Suspension Bushes

Was going to get on with removing the brake and clutch master cylinders from my donor, but it was too cold and wet to want to get on the floor under a car. Decided to get on with something I could do in the garage, the suspension bushes.

All of the suspension arms are powder coated, and in each of the holes where the bushes are inserted there is a weld line. In order for the bushes to get a nice snug fit, the weld line and powder coating needs to be removed.

Using a Lidl multi-tool with a grinding fitting, I removed the weld line. Then using a barrel sander I removed the remainder of the powder coating on the inside of the holes.

Then I lubed the nylon top hat bushes with copper grease and used my bench vice (with soft jaws) to insert the bush into the suspension arm. The fit tended to be very tight but using the vice ensured the bushes went in nice and square. Now repeat 48 times......

Bushes in!

Very time consuming job, but pleased with the result. Will make the build of each corner a bit quicker when I finally get to it.

Now hoping for warmer and dryer weather to finally get that donor car off my drive....

Pedal Box & Brake Master Cylinder Part1

 Too wet to get on with the donor car, so I thought I would start with the pedal box on the kit since I had all the parts.

The brake and clutch pedal, as well as the fitment on the chassis required bushes to be inserted. The powder coating on the inside had a small ridge which needed to be removed before the bushes could be inserted. 

Ridge on the chassis

A quick sand with a barrel sander to remove the ridge and it was easy to slide the bushes in.

Ridge removed

With the bushes in, I start to assemble the pedals with the chassis and arrived at my first snag. There is a flange just in front of the brake pedal position which was bent so far backwards it was impossible to install the brake pedal, or operate it afterwards. I assume this is a chassis build fault.

Not possible to align the brake pedal due to the flange

I am pretty sure the flange could be bent back to give clearance, but I am not sure what the function of the flange is. Maybe I could just remove it completely? Will get in touch with GBS for advice.

Another issue is that the MX5 brake master cylinder only has two outlet ports. To avoid faffing with brake lines too much I ordered the brake line kit with the chassis. This is cut to length and pre-flared. Unfortunately, this is designed for a 3 outlet master cylinder. Need to think whether I adapt the pipes and tee the front brake lines (and inevitably buy some more pipe and a flaring tool), or buy the Sierra 3 outlet master cylinder probably at greater expense.....

Update 21-01-2023: Spoke to Matt at GBS and he said the flange could be bent back and is there to prevent over travel of the pedal.

The brake line kit GBS provided was for a non-ABS brake cylinder (with 3 outlets). They said they would swap the kit I have for an ABS brake cylinder (with 2 outlets) which includes a 3 way tee for the front brake lines. Rich said not to buy the Sierra master cylinder as it will not work with the Mazda chassis. This conversation was over a week ago and still waiting for the right brake line kit......