Dweezle's Malibu Gold.

[Guran]

This is a very good read if you're keen.

http://www.scielo.br/pdf/jbsms/v25n3/a10v25n3.pdf

[Dweezle]

Thanks for the homework!!
Completely a COW!!!!
I will have to try and read that again Bryan haha.. I think it melted my mind a bit trying to understand it all.
Why Can't there just be a UNIVERSAL MEASUREMENT!!!

[PaulF]

Why Can't there just be a UNIVERSAL MEASUREMENT!!!

[Dweezle]

Hahaha...
Understood. Never thought about it like that.

[Dweezle]

So my brother and i joined up with JSCC, Japanese Sports car club http://jscc.asn.au/index.php.

Decided to enter round 6 of the NSW MOTORKHANA at Nirimba.
Was a great day. Alot more relaxed compared to a track day.
All first gear action but do not make the mistake i made thinking it would be easy
I think the MX5's surprised a few people though which is always fun.
It is a field dominated by early model Mini's and Golfs.

Found out pretty early that our handbrakes where not upto scratch, so decided to just try and get the best smoothest lines possible all while trying very hard to not forget the patterns through the flags.
My clutch was another thing that really showed it was almost time to retire it!! So that will be changed very soon.
It is a great form of motorsport which teaches car control with very little chance of doing any damage to the car or driver.
I think the only real damage you could do is to hit a flag hard and maybe scratch something.
Another bonus is its $60. With a little wear to the tyres and very little to the brakes.
Besides coming to a stop, you never really touch them.

Some pretty cool cars turn up to these things too.
And there is plenty of time to chat with the owners.











I had a blast, and will be at the next one in october.
Hope to see some other MX5s there!!!

Though i think next time i will tighten the hand brake, grippier tyres up front and some old hard rubber at the back

[NitroDann]

You want to remove the rear swaybar and run grippy tyres all around. And drive more agressively.

Dann

[Dweezle]

That was like my first run. Haha was still trying to work it all out.
Got a little more crazy as the day went on.
Was hard to get around the push understeer.

Still fun doing that at a TAFE conplex.

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk

[NitroDann]

If you're on street tyres you need to throttle steer it the whole way. And use the handbrake to initiate it. So you need to remove the swaybar so that you get heaps of rear grip while your sliding and actually accelerate.

Lots of clutch if you have to.

Dann

[Bizi]

Looks like you both had great fun!

When I was at the Irish Festival of Speed (an inaugural festival there, channelling Goodwood) in late July, they had some precision/motorkhana drivers and they were insane.

Excuse the green tinge (it's Irish!).


What's written at the front of your pinstripe down the side of the car?

[Dweezle]

Very fun.
Its the original pinstripe the Malibu came with.
It just says Malibu, with like a little green wave.

[Dweezle]

Forgot to add here that the car is For Sale.
I went through a period of deciding not to sell it but its concrete now.
Car needs to go before i have another lapse haha.

Rego actually expires next month, forgot i got 6 months last time, but i will get another 6 months for the new owner.
Rego plates will be changed, as i want to keep mine.

$9000

http://tiny.cc/MalibuGold

[Guran]

Nooooo!!! Sorry to see this beauty go. Good luck with the sale. I hope the new owner treats it well.

[Dweezle]

Soooooo, been a little quiet on the update front yet again.

Car was For Sale for a while.
The plan was to sell the Malibu and then buy a cheaper MX5 and go nuts with it.
Felt like i would be doing something wrong if i was to mess around a bit with this car.

Only problem was each person that would contact me, i would start running through the car with them and eventually, i could not justify someone else getting to enjoy a car i love this much.
Why should i not be the one to.

Plus i have done quite a bit of upkeep and know what is done and what is needed doing.

So... needless to say, i am keeping the Malibu!!


I have just finished a clutch job, with some hassles some might have seen with the rear sump seal.
The last owner/mechanic when they had the rear seal changed used like glue/silicone to hold the rear main in.
So i had to remove the housing and word of advice to anyone listening.
This brings a world of PAIN!!
To replace the rear half moon, it seems you need to remove the sump as the new rubber seal is too thick.
I reused the old half moon, cleaned the area all up and used Loctite Grey RTV.
I then let it cure for a day or so before installing the rear main seal.
It looks a little messy but seems sealed.
If it does prove to leak then i will just pull the engine, remove the sump, and maybe do a bit of a rebuild on the engine.
Hopefully this will hold though.





Anyways, eventually it seems i have that sorted.
More K's will prove it though.
I used a Xtreme HD kit which oddly came with a LUK friction disc. Last time i used a Xtreme kit it used a Exedy Friction Disc.
I do not know much about LUK discs, i just hope it can hold the extra power it is about to receive.



I replaced the Pilot bearing, Rear main, Front transmission seal and gasket and new rear transmission seal.
While in there i also replaced the rubber water cap at the rear of the engine and the CAS O-ring.
Took a bit of effort to get the gearbox back on but it seemed to slide home quite easily once i had the box up in the air.






Now onto the fun stuff.
Since my last update i have collected quite a corner of the spare room of goodies.




This will all be going in shortly.






I finish up at work this week, going away for 2 weeks then unemployed!
Sounds like a bad thing i know, and it may prove to be.
But after 6 years of crazyness it will be nice to do a few things slowly and at a more thoughtful pace.
Though the cash flow may be an issue. haha

So a brief summary of what i have is-
-Megasquirt (Braineack build, huge THANKS to Caffeine for the soldering fix that Brain missed)
-Innovate LC1 with analogue gauge
-ETD Manifold
-Mitsu (Greddy) TD04 Turbo
-Turbo Tony Downpipe
-Pretty much all stainless lines and fittings
-Stealth BOV
-Stage 8 Locknuts & tabs
-NB8a Front Brakes









The manifold and turbo have had a few issues.
Upon receiving the kit, i realised the turbo took 8mm Studs, while the manifold was drilled for 10mm.
I have enlarged the turbo holes to take 10mm.
The Manifold also was warped and no surface was properly flat.
After some advice from NitroDann i had the manifold surfaced to be dead straight so hopefully i can get away with no Turbo Gasket.

Still need to sort out an intercooler etc, but the plan is to get the car running on the MS, while still NA, then install the turbo gear.
Should be a fun few months.

[NitroDann]

Thanks for the props dweezle.

Again, PM me if you would like me to help you with an intercooling solution.

Dann

[Dweezle]

Oh i will do Dann... Thanks.

Does anyone recommend making relief cuts in the manifold?
Would these be necessary??

I have the manifold machined and am worried if i get relief cuts made, it may screw up the surface?
On the other hand i do not want to crack and break studs etc.