Had a Little Ooopsie
Mar 19th
A couple of weekends ago we headed down south to visit my parents. We have got this journey sorted now. We used to have to rely on a Tom-Tom set to avoid motorways that took us a slightly strange route past Coventry. I now have my own, nicely memorized, version of the route that takes in some nice villages and scenery. Certainly much more pleasant than the M6 and the M1. Even though it takes twice as long it is so much nicer that we now consider it the easier route.
Whisper at home
We arrived at the family estate and Dad had moved into the second parking space. He hasn’t parked there since I was a kid living at home with a stupidly noisy Spitfire 1500. So Whisper got parked in what is now my Dad’s space, which was my space when I was a kid.
Me. Younger and thinner!
Whisper looked very at home there. Daft I suppose but I thought they looked really cool parked together. We had a lovely visit and as darkness fell we wrapped up in our many layers to hoon back up the A5 with the roof down. Traveling through Wolverton the engine gave a little stutter. Seemed to die just for a moment. Very odd. We crossed out fingers it was a one off. We made it to the A5. The nice dark, unlit, part of it. Miles from civilization. Engine died completely. Left it in gear and set about picking a spot by the side of the road to coast to. As we were coasting she fired back into life. At this point were were hoping the problem would not worsen and we could make it home. Alas it was not to be. In the sanctuary of a petrol station I pulled in and checked under bonnet for anything obviously loose or faulty. Unfortunately it wasn’t going to be that easy. When we reached Towcester the engine died once but came back almost immediately. I noticed this time that the rev counter went schizoid just before and during the engine cutting out. I turned to the much beloved and said
“The cam shaft angle sensor is failing. I’m not sure we can get home but I’ll nurse it along as best I can”
She replied that she wasn’t at all worried. She knew I could fix it.
Heading up a hill out of Towcester the engine died and this time didn’t restart. I coasted to the side and started preparing to call the breakdown services. Before it came to that tho I decided to let her rest for a minute then retry. One minute later, first turn of the key, off we went! I was pretty sure by his time that we were going to finish this journey on a flat bed.
We made it as far as Weedon Beck.
.Weedon Beck
See that hill, steeper than it looks you know. We spluttered to a halt and there was no reviving her. I jumped out and set about pushing the car up the hill towards the left turn. She would be safer there. Thankfully the road is nice and wide so all the other cars could drive past quite easily whilst their drivers shook their fists at me for daring to inconvenience them (I wish I was joking about that). Then I glanced behind and a Blue MX5 appeared. Whilst pushing with all I had left and trying not to throw up a lung I wondered if some solidarity might kick in. To my dismay the MX5 pulled out and overtook.
But then he turned left. Spun round in a junction, parked up and the driver came over to help push. If he hadn’t come to our assistance we would never have made it to the safety of the left turn. I was physically exhausted and we were only half way to the junction. I didn’t get any contact details for the chap. I assured him we’d be ok as we had breakdown cover. He waited a while I got my breath back. I thanked him and off he went. Talk about restoring faith in humanity. Absolutely brilliant! So to my unknown savior, thank you again!
Safely parked up I phoned my bank. My breakdown cover is a freebie on my bank account and I didn’t appear to have the direct number for breakdown services on my phone. I do now! I got through to the Indian call center and asked for the number for breakdown services.
“One moment please, Sir”
I waited for a moment or two. Then my phone beeped. **Battery Low** Ohhhhh poop!
“Hi, are you there? I am really sorry to rush you but please could you hurry. My phone battery is about to go flat”
“Please do not shout at me Sir. I am looking up the number”.
At no point had I raised my voice.
“I’m not shouting. but please hurry”
“If you shout at me again I shall terminate the call Sir.”
So I just bit my tongue and crossed my fingers.
“Connecting you now Sir”
“You’re wha………….”
*CLICK*
He had transferred me to the breakdown call center. First thing I did was ask them for their number so that we could save it on the Much Beloved’s phone. Then began the task of explaining to the lady who didn’t speak a great deal of English where we were.
Harmans Way
Here’s what I knew. We were parked by a street sign that told me the road was called ‘Harmans Way’. I didn’t know I was in Weedon Beck but I knew that 300 yards ago I had turned off the A5 onto the A45 and the last town on the A5 was Towcester.
“What town are you in?”
“I’m sorry I don’t know. I have just turned off the A5 after Towcester, onto the A45 and I’m now on a road off of the A45 called Harmans Way”
“Spelt P. A…..”
“What? No, H. A. R….”
“So what town are you in?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know”
“You don’t know where you are. We cant come to you if you wont tell us where you are Sir.”
Eventually she gave up trying to understand why I had the audacity to expect her sitting at a desk with access to maps and the internet and heat and lighting to find me from that description and said “Someone will be there in an hour, Goodbye”.
Yeah, I didn’t have great hopes! Why base a UK breakdown assistance call center in Bangalore? How is that ever going to help poor buggers like me stood freezing by the roadside in the middle of the night with a broken car?
Five minutes later the phone rings. The first English speaker of the night.
“Hi, breakdown company here. Are you in Towecester?”
“Not quite. That’s the last town I remember before we turned left off the A5 onto the A45 and now we are on Harmans Way”
“Oh! You are in Weedon Beck!”
“I am?”
“Yes. Don’t worry we will be there within the hour. Is it going to be repairable?”
“Nope the cam angle sensor has gone”
“Oh dear. That’s a flatbed job then. Ok I’ll get you one sent out”
Fourtyfive minutes later
Naughty Little Car
Flat bed! Yay. The driver was pretty good. He wanted to put straps round my front lower wishbones and drag her onto the flatbed. I refused and told him I would like it towed on by the two rear tow eyes and he would need some blocks of wood under the front wheels unless he fancied writing off my two hundred quid front aero mods. He happily agreed to this plan and ten minutes later we were safely loaded ready to head home.
On the road again
That’s the look of a very tired and cold Much Beloved who was soon after this photo snuggled in the back of the cab under a blanket fast asleep. The Driver and I commenced setting the world to rights and off we went. He didn’t care much which way we went but I suggested he head to the motorway. We don’t use it but country roads are more a Roadster thing than a lorry thing. Heading toward the M1 Northbound we hit a closed road. Options were turn back or turn left towards Daventry.
“Country roads then?” I said to the driver.
“Yeah why not. Will be an adventure”
Cut from the proper cloth this bloke was. He turned the Tom-Tom off and Cerb-Cerb took over.
A couple of hours later we arrived at the homestead.
Arriving Home
Weedon Beck to Birmingham on country roads in a flatbed lorry limited to 50mph. It’s a good job the recovery driver could hold a decent conversation! It was quite a fun little adventure in the end. We fell into bed at 3:30am and had no trouble getting to sleep.
Whisper stood in disgrace, facing the wrong way on the driveway, for the next few days. I am lucky I can walk to work. After a suitable period of her sitting in the naughty corner. I broke out the LED diagnostic test kit and spanners to set to diagnosing what I already knew. A faulty Cam Angle Sensor.
Server Upgrade!
Mar 19th
This blog has now moved to a nice swish new server. That should solve a few problems. Time for some updates! 
Playing Games With a Glovebox
Jan 9th
Mounting the PlayStation 2 into the glovebox is complete. A simple job this one so I will tell it with pictures and captions.
Slimline PS2 in proposed location. In the top of the glovebox. Glovebox is upside down in this picture.
Rear of Glovebox. Not much space for AV and power cable to protrude.
AV Cable with casing removed. Making it much smaller and able to be bent to fit.
Measure twice, cut once!Holes drilled and then shaped with a hand file.
AV and Power wires installed
PS2 Bolted in.
The finished item ready for the glovebox ready to be bolted back into the car and the wires run to the boot.
Repairs and Upgrades
Dec 29th
One of the things about running a Car-PC is that it’s a bit of a labour of love. You have to enjoy the Car-PC enough to forgive it some foibles. A standard head unit is always reliable. Pop in your CD, tune it to Radio Two and viola, musics. If you want reliable service every journey then a head unit really is the way to go. Reliable and PC’s don’t go hand in hand really. I mean you are sitting at a computer (of some sort) right now. Does it always do as you expect?
Car-PC Main Screen
All in all the Car-PC has been running very very well. Helped in no small part by it having existed in a similar install for a few years in the Volvo 480 Turbo. The sat nav has performed flawlessly. The USB sync has been a blessing. Plug memory stick in, all new music syncs from stick to the car with no user interaction. Very ‘Steve Jobs’ It “just works”.
USB Sync Settings
But these things are of course not without their problems. The USB socket in the armrest stopped working. Meaning the USB stick had to be plugged and unplugged in the boot of the car. Not frightfully convenient. The radio reception has been a bit weak. The Playstation 2 still hasn’t been mounted in the glovebox and is rattling around also in the boot. Then joy of joys the central locking went on the fritz. Time to have the interior trim out and a little roam around with the multimeter then!
The red wire's connected to the......
It is remarkably simple to strip the trims from a Roadster. It’s just a few screws and do things in the correct order. I think many people get a bit worried about stripping interiors but really as long as you have the right tools and a methodical approach it’s a pretty easy jigsaw puzzle.
With the Car-PC ‘spine loom’ exposed it was easy to troubleshoot the USB socket. The connector had rattled free from the back of the socket. I hadn’t accounted for that. USB is merely a friction fit and anything in an automotive environment requires an anti-shake clip. Or in this case a zip tie!
The Central locking motor can be seen in the above picture, hanging out of the driver’s side door. The motor seems to be fine but the double pole switch inside it that lets the central locking ECU know the location of the lock, appears to have gone faulty. I’ve disconnected the switch for now. Remote central locking will still work from the key fob but local central locking is disabled. That will be fine until I buy a replacement central locking motor as I only ever use the remote fob anyway.
Ooooh! Internets!
While I was on the driveway with the Car-PC fired up for testing I added a few software tweaks. First up I set up the wi-fi so that the Car-PC auto connects to the mobile Hot Spot provided by my iPhone 4s. That means no more having to sniff around for free wi-fi in McDonalds car parks. I can get t’internet on the move now. Also means my GPS tracker will update journey information as it happens rather than as a stored journey delivered to the server when the car pulls onto the driveway at night and see’s the home wi-fi. Speaking of home wi-fi. Since the car was on the drive and connected I gave the Car-PC a chance to do Windows Updates. Fourty five of the buggers! Took an hour! Still It did require 3 reboots and it does still make me smile childishly when my car plays the Windows Startup jingle. It’s so delightfully strange for a car to make that noise.
The radio problem has been sorted by an inline antenna amp. It only had one connection, to an ign live. Signal strength parked on the driveway immediately improved by 10%.
The Playstation 2 is no longer rattling around in the boot. It is in the glovebox. Unfortunately the glovebox is not in the car. It’s sitting beside me on the sofa. Some pondering is required for mounting it in the glovebox taking into account the various clearances for memory cards and power connections. Not to mention being sure the lid will open to change game disks! I’m sure I will have it all figured out soon.
Slot A inserts into Tab B
Updates done, Gremlins identified and nullified, everything re-assembled and back indoors for a beer and some dinner. A most productive day!
Sneak Preview – Whispers Summer Wheels
Dec 23rd
Rota Slipstreams. 15″ 8J ET20.
Nom Nom Nom
Rota Slipstreams
That should sort the offset!
I’m just saving my pennies for tyres now! Should be able to afford some nice boots once the snow and slush and salt are off the roads.
Whisper Gets A NoseJob
Dec 22nd
As you will know. I am SO JDM YO! So when it came to wanting a front bumper spoiler for Whisper there was only one option. The most wonderful Garage Vary Front Lip! I wasn’t offended by the front end styling but there were a few things that I wanted to try changing. The Vary lip would be the icing on the cake of a whole front end restyle. I set out to make three changes. 1> Smoke the sidelights 2> Offset the numberplate 3> Bolt on a GV Lip.
Challenge number one was very easy. I simply ordered some smoke spray from a seller on eBay. It arrived the next day. I removed the sidelights from the car and gave them four light coats of smoke spray.
Sidelights
Sidelights
Smoked Unit Fitted
Simple job but very effective! One down, Two to go. Next step was a trip to the numberplate shop. The Classic motorshow at the Birmingham NEC was imminent and I knew there was a good chance the plate making stall would be there and I could discuss options with them. They won’t make deliberately illegal plates for you. For example don’t go and ask for a black and silver, metal, plate for your 2006 plate Ford Fucass. The nice man will tell you it’s more than his licence is worth and send you away. Just like he did with the silly man in front of me at the queue!
Numberplate Shop
However if you tell him the plate is for an imported car and you would like a seven by nine front plate for it there is a good chance he will be ok with it. After all it is a standard size motorbike plate, right?
I am Seven by Nine. Your numberplate will be laminated.
Plate aquired I then ordered a Garage Vary lip spoiler. This was easy as MX5Parts in the UK were selling them. They must have imported some, right? The advert on the site would seem to indicate so :
Garage Vary front bumper lip spoiler
Comes direct from the tuning house Garage Vary in Japan. Stunning looking front bumper lip spoiler with large air intakes for the front brakes.
Fits all Mazda MX5 Mk1 models, 1989>1998
Great right? Wrong! Oh so very very wrong! The supplied part was in fact not supplied by Garage Vary of Japan but in fact supplied by IL Motorsports in Germany. The quality of the part leads me to believe the part has never seen a Garage Vary employee in it’s life. I firmly believe the part to be a replica.
- This is NOT Garage Vary quality!
I complained to MX5Parts and their response was that the part was authentic and I could send it back if I wanted a refund. Thanks to a post about the spoiler on the Nutz forum I knew I could source a guaranteed authentic part from Tetsuya Garage in Japan. So I sent the MX5Parts, probably replica, spoiler back to them. As a result of the thread on Nutz, MX5Parts have now withdrawn their, probably replica, spoilers from sale. I placed an order with Rod at Tetsuya Garage and started to wait.
Whilst waiting for the delivery from Japan my good buddy Shogun was roped into assisting with the offset plate. He had a couple of offset brackets that he had created from an online template and he was willing to assist in bolting one to Whisper and getting it to fit perfectly.
Holy £"£$!"£%!
It took one evenings work to mount the new numberplate.
Offset Plate Fitted
I think it looks fantastic. Thanks again to Shogun for his generosity! Soon after this Shogun was roped into assisting again when the authentic Garage Vary spoiler arrived.
The Real Deal
The Real Fitting Kit
Shogun, Having a lie down
That was that. All three jobs crossed off the list. Time for the before and after shots!
Before
After
I need a better picture to show her off really. A big improvement tho I think. Coming soon, New wheels and a scary rear spoiler!
In Car Computer – Part One
Dec 15th
I finally decided to take the plunge and install an in-car pc to Whisper. I used to have on in my Volvo 480 called Wolf. Seemed a shame for it to sit there unused so I pulled the system out and started thinking about how to fit it to Whisper. The install in Wolf had the PC and Amp in the boot and the seven inch touch screen in the dashboard.
Installed in Wolf
The screen is a 7 inch LCD with resistive touch. It was supplied by linitx.com. I created a double din mount for it in 3mm acrylic. Removed the original screen casing and put the components it in the new screen frame. It worked very well but it did have some problems. The resistive touch panel could sometimes become pinched and give false readings and some of the ribbon cables didn’t route in the neatest ways. They were good lessons learnt. For Whisper a new screen mount would need to be fabricated. Again fabricated from laser cut 3mm acrylic. This time I built a prototype using 3mm mdf. This allowed me to tweak the design before committing to a final version.
KITT? KITT! Talk to me KITT!
Designing in layers
LCD Panel in Place
The layers were drawn out in a package called 2D Design. It is a very simplistic package but it allows for very accurate vector designs to be created and then passed to the laser cutter. In total the design called for eleven ‘slices’ that would then be laminated together to create the screen mount. There were, as expected, some problems with the prototype. However none of them were difficult to tweak and I decided that a second prototype was not necessary. I made the tweaks to the file, loaded the acrylic into the laser cutter and hit ‘print’.
With the screen mount complete it was time to start running wiring and getting the ‘back office’ of the system installed. In order to avoid any changes to the cars wiring loom I ran a ‘spine’ of wiring down the transmission tunnel with a standard iso connector at the screen end. This ties the amps into the existing wiring loom as well as bringing an ignition live feed and electric antenna feed back into the boot.
With that done I was cursed to drive around in silence for a few weeks. No head-unit in the car and not yet with a PC in the boot. Planning continued indoors for what extra wires the spine would need and how to lay out the hardware in the boot. More on that in the next blog post.
You could be lifted
Oct 24th
I worried about this blog title for ages. It is just so damn obvious. In the end it was so obvious I couldn’t help but use it. As regular visitors to the blog will know I have installed into Whisper a central locking kit. This gives me central locking (duh!) and the ability to remotely lock or unlock the doors and unlatch the boot lock.
With the addition of a boot lid lifter kit I could then be all swank and posh and actually have a boot lid that gracefully lifted open at the touch of a remote button. There is only one kit off the shelf for the job that I trust. The IL Motorsports kit. Supplied in the UK by MX5 Parts but at a massive price. Link Here
So I carefully saved my pocket money every month and eventually aquired a boot lid kit!
Boot Lifter Kit
You do get a pretty good kit for your money. The installation was quite smooth, except for the instructions, which were terrible. Ok, so it isn’t rocket science to fugure out without good instructions but I think that just makes the lack of good instructions even more unforgivable.
So here is a quick run down on how it went in, how it works and some pitfalls I will save you from if you install your own.
Step 1
Remove boot carpet covering the fuel filler pipes panel by pulling the centre of the three trim rivets and removign them. No picture of this, if you can’t do this bit without a picture then put the tools away, go back in the house and phone a friend.
Step 2
Fuel Filler Cover Panel
Remove the four bolts securing the cover panel using a 10mm socket or spanner.
Cover Panel Removed
I’ve circled the bolt location points in the picture of the panel removed. Click it for a bigger look.
Step 3
Remove the left hand boot spring by releasing it at the right hand side. Stick a spanner in it as a lever and pop it out. Then jiggle it and wriggle it free.
Step 4
You will now have revealed a plate held by two bolts. Remove them and using the revealed bolt holes install the boot lifter plate. A picture speaks a thousand words on this one I think.
Lifter Plate Installed
Be sure to use the two bolts provided in the kit as they are the correct length. Don’t forget the spacer block. Leave the gas strut attached. Trying to reattach it later isn’t very easy at all.
Step 5
Wrap the hinge in paper tape and establish the bolt mounting point. Mark with a pen.
Eyebaling the Mounting Point
Mounting Point Marked
Make sure that the mounting point is in the centre of the hinge as you will need clearance for the nut the other side!
Step 6
Centre punch, drill and drill again.
CENTRE PUNCH!
Since we are going to be drilling a hole in a piece of metal using a HSS bit we need to centre punch. Don’t go waltzing in like a cowboy with your drill bit wandering all over the shop. Centre punch it! I started with a 3mm drill bit followed by a 6mm and then a 9mm. The instructions call for an 8mm hole. My 8mm bit however seemed to be ‘on holiday’ so I resorted to the 9mm. Hasn’t affected the installation in fact probably made life a bit easier.
Step 7
Attach the strut to the hinge.
Installed
Here is where you need to hope you hit the centre of the hinge.
The Nut
The instructions call for a pair of 1/2 inch spanners to tighten this. I used a pair of 13mm. They were close enough.
Step 8
Put the panel back in, install the carpet, get a cup of tea? Afraid not! Your milage may vary but I found I needed to do a bit of panel beating to prevent fouling of the strut.
Folded Edge
Before you put the 4 bolts back in, check your clearance. I found I had to ‘dress back’ the lip on the panel. Folding it back using a small hammer and a metalworking vice as my anvil. with the lip flattened back and a small bend in the panel I gained 1cm of clearance. With that done re-install the panel with the 4 bolts.
Step 9
Install the carpet and… wait… hold on… now what’s fouling! There is a little arm that pivots on the boot hinge. It used to connect the boot spring to the hinge. Now it’s hanging down and fouling the strut. Aren’t you glad you read all the way thru this before you started! To solve this problem the little bracket mut sit atop the strut when the strut is installed, see the pic.
Old Bracket Atop The Strut
Step 10
Re-install the carpet. Hoover up the swarf in your boot.
Hoover Up!
Keeping a close eye for clearance and binding, move the bootlid up and down and check your work. Once happy, close the boot and….. test!
Hope that helps someone!
Catching up!
Oct 6th
Oh my gosh. I have so much stuff to catch up on and blog about! Lets start off with turret boots.
I have needed to replace the turret boots ever since I have owned the car. I guess a lot of roadsters of Whispers age need this doing! The first step is to remove the centre armrest. Five screws and two electrical connectors later and the turret boots can be seen
Bad Naughty Boots
There are two rubber boots around the gearshift lever. These keep the road noise and engine heat out of the cabin. They also keep the turret oil in the turret. Removal is very easy if your boots are as worn out as mine!
Broken Boot
One boot removed. Reveals the second. I discovered this was also broken.
Another Broken Boot
Undo the three bolts and the gear lever lifts out.
Shift Lever
The remains of the boot were easily cut away. The next job was to investigate the turret oil. The lovely BlueVelvet purchased me a turkey baster with which to remove the old oil. A very sensible move as I would have raided her kitchen drawers for one if she hadn’t brought me my own! The turret oil was pretty foul.
Removing the Turret Oil
Yuk!
The refurb kit also comes with a replacement nylon cap to go on the end of the gear shifter. Getting it off involved some cursing!
Removing Nylon Bush
Got the Little Blighter!
My photographer was getting a bit bored I think. BlueVelvet goes into creative mode!
View Thru A Rubber Boot
Time For a Clean Pair of Gloves
Then in with fresh turret oil. I was very pleased as I managed not to ‘splash it all over’ the interior of the car!
Nice Clean Oil
Reassembly is pretty much the reverse of removal. Except you swear in different places.
Reassembled
I thought the refurb kit was quite expensive but it has to be said the new oil and fresh boots have completely transformed the gear shift. The syncro on 1st is admittedly still a little weak but gear shifts are now lovely and crisp and when the car is hot the gear knob no longer cooks!
Beeeeeeeeeep! Beeeeeeeeeep! Left your lights on! Beeeeeeeeeep!
Aug 28th
I finally got around to a few electrical jobs on Whisper. That is what Bank Holidays are for after all? First off I went through the brain melting process of programming spare immobiliser fobs to the car. I won’t go into it here (for obvious reasons!) but I’ll just say that the route into ‘programming mode’ was tortuous and confusing. Got there in the end though. So now I have a spare immobiliser fob!
Next job on the list was to make with the beeping. I left my lights on AGAIN the other day and it occured to me how bloomin ridiculous that was when I had a lights left on warning buzzer sitting on the workbench!
Fog Light Wiring
The job was made much easier as the previous owner had made quite a neat job of the fog light wiring. Popping out the fog light switch gave me access to an ignition live (red) and a connection that is live with sidelights/main beam (yellow). I didn’t have any yellow wire left so I went with green.
Ign Live Feed
Should the fog light feed not actually come from a permanent live? That might be something to change later! The supply is fused and this short connector goes from that fuse to a relay. See what I mean! The previous owner knew about fuses and relays! I was impressed. So I cut and butt jointed the wire to take an ign live feed.
Door Pin Circuit Splice
There is already a new set of wiring in the loom for the courtesy light extender. In the end I decided to go with that even tho it causes some odd behaviour. When the door opens the courtesy lights come on and if necessary the headlight warning sounds. If the door is then closed the alarm should stop. It doesn’t stop because the interior delights are on a delay. When the interior lights fade to off after fifteen seconds then the headlight warning stops. A little bit wierd but the warning is still going to be effective this way so I’m happy with a bit of a quirk! So I made a third connector to tie into the door pin connection and the job was done.
A very productive day.
Recent Comments