That's all looking neat and tidy John...:)
Are you still planning to route your air inlet to a cooler part of the car as I see it's near the exhaust manifold at the moment.

That's really useful as I was wondering how to do it. eBay later I think!

No problem David! I'm actually very glad you mentioned it, as I had originally planned to just vent that top outlet to atmosphere, which probably would have been a disaster :rolleyes:

Tidy :confused: Not sure who's build you're looking at Johno! :)

I will route some cooler air into the airbox at some point, either from the nose cone, or possibly a vent on the side of the body.
Either way it's right down at the bottom of my list of things to do, as I don't think sucking in warm air is an IVA fail!

Skov

I have just been limiting the lock on my rack an decided to follow your idea. I am finding though that the lock stop seems to be the jubilee clip and not the tube. In your photo album you have a photo of some metal looking items made by Perrin. have you used these? If so where did you purchase them and did they work?

Thanks

David

Hi David,

No, I didn't use the Perrin ones. Can't even remember what they were for, or why I saved the picture of them now!

I'm still using plastic tube with jubilee clips. I think I may have cut them down so they're no wider than the jubilee clip since the pics were taken, so my clips are probably effectively the stop too.
I don't think there's a massive problem with that.

That's my rear wings, rear lights, and fuel filler in place:



Starting to see the end in signt now :D

Good progress John.....I was wondering where you had gone:)

Looking good John. Like the cover. Almost motivated to go in the garage!!:cool: Have you done a video of it moving recently? I think that might do it for me! :lol:

Don't worry Kev, I'm still here :D
I've been beavering away in the garage, but mostly been doing odd little jobs that aren't worth boring anybody with!

Sorry Chris, I don't have any more videos of it moving.
It may or may not have been driven further than the end of my drive, but the event if it did or didn't happen was not recorded to protect the innocent and/or guilty ;)

That looks like a very nearly finished car you have there skov:cool:

Bob

looks great john! :)

Think you might be right there Bob :D
It's felt like I haven't made much progress lately, but I kind of stepped back and took a look yesterday, and thought bloomin ell, that's not far off being finished!

Still got a massive list of jobs to do, but I'm hopefull it'll be on the road in the next 6 months :cool:

Thanks Stew. Haven't seen any updates from you for ages, are you still building?

not done anything since march, :mad: but ive got rose joints ordered, so need to get some free time and get these wishbones done. :)

last thing i did was put on bonnet latches and look at replacing the top steerin bearing . that was september i think

Well I've done bu99er all on the build for the last few weeks :rolleyes:
Actually got out in the garage briefly tonight and had a mini break through though.
Haven't been able to start the car for a while now... it'd turn a couple of times, then bog down and stop.
Thought my new battery must have been knackered before I'd even finished the build, and wasn't pleased! Charged it over and over again and it made no difference.
Anyway, had a bit of a play tonight and started pulling connectors out.
Found out it'd crank without bogging down if I had the injectors or ignition coil unplugged, which had me puzzled.
Then had a bit of a brainwave and swapped the spark plug leads over, and it burst into life :D
After a bit more digging it turns out that when I shortened the loom I'd swapped two wires over that went to the ignitor module, and it had been firing all my cylinders out of phase!
Fixed the wiring error, swapped the plug leads over and it's running again.
The enthusiasms flooding back now :D

Hopefully get back on the build properly once xmas is out of the way... Hope you all have a merry one by the way!

The progress you've made, you can afford the well deserved break! ;)

Have a good christmas too!

Engine Age
 

Hi,

hope you had a good xmas and haven't fallen off your unicycle too much.

A few months ago we talked about getting proof of the age of your engine to avoid having to fit a cat. After a bit of trawling I found this on the westfield ownver site.....

Mazda Engines:

Call Mazda UK on 08457 484848 and ask to speek to the Homologations Manager.

Give him the engine number and then he'll take down a few personal details and ask you to write in with a cheque for £35 (prices correct in 2008)

Send the payment to:
Mazda Motors UK Limited
Anchor Boulevard
Dartford
Kent
DA2 6QH

Then a couple of weeks later you'll get a letter back confirming the engine number and it's manufacture date. If the donor was an import (Eunos/Miata etc) there may be a slightly longer delay as they need to contact Japan to get the necessary details for the car.

I haven't done this yet but it could save having to put an awfull cat on!

Cheers

David

Had a great xmas thanks David, hope you did too!
My legs and ankles are covered in cuts and bruises from falling off the unicycle, but I'm determined to learn how to ride it. It's on my things-to-do-before-I-die list right below build my own car :D

Thanks for the info, I'll give that a try in the new year, really don't want to have to put a cat on it!

So first she buys you a unicyle and then she starts to throw sharp objects at you while you try to master the thing. MMMMMMMMMMMM there might be a message in there somewhere,:)

Bob

Happy new year all!

Today's the two year anniversary of me making the mistake of clicking the buy-it-now button on the book...

Doesn't look like I'm going to quite meet my original target of building it in two years, but I'm fairly confident I'll have it on the road before this year is over!

Got a call from work today to say there's a freshly powder coated roll bar sitting in my cubicle :D
Almost wish I'd gone in today now, it's going to be a long weekend!

Just managed to finish my dash off:



I'm not overly happy with it, but I'm bu99ered if I'm going to do it again before IVA. That was my second attempt as it is :rolleyes:

Hoping I've got enough padding for IVA - I used two layers of camping mat, a layer of scrim foam, and finished it off with vinyl.
On my first attempt I had some pipe insulation foam along the bottom edges too, but I couldn't get the bloody vinyl to follow it, so got peed off and ripped it all off!

I think I'll move the fog and hazard switches below the clocks if I ever do get around to remaking it again too. Only put them behind the steering wheel to keep them in the 'exempt zone' and to make sure they're clearly visable for IVA.

I think it looks really good. I wish I had done a bit more on my build before xmas and I could have been doing stuff like this inside in the warmth rather than going outside and coming straight back in again due to the cold!

I also like the mini clocks.

keep putting load of pics up to motivate us all

I'm not convinced, but thanks anyway David!

Know what you mean about the cold, I've been trying to finish off my wiring recently, but my hands soon get too cold to work!
It's been quite nice being able to make the dash in the comfort of my living room.

If it's pics you want, here's a few of the various things I've been working on, none of which I've managed to finish!

Rear cover Mk2 - already needs a good dusting! Also need the roll bar in place to finish it off:



Wiring in the rear tub:





Engine bay wiring:

Rear wings are now bolted in place. Used rivnuts and big washers, and some tadpole trim between them and the body (you can see that in the rear cover picture).
Also wired up my rear clusters, and almost finished the wiring to the side repeaters which are going to sit on the rear wings.

Nice to see you making progress.

TT

By gum John.....you haven't half been busy the last few months ...are you going to try for a spring summer IVA? cos it certainly looks like you are on target;) I think you are right about the switches they do not look right there, but the dash does not look that bad and I am fussy, why not try a bit of buttoning!.
Nice work bud, keep it up.

The strange thing is it doesn't feel like I've done much at on the build for a while. I suppose I have made a fair bit of progress :confused:

The current plan is indeed to get it on the road by the summer, which I think should be just about possible if I pull my finger out.
My original plan was to complete it in two years, but I'm going to miss that deadline next month :rolleyes:
Two and a half years will do though!

Oh, and another thing I've been working on recently is my roll bar.
Managed to finish it off towards the end of last year and sent it off to the powder coaters a couple of weeks ago.
Got it back home and bolted it in place today :D

Hi John,
She's all coming together now and looking good.:D
The roll bar looks nice and shiny, it's a nice feeling when you bolt on parts that look as good as that....:cool:

Keep up the pace and you'll soon be putting ink on that VOSA form:eek: :eek:

Ah ha, I was bored at lunchtime and filled the IVA form in today as it happens :D
I don't plan to send it off for a while though!

Don't loose it ;)

TT

I won't lose it, not after all the head-scratching and googling trying to figure out what to put on it!!!

On a related note I called Mazda this week to ask for a proof of engine age letter from them for IVA, I've added a post to the MX5 donor thread here:

http://www.haynes.co.uk/forums/showp...9&postcount=42

This evening I have mostly been cutting out and shaping some mesh for my nose cone grill:





Haven't quite decided how to fix it in place yet, I'm tempted to just sikaflex it.


I also decided to give up trying to make my current seats fit and ordered a pair of cub sport L7's from kit parts direct earlier today :rolleyes:

Drill some holes in the corners and hold it in place with cable ties.

David

That's my side repeaters fitted. I went the little round LED ones in the rear wings:




Whilst I was at it I fibre-glassed in a couple of cable-tie bases each side to hold the wires in place:

Got my proof of donor/engine age letter from Mazda today.
Cost of letter: £35
Not needing a CAT: priceless :D

Hi,

Would I be right in thinking you dont need this for a UK model as date first registered on the V5 would be proof the age of the engine?

Cheers
Stot

Hi Stot,

I've done a bit of googling on this, and the answer is I don't know!

From what I can tell it's down to the individual tester whether they will accept the V5 as proof of engine age or not.
Bear in mind that IVA emissions are based on engine age and not donor age, and it's possible that the engine on the V5 may not have been the engine originally installed.

Personally I didn't have much choice because whoever imported my donor didn't put the full engine number on the V5, just the first two characters of it :rolleyes:

Yeah I guess thats unlikely but still a consideration the IVA tester might have. :rolleyes:

Cheers
Stot