Day 10

Today me and my friend Matt removed every last scrap from the car including speedo cable, seats and fuel pumps. The seats had to be cut out in the end and the only thing left on the car is the handbrake cable, which just won't budge, so it'll stay as is.

The rear subframe has been removed aswell, bringing with it the diff and rear suspension, so thats very handy. Just the front one to go now and the shell can go. It should be much easier than the rear, no huge heavy diff ready to fall on us. The only tricky part was doing it in such a way that the coils didn't go off like a gun when the bolts came off. I admit it got a bit nervy when the last bolt was removed and the rear of the car lifted about a foot off the axlestands. Still, no harm done. Next time I think I'll bring some spring compressors though.

Day 9

IT'S OUT!! It took an entire day but with a lot of effort on the part of me and my friend James we finally got the engine and gearbox out at 8 in the evening, having started at 9 that morning.

Todays problems were mainly about the exhaust and PPF which is the frame around the propshaft. As usual they had managed to chemically bond themselves to the car and refused to come off.

The exhaust should have come off just past the manifold, but I didn't have the right tool to remove the heated oxygen sensor so I couldn't get to the bolts. Eventually we used the angle grinder to remove one of the bolts on the downpipe, and the other one was coaxed off with a ratchet and my foot.

Day 8

Today was basically just a cleanup day to remove all the final bits and bobs left over that needed to come out before the final dissambly.

With help from Dad the alternator was removed and the final bunch of cable was pulled out. It was actually a bit harder than we anticipaated as the alternator was held on by a 5inch or so bolt, which only had about 2 inches of space behind it. To get it out we also had to remove a strange bracket which didn't appear to do anything but it was fairly substantial so I think I'll put it back.

Second on the list was the steering rack, which finally came off of the column with the help of a large wrecking bar, and a hammer :)

The clutch and brake master cylinders came out quite easily, leaving the engine bay looking nice and empty.

While we were there we sized up the suspension to see how best to remove it, and we've got a list of tools for next time. The engine should also come out on the next trip, using an engine hoist courtesy of Bob Burns. If we're quick we can also take the body off and get it carted off to the scrappy, and once that is done, I can order the new chassis :)

Day 7

Today I thought it was time to start on the electrics. The whole loom of the car has got to come out so that I can strip it of bits I won't need any more, such as radio, fans and windscreen wipers ect. And I was a bit nervous to be honest, becuase it's a minefield.

To my suprise I actually managed to get most of it out in one go. All that's left is the bit which runs underneath the car from the battery to the alternator and starter motor. That bit is hanging on with one or two clips which I can't quite reach because there's some engine in the way. I think I might have to remove the alternator for that bit, but it shouldn't be too bad and that particular bunch of wiring doesn't require any modification.

The rest of it was labelled up, photographed and yanked out. If you've ever wondered what all the wires in a car look lie, it's something like this:

It was a hard days work and my hands suffered greatly, but it's done now :) All I have to do is seperate everything and put it back together :) Joy

Day Six

I forgot to mention in my last post about the mysterious object we found bolted under panel in the passenger footwell, right next to the ECU. There's no two ways about it. It was an orange. Thats right, a 17 year old orange. A man from mazda probably lost that from his lunch and never knew what happened to it. Well now we do, it was in my car :)

 

 Anyways, onto this week. The engine bay looks quite empty because myself and my dad took off the airbox which is a great big plastic thing going from one side of the bay to the other. We also removed the cover for the exhaust manifolds, so now you can see them. The whole exhaust has got to be replaced anyway so it had to be removed at some point. Well I say removed. One bolt was attached to a thin metal bracket, and it was so rusty that it just bent when I tried to turn the ratchet. So I just yanked it off :) Also part of the electrics for the starter motor came off, along with a cylindrical thing that I have no idea what it is, so best keep it for now.

End result is pleasing:

As you can see its just the brake and clutch hydralics and some fuses on the left that need to go now.  To that end yesterday I ordered a bleeding kit which will allow me to remove the hydraulic fluid. Then the only thing in there will be the engine, which with luck will fit snugly throught that there hole.

The steering rack has been half dealt with. The two ball joints have been disconnected, but the rack is still clamped in the middle with immovable bolts. Next time I go down I hope to get them off using my extendable wheel brace bar, should give me a bit more leverage.

At the other end the bumper came off with the application of some force, also I've started to disconnect the fuel lines from the bottom of the chassis, as I need to keep those.

Day Five

It's been a frustrating weekend. I think Mazda should start building stuff for the army, becuase their cars are absolutely indestructable. Nothing comes off without a fight. Nothing.

I hate rust.

Anyway we did manage to get out the boot release cable, the fuel cap release cable, the wiper motor and the rear light clusters. Also the fuel tank is finally empty, it took all day, and probably a year off my life, but it's out.

This time I had with me Mr James Marston.

Day 4

Hallelujah, The bumper is off!! After breaking 3 drill bits, excessive use of a hammer and chisel and a few swear words, the front bumper has finally given up and come off. True it is still attached to the left wing, but I count it as a victory.

Also once it had finished attacking my finger, I managed to get the dashboard out, along with a few other bits so the car is now starting to look genuinly stripped out.

Hopefully it won't be long until the shell comes off. Just a few more bits to be removed such as wiring loom, rear bumper and seats. Then disconnect the engine, suspension and exhaust and it's away :-)

How hard can it be??

Day Three

Today was a bit mixed. Got a fair few things taken off. The headlight brackets, coolant bottle, cigarette lighter, steering rack & wheel, battery clamp, front grille, boot latch, dials, radio, heater controls, centre console, sun visors and undertray all came off.
Now the engine bay looks a lot less messy and its possible to envisage the day when the engine will actually come out.

 The dashboard almost came off, but not quite, which left the car looking like this.

 

A bit of a mess but it's getting there. The main problem is that behind the dash and steering wheel, are so many wires you wouldn't believe it. And I have no idea where most of them go, including the one which goes in the ignition.... that might be a problem.

And added to that, we still couldn't get the front bumper off. We did manage to find all of the necessary bolts, but 4 are so rusty and rounded that they will not come off, and we snapped 2 drill bits trying.
Next time, the angle grinder is coming out.

Help today was provided by Elliot Newman and Matthew Potticary

Bits Sold

Had a flurry of potential sales today. Before I was even awake properly I had enquiries about the roof, horn, cigarette lighter, jack and battery clamp. And now just had another for the indicators, front number plate mount and rear number plate light brackets.

£££ :-)

Day Two

Day two of the disassembly begins, and I must admit, I made a bit of an error.

I'd left the manual which tells me how to disassmble everything at home, a 3 hour drive away. Not the best start but oh well.

First things first I felt like draining the engine oil. After all its been a while since I was covered in the stuff. Got the thing up on axle stands, you can just see axle stand number 3 in the middle. Its not actually sitting on that one, its just an added precaution becuase I really didn't want to die by Mazda.

Leaving it to drain I got to work removing the bonnet and pop up headlamps. Gingerley I reconnected the battery to raise the headlamps so they could be removed, hoping all the time that the infernal aftermaket alarm didn't go off. It seemed to like going off just to make me jump, which was why I pulled the battery out in the first place.

The bonnet was a piece of cake, just 4 bolts. The pop up lights were another story. How Mazda manage to make everything be in the way of everything else I will never know, but eventually me and my companion for the day managed to get the bleeders off.

Next came the radiator. First it had to be drained, and a large quantity of suspicous smelling bright green crap came out. I'm assuming this is just anti-freeze.




Next the pipes had to come off. Now these pipes have probably never come off in 17 years, so they were rock hard and completely unmovable. I didn't have time to be dictated to by a radiator pipe so out came the stanley knife and they were quickly removed.

And we tried and failed to remove the front bumper. Without the aid of the manual we just couldn't find all of the bolts to undo it, not to mention the fact that most of the ones we did find were so corroded they either snapped clean off, or will have to be drilled out next time I'm there.

Day One

Today I start to disassemble my donor car with the aid of a trusty companion, and The Mazda MX-5 1.8 Enthusiast's Workshop Manual by Rod Grainger.

As you can see the garage I'm using to work on it isn't exactly huge, but it keeps the rain off.

The roll bars came off without too much hassle, and sold for £90 on eBay after about an hour, so no complaints there.

After a day of toil, it ended up with no doors, no roof, no boot lid, no petrol and no roll bars. Not a bad first day I think. Cramming that lot in the boot of my fiesta was a bit of a mission, still I didn't have to fill up for the 150 mile drive home which was nice.