Yesterday I went down to the Gold Coast to visit with mechanic Darren, discuss how things were going and pick up some old parts. While I was there Darren installed the Flyin Miata coolant re-route, and the AC technician came by to do up a new hose. And our good friend Daffy even came by at the start for a chin wag
Unfortunately I didn't get great photos of the AC hose, but essentially the hose runs from the firewall near the AC dryer and ABS "ocotpus", and occupies the same space as the dump pipe! So the hose had to move. Darren opted to go in board, between the dump pipe and the bock, and under the exhaust manifold to the AC compressor. The hose was of course covered in a fire/heat resistant sheeth! I'd also mentioned my AC worked OK in winter, but was useless in summer despite a re-gas a couple of years ago, so the tech pressure tested the system and we found a small leak in the dryer which will be sealed up. I might actually have decent AC next summer!
I took this photo to show DP clearance, but it's actually good to describe the AC hose. It goes from the barb at the top, straight down where the DP is, but now will swing left towards the block, then under.
Pressure testing and searching for leaks
After a little conern about the fitment of the re-route hose, Darren re-angled the clutch line, and we found a path for the hose from the the back of the head to the FM cross flow rad. It might need one or two sacrafical cuttoffs to protect against a few rub points, but I think we're good. We're going to completely remove the water neck and block it off at the head with the supplied plate, a hose will have to go from the water neck all the way over to the oil cooler/warmer, as both the ports on the water neck and the throttle body are no longer there.
The FM re-route hosing ready to go in. The 2 narrow brass barbs at the top right are for the turbo coolant feed & return
And fitted in place, there's decent room to maneuver it into place, but cleaning the old gasket off was tricky
The other side
The hose path wasn't as bad as first thought
A few exhaust fitment issues presetned,the muffler is sitting a little bit high and the exhaust tip is rubbing the bottom of the bootom of the boot where the battery sits. Some longer rubber bushes should make for the clearance. There's also some small contact with the diff where the exhaust snakes under to the muffler. There's a casting tab there that we'll cut off to fix that. And the O2 sensor bung is a bit far down the pipe, so the O2 sensor will bump into the OEM exhaust heat shiled, which will need a trim. Nothing major, all of this is manageable.
The exhaust tip is a little high, but the real issue is behind this where it's bumping the boot floor
The exhaust is rubbing that square edge casting on the diff, but should be an easy fix with a grinder
The coated DB should really hlep prevent the trans tunnel getting too hot. The front edge of the heat shield will need to be trimmed, right where that fron mounting bolt is.
I just liked this shot of the DP and manifold without the turbo, you can see the coating is inside as well as outsdie the metal
With the bumper off and the car not leaving the workshop too soon, I thought now was the perfect time to pull the headlights and get them professionally re-furbed. You have to remove the bumper to pull the lights, so now was the perfect chance. They've got som discolouration and hazing and I'd like the restore them to like new.
Lights out for re-furbish
I was curious how the old stock IHI turbo had fared after 17 years and 210k kms, and well, the compressor wheel is toast! The blades are chipped and actually curling back on themselves, suggesting 16psi might be too much for strength of those blades. Not too much play in the shaft though, so I suppose the bearings are still in decent conditions. And for anyone wondering, the OEM oil drain is intact!
I think I'll clean this up and keep it as a trophy
Later this week the man will be coming to fab up the IC piping, which is exciting. But there's still a lot to do, a lot of the small jobs that can add up. I'm really happy with the progress being made and seeing my car yesterday was great, I can't wait to be driving it again!
)
The work is being done in fits and spurts between other short jobs and it seems Darren hasn't had a clear window of time to finish or progress my car. Other than the rain, the weather has been really nice lately and it's torture! 
