With the UK Power Tour this weekend I have blown the tuning budget on Pandaing and a semi-sober/insomnia eBay purchase Mazda MX5.

Still I'm only taking part for fun.

Thinking of selling the Punto so I can use my Fantasia and use the money to repair the MX5. Sell the MX5 on for a Summer profit and get another Punto (dare I say MkII HGT).

All the accumulated bits will go as well. so the original tailgate, lockless doors, GT rear beam, rear wishbones, original front shocks and all four original springs.

All in it owes me over £600 but I'll put a classified advert up for £500 ono -ish once I've deliberated over the weekend.

The MX5 is a toy and a half.

I was thinking this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HOUSE-OF-..._Body_Shop_Supplies_Paint&hash=item43a1dad893

...blue would be perfect.

So I didn't make the UK Power Tour (as expected). The pessimistic weather forecast meant I thought driving to a very wet York would have been a waste of time and petrol. Turns out the weather was the best of the three days and some really good times were put down. Grrrrr! :bang:

I was at an all time low with the Punto. Contemplating selling the car as it was surplus to requirement and moving on.

Then I had to drive to Holt to help my friend take apart a Gazebo at the Fairy Fair. I know a Bank Holiday Monday would mean the A148 would be a cue of Sat' Navers wondering why they bothered or at best 40mph caravan man taking the widest possible line around every bend so overtaking would be almost impossible. So I took the B1145 and A1065. Once past Fakenham the A148 is more like a four digit A road as well so as well as being quicker this route proved to be a lot more fun.

In my Panda at the speed limit the B1145 is an undulating roller coaster of tarmac. In the Punto it was like Donington with a hint of Knockhill.

The M.O.T is due next week so I'd better get to work.

P.S I try not to go beyond the A1065 when taking the B1145. Once you head out Reepham way it's 20mph pensioners in Datsun Cherries and a lot of Police officers live out that way.

Would look good with polished wheels.

I've just had an idea that could solve the (nonexistent) rear camber adjustment.


More later.

So this idea is pretty simple which means someone has already tried it already or it's so simple nobody else has thought it would work.

The rear wishbone mounts are similar in many ways to the swing arm mounts on a motorcycle. Some bikes like the SV650 for example have ride height adjustable swing arms to accommodate more petite riders. That would be a complicated thing to try to apply here. However at the other end of the swing arm is the chain adjusters. The wheel pin goes through these and can be adjusted back a forth to allow the chain to stretch in time. If these were mounted perpendicular on the outside of a Punto subframe with longer wishbone pins it would allow adjustment of the wishbone mounting angle and therefore provide camber adjustment.

What do we think?

M.O.T's booked for tomorrow morning.

The only concern I have is the exhaust. The back box crumbled inside and even though the Powerflow Stainless one is doing the job rather nicely the front box could also have issues and it sounds like there's a leak somewhere but I'm damned if I can find it.

I'll get the old girl up on ramps and a jack later with someone to seal the tail pipe while I'm underneath.

While I'm under there I'll clean all the brake pipes and other stuff M.O.T boys love failing for.

Just a bit...

M.O.T passed with one advisory for a nail in my passenger side front tyre. Sure enough by lat afternoon it was as flat as a Michael Mcintyre gig.



I think the clown shoe wheels will get the new tyres next.

Liquid Knight said:

The rear wishbone mounts are similar in many ways to the swing arm mounts on a motorcycle. Some bikes like the SV650 for example have ride height adjustable swing arms to accommodate more petite riders. That would be a complicated thing to try to apply here. However at the other end of the swing arm is the chain adjusters. The wheel pin goes through these and can be adjusted back a forth to allow the chain to stretch in time. If these were mounted perpendicular on the outside of a Punto subframe with longer wishbone pins it would allow adjustment of the wishbone mounting angle and therefore provide camber adjustment.

What do we think?

Click to expand...

Or the eccentric style motorcycle chain adjusters.



Problem, I suspect, is that the semi trailing arm bushes are a a pair which might mean that the bolts are put through a big, big, bending load at some points. (I'm sure this would be the case with the Cento set up -- where too much begative becomes an issue on dropped cars -- but have never looked seriously at a Mk1).

fingers99 said:

Or the eccentric style motorcycle chain adjusters.

Problem, I suspect, is that the semi trailing arm bushes are a a pair which might mean that the bolts are put through a big, big, bending load at some points. (I'm sure this would be the case with the Cento set up -- where too much begative becomes an issue on dropped cars -- but have never looked seriously at a Mk1).

Click to expand...

I was thinking of a lateral one...



...rather than eccentric.

I know, but:

*eccentrics are stronger, neater (probably), easier to do
*same bending issue may apply.

It's a tricky one -- to be sure you's need to simulate it with either a very accurate working model or on a real (but stationary!) car. Use a jack and no springs (etc.) to simulate the load.

The eccentric one moves left and right as well as up and down. Mounted on the subframe this would make the wishbone move in and out as well as adjust the camber angle. Causing tow in and tow out. The car would handle like a Mini with knackered subframe bushes.

While I have the spare subframe I was thinking of experimenting but my hands are going to be fairly full in a short while.

Also I'm not a fan of eccentric chain adjusters on bikes. My GPZ1100 Uni-Trak (the first production bike to have eccentric adjusters) was brilliant when the chain was new but as it stretched and I had to move the rear hub to compensate the minor difference in ride height and other geometry (rake angle mostly) made a real difference to the characteristics of the bikes handling. This meant I would go through chains a lot quicker and bin perfectly good ones.

I got Shaun at Big CC Racing to gt hold of a JMC one for a ZZR1100 and machine it to fit my bike as JMC only did eccentric ones in the after market. Chains and sprockets lasted three times as long and I covered the cost of the arm in two years of racing.

Can see they can have knock on effects -- I don't think Honda have ever used them, while Ducati don't seem to have used anything else for yonks.

T'other way would be to re-fabricate the stub axles -- make them demountable -- which would allow the insertion of shaped shims, as used on some Hondas (cars).

So; as the Punto passed the MOT and I've had an offer for my MX5 what to do next? Original restoration, mild custom (improved rather than modified) or track day toy?

Decisions eh?

Original restoration, definitely.

IMO many of the recent mods seem to be taking the car backwards... it looked neglected but nice when you first got it.

Get rid of all the black add-ons... especially those wheels!!!

Time for another add on. I'm getting the injector light after a few miles. The cat' sensor looked old when I fixed the flexipipe. I'll take it off and squirt it with injector cleaner first.