Mazda-Menders

New to MX5s although I did own a couple of 323 4WD turbos back in the 90s. I loved those and the Mazda quality. anyway Dad had sold my Mexico so we needed a new fun car and this MX5 came up at the right price. We saw it had some bubbling at the rear sills and figured it would need attention but the rest of the bodywork didn't look too bad. N/S drivers tyre was running off so we figured it was a ball joint. The engine sounded fine and it seemed to go and stop OK. The deal was done and it was tucked up into the garage for a proper look.

IMG_0458 by Ian X

The wife loves it!

IMG_0468 by Ian X

It has a nice leather interior

IMG_0592 by Ian X

Things soon got serious when Dad started to strip the O/S front brakes and one of the pads fell out in two pieces! After that we discovered that 3 of the 4 drop links were broken and the ball joints were knackered. This was a car that was being used daily! Surely you would notice that? Anyway as we went about stripping and replacing the suspension and brakes we discovered the rust. I know now that this is pretty normal stuff for Mk 2 and 2.5 MX5s but it was a bit of a shock to us.

Both rear sills were badly corroded but the internal stuff was ok if a bit rusty. It was cleaned and treated before Dad welded the new metal in.
IMG_0585 by Ian X

IMG_0589 by Ian X

Some filler was chucked on for shape

IMG_0594 by Ian X

I have finished this off but haven't photgraphed it yet.

Both sides of the chassis were badly corroded around the ARB brackets. O/S is done and N/S is ongoing.

Today was a bit of a disaster after I managed to catch the O/S repeater cable with the wirebrush on the grinder and broke it! It broke on the lip of the hole through the inner wing and gave me about 30 mm of wire to work with out of the loom. Dad wasn't impressed! Had to move the fuse box to get at the little bits of wire. Total swine of a job but I managed to get more wire soldered on eventually but it was 3 hours lost.

Note to self, pay more attention!

Work has been ongoing.
Some serious amount of steel has gone into the bucket!
IMG_0602 by Ian X, on Flickr

Much scraping, rust teatment and undersealing as well
IMG_0610 by Ian X, on Flickr

New braided brake hoses fitted.
IMG_0609 by Ian X, on Flickr

Biggest issue has been the O/S brake cable nuts being rusted solid. as we were replacing a U/S caliper it had to come off. Fiddly swine of a thing. at least a replacement cable is cheap.

A sump guard is being fabricated from a piece of stainless. The big debate is whether we trim the sump fins or cut a hole in the plate. Any opinions out there?

It is the first road rally of the year in Scotland this weekend and I will be out marshalling. If anyone fancies getting involved get in touch or check out the Glenrothes Motor Sports Club Official page on facebook.

Sumpguard now fitted. I think Dad made an excellent job of this although he says he wants to trim it in a bit. He dished it to fit round the sump.

IMG_0611 by Ian X, on Flickr

Braided hoses are now on but still waiting on the new handbrake cable. Once that is fitted we will bleed the brakes and she will be back on the ground.

Next jobs are; oil change, fit rollover bar, give it a wash!

I still have to figure out where and how I can fit the sensor for the tripmeter. It is pretty crowded on the front hubs.

Road taxed today! That hurt as my dad is used to 60 quid for his diesel Astra. had it out on the road for a quick test drive. Brakes are a bit spongey so we had another bleed when we got back. Some clearance issues with the big tyres to look at but the diff seemed to work fine when Dad whipped it around.

Off to Falkland Performance for alignment on Thursday.

After that needs washed in and out, Brantz fitted, rollover bar fitted and handbrake adjusted.

Trip sensor fitted. Bit of fiddly engineering by Dad. I just have to wire up the Brantz and learn how to calibrate it now.

sensor by Ian X, on Flickr

Well...fitting the tripmeter turned into a right nightmare. Firstly my 20 year old Brantz is goosed and too old for the company to fix. I managed to borrow a couple of old ones from a rally driver friend of mine. The Brantz was unsuitable due to it displaying average speed (disallowed as it would be cheating on regularities) so I attempted to fit the Terratrip 303. It took several days to get that sucker to work correctly and we still don't know what the issue was. I fitted it initially with a poer feed from the side of the fusebox and a wire into a bolt on the inner wing and although the backlight would illuminate the computer would not display. I ended up running a cable directly from the battery (it was fairly easy as it turned out) and after messing about with shorter bolts and spacers on the mounting plate it started working. It was 5 minutes from flying out the window!

16938461_1359649607414527_4980183546964057857_n by Ian X, on Flickr

The rally is on Sunday and is 100 miles of a mix of navigational, regularity and timed tests. I got the route yesterday and spent the day plotting and trying to figure out the regularity stuff. I am sure there will have a meltdown at some point on one of those. The roads are round some very scenic parts of Perthshire and actually go past some of great forest rally stages that were used on the Scottish and McRae stage rallies. the route actually is in a forest at one point but we will be doing 20 and 25mph regularities and autotesting.

The car is ready and is sitting on the Snowtrac winter tyres on Vauxhall alloys. The 70 profile tyres look huge but I am sure we will need them. The weather could bring anything up there at this time of year.

16806770_1359649637414524_758009884926572296_n by Ian X, on Flickr

17021866_1359649687414519_7165387195688824705_n by Ian X, on Flickr

Took it out for a wee test run. Dad is still getting used to driving the beastie. We did some acceleration timings for the regularities and I had a fiddle about with the Terratrip. I am impressed with the ride quality considering the shocks have seen some use. We were over some very bumpy roads. Also impressed with how easily it will 180 on the throttle (this WILL be required on Sunday) and how awkwardly placed the handbrake is.
I just have to write out some timings, pack the car with safety gear, tools and food and we will be ready to roll.

Craigmead by Ian X, on Flickr

Just re-read this post from the start and my heart sunk at the words "dad sold my mexico"

Are we talking Escort??

Had a number of these babies in my youth and regretably sold my rs2000 to raise funds to get married.

That said these wee Mazda's make me smile just as much wagging thier tails at the owners request.

Hope the rally goes well buddy.

Yup. Mk1 Mexico 1974
Here it is just after I bought it in 1990

old-photo0036 by Ian X, on Flickr

We had to totally rebuild it and dad sold it at the beginning of 2016 because it needed work and i was living in Singapore. The MX5 was bought for fun after I got back to Scotland in August.

This is my old Escort rally car. It was a 1300L and I found it recently in the SW England in full Gp 4 mode. I ran it as a 1300. i sold it in 1999.
old-photo0064 by Ian X, on Flickr

If anyone is interested, this is the rally we are doing.

http://www.saltirerallyclub.co.uk/rally.html


Real time results can be seen at http://www.scotresults.co.uk/Events2017.html

M-m

Well we finished!

saltire_post by Ian X, on Flickr

It was a rough event and we were glad for the sump guard. as first timers we knew we would struggle a bit and we certainly did. The driving tests were very tight with many 180s required in tight spaces. Dad was struggling to get her round and both of us were struggling with the trickier tests. Towards the end we slowed right down to preserve the car. I would have been yelling for Huey on the first regularity if it hadn't been for the pills. looking at the the trip and stopwatch constantly really got me on the twisty up and down highland roads. Even at 30!
I got all the code boards and completed the route 100% with no wrong slots and I even was class competitive on the 2nd and 3rd regularities after my head stopped spinning. The final regularity was on a forestry track high up a hill above Loch Tay. it was very beautiful but the road was atrocious and even at 15mph we couldn't keep up.
I would have liked to have been a bit more competitive but I suppose completing the event in a 600 pound car with a 73 year old first time driver and on my first navigating event I should be content.

Anyway car broke down on the way home and had to be recovered. Looks like the diff has gone as no forward drive but will go in reverse.

Bugger!

Oh yes and i left my phone behind with the photos.

UPDATE. Seems that it was a caliper bolt rather than a diff which is good news! If we hadn't ended up stranded on a motorway in the dark I might have been braver at looking at the drivers side hub!

Some shots from yesterday.
Yes, it was snowing in the morning and there was 40 mm on the road at one point.

saltire-1 by Ian X, on Flickr

saltire-2 by Ian X, on Flickr

saltire-3 by Ian X, on Flickr

Car is now driving normally although the drivers side balljoint is knackered. I have a feeling one of the front shocks is past its best as well. Now that the rear caliper has been fixed it seems good which is amazing considering the beating it got. Still have to hose off the mud/sh*te/sharn on the chassis to check the welding

Dad has said that the kitty purse strings will be loosened to buy "good quality" front shocks and a hydraulic handbrake.