The Bogan

I'm sure he has left signs, or, he is looking down, laughing That's my cunning plan for when I leave, lots of half finished projects, with no rhyme or reason of where I was actually up to, just to keep everyone on their toes

Does that price include the rack time to straighten the frame and body and replacement of parts and paint, as well as the noise and emmisions testing The last engineering certificate I had done, albeit about 15 years ago, was around $1000 for a few inspections and the certificate

Engines and drivelines are not war stoppers for me mate, busted arse bodies and un-obtainium parts and panels are though Both cheap Brumbies I looked at had trashed tubs and a fair bit of rust

Brumbys with good shells are bloody expensive, I've looked at 2 "cheaper" cars, and walked away from both, plus after some research spare parts are fairly sparce I'm starting to think that I missed the boat on finding a clean one that is straight (ish) and without alot rust I'm starting to think about a old Hilux as panels and other parts are much more available as they sold tens of thousands of them I use to be indecisive but now I'm not sure

Picked up a new OEM boot seal for the MX5 today as the old one got ripped a bit by me being a idiot by seeing if I could fit a large metal tool box in it, it didn't fit, and ripped the seal with the corner of the tool box I am still waiting on time to get the cams and new balancer installed, as well as the repairs to the boot Time will not be an issue soon though

I always use my Karcher, but it's only a little one that I picked up from Supercheap The only issue I ever had with a pressure washer was when I was a kid cleaning coaches, they had a hi-po industrial sized petrol jobbie that would strip paint if you got to close I saying this, we have a fairly high power washer at work with a diesel powered heater that sprays water at about 60°c, it works great for removing old wax and road grime on the underbody after some foam cannon action, albeit from a "stand off" distance of a few feet

I would like more noise related info for my truly uneducated guess Does it do it at idle or when revving, clutch engaged, and disengaged? Does it only do it when the car is moving? I've heard "similar" noises from a clutch pack that left the chat room, and CV joints that have chewed themselves out But as Matt said, how's the yokes, tailshaft and centre bearing going after their last little issue Fingers crossed it is something simple Weird noises make me cringe

Do some wool fluff testing on the vents

I love the undertray, especially the flappy bit for easier access for serving I'm thinking of fabing up one at work for the MX5 while I still have access to the metal shop at work with a guillotine and press brake Whilst removing the plastic undertray on the MX5 isn't to hard, I love the idea of a 2 bolt flap as opposed to removing the whole thing

Apologies if I sounded like a arse My point was that you will not be able to buy a rotisserie that suits your car, you get the rotisserie frame, and then fabricate parts to mount the rotisserie frame to the body The rotisserie side is easy, but the fabrication of the actual mounts is the tricky part, where to mount so you don't bend/twist the body, plus the geometry involved to get it to turn If your capable at fabrication, and can work out where the C/L is in relation to the weight is so it actually can turn, you should be sweet I would love to see the progress on this just for the thought processes and fabrication

A few kg falling from a few feet is enough to move parts of your skull inwards into your brain Also, there's always news about people getting crushed, and occasionally killed, working under cars Be safe is your endeavours

2 does "sort of" applies, maybe......but looking at what parts would be needed for the swap to get engineered, registered, and insured, and basically that's everything under the car, the modifications the make it legal would be problematic and horrendously expensive, all for a street car that just cruises around and hits a few twisty roads on the weekends Also, from looking at the NSW rules and Regs, with all modifications that is required just to make the car safe and not twist itself to pieces, and then actually get registered for street use, may still be impossible nowadays As for 1, when you add in a fresh engine, fresh transmission, rear cradle and diff, tailshaft, suspension, brakes, cooling, and all the other fabrication required, your probably looking at up to $100k to do it right, all for a 20 year old MX5 that is over engineered and you would never be able to actually use the power it has on the street, much like your beastie, which I love, but you actually track that thing and can use all of its powers in anger, in a safe environment Hell, the old Bogan Cruise Ship had more power than I could use on the street, and in hindsight, I went a bit silly on that thing, it didn't really need the 500hp it had for what I actually used the car for, it was fun, but basically unusable on the street if you value your licence As for cams, yeah, I'll probably book it in for them to get installed and tuned soonish, like next month after MX5 Mania are back at work....... and yes, I've already sent a email to bin the turbo quote and quote instead to install cams and a new Fluidampr balancer that will suit the 2.5 better than the OEM 2.0 balancer that is swapped over for the 2.5 install, as the balancer needs to get pulled to time the cams it's a while your in there sort of thing I did think a bit about flex fuel for a laugh, but being na, and no where really around locally anymore to get E85, I've binned that idea, so no sweet sweet corn smells are set for the car I wish E85 was more of a standard fuel, it's better for the environment, better for tuning, plus that sweet sweet smell we all love As for fitting in the family, that's not needed, as everyone in the family already owns a car that can seat 5 humans comfortably enough, the MX5 is "my toy" As for buying a car that is already built, nah, I would rather pick and choose my parts, I enjoy the process, and in the big picture, the additional cost is well worth the enjoyment, and the occasional frustration, I get out of doing it, albeit with other people spinning the spanners, and me, just paying the invoice 🤣

Great if: 1. You had all of the money for everything else that is required 2. Lived in a country where you could actually do this and drive it legally on the road Sadly, neither applies to me As for the turbo, I am having second thoughts, mainly for engineering/registration legality reasons and insurance Not saying I've finished doing stupid things that I probably should do to the MX5, but boost, and V8 engine swaps isn't on the cards Strange, but true

That would be my Shoei helmet

I've owned a few scooters over the years, a Vespa PX oil burner was my first scooter, followed by a few others, including a little 50cc BeeWee that I used as a barracks bike, and I've had a blast on all of them, they really are the cheapest for of city/suburb transport around The only issue with scooters in Australia is lots of people look down on them due to their size, maybe they need a big bike to make up for something else where they are lacking, unlike Europe and Asia where every man an their dog owns one, and now that filtering is legal in NSW, local traffic is never a issue Not to say I haven't owned my share of big cc bikes over the years, but they were for more blasting through the hills or Hwy riding where it needed to sit on Hwy speeds Safety wise, I ride like everyone is always trying to kill me, everyone is running a red, or running stop/give way signs, or generally asleep at the wheel, which most people are duringtheir commute, I also ride really safe, and give myself, and everyone else enough room in case I need to pull some hasty evasive actions, I've done a few rider training days over the years, which has come in handy on more than a few occasions As for mods, there's nothing really, and yes your right about aftermarket exhaust, all you get is loud and obnoxious noises from them, like every 250-300 cc you hear with a aftermarket muffler, in saying this I did put a rear muffler from a 125 Aprilla on one of my old 125 scooters, it was horrendous and no amount of full face helmet and ear plugs would dampen that noise As for coming from the Harley, and what a overpriced POS that was, I no longer do big rides as my poor old busted joints ache after about 1/2 an hour of riding, long cruises are so much more enjoyable now in a car, so a big bike would be pointless

As the MX5 isn't apparently "manly" enough, and I need something for runs to the local shops, and also take to my part time job at the salon, basically I can keep the MX5 away from car parks and stuff......like "flying lockers", I was wondering what I could buy to fix this issue LOL, I pick up a new Yamaha 125 Delight this arvo from Trooper Lu, basically a R1 that you can fit a slab of beer on between your feet, also, it was $29400 cheaper than a R1, so actually it's 2 x better than a R1

Damn it, I was at work last night, and stayed in a room there during the storm with the car outside, but undercover, I just went downstairs and well....there was a large steel locker that has come from some place last night, it wasn't anywhere I could see yesterday, and yeap, it landed on the fraking car....of course it did..... LOL So, I'll need to take it back for paint and panel, luckily it was only the boot that took the hit, so it could have been worse Serves me right for staying at work and getting on the cans with some of the boys

Yeah, really happy with how it all turned out As for aftermarket lip, nah, I'm not really a fan for practically reasons on a street car that gets driven everywhere I did have the full lower kit on my 2015 STI, but found the front lip scrapped alot, even at stock 4x4ish ride height As the NC sits now, with the lowest point of the car at 110mm, so just legal, some steep driveways and steep speed humps will still "just" scrap those little plastic OEM air dam thingies on the undertray just before the front wheels

More than happy with the colour match Talking to the painter he recommended to give the top a few weeks for the paint to 100% cure prior to sealing it with the ceramic stuff Also, because why not..... I have a fancy pants Fluidampr harmonic balancer on order, the 2.5 engine uses the OEM 2.0 balancer off the old motor as the 2.5 balancer is a larger unit and doesn't fit clearance wise, which, because the two engines have different harmonics, isn't optimal, the OEM balancer does the job, but as the gear driven balancer in the bottom end is removed to fit a RWD application there is slightly more vibration, the Fluidampr helps with the harmonics that the gear driven balancer once took care of, basically makes life easier on the oil pump and bearings when thrashing it around Hopefully the weather gets better soon because I'm keen for some cruising around, and currently, with the winds and storms we are getting, the amount of detritus being blown around from trees on the road isn't something I want to be driving around in

Lucky pick up Best to find these things before something horrible happened to the yoke flange thingies I would hate to think what would happen if it dropped the tailshaft Hopefully the holes are not flogged out in the yokes and it was just the bolts that got munted As for the hand brake.....ouch, look like the disc got rather hot, and I assume smokey, I recall when I had a front caliper seize on the Commodore, there was lots of smoke and the disc was glowing cherry red when I was able to eventually stop and have a look, and stopping a big heavy car, going down a big hill with some rather high RPM down shifts and some hand brake action is something that makes you think hard about life

Dropped the MX5 of this morning to get the hardtop colour matched and some PDR done, they are also going to give it a buff to remove some "stubborn" swirl marks and light scratches in the clear coat Over the last few months the poor little thing has copped some shopping centre car park abuse, I try to not park in them, but hitting Westfield's a few times over the last few months has taken its toll, nothing really bad, but enough of a trigger for a "while we're in there" thingie Once it's back and all the one colour, with a few dents and mark's removed I'll give some of these products a go and see what they're like

Give me convenience or give me death

I ❤️ Clark Rubber Pretty much all the stick on foam stuff or pinch weld shapes and sizes you could possibly need

In this thing about this 100% renewal energy stuff I hear no one really talking about anything other than power and fuel really Power and fuel, whilst being a huge part of how we use the billion year old Dinosaur juices, are only 2, of the probably thousands of things that we need to use it for in the chemicals industries for making nearly everything we use nowadays I'm all for a clean planet, but if we want to continue to have all the day to day appliances and stuff that we rely on everyday we will still need fossil fuels Whilst I do love science, and how it can bring innovation, there's really a limit to how far it can go in relation to "going green" As for EV's, unless your charging of your own solar panels, it isn't helping the environment when you consider the the batteries, the mining processes required, the manufacturing process required, and how long a batteries (read: the vehicle) lasts long term If I was supreme dictator of the world, I would ban the use of sugar for fizzy drinks and food additives and use that for ethanol manufacturing, petrol engines would be happier, and people would be alot healthier Disclaimer: Whiskey manufacturing would still be required, so says the supreme dictator of the world Same same for all the vegetable oils that get pumped into all our food, use that for bio diesel Disclaimer: the supreme dictator would still require olive oil to dip his bread in This would take some of heat off the use of the use of fossil fuels which are required for everything we use, unless you want to go back to pre 1800 for heat and power, or the early 1900's for plastics and every thing else that has come from cracking ethylene Would I be a fair and just dictator, nope, and I would probably be assassinated within my first few months, but would my cunning plan work, maybe, for a while, maybe not Meh, in the end in an over opinionated mildly educated arsehole typing out my vomit on my mobile phone, which wouldn't be possible without fossil fuels And if your into conspiracies, we only need the fossil fuels to last until a meteor hits, or thermonuclear annihilation, that would definitely fix our need for fossil fuels for manufacturing and power issues for quite some time Meh, time for this boomer to cook his lunch on his electric stove and then maybe go for a drive in my petrol car, for fun

Nah, if I need to fit people in a car I'll just use the Mrs car, the MX5 is perfect for what I need as a fun little sports car for fun on the street As for getting in and out of the MX5, I have no issues as I am a short arse who does lots of mobility training 🥷 If anything, I have been looking at Daihatsu Hi-Jets for a work hack, I helped one of my mates move some stuff with one recently that he picked up from Just Jap, it was a little ripper and plenty big enough for what we needed, it would also be super handy for me as I do alot of gardening, and plan on having some veggie patches and native gardens in the place I buy next year when I retire I did alot landscape gardening and growing veggies prior to my current job, and loved it, and that is a hobby that can keep me sane in my retirement, and as such, the little 300kg load capacity would be more than enough for what I need it to move around I have been looking at utes for just this purpose for a while now, and a near new 2024 Hi-Jet can be had for under $30k And I would rather look at a quirky little Hi-Jet than pretty much any other little ute, well, apart from a Brumby, I love the little Brumby, and weirdly have never owned one yet I was going to buy a heap of raffle tickets to try and win the Brumby that MCM built for Subaru Australia, but sadly I totally missed the raffle, I even filled in some form to be told when the raffle started so I could buy tickets, but to my dismay I was never contacted and found out I missed it when I was randomly googling Brumbys last year... #conspiracy Maybe I should just buy a Brumby for a little "work hack".....LOL I use to be indecisive, but now I'm not sure