new member mx5 1.6 conversion.

[philgroom]

Setting the tracking

[philgroom]

Today I repaired the rust hole on the passenger side a piller. First I cut the top rear section of the wing off to gain access to all of the rust. I then removed the paint and found more holes. I then cut out the rotten metal and cleaned up around the hole. Fabricated new over size section then spent ages cutting and grinding to make it fit and welded in. Applied some filler and sanded down then painted with primer then black as that's all I had. I then welded the part of the wing back on and ground the welds down then filled and painted.

[philgroom]

Last couple of pics. Still needs finishing but it will keep the rain out now.

[Pippin]

Great metalwork skills!

[geeksteve]

Very jealous of that repair section you made. I've been pondering making that same section for the past few weeks but I've yet to pluck up the courage.

Steve

[Carledo]

Very jealous of that repair section you made. I've been pondering making that same section for the past few weeks but I've yet to pluck up the courage.

Steve

I have a good scuttle/screen frame section from a scrap car if you want to short circuit the process a bit! I will be in Somerset in 3 weeks or so and probably at TDCIR for collection if that helps.

Steve

[philgroom]

Very jealous of that repair section you made. I've been pondering making that same section for the past few weeks but I've yet to pluck up the courage.

Steve

It's 2 pieces welded from the inside so there was enough thickness to round the edge over to match the existing panel shape. The whole job took 6 hours and it still needs more blending in. The next repair I'm thinking about doing is the rear arches. Might buy the panels for that. Bit more of a tricky shape to make! Cutting big holes in your own car always takes courage. Just want to say sorry for causing it pain.lol. the good thing is it doesn't whistle whilst going along now.

[philgroom]

Today on the way home from work I was driving along. Put my foot on the clutch pedal to change gear and there was a twang noise from the pedal, lifted my foot up and I have a floppy pedal. The pedal return spring gave up so now I need to keep my foot under the pedal to hold it up. Guess what Im going to be repairing tomorrow in my lunch brake!

[philgroom]

Today I decided to re fit the lowered springs to try and improve the handling. When I did the fronts I found that passenger side standard spring was shorter than the driver side. Thought it was handling a bit odd. I also found that 3 out of 4 shocks are on the way out. To do the rear shocks I had to remove the battery tray so while it was off I decided to put the boot lining under it to tidy it up a bit. Then I dug out the front spoiler and fitted that. Suspension properly seteled after a little drive to a well known fast food restaurant. It handles so much better now and doesn't wobble around corners, can go into them with a bit more confidence now.

[philgroom]

Today I cut out a little more rust on the scuttle. 4 hours later and it's all solid metal again and I treated myself to some russet brown paint. It will need more flatting off when whole car gets resprayed but I'm impressed with how it's turned out.

[philgroom]

More pics from today

[Carledo]

I see you have managed to buy yet another shade of Russet brown! Nice work though mate, takes courage to take on that panel with nothing more than a sheet of steel and a pair of tinsnips!

Don't be upset about the colour match though, I'm convinced that every Russet car is a slightly different shade (sometimes several slightly different shades) there are at least 6 factory shades, then there is fading, cos Russet has a lot of red in it! When I used to paint, back in the day, I only ever ordered 1/2 a litre of Russet, cos I knew that by the time the paintshop had finished tinting it to match, i'd have enough to paint the whole car!

Steve

[philgroom]

I see you have managed to buy yet another shade of Russet brown! Nice work though mate, takes courage to take on that panel with nothing more than a sheet of steel and a pair of tinsnips!

Don't be upset about the colour match though, I'm convinced that every Russet car is a slightly different shade (sometimes several slightly different shades) there are at least 6 factory shades, then there is fading, cos Russet has a lot of red in it! When I used to paint, back in the day, I only ever ordered 1/2 a litre of Russet, cos I knew that by the time the paintshop had finished tinting it to match, i'd have enough to paint the whole car!

Steve

I've found telling myself it's a customers car helps when cutting big holes in the body work otherwise I would never have the courage to do it! Just got to work my way round the rest of the car now. I'm not fussed about what shade of russet brown at the moment coz it will have a complete respray at some point.

[philgroom]

This weekend I got fed up of pumping the tyres up so I got the steel wheels out and cleaned and painted the sealing faces of the rims. I took the tyres off the sprint alloys and fitted to the steel rims. They're a bit crusty on the outside but they hold air which the alloys didn't do anymore.

[Carledo]

Going for the sleeper look? Or just laziness?

Steve