Engine in

The last few days have been very productive, mainly because I got the engine back in. I wanted to get it in for some time, and I thought now was a good a time as any;

Two things had to be sorted straight away. The engine mounts hadn't been drilled, it actually turns out they needed to be slotted as well. The engine is just too narrow for the mounts so they sit right on the inside bars rather than on the welded plates that I added. Structurally this isn't an issue, it's still load bearing through some substantial bars and they're all connected and plated. Even if the bolts somehow fail their more than 3 ton load limit, the engine still can't drop through. But I am still going to weld a washer in the right place, as I'm not sure how Mr IVA would react to a bolt going through a slot rather than a hole. I cut the slot in the mount rather than the body so it's easier to put the strength back in.

The other thing that needed sorting was the radiator mount. It was entirely in the way, and I couldn't safely tilt the engine far enough to get it into the engine bay past the bracket. Two minutes with the angry grinder got me here;

Not the most attractive resolution, but I had the engine in the air so force overcame grace on this one. Still, it didn't take much cleanup. Removal of the welds and some tabs on the bottom of the bracket leaves me with the whole unit being removable;

Holding a radiator and fan doesn't need high strength, but this is still a high tensile bolt into a rivnut in the chassis (ignore the left hand one, I'd not cut the bolt down when I took this photo). The radiator fits fine again;

Talking of rivnuts, I put some more on the centre console panel. With dome fasteners that are pretty much the same profile as rivets I'm happy that it's attractive and IVA compliant;

I also sorted the required hole for the gearstick so that's ready to go too.

Back to the engine. Having it in place gives me a load of jobs to complete. First, clearances. I needed to confirm the clutch pedal and slave cylinder don't want to occupy the same space;

That looks pretty spot on to me. The brake pipe is a bit tight but still plenty of movement space before things get dangerous. 

Next, the steering column. Everyone who had put an MX5 engine in their locost has said the alternator bracket needs to be cut. But if you recall I wanted to move the column to make it extra IVA friendly. The additional angle means that my column doesn't get close to the engine;

I also had a look around the engine to see what was going on. First the plugs and leads need to be replaced, here's an obligatory photo of the leads so they go back on in the right order;

The cam belt kit I have also comes with a water pump, and just looking I can see it's desperately needed;

It looks to be a mix of limescale, dried coolant and who knows what else, but as this is being replaced I'm ok for now. I'll get a hosepipe through the rest of it before going too far.

While I was on this side of the engine I removed the brackets for the air conditioning and power steering, they won't be needed. 

The cam cover comes off for the cam belt too, so I took the opportunity to have a look around;

Turning the engine over manually shows things moving quite smoothly, no horrible scraping sounds. There's no marks on the lobes or caps either. But everything is dry, proper bone dry. If I started it like this I reckon I'd get some issues. I'm going to give everything a spray with clean oil when it goes back together, that should be enough to keep things slippery until the oil pressure builds.

Oh, and last check, the whole short/big nose crank issue. My car is a 1992 so it 'should' be clear, however the VIN is below the threshold. So the only way is to visually check;

This is an 8 slot pulley, along with a 1.4 inch bolt. Both point towards a 'good' crank which is a relief.

Next jobs then. With the engine in place I have the following to do;

1. Coolant pipes. This will be from the rad to the engine, through the VW coolant bottle, and back round. I do need to buy the pipe, but I also need to figure out the routing before I know how much I have to buy. 

2. Breather delete/reroute. There's a couple of cam cover breathers that I want to sort, they seem a little excessive in my application but it'll be up to 'the internet' on whether they can be removed completely.

3. Fuel pipes. Simple really, I have the hose, two ports on the engine and two on the tank. No real problem, although I do need to find some suitable fuel hose clips for it's journey down the transmission tunnel. 

Here's the two pipes as they came off the car;

Depending on what I think is easiest, I might connect the new hose to these connections, or remove these lengths completely and connect new hose direct to the fuel rail. I'll reuse the corrugated tube to protect the new hose, but I think that will be the cleanest solution. 

4. Clutch pipe. I've got a length of kunifer ready to make a clutch pipe. The routing will be simple, although I do want to include a 'loop' like the factory pipe uses. This will make it easier to fit and give it some movement.

5. Exhaust. I have everything but brackets for the exhaust so that can be built up and welded together. Oh, and I've just thought... the exhaust usually has a load of IVA stuff to deal with, but mine is inside bodywork!! Therefore I've got a lot of flexibility on what to do. 

Here's the first part of the exhaust ready to bend and exit out the car;

Just on the subject of exhaust, I have been looking for a flexi exhaust section that could fit in the gap that I have. But after doing a lot of reading online I'm not sure a flexi is needed. The original MX5 didn't have a flexi, and apparently it's more about how transverse engines move. The rocking of a transverse engine puts the exhaust under bending stress, whereas an longitudinal engine is more of a twist. Given how an exhaust is secured, a small twist can be tolerated a lot better than a bend.

The build manuals don't mention a flexi joint, and just trying to find a Haynes roadster with a flexi is coming up remarkably thin on the ground. So for now I'm going to leave it and go for a hard pipe all the way through. That's not to say one can't be mounted afterwards, but at least for now I can go for a standard exhaust with no cleverness involved. 

6. Engine electrics. When I took the engine out I left a lot of the associated electrics connected. But it's not attractive, there's still a load of wires that need to be removed, and the fuse box needs to be mounted. 

7. Engine servicing. So that's the cam belt full kit, plugs, leads, and all the fun and games. 

8. Propshaft double check. I just want to make sure I got the measurements right, then I'll get it sent off and cut down. 

That seems like a nice amount of work to get through, and it's nice to have some variety in it. Welding metalwork can get a bit dull, at least a lot of this is more about designing and building the smaller details. 

Bodywork off and finishing welding

 Today's job, remove the body and finish the welding. Most of the braces had only been tack welded, and I needed some better access to finish the job. The body came off relatively easily (certainly a lot easier now the face has been cut away). 

This was the first time I'd seen the frame without the body hiding part of it. For the most part it looked ok, but the three bars were 'odd';

These pictures show that they don't quite line up. The ones under the body look consistent, with a gentle change between the two. But the bonnet one is very different, with a centre 'peak' that the other two don't have. This suggests that while the bonnet does need to come down, it's actually the centre that is holding it up. So rather than bringing the whole thing down 78mm like I thought, I think the sides are correct and it's the centre that is holding it up. That bar is going to be left alone for now, I've not cut it down any further so I still have an opportunity to reprofile the bar. 

The rear looks really good though;

The second photo is after I'd turned things upside down to finish the welding. The rear is probably better than most of the rest of it, mainly because I had cut it straight to the chassis rather than have it conform to the body. The whole chassis looks quite good while upside down though;

I finished the day welding up all the missed parts, painting the whole bottom, and preparing the bottom for putting the floor in. Yes, I think that is going to be the next job, partly to make things look more complete. I am now getting very close to the stage where there are not many jobs left, so I might as well start making things permanent. I just need to find the drill attachment for the rivets, it's a big yellow thing so can't have gone far. 

Oh, and rivnuts... I want to get those installed for the centre console and probably the side panels. They're easier to deal with, as I only need an M6 bolt to set them. 

Dashboard and reusing mx5 cluster

 As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wasn't particularly impressed with the dashboard blank. It just doesn't suit the car, and it doesn't fit. So I do need to find an alternative. But my thoughts turned to the instruments from the MX5. I had originally planned to use the cluster as is, just drop it into place. I had no idea how it would work if I tried using different instruments, and I wanted to keep things IVA friendly. 

But it's the same as the dashboard blank, it won't fit. So I decided to have a look at it. 

This is the instruments as they stand. A nice collection of bright lights, two main dials and a few extras. I was going to be able to use nearly everything here, only losing the fuel level and a couple of warning lights.

When I disassembled it, I found that the instruments are actually quite well self contained;

With the fixings screws doubling up as the electrical connections. So for the rev counter there were three screw holes for positive, negative and 'trigger'. Furthermore, the instruments come out;

Having them removed from the cluster does present some opportunities and challenges. Firstly, rehousing them in something should be fairly straightforward, with a plastic clear face. I'm thinking maybe a 3D print in ABS. The challenges are obviously getting a 3D print to work correctly, to be able to reuse the screw holes and not melt in the temperature of a car! 

Still, this is definitely the way to go, no need to reuse the entire shell. I'd need to figure out the indicator lights though, typically this would be a 'bright 6' module. Another 3D printed option no doubt, but they would need to have clear symbols so printing negative images on clear plastic would have to be done. 

None of that is impossible though, and then I can mount them wherever I want. Hopefully in the centre of the dash as I want to. I'll lose the fuel gauge but keep the oil pressure and temperature gauge. 

Body bracing

 I have got a lot done in the last couple of days, unfortunately it's all under the skin. Literally, as in it's the support for the body skin. 

So it starts from the front, as mentioned the front of the body would come directly where the battery and coolant reservoir need to sit. So from this;

To this;

It still needs tidying, but it had to be trimmed before I could do anything under the body. With the frame top fully welded and flattened down, I got it clamped underneath the body, then at each corner I created a stand from the frame to the chassis. It'll make more sense once I take the body off and I can fully weld everything, but as of now the body support is 100% done.

Oh, no it's not... I'm still missing one support for the front of the body. This will be where the bulkhead ends up. It's the same process though, a slightly curved piece of metal joined by two vertical supports. I'll do that last one before taking the body off and welding it up.

While I've been working on the body I have been thinking more and more about how to fix it. I am wondering whether trying to maintain a smooth surface is worth the effort, or whether I should just drill and rivnut the whole thing. At the moment gravity is the biggest player in the 'keeping the body in place', at least for the top frame. Another time for that one I think.

While this work was super productive, visually there is absolutely nothing to show for two days in the garage. So just for something to look at, I put the steering wheel on;

Despite being ridiculously dusty, the column and the wheel went on with no modification to the body. This was a big surprise as I thought it might need something. Even with the column clamped in the right place it was fine;

The only thing I need to deal with is the cowl. The IVA inspector would have a field day with an exposed key lock, so I planned to reuse the cowl. The bottom half went on no problem, but the top half had nowhere to go. So it turns out I do need to cut the bottom lip of the body. And luckily the steering wheel controls also sit proud of the body so I can keep the lights, indicators etc.

But the dashboard was a different matter;

This dash that is currently perched on top is meant to sit behind the wheel, but it's not even close. Even if I trim the dash depth I am almost certain it will stop the indicators working. But to be perfectly honest, I'm not overly bothered. I just don't like the look of it. It works fine in the white demonstrator as that is meant to be a modern take on the car. I want something a bit more traditional, a bit more 'home made'. Even to the point where I don't want anything behind the steering wheel, I want things to be mounted in the centre. Or I could follow the Healey inspiration and just have the rev counter and speedo behind the wheel, at the '10 and 2' position relative to the steering wheel. The original plan had been to reuse the MX5 cluster, although again that isn't going to work now, not unless it gets embedded deep into the body. Perhaps I ought to look at taking the cluster apart and seeing what mechanical parts are used for the rev counter and speedo. That could be an interesting side project. 

So next job, finish the one support bar, then remove the body and just go to town on the rest of the weld joints. I've got front, back and body to fully weld, then paint. Oh, and the bonnet crossmember that is already rusting due to being outside, that needs paint as well. It just goes to show how quickly things rust, especially welded joints. 

Oh, and I need another tank of gas so I'll have to sort that out sometime. 

Boot / crumple zone

 Given that the body has a built in boot, I did want to make use of it. I also wanted it to be a crumple zone of sorts, at least sturdy enough to slow down whatever imbecile of a driver might decide six inches is enough of a braking distance. 

First thing was the rear bar, made in the same way as the other bent bars on the car. This time it follows the back of the bodywork, where it will attach via 5 bolts with big washers. I did check with a strategically placed clamp, they are quite difficult to see so just having colour coded covers will make them effectively disappear.

As posted before, I then braced that rear bar to the diff cage;

At this point I realised something was amiss. While the body had got lined up as best as possible, the centre line (spirit level!) was no longer in the centre of the body. That means the body is twisted somehow.

So I need to enforce the centre line, and let the body sort itself out. The centre section was to be a 'V', to make the whole thing an upside down 'W'. Instead of just cutting and filing to fit, I made the V section away from the car;

With a centre line at the peak of the V, and the two lengths being identical, I could be fairly confident that this would give me an accurate centre. And it did... for the metalwork;

You can see here that the centre line on the V does line with the centre mark of the metal, but not the centre mark of the body. This is where the twist has come in. So from this point forth I decided to ignore the body, and just make a perfectly aligned frame. A few cuts of metal later, and I had a fully triangulated rear frame;

OK, it's not perfectly triangulated, the V section is welded a little in from the fixed points. I could say something clever like 'its designed like that so in a crash it collapses gracefully', but to be honest I just couldn't get a weld into that tight corner. A good weld is going to be worth more than getting it right into the corner, so there you go.

So next job it's back off with the body, full weld this frame (as you can imagine all this needs welding from underneath and from the sides hidden by the body). While the body is off I will add the required captive nuts for the rear end, yet more M6 nuts! I might try something clever to get the nuts in place but then I might just cut some holes and weld them in! They don't need to be mega strong like seat belts or similar. 

Photos for ideas

 Over the various shows I've taken plenty of photos to give me ideas on what to do. I think it's time to add them to a post so I have them available. Here's some that I'll be using as reference for the next few jobs.

These two show the side panels, how they've been filled in with aluminium and brought down to the chassis. I intend to do the same, however because the triangular body section completely missed my chassis that has now been removed. I'll simply continue with the aluminium up to shoulder height. I will stay with the idea of riveting across the top, and most likely use rivnuts to attach it to the chassis. Then I'll need some edge trim as that corner will be too sharp to pass IVA. I'm not sure of the trim on the plastic itself though, I'll have to look at how I finish that edge. Just thinking about it, I could have the aluminium on the outside and hide the rough edge of the body.

These two show a couple of back panels. One thing I have is a gap from the body to the chassis behind the seats. It's about three inches all the way across, and I need to fill it. Since the majority of the back panel is already aluminium it makes sense to make the infill panel also aluminium. This is visible on the Thruxton. Since I've trimmed the panel in line it should be fairly easy to put a piece in at an angle (or even rounded if possible although I might be pushing my luck there). Alternatively I could go for a more traditional fabric or carpet back panel like the green car. If I'm not too blasé with the leatherette I could come up with a padded section there, although I have no idea what it would look like. 

This one shows that I'm not the first to fit the roll bar supports through the body, I'm happy that they look very similar. This also shows how the dashboard fits. I'm not sure whether I'm using the dashboard but it seems to suit the car quite well. It'll need to host the MX5 instrument cluster though, and I don't like the plasticky look so I'd have to cover it with something. The plexiglass 'screen' is a good idea though, and I have another picture that shows how to form that;

This is for a car where the screen is a very tight radius, but using it for a ninety degree bend would at least give some consistency between left and right edges.

Finished roll bar and the start of the boot

 The roll bar has now been completed and properly fitted with the bodywork;

The main roll bar and the two supports have at least 5mm gap around them so there will be no rubbing between the two and I'll be able to add some trim. I've also cut the back of the body in line with the roll bar. I have to admit I do like the wide shot;

There were a couple of things that popped up here. The first is that while I cut the body to match the roll bar, it turns out it's not quite in line with the chassis. That will no doubt show up again when I come to fill the gap between the body and the chassis. Also, the body does have a slight twist in it, about 5mm to the left. To combat this I have a piece of wood taped to the roll bar support which is bringing it back in line. Once I have more bracing in place it should hole the body correctly. 

The next job is to build the boot. I want it to be usable, so it needs a frame. I also think it should be a fairly robust section for crash protection. That robustness will keep the body in line as well. Lastly, it has highlighted that I'm missing some triangulation for the rear supports. As a fairly quick (actually several hours) job I got the triangulation done;

Bracing things against the diff cage should be plenty strong enough. Here the two diagonal supports have been welded in and dressed. There is then two supports coming up from the bottom of those supports, and there will be two more from the top. 

However this is where I'll move away from my original plan. I want to preserve as much space as possible, at least get to the sides of the boot lid. So rather than just coming out perpendicular to the bottom, I think I'm going to angle them out to make better use of the space. I also want to use 25mm rather than the 19mm that I originally cut. Finally, there will be an X brace put in the centre, which should be plenty of support for whatever I want in the boot. 

The main thing for this is how 'permanent' it will be. I had originally planned to have this whole subframe detachable, but I'm not sure there is any realistic benefit to it. I do still need the body removable though. That does mean that the fixing for the body can't be adhesive like the other locations, it needs to be a screw fixing. Those screw fixings might/will be visible from outside. albeit tucked under the bottom of the rear. They will need to be large washers and bolts, either going into rivnuts or even welded nuts. I think I saw a youtube video on how to put a welded nut inside a tube, I'll have to find that again. 

So that's the plan for today, all the ironwork for the boot. It's a bit of a tight space in there though, so it won't be fun...

Roll bar fit

 This job has definitely had it's ups and downs. After getting the body fitted, I got the main roll bar in place. That just needed a couple of fairly large slots cut in the back;

I really like how it looks, particularly the lower bar that fits perfectly in the lower curve. The one thing it does show is how unbalanced the shell is. While everything is centred, the drivers side took a much deeper and angled cut compared to the passenger side. You do need to look pretty closely to see it but it's definitely there. I'm happy with how it will sit with the wheels as well.

So on to the rear braces. This was a long winded process and was extremely scary. The first stage was a broad layer of masking tape to mark and drill, a small hole roughly in the right place, and some string to see how close I was;

First attempt didn't look too bad, but actually just looking at these photos now I realise that I needed to go right as well as back. Still, I didn't notice that at the time...

I used an old offcut at the right angle to see where I needed to cut. After lots of trimming and filing, I got a hole big enough for the post;

Unfortunately I think it was a bit bigger than I had really planned, so instead of just plastic P trim around the edge I'm going to need a bezel. But since that's good enough for Cobras, it's good enough for me!

I tried a quick paper template and it looks good to me. I just need to figure out what material to make it out of. Normally it's a chrome bezel in a rubber grommet. I'll use a rubber grommet but not chrome as very little else will be chrome. I do have some spare aluminium pieces that will work well.

I do like the look of it though, it really works well. Once the second one is in place that'll be it. It did remind me that the rear roll bar braces have mounting plates that aren't braced themselves, so I need to sort that out.

Oh, and having the body on shows the front frame is way too high!!

That looks to be two to three inches too high, which makes a lot of sense given how high the bonnet was. 

Body support frame

 I've completed three sides of the support frame...

It wasn't overly difficult. The front came first as I had that curve already on a template. A series of slots and bends got me close to the body. The sides were trickier, I got the X direction sorted first then the Z direction. It seems to give good support along it's length although I'm tempted to try find some fairly stiff foam to fill the gaps. 

And this is where I stopped... As I was doing the rear support I had a couple of choices of where to route it, and I think both will interfere with the roll bar. So what I want to do next is get the body on to the chassis and mount the roll bar. At the same time I'll figure out the vertical sections for this frame and refine the bonnet verticals. So I need a dry day, which judging by the forecast I'm going to really struggle with! 

So again I consider this 'finished', albeit with a few last tasks to finish. My exhaust parts arrived yesterday so I've got that on my task list now; 

I also have the fuel hose and some fuel clips, as well as a filter an pump. That's all to fit and plumb in. Oh, and the service kit for the engine, so I can sort the engine out. 

I also need to have another go at the handbrake, I put that one off until the body was on and I might have to do the same again. So yet another job to do with the body in place. If only it wasn't so large I could managed with it being on and in the garage, as it is I have to keep things separate in order to close the door. 

Lights

 A quick stock check first...

The front has a headlight hole, they're going to be for reusing the MX5 headlights once I find a full mounting kit. The one I got from Amazon was missing a key part so had to be removed.

Also on the front are two 70mm holes each side. One is for indicators, the other I'll use for sidelights initially although the headlight does contain side as well as normal and main beam lights.

At the rear there is a 45mm hole and a pair of 70mm holes. The 45mm is the indicator, a pair of the 70mm holes is stop/brake light, then there 'should' be one fog and one reverse light. 

Car builder solutions do a set of six. Two stop/brake, two indicator and two clear, all at 70mm, and all for £42.

https://www.carbuilder.com/uk/70mm-lr-style-set-of-six

So that covers the four on the front, and the brakes on the back. I still need to find the smaller rear indicators (as well as side repeaters), and then reverse and fog. 

They also do a reverse light, although it is sold as a pair for £14.40;

https://www.carbuilder.com/uk/lr-style-70mm-reverse

Although I'm tempted to mount these in the two holes then have a fog light as a separate unit that can be e-marked. 

If I can't find a fog or small indicator then I'll go for the ones above to get the majority of the lighting sorted, then find somewhere else to get the others.

Radiator and fan

 As planned, I got the radiator and fan fitted today. Although it did take a fair bit longer than I expected. It was mainly getting the fixings into the right place so everything bolts together without hitting the bonnet.

Still, it's all done. Some random pics;

These are the lower fixings, 19mm box section cut in half lengthways for a U channel. It works quite well because the plastic tabs fit in the channel, then the screw holds it in place. Well, it should, more on that shortly.

One either side, with slots so the fixing can be adjusted.

This is the first step of the Christmas tree, the top fixing for the radiator. Again some box section cut in half, this time mounted at an angle on a cross bar. This is my second attempt, the first design didn't take into account the temperature sensor. This sits just below the sensor. 

This is the same part welded to an a frame, along with a bracket for the fan mounts. The lower mounts for the fan are just screw holes and will share the fan mounting points. 

A better picture of the tree...

... And how it looks with the bonnet shut. I haven't put the fan or rad on here as I'd only just finished welding and things were warm.

I still love the front end though, this is the rad mounted just before I welded on the fan fixings so everything had cooled down.

So the only thing I need to figure out now is what screws to use. The holes are in soft plastic so self tappers make sense. But they need to be short otherwise they're getting to water which really isn't good. I have some short self tappers but they bind quite tightly after only a few turns. I'm reluctant to force it too much in case I split the rad. I'm going to have to see what fits better than the current fixings. Or warm the fixings up and let them melt the hole a bit. 

Next job, er... find a job!! I'm back to being between jobs again so I'm hoping to make swift progress on the car. Ooh, exhaust parts arrive tomorrow I think! That'll be a job to do, but it will need the engine back in. I do need to order some fuel line as well, four or five metres should be fine.