Ben Sale's white 1990 NA6

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:07 am

Here are a couple of photos of my roof...

This is the side which broke.

This is the other side which is almost worn through too...

And a couple of photos of the car with no bonnet..! I was also a little silly and had to go for a quick drive around the block hot rod style..!

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:22 am

Ben, didn't you only replace the bonnet hinge a little while back?

the dodgy day at Darren's factory you replaced one from memory?

or is it the other hinge that's gone now?

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:29 pm

Hi Nick, yeah I did replace both about two years ago... I have no idea why it failed again... They were 2nd hand and the one I just fitted is new... I think i need to investigate why they are failing...

I've done 3000km in the car over the last week and a half, Sydney and back and driving around... I did 1070km in the car yesterday... It ran faultlessly the whole time and I found it a bit nicer to travel a long distance in with the hardtop fitted. I was impressed with my fuel consumption, I finally managed to crack 7l per 100km (a goal on my last few long trips), the best I got was 6.8L per 100km between Marulan and Glenrowan on the trip back which I was very, very pleased with. Although this contradicts my theory that the car is running rich... Perhaps it could be only running rich in a certain rev range. At a speedo indicated 120, the speed I spent the trip doing, the car is pulling approximately 3750rpm... From memory NA6's run learner in the mid range which could account for the car not running... Or the black around the exhaust is down to the catalytic convertor dying. I'm waiting for a clarification of the MX-5 Vic motorsport class rules for 2011-12 before I replace it as I'm not sure if i'll have to stay with a standard replacement or be able to use a high flow one.

CheyneX5 · Postby **CheyneX5** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 8:40 pm

After driving my car today, you know you want a high flow cat

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:21 pm

True, it has made a noticeable difference to your car and would be a nice thing to have... But I'd like to stay in my clubman class as there are a few of us at the top which are pretty close and the competition is good. I'm not allowed any more modifications, with the current rules a high flow cat would bump me to the next class although that may or may not change. It also means i wont go chasing the time difference to the fastest guys in the next class up by modifying the car more and spending ridiculous amounts of money on tyres.

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 11:44 pm

Recently I've been noticing a worsening decrease in the responsiveness of the car, I also found I ran out of adjustment in the throttle cable tension in the engine bay. What had happened is the pedal blocks metal had fatigued. cracking on the accelerator side allowing up to 20mm of movement when the throttle is pressed... That explains a lot..!

I noticed it today as it got particularly bad and extremely unresponsive... I managed to find a 2nd hand assembly this afternoon and change them over this afternoon/tonight. Fitting it was a nightmare... The worst job I've ever had to do on the car by far. Write up and pics to come when I get on a computer.

two40 · Postby **two40** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 8:20 am

Worse than changing the diff by yourself? :lol:

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:01 pm

Believe it or not yes... Many many times worse... It really was a horrible job...

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 5:32 pm

So below is a fun picture of the car... As you can see it has no pedals... In order to remove the pedal box I had to unbolt the steering column and move it around at different angles to create enough room to get the pedal box out of the car as the steering column bracket uses some of the same mounting points as the pedal box... Removing the whole thing is a bit difficult so moving it around was a very frustrating solution to the problem...

Below was the problem, thats a crack caused by metal fatigue in the bracket. The metal was flexing by up to 20mm every time the accelerator was pressed, I'm sure that if I left it much longer the whole thing would have cracked in two and the pedal would have fallen off.

In total the whole job took me about 3.5 hours. If it wasn't for the delays in trying the figure out how to get the pedal box out and also removing the throttle cable from the pedal without breaking the clip it would have taken about 1.5hrs. There isn't much room to work in the footwell, i had a light which was helpful but it was really very uncomfortable, its narrower than my shoulders and you need to contort yourself a bit to get access to some bits. Good fun!

Now some actual fun photos from the iphone.

Adventuring in Newcastle with Alex

Grass hopper friend in Holbrook.

New fire extinguisher mount as suggested by Guran and other forum members

Orange wheels back on in preparation for Winton this sunday

Dirty orange wheels

A brief visit from an Alfa Mito (awesome fun little car to drive, plenty of turbo torque and an awesome double clutch gearbox)

mazdatenfive · Postby **mazdatenfive** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 6:36 pm

Ben is your front number plate painted on, it must save weight.

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 7:30 pm

It's a sticker, it's the same size and font as the standard issue Vic plates. I approximate it saves me around 300g all up including removing the bracket. This saving allows me to consume 1.5 packets of Doritos during the course of a track day

PaulF · Postby **PaulF** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:04 pm

Hunter St Mall at night - and you didn't get assaulted? Good job.

Cool photo though.

bensale · Postby **bensale** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 10:14 pm

It was a Saturday night too... Interesting city Newcastle, some of it is very, very pretty along the water... Although the inner 'city' at night is something else, some interesting people, I don't think I've ever been glared at more while driving the mx-5... Darby Street is kind of cool though, we went to this awesome italian place there, was really impressed.

The first photo is good, I wish I had a tripod as I had 2 SLR's with me and it would be a cool location to do a photo shoot.

PaulF · Postby **PaulF** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:52 pm

Yeah, surprisingly pretty considering it's the world's largest coal port. Not sure how many cities can boast great beaches with a backdrop of a dozen coal ships, haha. Darby St, The Junction and Beaumont St all have a whole lot of nice little cafes and restaurants which will do a good meal.

Guran · Postby **Guran** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:03 pm

PaulF wrote:Yeah, surprisingly pretty considering it's the world's largest coal port. Not sure how many cities can boast great beaches with a backdrop of a dozen coal ships, haha.

Oh, I can think of one ...
:wink:

Ben, next time you're visiting Alex, you guys should head south for your day out!