Wohoo's project MX5.

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Some of you may have seen my previous thread on my bargaintastic MX5 purchase. Anyway Ive started doing some little bits and bobs on it, so I thought I'd start documenting it to a point.

1st up I had to tend to the rear end, originally the back (and the rest of the car) looked like this




After a bit of paint and polish to the rest of the car, its looking spot on.





Im looking for a new rear numberplate panel as the old one has a few cracks.And I havent yet decided if want to put the spoiler back on, any one care to photoshop the spoiler on?

Next job was to fix the knocking from the back, after a look underneath, it was apparent the drop link was snapped clean off, nice easy job, or so I thought! I ended being unable to remove the ARB end of the link, and after a bit of hamfisted rage I ended up rounding the nut.Grrr. I ended up having to remove the roll bar to get it off, again a relatively easy job unless you are a hamfisted muppet... I ended up snapping a stud putting the rollbar back on, had to drill that out and put another nut and bolt. It should have been a 30 min job, and it took me 3 sodding hours.I'd forgotten how much fun cars were:p

One thing I love about cars with a following, is that you can pick up bits on the cheap, last weekend a lad on the nutz forum was giving away a vinyl roof on the frame, as mine was very ropey, I decided to nab it, I fitted that earlier in the week and its made a great difference. Fitting is quite simple really, it took me longer to drill out the old rain rail than it did to replace the roof.

You can see my roof was starting to crack up, whilst it didnt leak, I could see it getting worse quite quickly........





So whilst the weather was good, I decided to have a go, you have essentially got 3 bolts on each side by the seat belts, and then about 15 bolts at the back holding the rear window and keeping the roof tensioned.




This is also a notorious place for the MX5 to leak, as the original roof rail was good, I decided to swap them over, the only problem was the funny rivets used, took me a while to locate the buggers. You also have to correctly tighten these to a given torque setting otherwise you dont tension the roof correctly. The roof took most of the day to do, but in reality its only a 1/2 day job.Its surprising how much of a difference it has made to the cabin noise when the roof is up now.

Anyway, my last mods have been to add some smoked indicators and a new steering wheel as mine is fubarred, unfortun ately the one I have put on is quite small, and quite garish looking, so I want to swap it for a original momo or nardi one.

Ive made a list for the jobs I want to do before the bad weather sets in, and it looks like a long un!

  • Oil and filter change
  • New rear discs and pads
  • New front pads
  • Brake fluid change
  • Coolant change
  • Spark plugs
  • Timing belt
  • Possibily new oem shocks
  • Timing belt

But the pressing job for this weekend is a new alarm and immobiliser and central locking, Ive got a laserline to fit, again a cheapy of the forums, oh and Ive got a wind breaker to fit.

So far its been a real bargain tastic car,So far its cost:

  • Car £300
  • OEM front and rear discs,rollbar & garish steering wheel £45
  • Roof £100
  • Alarm £30
  • Wind breaker £30

I know theres a few MX5 lads here, im already thinking about mods and what not, nothing drastic, just stuff to make it handle well really, its already got rear bracing top and bottom, is there any benefit to getting a brace bar for the front? Im also looking for some better wheels and tyres, if anyone knows of any going let me know!

Im really pleased with the car so far, its an utter joy to drive, the simplicity is fantastic,it just puts a smile on my face everytime I drive it.Considering my last car was a 225bhp hot hatch, this little 130bhp toy doesnt feel any slower:)
 
nice

looks clean and tidy without the silly spoiler on it :)

have a soft spot for mx5's and this is hitting it
 
I fitted the front and rear chassis braces to mine and it did make a difference. Front one ought to reduce scuttle shake a bit.

As for wheels, find a set of 15s you like and fit some sticky 195/50/15 or 195/45/15 rubber. get it aligned.

I'm gonna change the engine, gearbox, diff and turret oil in mine next week :)
 
The fluid changes made mine much better and it is worth getting the 15's. I get to ***** around in a mk1 Gleneagles and that is running 15's with Toyo T1R's. Boy does it stick to the road!
 
I got a bit of money burning a hole in my pocket and it seems everyones finding cheap 1.8 MX5s but me :(

It's lookign rather respectable now, love it. Keep the spoiler off IMO.
 
Howard said:
How much money do you need to get rid of Dup? ;)
Click to expand...

At this moment in time, ~£1k. There's the odd one between £1k and £1.5k, mostly imports so I need to hassle Churchill to explain why I need to be 25 and others don't on the same car. Still waiting for the CTR to get picked up anyway.
 
Dup, it does seem 1.6's are two a penny for 1k, 1.8's are still holding well, im going to get mine valued from somewhere, as ive only put a value of 1200 with the insurance, and I think its worth more than that.

Im currently in the process of ripping out the CAT1/2 immobiliser, jeez what palava!
 
Ive not really had much chance to do much to the car, but I have gone through 2 sets of alloys, I originally got some MR2 alloys, which I liked, but then I spotted some JDM style rims, which I simply had to get:p

They really suit the car, and are very light.



Ive also swapped the standard UK seats with some JDM seats that I picked up off the bay, they have the speakers built in. Seats were a pain, as my car had the seatbelt stalks built in on the seat runners,luckily I had new stalks with the new seats, and thankfully Mazda put threaded holes in the later cars so I could bolt them to the tranny tunnel. A new stereo has also gone in, as it had a cassette player originally :p Ive got some new comps for the doors aswell, not fitted them yet tho.

I need to take some time off and do the fluids, still havent got round to that:( Oh and it needs to be dropped, ordinarily I wouldnt have bothered, but the rear end feels a bit saggy, I reckon the shocks are on the way out, anyone got any reccomendations on replacements? Its a road car for now, so I dont want something totally track biased.I really should do the important things 1st:p
 
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Rims look spot on:) really do suit the motor.It needs some clear side reflectors though.
 
Not really been doing much to the car until recently.

1st of all I uprated the std shocks to the Billies as fitted to the better models, 2 weeks later I propmtly removed them, the ride was horrid:p

I managed to pick up a cheap MX5 Parts exhaust to replace my rusty tail piped oem job, its sounds lovely, a little on the loud side.

Mainly Ive been sorting the Interior, I got my grubby mitts on some old Cobra Classics, again a mod too far so they are off, lovely huggy seats but a PITA to get in and out of.

Ive actually had a go at retrimming the drab black door cards,as I'd like to keep a OEM-ish look, Ive gone for charcoal grey, Ive also chucked a load of dynamatt in the doors to get the ICE side of it a little better.I need to source some nicer window winders, and the radio console and gear surround will get trimmed in the same grey leather (thanks to me ma:p)

From:

To:



Cobra Classic:
 
£300! Bargain of the year. Looks like a nice car and keep us updated with the pics.

You said the rear panel needed replaced... have you thought about a Eunos one with the square recess?
 
As my no plate is 5 digit one it doesnt look too bad with the UK rear, anyhow I picked up a UK one in white for £10:p its just a different shade:(
 
Just a quick update on the project, the car is still running stunningly well.



I did have a bit of fun with the waterpump and rad going at the same time, but i wasnt too expensive to sort out,the rad cost £50 from Mark up at OnlyMX5ives.Waterpump was easy to do, I also did the crankshaft and rocker seals at the same time, so its all good to go on the engine side now.

Next on the list was the interior,the black is just so naff, I nearly did a deal on some merlot seats but that fell through when the scrap dude realised what he had and upped the price:( As it happened I managed to pick up a complete tan leather interior of the bay for £31 quid, its brightened the interior up a treat.A wooden steering wheel,leather covered radio surround and gaystylebar have complemented my gayness in the interior.Im currently doing a carpeted transmission tunnel at the mo aswell. The look might not be to everyones tastes tho:p






Best mod so far is the stereo, I had one of these back in the day, and ive been hunting for one for a while, its the perfect retro stereo imo, I present the Pioneer 77mp...




Next on the list is to sort a bit of grot on the sill,ive also got some KYB Blue suspension to go on in the next few weeks, and im due to pick up some new wheels of a local lad on Nutz. A GV lip and a ducktail will complete the tarty stuff on the car by xmas, then its onto the power mods, prob just a SC.

My plan was to run this car for a year to see if It would survive or not, and it has,its been pennies to run, ive actually made money on everything ive 'upgraded', and my insurance has dropped aswell, its only £165 now:)

I want a retro look on the inside and a agressive low stance on the outside, so im pleased with the progress so far.

Costs so far :

Car cost : £300
Initial repair work : £30
MX5 Parts Exhaust (S/H) : £90
Leather radio surround : £40
Pioneer radio : £80
GV Lip : £40
Interior - £-40 (lol)
KYB Blues - £65
Rad n Water pump : £70
Style bar : £30
Wheels - £-30
Roof (made money on the old one!!) - £-35
Alarm £30
Wind breaker £30


Up coming costs, are the rust remedy, my labour costs will be nowt so its just how much I need to replace in terms of the panel.
 
Love the new interior, well except the black centre/transmission tunnel, but you say you are sorting that anyway!

Think I'd use padded vinyl rather than carpet though.
 
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