tipo 184 build diary

[tricky360]

2hrs today

got a new brake flaring kit today so i thought i would try it out, i wasn’t going to let this beat me , i want to be able to do these things myself,and i think it’s worked , only time will tell when i fill with brake fluid and bleed it


i also fitted the dash to the car



next to do was to fill the gearbox with oil , now i can’t get the fill plug out so will go and get a square socket 14mm to try and do it over the weekend

[tricky360]

bank holiday monday ,finally a day off to do some work on the car !

had to wait about a month a half for westfield to get the fuel tank kit and the radiator kit in stock
which finally came so i though i would crack on with the front first

radiator was quite straight forward with nothing to note with everything covered by the build video














next was the radiator filler pot



next to do on the front was to cut down my positive cable for the battery
the original mx5 battery is in the boot so the cable length is way to long as the new battery is right next to the clutch

[tricky360]

1hr today
today i wanted to do the fuel filler and tank,
tank was straight forward , hindsight i think i would fit the rubber fuel hose on the tank before you fit it to the car as it’s quite tight to the frame to try and fit it after but i managed to do it by pushing on the tank and pulling back the rear frame .

this is a pic of the parts



fitted the filler part and the alien key bolts that come with it aren’t long enough to go through the fibreglass overflow catcher, cork gasket, and the metal filler neck ,so i had some longer bolts to do this



all fitted up , just need to re paint the fibreglass catcher ,as when you try to screw on the fuel cap , if you try to do it closed it scrapes the sides

ion the fuel deliver kit it come with the new throttle cable , i thought this was a longer mazda one but it turns out you get a bike cable and you have to thread it yourself ,

with my original throttle cable ,i buggered up the plastic clip that fits between the bulkhead and you need this, so i had to order up a new one
once this arrives i will do my throttle cable
the throttle cable is a bike one so if i get it wrong i can order one online ,there only £ 2-5

[tricky360]

went today to do the fuel rails but upon arriving to my garage i noticed the door was a bit out of shape
didn’t think much about it until a guy from the rental garage company pulled up as i was opening up the door and he said if anything was missing from my garage
it turns out last night someone broke all the padlocks off 36 garages and tried to get into them .
luckily nothing was taken from mine , i had 4 dewalt tools in there plus all the hand tools
they think they will be back tonight so i went and got some clasps and locks and fitted them and a garage door defender and fitted them
so i sorted that out and had time to drill the fuel rail holders on ,
i’ll get over ther tomorrow to finish the fuel lines and take photos as long as it’s still in the garage !

[tricky360]

2.5 hrs today

garage and car still there today ,so i thought i would finish the fuel part of the build
run the lines from back to front


nice and easy , you only need a longer drill bit to go all the way through the frame

next was fitting the hoses to the tank and pump


so that s the fuel side of things done
next to do was the accelerator cable
you have to cut your old cable off,
keeping all the parts, so the black rubber cup, the lime green fitting
you thread the new cable trough the cable sleeveing refitting the cup etc
once you fit this to the accelerator pedal and clip in the black clip to the closing panel you can run the cable to the throttle body
i found it easier to fit the end stop into the throttle body and then thread the cable through the tiny hole and tighten up the grub screw. then cut off the excess cable


loads of cable to play with



accelerator pedal side



grub screw fitting holding the cable



the only thing i found is that the clips won t fit back on to hold the cable on to the throttle body but i don t think it matters

next was to do the driveshaft closing panel
this would only fit once i took off the gear stick and then started to fit the foot rests


so next to do will be electrics which iam not looking forward to

Edited by tricky360 on Friday 13th June 17:05

[tricky360]

basil brush - thanks for the advice on the fuel hose clips , i was using what comes with the kit but for £10 odd i’ll buy some , all advice and tips are welcome

c beams - i measured the other day and iam within 250-280mm ,but what i’ll do is use up the left over pipe clips at the end of the build to tidy up everything
i want to get it done and running and then work on the iva bits and the fine details

[tricky360]

finally an update !
after going away on holiday , kids off for 6 weeks ,and having far to much work with my job ,i finally went today-to start on the electrics .
this i was not confident with but i have to get on with it
so i thought i would tackle it in small chunks

first was to sort out the old passenger side electrics , the rear lights and associated rear lines to the back
then was to separate the front lights and wires that run to the front

i labelled everything so it makes it easier
best thing to do i found was to take off all the electrical tape and have everything separate so i can trace the wires back to the big white plug
anything that wasn’t needed i cut off and unpicked the pins
so the radio , electric windows, heater all got taken out. i’ll do this system until i got it all in ,this might take awhile

[tricky360]

Car Nut 1960 said:

Looking good, your making more progress than me.

I'm a bit stuck with the fuel line connections to the fuel rail, especially the return line as I can't see the fuel line exit.

Any photos of this would be appreciated.

i’ll take some this weekend for you, i hope i’ve put mine on correctly

i’ve emailed darren twice to see if he would be willing to finish my car and get it on the road, no reply so far and it’s been a month or so since i did that,
not sure i can finish it without help now .

[tricky360]

jameslaurence said:

My tipo is finished and road legal if you ever want to come and look i'm in the midlands

hi james
did you build it yourself ? there’s quite a few unknowns that iam still not sure about .
iam in london so birmingham is a cou-le of hours drive but might be worth it

[tricky360]

so finally got a day off and the weather being better to work in , i went to do a few small jobs today , first was to start the mammoth job of cutting out the vents Started with a 8 mm drill bit in the middle of each vent and two 5mm ones on the sides
then cut between them with a thin metal disc on my angle grinder
this is hard to control so i ve ordered a mini grinder and dremel set so i only tackled one set of vents, they need filling and sanding and tidying up



next was to paint the back of the panels in underbody sealer , not sure if this is a good thing to do before paint and vents cutting but i started on it so i finished it




next was to get the battery on to see if i could wire up the fuel pump, this has proved difficult, i had power to the battery light on the dash first of all , i tried to test the wires to the pump and iam not getting any voltage, all the fuses and relays are good with power to them but not to the pump
took battery off for a bit to mess about and re put it back on, then my immobilzer light on the dash was non stop blinking, and no light to the battery now .
looking up on line , if the immobiliser can t read the key then nothing will start ! a new key , ecu and immobiliser is needed

Edited by tricky360 on Monday 9th February 13:21

this is the wire for the fuel pump iam not getting anything to . so i ve booked in an auto electrian to come on saturday now to see if he can make head or tail out of the wiring , i just want to get it running so i can send it of to westfield for them to do the painting and commissioning for an iva test


so i got a new starter motor also and fitted that

[

Edited by tricky360 on Monday 9th February 13:23

[tricky360]

auto electrican came on saturday and we got the car cranking over to start, he re-done the ground wire from the battery to the gearbox/engine as i had it to the bulkhead , he also connected as many ground points to the chassis, taking off the power coating to get good contact.

i didn t have fuel in it so it wasn t starting and time was running out with him ,
so today i got a fuel can and put petrol in it to see if it would start and no ! it won t,
i took off the fuel lines to see if it s pumping petrol though but it s not , the pump is running but nothing is coming out, i will check if i have the live wire on the correct side of the pump tomorrow
if it s not that then i don t know
electrician can t come again for 4 weeks so i can t wait any longer now , fed up with it

i contacted westfield to see how much it is to finish it for me , which i really didn t want to do , but it might of beaten me .
they charge a £ 500 rate to assess it , then they will give me an estimate in hours to finish ,@ £108 an hour
hopefully i ve done most of the work already to a good standard so it won t be £ £££ to finish and iva it

i also had an estimate to paint it £7,500 + vat from a local garage ! will be getting another quote on monday from a polish painter i know ,i will ask westfield also but they sub it out to another contractor

Edited by tricky360 on Wednesday 18th February 14:43

[tricky360]

ITS RUNNING !!!


I had the two wires the wrong way round on the fuel pump , there was also one plug at the front not fully pushed in . iam so happy today
so i will get on with bleeding the clutch fully , i started but needed more clutch fluid

[tricky360]

it’s not running now!
all last week its be starting but this week the immobiliser light has come on and now it’s not starting
don’t know what i’ve done , i haven’t changed anything or wired anything since last time .
i also don’t have a odometer or handbrake light or anything else on the dash since i put the electrics in ,
who knows .
so i’ve asked westfield to finish it for me , just waiting for them to reply to my email to organise transport.
really want to know what i’ve done ,and for future reference, i wanted to do another one ,but if i can’t do the electrics part then i won’t bother

so instead i got some small led indicators and fitted them into the wing mirrors .



this week i will fit all the panels on to the car and box up the parts .