Eunos Chump

Mazda passed it's MOT this time, with just 1% CO (5.5% previously), pretty good for a car with no cat. It was great to have it back on the road, but of course that feeling didn't last long. This evening a large hare ran into my path and got ingested into the 'mouth', smashing through the bottom of the air guide. The intercooler is a bit mangled too, but will straighten out. Mr Hare came off rather worse.

As usual, the Mazda has been skulking in the garage and avoiding all the fine weather. It's MOT re-test tomorrow, and seeing as heavy rain is forecast all week, it will most likely pass. I've had to disassemble all the turbo gubbins again, but I've become a reluctant expert at this. The gasket between the turbo and manifold had been leaking; it's been replaced (a Nissan 300ZX gasket is a perfect fit though expensive at £22 - part number is 14415-17M00 ). The gasket between the turbo and front pipe also showed signs of a leak, I can't find a pattern for this so I cleaned it up and have used Firegum to hopefully fix. The broken temperature sensor as also been replaced, and there's also some Magnecor ignition leads . I've bought a Haynes manual for a Hillman Imp off t'Bay, so I can find where the engine lives when I finally get it. Mrs B has given the OK for me to concrete over part of the front garden too, to create another parking space... just in c...

MX5 failed it's MOT yesterday on a weak handbrake, high emissions and the exhaust coming apart. I don't know what happened with the latter, it was alright beforehand but when it came back from the garage one of the bolts securing the front pipe to the de-cat pipe was missing completely. I put some new bolts on, and had a spare gasket, so that's sorted. Handbrake was adjustment again, I think I didn't do it right last time - seems very good now. Emissions... first suspect was the stock 02 sensor, which sits immediately behind the turbo. I've chopped it's wire and connected the analogue 1 output from the LC-1 instead. I'm going to order a new water temp sensor too, can't see any leaks around the manifold, hopefully that'll be enough. I've bought some 320cc injectors for the next phase - Megasquirt! I'm putting together a list of all the bits I need, because it's DIY for me - no easy PnP solution (mostly because it's twice the price). Lo...

I've bought a REALLY BRIGHT digital boost gauge, it's a Glowshift from eBay and have I mentioned that it's REALLY REALLY BRIGHT? It was easy enough to fit and came with everything required, apart from a fuse holder. With the duty and postie's cut, it came to just under £60. And it's EXTREMELY BRIGHT, it's like it's SHOUTING at me constantly... GEE MAN I'M ONLY SEEING VACUUM HERE WHY DON'T YOU PUT YOUR FOOT WOAH THERE'S SOME BOOST GOING DOWN NOW I.. AH IT'S GONE AGAIN YOU DRIVE LIKE AN OLD LADY PERHAPS YOU SHOULD GET A PRIUS.. YES! OVERTAKE THAT BUS GET SOME BOOST FOR ME TO SHOUT AT YOU.. THAT LORRY IS SURE COMING AT US FAST.. I've also fitted one of MrFast's (of MX5Nutz ) front brace bars. It links the lower suspension pick-up points on the subframe and has immediately improved the feel of the front end - why were these not fitted at the factory? Absolute bargain at £26 delivered.

Russ and I went to the Goodwood Breakfast for the first time this morning, in convoy with another MX5 from the Nutz forum. It was virtually B-roads all the way and we were flying low, terrorising the public with our hairdresser mobiles. The theme was Mini Mayhem, so there were an awful lot of Minis there. Sadly, many of them were of the savagely uncool BMW variety, but there were lots of originals too. Even a pink one. Lots of other small stuff too, including this Lotus and a Fiat X1/9. I used to have a serious fetish for these, but the MX5 can do most things better (exceptions being ride and refinement) so I don't see another one coming my way. Everybody liked this, it appears to be a dustbin with bit's of Spitfire attached. The Goodwood Breakfast event is free, I'm not entirely sure why they put it on. They do charge plenty for food, but there were lots of staff on site and it clearly takes quite a bit of organisation. They happen on the first Sunday of every mo...