22 January 2021
Masked up the steering column and put some primer on it.

23 January 2021
Top coated the steering column. Cleaned up, and greased the pedal pivots, reassembled them into their brackets. Did a test fit of the servo, I needed to file out the central hole slightly to fit. Discovered the engine side spacer I made is not quite right so reworked the design but too late to start a print. Ordered some more bits; the original MX5 clutch pipe goes across the engine bay and then back so I've ordered a new shorter flexible hose, new pedal rubbers, more crushed glass for blasting, paint to touch up the chassis where I have to drill/file, gasket paper, and I've ordered a gear knob.

24 January 2021
Test fitted the pedals, brake servo, clutch master cylinder and steering column with the modified spacer. I will need to look at the spacers again as I can't depress the clutch pedal fully without it hitting the bulkhead, it's a matter of a few millimetres so if I adjust the spacer thickness then I think I can fix that. Similar problem with the brake and throttle pedals, hoping that a couple of washers will fix that. The throttle pedal could be easily bent but not the brake so if I can adjust the bracket position to fix it then that would be best.

25 February 2021
Had a call from Classic and Modern Engines, the block and crank are ready for collection. Crank only needed repolishing and the block only needed honing so all good there. Collected the engine and ordered bearings and rings which should be here tomorrow.

26 February 2021
I've been thinking about the engine build and I will need to fit the various sensors for the gauges, that will be easier with the engine on the bench, so I need to decide on the gauges I want and sensors that go with them. I picked a set of gauges from ETB, they are a classic black dial, white pointer and chrome bezel (IVA safe) (https://www.etbinstruments.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=101&product_id=185). They come with all the senders and I ordered the thread adapters from them too. I will use the Mazda fuel gauge sensor as it is integral to the pump and regulator. To make that work I've also ordered a device that will allow me to match the sender to the gauge (Gauge Wizard from www.Spiyda.com). The speedo should work with the Mazda gearbox sender, the ECU will drive the tachometer.

27 February 2021
Had a rethink on the clutch pedal and cylinder mounting, decided not to use the 3D printed spacers as they were too brittle. I also needed to solve the problem of sealing the hole through the bulkhead. The clutch master cylinder arrangement is a bit tricky. The bracket bolts to the bulkeahd and the cylinder bolts to the pedal bracket, not to the bulkhead directly. Some sort of cover is needed to seal up the hole. I made a plate out of some scrap aluminium, carefully cutting out holes to match the master cylinder. The plate will be attached to the engine side of the bulkhead with some sealant and rivets or self tapping screws. I made up some new spacers out of some off cuts of the plastic floor tiles in the garage. These will ensure the clutch pedal doesn't foul the lower bulkhead. I will add an additional support for the brake and clutch pedals attached to the chassis above the pedals. Hopefully tomorrow I can do a final fit for the pedals. I've done a trial fit of the steering column and everything seems to line up nicely.

28 February 2021
I've lost count of the number of times the pedals and master cylinders have come off the car this week, but it's the only way to get it right. The first job today was to fix the sealing plate onto the bulkhead. I applied some silicone sealant to the bulkhead, lined up the plate and secured it with a couple of self tapping screws. It sounds easy enough but in reality meant taking the pedal on and off at least 4 times! I modified the spacer behind the clutch pedal and put a bit of a taper on it so that the bracket would be tilted up slightly, which was enough to stop the pedal hitting the lower bulkhead. The brake pedal still hits the bulkhead on full depression but currently it isn't linked up to the hydraulics. I measured the pedal movement and checked against the specifications, the pedal should only need 3-4 inches of travel when it is all connected up and I've got over 6 inches so I think everything is good there. I bent the accelerator pedal slightly to rprevent it hitting the bulkhead. With that finalised, I made up a plate for the top of the clutch pedal bracket and then drilled through the frame above it so I could bolt the pedal bracket to it with a long bolt and nut. The brake pedal bracket was slightly easier as the mounting hole on the bracket lined up with the chassis and I was able to drill through the rail to it, another bolt secured that. Next it was time to finalise the steering column position. I got one of the MX5 seats and placed it in the cockpit so I could judge the position. I used a ratchet strap across the car to support the column, that let me adjust the position to what I felt would be correct. With that done I drilled out the steering column support plate, mounted it to the top rail and bolted the steering column in place. The plate needed bending slightly to get the angles correct. The last job on the column at this stage is to bend the bulkhead seal around the bulkhead which will mean taking at the steering column and clutch pedal out one more time. Once that is done, I am hoping I don't have to take it out again. I may need to fine tune the steering column once the dash position is finalised. Next up hopefully is rebuilding the engine.

17 February 2021
Rubbed the subframe brace down and put a couple of coats of primer on it. Whilst that was drying I wiped the brake and clutch master cylinder down to get the dust and dirt off. I also gave the brake servo a wipe over. The brake master cylinder looks very clean but the clutch master cylinder needs more cleaning, I think I will give it a go with the soda blaster! I also fitted the front ARB to the chassis and bolted it to the drop links.

18 February 2021
Spoke to Classic and Modern Engines this morning and the crank was fine, it just needed a polish. The block has been cleaned and honed, not sure if they had to bore it out, but it sounds like they didn't. Once it is painted then it should be ready to collect and I can start building it up. In and out of the garage putting top coats of paint on the modified subframe brace.

20 February 2021
Removed the loose paint on the brake servo, clutch master cylinder and the clutch cylinder bracket with my media blast gun. Painted the servo and bracket with satin black paint. I bolted up the modified rear brace to the subframe. I turned to the cockpit and had a look at how the pedals mount to the bulkhead. The brake and accelerator pedal are mounted to the brake servo which was still drying, The bulkhead looks different to the original MEV design and I think the spacers should stay on the interior instead of being cut off and put on the engine side as in the original. The clutch pedal bolts to the master cylinder but needs a spacer fabricating so it can sit correctly on the bulkhead. I looked at some of the other build threads and the build manual to see what others had done. I decided I would 3D print something suitable. I took some measurements and drew up what I thought would be a suitable design and printed it out. I also had a look at how the steering column will be mounted, the bulkhead seal will need modifying and the upper part bolts on to the clutch and brake pedal assembly.

21 February 2021
The first draft of the spacer needed some minor tweaks to get the holes aligned so another print was run and then a thicker one for the engine side was tweaked and printed. As the pedals and steering column will be a bit more visible in the car than they were in the MX5 I decided it would be a good idea to paint them. I took the pedal assemblies apart so I could paint the brackets to match the chassis. The pedals only need a slight touch up in black. In between coats I trimmed the lower bulkhead panel to fit and then marked and drilled the holes for the pop rivets. I ran a bead of sealant around and riveted it in place. I did some more trial fitting for the lower steering column and I am pretty happy with how that is sitting. I will probably wait until I've got the pedals installed before I modify the bulkhead seal. The upper steering column needs painting as well but the surface rust is currently being treated.

13 January 2021
It's been very cold this week so I've not been in the garage in the evenings. Got out today and fitted the fuel/brake pipe clips. I followed Andy's blog and reused the MX5 ones, cutting off the mounting studs and drilling a hole through. Measured up the chassis and marked up the position using a maximum of 300mm spacing as advised in the IVA guide. I think the actual spacing was about 270mm. Once that was done I had a friend come over and help me to carefully turn the chassis over without damaging the floor pans that protrude from the edge of the chassis. Then we set it on top of the skate and with a bit of jiggling about dropped the bolts into place and put the nuts on the end, finger tight. According to the ANC build guide washers need to be placed between the chassis and the rear subframe. I've got 6 bolts in the front subframe but still need to drill the floor pans for the last pair of bolts which should bring it all together and then I can tighten up the bolts.

14 February 2021
I finished bolting the chassis to the subframes today. I drilled through the mounting hole at the front of the footwells (it was covered by the floor pans). Then I was able to drop the last two bolts in place and tighten each of the bolts up progressively. Before they got too tight I roughly measured where the two bolts connect to the subframe by the suspension towers. The holes here are slotted and even with all the bolts in place the was a side to side movement possible. So I made sure the subframe was evenly spaced before the final tighten.
For my birthday earlier in the month I got a small media blasting kit and I wanted to try that out. It's a very simple set up, a blasting gun with a tube that you poke into the bottle of blasting media and away you go. I dug out the pedal assemblies, the exhaust manifold and the subframe mounting bolts to test on. I put on all my safety gear, eye protection, face mask and gloves and got to it. Happy to report that it worked well although the drive did get a bit sandy. The light surface rust on the pedal assemblies was no problem. The exhaust manifold took a bit more work but it did a good job of cleaning the mounting flange. The bolts came up like new in a couple of seconds.
Back to the build I put the coil/damper units in place so the car could once again support itself. This took a bit of trial and error to get the top struts to line up with the bolt holes. Once they were in place I put the top mounting nuts in place. The next job was to fit the rear subframe brace. It needs to be shortened to fit the new chassis and mounting holes drilled. I offered it up to the subframe and secured it loosely with bolts so I could mark the correct length. I cut the end off and flattened the ends in my vice. I trial fitted it again and marked the position of the holes in the flattened ends. Once they were drilled out I refitted the brace and marked where the holes in the chassis tabs needed to be. I drilled them out with a 10mm drill to match the holes in the brace. I did a final test fit with the rear body mount struts that are part of the kit. The brace will be painted before it is finally fitted. I had a go test fitting the alloy bulkhead panels, they all seemed to fit in place nicely. A tidy up was the last task before finishing for the day.

6 February 2021
Not much time in the garage today but enough time to get the wheels on the skate and get it back on it's wheels. I spent some time fiddling around with the air driven pop riveter I got for my birthday. I had to set it up and filled with hydraulic fluid. Then I tested with some spare pop rivets so I was familiar with it before I used it for real.

7 February 2021
​Had another tidy up and moved stuff around, so I could move the chassis on to the lift and fit the floor pans. Frances gave me a hand flipping the chassis over and moving it on to the lift. With that done I could wheel the skate back in the garage where the chassis had been, and close the door on the cold weather. First task was to mark up where to drill the pop rivet holes on the alloy floor pans. They come ready cut to size and the position of the chassis rails is marked on the top. I drew lines within the chassis rail markings, then marked off using the 100mm spacing recommended by Andy, with some adjustments. I drilled the alloy panels with a 3mm drill into a piece of wood. I flipped the panel over and positioned it carefully on the chassis. I clamped it in place and then drilled through the pilot holes and into the chassis with a 5mm drill. I lubricated the drill with a blast of WD40. I popped a rivet in each hole as I drilled it to make sure all the holes lined up. There were 60 holes in each floor pan so that is a total of 240 holes drilled! I gave everything a wipe over with a cloth and some brake cleaner and pulled off the protective film from the alloy panel. I ran a bead of grey Tiger Seal along the chassis rails, it was cold in the garage so I had to sit the tube in front of my warm air blower for a few minutes to get it to flow! I positioned the panel on the chassis, carefully lining the holes up with pop rivets in each corner. Once the floor was aligned I used my air driven pop riveter to fix it in place. It made the job very simple and quick. I think it would have taken me 3 times as long with a manual pop rivet gun and no doubt my forearms would have been aching afterwards!

25 January 2021
A week off work and planning to spend most of it on the build. Didn't get to it until later in the afternoon but broke down the coils and dampers so I could clean everything up. Pressed the bushes out of the bottom of the dampers as they were rotten. I have replacements on order which will be fitted once they arrive. Applied another coat of paint to the ARBs and spent time cleaning up the ARB mounts, radiator mounts and the metal components of the suspension. More painting will be needed.

26 January 2021
ARBs moved into the house (don't tell anyone) as it just too cold in the garage to cure the paint. Wire wheeled the radiator mounts, ARB mounting brackets coil spring retaining parts, the damper bodies and painted them with Bilt and Hamber Hydrate 80 rust converter. Trial fitted the replacement power steering pipes and dug out the small pipe clamps, they were popped in the ultrasonic cleaner to clean them up, then they were painted with engine enamel and popped in the oven to cure. The coil springs were given a wipe over as were the various bits of rubber that are used in the coil spring/damper assembly.
While I waited for the various treatments to dry I started dismantling the engine. Removed the rear water housing and pipe, water pump and the crank sensor. I lifted off the cam cover and undid the head bolts in turn until they were loose, a few taps with a soft headed mallet and the head lifted off. Piston tops and valvels looked OK, a bit of carbon build up but nothing exsseive. Then I turned the ngine over and allowed the last bits of coolant and oil to drain out while I undid the oil pan bolts. With a bit of gentle levering the oil pan came off. I removed the oil pump pickup pipe. I undid the bolts holding the baffle in place and removed that as well. I did a cursory examination and everything looked OK, the crank turned and there was no discernable play in the con rod bearing or the crankshaft. Obviously there is a problem because I have an engine knock, hopefully the damage is minimal and with maybe a crankshaft grind and new bearings all will be well. By then it was dark outside and the temperature had dropped so back inside to read up a bit on the the next stage of dismantling and any checks I need to make before I do that.

27 January 2021
Painted the shocks, spring mounts and washers, the anti roll bar brackets and another coat on the ARB. Fitted the brackets to hold the power steering pipes to the rack. Carried on stripping the engine, removed the oil pump, the oil cooler, the rear main bearing seal and gave them all a clean. I undid the con rod caps and removed the pistons. The bearings were worn as expected but the crank journals looked OK, no scratches or marks that I could discern. The pistons are quite heavily carboned but again nothing major for an engine that has done over 116k miles. I undid the main bearing caps and removed them and the crankshaft. The main bearings were in a similar condition to the con rods as were the crankshaft journals. I'll get them inspected by an engine shop to confirm what needs doing but I am hopeful that a polish or grind and new bearings will be enough to fix the knocking. I measured the crankshaft end float and the con rod play and all were well within tolerance.
Crankshaft end play 0.06mm (acceptable range 0.080-0.252mm)
Con Rod end play (acceptable range 0.110-0.262mm)
Cylinder 1 0.127mm
Cylinder 2 0.152mm
Cylinder 3 0.152mm
Cylinder 4 0.178mm

28 January 2021
A few errands to run in the morning so didn't get to the garage until the afternoon. I had bought new front and rear drop links which are all different but they weren't labelled so I had several attempts at fitting them to find out which went where. The rear ARB I have fitted but the front will have to wait until I fit the subframe to the chassis as the ARB is mounted to the chassis. I reassembled the damper and spring assemblies and fitted the new bottom bushes. I lifted the rear subframe up with my engine hoist so I could fit the PPF and get the long bolts in the bottom. I dropped the subframe back down onto a raised platform and bolted the propshaft on (after running the bolts through the ultrasonic cleaner. Next I lifted the gearbox round and bolted that to the front of the PPF (after sliding the propshaft in). More tidying up followed whilst I also thought about the engine. I am going to take it to a local machine shop and have them look at it and get the machining done that is needed. I expect a crankshaft grind will be needed and I will probably get the bores hnies too. Hopefuly do that tomorrow. Can't decide whether to bolt the spare engine in place so I can get it bolted to the chassis or wait for the engine work to be done and then fit it with the reconditioned engine. I think it will depend on how long the machine shop work is going to take.

29 January 2021
Took the block, crank and pistons over to Classic and Modern Engine Services in Bracknell who were recommended by a friend. They had a quick look and said it didn't look too bad, possibly only a polish to the crank, more concerning were some scuff marks on the side of the pistons and evidence of some blow by. He is going to check everything and advise if new pistons will be needed. It looks like a few weeks before I get the bits back, so I will strip the ancillaries of my spare engine and use the block to connect the PPF to the subframe. No other work on the project today as I had to erect Frances' potting shed in the garden!

30 January 2021
Only a few hours in the garage today and made a start stripping the ancillaries off my spare engine just to make it a bit easier to move about. Got the exhaust manifold and power steering pumo off. The air conditioner compressor bolts sheared off but they still didn't allow me to remove the compressor I think it has correded onto the bolts. Sprayed it with penetrating fluid and hit a few times with a hammer but no luck.

31 January 2021
Only way I could get the compressor off was to break the alloy mounting holes off. Compressor off but is now junk, also unbolted the compressor mounting bracket. Removed the alternator and the inlet manifold. Then I moved the engine round to the front of the frame and attached it to my hoist, lifted it up and lined it up with the gearbox and bolted it in place, which went pretty well. There's no clutch in there at the moment as it will come out again when I have rebuilt my original engine. I moved the front subframe into place and used a jack to lift it up and bolted it to the engine mounts. The brackets that go on the engine mounts only go one way up so that needs to be checked. I had mounted the camber bolts the wrong way round so I had to go and swap them all round, they are supposed to be mounted with the bolt heads facing each other and pointing out. Once that was all done I wiped the brake discs off with cleaner and mounted them and the calipers to the uprights. So the powerpant frame is now pretty much ready for the chassis to be put on top (just need to bolt some wheels on temporarily. It's my birthday this week and I am hoping to get a pop rivet gun to go with my compressor as I have a lot of pop rivets to fit to secure the various aluminium panels to the chassis.

19 January 2021
My ladder finally turned up. Frances gave me hand lifting the bodyshell out of the garage. I tried a few combinations of pulleys but couldn't get a set up I was entirely happy with so moved the bodyshell back into the garage, retired indoors and ordered a few more pulleys and some metal loops. Did some more googling about various pulley configurations.

23 January 2021
Back out to the garage, moved the bodyshell out again and added some more pulleys and some fixings on the wall to tie the rope to. I have set up a plank of wood at each end of the car that will sit in the wheel arches. This was the advice from Rob about where to lift the bodyshell. I tie wrapped some pipe insulation to the planks to sit the wheel arches on. The rope was attached to the ends of the plank via a pulley secured with a u-bolt. I used my Griffith car cover to protect the bodyshell from dirt and hoisted it up. I moved the chassis off the lift and sat it on the floor under the body. Then I could start assembling the rear subframe in the lift area. I got the differential mounted and both pairs of control arms. They all slipped in nice and easily and the cleaned nuts and bolts were greased and pushed through the mountings. At this point I only did the nuts up finger tight.

24 January 2021
We had snow today, so it was pretty chilly in the garage. Despite that I had a productive day in the garage. I fitted the new output seals to the differential and fitted the hub and driveshaft assemblies. I cleaned up the control arm nuts and bolts and bolted the hubs to the control arms, again just finger tight at the moment.
Next I started on the front subframe. I cleaned up the control arm nuts and bolts. The most effective process seems to be put them in the ultrasonic cleaner for 20 minutes or so, take them out and dry them, then a quick rub over on the bench grinder wire wheel to remove any rust that hasn't been cleaned off already. I bolted the control arms to the subframe, bolted the new ball joint to the lower control arms and then fitted the front hubs on. I've been very happy with the fitment of the polybushes, apart from the lower front control arms everything has gone together nicely. I put the tie rod ends on the steering rack and cleaned up the steering rack mounting bolts. Then I loosely positioned the steering rack and put the long mounting bolts to hold it in place.
The metal bracket that secures the other end needed painting so I cleaned that up and applied some paint to it and the 2 anti roll bars. With the cold it will take a while for the paint to dry!

9 January 2021
Spent today tidying up and preparing for the kit delivery on Tuesday. Swept and generally cleaned up the floor, and bench areas, my airline and blower is proving really helpful with this. Moved a few more redundant things over to the shed. The TVR was moved out on to the drive as I think, initially at least I will need all the space. Looking at options for putting it into temporary storage seeing as I won't be driving it in the near future with lockdown in full effect.

10 January 2021
More cleaning up, I never imagined that I would be mopping the garage floor, but that is what I did today. Just getting the worst of the muck off before the build up starts in earnest in the hope that I can keep the build clean. Once I had finished with the floor I officially started the build by getting the control arms down and pressed in the new ball joints to the front upper arms with my press tool which worked a treat. I also pressed in the new polybushes to the control arms. It was a fiddly task, I warmed the bushes up in some hot water to make them a bit more pliable. Greased the tubes where the bushes go with some red rubber grease. I used my vice and some of the adaptors from my pressing kit to push them, even so, the bush seemed to go anywhere but into the tubes. Had to hold the bush, control arm, and the two adaptors with my hand and at the same time tighten up the vice. Once the lip of the bush was in I liberally applied grease to the bush and pressed it fully in, hitting it with a rubber mallet to the final bit. After many attempts I finished the top control arms. Only the lower front control arms and all the rear ones to go. With hindsight it might have been better to fit the ball joints after I had got the bushes in, but it's progress and the build has started!

12 January 2021
​Kit delivery day! Dunt Barn logistics did a great job of collecting the kit and delivering it safely to me. They didn't get back until late so it was a case of unpacking it from their trailer and storing it safely in the garage. Andy had left the wheel arch returns untrimmed so he could drill a hole in them to secure the body to the chassis to stop it moving around during transport. All the panels where secured in place with tape that I removed the same evening to prevent it bonding too much. On Andy's advice I removed any tape residue with some WD40 and a soft cloth.

16 January 2021
I was hoping to get the bodyshell up into the roof out of the way today but the ladder I need to get into the roof and mount the pulleys hasn't been delivered yet. So I contented myself with wiping the body over with some quick detailer to remove the traces of WD40. I also applied grey Tiger Seal to some of the welds, especially the stitch welded ones along the transmission tunnel, as Andy had advised me. I've wrapped the doors in bubble wrap, just need to find a safe place to store them. I took reference pictures of the kit contents.

​17 January 2021
As my ladder is still missing in transit I decide to get on with pressing in the bushes. To be honest I wasn't looking forward to this given the problems I'd encountered with the front lower control arm and the other front control arm didn't disappoint. It didn't seem to matter what I did I could not get them started. After a lot of messing about I found the best way was to squeeze the bush into an ever so slightly larger tube which I found in one of my press kits and then use it as a guide to pull the bush into the control arm with a long bolt and a nut. I also found a second use for my ultrasonic cleaner, as it has a heater element for the bath I could put some water in it, drop the bushes in there and keep them nice and warm (the heater operates separately from the ultrasonic function). After finishing off the second front control arm all the other bushes went a lot easier, when warm they were quite pliable and I was able to push most of them in by hand. I was able to get all the control arm bushes and the rear hub bushes fitted in the afternoon.

9 January 2021
Spent today tidying up and preparing for the kit delivery on Tuesday. Swept and generally cleaned up the floor, and bench areas, my airline and blower is proving really helpful with this. Moved a few more redundant things over to the shed. The TVR was moved out on to the drive as I think, initially at least I will need all the space. Looking at options for putting it into temporary storage seeing as I won't be driving it in the near future with lockdown in full effect.
10 January 2021
More cleaning up, I never imagined that I would be mopping the garage floor, but that is what I did today. Just getting the worst of the muck off before the build up starts in earnest in the hope that I can keep the build clean.
Once I had finished with the floor I officially started the build by getting the control arms down and pressing in the new ball joints to the front upper arms with my press tool which worked a treat.
I also pressed in the new polybushes to the control arms. It was a fiddly task, I warmed the bushes up in some hot water to make them a bit more pliable. Greased the tubes where the bushes go with some red rubber grease. I used my vice and some of the adaptors from my pressing kit to push them, even so, the bush seemed to go anywhere but into the tubes. Had to hold the bush, control arm, and the two adaptors with one hand and tighten up the vice with the other. Once the lip of the bush was in I liberally applied grease to the bush and pressed it fully in, hitting it with a rubber mallet to push the lip out the other side. I greased the metal crush tubes and slid those inside the bush. After many attempts I finished the top control arms. Only the lower front control arms and all the rear ones to go. With hindsight it might have been better to fit the ball joints after I had got the bushes in, but it's progress and the build has started!

4 January 2021
Had a chat with Andy today and the kit is very nearly ready, only problem is that I can't go and pick it up with the Covid lockdown just announced! So I have contacted some friends and got names of some recommendations for transport companies that might be able to help. The transport really needs to be a covered vehicle as the body is not attached to anything and strapping it down might damage it.

6 January 2021
Contacted a few of the firms recommended for transporting the kit up from Plymouth. Struck lucky with Lee Hill at Dunt Barn Logistics who are just up the road from me; they are going down to that area next week to deliver a car and could pick up the kit and bring it back. That would mean I could split the day rate with their other customer. Andy confirmed that the kit will be ready by then, so it is all booked in for Tuesday 12 January. Andy sent me some photos of the body straight out of the mould before it was trimmed, and pictures of the freshly powder coated chassis.
Time to get the garage ready for it - need to put the body somewhere safe while I work on building the chassis up.