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MX5 Build thread - No hairdressing equipment left in vehicle overnight


longsh07

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So I just had a play with some Plasti-dip like paint and painted the windscreen surround.

Pleased with my choice of colour and finish but i'm not sure its the right stuff for painting body panels.

This one takes just a little too much masking so that you cant remove it quick enough before it starts attaching to the masking tape

Will probably rip it off and have another go another day :thumbs:

 

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Edited by longsh07
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Decided to finally take the door cars off to spray the red panels purple and while they were off I thought I'd have a look at the speakers and try and figure out why the audio always sounds so tinny.

We'll this might explain it... the magnet was attached to the inside of the door! :lol:

 

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So along with the new purple door cars go a set of 230W Pioneer 2 way speakers. Not bad for £30.

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All back together - Really need to do something with those seats now.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

Videos from Sunday:

 

Session 1 (10:45am)

 

Session 2 (11:55am)

 

 

Had a great time but, much better than the poor sod who wrote off his Porsche just before my first session! All OK thankfully.

(not my photo)

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Car has taught me a few new things too:

  • Brakes -
    I need new brake pads. The greenstuff pads hold up OK with just me in the car. With my friend, they were really struggling towards the end. I actually had to do a few slower laps to cool them down as I was getting a lot of juddering. After a few slower laps they were back on form and held up perfectly for the second session.
  • Seat -
    Bucket seat before coilovers/tyres. I keep holding myself in my seat with my knees. Realistically I cant improve the cornering any more without getting a bucket or ill be sitting on my passengers lap!
  • Tyres -
    The MPS3's are fantastic all round tyre and have handled the punishment of road and track driving really well.
    Highly recommend them if you cant afford two sets of tyres or dont fancy running track tyres all the time, but they are not quite up to a lot of abuse. Under hard cornering you can feel them flexing so I think it might be time to look at getting some track day tyres. Pictures below show the wear from 6 months of daily driving (every other week) and four 30 minute track sessions. Hightly impressed with how little they have worn down (although they are slightly melted :lol: )

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Interesting findings.......... missus and I track a MK2 MX5 (pretty much standard) as well and after a day at Thruxton we decided on:-

1. seats (unbelievable how much we both move around in the car)

2. suspension - watching a friends video while he followed the MX5 is just comical.... its really does look like a boat

3. wheels and tyres - we are running a mix of tyres and 1 is losing pressure and the current tyres dont seem to like getting warm, at all

4. on the braking front, I have already done braided lines, brake booster bracket thing and a fluid flush and the brakes were good, never had an issue

 

5. (in the winter)....... SUPERCHARGER!!!!!

 

Yeah they are on their way out. They aren't as bad as the look in the photo, the discs are slightly uneven but not scored. I had planned on replacing them after this set of pads was done.

 

Had a chat with Paul Roddison of roddisons motorsport, they actually have their own compound brake pads which get a lot of good reviews on MX5nutz so going to give those a go.

He also recommended sticking with plain discs (rather than drilled/grooved etc). Apparently that's what they use on their race cars so if its good enough for them its good enough for me!

 

Interesting.... let me know how you find these pads (if you try them), know I am going to need a set soonish

 

Prezzy from the missus

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Looks rather nice :D

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  • 1 month later...

Update June 15.

Got myself a nice Recaro Speed seat but cant fit it yet as I'm still waiting for a subframe from Bride in Japan :(

In the mean time I've been keeping myself occupied.

 

Reupholstered the passenger seat in black so that there is no more red once the Recaro goes in.

From this:

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To this. Cover is not in as good nick as the red/black one that came off but I'm happy with it. Not bad a bad job for the first seat I've ever recovered and it was technically a drivers side cover...

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Also changed the shade of purple on some of the interior panels I'd already sprayed. Decided to go to the same colour as the cold air intake and tow hooks. No photos of all of it but thought I'd show how I sprayed part of the door cards.

Step 1, cut the plastic welds off with a blade.

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Step 2, obtain washers and very short screws.

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Step 3, drill small pilot holes in freshly painted door panel and attach washers and screws.

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Job done and no overspay risk unlike masking of the whole door.

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Itching to get the Recaro in and I've run out of things to paint! :wacko: :wacko: :wacko:

Common Japan.

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  • 2 months later...

After a long long wait and a bunch issues getting the subframe I finally got my Recaro Speed bucket fitted last month!

Was a bit of a tight fit but totally worth it. Want one for the 350Z now.

 

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Edited by longsh07
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  • 1 month later...

Sad news, the MX5 has been written off. Another driver didnt stop while I was turning on a mini roundabout and hit the front of my car :(

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Seeing it be taken away was gutting.

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List of repairs totalling £3750...

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Decided not to try and fix it myself. Too much of a gamble based on the location of the damage.

Waiting for the insurance money to come in then its time to find something new.

Thinking FN2 Type R but having sat in one today something didnt click... Think it was the crazy dashboard (sat nav model). Couldn't cope with the number of different sized screens everywhere.

Edited by longsh07
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Ahhh that's not good news. :scare::thumbdown:

Did you manage to get any of the parts you'd added removed?

 

 

 

I've an FN2 (as you probably know) and although it is a good car with a great engine it's not a car I'm relishing tbh.

Don't get me wrong as it does have its good points and despite what some people think I do quite like the looks of it, ...but it's just not a car that's really grabbing me.

 

I mean I love cars & modding them but as soon as I owned this one I knew I was just going to keep it standard until I could get something a bit more special. Plenty of people though do mod these & track them but for me I just can't see it as being a worth while car to mod.

 

As I think it was Jeremy Clarkson that once said; "if you want to make a car go faster, you'd better start with a fast one in the first place", ...and this one just doesn't feel that fast to me although maybe that's just because I'm comparing it to my old 430+Bhp Zed. :byebye::lol:

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That's kind of my worry, that it's not special enough. Problem is I don't really know what else to look at. Want to stick to Japanese really but I have had a quick look at a RenaultSport Megane.

I know I want to go back to front wheel drive as the last time I drove a FWD car for any length of time was back when I first learned to drive and had a 1.2 8v Fiat Punto (not counting the 106 as I barely drove it).

I figured a CTR was a good choice because of the various tuning options, should be fun on the track and it would allow me to better learn techniques like trail braking.

Plus the CTR GT seems to be quite a good day to day car meaning I can save miles on the zed and spend a bit more cash on modifying that.

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That's kind of my worry, that it's not special enough. Problem is I don't really know what else to look at. Want to stick to Japanese really but I have had a quick look at a RenaultSport Megane.

I know I want to go back to front wheel drive as the last time I drove a FWD car for any length of time was back when I first learned to drive and had a 1.2 8v Fiat Punto (not counting the 106 as I barely drove it).

I figured a CTR was a good choice because of the various tuning options, should be fun on the track and it would allow me to better learn techniques like trail braking.

Plus the CTR GT seems to be quite a good day to day car meaning I can save miles on the zed and spend a bit more cash on modifying that.

The CTR GT is definitely a good daily driver and it would definitely be fun on track but the FN2 is just not as good imo as it's predecessor, ...the EP3 as that was more of a a drivers car I'd say.

 

You can do a lot to the FN2 though but realistically as with most n/a vehicles unless you shell out big bucks the Bhp gains are only ever going to be fairly minimal. Although 240-250 Bhp does seem "fairly" easily achievable with the usual exhaust/air/ECU mods.

Also if you don't mind losing the rear seats etc then you can also make some good weight saving gains there for more performance. B)

 

Have a look at CTRO when you get a chance: http://civictype-r.co.uk/forum/index.php?sid=b32aaabcb79b5d522816b612dba5b368

;)

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