Roadrunners SE

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 3:38 pm

A little update.

Last Sunday we travelled down to Sydney for the MX-5 clubs Presidents Picnic.
Car was the cleanest it has ever been inside and out which obviously paid off as we won the "People's Choice" award!!

Plenty of comments about the white rims and all the other little bits and pieces. So quite happy about that.
Got to meet a few of the forum members here too so that was awesome to put faces to names and chat all things MX-5

Yesterday afternoon started installing the intercooler. Let me just start with AAAARRRGGGGGGHHH!!!

LOL :lol:

Went to the local bunnings to buy some angle and bolts to make a bracket, they had next to nothing in Metric nuts and bolts! Wasted so much time looking for stuff they didn't have.
After finally getting the front bumper off with the help of friends (thanks MX54NB and co!) I found my pliers were juust too small to get around the spring clamps. Shoulda just called it quits then and there, but the benefits of living with your father in law is he has heaps of tools!
Managed to get the pipes off, cut and mounted before we lost all the sunlight. Nothing is tightened yet but this is it for the moment till next weekend.
Looks better already!

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 3:44 pm

This is a more accurate display of how we finished up last night :lol:

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 4:08 pm

Well at least you didn't do what I did and replace it with the bumper still fitted! :shock:

That was errrr...... not fun......

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 4:44 pm

^
I still have no idea how you managed that!

Those OEM spring clamps are a pain in the arse and are glued at the top. I just cut my intercooler pipes with the OEM intercooler and spring clamps still in place - they're still on the OEM intercooler which is sitting in my rafters.

The SE's tiny OEM intercooler is one of several half-arsed things Mazda did for the SE but at least the intercooler plumbing is already in place and makes it easy to install a real/functional intercooler. If you still have the bumper off, take the opportunity to try and clean up the insides of the steel intercooler pipes - they rust, particularly the coldside (this was another crappy thing Mazda did with the SE - the plumbing should have been aluminium, NOT steel).

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 4:53 pm

Lokiel wrote:I still have no idea how you managed that!

It wasn't easy, I still have the scars to prove it!

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 5:29 pm

Haha that's crazy!
Even with the bumper off the split pins were facing downwards were a pain in the arse to move!
Thankfully the rubber wasn't too fused on and easily slid off, mostly helped by the nice slathering of oil through all the pipes! (Got a fix for that coming soon)

And yeah noticed the nice coating of rust inside the factory pipes while cleaning out any leftover metal shavings

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:37 pm

Roadrunner wrote:Haha that's crazy!
Even with the bumper off the split pins were facing downwards were a pain in the arse to move!

Yeah it was a little bit...... :oops:

Here's a picture incase you don't believe me!

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 8:52 pm

Ok have a quick question regarding the cooler install.
Is it normal to have clearance issues on the lower black bar that the original one mounts too?

Here's the photo:

It's the drivers side. Not sure what that bar is for, and it's only juuust missing the coupler now it's tightened up.
It not touching the cooler itself, just the clamp on the silicon joiner is millimetres away from rubbing.
Iv read about clearance issues with the power steering lines but nothing about this bar.

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 9:23 pm

Here's another angle:

As you can see, while the clamp isn't tightened here, the weld on the bar is touching. When it's tightened up it's missing by millimetres.

How much does the intercooler move during driving?
Do you think being so close to the silicone joiner clamp will cause issue and if so how to a get a bit if a gap in there?

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 9:42 pm

I can't remember exactly from installing mine but I had the pre-made brackets from Mania with my setup. I seem to recall that things were quite tight in there but will have to check when I get home....

It's probably related to the bracket you made to mount the intercooler and where you located the mounting holes. You could try putting a washer or two between the bracket and the mounting point on the car to 'push' it slightly forwards, this may give you a little more clearance. I do remember the black frame had to be retained as I considered deleting it myself but can't recall what it was needed for.

If it's only the metal clamp that's potentially making contact then it's probably not too much of an issue (apart from a little noise) in the long run if you can't find a solution. You could even get a short length of rubber hose, split it length-ways and wrap it around the portion of the black frame where contact is likely as a protecting sleeve to prevent rubbing. :wink:

Sorry I can't offer much more advice without actually being there.....

Postby **Okibi** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 10:00 pm

How I did mine ..

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Wed Sep 24, 2014 10:46 pm

Hmm will have to have another look tomorrow. Only have 30 mins of sunlight to work in after work due to not having power/lights in the shed

but from what your saying I think once I bolt up the bracket to hold a bit of the weight of the intercooler it will lift it slightly and it shouldn't touch.
Might take your tip though Nevyn of putting some rubber around the black bar though. It would drive me nuts if I fitted it all back together and constantly had a knocking sound!

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 9:55 am

I had a look last night and theres not much movement available lifting the whole cooler up.
I did find this though from one of Lokiels posts. The red arrow pointing to the part that would contact between the coupler and the factory support.
I don't remember hearing Lokiel complain about clearance or issues with it so I think it should be right. Will still look to maybe try to massage it back a few millimetres though or put some rubber between.

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Fri Sep 26, 2014 12:06 pm

Can you spin your top intercooler bracket 180* around?

I had the MX5 Mania bracket which you can see is mounted 180* opposite to yours (ie. mine had the vertical 90* section of the "L" bracket BEHIND the top intercooler mounting bolts, yours has it in front of them - this will give you a bit more clearance).