Eunos Chump

The 5 has covered a lot of miles over the weekend, but thankfully it was all work-related so worth 40p a mile. With the crazy fuel consumption and requirement for super-unleaded, that's still almost 50% profit. It would be a killer if I was running a new or nearly-new car though, like most of my colleagues - they need to be persuaded that old modified Japanese cars are the way forward! The turbo has been working loose again, it eventually shrugged off the double-nuts. I need to find a proper solution for this, it's annoying having to tighten it every other day. Perhaps old modified Japanese cars are not the way forward after all? I thought I was on for some Renault 11 ownership this week, there was a sound 41K, 1 old lady owner '83 GTL on the 'Bay going for a few hundred quid. Unfortunately another Autoshiter beat me to it, but I'm keeping my eyes open. I'm holding off on buying the Megasquirt for now, I may try to extract the final 50BHP from the Mazda o...

That's a broken Citroen Berlingo window regulator above, it decided to give up when I tried to close the window at the supermarket yesterday. Thankfully, the important primary mission (buying cream cakes) was unimpeded. That little wheel is made of brittle plastic and has been torn off by the cable, which seems to have become mangled. Trying to repair it is a waste of time so I've ordered a new one, which is not too bad at £100 which includes the motor. Not very impressive for a car with about 40K on it though, bloody French. I've bodged the window back in for the moment using masking tape and a roll of wallpaper (it just happened to fit), but it means Mrs B has had to take over the Benz and I've been in the Mazda. It's a bloody thirsty little car! Back to Mario Kart for me, yes, MARIO KART. It's awesome-ness remains unquestioned.

Currently I am ONLY INTERESTED IN MARIO KART on Wii. There is nothing else, there is only Mario Kart. MARIO KART. Think you're good enough to take me down on multiplayer? You're not, your life is not DEDICATED TO MARIO KART, but you're welcome to have a go. I'm on 4983-5090-7601.

I've had an ongoing problem this week with the nuts that secure the turbo to the manifold working loose. I tried tightening them cold, then hot (and inevitably burned my fingers), but it made no difference. However, there was enough thread to double-nut each one, and that seems to be holding nicely. I think I've got a slight coolant leak because I can smell it at high RPM; my spidey sense thinks I may have damaged a heater matrix pipe during the head gasket work... I will wait and see. The headrest speakers have been installed now, I pulled out the broken old ones and fitted these much bigger ones from MX5 Parts. Easy job, takes about 20 mins, and they sound vastly superior. Now I can hear the Radio 4 goodness at motorway speeds, even with the roof down!

I was all set for the Goodwood Breakfast this morning; I'd been up until almost 1am putting the car back together, and set my alarm for 6am today. However, just as I was about to get out of bed there was an almighty clap of thunder, which I took as a sign that I should stay put. And then there was the matter of several inches of snow... not exactly the weather for a top-down B-road blast. It was very satisfying to drive the car again after doing so much work on the engine. It started immediately, and everything seems fine apart from a odd noise at the front of the engine. I reckon it's either the alternator or PAS belt. Will there be any leaks? Time will tell.

It's been slow progress this week. I achieved nothing yesterday, apart from playing Quake 4 (but then it is important to keep the Strogg down). I've been much more useful today though, it was almost warm and my cold has cleared up, plus I avoided a second helping of dessert that would have had me dozing on the sofa. I've got the cylinder head back on, bolted down, cam wheels back on and even had a go at putting the timing belt back on (but the cams are all wrong). I've been struggling to find a way to replace the cam seals. Cutting them risked marking the metal, and taking off the caps sounded like a whole tin of worms, but I've found an easier way. I drilled a 2mm hole through the face of the seal (there is a steel ring behind the rubber), then screwed in a small screw a few turns. I then used pliers on the screw to waggle out the seal. You must be accurate with the drill and avoid touching either the cam or the housing, but it's a quick and easy job using this...