The Bogan

Not alot here, just a random snow flake now and then, in saying this I didn't spend alot of time outside today, played in the garage for a bit, then spent most of the day pottering around inside Did you get a bit?

"CAD" version 1.0 It will have a 15mm lip around the top for 6 × 5 or 6mm nutserts and fixtures (two on each of the three straight edges), and some pinch weld on any exposed edges, it has three mounting points, one of the power steering reservoir bolts, and two on the rad support, my 120mm hole saw will make short work of hole for the silicone joiner, with ample room for some pinch weld I've also got enough Carbuilders "peel and stick" heat shield to cover the outside of it at the coolant expansion tank and on the engine side, as pictured, and internally on the lid and where the fuse box is, I've also got some thin, about 3mm, black 3M single sided sticky foam stuff that was left over after sealing some door drafts at home to help seal the lid As for the shape, it "sort of" matches the shape of the fuse box, so shouldn't look to "out of place" The lower area and hole for the intake will need pinch weld with a balloon on it to fully seal the hole and bottom of it, that will happen after it has been fabricated so I know exactly what size is required Filter service has been trialed, and so far it was a simple process Just need to get some alloy, and then head into work to use the guillotine and break press in the workshop Hopefully it should be sorted in a week or two Guestimated outlay will be under a $50 for the stuff I don't have on hand (alloy, 6mm nutserts, the pinch weld, and wrinkle paint) Disclaimer: That's what the "voices in my head" are telling me how the filter box should end up getting done......lets see if they know what they are talking about

Yeap, not as doorty as ITB's, but alot more doorty than before, induction sound great when I'm up it 🤗

Just got the car back and gave it a good run back home Power wise, whilst it only made a extra 5 killerwasps up top at 7200 rpm, it made more power everywhere from 2500 rpm and kept pulling much harder all the way, to the point of me relearning when to shift so I don't hit the 7200 limiter, with the old intake it seemed to take alot more time to rev out, and, throttle response is also much improved As I didn't want to remove the bumper every time I serviced the air filter (basically every aftermarket and fabricated CAI has the filter behind the bumper) it currently has a hektic exposed pod in the engine bay sucking in hot air, this will be rectified shortly after some some of my CAD (cardboard assisted design) for a alloy heat shield feed by the OEM intake tube behind the bumper, this will cop some wrinkle black paint, as well as the intake pipe for that totally OEM look... The only fly in the ointment was that the OEM "strut" brace doesn't fit over the rear runner of the new intake with the 2.5 engine is in the engine bay, as the 2.5 raises the engine up by 20mm, it's not a war stopper, and I didn't notice any difference without it in some twisties, but....... MX5 Mania is bringing in some GWR "fancy pants" braces that apparently do fit, if it bolts up I'll grab it, it is also stiffer than the OEM one, which is a bonus All in all I'm happy with the outcome Fancy pants "strut" brace that gives the required clearance This is where the clearance issue was, the GWR extends out past this

I love the early SL500's, they look sleek Give it a good service, throw on a exhaust, and roll like a boss I'd get a nice old SL500 before a 25GT

Just dropped the car off at MX5 Mania to install the intake plenum and give it a little retune My impatience hates the waiting game

Goon of fortune....go on.....spin to win

Cheers for the tips, I'll go with 50 mm around the side, I'm used to digging with hand tools, my prior occupation had me going well with hand tools and there's nothing that a breaker bar and a pair of gloves to protect my delicate hands can't fix, hopefully... As my time now is free, if it takes a week to excavate that's not a issue

Got keys and did a walk around the yard planning the landscaping works with the family that I will be doing Main effort: remove all the woodchip in the gardens that are around (attached) to the outside of the house and replace with 10mm blue metal, having woodchip close to the house is a recipe for inviting white ants, currently there are no white ants within the block and I would like to keep it that way I'll be buying some large raised garden beds to grow veggies and stuff, and the woodchip will be mulched with everything else that gets dug up, pulled out, or cut down during works Next will some minor drainage and landscaping maintenance up one side of the house, where the fuse box, AC, and solar stuff will go, about 12 mtrs long by 2 meters wide, I'll break up the soil, add gypsum and then I'll dig in a French drains about 300mm deep x 300mm wide and fill it with agg pipe and blue metal, then level out the whole area with a 50mm layer of blue metal, the soil, whilst currently pretty compacted, will break up well with the gypsum to aid in drainage, I'll then cover the area with a 50mm layer of more blue metal In saying this, the drainage issue is minor, but that little hidden away area down the side is untidy and weedy, and as all of the main elec stuff is there I want it neat and tidy to appease my OCD Again, the material excavated from the French drains with be added to the garden bed mulch, as will some rose bushes and some other crap looking garden plants, and a old apricot tree that is looking worse for wear The apricot tree is currently in a little roundish garden bed that is in the middle of the back yard with few other crappy looking plants around it, that will all be removed, levelled, re-turfed, and is a perfect spot for a hills hoist There is also a area about 3m x 2m between the rear fence and shed that will get some attention, it looks like some stuff was stored there and the grass is dead, that will also get broken up and mulched, and is a prime spot for a pumpkin patch I've guestimated that I'll need: 3 tonnes of blue metal, 12 meters of agg pipe, 5kg of Gypsum, and a hills hoist, so a few bags of concrete as well to set it in place (the house currently has one of those pull out 4 line jobs, whilst it works, I want a retro old school hills hoist), I am also going to run some chickens, there's a great spot for a coop, so a chicken coop to suit 4 of those lovely egg laying bitches will also be on the job card That should keep me busy for a while, and will finish off the back yard ready for a early spring planting of some veggies and berries Once the main effort is done I'll start out the front, there's a large rock garden that could use some TLC, but that is only minor works Should be fully moved in within 2 weeks, the landscaping works will start then Fun times, retirement is good

When the power is on and the AC heat is warming the house...LOL Jackie keeps me updated with the Goulburn temps, I think she is scared she will freeze, me, I'm fine with the cold, I'm use to acclimatising Jackie is the main reason for getting solar, as she "requires" the AC to keep things civil year round, night and day, and me telling her to wrap up and layer in the cold falls on deaf ears, with an evil glance thrown in for good measure to ensure I "understand"...LOL

Settlement on the new joint just hit, heading into sunny Goulburn tomorrow to pick up keys Happy days

Give it time mate, you will eventually sort out the bugs, and then... you too can hunt around in the hills looking for coffee, pies and treats

Yeap, was me and the daughter getting coffee before heading to the new joint to measure up the fridge space and taking some pics that the solar installer wanted of the switch board

Tried some stainless allen head bolts I had laying around, they stuck out like dog balls, so I went to Bunnings and got some black coated jobbies, which I like alot more.....basically OEM....LOL I'll RTV it up this week sometime ready for MX5 Mania to do their thing

Bit wet, but YUMMY

The spray cans were in the "Kiln" room whilst I was preping the parts, so probably around 2 hours to get them warmed up, the kiln room has 3 small ovens running at 100°c, 3 medium sized ovens running 100°c, and the large one I used running at 80°c, the room itself was about 28°c, I also spent a bit of time taping up the parts in the room as well, and by the time I was done I would assume that the parts were around that 28°c As for power, I expect a couple of Killerwasps up high would be achievable with the current mods, I'm still running the MZR 2.0 intake and throttle body, and there is a slight mismatch with the 2.0 intake (smaller) and 2.5 intake ports (larger) on the head, this intake is matched and specifically designed to fix this issue with the ports mismatch, the throttle body is also a couple of mm larger, OEM is 65mm, the Bosch is 68mm In the end it will look "prettier" than the molded plastic thing that is the OEM MZR 2.0 intake As for the LSD, it's the OEM Torsen which works fine for what I use the car for, plus, basically no maintenance apart from the occasional oil change

I transferred from full time service to Army Reserve, so I still have access, work has been super keen to get me in to work in the OPS realm, so just turning up to use the gym......and ovens, isn't causing any issues, apart from me needing to keep on telling them that I won't be doing any reserve days until I get my joint in Goulburn sorted Basically I can now work whenever I want, for how long I want now, and it's all tax free Next time we have some fires or floods you might see me covered in mud, or cutting sick in some plant equipment cleaning up, the Reserves love getting in the news, LOL

Final finish outcome of 80°c was typical to the pics, I've turned the oven down to 50°c and will pick them up after the gym tomorrow The before and after difference was amazing, the wrinkle paint has covered all of the casting marks completely It did take a couple of hours to key it all and get in all of the crevices, but, for me it was time well spent for the final outcome, but I have all the time in the world to do it at the moment Ended up with 4 coats, each sprayed at different angles to get optimal coverage and thickness As for the fixtures and intake box thingo that hasn't made it, the supplier is apparently posting the fixtures, and, are now sending a different CAI that is in stock The replacement CAI is actually better than what I originally ordered, but will require a pod filter that locates under the front bar, still serviceable, but it basically removes the whole OEM filter box and ducts into the front bar, so filter cleaning will require ramps and the removal of some front bar undertray, not a war stopper, just some ramps and an additional 10 minutes work every few months From looking at it it is made from alloy pipe from the throttle body, through the CAI hole in the rad support, then right turning under the bar, luckily the wrinkle paint was on special and I got 2 cans for $30ish, so the alloy will get the same wrinkle treatment as the intake manifold, hopefully it turns up soon, either way, the car will be getting booked in soon, if the parts aren't here, I'll just get MX5 Mania to " make it work"

So far so good, another hour and their done

From my memory, which isn't that great, we did have issues getting the large throttle body on my old LS1 to play nicely at idle, first it would stall, then it would only idle at 2k rpm, then it would hang at 2k rpm for a few seconds and then drop and stall, then, finally, the best we got was it would hang at 1.5k rpm for a few seconds then drop to around 800 rpm The tuner stated that large cable throttle bodies are a PITA, and if I wanted anything better than what we ended up with I would need a electronic throttle body and all of the aftermarket ECU stuff to run it

So, my intake arrived I'm not happy with the coating finish so I went to Supercheap and got some black wrinkle paint and some prep stuff I was initially thinking about using grey wrinkle paint, but finding a quality product that gives the texture I want was "unfindable...", so the tried and tested black wrinkle paint is again finding its way into the engine bay for the OEM look I'll sneakily head into work and get the big ovens cranking to cure the paint over the next week or so I've also contacted MX5 Mania today to talk about the install and tune, so painting it is my "main effort" prior to sending the car off In other news, the correspondence from the US supplier is fair to midling to say the least, I'm still trying to track down the intake box thingie with the larger intake pipe to suit the throttle body, it still is "awaiting fulfilment" (no stock currently available), if it isn't here soon I'll just get MX5 Mania to fabricate up a CAI that is easy to service the air filter

I much prefer colder weather to hot weather, and especially prefer cold to hot and humid, Goulburn does gets pretty warm in the hotter months, but, I've found the humidity there is not as painful as even Sydney, the humidity up north is to oppressing for this old rooster In saying this, it does get rather "nippy" in Goulburn for early morning, late in the evening walks, but nothing that a layer or two, some thermal gloves, and a beanie doesn't fix to make it an enjoyable experience, which is much more bearable to me than the oppression of heat and humidity, especially at night when your trying to sleep If I recall correctly, a "wise man" once said that the "Southern Tablelands" was gods country, and I will not argue that point with him for the fear of a "permaban" LOL In car part related news: My intake is currently in Botany getting processed for the last leg of its shipping journey to my door

Whomever is stalking me will need to deal with a few of these, so my safety is "assured"

I just looked at my camera phone settings, apparently I have "not allowed" for location Will that stop that app?

Can you not just turn it off on your phone if required? I remember a brief on this, well, I remember the brief, not what to actually do. LOL