[B_hawk111]

thought I would start one of these up to keep track on what i'm doing as I make some changes to my car, and also to show it off!

So it is a 1994 MK1 MX5 1.8is.

I picked it up from My other halfs Uncle, who had previosuly bought it from his son who owned and ran his own refinishing shop, so all the work was done by him, and he is a perfectionist!

in early 2012 it had new brake disks, pads, coilovers, exhaust, mohair roof with glass heated screen, along with all the bodywork and the new paint! it then did a few thousand miles but mainly said in a garage until he decided to sell up to make room for his next toy!

so here it was when I first picked it up!

1 by ben hawkes, on Flickr

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I Have since just kept it clean and worked through the few little issues it had,

I not long ago detangoed the sidelights and fited LED sidelights, numberplate lights and also did footwell lights, a boot light off a tilt switch on the hinge, and a glovebox light!

7 by ben hawkes, on Flickr

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9 by ben hawkes, on Flickr

other plans is I have just got a set of Wipac headlights through to replace the ones on there, along with some osram nightbreaker unlimted lamps, a few bits on the interior, steering wheel, change a few bits in the dash etc, and then next spring the engine bay is going to get a sorting out!

 

[brucy96]

looks good mate! i love the colour

 

[j80grn]

Also agree with Brucy, lovely colour! Will be interested to see if you can tell a big difference from the new headlights.

 

[B_hawk111]

cheers guys!

It really pops out in the sun! unfortunatly not had much of that so far since I bought it but weather is looking good for a roof down drive to work today!

still waiting for the postman at the moment for the new lamps and then we shall see how they go!

All i can tell so far though is the wipacs are so much clearer,as all the reflection and beam pattern is built into the reflector not the lens, and they are so light!

I picked up the box off the courier and almost threw it!

also forgot to add before I have also fitted a grill in the bumper, It never had one and I was a bit skeptical about stones fflying through the rad, so finaly managed to pick up a nice metal black one, didnt fancy the stainless steel ones!

only issue was the bots to mount it were completly rounded so I had to just cable tie it in, but it isnt going anywhere!

 

[B_hawk111]

lamps turned up!

so the wipacs are in with the osram nightbreaker unlimited lamps!

they took about 30 mins to fit, a little longer than i would expect as one of the screw heads was rounded, and I lost one as I was refitting so had to go find something suitable in my garage!

old ones..

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Half and half

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and both fitted!

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they are so much lighter than the old ones in weight, and clearer! will have to weight until later to see how much difference they make!

 

[Jamie1987]

Nice car and lovely colour!

 

[SmegRimmer]

Looks sweet. I was never all that keen on light blue, but this one looks really nice, especially with the complimentary interior.

 

[j80grn]

so so so, what's the outcome? Did you give it a little blast just to test your lights

 

[B_hawk111]

Looks sweet. I was never all that keen on light blue, but this one looks really nice, especially with the complimentary interior.

cheers! the colour is even better in the flesh too!

so so so, what's the outcome? Did you give it a little blast just to test your lights

they are very good! much clearer beam pattern, looks neater, more light on the road which is handy

and the osram lamps are a little whiter than the normal ones so match the leds a bit better!

 

[j80grn]

Might try get myself a pair! Thanks for the feedback.

 

[B_hawk111]

I got mine from Devon 4x4 for a tenner each but they have more than doubled their price on them now I think paddock spares was use next cheapest!

 

[B_hawk111]

So had the wheels off at the weekend to fit a new calliper and check the rest, found a set of coilovers in there! Any ideas what make these are?

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Alco very impressed with the autolink re manufactured calliper.

Looks like new, comes with all the slide pin rubbers too, and a postage paid bag to send my old one back with

So happy days on that one

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6 by ben hawkes, on Flickr

I also cut a load of foam underlay for laminate flooring to go under the carpets in the boot and in the rear deck for a but more insulation and noise reduction, seems to have worked well, certainly have less rattles from the back now

 

[B_hawk111]

So I have had the centre console and dash out for the last week or so now :/

I had two blown lamps, one behind the heater controls and one behind the headlight retract switch!

So after taking it all apart and working out what i needed I ordered a new set of lamps, and while I was at it a new leather handbrake and gear stick gaiter, As the plastic handbrake is a bit ugly, and the gear stick one was all ripped up!

while the tombstone is out I also finally got round to fitting the cubby hole under the stereo!

Mine came with a flat panel with the electric mirror switch, an led for the immobilizer and a blanked out switch, looked a bit boring and a waste of space there!

so I mounted the mirror switch and led in the back of the cubby hole, along with a switch so i can have the radio on and keep the Ariel down, (if im listening to a cd or mp3 player! )

and then put a little bit of red led strip in to just light it a bit so I can see the switches at night!

7 by ben hawkes, on Flickr

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while I have been waiting for the new gaiters however I have noticed its quite noisy without the centre console in.

after looking a bit more closely at the rubber gear shift boot it is pretty much non existent round the middle, if you look in daylight I can see the floor.

I then took the top one off and the lower boot is pretty worn out too, So i have ordered a new set of boots and the nylon bush, hopefully will be here Saturday along with the gaiters so i can get it all back together

but it is all coming along nicely, and my new caliper is working spot on so no more hot squealing brakes!

 

[Ollie5]

Looks great mate, love the cubby light!

Any chance of a picture of the glovebox light and some info on how you did it?

Cheers.

 

[B_hawk111]

Thank very much!

went for red as it matches the bits on the stereo and looks cool!

The glove box light was just a long lever micro switch and a bit of LED strip, I switched the negative instead of positive, as I mounted the switch on a peice of metal and bolted it to the main metal bracket that holds the dash.

It took a bit of fiddling to get it right so the glove box hits the micro switch on the way down and turns it on but got there in the end, works really well now

Ill try and take some photos of it tomorrow for you, should hopefully explain it better than I have!

 

[B_hawk111]

here you are ollie5

this is my glovebox light, pretty simple really, A strip of led tape stuck to the inside of the glovebox at the top.

I ran the postive straight from the positive that feeds the internal light on that side, and then this switch just switched the negatvie to turn it on and off.

I was going to take the negative off the mount that the switch is attached to so minimal wiring was required, but I had issues getting the screw throguh all of it so i put the negative feed on the other dash mount above the glovebox on the other side

3 by ben hawkes, on Flickr

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Once it is all in place its just a case of bending the bracket I made and the switch leg until it made contact when needed and didnt rub or stick.

Took about an hour i suppose in the dark under torch light with just a little bit of swearing!

 

[felix]

Those headlights look sooo much better. The crystal clear sidelights that mx5parts sell, would really compliment them.....

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/front-indicator-side-lights-clear-mk1-p-942.html

 

[B_hawk111]

Bit more work today!

Lukcily my new shift boots and gaiters turned up today so managed to get them on and the interior back together

old plastic handbrake gaiter and the old ripped boot!

6 by ben hawkes, on Flickr

and nice new gaiters, all new boots under the centre console and re oiled the gear turret! also gave it all a good clean while it was out and got rid of most of the dirt from those hard to reach places! only thing left for the interior now I think is a steering wheel change.

7 by ben hawkes, on Flickr

8 by ben hawkes, on Flickr

Origional one is a bit ugly, and a bit too big i find too, for such a small car makes it feel like im steering a bus!

so a slightly smaller non airbag one and boss kit will be on order at some point soon

 

[TrooperDude]

Saw this at the meet tonight, this thing is crazy clean inside and out! Lovely car mate.

 

[B_hawk111]

Cheers! What were you in?

A couple of pics of mine from the meet the other night!

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And one of it in the snow this morning

2 by ben hawkes, on Flickr