You're welcome mate....always nice to work on a 23 year old "new" car!

 

Cheers Richy....much appreciated!

 

Looks amazing underneath! So clean.

 

Thanks nibnob....I just give the wishbones etc a wipe down every so often with a wd40 soaked rag......doesn't take long.....all underneath Dinitroled and while it was up on stands there more 3125 cavity wax sprayed into the voids (again.)......I think it's worth the effort...cheers.

 

Car is looking great - and I seem to be following down exactly the same path as you - although I decided to get rid of my modern daily driver, so the Mk1 is now out every day, rain or shine. Next on my list are the Meister's, so very interested to hear how you get on with them.

BTW - I also put on the same cabin brace, and whilst not massive, it did seem to quieten down the cabin shake a bit.

 

Thanks for your comments... much appreciated! Tune in for further updates! I've sent you a pm.

 

Awesome condition on your underside! Love your attention to details! BTW is that a carpet on your garage floor?! :O

 

Haha...yes....its a great condition low mileage , one owner ,wipe clean stain resistant kitchen carpet offcut that I acquired....I thought if I'm lying about under the car I may as well be comfortable! Thanks for your comments!

 

Finally found the time to fit the GC Fab roll bar....I've wanted one of these for a while....so after a good bit of faffing around ....



Rust proofed all the fittings with Dinitrol 4941.



Then it was onto adjusting the ride height....settled for 315/325....I quite like the way it sits there....





The Roll Bar has certainly stiffened the back end up nicely...not that it was all that bad....the Meisters are a huge improvement over the stock Billies....I've put a good few hundred miles in on them and the ride has improved dramatically. ..I took it for a run over some seriously undulating roads at speed yesterday....stuff I knew would show up any limitations with rear travel and they passed with flying colours..totally composed...no bottoming out etc....well happy with them....
Well that's it for the moment...I'll probably try a front underside brace bar next but prior to that a four wheel alignment when I get a chance...although to be fair it drives really well at the minute!
Again....many thanks to Richy (Cardo on here) for his advice....its been invaluable. Cheers mate.

 

Looking good Al, must drive really well now. Set at a nice height too, is that how the MeisterRs were out of the box?

 

Looking good Al, must drive really well now. Set at a nice height too, is that how the MeisterRs were out of the box?

Hi Robin....yes pretty much....the fronts required a bit of tweaking....the rears pretty much settled as they were and I was happy with that. I'll send you a pm as I know you are in the process of fitting yours at the moment. Cheers.

 

Looking good Al, must drive really well now. Set at a nice height too, is that how the MeisterRs were out of the box?

Hi Robin....yes pretty much....the fronts required a bit of tweaking....the rears pretty much settled as they were and I was happy with that. I'll send you a pm as I know you are in the process of fitting yours at the moment. Cheers.

. Front and rear spring preloads required adjustment prior to fitting the dampers.

 

Looking good Al, must drive really well now. Set at a nice height too, is that how the MeisterRs were out of the box?

Hi Robin....yes pretty much....the fronts required a bit of tweaking....the rears pretty much settled as they were and I was happy with that. I'll send you a pm as I know you are in the process of fitting yours at the moment. Cheers.

. Front and rear spring preloads required adjustment prior to fitting the dampers.

Well spotted...should've added that in at the beginning. I was just referring to tweaking the ride heights...after it had all settled. ...thanks Richy.

 

I measured the threaded distances on each corner yesterday with vernier calipers, and the pairs match. Just need to see what it actually looks like when the car's finally back on the ground. Hopefully a similar height to yours!

 

Great car and a cracking read.

I'm going to do the same dintrol treatment on my own NA over this coming winter. Out of interest, how many cans of 3125 and 4921 did you use on it ?

I haven't bought any yet, so may as well get the correct ammount?

cheers,

Andy

 

Hi Andy. From memory I think I used 4 cans of each....the sills and nooks and crannies use a lot of 3125 but when you're spraying it on the arches etc it actually lasts a lot longer....the 4921 is really good stuff and goes on nice and controllable. ..it doesn't have to go on too thick....I think i still had some left from the 4 cans for top ups if need be.....I've since bought more 3125 and done the sills etc again ...I believe dinitrol do dedicated mx5 kits that are supposed to have the correct amount of everything for the job.
If you need any more info feel free to pm me.
Oh....just one more thing...if you're doing this in a garage or other enclosed space ventilate well and cover the car/mask off with polythene or similar....the inevitable overspray gets all over the place....ask me how I know!! Regards. Alan.

 

Many thanks Alan!

 

Car is looking lovely mate!

 

^^^^ Yes it's not bad at all......however it's in dire need of a wash and polish...I've been driving it a lot recently (taking advantage of the unusually dry weather)... I've neglected my usual cleaning regime (although not the wheelarches etc...they always get a wipe down!)....I've had another good read through your build thread and am still considering whether to put it into "preserve and protect" to get the wishbones/subframes done....yours look even better than oe....might get round to it at some point. ..thanks for your comments. Cheers.

 

Very good example you have there.

Mine (the white mk2 you spotted) is also a Goodwood car. It too was (and still is under the Dinitrol) sparkling underneath. Just to say, I put mine into preserve & protect for undersealing as soon as I got it. Best money I've spent on it (that and the Meisters), so yea, I can recommend them if like me, you want a thorough job and you can't be bothered getting that dirty yourself! The guys there know their way around a 5, one of the few places I've trusted to leave mine with.

PS: I've also got a problem with rinsing my arches after a drive, especially a wet one...

 

I've read nothing but good reports about Preserve and Protect....I think I might pay them a visit at some point...I initially didn't buy the car to be used in adverse conditions (salt/manky roads) but I really enjoy it and am starting to question whether it's really worth the bother of tucking it away for the winter....hmmm...decisions decisions!!....Thanks for your comments.

 

Just remember that anyone is capable of liberally applying underseal to a car. The real measure of how good they are is the preparation they're willing to put into it beforehand.

Underseal means nothing if it's just slapped on top of a load of rust.

Just something to consider if you're thinking of allowing a garage to carry out the job.

 

Hi Robin...yes that's very true....I checked out their website and they do offer a dvd of the work in progress...I've done all the dinitrol work myself already...cleaned prior to application by my own fair hand...a days worth of work there!....I was considering something to protect the wishbones/subframes etc if I was going to use the car more often as I've left these oe...another option I suppose would be to hand/brush paint them with Bilt Hamber or something similar...I'm sure Robinm did this on one of his 5s...
Anyways....I'll sleep on it just now...this would only be done if I'm going to run it in the winter or regularly in the rain.
Thanks. Alan.

 

That wasn't Robinm, it was me. Citric acid and water solution to remove rust off the wishbones, then a series of Bilt Hamber products to paint them.

 

Excellent. ..I'll dig back through your thread and have a read.