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

Man of Honour
Joined
29 Jun 2003
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34,515
Location
Wiltshire
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Took most of Saturday to get the old coilovers out but got there in the end.
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
Posts
40,065
Location
Autonomy
New hairdresser here :p Just picked up my first MX5 2.5 Sport (54 plate). Its a joint summer/track project car with my brother after driving a few friends ones on track over the years it was time to get one :)

Previous owner fitted new LSD, dealt with some surface rust (sills and rails look good still), new cambelt, usual service bits, new Pzeros all round, new second key and fob from Mazda and few other bits so its a good base. Already got the clear indicator bits and off centre bike reg plate bracket on way and looking to drop it on a set of adjustable Mister-R's and some 15s.

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Nice
 
Man of Honour
Man of Honour
Joined
23 Dec 2002
Posts
10,003
Location
London
Here's an odd question.
Anyone else own a 3 seater MX5?
Had a check on the V5 logbook for my Nevada and it says it's a 3 seater. Clearly wrong, but no one else has bothered to rectify during the last 14 years. Anyone else got this?
 
Man of Honour
Man of Honour
Joined
23 Dec 2002
Posts
10,003
Location
London
New stereo arrived last night and was promptly fitted. Very easy process. The physical connection and installation took far longer than the configuring of the HU in question. For anyone who's not done it, apart from the single din HU, the only other items I required (apart from tools), was a single din cubby and a wiring adapter, both available from MX5parts at sensible prices.
I went for an Alpine 92 mechless unit, which has the usual bluetooth, USB, phone connectivity etc. Nothing genuinely special, but then it was pretty cheap. Chosen mainly because I've previously had really good experiences with Alpine gear. I mounted the cubby above the HU, which allowed me to put the microphone into the cubby itself, after drilling a hole in the top (not visible from the seats). So there's no wires showing.
Sounds pretty good (I've never heard any car unit get close to a genuine home stereo), has plenty of toys, is now the same colour as my instruments, and as a benefit, must weigh 1/4 of the old factory fit item, always a good thing in an MX5.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
13 Nov 2009
Posts
11,596
Location
Northampton
I noticed the same, the more I actually use the stereo in mine now I've got a half decent head unit the more I realise how decent the stock speakers are (I must have spent the first 12 months at least driving it with nothing playing)
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Jul 2013
Posts
8,570
Awesome smiles for the £ ratio.
I was thinking today that on a day like today there's no better car for buzzing about the country lanes around my house and nearby area. I considered taking my parent's 911 as it's more 'impressive' and considerably faster but the MX5 has no roof and you can just throw it about, not having to worry about it too much or worry about how wide it isn't!
 
Soldato
Joined
30 Jan 2004
Posts
4,944
Location
Harrogate
Fun at legal speeds, not enough power to be dangerous should you get over eager, wind through your hair (or not in my case), and don't cost a bomb to run.

Lets face it, the only thing not fun about MX-5s is they will rust if you so much as look at them funny. Which reminds me, job this year is to get into the front chassis arms and see what the damage is, and dinitrol the crap out of them, did the sills last year but will inspect them as well.

Also need to do something about the rear heat shield, at least I hope it is that that is causing the horrible rattle at low rpm and not something more important.
 
Caporegime
Joined
26 Aug 2003
Posts
37,506
Location
Leafy Cheshire
So dropped the diff oil yesterday evening (very simple to do, didn't even need to jack the car), definite shimmer to the used oil, but no chunks of metal to be found. Noise is no different with new diff oil, so it's still likely to be a bearing (even if the diff is on it's way to becoming an open diff).

Time to start scouring for a replacement diff then!
 
Man of Honour
Man of Honour
Joined
23 Dec 2002
Posts
10,003
Location
London
So dropped the diff oil yesterday evening (very simple to do, didn't even need to jack the car), definite shimmer to the used oil, but no chunks of metal to be found. Noise is no different with new diff oil, so it's still likely to be a bearing (even if the diff is on it's way to becoming an open diff).

Time to start scouring for a replacement diff then!

I got the impression that the mk2.5 had a Torsen LSD until 2003, then switched some flakey Fuji unit. Problem is that the Torsens are being sold for serious dosh s/h. Let me know if you go the ADT route. Curious what that entails.


As a less than amusing, update. Owned mine a week, and was rear-ended yesterday morning on the M3. The good news is that it was a very low speed bump and there's no "apparent" damage. Won't stop me getting it checked this weekend to potential chassis/boot floor damage. On a more positive note, probably just aswell I wasn't hit by an Audi driver, probably be 2 dimensional.
 
Man of Honour
Man of Honour
Joined
23 Dec 2002
Posts
10,003
Location
London
Changing the stereo was about the first thing I did on mine. There's loads on Ebay priced at around £30. No idea if anyone actually buys them. I just laughed at the weight of it compared to the mechless single din unit I replaced it with. The original feels like it was designed by Brunel.
 
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