"Let's start at the very beginning...

"... a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A-B-C, when you sing [build a kit car] you begin with D'oh!-F**k-Me". I know it doesn't scan very well, but I'm sure Julie Andrews could make it work, should she decide to quit being a nun and become a mechanic instead.

I really didn't know where to start, so I thought that before I actually tackled anything build-wise, I should clean up as much of the donor parts as possible. The engine looked like it had some bits I could comfortably remove, so the project began with the removal of the alternator, that's simple enough, right? Not when the hinge bolt snaps, with half of it still in the bracket on the engine block. Grrr. The easiest way to remove it, I thought, would be to disassemble the outer cover of the alternator, splitting it in half and allowing it to be removed from the engine. This worked, only after snapping two of the rusted bolts that hold the alternator together. Grrr. All these broken bolts have proved impossible to remove completely, so the alternator cover has been scrapped and I'll decide what to do when I next need the alternator.

Further stripping of the engine allowed me to start tarting up the gearbox, which now looks very pretty:

Along with the gearbox, I've been modifying the differential to fit (after a fair amount of head scratching, wondering why it wasn't going to fit - thank you the internet), cleaning it up, trial fitting it, painting it and inserting new seals. All I now need to do is create some spacers to go between the diff' and the chassis and I can permanently install it. One bit of potential good news that I discovered whilst reading up on MX-5 specs is that the "S" variant of the mk2, of which my donor was, originally came fitted with a limited-slip differential, so I'm hoping this is what I have. I need to find a way of confirming this without dismantling the whole thing.

I've also been slowly dismantling all the other donor parts:

I've got a bit stuck stuck on a couple of bits, such as the brake caliper pistons and the main nut holding the front hubs together, but once my new compressor arrives I can tackle them again with manly power attachments!. One thing I have discovered though, is that the brake master cylinder doesn't fit. It would seem that the chassis is primarily designed around a mk1 and my mk2 cylinder is too big for the hole:

I can either try and grind down the cylinder (as I have had to do slightly on the clutch master), open the hole in the chassis further or source a mk1 cylinder from a breakers yard. I don't think I could cut it down enough without compromising it and I don't really want to wreak the powder-coating on the chassis too much, so I think I'll just buy another and hopefully sell the original on eBay.