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'94 Eunos Roadster S Special

89K views 558 replies 81 participants last post by  MarkGolf 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi all,

Thought I'd sign up on here and essentially create a diary of my progress.

I have to admit, I never thought I'd own an MX5 but after craving some cheap fun and wanting to learn to drift, an MX5 or 200SX or cheap M3 was on the list... So here I am.

A couple pics of my cars worth showing..

My 1st car, had for over 10 years now and won every show I've ever entered it into :)

Started off as my first car, 1.4 poverty spec!

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Protecting it :)

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My E46 M3, painted the Golf to match and got a quite a few nice modifications. Had for 6 years

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Kept as clean as the Golf

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I'm a bit obsessive when it comes to cars and I plan on cleaning this up as much as possible but I'm going to try and stop myself going as far as repainting it as I need to remember this needs to be a little fun rather than a concours project. (I have a habit of cleaning cars up and never driving them!)

I happened to mention to a mate who owns an MX5 that I'm after one and few days later I get a call to say he's found one parked outside his house for sale, low miles (83k), good spec and in need of a little TLC, plus it doesn't start.. Price was good so couldn't say no and it became mine 27th Sept '13.

It's a 94 S special, imported in 1998 and owned by the same lady for the past 15 years. It has just had a full service consisting of a new radiator, new wesco battery cambelt, oil change, new plugs, leads, coils and a years MOT!

It benefits from a CD player, electric windows and mirrors, PAS, A/C, Bilstens shocks, BBS wheels, recent new roof with heated rear screen, speakers in seats, ally speaker surrounds, electric aerial, engine bay and cabin brace, LSD, JDM fogs and a clifford immobiliser.

I didn't get any service history with it but thankfully, it seems the garage which was selling it on behalf of the owner has been maintaining it for years so they are going to print off everything related to the car. I literally only got the handbook for the car, radio and 1 key.

Anyway, some pics.

The night I viewed it..

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Towing day and first day light sight. You can see that it's in need a serious clean. There's moss in places and a build up of dirt so think a clay bar is going to struggle!

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I got it home and the first thing I did was empty the piles and piles of parking tickets and sweet wrappers from it. i then gave the car a quick rinse to get a better look at the body and wheels a blast of Bilberry wheel cleaner to remove the brake dust so I could see their condition. They came up better than expected but the lips will need a paint strip and polish.

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I also removed the front sidelights and decided to detango them.

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The next day I gave the engine bay a quick steam clean, came up pretty well. I intend on powdercoating all of the bare alloy surfaces in crackle black.

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Although no pics, the passenger window had been left open and the passenger side was rather wet so I have removed the seat and lifted the carpet in order to dry it out, happening quite quick thanks to a heater.

The centre caps were my next job (Although 1 is missing!) Quite grimey, these got a rub down and painted with a chrome paint.

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Much better!

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Someone loved it at one point

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Want to keep it looking original so I decided to clean these up rather than go for the obvious clear jobs

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So, we get to today, not had it a week as yet and trying to get time on it around work and social. Last night I stripped the doorcards off and lubricated the window runners and door locks as they were a bit stiff. I then cleaned up the door cards.

I'm keeping doing anymore on hold now until I work out the non starting issue. My friend with the same spec car is coming over later and we're going to borrow a few bits off of his in an attempt to find the issue!

it basically fires and then dies, I tried the LED diagnostic trick but the LED just remains on.. If I unplug the CAS, it doesn't fire so I'm hoping that indicates the CAS is good. I get a spark and if I stab the throttle, I can manage to keep the engine running so I assume fuel pump is ok. Fingers crossed, I desperately want to drive the thing!!

If I can get it running, I will crack on!

So far my plans are;

New backbox as the tailpipe is a bit crusty

Drivers side sill repair (passenger side is perfect)

Polish the lips on the wheels

Crackle black engine bay parts

Change diff and gearbox fluid

Remove rear badges as long as no holes are left.

Want the standard badge on the nose cone

Fully clean and underseal the car. It's actually really clean underside so I want to protect that. Minimal rust apart from the 1 sill so a very solid car! :)

Replace speakers

Remove front JDM fogs (Will be for sale)

Fully detail the car

Remove carbon canister

A couple of questions, is it worth decatting the car?

Has anyone got a 'Mazda' badge from the rear of a UK MX5' or even the Mazda symbol from the rear of a Mk2?

A BBS CENTRE CAP? Really need one of these!

Thanks and hope you enjoy seeing the coming progress and millions of pics!!
 
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#7 ·
They won't fit the Mazda wheels :(

Nice work on the centre caps. I've been meaning to do mine for too long .. winter project maybe :)

The rims need the lacquer removing and then wet and drying off and polishing. I removed the lacquer with aluminium oxide paper, but I think that's the long route as it scores the rims and you have work back up through the wet and dry grades to point where you can polish them. Maybe nitromors would be a better route, but then you risk taking off the silver paint of the spokes. I didn't re-lacquer - I just periodically stick a bullet shaped polishing bit on the drill and polish the back with Autoglym (I'm sure you quite familiar with that stuff!!), Meguiars Metal polish and seal with Rim Wax.

A long way off of your standard I think! :) ..

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Black grille: http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=132886

It might be worth dragging a magnet over the 'good' sill. There are so many bodged repairs out there :(

Good work so far and good to hear you've sorted out the non-starting issue.

I'll keep an eye out here for some cleaning tips ;)

Don't go too far on it - you wont want to drift it ;)
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
Ha cheers all, the Golf is babied a bit, spent far too much time on it and just got carried away!

I am on Edition, same name :)

Mark, I've spied your build thread, I think yours must be the best colour to have, suits the car perfectly! Great job on the wheels too, I plan to try nitromors and then wet and dry it back but lets see, might decide it's a bit risky.. I pretty much had to do that on the centres of the wheels on my Golf, it was hell! I want mine exactly like yours!

Good tip on the sills, I'll be sure to try that later and thanks for the grill, that's what I want so I'll be ordering that soon! :)

Some pics of what I've been upto, owned it for 1 week today and pretty happy with progress so far although nothing exciting for you guys really.

Stripping the lower cambelt cover off later and sorting the timing tomorrow aswell as putting the passenger seat etc back in so I can give the interior a good clean!

Cam cover off to reveal mistimed engine so corrected that..

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Camcover and pulley cover in doors!

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Dishwasher ;) I have never used the dishwasher for anything other than car parts! :)

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Coated up in my favourite hammered effect black paint

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Done, just needs a bit of wet and dry to make the letters really shine.

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Got myself a Mazda symbol badge, going to replace the Eunos one of the front as I'm not a fan of it and it's pretty tired.

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#10 ·
I never really took the time to read all of your thread as im in work,

but If your mx5 ends up like your golf then I think you will have a lot of fans on here :yes:

:popcorn: im watching this space
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
Thanks guys. The dishwasher is always first port of call for cleaning car bits ;)

Progress is all a bit slow, just ironing out the small things which are mostly done.. Speaker not working, remove big front plate, big clean up and waxoyl the underside etc..Plan to remove the wheels this weekend to give the calipers a once over and check that everything is cool.

Managed to get the car going, it was simply fitted with 4 pin coilpacks!!! Luckily, the original 3 pin ones were in the boot, put them on and surprise, it started and ran!! I'm so surprised at how quiet and smooth the engine is, it's brilliant!!

Have got to do about 30 miles in it so far and it's brilliant, has no rattles, tracking is perfect, brakes work, the car feels tight, it's all worked out really well! :) I see what the fuss is about with these little things!!

Need to get a backbox next, standard for the minute but fancy throwing a decat on there in the meant time.

Some pics.

The finished rocker cover, what a difference!

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Mazda badge but sadly the fading was obvious from the Eunos badge so that's back on for now..

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Fitted a new fuel filter

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Had some new speakers laying around so fitted those, originals were torn up

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A pic of the car, complete with replacement centre cap :)

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A bit of engine bay cleaning and tidyin, intake painted amoungst other bits.

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Out for a late night spin last night

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Got a free weekend so I'll hopefully get more bits done and some better pics of it :)
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
Cheers buddy!

Didn't get as much as I had hoped done over the weekend due to the rain but got some bits done.

Relocated the earthing terminal block that is normally mounted flat above the chassis leg I found a bit strange as water seems to gather there and can cause a crappy earth. I moved it to where the mount for the relay box? is.. Keeps it dry and out of eyesight!

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I think the bay is as clean and tidy as I can get it at the mo, I've hidden and tucked as much of the wiring as possible and removed a few brackets which aren't required.

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Changed the turret fluid, it was actually empty, need to get hold of new gaitors!

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Toyed with the idea of blacking all the chrome but it looked cheap so pulled the wrap off.

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Removed all wheels and painted the calipers and what I could of the control arms. Cleaned inside of wheels and inner arches. Need to get pics of this but it's come up really well!

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Stick on front plate

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Ended the weekend with a night time drive, mainly around roundabouts! I had drilled the airbox and it's given the car a nice raspy induction note :)

Back home

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I plan on hunting a set of these down, I just missed out on winning these. I think they'd look great on the car. Similar to the originals but just that bit better! ;)

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Still need to fully detail the body, get it in for the rust on drivers sill to be sorted, coilovers, braided lines and remove some foam from the drivers seat as I'm too tall to drive it comfortably!
 
#15 · (Edited by Moderator)
Removed a portion of foam from the base of the drivers seat, what a difference!! Actually feels like a proper sports car bucket now. I'm going to try the back rest next to see what difference that makes. i cut the foam out as neatly and will keep to one side just incase there is ever a need to replace it.

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I'd say the whole job took just under 1 hour in the dark! Well worth doing.
 
#16 · (Edited by Moderator)
Just been cleaning the car up further, used some redex which has got rid of the common revs dropping as pulling upto a junction thing, performed the 14 degree timing advance which has definetaly giving it some more pull after 4.5k RPM.. Waiting for the right time to get the wheels off and give the lips a refurb as I'm not having much luck getting some Polo GTI wheels! :(

Boring updates.

Crappy pic but it shows the difference.

I swapped the indicator and sidelight. Had to buy a different indicator bulb and I order some crisp white LEDs to be used as the sidelights. Simply cut and resoldered the wires, dremels the indicator hole slightly larger and thats it, much better! I can actually see just using the sidelights!

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Managed to give it a quick machine polish one day followed by some Zaino treatment!

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I didn't get any other pics sadly but I changed the diff and gearbox fluid to great benefit, much better cold shifts, infact, no difference between cold and hot now and a less "grainy" drive train feeling! The oil gearbox oil was black and watery!

Changed the clutch fluid, easy 5 min job without even having to jack it up or remove a wheel!

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Another boring pic, I used SKINS sound deadending in the doors behind the speakers so the sound is deflected in the car and some road noise cut out!

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Underside cleaning and Waxoil day!

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Underside steamed, scrubbed, wishbones painted.

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Waxoil

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Front fogs removed although I am thinking about putting them back..

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Rear brace painted to match the front. Painted the other braces silver.

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New key blank which I got cut today :) Original key has a crack appearing!

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I need a new fog light relay!

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It's going in to have the drivers side sill sorted this weekend and I've got a snap off boss waiting to go on.

After the sill is done, I'll be happy with the car as a base to start tinkering with :)
 
#18 ·
It wasn't the most pleasent! Arm hairs stuck together and dirty nails for days!

I'm trying to hold back as I'm looking for a car to replace my M3 once I properly try to sell it so I'm trying to avoid denting the walket too much just yet!

I do plan on coilovers, wheels, front lip, exhaust... They will happen but I'm finding it hard to resist having it repainted along with some proper wheels. I've got a load of spare alcantara for the interior too lol.. We will see!
 
#20 · (Edited by Moderator)
HAHA, Bring it over, I love cleaning an engine bay!

Updates (Still nothing exciting);

I got to pop over to Woodys with my mate as he was picking up a few parts and I managed to score a rear fog light switch which I'd been after for a little bit. I hated the crappy one fitted in my car.

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Replaced :)

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An MX5Parts or Cobalt or something else exhaust? Can anyone ID this??

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On track ;) ;)

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Wheels finally fell victim to my polishing obsession

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Added a splitter and gave it a clean but photobucket isn't allowing me to upload pics from my iPhone :(
 
#23 · (Edited by Moderator)
Wow missed this thread. It's great to see such a well looked after 5 :)

You did more in your first week than I've done in 8 months!
 
#25 ·
Great work so far. It's looking really clean but I suppose that's to be expected with how your MK3 is kept. It's inspiring me to get started doing bits to mine.

Can I ask what you used to clean up the engine bay plastics and also your wheel refurb process? Both things I'll be doing soon as my wheels should be here tomorrow. Cheers
 
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