2 door VAE 306H

[Sleeper]

When I was last at skool, 2 and 4 made 6 , or am I missing something ( usually am ) .

John ;-)

[les]

No, you’re not wrong———- or you could take the 2 from the 8 to get 6

[kevin s]

Apologies, probably my english, I have a quantity of two , 4 thou shims , one 8 thou and one 10 thou.

[kevin s]

Started replacing the propshaft U/J's front went easily enough but the rear was pretty rusty.

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Got it out in the press but by the time I'd cleaned all the rust out of the yoke on the prop flange one of the bearing cups was loose fit in it's hole, fortunately Moss do a new flange for £19, probably means it will also need balancing afterwards but don't want to take any risks with a flailing prop.

[kevin s]

My son has finished his finals so in a couple of my lunch hours we put the re-built gearbox back in.

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Ran it up with the back wheels off the ground today and all seems well, comparred to the old one it seems remarkably quiet!

Just need to fix the handbrake cable attachement and put the trim back around the gearstick then we can take it for a proper drive.

I've also choosen to use 75w90 gl4 gear oil, we'll see how that goes to.

[kevin s]

Have driven it now good news is the gearbox is quiet and shifts smoothly, bad news is the shreiking noise is exactly the same. Without the other noises from the gearbox it now seems the noise actually comes from the rear, current assumption is the noise is the rhs brake dragging which is because the handbrake cable is partialy seized and holding it on, waiting for new cables now.

[kevin s]

Handbrake cables are fitted and brakes go off and on fine, the rh cable was very stiff, I think it might be the the dynax UB underbody wax which my so sprayed all over the cables.

Yet to drive it hopefully we'll get out in it on wednesday.

Also took a look at the breather, I had a suspcion it was blocked, I coukdn't feelbany flow through it with the engine running and it seemed to be pushing oil outbof the scroll seal.

With the top cut off

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Doesen't look great.

Pulled the gauze out and replaced with half a pan scourer.

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I also drilled the top of the can so I can fit a mx5 PCV valve.

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Fitted back to the car and re-joined using a mikalor clamp and some rtv sealer.

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As a temporary measure until I find a T to plumb it in I fitted a piece of 15mm copper in place of the valve and connected it to the air cleaner.

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[kevin s]

Took the car for a decent shakedown today, glad to report it's transformed, no screeching noise, gearbox sounds fine and shifts nicely, clutch doesn't judder, driveline vibration around 55mph has gone, the handbrake holds it easily on hills, the rear is much less bouncy and without the handbrake dragging it seems even nippier.

You can also actually feel something coming through the breather now so hopefully some of the oil leaks will be reduced.

still a few things to do, it needs some sound deadening on the bulkhead / trans tunnel, there is wheel wobble which comes in at around 60 (we have some new Minilite type wheels to fit) and we have yet to wire the heated screen in. We also have a longer term project to fit twin SU's and a sports exhaust.

[mowogg]

How well us the engine breathing working now? Are you planning to couple the mx5 pcv to thr inlet?

[kevin s]

It seems to be breathing much better before there was no flow now you can feel small amount of flow when you rev the engine.

The I have yet to fit the pcv, my son is out in it most days

[les]

Here’s a picture of a dismantled canister, that a member (pgp001) modified for me and a number of others I believe.

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[kevin s]

The clamp and sealer seems to be working fine at the moment but longer term I will probably make complete new top for the can out of alloy and mount it like you have.

[kevin s]

My son bought it home for a wash yesterday and we had a bit of alook over it, with the breather cleaned out the engine looks a lot dryer and no drips on the drive ao that seems a sucsess.

there a couple of bits of bodywork which may need looking at, a blister on the back edge of the roof, looks like something has reacted in the paint (it was an area I leaded so perhaps some trapped flux). the fiberglass boot is covered in crazing (we have a steel one I need to get my finger out and finish repairing it). and some cracks in the paint on the body around one of the boot hinges (no sign of rust etc just seems to be cracks in the paint surface). But alll in considering it was painted 5 years ago now an has been used all weathers not to bad. It is though occasionaly cutting out still which seems to be fuel related, I suspect it's a re-occurrence of the ongoing carb issues which goes away when you brim the damper, so I will get stuck into re-building the twin carbs we have and fit them along with the sports exhaust and manifold.

only other issues was the quarterlight broke, looks like it was barely welded on in the first place, I'm suprised it lasted 54 years!

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so we took it off (easy enoug as we had used stainless fastners) and welded it back together.

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I didn't have any gas or stainless wire for the tig so it was with the mig and mild steel, consequently it also got a coat of zinc rich paint.

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Glass is all back in, just need to pop rond to the lock up and put it back on now

[kevin s]

been a while, my sonwho's car the minor ud has moved away, it's neen driven every 3 or 4 months but not really used, he's in the process of buying a house with a double garage for the minor. So before it goes it's time to sort out some issues. the ones I am aware of are:

1. Its losing brake fluid.
2. something is leaking onto the left rear tyre.
3. one rear shock has a significant leak
4. the rear is too low and soft especially 4 up/when towing.
5.a heavy knock from the front when you brake.

So monday I went to it's lock up connected the battery and it started straight up. Got it up on the 4 poster. had a look round nothing obvious at the front but all the rubber bushes are begining to crack, so I'll replace the lot with poly. On the rear I pulled the wheel and drum off expecting the wheel cyl to be leaking but the leak is from the hub seal and the wherl cylinder is bone dry.

started on the hub , all off and a speedi sleeve fitted.

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can't put it back together as I forgot you have to press through the wheel bearing to get it out so I need a new one.

[kevin s]

Today while I'm waiting for the hub parts I started on the rear suspension, the plan is to fit a telescopic damper kit and uprate the springs using a 7 leaf traveller set.

Looking at the Traveller springs the leaves are all longer than the saloon ones and the same 1/4 inch thickness so 5 leaves will have a higher rate.

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The traveller ones also have about 1" more set

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I'm currently thinking about using 5 leaves of the Traveller spring, I may even try flattening one of the traveller bottom leaves and use that on the bottom to give be a 2 rate spring.

[kevin s]

After a bit of experimentation we are going to try a the traveller springs greased with lithium grease and wrapped in leather gaiters, ended up using the main leaves off of our original 5 leaf springs as one of the 7 leaf ones had a nasty groove worn in it and the other was heavily pitted on the top, stripped cleaned them all up and rebuilt both springs, fitted with poly bushes all round.
They are on the car and seem supple with about the right ride height (last pic is with the weight on the axle), I will torque everything up and put the wheels back on tomorrow and get a better idea.

If all is well I need to find some more of the old sofa I made the 5 leaf gaiters out of to make larger ones, then fit the telescopic dampers.

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[kevin s]

wheels are back on, ride height looks OK.

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front needs to come up to, its only 10mm off the bumpstop.

[Sleeper]

Don't scratch the plus2...

John ;-)

[les]

Handy to sit in whilst working on the Minor

[kevin s]

I have in the past taken pictures of the underside sitting in it, there is also a thick cloth over the back to catch the inevitable minor engine drips.
The good point to aving it there is I move it out to work on the Minor and because its out I've been using it as an every day car.