What have you done to your car today?

[hemisport15]

Who says that? I didn't say that.

I know you didn't, but people on the last page said that it didn't fit in, hence me posting one of the best miata dedicated threads ever.

 

[eiriksmil]

Blasted some.. Sprayed some..

 

[Perfect Balance]

Measured my ride height. Flash drive is exactly 2.25"

 

[CyborgGT]

No work on the car since finishing the wire tuck. Some remote battery terminals from Summit have been mounted to the bumper (temporary), but otherwise I'm just saving up for the motor. These, however, just arrived today.

 

[Slick Rick]

I stickerbombed my bonnet....

 

[Perfect Balance]

I stickerbombed my bonnet....

At least you didn't do the outside of it.

 

[deadcell96]

I like how the stickers look like they're behind that metal piece.

 

[niky]

That's about 15 kajillion hp right there.

 

[Slick Rick]

Thanks for the comments lol yea I noticed a difference almost immediately!

Ive seen it done a few times on the outside and it looks good on a some cars if its done properly, definately wouldnt work with mine so I did it underneath where only a few people would see....

 

[ExigeEvan]

Thanks for the comments lol yea I noticed a difference almost immediately!

Ive seen it done a few times on the outside and it looks good on a some cars if its done properly, definately wouldnt work with mine so I did it underneath where only a few people would see....

An auto Vajazzling then?

 

[MatskiMonk]

That picture looked fantastic. What happened with your car?

In short, the facts:

I recently moved, and did not update the registered address of the car, or my drivers license address (photocard license stolen with wallet a little while ago), only counterpart left.

Clutch failed in December, and there was an unknown problem with the injection system, One badly worn tyre.

I 'thought' the road fund license expired at the end of Jan 2011.

Road fund license expired end Dec 2010.


So... a selection of the things that I would have had to pay to keep Diana on the road

£200 Admin cost for towing the car
£112 6 months tax
£102 towing un-drivable car back to my house
£26 replacement drivers license with correct address
£15 replacement covernote for insurance purposes.
£105 'storage' for the car whilst the documents come through
£75 new tyre
£390 new clutch
£50-£200 engine fix

... well over £1000

or... if I get my stuff out of it and leave... £0.

Sad to see it go, but she wasn;t worth that in the first place... the MOT was due in 4 months too, that would not be cheap with a £300 exhaust on the cards.

Lesson is kids... always keep your address info up to date with the DVLA, keep you documents up to date and...

IF YOU SORN A CAR AND PARK IT ON YOUR DRIVEWAY.. MAKE SURE THAT IS STILL CLASSED AS OFF THE PUBLIC HIGHWAY.

My housemates Golf GTi (SORN'd pending tax) was towed at the same time even though it was on the driveway... turns out the council owns our drive way... so even though he thought he'd done everything legally he still had to pay a couple of hundred to get his car back...

 

[Eric.]

Stood out in 15F temps with light snow to remove the clutch master cylinder from my MR2. Waiting on the new one to arrive shortly so it can be back on the road.

 

[nobuffalo]

Did you bust any fingers, stick yourself with a screwdriver, have to use a cell phone as a flash light? Answering "no" to any of thoses questions means you completely wasted perfect 15° temps, either way, without pictures your story just sucks...



hair.

 

[Eric.]

How about holding a flashlight in my mouth (sorry, the iPhone SUCKS as a flashlight and I've learned never to use it unless in complete darkness) and having tools that don't like fitting around: brake hard lines, random wiring harnesses, a strut tower...


Edit: and the flashlight ended up balanced on some brake lines and stuff sorta halfassed-ly pointing in the general direction so I knew if my socket was on the nut or not.

 

[nobuffalo]

You win. 👍








I've been spoiled with the Miata, a brake caliper failure the first week or so I had it, since then, nothing. The master cylinder is pretty rusted over though, judging by the condition on the outside, I don't think it'll be too long before i'm replacing my own...

 

[Slick Rick]

An auto Vajazzling then?

Had to google Vajazzling but yeh exactly like that 👍

 

[Eric.]

You win. 👍








I've been spoiled with the Miata, a brake caliper failure the first week or so I had it, since then, nothing. The master cylinder is pretty rusted over though, judging by the condition on the outside, I don't think it'll be too long before i'm replacing my own...

I'm hoping to be lucky with the MR2 and it be mechanically good to go after this and new rotors. It runs great.

 

[Omnis]

Figured out why my car is making all this damn noise. I can't even get a dipstick reading. I wish my car had an oil pressure gauge... it's probably real low.

 

[Slick Rick]

Its best to get an accurate oil reading in the morning before you start the car, then all the oil has settled overnight.
If you used the car recently and then saw there was no reading on the dipstick it doesnt nessesarily mean its got almost no oil it just means its low...

 

[Omnis]

It's oil-change time anyway.

 

[Punknoodle]

A descent oil pressure gauge is good for a race car, sure. But a street car? How about just checking the oil level more regularly?

 

[Eric.]

Even with my MR2 barely showing oil on the dipstick the oil pressure read fine, so you can't really go by that.

 

[NISM0_SKYLINE]

Wow, wrong thread on my part.

 

[Punknoodle]

I pick it up this afternoon I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[slims]

Pulled the starter motor off my engine tonight so I can get it checked out tomorrow. Was hoping to finally start up my engine for the first time in over a year yesterday but after changing oil, topping up coolant etc and connecting the battery all I got was a nice click from the starter motor every time I swung the key. 👎

 

[Eric.]

Did you hit it with the BFH?

 

[Punknoodle]

Pulled the starter motor off my engine tonight so I can get it checked out tomorrow. Was hoping to finally start up my engine for the first time in over a year yesterday but after changing oil, topping up coolant etc and connecting the battery all I got was a nice click from the starter motor every time I swung the key. 👎

Not to be captain obvious but did you charge the battery? I mean, starter motors don't die from just sitting there, but if the battery was disconnected for a year it would loose its charge and only cause the solenoid to click but not turn over... But I'm sure that would have been the first thing you checked.

Anyway picked up the GT4 tonight, pretty happy, feels good, steers really nice now and the gearshifts are LOVELY!

So, all in all, here is what was done:

Engine removed, head removed and inspected, wetblasted, pressure tested, buff and faced valves and seats, replace guides and seals, surface grind and reassembled (head had already been ported and an aftermarket cam and valve springs installed). Valve clearance set. Installed new Gates Racing timing belt kit. Distributor seals replaced. Injectors serviced and flow tested.

Power steering rack and pump removed and both reconditioned.

Gearbox seperated from engine, clutch inspected, gearbox stripped down and replaced all seals and bearings, 2nd gear syrcro hub, 3rd and 2nd gear syncro rings. New CV boots.

And once it was all back together it got a wheel alignment too. Hopefully next time I drop so much money into it its for something that'll make it go faster (apart from the wheels that is - planning on getting them around April)

 

[Paulie]

Lightweight wheels will make it go faster.

 

[Punknoodle]

Haha, true. But that will be nulified by the extra resistance on the road from the wider tread

EDIT: Small update, I took to the quiet motorways tonight for a bit of a road test. It may just be in my head, but I am thinking whatever they did to the head has made a noticeable improvment to the power delivery. Down low it is much the same as it was before, quite a bit of turbo lag, but get that turbo on song (for instance wide open throttle in third gear merging on to the motorway from an on ramp ) and it has more of an urgency to it, the revs climb faster than they did before. All in all I'm a happy man for the moment.

Quick thought though, as I rise through the rev range, there is a whirring noise coming from inside the engine bay, like a belt. Not loud, and its the sort of noise that doesn't sound out of place, probably very much normal, but I am paranoid now. I mean, the reason the car broke down was the timing belt slipped on the cam gear - they showed it to me and it had a definate rub mark on the back of it. They never found the cause (tensioner seemed fine but has been replaced anyway), and now this noise is more noticable than it was before (or now I'm simply listening out for it). Im just concerned the noise is something rubbing on the timing belt, like the cover. I don't know, but I'm going to take it back in the next few days when I get a chance (I won't be driving it anyway) and get them to listen to it.

 

[Geletaxi]

Some soft racing tires.