MX5 Owners in here....bring your curling tongs

Mine was looking very very very green following the horrible weather we've had recently so I gave it a good clean. Call me boring but I love the look of nice clean silver wheels against a silver car.

Also replaced the wing stickers with some new ones as the originals had faded away... gave these ones a few coats of decent lacquer to hopefully add a bit of UV protection.

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Few things I want to do to it this year... a thorough service and cambelt change, track down a few water leaks and also do a few mods. I want to take it on track and the standard seats absolutely suck so am currently investigating decent bucket seats (and suitable rails for a vertically challenged driver). I also love the look of a proper roll bar so will be adding one of those as well.

And as long as it doesn't rust itself into oblivion in the mean time, my long term plans are to supercharge it.
 
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Yeah, the sills were done by Carl @ CBS while under the previous owners care only a few years before I bought the car.

The black/dark bits might look scary but it's just remnants of Hydrate80 covering any vulnerable areas that I wanted to further protect. There's nothing to be concerned about, the sills are good, the rear arches are good and the chassis legs are good, the latter of which were replaced just a couple of years ago. I'm well aware that it's a never ending battle of maintenance with these cars! :)
 
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NCs and slider pins... one of the back calipers was binding up sometimes so replaced all the slider pins on both sides. So far so good, I'll do the fronts when I do an oil change after my next trackday.


 
I pulled out the boot carpet and had a look at all the fuel hoses as I've had an increasingly noticeable petrol smell when the car is parked up, especially if it has been warm. Everything was perfect so I'm hoping that it's the fuel cap which seems to be a common issue. My one has always given a good *hiss* when opening so I didn't think this was the cause.

A quick look of the gasket shows some very fine cracking but I guess fuel vapour doesn't really need much of an escape route. Got a new gasket waiting to fit... then I'm off on holiday for two weeks, back for 2 days then of on a work trip for a week. I'll be amazed if I even tax the thing before June, that's half the prime MX5 top down driving weather gone before I even un-SORN it :(

Ideally I'll take it for a couple of local shake downs before going to the national OC rally in June. In reality it will probably be like the last three years in that it's first outing for over 6 months is a 300 mile round trip!
 
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recently picked up a hardtop in fantastic condition on ebay, for a stupid low price. the guy didn't specify which car the top was for.
felt quite bad about it, but he would have got even less if i hadn't bid i guess.
i think he was quite glad to have it gone from his garage though.

removed the softop before installing. car is so much better. wish i bought one years ago.
 
bainbridge said:
Piston seizing, replacement caliper ordered rather than trying to rebuild it.
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my front os caliper was seizing too. mk2.5 big brake.
i ended up just ordering a kit with piston and seals for 15quid. and some rust treatment for 10 quid.
i soaked the caliper for 24 hours and put it all together in about 35 mins. works like new for a fraction of the cost.

i don't need to, but ill do the same for the other front caliper too. only another 15 since i can reuse the rust thing.
 
Radec said:
my front os caliper was seizing too. mk2.5 big brake.
i ended up just ordering a kit with piston and seals for 15quid. and some rust treatment for 10 quid.
i soaked the caliper for 24 hours and put it all together in about 35 mins. works like new for a fraction of the cost.

i don't need to, but ill do the same for the other front caliper too. only another 15 since i can reuse the rust thing.
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I'm glad it worked out for you.

Having had problems with rebuild leaks in the past, and the new caliper being less than £50, I just replaced it this time.
 
Bought a front Number plate plinth from MX5 Parts and a new plate printed from Halfords as my plinth and plate were damaged before I bought the car.

Planned on doing it straight away but never bothered!

Anyway the plinth from MX5 Parts is leaving me a bit concerned on fitment. Not tried it yet but can already see the mould itself is twisted to some degree.

To be fair the reviews for this part on their site complained about this to some degree.

I'll give it a go otherwise may have to pay over the odds for an OEM one.

Unrelated but how hard is it to remove, and then refit the "Baby Teeth"

Mine are looking a bit rusty, wouldn't mind taking them off and repainting them. (I know many people take them off and leave them off, but my grill was pre cut for them so would look silly without now)
 
I took my plinth off to spray it back it black as it had gone a nasty shade of 1990 Corsa bumper grey. I then found that the plinth was held to the bumper by the numberplate screws, not the proper fittings which were broken. The rubber strip around the edge had been tucked in and wouldn't go back to shape properly either. I don't like bodging stuff so as a temporary measure I fitted the plate directly to the bumper... and it looks so much better that way!

I do like the look of the plate relocation onto a bracket by the grille but my front bumper has at least 3 sets of holes in it so no point on my one :(
 
Ripped the old plinth off at lunch, and the new one as expected is no where near! Hole centres way out and the mould is twisted.

Will put plate in windscreen and send it back.

Found an OEM one on eBay. £20 more but cheap..buy twice I guess
 
Had a crap day at bedford last monday, had to go home at lunchtime as I noticed the brake fluid res went from full to half and saw fluid around the flare nut for the front drivers side brake hose. Checked it when I got home and it was finger tight, thanks to the person that fitted those...

Did a full bleed through of Motul RBF660 brake fluid to get all the air/dirt out, oil change with Millers 5w40 and stuck my road wheels back on.






 
Had my MX5 Serviced and MOT'd today!

Passed the test, but unfortunately they did suggest that one of the chassis rails is showing very early signs of corrosion.

Said to just keep an eye on it for now, but of course now this is on the cars MOT history :( .

I've requested a quote for it to be repaired out of interest.
 
kinger8938 said:
Had my MX5 Serviced and MOT'd today!

Passed the test, but unfortunately they did suggest that one of the chassis rails is showing very early signs of corrosion.

Said to just keep an eye on it for now, but of course now this is on the cars MOT history :( .

I've requested a quote for it to be repaired out of interest.
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An inevitability with NBs sadly, if you get it sorted properly with photos/invoices it would be a plus point when it comes to sell.
 
Janesy B said:
An inevitability with NBs sadly, if you get it sorted properly with photos/invoices it would be a plus point when it comes to sell.
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Yeah I've heard that they need to be looked at when looking to buy etc.

Surely if one side is showing signs, the other side will follow? If that's the case I'll see if they can quote to do both.

M-Tech, good guys with a solid MX5 reputation, they do the turbo conversions etc and seem to be one of the go to places for it all
 
kinger8938 said:
Passed the test, but unfortunately they did suggest that one of the chassis rails is showing very early signs of corrosion.
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Post some pics, the underside and from under the bonnet. Bit difficult to see if you have undertrays fitted so you may need to lift the car on a jack.

Expect to see quotes of around £700 to have both sides done.
 
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agw_01 said:
Post some pics, the underside and from under the bonnet. Bit difficult to see if you have undertrays fitted so you may need to lift the car on a jack.

Expect to see quotes of around £700 to have both sides done.
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Ooophh..

I'll try and get it on dad's ramp. He has one of those car storage lifts and we are taking his classics out together in the coming weeks! So when it's free, we will raise mine up for a look
 
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