1996 Mazda Mx5 with ITBs - p16 video clip :)

[goldnrust]

It's been a very busy start to June but I've been making progress with the bodywork where I can.

With the rear arches prepped ready for paint, the first step was stone guard.



This is one of those jobs where I'm so glad I've got a compressor, as you just can't get the right finish using the stuff that comes in an aerosol. With that done there was nothing for it but to mask up….



… and break out the paint. As it's just a small job, and cleaning out the spray gun is a pain, I just picked up a couple of colour matched aerosols from my local paint shop, I'm really pleased with them, the colour match is fantastic.



While I was in a bodywork prep mindset, I also whipped the boot lid of and one of the headlight covers, both of which had areas where the paint had been damaged, and got them ready to paint up.



And here's the results of all that hard work.




As you can see I've done both rear quarters now, it's all coming along quite nicely. The finish on the right quarter isn't as good as the left and there's a couple of runs in the lacquer, I think the temperature had dropped a bit more in the garage that evening. Still once it's flatted back and compounded it'll look fine This means the only area of the car with really poor paint now is the bonnet. Sadly I over estimated the amount of paint I'd need for the rear quarters and probably have enough to do the bonnet…. Damn, I suppose I'll have to do it now!

Also on my to do list before putting it up for sale, is to change the cam seals and front crank seal, to cure a bit of an oil leak. I got the parts on order last week and they arrived today, so thats possibly a job for the weekend if I can't face more painting, haha.

[MK2VR6]

Shaping up nicely. Love the Penta style alloys as well (never heard of Drag before). Obviously your call, but think carefully before putting it up for sale. It's not often people get to buy back their car a second time and you've obviously got a soft spot for this one. Combined with the ridiculously low prices 5's seem to be achieving at the moment, they're often worrying close to being breakers in the event of MOT rust or even mild bodywork/ roof damage. Once it's gone, I'd say it's gone.

[duncanmartin]

You've done your usual exemplary job of finishing it. As MK2VR6 said, think long and hard about selling it though. You probably won't get another chance at it, and remember how you felt when you got it back and started sorting it out again? Especially if you end up with a modern sensible car, the bikes, and no project to tinker with...
Cheers
Duncan

[goldnrust]

Cheers guys

I appreciate your concern for me selling the car and regretting it, but I don't think that's going to be the case. As anyone who's read this thread will know, it's been a long road to this decision. Interestingly one of the things I've learnt along the road is that I made a mistake by buying this car back, as soon as the rose tint wears off, and the initial happiness subsides, I found myself right back where I was when I sold it for the first time, all the same baggage associated with the car.

My heart ruled my head when I bought this back, I paid too much for it, in too poor a condition, it popped up as available at a moment of emotional weakness and I jumped at it. As much as anything, I learnt that I've changed a lot in the time since I last owned this car and what I want from a car has changed too.

I recently went out for a drive in a friends mk1 Rx7, very similar to my Gold one, took to the wheel for a while, really enjoyed it, found myself thinking 'yeah I'd really like one of these again' but then, thought about it some more, and at the end of the day theres a reason why I sold it, and if I got another I'd be right back there, remembering all the faults straight away.

The plan is modern + bike for the short term, take stock, relax a bit, see where life takes me. A project bike is quite likely, another project car is still a possibility, and if it is a car, then this time as it's not a daily driver then it can be something really impractical! haha.

[goldnrust]

I've had some time to work on the mx5 this week and it's edging ever closer to a completed car.

I had an evening in the garage earlier in the week, swapping the cam seals and crank seal over. Bit of a pain of a job, though I've had the cam belt on and off so many times recently, it's really not a big deal! The good news is that it has solved the minor oil leak I had on the front of the engine.




While I was doing the front crank seal, I checked the woodruff key, and it's in perfect condition, with no hint of play so that's good. I carefully torqued the crank bolt back up afterwards, with some loctite on there for good measure!

While I was in the garage I also swapped over my oil pressure sender. This engine is from an earlier Mx5 and so has the 'proper' oil pressure sender. Post '93 cars, like mine, just came with an oil pressure switch and fake gauge on the dashboard. Since my dash and sender didn't match, I've been driving round with no oil pressure registering on the dash since I fitted this engine. I forgot to mention it to a friend when he borrowed the car for a day, and he had a moment of panic when it noticed the reading on the dashboard, haha. So I figured I ought to get the proper sender before selling the car!



Was a straight forward swap, and the good news is, I've now got good oil pressure showing on he dash.

I've not been at work today, and with the sun shining I figured it was as good a day as any to flat back and polish the new paint. First up was flatting the paint off with some very wet 2000 grit wet and dry paper.



Never a nice feeling taking sand paper to fresh paint! haha. After that I broke out the rubbing compound, polish and finally wax. Whilst I normally spit at the idea of 'detailing' (it's called washing your car in my book, and yes I bloody well just use one bucket and some cheap wash and wax….) I have inherited various posh products off friends and am always impressed with the difference a decent polish makes over the super cheap stuff.

Anyway, after I'd done the rear quarters and boot lid, it made the original paint on the doors look really flat, so I did them. This made the front wings look flat… and I ended up doing the whole car. 6 hours of hand polishing is more than enough for me for one day!




I'm quite pleased with how shiny it's come out. The photos do flatter it though and when you get up close theres plenty of imperfections!

With the outside of the car looking pretty good now, the inside wasn't looking so great. So I gave it a good hoovering and a once over with some spray car interior stuff I found on the shelf in the garage.



Much better

Not too much more to do now before it's read to go up for sale, I need to paint the underside of the sills black, and I will pop some fresh underseal on in a couple of spots while I'm at it. Might try and do that tomorrow, weather depending. Other than that I just need the damn DVLA to send me my V5 back with the new engine number on it!

[MK2VR6]

Blimey, how different is that looking?! Well impressed with your work - she'll sell easily looking like that, for sure. Hope you don't regret it though...

[mdh]

Looks great, and you've picked the right time of year to sell it.

Just a few more degrees and you'll be quids in!

[goldnrust]

Cheers guys It's amazing what a few hour of hard work will do isn't it!

Today I got straight to it, getting the back of the car up in the air and getting some underseal on the lower sections of the sill.



While I was at it, I gave some of the more vulnerable areas of the chassis another coat too, like the inner sills and rear inner arches.

And with that it's all done I just need the DVLA to send me my V5 back (it's been 4 weeks now dammit!) and the advert will be going up. Seeing as there was a break in the weather, I decided now was a good time to take some photos, I'm quite pleased with how a couple f them have come out




I also realised I've never done a video clip of how the throttle bodies sound, so I made one

[duncanmartin]

That has polished up beautifully, and it sounds fab. I appreciate you've thought hard about selling it, so I'm not going to try to put you off again, GLWS.
What are you going to spend the proceeds on?
Cheers
Duncan

[goldnrust]

Haha, thanks mate. Where the proceeds will be going isn't 100% set yet, but it's looking likely that they'll get spent on 2 wheels, rather than 4. It's bee a while since I had a bike project

[PhilA]

Nov 28, 2014 0:27:52 GMT goldnrust said:

Yeah the 13b has got a pulse width modulated idle control valve, and I'm using closed loop control yes. Touch wood, I've got it sorted. Most of my idle issues revolved around 'catching' the idle when the revs dropped quickly, with the light flywheel they drop even quicker than usual and when pulling up to junctions they would just keep dropping and the engine would stall. Most of the guides say to activate the idle control valve as late as possible, 2-300 rpm above the intended idle speed, with my engine revs falling so fast this was just too short a time for the idle valve to react before the revs had already dropped past the point of no return. By setting this activation point to 500rpm above the target idle speed (1000rpm) it's given it time to react. The downside of setting this number higher is the chance of it still trying to control the idle while under normal driving conditions. As it is, I'm not often trying to drive below 1750rpm, so if the idle activated at 1500 this isn't a problem. Worst case, it'll close the idle control valve right down to try and keep the revs down and when i do let off the throttle when driving around below 1500rpm the revs may drop, so far so good though!

I was reading through this the other day, just had to re-read it because it was late and I was halfway unsure where I'd read it.
It made me think on how this kind of problem was dealt with on my car- it has the same kind of deal, a throttle potentiometer that is used for 2 things- throttle position and wide-open-throttle. It's easy to gauge what by resistance alone, but light throttle is harder to determine.
The later cars have a stepper-motor operated pintle that opens and shuts a bypass tube for idle adjustment, but this one has a fairly standard GM part, a motorized throttle stop with inbuilt switch.

When you have your foot off the throttle and it's resting on the stop, the contacts change state (I forget if it's closed for on stop or open) and the in/out operation is very simple- it's just got a small motor inside that you put +- onto for one way and -+ for the other- it is used for coarse idle adjustment when the engine is cold and also to bring the revs up when there's load on the engine (aircon, power steering) and also to bring the throttle stop up whilst on the gas, so as not to have the engine revs fall sharply to the point the engine may stall if you snap the throttle shut. It'll raise the pedal to the point that idle is about 1400 as you are driving, and reduce it fairly rapidly down to idle (900) once it's certain the revs are falling by its command (IDLE switch closed and revs falling not below 750).

Just a thought, it's a fairly simple thing, and the MS should be able to accommodate it- don't enter IDLE independent of revs, if the switch doesn't have the throttle linkage resting on it.

--Phil

[goldnrust]

Thanks for the thoughts Phil, sounds like a system that could work, as it was I suspect my idling issues were caused by the shot water seals letting coolant into the engine, that engine is long gone now though!

Finally my v5 has returned from the DVLA today, it only took them a month to get as far as opening my letter, followed by another to actually update the engine number and send it back to me!

With the v5 back in my possession, it's time to put the old girl up for sale. I've been driving my Alfa for 6 weeks now, and while I've missed the mx5 at times, my resolve hasn't changed during that time, so it's definitely the right choice for me.

For sale advert here if anyone's tempted! : retrorides.proboards.com/thread/180887/1996-mazda-itbs-bromsgrove-worcs

[duncanmartin]

goldnrust
So what did you spend the proceeds on?
I'm back to thinking that a good daily is better than a crappy daily and a nice retro, 'cos I'm just not driving the 924, and the Multipla is a bit rubbish (not helped by being full of junk)!

[goldnrust]

The proceeds were spent on a small fast fun retro..... only problem is it's missing a couple of wheels.



It's a 1990 Honda CBR400RR. I've had all kinda of bikes after the past 10 years of riding. but it's been a couple of yours since I've had a sports bike, it's been great to get back out on one. This is also my first inline 4 engined bike, which is nice change. It looks good in the photos but it's going to need some TLC soon and with the weather deteriorating, it's time for a project. I might start a readers other mods thread as and when I do anything with it.

I understand your frustration with spending most of the time driving a less than inspiring daily with your cool wait waiting in the wings, that is the reason why I held off so long and kept trying to daily silly cars like my Lancia. My Alfa 147 has been doing a good job of daily driving duties, as a contrast to riding the very focused and uncompromising bike, I've been enjoying the more relaxed nature of a car that's not all about focused driving.

In fact I've been enjoying the idea of driving being relaxing, rather than exhilarating, so much that I've actually been looking at the idea of replacing the 147 with something that was actively designed to be relaxing to drive. On top of this, aside from just being a bit too 'normal' for my tastes, the only issue I have wit the !47 is that I see thinking I wish it had the fantastic V6 that my 155 had in it.

With this all in mind, I'm looking at replacing the 147 soon, sadly with nothing especially retro. Currently topping the want list is an Alfa 166 v6 Sportronic... finding a decent one for sale is proving tricky though!

[duncanmartin]

A 166 V6 would be super cool. Obviously not as cool as a 164, but still, far superior to most machinery. Wafty, yet not too wallowy, and that engine sound... And when you've run it into the ground you can turn it into a Stratos!
The CBR400 is really nice - is it a grey import? What's the rev limiter set at? Is there a thread in "other modifications"?
Cheers
Duncan

[sciclone]

Perhaps you should buy Pistonpopper's wafty barge Merc?

[goldnrust]

duncanmartin , You're right a 164 would be majorly cool, especially in the two tone red and dark grey.....



But aside from the fact that finding one, let alone one in the spec I want, is damn near impossible, they do rust and right now I can be arsed with that, haha. I've enquired about going to see a 166 v6, just waiting for the chaps paper work to come back after removing his private plate, fingers crossed!

They never officially imported the CBR400, so they're all grey imports Rev limit is 14.5k, not as crazy high as some of the small engine sports bikes from the era, but also it means it's not totally flat in the mid range, haha. Gonna start a thread for it later this morning probably.

sciclone it was actually riding in a friends Merc CLK320 that was part of making me consider a larger more luxurious car, that said Mercedes just aren't 'me', if that makes sense

[tsp]

It's taken me three days to read this post from start to finish.

There's only one thing that has disappointed me, the fact I didn't buy it!!!

I'm not really a forumite, I like to look but I don't really participate but I must say that I love this car and this thread is actually inspirational!

I've already contacted a mate who has some VX220 seats going, decided I want 14" wheels with 25mm spacers and decided I definitely want a roll over bar. It's all your fault too!

Could I ask how much yours was dropped by please??

I have to say too that I am a big, no huge fan of an NA 4 pot. I went from a B18C4 to a VAG 1.8T with double the torque and nearly 100bhp more but yawn the Honda was MUCH more fun! After going in a mate's Zetec on Jenvey TBs I'd love to go down the bike TB route eventually too.

It might help working at a motorcycle main dealers too

[goldnrust]

Thank you tsp

I'm not sure you should find this thread inspirational, reading it back, it doesn't really sound like I liked the car much! haha. I promise I did really. I'm gonna say that I don't think that even with throttle bodies the mx5 engine has got as much character as a B series Honda engine, though in terms of power it brings it close. My friend Dan had a B18C4 powered civic and my mx5 was a dead heat with it on rolling start acceleration.

Mine was on Mk2 top mounts, with Eibach 35mm drop lowering springs, they were old though so I suspect they had dropped more than 35mm!

[tsp]

Ah but if you didn't like the car I don't think you'd have bothered going through what you did with it! So yeah, you're right. You must've liked it

Looking forward to the next build, whatever it may be!