It's nearly time to put it away....but not just yet

Where has the summer gone? I seems like only yesterday that I was getting the car out of it's winter hiding place only now to see it's time to put it away again. But with the weather forecast this week I don't think I will be putting it away just yet.

So far this year we have only covered about 2500 miles, and these haven't always been without an issue or 2.

A few weeks ago, the engine developed a serious thirst for oil, consuming about 3/4 litre in 200 odd miles. With no sign of obvious leaks this means it could only be going one way - out of the exhaust!!

So after a bit of investigation, with no oiled up plugs, very dry cylinder bores across all pistons, a lack of smoke from the exhaust under hard acceleration or on start up it started to become a bit of a mystery as to which cylinder was burning the oil.
After a bit of research and a bit of head scratching online, I ended up coming back to the MX5 owners 'must have book', Rod Graingers guide to all things MX5. This book has been a godsend during my build. And looking back at it I should have refered to this book from the start, under diagnostics at the back, a section entitled 'excessive oil consumption' to which it's first port of call Is the PCV valve on the top of the engine being faulty, I read on one site some where that if the pipe that goes from this valve to the inlet manifold was wet with oil, it was likely that the valve had stopped working causing the oil to be burnt. Off out to undo the pipe on the car and guess what I come across, a very wet and oily pipe. So a new valve was ordered and fingers crossed after a few hundred miles things seem to be running ok.

Also are some pictures of the LED light upgrades that I purchased at the kit car show, these were well worth the money and are seriously bright bits of kit. I will do any thing to make sure that I am seen by others road users, one thing you get to learn whilst being out in the car is that other road users do not see you what so ever. So with some bright brake and indicators I am doing my best to ensure this is not the case.

stoneleigh kit car show

well the time had come to go and visit the stoneleigh kit car show, and what a lovely
day it turned out to be!

fantastic turn out from the WSCC, i don't think i will ever see that many westfields in one place again.

it was really nice to chat to people and put a few names to faces, ( thats you Dean!!)

now i have to admit it was rather hard to go to the show and manage to keep my hands and wallet firmly in my pockets. now sadly i failed at this and ended up buying a few bits on the day, i managed to pick up a set of floor sill covers from carbon mods cheap, and a full LED light upgrade for the rear of the car, including the fog and reverse.

these are currently half fitted but i am hoping to have this all installed by the weekend. as usual it turned out to be more than just a five min job, as the plastic light housings have to cut and modified to fit the new lamps into them.

i also bought a little some thing for the front of the car but i am keeping this quiet for the time being.

colour change of doors

another job to complete was the doors, now originally i purchased a set of blue doors for a very good price on ebay, now blue doesn't really go with the rest of the car, so after some research i found a product that should hopefully change the colour, and the results are above.

The time has come ....

I am finally able to sit down in front of my laptop and do some much needed blogging updating.

after being so busy at work these past few months with the F1 season starting i have been lacking in much needed time to get parts done to the westie, but just in time for the sun to start coming out the road tax is back on and last night it was taken out for a quick spin around the block after getting a few jobs done over the winter period.

first job was purchasing a playskool MSA roll bar, this has been stripped of the original black powder coat and repainted in a Zylan black finish which is a matt finish and more in keeping with the rest of the coatings on the car.
to go with this i also got a new carbon mods boot box cover, as the last cover was a vinyl carbon effect one, again to keep in with the carbon theme running on the car.
to add a little more finishing touches i turned up some stainless steel spacer bushes with a collar on for the seat belt eyelets.

next up was the carbon mods front mud guards, i have had these for some time, but after buying them i was unsure about liking them or not on the car, so over the winter i got them in and out the box a few times to see if they finally grew on me, and i have to say they have, i am now kind of regretting not fitting them sooner.

Updating for Dean. How's the snow again?!

Dean I am updating my blog just for you!! 

It's nearly time to get back out on the road so I have been trying to get the final jobs done and dusted. 

Really looking forward to finally being able to get the car to stoneleigh this year and show off all the hard work I have put into it. 

Now due to a busy schedule I am having to update my blog via my iPhone which means I cannot upload any pictures of the work in progress but once I get back infront of my laptop I will add some. 

The roll bar has been off for blasting and has now been painted Matt black and is looking very nice. Just need to re install my high level brake light on to it. The new carbon mods boot cover has been cut to shape and and has been marked out ready to cut the holes in for the rear stays with the assistance of some string and auto cad to generate my Ellipse shape to cut out where the stays pass though, to keep the gap as small as possible and tidy. 

Now some time last year I purchased some carbon mods front mud guards, now at first I was unsure if I actually liked the look of them so never got round to fitting them, but over the winter I sat them on the brackets to see if I did get to like them. So last weekend I finally decided to fit them as they grew on me, and now they are fitted I have to say they do look very good. I decided to go with drilling and bolting them on as the safest option. But to make it a little less noticeable I have ordered some anodised black bolts to blend in with the carbon.  Will get pics up of these soon. 

The new clutch slave cylinder has been fitted after the old one shit itself. Easy job to get sorted. 

All of the suspension bolts have been regreased as I was suffering from a few squeaks which was driving me mad. 

Still awaiting for some dye to re colour the side screens, purchased some dye which after doing a small sample looked terrible as it was very shiny. 

Upgrades have started

Now the weather has started to warm up and you no longer freeze when in the shed it was time to get a move on and do some work.
First job is getting round to fitting the new playskool roll bar which I purchased back in December. This like every thing else on the car needed some work to get the bar to fit. First hurdle to get over was the fact that the lower plate where it bolts to the chassis do not quite line up. Now they are not far out but it still needed the holes slightly enlarging or dragging across with a grinder to get them to line up. once these had been sorted the next apparent problem was that the plates on the bottom of the bar slightly overlap the bushes welded to the chassis for where the harness eye bolts go, so once again out with the air tools and a light scallop was put in place to give me clearance for these. But the fun doesn't stop there...
Now i could get the roll bar bolted to the chassis the next issue came along.... The rear stays on the roll bar that go into the boot and bolt to the chassis are 20mm to short of lining up with the holes. (nothing is ever easy with this car) so a quick phone call to Luke a playskool confirmed that Westfield have 2 chassis jigs one of which is longer than what the roll bar was originally jigged from. Luke apologised but said they have come up with some exstentions that need to be either bolted or welded in once the old ends have been cut off. I have opted for the later option and weld these in properly.
Now I really like the shape and look of the roll bar but the only downside in my eyes is the fact that it has been powder coated, which is ok but nothing else on the car has a shiny appearance. So I had decided from the outset that I would have the bar repainted to match the satin black that goes with the rest of the car. So today I had the bar shot blasted and all the powder coat removed ready to be welded and be repainted. Luckily for me the company next door to where i work deal with specialist material coatings. So hopefully by tomorrow I will have a nice satin black roll bar to fit.

Another job that had to be taken care of was a new clutch slave cylinder, now for some reason whilst the car has been up on axle stands I noticed a small few drips on the floor. On closer inspection the seals in the cylinder had given up and started leaking. I wouldn't have minded but this was new when I rebuilt the engine and as it had been ordered over a year ago there was nothing the supplying company could do any more. So a new one was ordered and has been fitted but now just awaits bleeding.

Next job will be getting the doors dyed black, now I have managed to get hopefully a good quality black dye in a satin black, the out come might be interesting but worth a try.

I am also having a rethink about the carbon mods front mud guards, I wasn't sure on them at first, but after sitting them on for a while they are starting to grow on me.