MX-5 (NB) Ownership Thread

Dorje · 4 Apr 2009 at 23:09

Following on from Howards project thread I decided I may as well keep a log of what is going on with my car, I like to read others so hopefully 1 or 2 of you may find some interest/use out of it.

In February this year I made a 600 mile round trip journey to view and then buy a ’98 MX-5 1.8iS. It came with just 45k miles, 11 month MOT, 4 new tyres, new rear hub bearings, recent brakes and clutch slaver cylinder and bleed, oh and MX5parts back box. This left me £2450 happily out of pocket, the only bad points being a large stonechip on the front bumper and small tear in the pinch point of the roof, but doesn’t leak.

Can’t find any pics of when I bought it apart from this one:

I’ve decided against calling this thread a ‘project’ as I’m not planning FI for a couple of years at least, due to insurance. That and I’m a complete novice doing things on the car.

Having said that, I never intended to leave this car standard.
List of things to do:
- Sideskirts
- Garage Vary Lip
- Lowering + Alignment
- Wheels
- Relocate number plate

Dorje · 4 Apr 2009 at 23:10

So onto 2 weeks ago, it's Friday afternoon and last day of term. Great! Walk back to my car, get in the car and I notice a note under my windscreen wiper. I clamber out and find out that it's a note apologising for reversing into me! Ballsack. So I inspect the front, and sure enough there are scuffs and scrape marks on the front bumper

Thankfully though, the person was kind enough to leave a phone number.

I get home and ring straight away, no answer. No answer over the weekend either (but I did leave a message)... Monday morning and I ask if Uni have CCTV, they do but not where I was parked...

To my relief, the guy called Monday lunchtime. Turns out he gave me his work number, and that he is a lecturer! We decide to settle outside of insurance, I get a quote and he ok's it. Good times.

So here's a picture after respray, done yesterday: (I gave it a quick polish too)

I got the sideskirts done at the same time too, so was good timing really lol.

And as you can see I fitted the off set number plate bracket too.

Dorje · 4 Apr 2009 at 23:12

And today I did the first bit of any sort of work on my car before, and it took half of the afternoon.

I've had my Garage Vary lip lying around for a month or so now, didn't fit it before because weather was a nightmare.

Weather was looking good today, so I set about having a stab at it.

Here's a picture of the process half way through, with the oem lip removed and the halfords pro tool set I bought for my dad on christmas, lol.

Complete with shower radio!

Bit of jigging about later fitting and drilling the GV lip, it looked like this:

I'm very pleased with myself, heh. Transforms the look of the car imo, less hairdresser? Car gets lowered next week too, so I'm a bit worried about clearance!

Also straightened up the number plate.

I have some Rays Volk MS-01R wheels to go in the coming weeks too; they need a refurb first though. On that note, anyone know where to get Rays centre caps, apart from ebay?

Let me know what you think :]

ganesh · 4 Apr 2009 at 23:21

I don't like the lip, looks a bit max power. Nice car otherwise, very shiny.

saitrix · 5 Apr 2009 at 07:51

Not totally sure on the lip either. But the car certainly looks good and I know it'll be great fun.

I hope you are getting shocks as well as springs for lowering it!

paradigm · 5 Apr 2009 at 10:20

To go against the grain, I really do like the lip, it helps to combat the whole girly, curvy, boat-ness that the MX5 has at the front end as standard.

Great improvement IMO

Muffin` · 5 Apr 2009 at 10:37

Yeah the Mk2 looks so gay the lip helps counter that as will some new rims

Freefaller · 5 Apr 2009 at 10:48

The lip is a little TOO much, but I think a lip like that DOES work... I'd choose it over no lip at all, but not quite that style.

Tidy looking 5.

Like the offset numberplate.

Dorje · 5 Apr 2009 at 14:15

paradigm said:
To go against the grain, I really do like the lip, it helps to combat the whole girly, curvy, boat-ness that the MX5 has at the front end as standard.

Great improvement IMO

Yer, that was the main reason behind doing it really. Not very expensive to buy either.

Freefaller said:
The lip is a little TOO much, but I think a lip like that DOES work... I'd choose it over no lip at all, but not quite that style.

Tidy looking 5.

Like the offset numberplate.

I can understand why people think it may be a bit OTT, it petrudes a bit further than the sport air dam. But people need to see it 'in the flesh' so to speak as well, it flows quite well with the sideskirts with matching lines. I'll be at the RR hopefully.

And yer, I really don't like the original plinth that comes on MX5's, just looks so out of place. And once removed illustrates the lines of the car better.

I'll try and get some better pictures at some point, although I only have a point and click camera coupled with no skillz

Dorje · 12 Apr 2009 at 17:30

As promised, the 5 got lowered yesterday

Typically it takes a week or so to settle especially with Eibachs, but doing a 100 mile round trip for the PH meet down some excellent moor roads, helped a bit I think:

I’m pretty happy with how it sits at the moment, no speed bump troubles so far. However the ride height will probably drop and settle a tiny bit more in the next few days.

Here’s another pic on the way back from Malton:

The meet was pretty good, HUGE turn out and massive variety of nice cars (lots of Porka’s though). I was only a metre behind the F1 car when they started that up too

Not much on my current list of things to do to the car now, just refurbish the Ray’s wheels.

Beerbaron · 12 Apr 2009 at 17:37

imo the lip helps as mx5s are already characterless

Hequn · 12 Apr 2009 at 17:39

I like it, although I'm unsure on the lip, it seems to be a different texture/more shiny than the rest of the car :confused:

Enfield · 12 Apr 2009 at 17:51

I really, really like that! The lip makes the car look more sporty and not over the top at all in my opinion.

Is your car black or very dark green?

Dorje · 12 Apr 2009 at 17:56

'Brilliant Black'

The lip hasn't been sprayed to match. It's a type of plastic, poly[somethingorother] and is quite a glossy black. I don't feel as if I need to spray it to match though, it's almost certain to get chipped and scraped a bit too which would show up more when sprayed I think.

Enfield · 12 Apr 2009 at 17:58

Ahh OK. I didn't even notice a difference in the colour between the lip and paintwork..

Dorje · 12 Apr 2009 at 18:01

There hardly is tbh, just in certain photo's it can look more glossy. The side on picture is more representative of the colour.

SiHH · 12 Apr 2009 at 18:33

I like that a lot - good work so far and fair play for doing the lip yourself. Im a noob at mechanical things but am starting to give things a go now rather than pay high labour prices elsewhere.

mark66 · 12 Apr 2009 at 21:07

Hi,

Nice purchase and I think you have done well with your mods so far

You also got a lots of car for £2.5k - I didn't realise they had fallen that low :eek:

Does your have leathers?

I also have a Mk2 1.8iS and have been wanting to address the front end for ages! I like the number plate mod, were there some holes left behind from the plinth? Did you get these filled?

As for front spoilers, I have been looking at this one on eBay for £65 or what I thought was the official one via MX5 parts (although looking again are they the same?) Where did you get your GV one? Mind if I ask how much?

I also have waiting in the loft some official side skirts and rear boot spoiler. Did the skirts cost you much to fit? I can see them being a bit awkward to fit and am concerned that they could look poor if not done well. However I have had a quote to respray the boot (big key scratch), fit and spray rear spoiler, respray bonnet and front end (lots of stone chips and swirls), fit and spray side skirts and front spoiler for £350 which I thought was a bloomin bargain!

Edit: Just noticed you took of the OEM front lip. What have you done with that? Do you have any other pictures with it on?

Griffo · 13 Apr 2009 at 14:32

Looks very nice Mr. D. My monitor is on its last legs and I can't get the brightness up to see much detail of the new lip though, but is interesting looking. Car as a whole looks amazing though, and for 2.5k!

<PH Time>...

Dorje · 13 Apr 2009 at 17:47

mark66 said:
Hi,

Nice purchase and I think you have done well with your mods so far

You also got a lots of car for £2.5k - I didn't realise they had fallen that low Does your have leathers?

Cheers, Mk2 prices have fallen a lot in the last year or so. Having said that I think I was a little fortunate with my purchase, I haven't really seen anything before or since with the same specification and price.

No leathers for me. I had leathers in my previous Mk1 which was a special edition, I don't miss them at all tbh. MX5 leathers tend to be poor, not very comfortable and crack terribly.

I also have a Mk2 1.8iS and have been wanting to address the front end for ages! I like the number plate mod, were there some holes left behind from the plinth? Did you get these filled?

The number plate bracket costs £15, and the plate cost me £10. There were 2 holes left behind. Luckily someone decided to reverse into my front bumper, so I got the plate and holes sorted at the body shop.

As for front spoilers, I have been looking at this one on eBay for £65 or what I thought was the official one via MX5 parts (although looking again are they the same?) Where did you get your GV one? Mind if I ask how much?

Not sure on the ebay one, haven't heard anyones dealings with them either. It's probably a cheaper plastic that doesn't handle bumps or scrapes as well as the OEM part. The OEM one still looks good imo, but I decided to go with the GV lip as I wanted something different (looks slightly more aggresive), it was also cheaper and I didn't need to paint it.

I got my GV lip from here, reasonable price imo.

I also have waiting in the loft some official side skirts and rear boot spoiler. Did the skirts cost you much to fit? I can see them being a bit awkward to fit and am concerned that they could look poor if not done well. However I have had a quote to respray the boot (big key scratch), fit and spray rear spoiler, respray bonnet and front end (lots of stone chips and swirls), fit and spray side skirts and front spoiler for £350 which I thought was a bloomin bargain!

Edit: Just noticed you took of the OEM front lip. What have you done with that? Do you have any other pictures with it on?

I too had the side skirts lying around for a while, when the front bumper needed spraying I got the bodyshop to do it at the same time including fitment.

That quote you've got seems very good to me, I'd go ahead and let them worry about it.

The OEM front lip thing isn't really visible from the front, I could only notice when the car was jacked up. I think it helps with high speed stability, but I'm not sure. I actually didn't need to remove it to the fit the GV lip, but I did as I assumed they shared the same mounting holes w/o checking.

No harm done in removing it though. Not done anything with it, although I've seen people sell them on ebay.