[hoodedreeper]

First choice would be SR Autobodies but when I last spoke to him it was a 2 year wait. RB Motorsport is also top of the list although I haven't had any quotes yet (by the time I save the money, it could get worse, how much worse no one knows)

Unfortunately everyone is distance from me

 

[hoodedreeper]

Apologies for the thread bump, another year has passed since the last post, hopefully 2023 will have more updates.

As always, the daily driver gets more attention and the R34 gets neglected. The Colt CZT was sold last August and I purchased an MX5 NC1 Sport. From October 2021 > October 2022 I had only driven the Skyline 1000 miles

I'm due to get married in April and have been holding out spending any money on mods for the MX5 till after the big day. Rather than doing that I promised myself I'd drive the Skyline more and sort out a couple of minor things on it.

I usually wait until March/April to put it back on the road, but the UK weather had been dry and the roads reasonably salt free. So with that, I decided to tax the car, give it a clean and blow off the cob webs (litually).

I remember driving the car last year and hearing a whistle/whine on acceleration aswell as a struggle to build boost. I did a smoke test and there were no leaks. I also did a vacuum pressure test on the actuator and it held pressure no problems.

I removed the intake hose to check the play to find it does have about 1mm in-out play, the same amount the last time I checked (April 2020) Not ideal!

With the car back together I took it for a test drive and it all seemed fine. The Greddy Profec OLED boost controller was set to my low boost setting (7-8psi) and it built up boost with no issues. The whistle/whine noise had disappeared too, strange. I also blanked the blow off valve to see if that eliminated any issues, but it drove the same.

I made a video for my Youtube which goes into more detail of getting to the turbo etc including some in-car footage of me driving.

I purchased a used turbo with the intention to send it away to be rebuilt, easier said than done. I contacted the first 1.5 pages of a Google search and not a single company can do a standard rebuild on this turbo, only a Hybrid rebuild.

Not wanting to constantly buy used turbos to get by, I started to crunch the numbers on what was required to go the hybrid route. The kick in the teeth was having everything previously purchased but it all got sold to pay off debt

The cambelt is due this summer as it'll be 5 years since it was last done. The clutch will also need replacing because I don't have any history or evidence of what it currently has. I don't want to go through all of this effort and it slips on the dyno.

I've spoke to a local tuner (J's Garage, whos very very familiar with RBs) and he's advised on what needs doing.

Hybrid Turbo rated to 450hp (AutoExtreme)
Fitting Kit braided lines, genuine gasket set (AutoExtreme)
Xtreme Heavy Duty Clutch & Lightened Flywheel
GTR Injectors

Link G4X
IAT sensor
J's Garage Trigger Kit
Boost solenoid
Injector flow test & fitting
Fitting and Mapping

Tie rods/track rod ends/wheel alightment needed too

With a geniune cambelt kit/waterpump the total for the whole lot comes to around £6800 GBP / $8k USD / $12k AUD

Which means the MX5 will be up for sale in the coming months to help pay for it.

 

[hoodedreeper]

One thing that kept sticking out like a sore thumb were the chipped intercooler pipes visible through the grille.

"Taking the bumper off and painting the pipes won't take me long"...a phrase I said to myself numerous times, how wrong was I.

The rubber couplers put up a fight but they pipes were finally removed. Unfortunately I forgot to take some photos along the way, but it's all shown in the Youtube video at the bottom of the post.

The pipes were badly chipped/corroded so I took them right back to bare alloy with a wire wheel brush ready for painting.

The bumper brackets underneath the headlights had corroded badly and were in desperate need of a repaint too. A minor set back but a job I thought wouldn't take too long.

There were stripped back to bare metal too, followed by Hammerite Kurust and then Hammerite Smooth Black

Thats when I noticed the holes in the engine bay had chipped and corroded. I couldn't leave it like it so I got stuck in sanding that down ready for rust treatment

The opposite side was quite bad too so I did that at the same time

The area was keyed,cleaned and masked up ready for primer and paint

I wish I had known about this sooner, I would have taken it to have the paint scanned for a colour match aerosol. Unfortunately all I had was gloss white, so the shade is waaaay off, but at least its treated and sorted.

The turrets will need sorting at some point so I'll get the engine bay re-painted at the same time.

The side areas underneath the headlights also had light corrosion so they received the same treatment

I ran out of daylight, impatience got the better of me and rather than waiting a week for my next day off I carried on into the night under an LED work light.

There's something about freshly painted parts and new hardware that gives you a great feeling of achievement no matter how big or small the job is/was.

I wish I had taken the front reinforcement bar off to treat and paint but I wanted it back together so I could drive it. When the bumper is next off I'll do it then

Here's the Youtube video with more details

 

[CHRISSID6]

Car is looking well as always and those little touches helps to keep it looking tidy.
Also some good tune up parts planned I see

 

[hoodedreeper]

You may remember me making my own rear diffuser back in June 2020.

The company who powder coated it, didn't do a great job and it was flaking after a year. It's been one of those jobs I've been meaning to do and I finally had a chance to sort it.

It was most noticable along the edges and around the bolts/rivets

I found someone new to sand blast, he had them for a couple of weeks before they were ready (he does it in his spare time). I didn't take any photos during this next process, but I did film it for the Youtube video which will be at the end of this post.

I started by cleaning up the parts with a wire brush, wiping them down with white spirit before I started the painting stage. I gave the parts a coat of Kurust to help with any corrosion followed by Zinc Primer, black stone chip and then Hammerite Smooth Silver.

There was an issue with the main body of the diffuser, the powder coat just wouldn't come off. The guy who blasted it said he tried various ways including increasing the pressure but didn't want to go any higher because he didn't want to distort the panel. He tried a carpet pad with 40 or 60 grit paper and it still wouldn't shift.

I thought about getting it acid dipped but it'd already took more time than I had hoped to get to this stage. In the end I purchased another sheet of mild steel and re-made it.

It didn't take long to get it cut out and drilled

It then had a coat of stone chip and 3 coats of Smooth Silver

To help prevent it going rusty and prolong its life I decided to add a bead of clear silicone around the edge of the fins and over the top of the rivets. I know its not a very neat thing to do, but I don't think many will be on their hands and knees to check the condition.

 

[hoodedreeper]

While the diffuser was off I checked the condition of the boot floor and found alot of surface corrosion. I did my best to get the majority of it down to bare metal and treated with Kurust.

I found my first hole With the wedding just weeks away I'll have to get this sorted at a later date

I then did the same with the diffuser and gave it a coat of zinc primer followed by underseal. (I didn't have any stone chip at this stage)

The exhaust heat shield got painted in VHT Black and refitted with stainless hardware. Sadly no photos of that.

The hicas wiring wasn't secured very well, I honestly can't remember how it was prior to removing the diffuser.

I found the grommet inside the boot and pulled the wiring through

It always seem to rain on my days off so refitting was no different haha But I'm glad its all back together now, it looks complete now

I'm very happy with the result, it'll be much easier to touch in any stone chips or sort any corrosion/damage in the future.