Stripdown Continued

The breaking is going well, starting to focus a little more and concentrate on single areas instead of random parts.

Monday evening was spent in the garage for another few hours whilst Dad was infront of the fire with his feet up in the warm, watching the telly. Looks like I'm on my own here.

Anyway, the doors are now off along with the bonnet. The drivers seat is out but the passenger's side has a single bolt that has been rounded off by someone or is simply a crap bolt, eitherway, that'll take some seeing to. Right, less chat more pictures:

 As you can see the boot hasn't changed much since my last post. Trying to figure out how to get the hinges off...

 Engine still intact, thinking of leaving this til last and during daylight hours as it will be a tricky section to remove. 

All the electrics and running gear are going to be left until last as it will be easier to move the car with this in.

Passenger Door came off first.

Managed to use a cardboard box to help support the door as the hinges came off whilst I undid the wiring inside. The drivers side was easier as I took most the wiring out prior to removing the door. 

 Drivers seat came out no problem, still a comfy place to sit and work on the centre consoles. These are now also both out.

The ever growing pile of parts! Everything seen here must go! If you don't see it here, it is probably still on the car or hiding somewhere.

Contact me if there is anything you would like!

Doomsday for the Mazda

Well I have a day off work to use up remaining holiday days. I decided now was going to be as good as any to sort the garage out and clear the space. So it took me half a day to clear out the rubbish my Nana and Grandad had built up in there over the years, but finally it was tidy enough to use as a work space.

I was lacking a few tools so went and bought the basics from Halfords, we'll call it an early Christmas present for myself  :-) I was so keen to start that at 4pm, I decided it was still light enough to do something. I don't have any mains power in the garage and its too far from the house to run an extension lead, so torch light and plenty of carrots will help me see through the dark better.

Before you all start wondering, the white box and cable is one of them vibration speakers. What better way to strip a car that using the bonnet and a big speaker!

The car looks rather sad as it is being prepared for breaking, unfortunately I did infact fall in love with the car after 2 months of driving it, so much so I am still rather tempted to sell the Punto I own and buy a newer MX5....we shall see though.

Anyway, after spending a couple of hours like a child with a big stack of presents, I had began taking parts off the car. As I was standing at the back, I thought I'd go from the back and remove all the body work/roof moving forward , then interior, electrics and finally the runnning gear etc. This happened briefly. I soon took one bit off and the nearest thing I could see came off next. Space was filling up quickly as there seems to be much more of the car in a pile that what there was on it! Anyway, here are some pictures.

Here is the aftermath of about 5 hours spent on the car.

Problems so far:

• Underneath the car there is heavy rusting/rotting. Bumper/Mudflap screws are rotten and need drilling out.
• Getting the roof off - There are more than 3 bolts either side, should have realised but in my excitement and the dark, was left in an awkward position undoing bolts underneath the hood!
• Couple of sheared bolt heads - to be drilled out.

A Twinkle in my Eye

Today was the day I turned that twinkle into reality, I went from being a boy, to becoming a man (Mum, it's not what you think), I finally placed the order for the Starter Kit! It had occured to me one day driving the MX5 that I hadn't actually placed an order or even decided with the binding of money!

I looked to GBS, whom I had decided to go with, but realised that I had bought a MX5 for a kit that does not support it! D'oh, school boy error. Anyway, ignorng this slight issue, I perservered and found that on the GBS Blog, they were advertising the unveiling of an MX5 kit, phew, a bit of luck! Probably should have saved it for the build but there would be no build without it!

Anyway, after a trip up and a ride in the demostrator, I was sold. The kit looked easy enough to manage as a first build and I was assured (amongst seeing various posts) that the after sales service was top-notch.

Order due to arrive in January. Gives me enough time to clear the garage and have the MX5 stripped ready to be put straight into the Zero chassis....providing it all goes to plan!