Operation TLC

[ndragun]

Hi all,

Some of the long-termers on this forum may remember me. Used to contribute around here years ago. My 94 Clubman has been a bit neglected over the past 4-5 years while I've been off running a business, trying to raise children without going completely bananas, learning to fly planes, wasting money hand over fist on lovely german cars and generally making a nuisance of myself, so now its getting a bit of love. I haven't managed to bring myself to just get rid of it over that time...
Anyways - here's a thread on the rebuild. Let's see how we go keeping this updated...

So far - the list of changes underway;
- Replacement engine (this was genesis, it was just going to be a straight swap until I started picking at seams). Current engine had 207k kms on the clock, the replacement is at 91k kms and completely torn down and rebuilt.
- The Torque Team in Mansfield, Brissie did and are continuing to do the block machining, balancing and head port/polishing
- Kelford 235-C cams, possibly with replacement valve springs if we think its worth the effort
- 1mm overbore
- Jenvey ITBs, Megasquirt ECU
- Maxim works header
- Supermiata twin ceramic metallic clutch / flywheel assembly
- poly bushings
- XIDA coilovers and replaced sway bars & end links
- Dabbling with vinyl wrapping to deal with some panel colour mismatch... depending on how frustrating that all becomes

Coupla pictures of the old duck over the years;

[ndragun]

The engine put together take 1. Unfortunately the head will be coming back off shortly since I made the decision to replace cams after I put it together. The Kelford spec cams I'm running apparently require extra machining of the head to get them to fit.



Here also shows a doomed water pump... The timing belt tensioner here is missing since, if you look closely, you'll see the bolt end snapped off in the pump and block. Bolt extractors failed, and drilling it out was unsuccessful. So this water pump was literally cut back off the engine with a drill and dremel and bolt removed!
A new water pump without threaded tensioner bolt hole and a tap and die set later, and we're back in business.

Next up... wrapping!

[ndragun]

While waiting for the ITBs, ECU, cams and other bits and pieces to arrive - thought I'd also have a crack at vinyl wrapping. Mentality here is I'll do the bonnet, boot lid and mirrors in a carbon fibre wrap and if it seems manageable enough, will set about wrapping the whole car.
Its all just a bit of fun really...

Anyway 25ft of it ordered through these guys;
http://autovinylsolutions.com/

This guy has some good tips on Youtube - and there are plenty of others;


Did the bonnet relatively quickly/easily but it IS going to be a bit tricky with more complex surfaces. Currently struggling to figure out how I'd go about doing the front bar... But we'll get to that.





Looks like wrapping requires PATIENCE and many hands. Don't be afraid to pull it back up, stretch it, heat it, cool it, heat it again and press down small bits at a time. Don't go too far too quickly, lest you get caught out with a spot that can't be pressed down uniformly... Then you end up pulling it back up in large areas, and run the risk of tearing it.

Despite being a relatively 'flat' surface, I struggled initially with the bump in the centre of the bonnet. Mind you this is my first attempt.
But more or less - its come up pretty well.

Boy wonder modelling the finished product in the sunlight;



Next up we'll have a crack at bootlid - though don't know how to safely remove the Clubman badge yet.
Then its on to the mirrors. If we pass those two tests, we'll do the whole car.

I'm thinking either "Brushed Black Metallic" or "Brushed Aluminium/Steel". Thoughts?
http://autovinylsolutions.com/3M_1080/3M_Brushed_Vinyl

[Old Dude]

Looking forward to this build, the bonnet looks pretty good

Cheers
Dale

[ndragun]

Thanks Dale

Just another pic of the block when it came back from machining. Didn't really get any pics of the early progress unfortunately, but there we are. Plenty still to do when the parts roll in!

[Gladiator]

Oh yes, I"m looking forward to this one.

[Okibi]

Me too, looks like it's going to be a great car to drive

[Magpie]

Another MX5 with ITB's in Brisbane, nice. Watching this build!

[ndragun]

Another MX5 with ITB's in Brisbane, nice. Watching this build!

Yes hopefully there are a couple of guys around to bounce ideas off when the ITBs finally arrive...!!

Bit grumpy this morning because I ballsed up wrapping the bootlid last night... twice. You really need more than two hands, but I gave it a shot alone and paid for it by wasting a bunch of material. In the end generally it looks ok, but shouldn't be seeing all that white around the tail light hole, and I'm not happy with the cutting around the Clubman badge. Tried to do it without removing the badge but its not the way to go... We really need to try and get it off and then stick it back over the top of the vinyl.
Is there anyone around who has successfully removed badges? What would you use? Scrapers, heat and isopropyl alcohol I'm thinking...



^ This looks ok...



^ This... not so much. Shouldn't see that white around the tail light cutout, since the light itself isn't tight around the hole and so won't cover it up. Should have wrapped it right round the edges DAMN IT!

[ndragun]

Anyway - the clutch has also come in. Twin disks and apparently a 'flywheel'... Not sure if it really qualifies as a flywheel though...!!

[Magpie]

Happy to listen/bounce ITB ideas as I'm sure other ITB owners in the Brisbane area will be. Your biggest decisions will be what air box to run or to go with filter socks and trumpet lengths.

[ndragun]

Happy to listen/bounce ITB ideas as I'm sure other ITB owners in the Brisbane area will be. Your biggest decisions will be what air box to run or to go with filter socks and trumpet lengths.

For sure... I've a whole bunch of ideas on routing air into each TB - but lets see when they arrive. TBH I'm more apprehensive about the wiring and ECU setup...
At any rate, I've got a bit of reading to do Magpie on your build thread... And I've been told "gslender" is another forum member worth a look!

Meanwhile - wrapped a mirror this evening. Treated this as a throwaway effort and just tried to get a feel for how to work the vinyl on tricky surfaces. Being a smaller piece makes it much easier to do without extra pairs of hands....



Generally pretty successful but don't think this particular effort would last long-term in the elements. One of the key aspects (apparently) is ensuring the material isn't over-stretched, or stressed at the edges - as it will likely lift and/or shrink in hot sun. This effort though is stretched pretty heavily around the open edges of the mirror and around the bottom. On a hot day in the sun I wouldn't be surprised if it all goes gooey and recedes back off the edges and fails. Nevertheless... it looks ok at the moment and we'll worry about it when it fails!



So, reckon we've passed our tests enough to wrap the whole car... We'll go from white to a brushed metal black. POSSIBLY with a big ol' white stripe through the centre just to give it a bit of a reminder of its roots...

[gslender]

Yep, happy to share ITB tales.... What ITB are you using?

[Magpie]

Jenvey's!

John Pham (mrpham) and Sailaholic also have done ITB'S also madjak in WA is doing some out of the box thinking regarding Jenvey ITB'S and air box. madjak Is sending me an ABS test trumpet so I will give some feedback on the design and fitment.

What are the specs on the engine you will be using?

As demonstrated by a post on the forum, get a peg board and lay your wiring out on that. Have a look at Danny's recent post on his MX5 NC 20B build for neat efficient wiring, however Danny is using PDM.

[ndragun]

Yep Jenvey kit from rev9.
The bottom end is just a replacement 1.8 - overbored an extra millimetre. Compression is more or less the same as stock. Figured we'd be a bit conservative with this block, and maybe later down the track we'll re-machine the original block out to the limits. I also have half an eye on the Maruha stroker kit... so maybe that's something for the (distant) future.
For the moment though its just about having something reliable to build from...

I liked what mrpham has done with his wiring... Nice clean job - and will check out Danny's as well.
Danny - don't know if you're reading this - but I believe you're friends with Ben and Katie B? I'm Katie's brother FYI...