Bush Mechanic

It's not always we have the right tool or the right part. And just sometimes we want to stick it to cruel fate with a "F.U." and fix something just because it's something to fix.

I had a director's chair once, it was something like $5 from a cheap shop, and of course it broke. But I stuck to the man, I really did... I bolted on bits of wood and brackets to make that chair live on until it had more collateral attached to it than was in my garage.

And so to the story that needs some telling before you wince at the pics below...

Over winter it is the norm to not need to mow, it's true that in summer you can push a pencil into the ground in Queensland and it'll take root - or be eaten by termites, but in winter when it's dry nothing grows. It's lovely.

And so onto my ride on mower. My venerable 11 year old mower that's really been a trooper was parked up in a garage. All good. As the heavens opened and summer rolled in with the sound like bass drum delivery truck rolling down a bumpy road it became time to tame the beast that is our lawn.

It takes me about an hour and a half, and according to everyone else in the family it's a really hard job. They're not wrong, I mean sometimes I have to go in reverse and everything.

But this time an hour in my venereal mower (damn thing) decided to break in a way that I still can't understand.
You see the magneto (and no I'm not going to explain what that is) decided to "interfere" with the flywheel. And it lost.

What did happen is my mower stopped as a kilos of spinny metal decided to hit the immovable (movable as it turned out) object that was the magneto. What did happen is that it ripped one bolt out and cracked the housing on the other. What it did do is pretty much total my mower.

But here's the thing. This magneto got swapped out a few years back. It's been fine since to the point I figured I'd never have to swap it out again. And yet this stalwart part of my mower, almost the only single part that is going to fail big came lose whilst sat stationary in my garage over winter.
I've heard of chip walk in technology, but two well tightened bolts? No fate, you've shown your hand and it it was displaying the naughty finger...

I've decided however that the hand of fate can go slap itself because I refuse to let my mower die. In fairness it really is dead, but I've had a go. A really dodgy go, and if you've not seen the "fix" then behold...

Yes, yes it is what you think it is

The one side got 'bored out' to M7 - any idea how hard it is to find a 50mm M7?

In all it's glorious majesty

So there it is. I dealt with the cracked sleeve for the one post with a set of mole-grips. It's actually a pretty good clamp. And the other side we bored out to M7, little did I know a. how hard it is to find a 50mm M7 bolt, and b. that it would crack the post mount on that side, which in fairness may well have been stressed from "the event".

Did it run? Yes it did! I ran it for around 5 seconds but it ran!

Next I'll be getting a $400 eBay special motor and fitting that. I'm hoping they have a sale, a bigger better motor is always the way to go! And that'll be my first engine swap too!

Perfect Level

I own a racing game or two, in fact I own many more... many, many more.
But one thing I've been on quest for is a great pick up and play rally game. I want something that compliments my 9pm, I'm tired beyond belief with a trick back and a few stubbies of beer driving style.
And I'm not sure there is such a thing. Certainly there's arcade madness, gravel is up there with that. Then there's the cerebral racing of Dakar. Up there too is Dirt Rally, soon to be Dirt Rally 2 - "return of the burn" I think. I also have Seb Loeb's rally game on PS4 - it's a very underrated game actually.

But what I miss is Dirt 3. Not Dirt 4 with it's scalextric plug together stages, no I want to be a relative hoon, have a dab of pop-art in there and to look at replays and go, yeah, that didn't win the stage but it was fun!

Like this little clip does, this is the game I want...

Let me know if there's such a thing on the PS4!

[Edit]: I had a masterstroke, which is not the Stroke el la Grande, no, it's a good idea! And the idea was to pop into the local cash converters and buy a PS3. So I did. And for the price of a new racing game I've got my back catalogue, including Dirt3. Marvellous. One could say it was a deal too good to put down - and it really was; "Dear cash converters, please at least wipe the 'fluid' residue off the PS3 before reselling it". Luckily for me, I have in declining order of importance:

1. A strong stomach
2. Industrial hand cleaner
3. Some WD40 and a cloth

For shifting the grim it's great stuff. Spray on cloth, and wipe. And wipe... eventually I got back to a PS3 base system and I was away.

And, I'm happy, I've scratched my itch, it's a great game after all, and what's more, I've got F1 2013, which is arguably the best F1 game for me as it has many tracks and historic racing F1 cars too. The bonus is grid too, which I really did enjoy immensely, though it does feel a bit dated now.

Happy days!

No Smoking

Short post for something that I thought of the other day, and really reflects what this car is all about... that being a project car to work on, adjust, improve and really make my own.

The back story is that I have a TomTom. Not because I get lost, Australia only has one road around the outside after all, but because it has speed camera locations on it which are updated. Which of course I have zero use for other than the fact that like train spotting, I'm collecting the serial numbers of speed cameras all around the Sunshine Coast. It's a great hobby that even the fuzz are in on, they've sent me pics every so often so I can mark the occasion if I accidentally don't spot one. Good on you coppers.

Anyway... to business.

The TomTom is USB powered from an adaptor that sticks out and largely fouls fifth gear. When I'm hastily shifting down when I spot another speed camera to mark off on my wow list that is...

So this:

Which I think you'll agree is functional but 80's.

Became this:

Which if nothing else is a better pic because I've got a new phone. But in reality not only looks better but also with two USB ports it'll be marvellous for the longer trips next year.

Baffurst

My favourite youtuber doing my favourite track...
1:48 is the unofficial lap record set by Button, this is matey trying to beat that...

30 Mins Later...

This morning I decided to tackle the Herculean task of sorting the front of the MX5 - specifically the dicey fill points from the previous license plate location point.

Yesterday afternoon I spent a fruitless hour trolling around Bunnings (Big DIY store) looking for some sort of spacer.

I knew I could get that sort of thing off eBay, but given I'd already removed the plate and holder I wanted it sorted this weekend - yes I am impatient!

A reminder, it looked like this:

Well, having bought a couple of screws that turned out to be "I'll be entering the radiator if I use that" sort of length, I was left with only the objects in my garage...


So this

And a bit of this

Left me with this

Which I'm so very happy about really. It's a million miles away from where I started, and I can't wait to see it out on the street to compare it with what it used to look like.

Pro-tip (not from a pro) - keep everything that's been unbolted, if I decide to sell the car I can in fact put it exactly back to how I bought it, minus the leaks...

Rainy Day

A little known fact is that the Sunshine Coast in Queensland has more annual rainfall than the Cotswolds in the UK. Look it up... (I'll save you, 1,400mm vs 850mm. "Sunshine")
An even stranger fact is that this year I believe that happened in it's entirety in the second week of October (this fact may in fact not be a fact, as a matter of fact).

Anyway, it's beyond mildly damp out, and as I've discovered the MX5 has the handling characteristics of one of those super size shopping carts with the fixed front wheels, when it's wet.

That and I don't like sitting in a tent when it's raining so I'm not about to experiment with 100Kph in one either.

So what to do, I need to do something... and then it struck me, I'd put the heaters down in the garage this last week - queue tropical sauna in the garage music???

And so I bought this:

The reason? This picture doesn't do it justice to how yellowed they were:

Considering I've been working my way through a heap of minor fixes, getting the lights sorted was certainly on the list.

Here's a halfway pic - you can see the difference is night and day, pardon the pun...

And the finished look?

Overall, I'm very happy with the outcome.
And whilst I'm not about to do a product review, I'll do some pointers...

• For $36 it's a bargain - $48 if you go to Repco instead of Super-Cheap (same product)
• RainX was the one that had a UV stabaliser - this is something that a few have said is important. As the car lives in a dark(ish) garage most of the time I think we'll be alright.
• They're not perfect, but given a single factory replacement light is ten times the price, good enough till I have the funds to get after market (and swap out/back on choice).

Application was easy enough, about an hour all up, but have extra cloths ready, you'll need one to clean the lights in between applications and one to put on the final coat.

Also, what is "generous" - I do think to quantify against a universal known would be better. Something like "three pea sized blobs" or similar would work. 

Overall, am I happy? I'm $36 and an hour happy. But if I were buying some lights second hand I'd probably not buy these. A major buff though, and they might come good. Certainly there's enough gubins to do at least another two sets till I get through it all (If I'm "generous").

Edit: The eagle eyed will notice the sort of snake bite mark above the number plate. This is where the standard plate went, this car I think had a car bra (haha, never!) as the plate is held on from underneath and there's velcro stick on pads in the bonnet. This is the next job...

Lesson time

There are many videos of Nurburgring, and probably many that have voice overs of "aarrrrrrgghhhh sheeeeet" and similar.

But this one is an unpretentious car (an Up) and generally a good lap, and by good lap I mean faster by a minute than Clarkson in a Jaaaag...

Edit: So, I saw a 9:06 on that stopwatch. I had a go in Assetto with the NA MX5 (a car close to my heart), it has to be around similar weight and power. And I wasn't even close.

In fact, it takes a pretty fancy car, and a fancy bit of driving to get somwhere in the ballpark for that time... Wow

Good Times

Cleaning out old folders on the PC the other day and I came across my GT5 back catalogue of pictures.

We've moved on for sure - last night I raced the X-Bow at Zandvoort and it has to be one of the best races I've ever had, the handling, the track, the multiple attempts following spinning out...

But in some ways it's not GT5, and certainly (thankfully) not GT Sport.

Back then you could buy a banger and probably get it somewhere near race ready. I give you:

Just popping to the shops

Temperamental but best FWD 

Artistic if not fastest

Loved the modifications for this car

Original brat pack..

George, Baloo and me

Subtle modding

Even rally was fun (mostly)

What did I do?

As you know I have a project car, I even posted about it below. Anyway, looking through my collection of stuff I realised I have a heap of 'progress' pics. So I thought I'd share the journey, I've enjoyed it!

Where did project car begin? Here, it's where you saw it a few weeks ago:

And it was as standard as it could be, inside and out...

Seats are a bit worn, but they'll do for now.
Pro Tip: Those two cup holder flaps are easy to fix. Fix them before they break. It's a simple case of pulling off the centre console and putting in a tiny screw and a washer so the spring doesn't fall off.
One was broken on this car, the other on it's way out.

Engine bay is fine. Bonus was the factory strut brace - I wasn't expecting that, but in the end it saved me a few dollars. Mind you, it was lost in the engine bay, not very 'Because: Racecar" really...

And, because I'm not the idiot I used to be (search on Project Beemer) I actually made sure I had some upgrade funds. I reckon a fair proportion of the enjoyment of buying this car was searching for the bits I wanted.

This gave me an early Christmas...

I also ordered a new stereo (no usb on the one that's factory) and double din cage.

I will say the fitting of just about everything was super easy, partly as I only bought bolt on stuff, but also I think it's a very simple car to work on.

Soon had the interior done:

I wasn't sure of handbrake fitting, but it's been secure.

Double sided tape works it seems!

Ended up really appreciating the centre console cubby, shades go in there, followed by phone, and there's a lip so it doesn't slide out.

A comment on the stereo - the speakers in the car are fine for sure. What's more with the loom converters it's a relatively simple fit. And as a bonus the whole thing dims with lights on at dusk. I do recommend this Pioneer too, or at least one you can change the fascia colours on - matching orange/red looks awesome at night.

So that sorted the car, but it's not "Because: Racecar" in any way other than being great fun. Enter a peruse of eBay. On there you can pick up some bargains, and a K&N Pod filter was one of them. Less than half the price of one from the site, if you're careful you can get one that's a further 20% off the ebay price. Which I did...

Worth the discounted price I paid.

An easy half hour to fit. And, cheeky, an oil breather filter - note that this isn't replacing EGR stuff, that's still there, this is a crank breather that used to feed to/from the air filter. 

I also took off the strut brace, and sprayed it ceramic red.

Turns out I really don't like spraying, or rather the time it takes to spray. An agonising few hours...

The results were worth it though...

Probably not to everyone's taste, but not overdone I think, and I like it, it's enough "Because: Racecar" without setting me up for re-tunes and the likes. And frankly as my current tally of speeding fines tell me, cars are fast enough mmmkay.

Note to others, the stainless radiator shield is good, and is in fact a good price, but if you're being pedantic it doesn't cover the final bulkhead/radiator gap, just the bulkhead gaps. I'm pretty much fine with this, but I do keep an eye out for a discount on a full cover that's stainless or indeed carbon.

And the external bits?

I like it. And that's what matters!

The fuel cap I'd do again for sure, it really should have been stainless from the factory (was it an option?). The clear lights? Sure they make it look good, but the pricing was a bit brutal.

Next on the list?

Radiator - Funny story. Took the car in for a service and they found several leaks in various seals and gaskets. Those, the brake grinding and an oil change took me to $1k and wiped me out. On the way through the mechanics recommended a radiator upgrade. I'll do that with the help of ebay for a full aluminium one. Next project once funds are free...

Headlights - I can polish them, but I think I'll go with some after market ones and start afresh. I can then polish/sell the factory ones to cover costs - possibly all of the costs as they're expensive compared to non OEM.

Race headers & Exhaust back box - I like the sound basically. CX Racing does them but you're losing various sensors on the way through apparently. Research time, and expensive, so we'll see how we do.

Brakes - Had mine faced off so they're good for now, but I like the idea of a lot more feel. There are various suppliers of kits - I like the Wilwood set, they bolt right on there. Maybe need some new wheels and tyres at that point too.

Roll bar - As they say, don't have it unless you plan to use it. But I do like the idea of a track day, hillclimb or motorkhana or two with this car. But I don't like the idea of being folded up inside it...

For now though, and probably for  year or more, it'll be my weekend sports car, dressed up as it is. It's perfectly fine like that!

Senna