mitch_f1's mariner NA6

[mitch_f1]

Thanks for your kind comments

Guran, I have flushed every accessible component in both directions (with the exception of the emissions component of the intake). Everything seems to be working fine now, but ideally I would like to strip the engine down and clean all water gullies, but this is well above my skill level. Unfortunately I can see a bit of sediment in the top of the new radiator when it was emptied, so there is still a little bit of rust floating about, but until I get the engine stripped down, there really isn't much I can do.

As for the water, yes indeed, I did use distilled water, and 1/3rd coolant, and I have ensured there is no air gaps (which I think was part of my problem at EC), by taking it for a blast, and getting the vacuum to clear itself, and refilling what was displaced.

That date suits me prefectly, as it is just before uni returns

Also, thanks for the info on tyre pressures. I will pay more attention at WP on Monday

[mitch_f1]

Hey all,
So at a recent MDTC day I had a minor issue when my exhaust burnt through a heater hose:


This was due to its proximity with the hose (melted because it wasn't wrapped at the time


So just now I have got a bit of exhaust heat shielding from a newer car, doubled it over, lipped it (so no sharp lip), and bolted it in between the radiator hose and the exhaust manifold (which is now wrapped, whereas it wasn't before)








So what is the verdict? Will this create more troubles than it worth (the metal acting as a heat sink creating a hot spot on the hose again, or the micromovement cutting a hole in the hose, something like that). Is there a better way to fix this? Can I heat wrap that hose for instance in the same material as you would the headers? Should I even just leave it??

Thanks for any of your comments or opinions.

[Regie]

i hope to see this beast on Sunday!

thats my verdict

[mitch_f1]

So I decided that I hadn't taken any good pics in over a year, and I had just cleaned the car, and weather was perfect, i was borrowing a three thousand dollar lens, so thought now was as good a time as any. I haven't taken pics for a few months now, and haven't processed for about as long, so am a bit rough, might have another go at them sooner or later, but this is what I got.

Comments and critique are welcome if you feel the need to give them.

[Si.G]

Man - the pics are awesome - nice work.

[mitch_f1]

Damn this forum and not being able to edit posts.

So umm I had another go at the pictures, and removed the distracting street signs. This is the result:

[sliq]

car is so clean nice shots

[slug_dub]

Mitch those are great photos. Have much enjoyed reading through all the work you've been doing. Those SSR wheels are to die for *waves hand* give them to meeeee

[mitch_f1]

So the nice post lady bought be a present the other day, and today I decided to make use of some of it.



One thing that has been bugging me about the car from day one is the little rubber/metal seal between the front bar and the headlight covers/bonet. On the driver side it was folded over, and wouldn't fold back up.



The culprit


So part of my order was a replacement for this little bit (both sides, as the black colour had faded and it would look weird having one side brand new). So I started with a lot of swearing and WD40 trying to get the screws out of the metal piece holding it onto the front bar, only to realise when I got to the end that it was held in by a bolt at either end which went through a tab on the body, which meant I had to remove the front bar. Joy.



So off I went. Overall it was a lot less difficult than I was anticipating, the most difficult part was putting it back on, because knobhead here put the nut back on said bolt before putting the bar back on, and was wondering why it wouldnt fit back on.





So that wasn't too difficult, and now it looks SO MUCH BETTER!!!!



Another thing that has been annoying me for a while was the bolts holding the tabs on the front bar to the air splitter, which were very silver. As well as the lack of bolts up the top of air dam, which meant the tabs were hanging low and looking weird, which you can kind of see in the upper left of the below picture.



So, out came the rattle can, and matt black was the colour of choice






While I was in this hole I decided to dodgy a fix to the splitter, which had broken at some point. In the very near future I have the aim of fabricating up a splitter in aluminium, but not today.






Another thing that had come in my box of tricks were replacement shift boots, as mine were fairly torn, making my cabin very very hot, which isn't nice when it's already freaking hot outside. Here is the obligatory old vs new shots







For those of you attempting to replace the lower shift boot, and struggling to get your head around how to get it on, this is a picture you will love. Smother the shaft of the lever in gearbox oil and then slide it on from the top. Goes on soooo easy. Here is a progress pic



Haven't yet finished this job, as I found I don't have any gearbox oil, and my turret oil is very low, so this will be finished off tomorrow



I also went to a SOTS day last Friday. Had a ball; very different layout though; I was in the same class as Exiges and clubman's. It was a bit intense. But when I was putting the road wheels back on, I noticed that the rear pads were a bit fractures, so today I put my emergency spares on, and this is what the old ones look like. Verdict? Are they safe to drive/race on? Are they supposed to look like this?







I also took that opportunity to use this Permatex brake lulbricant that I got a little while ago; it's blue and hopefully should work a lot better than the thick and sticky stuff that was on there, as it should be rated at a higher temperature.

Cliff notes: This is a really fun car, and I enjoy spending time on it, but the spending money on it is getting a bit much.

P.S. I have a decent sized package coming from Goodwin Racing.....

[snshami]

That was some nice photography. The car looks hot.

[mitch_f1]

I like it when boxes arrive for me

Gonna attempt dropping the gearbox when the weather cools down.

[Si.G]

I've seen some boxes like that before

When are you thinking of doing the flywheel? I will be interested to read about the difference it makes.
Si.

[mitch_f1]

Maybe April/May some time.

[Hammer]

Its coming together nicely.

I too just fitted a new set (2nd set) of Hawks HP brake pads to my NA8 on Friday. I love the performance, but the squeeling noise they make when they are new (& cold - which is usually a lot of the times on the road) is annoying the crap out of me.

Hopefully as they're used more the squeeling will subside (or eliminated altogether).

[mitch_f1]

24/2/11
So I had the MX5 club wakefield day on Sunday. Had a really really great time. Was doing fairly consistent 1:17/1:16 laps through the day, and was keeping up with a couple of NB8As dríven by a couple of seasoned drivers, so I was pretty ahppy with that. Also got 2nd fasted time in the class. Was a good day. Seven minute sessions sucked balls though. But yeh good day.

Before I went to this though I was getting really worried about the radiator hose being so close to the headers. So I did a bit of research and found a bit of a fix which someone with a turbo'd NA in the US did; replacing the whole middle radiator hose, lower radiator hose, and pipe with a flexible radiator hose:


When I removed the middle radiator hose, it was quite apparent that I did it not a moment too soon:


The heat wrap on the headers bore a little mark from the melting rubber, but this shouldn't be an issue at all.





While I had the car up as well, I decided to rebuild the clutch slave cylinder, which I noticed was leaking fluid a little while ago. It was a lot more simple than I thought it would be. All you have to do is remove it from the bell housing, undo the hardlines, flick out the piston, replace with new one, and new boot with brake fluid in the bore, after cleaning with metho. Lube up the tip, and bolt back up. It was also made so much easier with a one man bleed kit. So I made use of this and flushed the whole system to replace the black fluid I had in the reservoir with new fluid. Since then it has worked a treat, probably due in no little part due to the condition of the outgoing piston:


I also had a weird and distrubing cracking/knocking sound when I would go over a driveway/hit a weird bump on the road. So just now I went under and retorqued everything up the front. The passenger swaybar link was a bit loose, so hopefully that was the culprit. While I had the car up, I swapped wheels for track wheels in prep for the twilight circuit club tonight. Gonna be fun.

Also, super happy that nothing has broken since installing water temp gauge, and that the cooling system is now up to my standards, in that it didn't go over 80*C while on track.