question re: the rocker cover bolts

Discussions relating to Turbochargers, Superchargers, Induction, Engine Mods, Exhaust Mods, and other items specifically to make your MX5 or Roadster put out more power.

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MrGrey
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question re: the rocker cover bolts

Post by MrGrey » Tue May 14, 2013 3:23 pm

this is kind of to do with the engine so I hope its not in the wrong section.

I plan on making a shaped cover to go over the spark plugs and was planning on mounting it via a small steel bracket affixed under each of the bolts marked in the attached image. my question is, would it be safe for me to loosen them by about 1-2mm, slide the brackets into place and re tighten them without major risk of damaging the rocker covers seal integrity?

thanks in advance and i hope I made sense.
Image

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Post by WideOpenThrottle » Tue May 14, 2013 3:31 pm

No probs...just undo the front one first and tighten last and only tweek them tight.
Might pay to re-tighten all of them in an outward spiral patten from the centre bolt.

Incidentally alot of people remove the factory spark plug covers like you are going to make to enable a bit better engine cooling.
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Post by MrGrey » Tue May 14, 2013 3:37 pm

You raise a very valid point. I would be creating a hot air pocket......
Thank you for mentioning this, I think I will skip this project
:wink:

I do however need to get some new leads as mine look shagged. They still work fine, but as I just replaced the spark plugs with iridium's, I should do the job justice and get some new leads as well, when my budget allows :oops:

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Post by warrior » Tue May 14, 2013 5:00 pm

You can buy these from MX5 mart I think. I don't see any massive problems by covering it if you want too.
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Post by warrior » Tue May 14, 2013 5:02 pm

Just looked MX5MART have them for $45.00. They do look smart :D
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Post by MrGrey » Tue May 14, 2013 6:04 pm

hmm, now I am undecided :oops:

personally I wouldn't buy one as I have some nice treadplate laying around subliminally whispering to me "fabricate me into stuff!" and its lure is hard to ignore.

I have the rest of this week off so i may throw something together for shits and giggles, I don't do any racing or performance stuff so heat has not been an issue...... yet

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Post by REDBEN » Tue May 14, 2013 7:47 pm

Angreal has a pretty boss CF one that looks amazing!
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Post by siren676 » Tue May 14, 2013 8:06 pm

I believe chris is making them out of carbon fibre. Ill try find a pic

Edit - found it

Image
1990 NA6C MX5

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Post by MrGrey » Tue May 14, 2013 11:35 pm

All this mention of carbon fibre made me get creative with some vinyl.....
After some wrapping, it came out pretty good although I will have to keep an eye on it to see what the vinyl does after constant exposure to heat. I assume it could go one of three ways..

1) it could go soft and melt/recede

2) it could bake and go hard

3) it could catch fire and explode in a totally bad ass fireball of awesomeness.

The rear lip of the slam panel is 5mm or more away from the top of the radiator so I am hopeful it will be ok.

I smoothed out the remaining air bubbles after this photo was taken just as an FYI :wink:
Image

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Spark plug cover

Post by GRUVBB » Wed May 15, 2013 5:38 am

IMO... Scenario 3 would be enough to scare me off going down this path. If you make a cover make sure it's Non Flammable. I bet the insurance companies would not be impressed. I think your vinyl version may be a trial template so to speak... I am of the thought of removing components from a car to reduce weight. Especially in an area that no one can seein normal operation.... My mechanic mate in the weekend showed me that my rocker gasket is leaking and oil had accumulated in number 4 spark plug. He said it was suffering from CoronaDischarge... I thought that was what we did when on the Booze.... Apparently that is when the white porcelain of plug goes brown from I think he said the electric path coming through the side offing rather than transmitting through to the spark gap.?.. With a cover on it is more of a chore to check on them.

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Post by warrior » Wed May 15, 2013 10:32 am

I have wrapped the plastic one from MX5 mart and it has held up just fine on my supercharged car, there is not a lot of heat around where this goes.
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Post by siren676 » Wed May 15, 2013 1:41 pm

Was about to say those cooling panels wouldnt get too hot because they are on the cold side of the radiator.
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Post by MrGrey » Wed May 15, 2013 2:42 pm

I took her for a WOF today (passed with fly colors) and then went for a nice coastal drive. After over an hour of driving there was no sign of any shrinkage or any change at all so initially it seems that it will be fine.
As you guys mentioned, it is on the cold side of the radiator so it will probably give me no hassles.

I'll still keep an eye on it, just to be sure 8)

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Post by WideOpenThrottle » Wed May 15, 2013 4:43 pm

My ones plastic and hasnt buckled either
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Post by warrior » Wed May 15, 2013 4:57 pm

It will be fine, go for a hard run then come back and put your hand on the panel.......hardly warm. :D
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Post by MrGrey » Tue May 21, 2013 7:26 pm

thanks to the awesomeness of Chris, I have a piece of carbonfibre that I will use in conjunction with an aluminum base to make a vented leads cover.

let me introduce stage one of 'project centipede'
Image
Last edited by MrGrey on Wed May 22, 2013 6:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by MrGrey » Wed May 22, 2013 6:17 pm

I got stuck in this evening and shaped the decorative cowl and so far it is looking fairly decent :) The next step is making the mounts that will suspend it above the plugs & to drill some extra holes in the top to avoid hot air pockets.

I realize its purely decorative and serves no purpose, but that's how I roll :wink:

here's some pics for your optical amusement.

My workshop (I live in a 1 bedroom unit and don't have a garage....*sigh*)
Image


These are the 2 shaped pieces as they currently stand:
Image


And finally, this is what it looks in a test fit on the engine:
Image

I recently replaced the spark plugs so I think I should get some new leads and a gasket and repaint the rocker cover to make that whole section all puurty and new :)

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Post by WideOpenThrottle » Wed May 22, 2013 7:16 pm

Pretty cool...but it does look like an over-sized silicon chip!
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Post by MrGrey » Wed May 22, 2013 8:22 pm

Holy crap, it does too!

ok ok I admit it, I replaced my engine with a commadore64 computer..... the mileage is much better but it is a really heavy drain on the battery.

I guess this means I can say that I have upgraded the chip in my car?

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Post by REDBEN » Wed May 22, 2013 9:45 pm

Hey Mr Grey top points for getting in and doing it your self! I like it!
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Post by MrGrey » Thu Jun 27, 2013 6:17 pm

finally got around to fitting this tonight, its nice and stable and not touching anything but I did end up having to crimp my braces a little because it was sitting too high. I may make some new brackets but the ones that are there work fine and are hidden (just bent ugly)

I trimmed the round front bit to make it more 'chip-like' .... maybe I should put a decepticons badge on it?

excuse the crappy night time cellphone pic
Image

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Post by Angreal » Thu Jun 27, 2013 8:45 pm

REDBEN wrote:Angreal has a pretty boss CF one that looks amazing!
There's a photo of it under my garage section but I no longer have that piece. It's sitting with Marc from carbon miata and he's upgrading it for me to a carbon kevlar piece just because I can and it makes me different from everyone else running CF :roll:

I believe he's also tweaking the design to have a vent or something which should hopefully create less of a pocket of hot air but we'll see how the end prototype/product ends up when I get back

Image

Damn, will have to replace all my old photos since the engine bay has changed a lot since (in a good way).

Image

Next update will have the supercharger in, the panel back in below the windscreen to hide my washer bottle and the cf replaced with ck. But yeah, that's an off the shelf one you can get

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Post by MrGrey » Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:14 pm

Angreal, your engine bay makes me feel all funny in my pants.

just sayin'

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Post by authentic » Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:34 pm

Is your washer bottle a custom job or did you buy it from somewhere? I bet hiding it under a wiper cowl makes the engine bay much more aesthetically pleasing..something I'm slowly getting round to.

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Post by Snapfrozen » Thu Jun 27, 2013 10:18 pm

Probably a suzuki cappucino washer

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