Lovely car, those wheels look fantastic but I'd say they will be a devil to keep clean..!

 

Lovely car, those wheels look fantastic but I'd say they will be a devil to keep clean..!

Thanks Peteh....you're right they are a pig to keep clean but I think it's worth it....plus I gave them a couple of coats of collinite 845 wax before they went on and thus far it's protected them well. I've had a wee look at your build thread....nice car....I really like the look and it's given me some ideas which I can hopefully check out this coming year...cheers.

 

Nice car mate. As Peteh said, looks cool!

 

Hi Rpitham. Thanks for the reply....I've been checking out some ideas on yhe forum for interiors (yours being one) and some look fantastic....I'd like to keep mine kind of oem but make it a bit more classy....however I doubt I'd find a set of seats like yours in a hurry....a great find they were. Cheers. Alan.

 

Just updated a "what have you done" thread so thought I'd post a few pics up here....took the 5 out for a quick run today then took some random pics of rear suspension /underside/interior/engine bay....I think the next job before the car goes back into regular use will be dynax ub the wishbones etc....read a thread on it here and it seems to get a good write up....up till now I've just been giving them a wipe over with wd40 etc.....the car doesn't really see much rain but it would be nice to do it anyway ....we'll see what happens.....please excuse the crappy camera phone pics of the interior. ...they make it look grubbier than it really is!
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The rain rail had a couple of drips coming from where two of the bolts were....turned out there was some fabric washers missing....thankfully what little water there was just sat on the back deck....could've been a lot worse....so the rail came out for belt and braces fitment of washers/tape and silicone...the rail is in 1st class condition but it was out anyway sooooo....before I refitted it sprayed some leftover dinitrol into the rear arches/lips to try and preserve them for a while yet

Neoprene ordered up and cut to size for filling washers between rear deck bolts and rail...silicone added as well but not in the pics

Then Dr MX5 silicone washers on the inside....yyou can see the silicone sealant oozing through for a good seal


I siliconed then taped over all of the unused rivet holes so they wont leak..
Then hood on...close over rail and more of my home made neoprene washers on the inside....bolt up...job done! Nice and dry now....

 

Looks great - a brother to my black S-Special!

Yours has fared quite a bit better condition wise though :yes:

 

Thanks Wardy....it's been hidden away from salty roads since the beginning of December. ...I'd intended for it to be that way but I'm starting to get the feeling that life's too short....and I should just be out using it....the jury's out at the moment....it's going to be used from April onwards again no messing....couldn't find a build thread on yours to see what you've got....did you ever do one?

 

Well I had this lying in the garage for a while....an OE cabin brace....so removed the trim,filed out the holes,removed the seatbelts,fannied about for a while trying to get the nyloc nuts seated then tightened it all up and hey presto .....one cabin brace....cutting/putting the trim back on was a right carry on I thought.....was at this for ages...was going to spray some more Dinitrol into the arches while the trim was off but had lost the will to live by that point....another job for later on....hopefully this brace will make a noticeable difference. ...any opinions welcome....haven't driven it yet.....

 

My Roadster, despite being a 1.8, came without a cabin brace bar. I retrofitted one but the only difference I felt was when I banged my elbow on it.

 

Oh dear. I've read mixed reviews as to whether they work or not!!???? Cheers!

 

To be honest, I was under the impression that the brace bar's main purpose was to improve side impact protection.

 

Oil and filter change....did diff Oil also but forgot to take pics. Motul Gear 300 75/90.

 

Got the wee car back from the garage earlier....fitted the Cobalt single exit cat back system...


First impressions are its not much louder than standard but has a nice burble about it at idle....I was in traffic on the way home so not much chance to give it some beans to see what it's like at high revs....from the limited revs I could give it it seems definitely an improvement over standard though so I suppose money well spent.....I'll wait till it's got a bit more mileage to see how it pans out....I believe they take a while to "bed in" ...also got them to drain and fill the gearbox with 2 litres of Castrol Syntrans while it was in the air.
Just the shift boots to look at now. ...

 

Had a good read......bloody hell! What a excellent example of a mx5. Great condition underside and nice work so far! Makes mine (all freshly painted, under sealed, powder coated) look crap compared to yours. Fair play to you

 

Very clean mate!

 

Very clean mate!

Thanks ...appreciated.

 

Had a good read......bloody hell! What a excellent example of a mx5. Great condition underside and nice work so far! Makes mine (all freshly painted, under sealed, powder coated) look crap compared to yours. Fair play to you

Thanks for the comments. ...all the work you've done must be good...do you have a build thread to have a read of?

 

Yea click the "my supercharger build" link under my pic. First half of the thread is poo I must admit and I've lost a lot of the pics sorry

 

Yea click the "my supercharger build" link under my pic. First half of the thread is poo I must admit and I've lost a lot of the pics sorry

Found it....I was using mobile version on my phone...couldn't see it....I've read through it in fast forward....updated...now that's a build ....if only I had a 1/10th of your know how.....looks great. Cheers.

 

Well....the gearshift boot package arrived from MX5 parts today so it was ....out with the old

Then......in with the new.....


Both boots were in a poor state....the lower was worse than the upper....the insulation was horrendous....probably original....so I replaced it with some nice underfelt....the turret oil was manky as you can see in the pic so fresh 75/90diff oil (ran out of gearbox oil) was put in ...new nylon cup then went for a wee drive....I have to say 1st to 2nd from cold it's much better and definately an improvement across the entire range. This and the gearbox oil change has definitely made a difference.
I left off the upper gaiter nylon ring as suggested by Indykid on here so I'll check at some point in the future to see if the rubber's less stressed as a result.
The droopy eyeball vents got the treatment as well....tried removing them with cable ties and they refused to budge....had to use the old plastic card method....worked a treat....shame mrs alhendo1 was out or I could have used her credit card. ....anyways....got them all out to find some previous Japanese owner had beat me to the layer of tape mod....so an extra layer was applied and they're all nice and tight now. Job done.

 

Dinitroled the sills (again), usual trouble spots (right into the nooks and crannies....we all know where they are!) and front chassis rails...dinitrol oozing out the drain holes. ....got a few bits I want to tackle under the car but that'll have to wait for another day....

 

Car looking good as always mate!

 

Thanks Richy....it's been getting a bit of use recently with the good weather! Might break out the polish again on Friday! Cheers.

 

Fitted the Meister CRDs today (well someone else did....I kind of watched and learned how it's done...)....I have to say these are a great bit of kit....the ride height will be adjusted in due course once everything settles itself but even out the box it's pretty much where I want it. ...just a bit of fine tuning required then it will be off for a four wheel alignment....had a bit of a play around with the adjustment. ...as it is it goes round roundabouts rather well!....a decent improvement over the old billies....the ride around town/uneven roads has improved greatly....no longer the horrible teeth clenching thumping affair with the billies....not quite oe softness but I'm happy with it...
As it's a recent import the bolts came off no problem and were in brilliant condition....my techie was amazed at the condition of them!



May I say at this point a big thankyou to Richy (Cardo on here) for taking time out to talk me through the process and fit them for me...I've learned a lot today....cheers mate!
I'll post up some pics once the ride height is tweaked etc.