going on there, I dunno. Looks like I will have to knock up some new longer / adjustable bottom arms if I'm going to get anywhere near enough camber to stop the car munching tyres on track.

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Now have two 205/50R15 tyres going spare if anyone needs them. A matching pair, about 5mm tread, date stamped 2018 from memory. Free to a good home!

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New back box arrived just as I was finishing up, so that's a job for another day...


Time for a drive  8)

AdamR28

#38
Well. Mr Poo is getting less poo. The tweaks have all been in the right direction.

The exhaust was bugging me though. Such a flat and uninspiring sound. DPD man accidentally delivered the back box today, so with little else to do tonight I though I might as well get stuck in...

Old back box off. Crikey its a big un! Mr Grinder sprinkled his magic dust again, so the bends fell off.

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No wonder it sounded crap, there's a baffle directly at the inlet. I'm sure this improves low end grunt but... nah. Not for me.

Note light grey dusty powder. I'm assuming this is bits of broken down cat...

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A couple of hours later... voila. Not pretty by any means, but definitely lighter!

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Had to chop the bumper a bit. I'll tidy this up when it's not an unholy hour!

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Sounds tons better - pretty much as quiet as normal at low throttle / cruising, yet quite raspy when the engine is working hard - and I'm sure it flows more freely up the rev range...

AdamR28

Cheeky little 2nd gear pull. Much better!


bigfootisblurry

Who makes the back box?

AdamR28

#41
Every Exhaust Part: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-x-16-Weld-On-Stainless-Steel-Silencer-Exhaust-Box-Body-2-50mm-Bore/351568796766?pageci=174af29a-aa7c-438e-a053-e729d03e9837

Just totted up some weights from here: https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?topic=12479.0

Seems I've taken about 30kg out, plus whatever the difference in tyre weight is, so the standard car was about 970kg without fuel. Impressive.

AdamR28

#42
Got a good few miles in today. Further impressions...

- The exhaust has got louder. Borderline chavvy, which isn't good. Have to see how that goes, might need to pop a small extra silencer in, think there's room between the current back box and the tailpipe.

- The dynamics of the car are excellent, but I can see how 'my first RWD' drivers run into issues. The weight at the back is noticeable and you have to know how to control its transfer to work for you, rather than against you.

- I really like the standard suspension setup, its firm enough to give good feedback but not awful and crashy like a lot of 'sports' cars. Blasting B roads is a dream thanks to a sensible ride height. Overall I think the best way to describe it is like a cross between my Elise and F430; which I guess it is in a lot of respects... apart from the obvious reduced worry of a hedge / pothole / stray sheep ruining the experience!

- There's grip for days even on the undersized (and Chinese crap) tyres, especially following confident prod of the throttle on corner exits. Kept getting ready to catch a slide, but nope... it does rotate nicely on the brakes however. Can't wait to get it on track.

- Staggered by the fuel economy, a hair under 30mpg over a full tank of mixed driving, obviously a fair bit of that 'exploring the performance' as always happens when you get a new car. Previous MX5s haven't got close to that.

- Still a bit unsure about the PAS delete, steering feels a tiny bit heavy on tight, slow corners. Will try a little more front camber before deciding for certain what to do.

- Scuttle shake & shimmy is still present. Needs under body bracing? Or will I not get rid of this without a hardtop?

- The front generates quite a lot of lift at higher speeds; maybe needs an undertray, splitter, or both.

- Ordered a sticker. Now spent £401.

thetyrant

I did wonder how you would find silencer, I had their extra quiet version and while it was okay at higher revs it was too loud for me at lower revs pottering about etc.

2 silencers I think are needed unless you turbo it which also quiets things :)

Light front end can be sorted by lowering, I found same before I fitted tein springs, better still when I added koni dampers.

Keep up the good work :)
Ex-2005 roadster  owner, i will be back :D

AdamR28

#44
Cheers Ian! I won't be lowering the car so I'll have to find another way...

Woke up early and thought I might as well make use of the quiet roads, so did a ~100 mile loop taking in some top local B roads before getting back to the workshop for 8.

Edit: not sure what's happened to this photo...!?

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The exhaust is absolutely fine with the roof on, and I've got used to it with the roof down now too. Over about 10% throttle it starts to make significant noises, but pottering it is quiet enough.

Fitted a switch to the dash to turn the ABS off on the fly (trackday use) - just breaks one of the wires to the front right sensor - and now have a bent paperclip jumper in the ashtray to turn the light off afterwards with (jump two pins in the OBD plug, ignition on, pump brake pedal to activate brake lights 8 times within 5 seconds, ignition off, jumper out, good to go).

Also (nearly) sorted the pedal setup. @JB21 here's some pics / info for you.

I've bent the throttle pedal about half an inch to the left already, but the brake pedal was too low relatively. I looked at adjusting it by the clevis but resetting the brake light switch appears to be a pain, so went this route instead...

Ripped the crappy OE rubber thingy off. Those 4 holes came in handy after being drilled out to 5mm.

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90 degree drill attachment is a worthwhile tool to have!

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Transferred the hole pattern to a piece of paper using a centre punch...

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New brake pedal with holes countersunk, ready to accept bolts and spacers (these need to be about 10mm longer having just driven the car again).

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Fitted.

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And skateboard griptape added.

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Brake pedal sits about 40mm higher than the throttle at the moment. The brakes feel a bit mushy though, but not sure if that's due to an over-eager servo and they are all like that, or something is up with the brake system (car stops well!) - you can obviously play with the pedal height by changing spacers though.

thetyrant

Nice work on the brake pedal think i will do the same wider middle pedal and start without spacers first, my pedal is pretty solid and feels about right height wise when braking but need to look at that more,  its just too far away from throttle for me to get my foot across to blip it on downshifts comfortably, i can do it but have to really work at it and with such aggressive pads in i need it to be easy and smooth.


Ex-2005 roadster  owner, i will be back :D

AdamR28

Cheers - it's a bit of a 'formulaic' mod for me now, do the same thing on all cars as it just feels so much better, especially for left foot braking.

Sounds like you would benefit too, though try just bending the throttle pedal across a bit first (just give it a yank, by hand), that might do it!

Jamtastic

Quote from: AdamR28 on August 30, 2020, 21:59Got a good few miles in today. Further impressions...

- The exhaust has got louder. Borderline chavvy, which isn't good. Have to see how that goes, might need to pop a small extra silencer in, think there's room between the current back box and the tailpipe.

- The dynamics of the car are excellent, but I can see how 'my first RWD' drivers run into issues. The weight at the back is noticeable and you have to know how to control its transfer to work for you, rather than against you.

- I really like the standard suspension setup, its firm enough to give good feedback but not awful and crashy like a lot of 'sports' cars. Blasting B roads is a dream thanks to a sensible ride height. Overall I think the best way to describe it is like a cross between my Elise and F430; which I guess it is in a lot of respects... apart from the obvious reduced worry of a hedge / pothole / stray sheep ruining the experience!

- There's grip for days even on the undersized (and Chinese crap) tyres, especially following confident prod of the throttle on corner exits. Kept getting ready to catch a slide, but nope... it does rotate nicely on the brakes however. Can't wait to get it on track.

- Staggered by the fuel economy, a hair under 30mpg over a full tank of mixed driving, obviously a fair bit of that 'exploring the performance' as always happens when you get a new car. Previous MX5s haven't got close to that.

- Still a bit unsure about the PAS delete, steering feels a tiny bit heavy on tight, slow corners. Will try a little more front camber before deciding for certain what to do.

- Scuttle shake & shimmy is still present. Needs under body bracing? Or will I not get rid of this without a hardtop?

- The front generates quite a lot of lift at higher speeds; maybe needs an undertray, splitter, or both.

- Ordered a sticker. Now spent £401.

Hi Adam

Glad to see it wasn't a total bag of nails in the end and your getting some enjoyment back.
I agree with what you say, it's such a communicative car. Amazing steering response and grip but still enough room to wag its finger at you if push it slightly too much.
Best compliment was when I drove a 430 on a track day experience, the instructor asked what car I drove, looked slightly surprised and said I'll be used to the handling then!
I run a hardtop at times, no difference unless it was permanently bolted on(Rogue Motorsport brackets?). As well testified on here underbody bracing definitely the way forward.

AdamR28

Thanks Jam - and for the bracing info. I've been having a nosey at various offerings today and I'm sure I'll get something knocked up in the coming weeks. May not end up pretty but it will be functional!

Have booked onto Oulton Park for 14th November, likely will give Mr Poo a run out as Xmas is a very busy time at work so a low-stress day (no trailer and associated hassle) will be just the job.

Jamtastic

Quote from: AdamR28 on September  1, 2020, 19:56Thanks Jam - and for the bracing info. I've been having a nosey at various offerings today and I'm sure I'll get something knocked up in the coming weeks. May not end up pretty but it will be functional!

Have booked onto Oulton Park for 14th November, likely will give Mr Poo a run out as Xmas is a very busy time at work so a low-stress day (no trailer and associated hassle) will be just the job.

No worries pal.

I can talk a lot about not pretty but functional...

Hope it's a dry day at Oulton and you get to give it full sticks.

How are you getting on with the front end? Seen a lot of bodge tape in the pictures.

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