Started to feel left out (Several Changes)

Firestar_3x · 24 Jul 2006 at 17:34

Jumping on the OCUK Wheel refurb bandwagon i decided to do mine and change the colour at the same time.

Think the Steel colour goes much better with the cars black paint, the original silver was far to overpowering.

Whilst i was at it i decided to move the numberplate from its very stuck on rectangular plinth and attach it lotus style to the bottom of the bumper, filling and spraying the huge holes the plinth left in my bumper

Original

Changed

Firestar_3x · 24 Jul 2006 at 17:34

Whilst on the modding bandwagon i decided the very restrictive and heavy standard airbox had to go, so i ordered a Typhoon induction kit and fitted that, sounds so much better and with my diy heatshiled in place pickup is much better.

Firestar_3x · 24 Jul 2006 at 18:04

Yea i'm not to sure about the angle, its ok being that low to the ground but i might have to tilt it up abit, just taken some pics, first is from about 3mtrs back and i'm about 5ft 11' tall

Second is from 2.5mtr back

Zoomed in slightly but you get the idea of the angle, should be ok for the speed cameras

Firestar_3x · 24 Jul 2006 at 18:08

Morba said:
i agree here oracle. car looked nicer before :]

Yea its hard to tell on the pic (depends how your screen is setup) but on my pc they look slightly lighter on screen, the original colour looked like high power silver and had started to go gold in several places, i don't like too much bling

Firestar_3x · 24 Jul 2006 at 18:22

Oracle said:
Definately no law regarding slope or angle of plate. Just checked as much as I could. Only law relates to spacing and the fact that the vehicle if registered must have a plate.

Yea i think all the MOT checks is that the plate is on the car and security fixed also that it meets the numberplate standards.

If a passing police man was being awkward he might pull me over for it, but i've passed and followed loads of police cars the past week and had no problems at all

Firestar_3x · 24 Jul 2006 at 18:37

TripleT said:
Best trying to get a straigh on shot (in the light though )

Will do boss, need some grub first though

MonkeyMan said:
How hard was it to touch the nose up after removing the plate?

The standard mouting left two holes about 1cm in diameter, i got some special plastic bumper scratch and hole filler, stuck gaffer tape behind the bumper filled the holes sanded down then used my airbrush to paint, still need to make them flush with the bumper (but thats next weekends job

)

Firestar_3x · 24 Jul 2006 at 18:47

Del Lardo said:
Wheels look really good. Did you get them powder coated? How much did it cost?

Nah, all it cost me was £32, Primer / Steel colour wheel paint / Sand paper / Filler / Lacquer and a full weekend, all except the weekend can be had from halfords

Firestar_3x · 24 Jul 2006 at 22:04

You can spot the jap lovers

Dark wheels really are a love or hate thing, depending on the car colour they can work really well, for me making everthing blend in so nothing jumps out at you and you look at the car as a whole.

The cars nose looked a little odd at first with no numberplate holder on and i wasn't sure if i liked it but i gave it chance and now when i look at a normal MX5 the plate looks like an after thought, just need to decide on a final resting location for the front plate. be that in the bin or not i don't know!

Cheers for the comments guys, be that if you like it or not, always nice to get a good overall opinion

Firestar_3x · 24 Jul 2006 at 23:31

Show plate / stick on plate / no plate all options

never been a fan of the stickers really!

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 11:03

Siliconslave said:
you can get hangers (or make your own) to have a jap sized small plate off the baby teeth, but again its a bit of a love hate thing....

Could be a good option, might test out several ideas and post a rate my plate thread on ocuk.

I've seen the hangers for sale but can't remember who stocked them, any ideas mate?

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 11:11

Siliconslave said:
erm... fraid not no, but i'd just make your own to be honest, couple of bolts, some big washers and a bit of bent metal should do it or have a nose around ebay

Sounds like my sort of weekend

I've removed the two front tow hooks, well over 1kg in weight so i will use the bolt mounting points and make something up

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 11:31

It took a vast mountain of tools

Nah it its not to bad, each hook has three long 13mm + bolts through it, access is the main problem and you will damage yourself, i took the front bumper off since i was doing other jobs at the same time

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 11:37

BTW Sam, Emanage Ultimate + Boomslang Harness should be with me end of this / start of next week, the road to tuning has started

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 11:59

Siliconslave said:
why do words like "slope" and "slippery" spring to mind i'm guessing someone did pretty well outta their little excursion to dubai then

who needs a house, i started to slide down the slope a little while back, just looked back at my MX5Parts order list and i've spent more than i thought!

Ah well its all going to be worth it, starting to get a parts list together for a custom turbo kit, decided not to go off the shelf cause i will learn more this way and means i can design it so i can upgrade bits as i feel the need for more power, Dubai went well, amazing place

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 13:56

I was going to buy a proper Goodwin racing heatshield and mod it to fit mine, but i refused to pay the price for something that might not work, took a trip down to B&Q and got a couple sheets of very thin steel and some alloy thin flat bar, after some messing around with a card template i cut the metal to fit using a jigsaw with metal blade and bent the sheet around over the edge of a workbench.

Its not my final design i still need to close in the back more, the sheet (which was almost the correct size

) was only £4 so i'm going to get a couple more and see what i can do.

I've fitted a cold air feed from the undertray of the car to the back of the filter, next job is to make a glass fiber scoop to get more air up the pipe

The induction kit sounds fantastic, turns quite a few heads :cool:

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 14:03

lordrobs said:
This bumper filler stuff... could you give me a name I could look out for? My rear bumper had a little whoopsie with a piece of angle iron

Will get you details on the bumper stuff once i get home, its was about £6 and came in a black tube, more details when i get home

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 14:33

lordrobs said:
Thank you muchly.

Although after a nice (£25) phone call from my solicitor it looks like my house purchase may well be off because my gf's dad is a tool... in which case I can forget about the bumper and infact the rest of the car and buy a decent one

EDIT:- losing £1k plus whatever the solicitor wants to charge will sting a bit though :cries:

bad luck, but it means that no only can you buy bits for the RC car but like you say buy a better car, i will post the details anyways, just think of it this way, it would have cost you more had you got the house

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 14:39

mark66 said:
Awesome, sounds like a nice little project which hopefully even I should be able to manage! Just wish I was brave enough to attempt removing the bumper to take out those ugly tow hooks

Its actually quite easy to do, i can do a guide with pictures if you want, its about 6 little bolts 4 bigger ones and 8 pop pins thats it

You can remove those hooks without taking the bumper off but it makes life much harder, also a socket won't fit on one of the bolts since the space it too tight so you need a spanner or to make life easier a ratchet spanner works wonders

Firestar_3x · 25 Jul 2006 at 20:48

Isopon Bumper Repair - its mixed up like any body filler but bonds better with plastic.