New seats

 On to the new seats. As mentioned before I'm making a frame, that will then be filled in with plywood and surfaced with foam before the leather goes back on. First thing, another delivery from the Metal Store;

I highly recommend the metal store, it's just convenient compared to local stockholders. The prices are a bit more, and you have to make sure to get it above the minimum postage limit, but that doesn't take much.

First thing is that I wanted to bend the corners. After many webpages and youtube videos, I decided that it wasn't going to just 'bend'. So I went back to my 'segment' approach. Basically cut slots on the inner side of the bend, bend the metal and weld it up.

This is after a cut, bend and tack;

This worked really well, although I had to go a bit deeper with the angle grinder as the first attempt couldn't bend round to 90 degrees.

After welding (and a fair bit of blow through!) and clean up I had this;

I then continued with the others, and of course they went much better the second time (and the third and fourth time);

So these are now ready to be welded up. 

Next part was the head rest. This is the hardest bit as it's a full 180 degree turn in a fairly small area. First, the wood template;

This takes the outline of the leather seat, note that it's not symmetrical. The Mazda seats actually lean into the centre, presumably to take into account the roof. I'll be doing the same with mine.

Next was to find the cut positions. Each cut is 12.5 degrees, so there's sixteen cuts to do. And because it's not a perfect semicircle, I had no chance of drawing it by hand. Therefore I scanned the above picture into the computer and overlaid it with segments at the relevant angles;

This gave a good match to the outline, and as you can see the sections are very different lengths. At the 2 o'clock position there's two cuts that are only 2mm apart, this is to get the correct curve.

Once that had been designed and printed out, I could then follow the same process and cut the slots to make the curves;

Overall I'm happy with how they've come out. Some of the gaps are bigger than others but as long as I'm careful with the tacks then it'll work out fine. Obviously they're overlaid against each other above, in the car one will be flipped to get the balance.

This all took around three evenings, and I was really tired by the end of it, so I've not made any further progress. Having said that, it's only the seat-back sides that are required now, which are much shallower angles. I think I can achieve the sides with only one or two cuts, which is a whole lot easier.

Then it'll be drawing the outline on the plywood and cutting the pieces out. Once that's done and mounted I can then add foam. 

I do need to work out the seat runners. For IVA I want to put the seats quite low to avoid the seatbelt, so I'm having the seats fixed for the time being. But the bars in the chassis were for the MX5 adjustable runners, so more metal is needed. And more fixing. Not a big problem though.

To sit or not to sit

 I've still got a fair bit to do, but a big chunk that can be done next is the seats themselves. I've already got the fixing points for the runners, so I had it all planned to reuse the donor seats. A while back I dismantled a seat base and it came apart as a metal shell, a sponge block and the leather skin. This looked good, modifying the metal base and reducing the foam would work. Unfortunately, today changed that plan...

It turns out the seat back isn't as substantial as the base. It's basically an upright mattress, a series of horizontal springs coated in foam with the leather on top. So dismantling it just means I'd end up with a pile of springs and bits of foam that used to be a chair back.

As you can imagine I'm a bit frustrated. I now need to come up with another solution for the seats. However, this could be a good thing. Mainly because I can get things working better for IVA.

The plan now will be to make a metal frame that matches the existing leather skin, with either plywood or metal to fill the gaps. Then new foam to rebuild the seat, then reuse the leather. Sounds fairly simple. I've made a template for the seat back, I'll do the same for the base. Then maybe some thin ply to test fit everything, or even as a permanent solution if the metal frame is solid enough.

Time for more metal though. The stuff I have is too thick for a seat, both in terms of diameter and gauge. I don't want to use metal that can support a fibreglass body, just to hold up a bit of sponge! So I need to work out how much each seat will use, as well as future proofing anything else I might need. Measuring the seat I can see the back is 800 x 400. Assuming that it just needs a single loop on the outside, that's 

    800 + 800 + 400 + 400 (x2 seats) = 4800 mm

Metalstore have 1.2mm gauge x 3 metre x 19mm for £12.78 a length. Two of those should be fine for the seats.

I can also get the metal for the outriggers. With the back panel being 1.5m x 2.5m, I could assume that it basically needs a complete circle of metal for supports. That is 1.5 + 1.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 so an extra 8 metres.

All this is quite fortunate of course, because metalstore have a minimum £50 excl VAT order for free delivery. 5 lengths should do it, and that also works well with the seat metal. 

I could also do with some tube for fixing holes. Just some half inch will do here, 1.2mm again to weld easy. 

Handbrake cables and fitting

 Well, last weekend was a bust due to much higher priorities (more on that later), but hopefully today I'll be able to get started on the handbrake cables. 

The first thing I want to consider is how tight the curve can be on the rear cables. On my car I've mounted the calipers backwards, so instead of routing the cable directly forwards, mine have to loop round. I also have the 'option' of mounting the calipers upside down. While this does cause headaches for bleeding, it may also help the routing of the cables. Whichever way round the brake flexi will always go up, which is easy. The handbrake cable has a mounting bracket that changes the angle depending on orientiation.

I guess the first thing I need to do is try both ways up and see which one gives me the best cable routing without rubbing on the chassis. Then the next question is how tight those cables can bend. This picture suggests they can bend quite sharply;

This appears to be a complete U turn in the length of the lower wishbones, using the standard bracket to fix it on the diff bracket. This would probably be tighter than I need it, but it does mean I have a fair bit of flexibility in the mount. 

The first step is now done. I've replaced the angle fixing brackets that were on the cables with straight brackets, and welded corresponding brackets to the chassis just behind the diff. The cables will route from there to the transmission tunnel, where they will fix into a mounting plate. That's the next step, to create a mounting plate across the tunnel. The cables are intended to clip very similar to flexi pipes, so I've ordered a couple more spring clips. Hopefully I'll get to cutting the brackets once the first step has cooled down.

(Several days later...)

The rest of the handbrake wasn't too painful in the end. Apart from a full week of trying to order some handbrake cable (how can any seller think bungee cord is the same as handbrake cable?!!), I finally managed to figure out the other end. First, a trial fit;

This bracket was the first design, but the handbrake cables are existing too high and rubbing against the chassis. This had to be dropped an inch, to this;

This is the final fit, all welded up with the balance bar in place. This will work fine, so the next part is the front section. It needs to be adjustable, so I spent a while figuring out how to drill through a threaded rod to get this;

Along with a cable clamp at the end, and a nut on the thread, this is my adjustment mechanism;

But at this point it occurred to me that I need the bodywork in place to figure out where the handbrake can go. There's a few places for it to go but it needs to be usable. So for now this is the end of the handbrake. Given that it's two holes and two bolts to fix it in place it shouldn't be too much work.

Next job, seats...

Rear pipes done

The rear pipes were a bit easier. The only worrying bit was the first bit, if I had got that wrong I wouldn't have had enough to finish the job. Fortunately I just worked smoothly from front to back. This is the front part with the clutch cylinder and steering column in place.

The brackets down the transmission tunnel did their job, it made it easy to secure things in place.

And the rear pipes were really easy, very short and only the frame to avoid. They weren't even long enough to warrant fixing, but I added one to the left hand side just in case.

Talking of fixings, I think I need to add a couple more where the rear pipe goes vertical against the firewall. It can move up and down at the moment which won't go down well with the inspector. I just need to add ones on the bends to make sure.

Next job is the handbrake. The two rear cables come from the calipers and head towards the tunnel. I need to change the fixing brackets on both of those to bolt them to the chassis. They'll then come together into the balance bar which needs mounting in the tunnel. It'll need extending all the way down the tunnel to some sort of mechanism to turn it round into the handbrake. Sounds relatively simple as long as I do each section in turn.

 

Front pipes done

 Now I had an idea of what flares I need for the pipe, I could make a start. And it's gone really well if I say so myself...

The brackets worked really well, and once everything had been tightened the pipes are absolutely solid. I'm tempted to add some brackets between the pipes, and maybe wrap the pipes with tape where they sit inside the brackets. There's enough of a gap between the pipes and the chassis. Unfortunately the steering column had other ideas, so I had to do this;

This gives an inch or so all round the steering column. So it's on to the rears next. 

Just one last point before I head back into the garage. Everything I've done on the car has been done in segments, then I take the parts off and store them. This means that 'conflicts' such as the column above are very likely. Just off the top of my head I'm thinking the diff and the fuel tank will have fixings that need to occupy the same point in space and time.

If I had built everything on the chassis and left it there it would avoid conflicts, but the work would have been a great deal harder. I guess I've made the right call to do things in parts, I just need to manage the conflict as it arises. Oh no, I sound like middle management...

Brake pipes

Wow, this was a long time coming... so, on to brake pipes!!

This started well, the balance valve sits quite nicely alongside the master cylinder and is away from anything sensitive. Apart from the pipe bends being tighter than the flaring tool could handle, it was pretty easy to fit these two.

It was the next pipes that were confusing me. The ones above were double flared, a 'female' type pipe ending. But looking at my flexi pipes I could see that these were also female;

I initially thought that I'd gone wrong, so on to the trusted internet I went. There was lots of toing and froing, but eventually I found a 'bubble' flare;

This particular one was made using the AB tools flaring tool. By the way, I can heartily recommend their flaring tool, it does a great job and is very quick. 

So now it's onwards with the rest of the pipes. I'll be clipping them in at appropriate places, running them as required. The small pipes were a confidence boost, I think the longer runs should be a piece of cake. I just need to weld on some support tabs while I go, this isn't an issue as I've already done several long runs. 

I remember a story a while back about people who work on half-completed builds, they said that the chassis welding was often 'ok', but the pipes were done when the enthusiasm was there and so they are generally done to a very high standard. Wiring was the main thing that half-completed kits had trouble with. Fortunately I seem to have done things backwards, I got the wiring looms tidied up before I did the brake pipes! 

New plan for panel edges

 So after a few weeks of ridiculously low temperatures and 'other jobs', I finally got back in the garage. A quick tidy up, and I could have another go at panel trimming. It did not go well...

It's basically a lack of consistency. To get the same cut all the way along all the panels would need some kind of miracle. So I'm not going to attempt it. I'm going back to the original plan of using edging trim. 

I'm aiming for some padded trim, maybe thin neoprene or similar. It needs to go over the rivets, either using cutouts or thick enough to hide them.

Anyway, that's one job ticked off. Well, one job solved, not necessarily completed. Back to the brake pipes now. I have the new brackets drilled, I have them in the right position so I'll get them welded up. Then the solid pipes can start getting routed, and the handbrake cable can be worked on.

(Small update). OK, the tabs are now welded up, one of those jobs that I would put off over and over and just not get anywhere. I'm impressed with the welder that it just fired up and welded smoothly. Next step, brake pipe location. 

Some small jobs completed

It's been a little cold recently so my plans of getting an hour each day in the garage for either tinkering or exercise has turned into video game time for the most part. I've not got much done on the car but I have completed all the Uncharted games and about to finish the last Tomb Raider. Time well spent? No idea!!

Anyway, there has been a little bit of work done. First for the brake pipes, I've got a position for all the flexi pipes and now just need a bit of time and space in the garage to weld them in place. I also got the front handbrake cable to see how that will work. It's short, but that's expected. At least it contains the balance bar that is needed to connect it to the rear cables. I'll have a go at extending it then I can start on mounting the handbrake itself. 

The grub screws for the suspension arrived... and they're wrong. I should have realised the thread was too coarse to be regular M6 x 1.0. It's closer to 1.25. And of course, I can't get M6 x 1.25. A quick discussion on locostbuilders pointed out that an imperial screw would be better, so I've ordered the closest match. I'll try them when they arrive.

And lastly I finally managed to have a go at the panel trimming. The idea was to use a handheld router to cut a rounded edge in the aluminium. I managed to give it a go, and the results are pretty decent. I need to refine the process because I was using a wooden edge template. By the third cut it was no longer straight. I need to put together a metal former that I can bolt the panel to before I cut it. I want to practice as much as possible though, especially on the long runs. It looks really good over a couple of inches, and the join between panels is immaculate. But can I realistically maintain it over a couple of feet?

It did occur to me that it doesn't need to be on all panels or on all edges. In fact, it's probably only going to be the transmission tunnel edge. Even the side panels are either going on the outside or will have the fibreglass panel overlapping on the edge. 

(pictures to follow when I find my USB cable, it got 'tidied' along with the Christmas decorations...)

Brake pipe mounting part 1

 The flexi's have been positioned and I can now weld the tabs on (more on that later). Now I need to route the brake pipes. While I have the end points, I don't have the start points because the proportioning valve isn't mounted. Here is how it looks on the original car;

The valve needs to be on the other side though. Time to line things up and see how it goes...

Flexi brake lines

 Well, there goes another two months. I count myself lucky that I have a job during these times, but I also wouldn't have minded a bit of time to work on the car. I'd have had it done by now! Well, not registered, but definitely built.

Anyway, the flexi brake pipes arrived, and I immediately realised that the original brake pipe brackets were far too small. So I've had to cut them off and replace them with some more made up from 3mm steel. Still, it gives me an opportunity to route the pipes properly.

This is what I have on the outside and inside;

It seems quite a smooth line, with the connector routed nicely to the copper pipe. The outer works well with the steering left and right;

But checking this with other pictures suggest the pipes just go direct from the caliper to the chassis, with no support. That seems wrong to me, a loose pipe in mid air that has to have some flex in it? Not convinced.

I'll see what the locost builders reckon, and adjust as necessary. 

*** UPDATE ***

Turns out I was way off the mark! It shouldn't be fixed to the wishbone, the movement would cause chafing and therefore would be an IVA fail. So despite me thinking it's a bit 'odd', being held in free air is actually the right way to do it. I think I could get away with it if I used rubberised P clips to secure it, but it's adding a complication and possible failure point where there is just no need for it. 

Now the issue is that I measured the lines based on it going via the wishbones, and with that no longer being true I need to figure out how to route them while taking into account the extra length. They're about 5 centimetres longer than the 'standard' measurement, so 500mm rather than 450mm. I don't really mind them being longer, it's definitely better than being shorter! I just need to figure out where to place them. 

Results from the weekend part 2: The handbrake

 Putting everything together for the brake flexi hoses made me remember something I'd decided on a while back. To get the rear suspension behaving itself I worked out that the uprights should be 'backwards'. IE the left will be on the right and vice versa. 

This had the positive outcome that the suspension bracket could be correctly fitted, but had the negative outcome that the calipers were on the rear. When I was doing the suspension I thought it would be a minor inconvenience compared to the much bigger problem of redesigning the suspension.

The 'minor inconvenience' might be a bit more of an issue though. I also have the added complexity of wanting a dash mounted handbrake (see the post from last week). This means that custom cables were guaranteed but I'm really not sure whether this sort of safety device is easily DIYable. A quick post on Locostbuilders suggests it's not that much of an issue for two reasons. One was that many people have redone the Sierra handbrake in order to get it to fit. The other is that I can use more of the standard handbrake than I thought I could.

So this weekend I've spent a couple of hours freeing up the adjusting mechanisms on the cables. They took ALOT of work considering it's basically two nuts on a threaded tube!

The next job will be to put the suspension together (again!) and try and route the cable safely. The cable has got to come out the caliper towards the back of the car, then do a u turn on to the chassis (probably close to the brake pipes if I can get it to work). They then need to head up the centre of the car to reach the balance bar (oh yeah, I need to find out where that ended up!!), then onwards to whatever mechanism I'm using for the handbrake itself. 

I'm going to try and keep the rear cables as standard as possible, but the front one I think will have to be modified. After all, it's not even going to a handbrake! 

I'll get the rear rebuilt and take some photos so I can work it out... but that's it for this weekend. 

Results from the weekend

I managed to get some jobs done over the weekend, although the extra hour in bed did help. It does mean that there are no more light evenings, and it just gets colder from now on.

Still, jobs done. The first thing was to tidy up the hubs and uprights. They took a bit of a beating when I took them apart, in parts the metal was exposed. So back with the hammerite and black primer. It wasn't a major job, but it had to be done before things could go back together. 

The next job with those uprights was to work out the lengths of the brake flexi hoses. I had to basically build the suspension front and back on one side. That was an interesting experience, I'd forgotten how they'd gone together!! Still, after a few trials I got everything lined up and ready to measure. I had to get my shiny calipers out of storage too, the first time they'd felt fresh air since I reconditioned them and bagged them up.

I used the remnants of an extension lead to figure out the length. The wire was fed through the chassis brackets with the plug holding the end. The wire could then be routed to the caliper, keeping things smooth and not too tight. The fronts weren't too bad, just needed a bit of slack to cope with the steering and suspension movements. The rears needed a bit more thinking though.

The main issue is that the chassis brackets as suggested feed the flexi hoses straight out the side of the car. It's then a bit of a mission to get them back to the caliper without getting close to the wheel itself. This was especially relevant because my rear suspension setup had the caliper on the back of the disc rather than the front. This means both the hose and the handbrake would be heading towards the back of the car initially. 

After a few minutes trying to find a solution I decided to abandon the standard position. The plan is to have the flexi hose feed down from the caliper to the lower arm. Then pinned to the lower arm until it gets to the chassis. The chassis bracket will then be mounted at a suitable place, along the diff cage metalwork. 

I'll have to cut off the brackets and reposition them, not a biggie. At least it meant I could get the flexis ordered though, which is the first battle. I got them from Furore, they do custom flexis in a range of ends and colours for £20-£30 a corner (depending on length). I'm staying with the standard MX5 fittings, so it's a 10mm banjo on the caliper, going to an M10x1.0 female at the bracket. They come with a circlip and the copper washers so they should just bolt straight on. £102 for a full set, I was probably a bit over-cautious on the length but as they say, better to be too long rather than too short. 

Oh yeah, the handbrake. Separate post methinks...

Handbrake

 One of the things I've had in mind all the way through is the idea of an underdash handbrake. The demo HSR car had a handbrake right under the steering wheel, and while I was unsure about it being in direct range of my knees I couldn't argue with the clean look of the centre tunnel. 

The main issue is that it was still a handbrake, IE it was still the same handle and mechanism that would have been in the tunnel. This made it look odd (as well as the aforementioned knee impact). Other cars have had similar mounted handbrakes, and a quick google suggests there are much better options.

The easiest one to replicate would be the one used in some cars in the 90's. It was basically a pull rod inside a tube, attached to a cable and then on to the mechanism. 

There's a couple of things to consider though, the ratchet mechanism and the mechanical effort required to apply the brakes. 

The ratchet mechanism was achieved by having slots cut into the pull rod on one side only. To release the ratchet the handle would be twisted so the pawl no longer engaged. 

The mechanical effort needed some maths, based on the existing handbrake. The following measurements were made;

1. Distance from pivot to cable channel = 34mm.

2. Distance from pivot to handle centre = 240mm.

3. 19 clicks on the ratchet mechanism for full travel.

4. 45 degrees of travel for the handle.

The distances from the pivot means that the mechanical advantage is 240/34 or 7:1. IE the handle moves 7 times further than the cable. 

The cable travel is Pi x 68 / 8, or 26mm from stop to stop (the actual travel is less than that but I'll maintain the full travel distance for now). The same travel for the handle is Pi * 480 / 8, or 189mm. 

This means that I need to come up with a mechanism that moves 189mm on the lever, to 26mm on the cable. It shouldn't be too difficult, except that it's 'the wrong way'. The pull handle will come out towards the driver (front to back) whereas the cable needs to pull from back to front. A bowden cable would achieve this quite simply, but that would reverse the action without applying mechanical advantage. It would also add friction which would mean more effort and/or pulling distance. More than 7 inches is already a far pull distance, I wouldn't want it much longer.

I need to come up with a solution to apply the reverse in direction as well as operate the change in ratio. Time for some Fusion 360 I think!

Oh, for the ratchet mechanism, I counted 19 clicks on the ratchet. To have the same on the pull handle would mean 19 notches on the 189mm of pull, or 1 every 10mm. Not a problem. I need to have a spring loaded pawl to operate on the solid rod of the pull handle within the hollow tube of the slide. This is a little more of a problem but still not insurmountable. After all, I already have a handbrake with a pawl mechanism that I won't need anymore!

Bearings

 One of the things that has bugged me with the donor parts has been the wheel bearings front and rear. They didn't feel bad and were never highlighted as an MOT issue on the donor car history, but it seemed really strange to not replace them. The reason I'd not done them yet was simply because I couldn't get them apart!

Reading many forums seemed to agree with my assessment, they're usually so meshed together that they should only be taken apart if absolutely required. And it's very likely that some breakages and replacement parts will be needed. There was also mention of 20 ton presses, scaffolding poles as breaker bars, and all sorts of other stuff.

But doing some further research I could see that replacement parts weren't particularly expensive. On the front the bearing and hub were a single unit, as they are on the rear of most cars. Coincidentally they are actually used on the Mazda Demio/121 of a similar era (1990-2005). So while searching for MX5 front bearings gave a lot of very expensive options, a search for Demio rear bearings got lots of cheaper ones! A pair of hubs/bearings were £46 delivered.

Next were the rears. The stub axles were not going to survive, I resigned myself to that. The nuts were also going to end up in fragments on the garage floor. Fortunately the stub axles contain the CV joint so they're intended to be a replaceable item. These are MX5 items only, but a pair cost £31. They also come with replacement nuts so that meant I could go to town on those without worrying.

The last item for the rears was the bearing itself. Apart from wanting to replace the bearing anyway (the whole point of this exercise) the design of the stub axle means that the bearing collapses when it's being removed. So it has to be replaced. Again, Mazda makde things really simple and had this wheel bearing used by many cars. £25 for a pair, no problem.

This meant a full set of replacement bearings and associated parts was £102 delivered to the doorstep. That's pretty much spot on in my opinion. 

The stripdown was so much more effort though. The four hub nuts got the brunt of the angle grinder and powerfile, and did indeed end up as bits on the garage floor! 

I have a decent hub puller from previous car maintenance, so with a bit of encouragement the fronts came apart quite easily. The new ones will go on, and then torqued up as required.

The rear took much more work to do the same task. In the end I got my impact gun on to the hub puller and just gave it everything I had. The vibrations of the impact gun, combined with the immense pressure that a hub puller can apply, managed to press the stub axle out of the hub. After removing the bearing internals that had just collapsed as expected, the outer race was then hammered out of the hub. Finally the last job was to detach the stub axle from the driveshaft, it was just a spring clip holding it in the same as any other driveshaft so a few thumps with the hammer sorted it.

Once all the parts were cleaned up (CV joint grease is really horrible stuff!!) the parts can go back together again. At time of typing this update the bearings have been pressed into the uprights, and I've done some cleanup on the hubs ready to give them a lick of paint. They had been painted before but access issues meant it was a bit of a rubbish job. 

So that's it for the bearings, everything is where it should be and it'll be ready to bolt back together in the final position. Another job ticked off the list. Well, it was a job added and then ticked off, but it needed to be done! 

No pictures on this one, with the various bits of metal going all over the place and lots of hammering I thought my phone wouldn't last very long. In fact I was fairly accurate with my estimate, I had since found a bottle of beer with a severely dented cap, and I had a pencil torch that ended up in pieces and has been glued back together. 

Pedal setup completion

 Well, it's Sunday morning, the coffee is nice and for once the sun is out, so it's time to get up to date. I've done a fair bit of work over the last few days, actually a bit more than I expected to be able to. 

The first thing to update is the pedals. As I had put in the last update, I had a brake and clutch switch to add. The brake switch was an obvious one, I need brake lights. The clutch switch was an odd one though. Apparently it's to cut fuel on overrun, and it's not difficult to just delete it. So I have!! 

That leaves the brake switch. The action of the switch is to have it closed when the pedal is not pressed, and open when the pedal is pressed. When the pedal is in the MX5 this means it's mounted above the pedal, out of the way of the drivers foot. That doesn't work here as I've turned them over. So I needed to mount it on the floor. This is how I've done it;

It's out the way of the foot, and works as required. It also has the added benefit in that the screw fit of the switch is now the end stop for the pedal. Combined with the screw fitting of the push rod and I have full control over the pedal travel. Obviously where it is at the moment is very wrong, but once the system is plumbed in and pressurised I should be able to figure out a nice place for the pedal to sit. It 'should' only need maybe a couple of inches of travel to apply full force, so it'll be adjusted to do that.

Here's a better view of the same;

Next is the clutch pedal. No switch means no end stop, but the solution was much easier here. The book uses a bent piece of metal mounted on to the bolt itself. So here's the same for mine;

The adjustment is simply to rotate the metal until it's in the right place, then tighten everything up. The screw thread on the push rod also deals with travel. This also needs plumbing in and adjusting, I don't know how much travel is required here but clutches tend to move a lot further than brakes.

Finally the gas pedal was mounted to the chassis. This wasn't a complex one, just a U bracket on to the rail itself. It's spring loaded to assist with pulling the cable, and there's a screw fitted into the bulkhead to restrict travel. I must take a photo of the whole set up, but in the meantime here's a better photo of the final clutch/brake setup;

I am really happy with how it's come out, I'd done the back plate quite a while ago but not finished the process until now. It's had a coat of paint on all the parts and is ready to fit to the car. 

Extra job added

 While I was sorting the loom, I found two switches that I had missed. These are pedal switches, one for the brake and one for clutch. To be fair I'm kind of glad I found them, as I was a bit confused how to add the brake switch! At least reusing the existing switches should make it easier, no need to mess about with pressure switches in the lines. 

The bit that I couldn't figure out is how they worked. They are a very small travel switch, I couldn't understand how they could be fitted to the pedals and cover the full travel of the pedal. Then I found the original pictures from the MX5;

In both cases, the switches are mounted to the front of the pedals, not the back. So when the pedal is released the switch is pressed, and vice versa. Which makes a whole lot more sense as it means the pedal can move as far as it wants, and the switch can just operate on the first press.

Of course, it now means I need to figure out how to mount those switches. I've taken the standard pedals and turned them upside down, so if I put them back where they are in the pictures then the switches would end up in my heel!! I'll have to figure this one out, should be an interesting challenge!! I'll start with the build manual though, they must have come up with a solution for this. 

Main loom cleanup

Just one more loom to sort now, the main loom. I had a thought about this one. I do still want to strip it down to simplify it, but I'm on dangerous ground with what can be removed. So I'm going to keep things simple. First stage is to strip the wires from the two sides of the engine bay. There are two 'ends' to the loom, one goes through a grommet into the engine bay and runs down the passenger side. There is an equivalent down the drivers side.

Both sets of wires cover two jobs. They both deal with the front lights and some engine connections. What I'm thinking of doing is splitting both sides into their light and engine sets, so there will be four sets of wires in total. I can then trim down the lights that aren't needed, but keep the sensor wiring 100% intact. 

This will give me more freedom in terms of where the lights are in relation to the engine, as well as potentially giving me a chance to tidy up the engine bay. 

There is one thing I need to find out though. The main loom has connections to the dashboard loom, but there is also another connector at the other end of the dashboard loom that I never managed to figure out. Oddly enough, there is a corresponding connector on the main loom as well. Here is the main loom connectors;

and here is the dashboard loom equivalent;

The four connectors on the right of both images are easy, they're the main one. It was the connector on the left that I wasn't sure about, especially as the way it's wired means that it would end up on the far side of the car. 

Let's see what the locostbuilders guys think... once it's back up and running...

Oh, I guess this might be time to give a bit of a view on forums for builders. There are two main options. The first is the Haynes forum itself, http://forums.haynes.co.uk/index.php. This contains a huge amount of information, but as far as I can tell they've been wanting to get rid of it as dead weight. They're not accepting new registrations, and it goes down regularly. Once I can get my password reset I'll be getting on there and downloading some of the build diaries.

The other option is http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/. This is my go-to place for anything car related. A great bunch of people who know pretty much anything. It's still an active forum, but it's based on old tech and the effort to transfer it to something a bit more up to date would be immense. This also goes down occasionally (database connection error usually) but the admin is just one guy who does work hard to keep things running. It's also the only forum that I actually pay for. It's only £10 a year, but knowing what the admin does to keep it running, and the costs he must have to keep it up, I think it's a tiny amount to pay.

If there are any new builders out there who just happen to find this blog, please join locost builders and help with a contribution to the site. The amount of information you'll get from there is worth far more than £10.

Loom cleanup 3

Last night saw the end of the horrible ignition wires. This is what I had originally;

Such a mess, not one cable was left untouched. They were either cut, spliced, joined to others, or in the case of the pair of yellow wires, left to go off to another device. I didn't want any of that, but I couldn't just cut the connector short. wires at the bottom of the picture go off to the steering column plugs, so the distance between the ignition barrel and the steering column is fixed. I had to rebuild the wires, so I bought some spare wire and some new spade terminals.

The spade terminals were quite simple to work with, but I'm glad I had the right tool. Basically the connector was lightly clamped on to the cable;

Just to hold it in place, then it was clamped properly;

Note the two connector clamps, one to clamp the wires and one to clamp the sleeve. Just for good measure I then tinned the wires with solder to make a good contact. I also needed to flare the back of the curled over section. The latch mechanism in the connector block was for slightly larger terminals so it wasn't working properly for this sized connector. It didn't take much tweaking to get it working though.

The offending wires were cut off, leaving different length wires. This was a good thing, because it meant that the joints weren't all in the same place. This cuts down on bulk as well as potential breaks in the insulation causing short circuits.

Once the new wire was spliced on (linesman splices, nice and secure) they were soldered together then heat shrink sleeving applied. The end result looked like this;

So much better and safer. A quick trial on the ignition barrel;

and everything looks good. The fit was incredibly tight, so much so that a couple of the terminals were pushed out the block. I opened them up a little to make it a bit easier, put them back in the block and they worked fine. Still very tight, but at least they went on to the connectors now.

Loom cleanup 2

Second one done, this is the rear loom. The main parts out of this was related to the rear windscreen, big power cables for the heated screen. It's so long though, I appreciate it needs to get to the rear of the car, across and then back in again, but it is so long!

This is what came out. It did tidy up after this though, a few coils of decent wire that I can reuse elsewhere.

The crimping tool has arrived, and it seems to provide a decently strong connection. Time to rebuild the ignition cable next. I don't know whether to redo the main loom though, there's quite a lot of it and I'm not sure what needs to be removed. It also runs the ECU, engine sensors, all that important stuff. I'll check the connectors to see how many wires can come out.

Loom cleanup

Well, this is where I started;

And this wasn't even the full loom, I'd missed a section at this point!!

First job was to understand my random labelling. It was handwritten on masking tape, and some of it was readable but the majority wasn't. I pinched my wife's label maker and replaced all the labels. At this point I also realised that I'd not labelled everything...

It turns out a lot of the ones I'd not labelled are actually not used. Going back through this blog I was able to see the ones I'd left out, figure out what they did and then mark them appropriately.

Once they were all marked up, it was time to strip out the unwanted parts. First, the instrument loom. The main thing here was the heater and window controls and the power associated with both. The process was to basically start at one end, and work it through by removing the old tape, removing the unwanted wires, then binding up the remaining wires. It worked mostly well, there were a couple of tight spots on the wires that may have been a mistake but overall it's made a decent job;

This has left me with the switch gear (bottom and bottom right) the head unit wires (centre), the instrument cluster (at the top), then on the right there is a ground wire and the handbrake switch coiled up, then the four connectors off to the main loom.

I've tried to keep the removed wires intact, even to the point where I've removed terminals from the plugs. I've had to cut a few wires though, particularly the power and ground leads where they join together. Cut, insulation tape then loom tape, hopefully that should keep things sealed up.

So next is to repeat the process with the rear loom. Oh, and this atrocity;

This is what is left of the ignition barrel wiring after the butchery of 'alarm installation'. There isn't a single wire that hasn't been attacked in some form. And it's all big thick cable. My job will be to cut the whole lot out and replace all the wires. I've bought some 30 amp cable and some 6.3mm spade connectors. Luckily the connector itself is basically a cage for standard female spade connectors, so as long as I can replace the wiring and reterminate the new leads then I can rebuild the connector. That's the plan at least, but it can't go anywhere until I get a crimping tool as I don't appear to have one! That's on order from Ebay, should arrive next week. But I have lots to keep me entertained before then.