Looks lovely
@lordrobs... although I always thought yours was silver?
I've been giving mine a bit of attention recently. It's always been a bit of a toy, a car I bought to scratch an itch with no real plans to keep it for as long as I have. I don't use it often and it doesn't do many miles and so I could live with its quirks and annoyances. Add to that some sour feelings after dealing with a **** poor bodyshop and I didn't really care too much for it.
However, I've been using it as my main car recently and had to live with it on a daily basis, not to mention with the upcoming Curbourough meet where I'd opted to take the MX5 instead of my Impreza... so it was time to give it a proper service and fix some of the niggly issues..
Oil and filter, air filter, gearbox oil, diff oil, decent brake fluid and new spark plugs.
While crawling about under the car for the oil change and giving everything a look over, I noticed this...
Not good!! I'm at a bit of a loss as to how or why it's happened, or for how long it's been rubbing on the wheel (although only on full lock). In the time I've owned the car, I have never removed or disturbed the brake caliper or hose on that side. I hadn't noticed the rubbing before and it wasn't an issue on the last MOT. The brake hose does also look a bit kinked but after removing the caliper and trying to rotate it, it ended up even worse. The hose retaining clip was still in place and there was no way for the caliper fitting to have twisted so it must have been like this since the brake flexi was last fitted or replaced. If I'd noticed this previously it would have been rectified long before it became an issue.
A bit unnerving that I'd been driving it around completely oblivious but now that I'd spotted it, I couldn't ignore it. Turns out it's quite difficult to source new rubber brake hoses for the bigger brakes on the SVT at short notice and so it was off to Demon Tweeks for a quick fix...
However, after fitting I decided that I wasn't entirely happy with these hoses. While they fit nicely with no kinks or twists, they aren't long enough for the bigger brakes and as such are a bit too tight on full lock (despite DT recommending these based on my reg plate). They are also missing the locating nib on the banjo to hold the union in place which could possibly cause it to loosen over time. While they got me out of the **** in the short term, I don't feel very comfortable using them so placed an order for some IL Motorsport hoses from MX5parts which arrived yesterday. They look much better quality and I think I'll feel much better about using them as long term replacements for the rubber hoses.
A job for today is to replace all the hoses with the ILs and do a complete flush through with the RBF fluid. I use this in my Impreza and have been very impressed by it.
Anyway, with the brake situation sorted I moved onto the rest of the car. Engine oil and filter changed, new air filter and so onto the rear diff.
I think 02/03 is the cutover year between the TorSen and Fuji LSDs and without pulling a driveshaft, didn't know which diff my car had (mine is a 52 plate). At least now I had my answer as this chunk of
something came out with the rest of the diff oil...
Ahhhhhh yes, that'll be the notorious Fuji diff breaking down, aptly referred to as ToFu by some. I'm currently considering a couple of options; i.e. get the Fuji rebuilt or move to a TorSen. There does seem to be high praise for a guy over in Ireland who rebuilds the Fuji diffs so this may well be the route I take.
After all of that unexpected drama, I was away for a couple of days with work so when I got back I finished off the few final bits; gearbox oil and spark plugs.
I'd already removed the centre console and noticed the gearshift boot was split allowing drivetrain noise and hot air into the cabin. As I planned to change the gearbox oil anyway and was aware that you can fill the box from the gearshift turret, figured I'd hit two birds with one stone.
New gearbox oil along with genuine Mazda upper and lower boots and the nylon shifter bush. Mine were in just slightly less than perfect condition when I removed them from the car...
Much better...
Seeing pictures of the underbody of Kinger's car above was putting mine to shame, so while the heatshields and braces were out for the gearbox oil change, I figured I'd give them a bit of a tart up...
Not perfect, but this was done with barely any prep while I had the heatshields off while changing the gearbox oil. I'll no doubt revisit it again as I work my way through the rest of the car but as a quick job to get the looking a bit less 'titanic-esque', it'll do. I sure hope Mr MOT Man appreciates my efforts!
Another job I really wanted to tackle was a more permanent fix to the cloudly headlights. I've tried polishing them a few times, and while I can get rid of the yellowing they never really clean up completely and still end up a bit milky. Even wet sanding and using my DA on them wouldn't get them completely clear. The car was used so infrequently that it didn't really bother me but having 3 different people mention it to me in the last couple of weeks, it had to be sorted.
From this...
To buying some decent used units on eBay, giving them a clean and a UV seal....
Bit embarrasing really isn't it
So, after a bit of spanner time on the old girl, how is it driving???
Honestly... I am absolutely gobsmacked at how it feels to drive now and just shows how it's possible to get accustomed to a car feeling 'normal' as its performance degrades overtime. Clearly I knew that the car wasn't at its best but I wasn't expecting it to feel as though it had picked up about 15bhp from something as simple as a service (15bhp is a LOT when you're talking Braun Hairdryer Power). It is massively more free revving and feels significantly more lively, a complete night and day difference. The gear change, while still a bit notchy from cold, is superb when warmed up and the reduction in gearbox noise and heat from something as simple as a rubber gaiter is amazing.
As for the braided lines, I still need to fit the IL hoses and re-bleed the system but there is definitely a big improvement over the old rubber hoses. I think from the marketing bumph and people's assumption of braided lines, they are expected to give a super solid pedal. From my rather limited experience, I don't think braided lines quite match the instant response that you get from adding a brake stopper (master cylinder brace) but they certainly do provide a consistent level of performance once you've put the system under load. Installing a brake stopper alongside braided lines would IMO make for a very very effective braking system.
Overall, I've really enjoyed getting to work on the car given how much I'd put it on the backburner previously. I think I actually quite like it again (for now!)
