RM Rallying

Work has been slow on Mazda, the painted subframe is now back on. This meant today I was able to pull the gearbox. This was required as the release bearing was super noisy and clutch feel was awful. Needless to say it all came apparent when the gearbox came out!

Seeing as I had the subframe off I went for it and prepped it properly. Blasted, kurust and 2k epoxy primer. I’ve a bit of stone chip to finish it off. All done under a gazebo spray booth 🤣

I’m after some creative inspiration. There is not much out there online. Any thoughts on getting an upright hydraulic handbrake mounted around here? I’ve seen people use a reverse setup with the master cylinder hiding under the dash.

Has been a heavy few days of cars…

The MX5 has had the bottom end stripped down, bearing clearances checked and new bearings installed. That is now running although it hasn’t been through a heat cycle yet. I needed to get the subframe back on but noticed the suspension bushes were shot, I set about getting the lower arms off. BOY nobody warned me about the rust welded bolts 😱 Horrendous job. Took me hours to get the 4 bolts out. Thanks Gordon for lending the recip saw. I brought two packs of blades and they just couldn’t get through all of the high tensile bolts. I went back to the mechanic mindset of you can’t be stuck if I turn you to liquid, so out came the blow torch. Got there in the end. Subframe stripped and I will likely get it blasted. Will order up some new bushes.

The Peugeot had a set of fuel lines replaced. The old ones had gone bad and were leaving. A set of braided Teflon pipes with some snazzy AN unions from Torques have replaced the bad pipes. These will be a welcome addition to stop fuel smell in the cabin from the junk old pipes. In addition I further looked into the alternator concern. A volt drop of 0.6v across the alternator to battery loom suggests a problem. I fitted a crude donor loom and did a further test and now 0.02v so a replacement will need fitting.

Happy with that. All clearances measuring around the 0.038-0.050 range which is well within spec. Now to reassemble it all.

Set of Genuine rod bearings ordered double quick through BOFI Racing, they seem to be one of the go to stockists of MX5 components. Time to get these in and see how the clearances look. Really hoping I’m not going to be having to drop out the engine.

Investigating/fixing the knock in situ. Want to keep expenditure to the minimum on this car and just have fun with it. Removed the crossmember and whipped off the sump to inspect the rod bearings. I think I found the one with an ouchie. Thankfully the crank has come away reasonably unscathed.

No Friday night blast in the lanes for the ZR tonight — my niece Jess had first dibs! She wanted to arrive at her school prom in Grandad’s rally car. Grandad obliged! Ribbons to match Jessica’s dress 💙

Anyone have a heavy duty aluminum welding setup? The welds on this support piece of the sump guard have come adrift. Looking to get it welded back on.