New addition to the family (MX-5 content)

[rtbiscuit]

i'm interested to see how you compare the mx5 to the mr2 roadster as you've driven both on track. i like the 5 but i honestly think the 2 would be a cracking track toy.

[Ekona]

Sorry Rich, missed your last post on here Having done both, there's not much doubt in my mind that the MX5 is considerably the better car for track work. It's more adjustable on the limit, and whilst the engine isn't quite as rev happy as the VVTi one in the MR2 it pulls with equal aplomb and sounds more raw. The mk2.5 MX5s do have a VVTi engine with 145bhp, and it does drop straight in...

 

I'd rather have the MR2 for the road as it's slightly more challenging and feels better put together, but then it's a 10 year newer design so it bloody well should! Given I was able to overcome the brakes fairly quickly on my MR2 when it was stock and I had no idea what I was doing, the fact that I was able to keep the MX5 perfect all day despite it being a much older car and be really working it says quite a lot for Mazda and just how good this chassis is. I suspect that the MR2 would be quicker round any given track (in fact I'd put money on it), but if you offered me the choice of either I'd take the MX5.

[Ekona]

MOAR WORKS

 

Decided to try and fix the roof today, and you know when one thing leads to another... So I decided to remove a couple of interior panels to see what was behind them, and then gave the inside a frickin' good clean as well.

 

Halfway through, check out the dust on the pax side

 

 

 

All done, and you can know see the fuel pump access and the petrol filler hose in their glory.

 

 

 

Here's something of note, a somewhat modified batter clamp made out of rubber and what appears to be a bit of wire coat hangar. When it comes to the MOT, do we think this is going to pass in the slightest?

 

 

 

And so onto the roof. I used some wetsuit repair stuff that was recommended to me as a budget but effective convertible roof sealant as my roof is starting to fall to bits although it is still watertight (somehow!), and holy crap it's messy stuff! It sticks to anything flesh in an instant, and unless you've wiped it off within 0.007s it's there for good. I have to go out tonight for a meal for Jo's birthday and there's no way I can shift this stuff in time! It didn't really want to stick the roof back together either, preferring to flop apart, so in good ol' fashion I have now sealed the f*cker up with copious amounts of duct tape:

 

 

 

 

I still really need to try and get those seats in soon...

[shane1964]

very nice my wife had a nice black mx5 about 6 yrs ago , paid 6k it was a spanker everything including the engine bay all the rad pipes and liquid bottles looked brand new, we had the choice of 5 differant types of alloys, not keen on the ones fitted to your car, no disrespect meant , remember to unzip the hood and lay it flat before dropping the hood, our bmw z3 should have had this as it would have saved a crack and split appearing, in the clear plastic back window, the only issues we had was drivers electric window packed in regular issue due to silly wire cables that can be replaced with direct drive motor also one of the front calippers would stick and course binding, and for a 1600cc wasnt very good on petrol having said all that good well built fun cars , and you can buy chrome effect rings that go around your air vents cheap enough , brightens up the interior good look with your car hope we have enough sunny days this year for you to get the roof down, oh and forgot to mention best powerfullist (my spelling), aircon ever had in anycar that we have owned take care and enjoy shane1964

[Ekona]

Lol I suspect I might need more than some chrome rings to make the inside look nice after having stripped the interior! Don't need to unzip the roof as long as it's not freezing cold, you can just fold it flat on itself I've found.

 

I have aircon in the car but it doesn't work (still), it might be a fuse or something but tbh I think I'll just rip the lot out and save the weight.

[DoogyRev]

Lol I suspect I might need more than some chrome rings to make the inside look nice after having stripped the interior! Don't need to unzip the roof as long as it's not freezing cold, you can just fold it flat on itself I've found.

 

I have aircon in the car but it doesn't work (still), it might be a fuse or something but tbh I think I'll just rip the lot out and save the weight.

 

You will find the roof's are pretty durable. I was that bloke driving round in mid winter with the roof down and heater on. If it was iced up, a bit of brute force would fold it down - no issues in 3 years ownership

[Ekona]

Today I am mostly being incredibly f*cked off with the car, and then falling in love all over again.

 

Wanted to get the roll bar, seats and harnesses in today. Roll bar was fairly simple although I had to make my own brackets for the underneath which was an incredible faff and took me up until gone lunchtime, but it's very solid and a pretty good job if I do say so myself. All fell apart after lunch though...

 

 

Took pax seat out and attacked the stock humps (metal things the seat rails bolt to) with a drill for the spot welds, and a hammer and chisel. Stopped when I realised I was removing more of the floor than the hump :shock: Leapt at it with an angle grinder instead, but only managed to get the big one out: I hammered the other one vaguely flat. Got new pax seat in place, marked it all out with a template, drilled it all and prayed. Success! All the holes lined up perfectly, but I thought I'd better put the lower harness eyebolt in first as I'll never get to it after the sat was in. This was when I discovered that the eyebolt moves the seat across and the holes are now miles off

 

Re-drilled, all set to go, had to cut the bolts down a bit and then my grinder stops playing ball so I get the right raging hump on and call it a day. No pax seat or seat belt in at all as MOT is on Tuesday, stock seat back in on the driver's side but with the harness on. I know I shouldn't really as the seat has no harness guide holes, but it's okay for the drive home.

 

 

And that's when everything became right again. The roll bar has massively stiffened the rear end up so I can slide it whenever and wherever I want, and I'd forgotten just how much I enjoy fast road driving in harnesses. It was like driving my old VXR220 again, I could feel every last bit of road and was leaving the braking until the very end with full confidence, and getting back on the power (what little I have) so much earlier. I do love the car, but I'm going to have to have a re-think about these seats now.

 

 

Will take some pics tomorrow, deffo.

[Lexx]

Shiiiiiiiiiit.

This has got me looking at Mk1's in the classifieds on PH. I sense a cheap project in the making.

 

Helen's gonna kill me before we even make it to the wedding!

[Ekona]

Do it. I reckon it's possibly the most fun car I've ever owned.

[DoogyRev]

Shiiiiiiiiiit.

This has got me looking at Mk1's in the classifieds on PH. I sense a cheap project in the making.

 

Helen's gonna kill me before we even make it to the wedding!

 

 

..... you won't regret getting one.

 

As Dan says ..... Fun Fun Fun

[glrnet]

Could save you both a whole lot of bother

 

Shiiiiiiiiiit.

This has got me looking at Mk1's in the classifieds on PH. I sense a cheap project in the making.

 

Helen's gonna kill me before we even make it to the wedding!

[Ekona]

MOT fail

 

Apparently I'm not as confident in the sills as the experts, it failed on both inner sills and offside outer sill for corrosion. Also failed on nearside body or chassis has unsatisfactory modification within 30cms of body mountings, possibly the bodge job I made on the pax floor pan with the seat humps at the weekend Also failed on pax sidelight bulb gone and they couldn't get the emission limits down for the fast idle test.

 

CO 0.04% (limit is 0.30)

HC 24ppm (200)

Lambda 1.08 (0.97 - 1.03)

 

It's booked in for a bit of welding & retest in a couple of weeks, so will get it all sorted then. Had a couple of advisories on the missing pax seat (!), minor exhaust leak by the cat and oil leak on the front of the engine. No idea where the leak is coming from, there's zero oil on the road under the car outside my house, must be tiny.

 

I won't say I'm not disappointed, but I shouldn't really be surprised. It's all common stuff for the '5, and it is almost 20 years old. I've just never had an MOT fail before, I feel like less of a man

 

 

 

Also, the pics I promised the other day:

 

 

 

Like I said, the harness really isn't suitable for use with those seats, hence my need to get the proper ones in ASAP.

[rtbiscuit]

sad face

 

if it makes you feel better the jag failed 3 times in a row, each for different things over 3 weeks recently

 

the joys of owning old cars. and the fun of fixing them. hope you get it all sorted soon i want a pax ride (admittedly my extra weight wont help performance but it'll be like the good old days!)

[Ekona]

I'd better get that other seat fitted first!

[Ekona]

So, where do I stand with this now? In a much better position, is the short answer.

 

The MOT was passed second time round, and the welding work to the sills was done very well. There's still a bit more starting to creep through, but I'm going to strip back and undersell the rest to hopefully protect it. I may be fighting a losing battle on this, and if I see another year out of the car I think I'll have done well, but we'll see.

 

I gave up on trying to fit the Cobra seats I had as it was going to prove both too expensive and give a compromised driving position in the car, so I've taken a slightly different route. Okay, so this route actually cost me more but at least I can sit comfortably in the car! I've now got a Sparco Sprint V seat in the, on some custom side mount brackets that fit the stock mountings. I'm much lower, much more supported, and I've plenty of room for adjustment so a good result really.

 

 

I've also had the alignment now done at Blackbootshe/Wheels In Motion/Atomic Wheels in Milton Keynes on recommendation. I asked them for a pointy nose and a lively rear, and that's exactly what I've got. They've done wonders, and despite me not being a drifter at all, on a drive out this morning early door I was able to string a couple of 90deg corners together with relative ease. There's perhaps a little too much understeer still, but it's far more controllable than it was before.

 

 

Sadly the oil leak has become two oil leaks. Both front and rear crankshaft seals appear to be letting by which is frustrating. The front just needs the rad removing to gain access, but the rear needs the entire gearbox off. Neither are horrendous right now, so I'm going to see if they can wait until I can source a lightened flywheel to make the process really worthwhile doing.

 

 

Unfortunately, my tyre experiment is a resounding failure. I put super cheaply crap on the with the intention of wearing them out pretty quick on track, but I'm finding myself really missing the security of decent grip in the wet. They do allow the car to move around, which was also an intention of fitting them, but they have a tendency to roll around on the tread locks too which is horrible. I can't wait to kill them off and put something better on there, although I'm not sure what right now. There's a distinct lack of decent 14" tyres out there, and while the R888s are an obvious choice they're just going to be too sticky for what I want the car to be.

 

 

Despite that, the drive this morning was the most fun I've had in a car in a long time. Genuinely, my MX-5 is more fun than the 911, which is both a very good and a very bad thing!

[Ekona]

Bah, no-one comments if you don't give them pics apparently

 

After a marathon session on Sunday detailing a mate's new E46 M3, the front of another 911 and the side of an MR2, I got carried away today and did my own 911, the Impreza and... The MX-5! For the first ever clean since my ownership!

 

 

Before:

 

 

 

 

After:

 

 

 

 

Somewhat better, no?

 

Far from perfect, as the paintwork is beyond saving at points (you can see where the wing was given a quick coat of spray can black paint by the previous owner in the clean wheel pic, that'll never come up shiny) but the bonnet came up pretty good despite the dull finish, and I'm quite happy with the wheels too.

 

Shots of the new seat, gearknob and steering wheel:

 

 

[Stew]

Lots better! Looks really nice now!

 

You need to keep that Pad off the ground though.

[Ekona]

I didn't notice that it had fallen over until after I'd taken the pics, really irritated me as that was a brand new pad and I've had to throw the bloody thing away now I do normally stand it up on the handle, honest!

[Ekona]

Oil leak appears to be getting worse I may have to do something about this sooner rather than later, and now I'm just praying it's the front one that's getting worse as that's a hell of a lot easier than the rear...

 

Wasn't too happy on a hot start today either, thing wanted to practically stall if you left it alone. Drove up the road and it was fine though, so not sure what's going on there. It was fine this morning, but I'll have a hunt around for air leaks too just in case.

[Ekona]

Blimey, haven't updated this in a while...

 

 

Right, decision time.

 

 

Did Anglesey on Saturday and the car was absolutely immense. I was quicker through Church than most things (R34, EvoX, big power 200SXs and I have video to prove it!) despite being on crap tyres and leaking suspension, and going flat out through there and getting oversteer right at the final part is incredibly scary/exhilarating I would like more power, but that's by the by really. I now need two new rears as I drifted the f*ck out of the current ones going toe-to-toe with someone in an MR2, which was absolutely superb fun.

 

 

However, the car is now suffering badly.

 

 

The oil leak at the rear crank seal is as bad as ever if not worse, there's one from the rear cam sensor too now as well as an unknown one from the front somewhere. It burnt quite a lot on the way home too, as the pressure was dropping fairly quickly and since the dipstick is useless, that's the only way I can judge how full the oil is (and yes, I know I've bitched at folks on here before about doing the same with their Zed!). One of the cam cover to block bolts was found to be finger tight after one session, so I borrowed some tools to nip it up but also decided to check all the others too: This lead to snapping one bolt off, so that needs fixing too. In short, I'm going to have to spend some money here. Here's my options as I see them:

 

 

1. Obtain new engine from eBay and fit myself. No guarantee the new engine will be any better, and fitting could be an arse. Cost is about £400 to £500 est.

2. Obtain new engine from trusted supplier and fit myself. Engine should be good, fitting still an arse. £700.

3. Take car to garage, get them to fit new engine. £1200.

4. Take car to local specialist and get my engine rebuilt. 12mths warranty. £1300.

5. Remove engine & 'box myself, and rebuild engine myself depending on what needs doing. Cost £50 (just seals and bolts) to £1000 (I have no idea what else could be wrong!) and I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

I know what my initial preferred choice is, and I know what my sensible head is telling me to do. Thoughts?

[spursmaddave]

I would go for the trusted supplier with warranty, would ne worth far more than the £200 difference, doing it yourself depends on time & how much pleasure it gives you vs pain

 

Anyway apparently they say "do it nice or do it twice"

 

[theheff]

Do it yourself. You've got a garage so make the most of it. My zed would be in pieces by now if I had a garage, just so I could put it all back together.

Or I'd have another van probably an Astra and be transplanting a nice calibra turbo or Astra Gsi engine into it.

[Ekona]

MX-5 is now RIP. Gone to the great breaker's in the sky.

 

I repaired most of the leaks myself in the end, which was good, but then the RHS rear spring went. And then the LHS rear spring went. At that point, and knowing what I could end up doing if start started snapping if I tried a repair, I called it quits.

 

I stripped all the good stuff off in an afternoon, and called the local scrappy to come take it away this morning. It's now gone, and left an empty space in my heart.

 

 

 

Down to just four vehicles again now. Booooo.

[hensh65]

Time to get your temper 350z?

[Ekona]

Not quite yet, the 911 needs to go first. But soon!