NB MX-5: Hey, it's Minnie!
- Thread starter chiefmg
- Start date
Got home last night, as per usual coming from halfway around the world I woke up after only a couple of hours of sleep. Started looking for things I have bought, including the supercharger, but it wasn't in the garage. Took a few minutes but I found my bride had left it in the kitchen, presumably for the entire time I was away. Had I done that, well, I know you married folks can guess how that would have worked out.
I've opened the box but not unwrapped it as I don't want to make noise and wake the rest of the house. Sure looks nice though.
I've opened the box but not unwrapped it as I don't want to make noise and wake the rest of the house. Sure looks nice though.
- :
- 92 & 16 Meyatas
Took a few minutes but I found my bride had left it in the kitchen, presumably for the entire time I was away. Had I done that, well, I know you married folks can guess how that would have worked out.
Oh I know!!!!!
Oh I know!!!!!
I'm sure none of us have ever, oh, baked a paint application in the oven while our wife was gone. The smell is what gives that away, although if you have some Hoppe's #9 handy that usually overpowers anything else.
Finally unwrapped the beast. I swear my grandmother wrapped it (the woman knew how to wrap things), I lost count of how many times I unwound the plastic from the body. Got it all undone and enjoyed the beauty. The new parts are internal so I couldn't really see much beyond the newly-coated rotors. They're purty. It spins nice and freely, and makes nice chuffing noises as the rotors move air. I won't be able to start the install for a few days, have some other priorities to take care of first. I'll snap some shots as it sits before I close it up.
Ha. Ha. Ha...
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!! We're talking about the woman who disparagingly called it my "superdupercharger" when I was having problems getting it right in the early days. More like, she didn't feel like moving it past that point.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!! We're talking about the woman who disparagingly called it my "superdupercharger" when I was having problems getting it right in the early days. More like, she didn't feel like moving it past that point.
I've never had that problem...
Which problem? Because there was more than one in there. 
Well it’s taken me a little longer than planned to dive into this, due to working on other things, dealing with some cold both weather related and physically, and generally dealing with recovering after being away from home for so long over the last 13 months. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures showing the grand unveiling:
Packaging:
I’m a little upset because I had a nice box made up that I used five times, but this one is good too.
‘charger itself:
You can see the new coating on the rotors and inside the housing. Rotors are both reworked, new bearings/seals, new timing gears, and the timing plate is also new (the black piece on the housing that doesn’t have any paint chips on it). The snout shaft is also new.
I retrieved the other bits and pieces I need to get it all back together the other day from my storage, going to make the gaskets I need over the next couple of days and start assembly. Have to wait on some warmer weather though, I’m not a huge fan of working in the cold these days.
Well it’s taken me a little longer than planned to dive into this, due to working on other things, dealing with some cold both weather related and physically, and generally dealing with recovering after being away from home for so long over the last 13 months. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures showing the grand unveiling:
Packaging:
I’m a little upset because I had a nice box made up that I used five times, but this one is good too.
‘charger itself:
You can see the new coating on the rotors and inside the housing. Rotors are both reworked, new bearings/seals, new timing gears, and the timing plate is also new (the black piece on the housing that doesn’t have any paint chips on it). The snout shaft is also new.
I retrieved the other bits and pieces I need to get it all back together the other day from my storage, going to make the gaskets I need over the next couple of days and start assembly. Have to wait on some warmer weather though, I’m not a huge fan of working in the cold these days.
Well I’ve been busy as noted above, but there were more things that cropped up that held up this project. Finally was able to get back into this a few days ago. There are three gaskets needed for the inlet pieces to the ‘charger, as well as the outlet manifold on top of the ‘charger. The first two were relatively easy. I used a single edge razor blade by hand to get them off (see picture):
If you chose to do it this way, know that it is easy to score/gouge the metal gasket surface. You want to hold the blade at a very flat angle to the surface to keep it from wanting to dig in.
Next I traced the outline of the throttle body gasket directly onto the gasket sheet. For the gasket between that spacer and the ‘charger body, I traced the outline of it as best I could then used a shipboard engineer’s trick to get the inside line as well as the bolt holes. You hold the material in place where the gasket lives, then GENTLY use the peen side of a small ball peen hammer to indent the gasket material in place. The picture shows what you end up with doing this.
You then just cut out what isn’t needed and use your arch punches for the bolt holes.
If you chose to do it this way, know that it is easy to score/gouge the metal gasket surface. You want to hold the blade at a very flat angle to the surface to keep it from wanting to dig in.
Next I traced the outline of the throttle body gasket directly onto the gasket sheet. For the gasket between that spacer and the ‘charger body, I traced the outline of it as best I could then used a shipboard engineer’s trick to get the inside line as well as the bolt holes. You hold the material in place where the gasket lives, then GENTLY use the peen side of a small ball peen hammer to indent the gasket material in place. The picture shows what you end up with doing this.
You then just cut out what isn’t needed and use your arch punches for the bolt holes.
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I found out as soon as I started that the outlet manifold gasket was going to be a PITA. The genius who had put it on decided to use what looked to be Permatex #1 to glue the gasket to the manifold. If you aren’t aware, #1 is the stuff that hardens up. Here is how it looked before I started, and after my first attempt with the razor blade and a nylon rotary brush I got from Ace:
I could see I wasn’t going to get very far doing it that way so decided to enlist some chemical help in the form of gasket remover:
In the past for the same sort of problem I used a CRC product, but no one had it near me. Once that was in hand I applied it as so:
After letting it sit for around 30 minutes I went back at it with the blade to get off what I could. Followed that up with the rotary brush to see how far I had gotten:
That was better. I applied the remover again and let it sit, then did some more scraping and brushing. In the end I got it to this:
I am now ready to proceed with cutting the last gasket and then assembling the ‘charger.
I could see I wasn’t going to get very far doing it that way so decided to enlist some chemical help in the form of gasket remover:
In the past for the same sort of problem I used a CRC product, but no one had it near me. Once that was in hand I applied it as so:
After letting it sit for around 30 minutes I went back at it with the blade to get off what I could. Followed that up with the rotary brush to see how far I had gotten:
That was better. I applied the remover again and let it sit, then did some more scraping and brushing. In the end I got it to this:
I am now ready to proceed with cutting the last gasket and then assembling the ‘charger.
Gasket was cut. I cleaned up the outlet manifold and spray painted it so it didn’t look scruffy after getting rid of some build-up where the hose attaches. I did the same for the throttle body adapter to the ‘charger body, as well as the bracket that connects the intake filter with the intake hose. Before I painted that last piece I filed off some weld on the inside that was interfering with airflow (I guess, mainly it was bugging me but it sounds better from an engineering standpoint). I decided to dress up the outlet mani and highlight the letters on it so did the first coat for that.
When I started assembling the throttle body and its bracket, I discovered that one of the throttle body holes had stripped threads. I had some Heli-coils on hand but wasn’t sure of the size so went to Ace to check using their size block. Turned out I had the size I needed which was good, because the guy at the store I asked if they had any didn’t even know what I was talking about. Here is what it is, if you are unfamiliar:
It had been a while since I did one so I screwed up the first two. Didn’t help that the instructions for the one set I had was not quite clear. The other set had better instructions so third time was the charm. All you do is drill the proper sized hole, then tap new threads with the provided tap. Put the coil into the opening in the tool (as shown), then screw the shaft down until the tab at the end of the coil hits the end of the shaft.
Note, I took the picture of the shaft with it sticking out of the tool so you could see how it fits.
You then screw the coil in using the tool to back it up (you have to screw both the shaft and the tool at the same time). Make sure you have the coil a couple of threads below the top of the hole. Remove the tool and shaft, then use a small punch to knock off the tab. Voila! You have new threads.
When I started assembling the throttle body and its bracket, I discovered that one of the throttle body holes had stripped threads. I had some Heli-coils on hand but wasn’t sure of the size so went to Ace to check using their size block. Turned out I had the size I needed which was good, because the guy at the store I asked if they had any didn’t even know what I was talking about. Here is what it is, if you are unfamiliar:
It had been a while since I did one so I screwed up the first two. Didn’t help that the instructions for the one set I had was not quite clear. The other set had better instructions so third time was the charm. All you do is drill the proper sized hole, then tap new threads with the provided tap. Put the coil into the opening in the tool (as shown), then screw the shaft down until the tab at the end of the coil hits the end of the shaft.
Note, I took the picture of the shaft with it sticking out of the tool so you could see how it fits.
You then screw the coil in using the tool to back it up (you have to screw both the shaft and the tool at the same time). Make sure you have the coil a couple of threads below the top of the hole. Remove the tool and shaft, then use a small punch to knock off the tab. Voila! You have new threads.
Painted another coat on the outlet mani highlight after covering up where I got it outside the lines, so to speak. Cleaned up various brackets for the ‘charger and then started its assembly. It wasn’t terribly difficult even given the 11 months since I pulled it apart, as everything pretty much can only go together one way in order to function. Here is how that ended up:
After that I did some cleaning under the hood where the old ‘charger oil and gotten spread around. I also felt around to try and locate those coolant leaks I had been seeing ending up on the garage floor. One is coming from the bottom radiator hose where it connects to the outlet of the water pump. The other was coming from the overflow tank hose connection:
I pulled that off, cleaned it all up and then assembled with some pipe dope as so:
When I originally received it, it had Teflon tape around the threads. We’ll see if this seals any better.
Letting that set up before I put it back in place.
After that I did some cleaning under the hood where the old ‘charger oil and gotten spread around. I also felt around to try and locate those coolant leaks I had been seeing ending up on the garage floor. One is coming from the bottom radiator hose where it connects to the outlet of the water pump. The other was coming from the overflow tank hose connection:
I pulled that off, cleaned it all up and then assembled with some pipe dope as so:
When I originally received it, it had Teflon tape around the threads. We’ll see if this seals any better.
Letting that set up before I put it back in place.
