26/10/2025
Has been a heavy few days of cars…
The MX5 has had the bottom end stripped down, bearing clearances checked and new bearings installed. That is now running although it hasn’t been through a heat cycle yet. I needed to get the subframe back on but noticed the suspension bushes were shot, I set about getting the lower arms off. BOY nobody warned me about the rust welded bolts 😱 Horrendous job. Took me hours to get the 4 bolts out. Thanks Gordon for lending the recip saw. I brought two packs of blades and they just couldn’t get through all of the high tensile bolts. I went back to the mechanic mindset of you can’t be stuck if I turn you to liquid, so out came the blow torch. Got there in the end. Subframe stripped and I will likely get it blasted. Will order up some new bushes.
The Peugeot had a set of fuel lines replaced. The old ones had gone bad and were leaving. A set of braided Teflon pipes with some snazzy AN unions from Torques have replaced the bad pipes. These will be a welcome addition to stop fuel smell in the cabin from the junk old pipes. In addition I further looked into the alternator concern. A volt drop of 0.6v across the alternator to battery loom suggests a problem. I fitted a crude donor loom and did a further test and now 0.02v so a replacement will need fitting.
