The engine bay respray is pretty much completed 😎

We have started a new project to design a common instrument cluster/display for both the MX-5e and OSSEV. As part of this we are 3D printing parts to mount it in the MX-5e.

We reverse engineered the wiring for the pop-up headlights and this is our test rig, to check our understanding is correct. Having rescued the connectors from the old wiring loom, we wired them up to check our understanding.

We will rewire them independently, to allow a 'wink' button on the MX-5e dash. With the Driver Control Unit (DCU) doing the timing, pretty much anything is possible 😎

The little things count in a build like our MX-5e. Everything we take off the car is weighed, checked and refurbished as close as we can get to new if it is going back on the car. This bonnet catch weighs 506g.

We have started to apply the gloss paint in the engine bay.

We also made a start on the wiring loom today. Having taken bolt croppers to the wiring in the engine bay and cut it at the two points it comes through the bulkhead, we made the decision to re-wire the whole MX-5e from scratch. This will result in a much simpler and lighter wiring loom that only supports the features required and includes a CAN Bus.

Having taken all the wiring from the engine bay and stripped it right down, we were left with the 4kg of redundant wiring shown here. The only bits we have kept are the connectors for the lights, pop-ups, washer bottle and windscreen wipers. When stripping the loom, we tried to keep the connector wiring as long as possible. There are some internal junction points which limits the lengths in places though.

There are a few things under the MX-5e bonnet that we plan to re-use and are cleaning up and testing. This wiper motor is one of them and it weighs 1050g. We also plan to re-use the washer bottle and motor. These all have bespoke connectors, so we are locating them in the old wiring loom and cutting them out to be used when we rewire the car.

Almost finished painting the engine bay with black primer paint today. This is the cleanest the engine bay has been for a very long time!

A little bit more primer to do and then we can move on to the gloss coats.

We had just finished cleaning the engine bay and started the primer coats. A little bit more masking to do and we need to remove the wheel arch liners and wings before we can complete the primer layers. By the time this car has been finished, the whole thing will have been resprayed.

Took the automatic gear lever part as we need this mounting plate to be able to measure the dimensions and fabricate a new cover plate. The Eunos/MX-5 uses a rubber seal and rubber mounted spacers but, we just need an aluminium plate cover with four 6mm holes in the right place.

One of the options we are looking at is to completely remove the centre console all together as it doesn't really do much and adds weight.

We have designed a cover plate to be 3D printed. This will be used as a cutting and drilling template, to fabricate a cover plate from 3mm thick aluminium. If we decide to mount the vehicle mode selector in this location, it will be fixed to this cover plate.

Perfect fit! 😎

Progress has been slower this month. Rob has spend a lot of time in Somerset, sorting out his later father's house before it is sold. The weather has also not been good. The engine bay preparation is nearing completion, ready to be painted.

We have been thinking about the paint colour for the MX-5e and decided that metallic black is just too dark to photograph well, so we are changing our plans. As we whizzed along the A12, M25, M4 and M5 between Ipswich and Wiveliscombe in the poor weather, one car colour caught out eye. We are now looking at something like the 'Aurora Blue' as featured on this McLaren Artura.

A similar colour is featured in the 2022 Honda Civic and is called 'Aegean Blue Metallic' (B-593M).

We have also been told about this one off Ferrari F12tdfs in 'Blu Elettrico' (electric blue). Simply gorgeous!

The connectors arrived for the iBooster from EV Create.

The MX-5e came with twin, two-tone Misuba 'Alpha Horn' horns which are plenty loud enough, so we have cleaned them up with the intention of reusing them. Each one is rated at 12V 4A, so we are using a relay to switch power to them via a 10A fuse.