Mx7? rx5? Newbies build thread begins

[Steve-A]

Hmm still really mixed on what to do with this car.

Had an awesome drive in to work today. I went via Stratford on the a46, roof down sun out, engine singing. Since I played with the trailing spark it really does come alive and want to be revved.

But on this tank I once again did 21 mpg, which whilst not THAT bad for a rotary meant I put £40 tuesday afternoon and need to fill up again before I head home or I\'ll run out on the way

I\'ve agreed with my parents I can have a project car in the garden, where my mums vegetable patch used to be, if I sort out some pots for the remaining veg and flowers. So I\'m kinda leaning towards finishing this off (speedo + rust on drivers door) then selling to to buy an rx7 to play with an a standard mx5 to daily.

[Steve-A]

Today is good news!

Despite my other money worries, I\'ve had a little money put aside for quite a long time for something special. Today they arrived!





:D:D:D

14x6.5 Wats, not sure of the et but it would be 24 or 30 or something. There are no et marks stamped into the wheels themselves and a previous owner has painted over the original Watanabe stickers. I tried scratching he paint off the sticker but it took the lettering with it .

Either way its not big deal they sit lovely with my 25mm spacers. I will be taking a drive with them tonight, just to test them out, then they will be going for shot blasting painting in either a gun metal or kinda classic bronze and then having some new t1rs fitted

[shaunwil]

Very nice. Compliments it very well.

Have you thought about a dyno session to tune a better mpg into the map ?

Shaun

[captainbizzaro]

That transforms her mate, looking good. Trouble is you\'ve got to change your avatar now:D

[Steve-A]

Cheers guys.

I had thought about it Shaun, but I don\'t think it will work miracles. Most of you guys seem to be running mpg in the 20s and really for the amount of mies I\'m doing I now realise low 40s, or better, is kinda necessary.

Either way I agreed to buy RossOnza\'s s2 first gen that needs some work as a project and over the next couple of weeks I\'ll be doing that speedo fix and replacing the drivers door on the mx5 then she\'ll go up for sale. It\'ll be sad to see her go but I\'m excited about the 1st gen project too and it\'ll be nice to have a comparatively quiet and comfortable drive for commuting in the form of a fairly standard mx5.

I\'ll keep the new wheels for either the daily 5 or to have adapters made for the 1st gen.

[Ian65]

Cheers guys.

I had thought about it Shaun, but I don\'t think it will work miracles. Most of you guys seem to be running mpg in the 20s and really for the amount of mies I\'m doing I now realise low 40s, or better, is kinda necessary.

Either way I agreed to buy RossOnza\'s s2 first gen that needs some work as a project and over the next couple of weeks I\'ll be doing that speedo fix and replacing the drivers door on the mx5 then she\'ll go up for sale. It\'ll be sad to see her go but I\'m excited about the 1st gen project too and it\'ll be nice to have a comparatively quiet and comfortable drive for commuting in the form of a fairly standard mx5.

I\'ll keep the new wheels for either the daily 5 or to have adapters made for the 1st gen.

look forward to seeing you in the 1st gen section then Steve!!

[Steve-A]

I\'ll be there Ian.

Will start a fresh build on the FB, got some fairly big plans for it!, after next weekend when I\'ll have been to see it and started to prep it to be transported to my house.

[Steve-A]

Well its been a little while since an update.

I\'ve been working to finish up the little things on the car so its in a condition I\'m happy to sell it in.

I\'ve spent quite a lot of time working on my choke settings and starting pulse widths to make the starting ad cold running as OEM as possible, rather than the slightly lumpy rough tune I\'d used to use as little fuel as possible.

Last weekend Ian and I set about sorting out this speedo drive problem. As I posted a few weeks ago I needed to change the speedo gear from inside the box.



To change the drive we had to get the gearbox tail section apart. To take the tail section apart we had to remove the gearbox, because of the way this engine is shoe horned in the car to remove the box we had to remove the engine, to remove the engine we had to remove the front subframe, i don\'t know why she swallowed a fly, perhaps she\'ll die.

So we spent most of a day having a relaxed attack at the car, and basically only managed to unplug some ancillaries and get the exhaust off (right git that was). Here\'s Ian going mano a mano with the exhaust slip joint.



And the engine coming out.



And the old gear on the right and new one of the left.



Now here\'s the real issue behind all my speedo problems, despite what the internet says, on the left in an rx7 speedo drive and on the right an mx5 speedo drive. They are NOT interchangable! And because the teeth on the gears are at different angles, the gear inside the box has to match too.



So now I\'ve got the mx5 drive inside the box and just need to pick up an mx5 speedo drive.

I\'ve got a drivers door from a breakers in the post to replace my rusty one and then once the DVLA post me my V5 back with new engine number and capacity its ready to sell.

[captainbizzaro]

Thats a lotta work for a flippin cog!

[Steve-A]

Its a lotta work for an assumption that the internet is correct!

[captainbizzaro]

Oh right, best of luck then lol. If you read it on the net, it must be true!

[Steve-A]

Been a little while, I\'ve been busy with my rx7 so the mx7s taken a slight back seat, but she\'s not been neglected.

Over the past few weeks I\'ve:

• Fitted a new drivers door, complete with no rust!
• Fitted correct speedo drive so I now have a speedo
• Put in new battery as mine was dieing
• Spent many many hours fiddling with Megasquirt so I\'m now on closed loop idle control and it starts properly!
• Driven a few thousand miles!
• Attempted to register the engine swap with the DVLA who told me they wanted more proof, so got letter from local garage confirming VIN and engine number to post tomorrow.

Today the frost was very pretty so I took a couple of pictures




I\'m still really really enjoying driving her, its such a shame the mx5 never came with this engine from the factory. But the fuel bills are still crippling me, so it will have to go once I\'ve got this DVLA thing sorted (and the weathers warmed a bit so mx5 sales speed up!)

[shaunwil]

Truly Cold, but Monday the Frost was stunning !

Shaun

[Steve-A]

I got my v5 with correct engine number and capacity back a couple of days ago, so I\'ve been making preparations to sell the mx5

I\'ve spent the last couple of days giving her lots of TLC, tidying up little bits here and there, she had done another 3k miles so oil change, oil filter, new plugs and going in in the next couple of days a new set of brake pads

I\'ve also given her a good clean and taken some nice pictures. She was looking lovely in the wintery hints of sunshine today.





Then it just so happened that the garage where my friend Ian works was quiet, so we slotted in for a quick power run on the dyno.





Considering thats basically a stock EGI engine with Megasquirt and a less than optimal exhaust set-up (compromised header for steering rack clearance & I\'m running a cat), ~160hp at the wheels and ~175hp at the fly is good with me

[Steve-A]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBfai1Oi-Nc

Video from my phone there.

MOT time on thursday, then write up an advert