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Post by miket on Jul 17, 2015 13:10:56 GMT
Thanks again! - useful idea/info tho' I realised that any telescopic action of the column won't help my problem because the upper and lower fixings are on the same part of it.
I also realised I'd told porkies above - the splines on the lower column into the rack are not "fully engaged" as I'd thought. They were engaged as far as they'd ever been in the donor, and the clamp bolt was through - but the splines were still showing by about 9mm (as seen in the pic of my manky gaiter above). By cleaning up the splines (tedious) I've got it to engage another 4mm which moves the whole column forward 4mm - so that at least I can see light through the upper column mount and MeV-plate bolt holes now.
If I cleaned up the splines fully then I could probably gain the other few mm I need, but I'm worried about affecting safety if I get too aggressive with the splines.
So if I stick with it as it is; I'll need to put a 4mm spacer on the clutch assembly on the thingypit side, to extend the slots in the upper mounting column by 5mm, and to move 8mm from the 4 brake pedal assembly spacers to the engine side of the bulkhead.
If I fettled the splines further I could avoid the 1st two jobs and move less material on the third - decisions, decisions!
Hope to see some of you tomorrow at Curborough.
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Post by miket on Jul 21, 2015 20:53:01 GMT
Installed the column's splines and clamped the upper column mounting to the mounting plate to measure gaps and work out spacer sizes.
Got the power tools in to action and cut 8mm off the brake pedal spacers to move to the engine side of the bulkhead. Some fine tuning with shims/washers on the thingypit side got the lower mounts sorted out.
Extended the slots in the column's upper mount and got that bolted to the mounting plate.
Made spacers for the top of the pedals to the chassis plate - 29mm and 21mm in my case.
The column's pretty central in the bulkhead-hole without me having to work at it, so I'll have a bash at fitting the rubber part of the column's seal/grommet in to the bulkhead-hole. Thinking of cutting a groove in the rubber that'll seat around the bulkhead-hole's edge (and then perhaps some adhesive) rather then using the 3 bolt holes.
So column & pedals are in place,.. but need to come out once more to clip on the brake and accelerator controls.
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Post by miket on Jul 27, 2015 17:23:46 GMT
Steering column & pedals finished off so pottered about 'planning' some of the bits I'd not yet given any thought to:-
1. Detached airflow meter from the filter box - looks like I need to connect a normally round cone filter pipe to a squarish inlet on the airflow meter - 'search' facility here we come.
2. Fitted the transmission end of the speedo cable and looked at routing - had a quick read of forum posts and I'll wait and see exactly where the other end needs to be before I drill or clip anything.
3. Peeled some of the wrap off the 'dashboard' loom to ease any bending. So much that's not used - so tempting to start hacking it away, but discipline to await working electrics prevails (just). Found a couple of black wires that just end as if broken! Looks like the handbrake wire'll need extending if the wire's to stay concealed.
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Post by gwnwar on Jul 27, 2015 21:28:00 GMT
If they are black wires they are grounds mark them for install later..
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Post by miket on Jul 28, 2015 17:13:08 GMT
Thanks George - I've labelled them up ready.
I'd done calliper service a while back but started to fit them today along with the (also prepped) rear stays...
Bearing in mind these rear stays are the newer UK all-in-one model, I found that I had to put a couple of washers in as spacers for the forward stay mount, i.e. on the upper calliper mounting bolt, so as to keep the stays running true front-to-back. It'd be good to know if any other builder's come across the same issue before I torque it up to 59nm.
Grainger's manual says to use copper/brake grease on/in the slider pins, but my calliper service kits came with a sachet of silicone grease specifically for the pins. I guess either would be fine, but if anyone knows of a good reason to use one rather than the other it'd extend my knowledge.
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Post by scooby1929 on Jul 28, 2015 17:26:44 GMT
With the sliders you are best to use silicone or red rubber grease. Copper grease should be used very sparingly on the metal edge of the pads. The sliders are inside rubber and copper grease degrades this. Copper grease also damages seals etc it swells them up. Use the silicone
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Post by miket on Jul 29, 2015 16:44:49 GMT
Cheers scooby - silicone duly used. Perhaps Grainger's manual predates the common use of silicone. I'd wondered if there'd be an issue with heat dissipation to the sliders - requiring copper.
Finished installing the rear stays and brake callipers ... until I realised a labelling fault, and my lack of knowing better, meant I'd put a front hose on the rear left!... and I didn't realise until the wheel was back on ... and rubbing on the hose. Rookies eh!
In line with my reading up on PU adhesive (separate thread) I stripped the powder coat from the stays for a better bond. Overkill maybe. Aesthetically I'd like to avoid hardware fixings through the wings if at all possible, but the cautious bloke in me wants the belt and the braces of the hardware. I guess GRP fixing might be better than PU, but then there's not much space for extra material. There's some time before I need to decide.
Read the posts on here about routing handbrake cables - useful stuff. The right one'll run thru the rats nest at the rear of the tunnel, which'll mean a bit of faffing about to avoid any rubbing. Rear cover'll have to come back off to massage stuff around a bit.
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Post by miket on Jul 30, 2015 14:29:27 GMT
The R (o/s) handbrake cable routing wasn't too bad as it runs nicely along under the seam at the front of the rear-subframe. This allowed it run thru the rats nest at the rear of the tunnel okay thankfully.
The R cable's just a bit shorter than I'd like it to have been, but I got it around the back of the tunnel - with a bit of edge trim there the reduce any chaffing. The main palaver was trying to drill a hole for a clip as there wasn't enough space to deploy the right-angle drill attachment ... so dremel abuse was the order of the day (or a large part of the day anyway!). If your build hasn't mated chassis to subframes yet, it'd be worth planning ahead for these clips.
The L (n/s) cable is a bit longer than I'd like it to have been and needed to take a circuitous route, but was straightforward.
Widened the 2 holes for the thingypit end of the cables to pass them through and even found the original clips to hold 'em in ... tho' the clips are so tight I hope they never need to come out again.
Next I'll go read up on handbrake lever installation.
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Post by miket on Aug 2, 2015 16:12:02 GMT
Dug out my long-since-filed-away handbrake parts, gave 'em a clean up and had a good read around the forum about handbrake installation. A couple of Qs arising:- 1. I understand the need to slacken off the handbrake handle's own adjuster, but I couldn't work out if the rear callipers and pads need to have been set up properly before installing the handbrake handle. I.e. Do I need to wait until the rear brake callipers/pads are correctly adjusted before I fit the handbrake handle? 2. The handbrake handle's hexagonal adjuster comes with its own little clip (circled) - does this just clip on to the handle's hexagonal adjuster with the clip's base against the metal of the handbrake handle, or is there more to it?
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Post by gwnwar on Aug 2, 2015 20:47:42 GMT
You can install the handle and cables to the rear calipers but leave the adjustment loose.. After you have calipers fully install with rotors and pads in place and rotors snug to the hub. (couple of lug nuts on) Adjust the pads with the small Allen wrench adjuster behind the 14mm bolt on rear of caliper.. just screw it in to tighten pads to rotor just snug then back off 1/4 turn install 14mm bolt.. Now adjust the hand brake adjustment nut untill rear wheels lock with 5-7 clicks of the handle.. check wheels turn freely when handle down and brake lamp on dash lights when up.. the clip goes between the nut and handle body to stop it from free turning..
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Post by miket on Aug 3, 2015 6:40:36 GMT
Thank you - appreciated - should be able to complete the brakes now.
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Post by miket on Aug 6, 2015 12:11:01 GMT
Handbrake installation complete - except for the switch wire. I need to work out the best way to keep the wire away from the prop shaft and supported to IVA spec ... as well as extend it. Used an old push-bike mudguard mounting bolt to secure the rear end of the spring - tho' I understand from elsewhere on the forum that the spring's not really needed. Small spacers needed so as to avoid the plastic cover rubbing the tunnel. The rearmost bolt's a tricky one to get a spanner to the back of. M8 rivnut would be ideal to solve both issues, but I'm not sure my rivnut tool's up to the job. The little clip that sits on the cable from the lever has been left in place - as I've seen on other builds, but if I can't find a use for it it'll get the chop eventually. Next stop - front brake hose mounting brackets. I'm hoping the wheel dollies'll make simple the testing of the affect of steering whilst the weight's on the wheels.
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Post by miket on Aug 6, 2015 17:45:58 GMT
... turns out I only had 20mm wide ally bar - not ideal for a 17mm hole in a brake mount - so that's now pending on delivery of more bar. In the meantime borrowed an idea from Matthew's build and made the basic support for the instrument cluster... I think that's as far as I'll go until cabling and speedo etc are in place - then I'll ponder on completing surrounds and other aesthetics. In the meantime - looks a tiny bit more like a car...
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Post by miket on Aug 10, 2015 17:41:30 GMT
Ally bar for the front brake hose mount arrived so I installed the first refurbished front calliper, all went well until torquing up the lower mounting bolt/slider. I read the Grainger's guide as saying the same torque for both upper and lower bolts/sliders, but the lower one sheared... on the plus side it's one of the easiest sheared bolts to recover from I guess. I need to find another source of torque values.. and a replacement bolt!
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Post by miket on Aug 10, 2015 17:52:46 GMT
After 2 minutes research (all right, googling really) I find this:-
"Some manuals (Rod's tep by step Mazda MX-5 1.6 litre ISBN 1-901295-25-7 - AND the 2004 Dealer pdf) give the WRONG torque values for the front caliper slider pins.
They SHOULD be:
78-88 Nm for the large 17mm headed pin 44-54 Nm for the smaller 14mm headed pin
The manuals above incorrectly list them both as 78-88 Nm. "
Based on my experience I'm going to consider this to be true! So noted here in case it helps others too.
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