AdamR28

It's on my to-do list... which is big, and ever growing

1) A bit. You'll have the right general idea, but it's pretty different! 2) Yep, fine, and it'll be wicked fun. 3) Yeah, not a problem. THey won't get killed by such a short layout too. Brakes will be fine as well, there's only a couple of hard stops.

No worries I read that... I guess you bought a full brake system? If you need spares like that in future give me a shout, got loads of bits lying about and if I haven't got it then someone I know will have

That's a bummer Mike It does sound like a big end bearing (the one between the con rod and the crank shaft), and it's usually on number 4 (the one nearest the gearbox, since that's the furthest from the oil pump, which is right at the front of the engine). It's not an easy job just to replace the bearings unfortunately, as to get the sump off you need to remove the front subframe. Even then you'll struggle to get the sump to seal afterwards as it uses silicone / RTV rather than a 'regular' rubber gasket, so the surfaces need to be mega clean - not easy when you have oil running down the inside of the block! As Jardo says, your best bet is to drop a new lump in - should be able to pick one up for less than £200, and you'll probably be able to find a friendly Nutzer who'll help you do it for a few quid. It's not too bad a job, you can do it in a day fairly comfortably on someone's drive (need an engine crane though, of course). White smoke indicates head gasket usually, which is another reason to drop a new lump in rather than mess around with this one... As an aside, none of my MX-5 engines have ever used oil, but did you say you did an oil change recently? It's a really good idea to fill it to the max, run the car for a few minutes, then shut it off for ~10 minutes and check the level again. It will usually appear to drop by ~0.5L (the stick is 0.8L from max to min) as the oil filter gets completely filled etc.

Positive spin: At least you found that out now, rather than when your engine's in hundreds of bits ready to fit them!

Figure of 8 it is then

This may be useful as a reference: http://www.tartybikes.co.uk/bike_builder.php

Haha. (Any excuse for an Anchorman reference.)

Ooohhh I seeeeee. Christ on a bike, didn't realise car rental was so much! Our entry fee for a team of 4 was less than that. How did you managed to wangle that one then?

Lol. Strangely I'm not really feeling it Haha, yeah, it's a long way for you Southern chumps, plus you'd need to get a license and all the kit...

Wanted to go to that (there's a lot of Westfields going who I could have spanked), but racing instead...

Nothing wrong with the pedal-pumping method! Stupid ABS brakes

Don't think you can do much about that... If there's no air in that's as little travel as you'll get without changing components. As a note, I seem to remember Prawn once telling me NOT to bleed the VAG master cylinders with the 'push the pedal' method, due to flipping seals as Paul said. Also, do you need to activate the ABS using VCDS or is that only for when the system has been completely emptied?

I'm sure someone will drop out, always happens! Cool - I'll shoot for 15 and see what happens...

Hmm, cooould be. Not heard of that before, but then again haven't come across too many people who've driven with flat tyres! Are they all at the same pressure now?

Interesting that these three are all exactly the same freewheel with a different logo. I'm a big believer that bedding in and maintenance makes a difference. Skipping under load damages the internals and it just goes downhill from there...

I guess Stevie Wonder's making it for you Dave?

Pies.

Ooohhh, I see. Any camber worn onto them? (As in, tread depth is different left to right.)

Shame you're so far away Mike My guess is that the rear thrust is off, and when they've adjusted the rear tracking it's switched the thrust angle from one side to the other.

Hmm. Sounds like just a 4 wheel tracking then, and if you've no printout they could have done anything (or nothing!). The '5 is really sensitive to alignment, so ideally you'd have the cambers looked at as well, especially since when you adjust the rear tracking it changes the camber too. Be worth checking for play in a ball joint or wishbone bushing, but it could just be the alignment. If it was less than £100 and not done by someone who knows MX-5s it's probably not going to be much good unfortunately

Hmm, wheels and tyres won't affect tracking. What settings did they use for the alignment?