28 – 29 October 2020
Not in the garage the rest of this week. Doing some planning and research. Planning for the lift of the body and how to ensure it's straightforward and safe. I could use the scissor lift to raise the body and roll out the powertrain; but then I will have the bodyshell on the lift and have to figure out how to get it out of the garage for disposal. The design of the lift makes it difficult to put a wheeled dolly in the middle and roll out. So, the plan is to remove the majority of the subframe bolts while on the lift, and leave a subframe bolt in each corner and the top mount bolts in place to keep the subframes in place. Then put the wheels on, drop the car down, remove the remaining subframe bolts while it is a bit higher up on the lift and roll it out onto the drive. Undo the top mount bolts. Then use my engine hoist to lift the body off and roll the powertrain out. I should be able to use my balance bar to level the load too. The bodyshell can then be dropped onto a pair of heavy duty saw horses where I can extract any other bits I need before disposing of it. Research focused on understanding the fuel system,and ECU wiring. I understand how the fuel injection system works on my TVR, but I will need to know how the MX-5 one works to be able to adapt it to the new chassis. The fuel pressure regulator is in the fuel tank (part of the fuel pump) and there is no return fuel pipe from the fuel rail back to the fuel tank. My understanding is that the fuel is pumped out of the tank outlet, down to the filter where the flow splits, one route goes back to the fuel tank and the fuel pressure regulator. The other goes forward under the car where it passes through a pulsation damper on the bulkhead and another one on the fuel rail and then into the fuel rail where it terminates. The pressure in the fuel system is about 60psi so pipe joints are critical and any pipework will need to be able to cope with that. More investigation needed on what the options are for fuel lines and joints. The other area is the ECU wiring and sensors and also how they interact with the cluster and start/charge system. The more I look at it the more I think an aftermarket ECU is the way to go. The Mazda ECU interacts with a lot of other systems; Immobiliser (I think this is paired with the ECU), cooling system, charging system, and some of the instrument cluster gauges. Still need to understand the speedo and how that is driven. Need to decide if I can hack the Mazda engine loom to work with an aftermarket ECU. If I go for a new engine loom but then I have to splice in or find the right connectors for the sensors, unless I can find one for my engine. There are several sites hosting pdf copies of the manuals, which is great but it takes a bit more digging to find the one that applies to your particular car as Mazda tended to issue update notes for particular years and systems, so you have to read the base manual and then refer to the update notes to find the differences for your car. The other complication is that they are for the US market; its not always clear which side of the car a component might be. Sometimes they are the same and other times they are swapped for the LH drive car. Comparison with what is on the car is vital. Wheels have also been on my mind. I really like the look of the Weller steel wheels but I would want them a in a steel finish and 8inch seems quite wide. The other option I like is the MINI One steel wheels which are cheap to buy but then need spacers to get them to fill the wheel arch. Doing some youtube video browsing I was reminded about 'wheel banding'. Take a standard steel wheel, cut off the front edge, weld in a band of steel to increase the front dish, then weld the old front edge back in. The wheels are as strong as the original (a lot of lorry wheels are made this way) and are tested to ensure they don't leak. This used to be very popular back in the day when alloys were hard to come by so is in keeping with the idea for my car. I can use any 15in/16in steel wheel with the right bolt pattern, I can pick up a set of steel wheels for £50, I can get the banding and painting done for less than a set of Wellers will cost. I can get them made to fit the arches exactly as I want and should not need any spacers. Need to check that the inboard side of the wheels won't foul anything especially at the front.
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