Just read through your whole build. Really nice fabrication work and welding! Keep it up - I'm following with interest.

Thanks a lot. Its slow going.

So ive been slowly tipping away doing a few bits and pieces
Mostly stripping and cleaning the hubs with wire brushes in the drill which is a pain
Another kit car builder dropped in last weekend and suggested electrolysis rust removal
This is something i was hoarding stuff for but was too lazy to actually do
so not long after that fella left i got cracking

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

I gave a part 6 hours and it was quiet clean which made me happy

So then i got impatient

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

And started on another bigger one

I also did a bit of filler work on the bonnet

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So i Gave the knuckle 24 hours in the bath
And i have to say i am delighted with the results compared to the effort and time it took with the drill and wire brush

When i took it out of the bath it still had some flakey bits so i gave it a blast with the power hose to remove what was left
Then i dried it and ran over it with the wire brush
and gave it a coat of kurust
Also the process removes all the grease and grime and crap

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

This is what it looked like before

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2 on the go now

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Brilliant - welcome to the club - worked for me as well on loads of rusty bits for my build :)

Wow - I've been toiling away with a parts washer, pressure cleaner and wire brushes! That looks a lot easier.

So ive a serious pain in my face at the moment cleaning and painting and reassembling the engine
Before
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Current
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Im also doing a coil on plug upgrade as i had all the parts i needed so it didnt cost me anything
Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr
Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Some more progress

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Im also going to do some kind of diy coolant reroute
Havnt got it fully figured out yet

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This part fits nicely of the back of the engine like so
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Finally got the engine back together mostly

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Scrubbed up nicely :)

Just read you entire build, great work!!
I’m just starting mine (mx5 just stripped)
Keep up the good work, and posts

So ive got a bit done recently
First i built an spacer for the new rear coolant pipe for the reroute to move it out from the block

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Then i filled in the the hole in the side coolant connector

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Used a 20 cent to stop the epoxy running into it

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Filled with epoxy

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The hole was a feed for the interior heater so is not needed

This is the coolant reservoir That i got
It only has this mounting point so i made a bracket to hold the whole thing

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

I also removed the old mounting points for the heat shield from the manifold and cleaned and painted it

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

I also started on the pedal box

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I also mounted the ecu under the dash

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And made a bracket for the accelerator cable

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And the engine is back in

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Next up was to mount the radiator to the chassis
I was originally going to use a spurious golf rad which was not great looking to be fair then coolex had nice ali rads for a polo for quiet cheap at the national kit car show so i picked one up

I Got two brackets bent up for it to mount it to the chassis

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Clamped in place to check everything lines up

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Checking the fit of the nose cone

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I decided to add two new pieces to the chassis rather than drill through the existing chassis

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Then i started on the piping for the cooling system which i picked some of it up at the kit car show
And some of the rest of the parts came from aliexpress
I picked up the wrong size pipe so i need to get some more 32mm id piping

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Then i started on the wiring which is a whole other can of worms

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Wiring is one of my next big tasks. Are you going to shorten/remove unneeded pieces on the stock harness?

I have most of the unnecessary wiring stripped out now.
The car i stripped had almost every extra electronic thing available so i reckon i have about half of the origional wiring removed
I just needs lots of organising and adjusting.
If your gonna strip the unnecessary wiring make sure you have a good wiring diagram

I've been scrounging to get good copies of the Mazda diagrams, but I think I'm going to spend the time color coding them (the ones I have are all black and white). I also labelled everything as I took it out of the car, so hopefully that will help the process. I am intimidated though!

the wiring diagrams are black and white or the loom is all black and white

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr
Finished the fabricating on the expansion tank bracket

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Bracket for top hose
Cooling system nearly finished i just need a new thermostat and a few jubilee clips

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I had to move the steering wheel a bit closer to the seat
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And i made a supporting bracket for the steering shaft
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And i tacked the steering shaft extension in place

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More wiring
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I got my rear lights they are for a defender
I got all clear ones
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Mounted my maf using some turbo intercooler piping
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Mounted my fan aswell

Chipping away at it ;)

Are the lights 'E' marked?

TT

As well as E marked ensure that the fog light has an f or a b mark as well as mine failed the test on the first visit

Arfon

The wiring loom is color of course, but the diagrams I have are black and white print. They have codes, but not easy to work with...

Been away from the build for a while
Next on the list was too hinge the bonnet at the front
So i made a steel frame for the front of the nose cone which i riveted in place the fibreglassed over to give strength

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Bonnet now in place

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Bonnet in place passenger side gap to scuttle panel

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Drivers side gap
This will not do
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Along came a grinder
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And the i cleaned up a bit
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The codes on each wire are just the colour of the wire
once you get into it its not too bad

Don't think I have seen a flip front on a Haynes, Looks good.

Could the gap not be "Brought together" or pulled in with a fastening?

TT

Being colour blind, a black and white diagram with codes is fine... But trying to suss out the real wires is a pain ;)

I seem to recall 90's peugots amazingly printed the circuit reference on the wire!

TT

I really love the front hinged bonnet, I bought a bonnet that was a second and the return at the edge was poor, so I cut the return off, countersunk holes right along the edge of the bonnet and riveted in an ally rerun then went over the rivet heads with filler sanded back and painted it. No it isn't perfect but it did allow the bonnet to be held closer to the correct shape as I mounted 4 vertical pins from the chassis which then pick up on the ally return.

Arfon

It lives again
https://youtu.be/6oTIjozuTWQ


Im happy out considering since the last time it ran ive changed the timing belt and done a coil on plug conversion plus lots of other wire chopping

There is one coolant leak on the plates i made for the coolant reroute which i just sealed up and maybe i need to get some gaskets to do it properly

I also did some wiring and due to the fact i like my fingers i made this to split the conduit

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Got the side and head lights working aswell

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Untitled by stephen harborne, on Flickr

Cheers
There would of been too much pressure on it and it wouldnt of been right in the end anyway
The nuclear option is what will make me the happiest

This bonnet was supposed to be a second but to be honest it should of went in the bin it has already been cut in 3 before this

Picture kind of reminds me of a cow for some reason..