Westfield build, Mazda SDV

With the engine head away for inspection, I could ignore any thoughts about that for a while and finish off the shell. The first issue was I couldn’t lower the diff (still clinging onto the powerplant frame) through the rear subframe bracing. As it was so late into the dismantling process, I decided against unbolting it all and just cut a gap in one of the braces instead. Diff out, handbrake cables out and steering rack out. Finished!

In the meantime, the custom silicone hoses for the coolant re-route arrived. SFS turned them round in double quick time, from what should have been six weeks or so only took around a week. Big thanks go to Mark from WSCC here for organising it all and indeed going through the trouble of getting them designed and made up in the first place.

With the car on axle stands, and of course no hope in getting it mobile again, Jon came over and in true A-team fashion, we knocked up some highly technical mazda-mobilificators.

Some thought did go into it, in that the wheels are spaced apart so they’d be directly underneath the chassis rails. Some more thought should have gone into it because the rear subframe is lower than the chassis rails so the dollies had to go there. With the rear subframe also being thinner than the chassis rails, it didn’t have bend a bit! Still, all held at the shell was mobile once again.

I chucked any further bits of scrap metal I didn’t want into the car and booked a breakers to come and collect it. With the shell not being that heavy, I just booked the guys closest to me as I doubted by the time they’d got it there wasn’t that much money in it for them. Sure enough, they came out the same day.

Back in the daylight, ready to go

My mazda mobilificators were so good they snaffled one!

It kept facing back to the garage. No chance! I want my space back!

The final journey

So that sums up the strip down. Now I’ve got until Wednesday to tidy the garage back up ready for picking up the intro kit, plus a few bits to get it to rolling chassis stage.

Sunday was all about stripping the engine down ready for investigations into this coolant leak. The first thing I noticed when taking it all apart was this injector:

I guess that was what caused my injector sealing issues a few months ago! I don’t think I ever fully removed that injector, or I’m completely blind and didn’t spot that. Ah well, I have spares!

The head bolts seemed tighter than expected – they’re supposed to be torqued up to 56-60 lb/ft. All came out without trouble though.

The intake ports were pretty dirty but nothing worrying.

The exhaust ports were definitely showing their 145k worth of carbon though!

Carbon build up was up to 1mm thick or so in places! Carrying on with the removal of the head and it was clear the pistons were in a similar state.

Horribly coked up but I think it’s nothing more sinister than that.

The head was similarly dirty

The head is away for checking now leaving me to get on with the final bits of the shell. Handbrake cable, rear diff and steering column. I need to get the shell gone this week as the chassis and bits get picked up next week!

Got a few mates over on Sunday and we managed to extract the engine and gearbox. Initial plan was to remove the box separately but getting to the top bellhousing bolts proved a right pain so we just removed it all as one.

So with the engine and box out, there were two areas I was eager to investigate. The coolant leak (which I was 100% sure was coming from the rear housing) and the occasional clutch judder.

First up, coolant leak and sure enough, that housing just didn’t seal properly.

Not a problem, that will all be swapped out when I do the coolant reroute anyway. What is a problem is this:

Looks like it’s coming from the headgasket. It was replaced last October, guess they didn’t do a very good job! That’s a shame I was hoping to get away without doing engine work.

Anyway, onto the clutch judder. Typically I think it’s bearing related on the MX5s but I must admit I’m no clutch expert so I’ll ask the greater internet for advice!

Looks like there’s plenty of meat left, but that’s an interesting ring on the inside. Let’s look at the flywheel…

Pass, I don’t know enough to diagnose really. I think I’ll remove the flywheel anyway as it’ll help with mounting it to the stand. I can then take the bits to a garage. Just got to find the adapter to plug in my impact wrench to get the bolts off!

So, all that’s left to remove from the shell now is the handbrake cable and the steering column. That’s it! Not bad going really, especially as I’ve had a week off. I’ve got lots of parts left over but if nobody wants them this week I’ll just take them to the tip. I could really do with the space back.

Finally, I phoned up Westfield and paid the remainder of the starter kit today. Just need to book a van and all will be set for the 31st. Woohoo!