Ben's Black Mk2 2.0 16v Project

[Judderi]

25/04/06

Just a quick update of things ive been buying.

GPS receiver for the car pc sat nav. And a Bluetooth dongle for the car kit.



Batcap 400 to power all my amps etc.



A laptop Hard Disk Adaptor



A hefty O gage amp wiring kit



100sq of Sound Deadening (the thickest available)




I also decided to get a new grill as mines a little worse for wear and to be honest ive gone off the 3 bar style.



A couple of haynes manuals to help me out with the engine work

[Judderi]

03/05/06

Right some more progress to report. Ive now got the bottom end out and its currently in the boot of the mx5. It only just fit! After work im taking it to be lightened and ballanced. Taking the engine out without a hoist isnt really recomended but possible none the less! So my engine bay now looks something like.

As for the engine im still unsure to exactly what it is or where it came from. On the front of the block it says 2.0 11J and has what looks like an audi badge. On the rear however it says 2.0 and has a vw badge. Im so confused!

The rust under the battery tray is also quite bad. The more i poked and prodded the more fell off. Ive now got a sheet of steel to cut to size and weld in. Should be as good as new once im done.

I also removed all of the exhaust as the manifold was in the way, the centre box needs welding as a weld has split and im changing the rear box. Other than that I didnt really get much done this week.

[Judderi]

23 May 06

Right its been a while since my last post. So heres an update on the current stage of the rebuild. I removed the gearbox ready to clean it up and paint it. I cant really be bothered to clean and paint it but it would be silly not too as the head and bottom end have both been done. I left the drive shafts attached as i didn't have the correct spline tool at the time. So to do this i had to dis-assemble the whole hub Assembly. I wasn't bothered though as i would be doing most of this anyway when i come to replacing the top mounts. On the passenger side i managed to un-do the hub nut no problem. I think it wasn't really that tight from the last time i removed it. But i couldn't get the other side un-done so had to remove it all with the hub still attached.








The next job was to remove the sub frame. Easy peasy you might say, its only 4 bolts! Not on my car it wasn't. More like 3 bolts and a big weld where a bodge job mechanic had welded the subframe to the chassis because the bolt had snapped. So i had to get to work with a grinder and get rid of the weld.




Once removed the subframe came free. It left a bit of a hole in the chassis so i welded it up and ground it smooth again, i will later seal it all with under body sealer.




All gone! Just a dirty engine bay left now, but not for long!




I brushed on a load of Jiser de-greasant, let it settle for a while then got to work with a cloth. Plenty of rubbing later all the grime/grease and crud had been removed. Ive still got a little left to do but once done I'm going to re-paint the bay.

Before


After







Once cleaned up i could see the full extent of the rust damage.



I'm going to cut out the full square section and weld a new piece in. You can see in this pic where i have started to cut.




While Ive got the welder out I'm gonna fill in the extra holes in my strut tops where a previous brace has been. I'm also gonna weld an extra exhaust mount on to keep the backbox wobble free.




I'm almost at the stage where i can start re-building everything, i wonder if i will be able to figure out where all these bits go!








Oh and i also bought these little beauties as Ive gone off my crystal clear ones.

[Judderi]

31 May 06

Just a qucik update. I didnt get any work done on the car this weekend due to fitting a new kitchen at home. At the moment all the engine and cams are at the engine builders getting built back up ready to drop the whole lump back in the car. Im not confident enought to time up aftermarket cams so thought i would leave it to the pro's. Hopefully it will be ready towards the end of the week. Moneys now non existent also which might hold up a few things as i still need to buy oil etc. Oh and i found out that my bottom end is actually a 9A! You can see the stamp as clear as day when you know where to look!

[Judderi]

05 June 06

Well i had a fairly productive weekend this week. I bought a new posh welding visor that automatically adjusts the shade for you so that you always have clear visability when welding. So i wanted to test it out. So 1st up was a spot of welding! Firstly i filled in the holes left over from a previous strut brace. So i cleaned up the holes with a dremmel.








I then filled them in with some weld and smoothed the welds off ready for paint.







While busy with the welder i decided to fit my new round expansion tank. Previously i had a kidney shaped one which arnt the best. In order to do this i had to remove the old bracket. Hammer and chisel later it was gone.










I then cleaned up the surface and welded on 2 bolts that will hold the new bracket like so.








So now the drivers side is all ready to be re painted. So i did! As its only smooth finish hammerite brushed on the finish isn't amazing but i was quite impressed really. I'm not after show condition really, i just want to protect the bay and prevent any future rust.






As Ive still got the new battery tray to weld in i only painted the strut top for now on the passenger side. I ordered a new replacement tray from VW for £33 which will work out allot better than trying to make my own. I'm gonna pick it up tonight so should be fitting it next weekend.




As it was lovely and sunny out side i didn't really wanna be inside the garage. So i started to look for jobs that i could do outside. So i started to heat wrap the exhaust manifold. I paid £25 for 25 feet of roll. It turns out that this wasn't enought and i only had enough to do 2 branches, so Ive ordered some more ready to finish it next week. Here is a before and after shot.






Next on the list was the seat runner clips. Ive been suffering from wobbly seat on and off for a while now as 1 of the old clips keeps sliding off. So it was time to replace them. It was really simple to do. You just undo the bolt at the front under the chair and slide the seat off the runners. Then pull off the old clips and push the new ones on. There are 2 clips for each chair and they go on the rear runners.




I then replaced my crystal clear side repeaters for my new smoked ones. Another before and after. I'm happy with the change. 






I then set to work removing my rear coil overs as my new springs have arrived. I haven't yet picked them up from my parents house but thought i may as well get ready to fit them. While the shocker was off the car i gave them a good clean up. I removed all dirt from the adjustable part threads and soaked them in oil. I was going to adjust them a little for more drop but could only find one spanner needed to do it. So Ive ordered a new spanner from ebay. Once adjusted I'm going to brush the threads with some wax oil to prevent future corrosion. Heres a pic of the spring in 3 pieces.






I also made a start at replacing my front top mounts. But i got stuck with the recessed nut, i have the special tool needed but i wasnt getting anywhere! I was getting tired and hungry so decided to call it a day.

[Judderi]

8th June 06

My new springs have arrived. Hopefully they are the right ones!

[Judderi]

9th June 06

Just a couple of updates. Battery tray should be ready for pickup today so hopefully i can get on with it tomorrow. Also i got a call from my engine builder. I origionally took him the bottom end to lighten and balance. I told him that if anything else needed doing then to let me know. Turns out my bearings could do with being replaced and my piston rings were worn. So the bottom end has been fully re conditioned with new parts and the bores have been re honed, plus everything lightened and balanced. Then when i started doing some research i realized that timing it all up with new cams was not a straight forward affair. So i took my gas flowed head plus cams etc to the engine builder to re mate to the bottom end, install cams and time everything up with my new vernier pulley. When he started on this he noticed that my valves were not sealing properly so he re cut and lapped them in for me. Now hes noticed that a couple of the hydraulic followers are badly worn so could do with being replaced also. So i gave him the go ahead to do it all. So now the top end is also pretty much brand new with new guides and followers. I'm dreading the bill! Will have to abuse the credit card me thinks as I'm skint. Oh well, at least it will be all done and ready to install sometime next week.

P.S  A very kind member of this forum also donated to me their modded thermo and stat that bring the fan on sooner to keep heat down to a minimum. Thanks you very much, they arrived safe and well. PM me cos i forgot who you are, sorry.

[Judderi]

12 June 06

Right then. This weekend it didn't seem like i got much done really. But i suppose i did. I jumped straight in at the deep end and made a start on replacing the battery tray. Its not a job for the faint hearted but if you take y time and think things through its not too bad. The 1st task was to remove the existing rusty tray. To do so i cut all the way around the tray like so. If your reading this as a how to make sure you cut as low as possible as you don't want to cut away the inner wing, you need this to weld onto later.




I also made a cut from the front straight up the chassis leg. If doing this it might be a good idea to make the cut about 1cm away from the chassis leg so that you don't end up cutting the chassis leg also. I didn't but hey you live and learn. Luckily i did no damage.




Now its time to get out the hammer and chisel. If you bend the lip of the battery tray up you can see where the tray meets the chassis leg. You need to then carefully chisel in between popping all the spot welds as you go.




You can now start bending most of the tray up and off like so. It will probably help if you cut other bits off with the grinder here.




You will now need to repeat the hammer and chisel process on the opposite side of the chassis leg to remove the remaining part of the tray.




Once removed it should look like the following. Now is a good time to clean up the top parts of the chassis leg removing any left over pieces and spot welds with the grinder.








Now you have to remove the left over parts of tray attached to the inner wing. You have to be very carefull here so take your time, remember the grinder is your friend, just use him wisely Young man!



That done and all surfaces cleaned up with a combination of grinder and wire wheel its time to test fit the new tray. Once you've made a few minor adjustments and are happy it time to prep everything. I decided to hammerite the inside of the chassis leg to help prevent future corrosion.






The next job is to drill lots of holes in your new tray. Basically you need to drill where you needed to use the chisel to remove a spot weld. So all along the inner wing join. All along the side that meets the chassis leg and down the middle where it meets the chassis leg. I probably drilled too many holes but I'm just over kill when it comes to welding, better secure than loose! Then clamp the tray in place and start welding! This is where i got too before my welder died after a grand total of 1 dodgy weld. So thats where i finished off. For next week Ive got a loan of a brand new welder so hopefully i will be able to get the tray all finished and painted.




Because i hit a brick wall with the welding i decided to make a start on the under body seal. Its great stuff! Its like gooey tar in a tin and basically you just brush it on. I didn't get much done really, just the front right corner and inside the arch.

[Judderi]

12 June 06

Why does nothing ever go right! 

I got a call from my engine builders with some bad news. Upon coming to fit the new schrick cams he noticed that one of the lobes on the exhaust cam has a hair line fracture all the way through it! So now i have to send it all the way back to germany and wait for a replacement. This is no doubt going to hold everything up a few weeks.

Good on Craid at CAS though for being so thorough and precise with his workmanship. Well recomended so far.

[Judderi]

14 June 06

Hmmmm not good! Turns out the fracture ended up in a break. There must have been a fault in the cast. Well its getting sent back to germany today so hopefully they will send me out a replacement straight away. Fingers crossed.