hi and progress so far

[garyt]

Well yesterday was a lovely sunny day but a new living room unit arriving am grrrr
swmbo is still away but awaiting arrival of said furniture and all ready to oversee installation via Skype
Haha what she can't see are the messages about a wee blast if all is done in time
So unit arrives gets installed and all is good now a quick phone call and I'm off..... mmmmm car needs filling up must have used more than I thought earlier in the week, still it's only petrol the fuel for fun so filled up and blasted the 30 or so miles to Forres met Oli and his mate with a bike(I'm bad with names but I will get there, sorry) and off we go over dava to grantown then over the brig o broon to Tomintoul and the lecht for coffee here we found quite a steady flow of petrol coming from the tank seam..... so that's where all the petrols going !
So rather than waste it dripping the only other possible solution is (thinking hard) burn it off with some spirited driving so a quick con flab of how far I can go a route change and we have a great blast around the hills and home
So around 150 miles of fun and im sat here thinking somethings missing my wscc calender is behind that unit on the wall, not any more it ain't
So today I will see if I can patch repair seal the tank... oh the joys

[garyt]

ok lads n lasses never knock your "old school" dad

it aint a permanent fix he says but after explaining its leaking from the seam not a hole he replies "have you got a bar of soap not tht new hand wash but a proper bar of soap ? "

well yes I said

"go out rub it hard all along the seam, it aint permanent but it will stop the leak, then go get something to patch over it, rub lightly to key it and apply"

so with a bar of soap in hand, I humour him and lo and behold it works !!!!! so now I'm off to see what I can get on a sunday to patch over.

So dad cant remember what he had for tea last night but old school get you home fix from "back in the day, when money was tight" right off the top of his head, wish I had called him yesterday now.

And folks that is why you have to take care of your dad

[garyt]

so sorted for now, rubbed down to key the surrounding surfaces and the covered with epoxy metal, just letting it cure, less painfull than expected and we will see how it goes
should maybe point out here the leak was from part of the seam where the tank had been welded almost like a minute split in the weld so we will see how it holds up

[garyt]

Ok so not my cleverest idea yet but was having withdrawal symptoms so it looked cold and damp but bright so there was a Soup n sweet in the next town over the hills only 15 miles each way so got rhubarb out and off we went climbed out the back of the town heading over the cashmal to be met with gales sleet n a wee dust of snow. Not feeling so clever now eh.
Never has some homemade soup tasted so good so suitably refreshed and the good folks laughing set of home in a shower of hail and roads of slush
Got home and put rhubarb away I was cold damp and very invigorated
Would I rather not of gone or taken the tintop no way Very gentle driving but boy it felt good oh happy days

[garyt]

ok so here are a few of the winter upgrades
a new dash ; not quite that easy, is it ever ... lol the mx5 mk2.5 ecu has to run through the instrument micro computer to run the engine, so on the basis that someone put it together I can take one apart..... so with a spare cluster I started and with some lateral thinking I rebuilt the mx5 electronics into some revamped mgb gauges. I kept the original cluster circuit board mounting it on the rear of the dash board then made some fly leads up to connect to the gauges being satisfied with that lot I then made a ply dash and veneered it with some burr walnut winished with weatherproof / uv resistant sealer
so what to do about the warning lights ....... good old dad said that back in the day triumph stags had a chrome ringed octagonal segmented warning light cluster, so after some research I got one changed the choke warning o fog and off we go. Next switches only one choice here really so toggles it was with some nice brass legends I then taking a lead from dad found a nice old clock from a a ford zephyr so got that it works on a coil discharge unit so it goes "click" then about 5 minutes later does it again mmmm it works fine and keeps good time (had it connected up to a m/c battery for a few days )
so waiting for an ammeter gauge to arrive
BUT
I couldn't resist a wee trial fit with my classic wood rim steering wheel

and the wire wheel conversion

[Ianr]

Brilliant - well done - mine is the Mk 2 MX5 so is very similar - I gave up and put the whole instrument in as it was in the MX5 and whilst it works fine it doesn't look as good as yours :-)

[garyt]

Thanks I had the same a big half moon in the dark so decided a change was in order

[garyout]

Gary



Looking good, what conversion you done to fit the wheels obviously changed the hubs but what are they from? I bet the gauges were a bit fiddly to do good old triumph I have fitted triumph 2000 seat runners in mine


Gary

[garyt]

Haha spoke to a specialist company who said they would do a custom set go over£200 each .... yeah ok not so after a wee bit of research I discovered that mg midget rear hubs are really like an adapter that bolts on to the drum and halfshaft so got a used one to mess with and discovered that when I opened the holes up to wheel stud clearance they fitted so ordered some new hubs at £45 each !!!!! And some steel clench nuts and popped them on got a set of new spinners and a deal on a used set of wheels and then put my khumos on
Yes the dials were a bit fiddly but again a wee bit of lateral thinking and the mx5 dials were a 1/16 to big so a wee trim and the rev counter fitted made some stand offs and fly leads and put it all together the speedo however had the added problem of the odometer, I then discovered that the LCD was a push fit in its holder.... so cut a slot in the dial black out all the warning lights and stuck the LCD in place then 16 wires later And 4 for the speedo ( make a wiring diagram) and I assembled the speedo
The minor gauges were fitted in much the same way
The mx5 circuit board I then fitted corresponding fly leads to the pick up points and fitted this on the back of the dash
Warning lights mmmmmmm good old dad can't tell you what he ate last night but said I needed an octagonal warning light cluster from a triumph stag and it compliments the other gauges
So yes fiddly but have a go if that's what you want

[garyt]

ok so a wee update here are some pics of her wearing her new clothes wheels and dash