DieselMonte

Got the washer relocation done and wired up, Then set about the reroute kit. Not a fun job but not massively difficult. Did note some more gunk in the cooling system than Id anticipated. No chunks, but nothing particularly good either. Took it down to flush it all out, rad, heater core etc. All went together alright. Missing a few blanks and plugs (since sorted) Ran some rad flush etc through it which has done well. Incidentally it has fixed the constant hot coolant gauge in the cluster. Presume due to me using the sensor already in the reroute. Nice it was an easy fix in the end. Reroute kit had a motorad thermostat in it so left it alone too. Some assorted bits from Bofi, note the genuine oil filter too. However, on the very last hurdle, problem. The radiator bung. The one and only time I used it (just pulled the lower hose previous), stripped. Completely gone. So new rad needed, and new rad ordered. Not at an ideal time either as the monte and other cars have needed work too. Aside from that, ive got my hands on some adaptor brackets to fit the larger sport discs to the rear of the mx5. Using the standard 1.8 caliper setup to boot. So after finally washing the irish sea and lots of bird poo off it, i got it on the lift. Rear discs been wanting changed this while. So may as well upgrade when im at it. Corroded pretty deep considering i have been using it a good bit, and its stored dry. Still solid discs mind. Doubt there'll be much measurable difference besides just having new brakes on. Still life left on the pads but new bosch ones to go on. Ideally wanted mintex or similar, but its what I could get locally. This is how ive left it. Caliper and carrier got a wire brush and paint so waiting for it to dry. Did have to trim the rear dust shields and probably could have done a nicer job at it. Painted it to cover the bare metal. Tyres is the next big thing for this, probably going to get regular tyres to replace the AD08Rs on the back for now. May possibly have a line on some take off AD08Rs in the right size, but be a while off. I fear i may be learning to weld on it over winter. Depending on how finances go. For a car that was maybe not loved the majority of its life its come along pretty well, but its certainly never going to be perfect.

Got some nearly new ar-1s for this thing Some tyre softener stuff too so coated and wrapped them up. Got the K brace back in it eventually, night and day difference. Then the car started leaking quite badly, rocker cover. Have done a fair amount of driving since and it was fine, until it wasnt, probably something caused or disturbed. Bit the bullet and bought a new rocker cover, injector bolts and washers (again) and new leakoff pipes. Even with trade discount, it hurt. Easy enough job since i'd done it before atleast. Got it done in maybe 2hrs All good and fine now. Took it out and washed it all down and underneath. Get the oil off. Ended up giving it a valet along with the mx5 so clean, waxed all that. Have parts on order for it, chiefly its getting new brakes all around. So i'd already put so much aside to do that, the rocker definitely hurt to shell out for.

Also should mention did the oil in the diff a while ago, genuine toyota oil that met the same spec as this thing. No chunks, but definitely wasnt fresh. So that was the mechanical bits sorted, Gave it a good clean up pre leaving. Very early ferry but atleast the tunnel was open this time. As with the heat last weekend, it was not terribly enjoyable. Car was extremely hot inside, shifter boot is torn and i reckon it was just pumping exhaust heat into the cabin. Mate went with me. Neither of us had ac, in black cars in 30°heat, but atleast he had tints. About 3 and a half hours over. We were early so stopped by the motorist for a while and squires. Nice spots both of them. Got to the track around 5 ish. Had paid for running saturday, but we went to a car show at the motorist saturday morning, and were otherwise out and about. Only actually got one (not good) run in. So clearly ill need to remedy that next time. Was very busy anyhow so probably for the best i was out of the way. Made it to the ferry sunday in good time Car drove well, had no problems in the heat aside from my comfort. Still got 37mpg for the whole trip so not terrible. Got a small haul of parts for the mx5. Including a coolant reroute kit. Washer bottle relocation, spoiler even. All will be put on in time. It is cleaning up to be a much nicer car than i'd thought, unfortunately, i intend on keeping it and messing with it a while longer. Also got a set of very nearly new ar1s for the monte, and got cetane booster and tyre softener stuff from a man at melbourne. So good weekend in all even if i only got the one run in. Cant recommend the place enough, i really like what they're doing, even if it is a bit of a journey to visit.

So bit of an update. Was prepping it to take to melbourne last weekend. Left it a bit later than i should have but got all I needed done. Got given some plastidip a while ago and had some paint laying around, seen the wipers were a bit tatty so sprayed them. Quick scuff and gloss black on the arms, the little deflector got some plastidip for that black textured look. Found the source of my oil leak, the sandwich plate that the oil temp sender uses was leaking. Although a very awkward job to do. Very poor location it was relatively simple to sort. Took all off. Cleaned and tightened all back up and its dry. Changed oil and filter at the same time too, Found out a 90915YZZS2 toyota oil filter fits, but not on mine because of the lack of access. Put a blueprint one on for now, reckon a mazda b6y1 filter will work so ill change it out next service. Took off the rear undertray as it was caked in oil and grime, cleaned up the engine bay etc as much as i could. Also found what i thought was my exhaust rattle. It was not, rattles still there but not quite as bad. Bodged a pinhole i found too. New exhaust would be nice, but unless i win the lottery, not gonna happen anytime soon. Undertray was battered, cleaned it best i could Gave it a coat of paint anyway, And reinstalled, its better than nothing. Also cleaned and plastidipped the little ashtray, as it stood out with how faded it looked. Looks sort of standard now and blends more with the black interior. Also got new door bushes, which made a surprising difference, in terms of rattles etc. Car generally feels more solid if nothing else. Tried and failed to fix the cigarette lighter. Its been a problem the last 10 years if previous owners notes are to be believed. Did try making one from the parts justy work, no avail. Interestingly, their is power to the unit and it will work occasionally then blow the fuse, so just a new unit at some point. 20250706_181251.mp4 Since I had an empty slot in the gauge pod. And the sandwich plate was off i fitted an oil pressure sender, had one spare with the car anyhow. Wired up from existing wiring and it works, doesnt seem too accurate but it does work. Also fixed the radio, as it didnt get fm signals. Because the jack for the antenna was buried in the dash, easy fix.

Had this out for its first "drive" in a long while. Was well over due a wash. Not a long drive but it moves fine after all that work.

Back on 4 wheels, New lift in, godsend. Mx5 took up more time and money than id thought but its in decent shape, justy is broken again but thats nothing new, so got more time to get on this. Subframe back on, driveshafts back on etc. Radpack built up with new rad. Snazzy stud and nut kit installed, and back on 4 wheels. Repaired some more wiring, again. And had it running, not for long but still. Bit long to crank, so further fettling needed. 20250608_212402.mp4 Also fitted an oil pressure sender, a spare from both mx5 and justy parts. Ran it to a gauge in the engine bay testing it out. Oil pressure is strong so good signs there. Will be routed to the 3 gauge thing in the din. Dont know if i mentioned but ive a serviceable set of underbody "cladding" and exhaust tunnel heatshielding from another parts car which will go on in time.

Got it all cleaned up, cleaned the intake manifold some too. Cleaned the injector bodies up, and left the tips submerged in injector cleaner, i had some spare, figure it would do no harm. Did see little bits in the bottom of the dish so it cleaned something out. New seals, rocker cover gasket etc, all good, reused the original injectors, see how much longer they last. Going great since, only problem now is my 6 month old battery is goosed, because it was sitting for a while. Have a lift now so will make a lot of repairs much easier for me.

Injector seals done, went pretty poorly, you'll see why. Injectors 3 and 4 came out fine, no trouble at all. Slightly grubby but dont look too bad. Injector 2 and namely one were seized in. Took ages of prising, spraying penetrant etc to try free them, after hours and hours, they did come free. However, Pretty bad looking. The hole for number one was as bad. The rest werent horrible. Ended up pulling the rocker and intake manifold. Aside from the hole, the cambox looks really fresh, for almost 180k now its really very clean. Same for the intake, very little sludge built up. Did clean up what i could, not that it really needed it. Suspected intake seals were leaking so got new seals for it. Copper washers were well used. Got an injector bore cleaning kit to make life easier.

Ive put some sound deadening behind the insulation on my monte just last night infact Had some spare, does seem to quiet it down even more.

Not much else to add, Had to get new foglamp bulbs for it. Used to love michibas yellow bulbs but lately ive had two sets on two different cars fail almost instantly. This one, one failed within a week of barely being driven. The other bulb lost its colour and went dim, no wonder. Got Lunex bulbs for this and another car that so far seem much better, nice colour, good light and much cheaper. And i finally got to use an exhaust tip vanhireboys sent me years ago for the vrsdi. Didnt fit it, or anything else i owned but fits this. Does look a bit, very ricey from certain angles where you can see the bolts, but better than the normal tip, wasnt happy with how it came up.

So since the justy didnt want to come along to Retrorides, i took the mx5. Had it looking as good as i could. It is not a show car but it is pre-2000 just a late registration. Gave the wheels a buff up which helped but theyre still pretty bad. Very late ferry which i cut very close, as the port tunnel was closed, so i had to go through dublin to get to the port. Made it down, about 460 ish miles each way. Was a lot of driving and it held up fine. Trying to keep this in one post so not as many photos. Ended up sleeping in it both nights. Was held at Goodwood way south. First day we were put near the entrance. Weather was unbelievable the whole weekend. An amazing mix of cars, bikes etc came in. Whole event was brilliant start to finish, cant recommend it enough. Second day was put out on the (far end of) the track. Load of stalls etc setup, was a lancia ypsilon outside the bilstein booth and an sd1. Added to the sticker collection on the hardtop. The ones that were on it are not my taste, but part of the history of it so im hesitant to take them off. Made it back through customs eventually. Wasnt home till about 4 am monday. Did really well the whole trip. Even though it was visibly dripping oil it didnt move much off the level. Ran it on premium when i was in the uk, since i cant get in ireland. It did seem to prefer it. Averaged just shy of 40mpg on the way back and for a brief stint on the way down, behind a friends hillman it managed nearly 50mpg. Didnt have any issues rubbing etc, boot was full up. Got some nicer mats and some heater hoses from a friend for not much too. Might be doing a trackday in this soon ish, so see how it goes.

Been meaning to update. Didnt make retrorides yet again, this time was a vacuum leak on the carb. Could only get thin gasket sheet locally, tried it. Worked. For about 5 miles. So got it back to the shed and took the mx5 Ill post some stuff in that thread. Trying to get some thicker sheet just have to wait. Also changed the oil and air filter ahead of that. One good thing is while subaru hasnt made anything for it in 20 years, Toyota still makes some parts for their older coronas etc. I work at a toyota garage now so was able to cross reference aftermarket numbers back to toyota oe numbers, and so ive got decent fuel filters, exhaust mounts, condensors, etc from it. Pretty cheap too. Now have a lift and all too.

Waiting for paint to dry on the mx5 and another car I kept busy doing little things to this. Popped the rear fog lamp lense off and polished it. Pulled the original spare out and put a serviceable one from the parts car in. Did clean it first. Took the oil cap off to clean it up. Just wire wheeled it to death and gave it some metal Polish. Also Tinted the spotlamps. Before pic I had a fair bit of time, you might realise. Got some bare tools organised and set up for it. Gonna pull the dizzy and coil off the parts car to keep in it, maybe ott But I'm not wanting to be stuck on the side of the road soon.

Not much else on this, had more time than I'd wanted waiting between coats. So I Tinted the fogs and buffed the exhaust tip. Not much better, but mostly no longer brown and manky looking.

Took the original starter apart to clean it up. Stripped it down, cleaned it up. Wasn't great, wasn't terrible. Put it in there and it seems to be doing a better job. Flywheel doesn't look wonderful on the teeth mind.

Currently tackling some surface rust underneath. Won't be used in winter, or do massive driving so won't need to be perfect.

Previous owner put a Momo Millenium in it, with a quick release. I have the oe nardi wheel for it. Doesn't look a major pain to take them off, no worse than the fabia ones.

This thing is going pretty well. Slackened the clutch cable some more and that's stopped it slipping. Had it up in Enniskillen Easter Monday for a car show, good mix of driving. Had changed coolant and adjusted the timing a little so it was more a shakedown run than anything. Fairly packed, weather was horrid so made it a bit of a wash. Some nice stuff at it. Just the weather put a damper on it. Filled up with some e5 since I was up north and got 50mpg on the way back. Very surprised. Seems to be going well, really hoping it'll do goodwood in a few weeks. Installed an Oil pressure gauge too. Fixed up some wiring to the spotlamps aswell. Only thing I'd like to get sorted is the starter but we'll have to see.

Bit more work done. Repaired the foglamps, Cleaned up the interior and dyed the carpets. And got a strut brace for it. Also got a replacement (used) battery for free. Better job than the one in it so. Still leaking oil, think I've traced it to a sandwich plate for the oil temp sensor. Driving well, majority of my list is already done. Nothing stopping me driving it now really. Bit better on fuel seemingly with the new caliper on.

I don't know what's up with briskoda but it keeps uploading some of my photos upside down. Anyway. New plugs New Air filter (and short ram jobby) Had a go at fixing the fogs Regulator has me tortured. Completely and totally, but I may finally have it back together next day. New Discs and pads, and lh caliper. Took my time painting and cleaning up. Pads were 'ok'cheapish brakefit ones, had good life aside from the caliper sticking. Discs were clearly replaced with the pads, so no lip. Could have reused them but didn't want to risk it considering. Slight improvement. Got the flags back on it, are MG ones apparently. And New plates finally. Not really driven it since just keeping busy at it.

Easy got online but I wouldn't, went down that road and they don't last lmao. Get a pierburg one in a motor factors. I had some real weird driveability problems with cheap ones. Had ones where it wouldn't boost till 3k then shoot off. I think at the minute I'm using one from my parts car.

Spent a few hours there polishing, got a loan of a friend's dual action and I'm in love, what a nice bit of kit. This picture will not upload the right way around, however: Paint is pretty far gone so just did my best to improve it. Tried out heavy cut first, then carpro fixer, then carpro reflect. Heavy cut was painful. Carpro stuff has so far astounded me, it's much easier to use than my previous Meguiars stuff. Way easier to buff off too. Paints far from perfect never will be bar a respray, which I'm not doing. BUT, it has come up decent, needs glazed, sealed, waxed etc which will help cover some of the wear. Bumper came up well, looked almost blue with how faded it was. Definitely going the right way so far.

My lovely country doesn't have e5, or premium fuel. "Premium fuel" here is still e10 95 octane with extra cleaners. And being near the border I have a suspicion half of it's mixed with kerosene (joking). I can get it over the border but it's getting to be a pain.

Had a poke under it on the pit. It is as you'd expect. Body is there, suspension is fairly corroded. Was advised on mot and was told exactly what I was getting. Cleaned up the air filter (needs replaced really) Got some genuine toyota pedal pads and stretched them to fit this. Washed it again and pulled the hardtop off, not impossible to do solo, soft top was hardly used and needs to stretch to clip on. 2 small tears either side but nothing to worry about really. Pulled the plates off In preparation for polishing, getting a loan of a dual action to do it. Driven it for the week, engines sweet as, doesn't seem a lover of our 95 octane e10, use the same additive I do in the rest of my stuff which helps. Runs fine, just seems to run better on the good stuff. As figured it is a tad low, especially for where I am. But it drives well, not like I'll be able to adjust much given the underside. Did notice some oddness in the brakes, and found left front caliper is sticking, so will be getting a new caliper and new discs and pads soon. Calipers roughly 50 euro, discs and pads from mtec about £90 so hardly breaking the bank. Getting about 27mpg currently, suspect caliper and a few other tweaks will bump it nicely. E10 is definitely hurting it there however.

Had to get another sump as the one I got was wrong, Rear main seal and oil pickup is done and dusted. Pulled clutch and flywheel off to said seal, Since I loathe removing gearboxes, and have had to do it twice now I've opted to replace it. Was an oe clutch and DMF on it, the hot spots on the plate and flywheel sealed the deal for me, clutch wasn't gone gone but I'm not doing it again. Dmf was fine itself just the hotspots on it and I know you're not meant to reuse them as such. Did have the option of going single mass. Get trade rates thankfully. So only meant it was 20 euro in the difference between a single mass sachs setup and dual mass Luk. I like sachs stuff as it is oe, but LUK is decent enough and keeps the dual mass. Didn't want to deal with the chatter you get with a single mass either. Another car got but won't really effect this, it's not something that's going to consume a lot of money.