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Mk1 Eunos 1.6 Project

27K views 183 replies 39 participants last post by  Zed.  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello, this is my third MX5 after a break of a few years whilst I restored an old Karmann Ghia. I've had a mk2 & a mk3 but always fancied a red mk1 :)

It's a '91 Eunos Roadster which I picked up as a project car for myself to tinker with this winter. I'm hoping there's not too much major to address the sills and arches all look really solid, ironically this is the fifth car I viewed all of them a lot more expensive than this but all had signs of rot or bad previous repairs to the sills.

The vendor was a nice chap but didn't have much of a clue about the car so hadn't advertised any of the extras that I found when I viewed it.

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So far I've found it has an ARC chamber, stainless steel exhaust manifold and I believe the whole system (although it was a bit hard to tell in the mud!) a quickshift is fitted (which I hate), plus some sort of adjustable suspension (you can see dials on the bottom of the shocks) Aircon seems to work but time will tell, interior is a bit dirty but not ripped or torn, plus the vendor threw in the hardtop which is a little rough round the edges but a bonus.

The car hasn't had much use (or love) over the last year that the previous owner had it, but seems that owners prior to that have looked after it well.

Initial tasks are:

- A tappety engine turned out to be low oil which seems to have gone away by it topping up with oil and giving it an Italian tune once warm ;-)

- A few of the belts seem to intermittently squeal - so will work my way through replacing those

- General oil change, plugs, service etc.

- Unknown age of cambelt - plan to change this along with water pump, various gaskets, camshaft & crank seals etc

- There's a suspension rattle (quite a lot) but the steering & suspension seems to be quite taut so I suspect it's the ARB droplinks or similar - investigate &repair where needed

- Replace quickshift with normal one

- Paint - give the whole car a good mop to get rid of the classic red paint oxidisation

- Hood - seems sound but the rear has a loose flap that needs attention - if it doesn't leak I will leave it alone until the weather gets warmer then I will have a go at replacing if necessary

- Drivers door has slightly sagged so needs adjustment, ordered some of the solid door bushings to go on at the same time

- Front number plate plinth is cracked - may replace or even move to below the grill

- Replace stereo with something that doesn't have buttons the size of grains of sand and that I can actually read without having to pull over and squint at it. (honestly who designs aftermarket stereos these days? Makes me wonder if they have ever driven a car)

- Replace the naff 15" wheels and ditchfinder tyres with a set of Panasport 8-spoke wheels I have squirrelled away in the garage

- Fit front & rear lower chassis braces (need to check it doesn't have them first)

No doubt after getting to know the car in the next couple of weeks there's be more…
 
Discussion starter · #179 ·
10th anniversary edition is very similar to the mk2 RS, just a few tweaks to the engine from what I remember.

It has crossed my mind to see how good I can make my mk1, without going all silly with turbos etc. So far in four years I've resisted the urge to go FI because I like the revvy 'eager puppy' nature of my RS engine+box setup :)

The main weakness of the early mk1's like mine is the chassis flex, I have a few braces fitted but I do wonder how good a set of frame rails + door bars + fender braces would be.
 
Discussion starter · #177 ·
I even got tempted by a Boxster again at the end of last year. I drove my Mk1 over to it, loved the look of it (GT3 front bumper, Fuchs) but found it dull at legal speed, by the time you'd rung out third gear you may as well post your license to the DVLA. The drive back in my Mk1 never felt better and reminded me of what I got back in one for.
I did exactly that! drove my mk1 to the garage, the contrast on the drive back was like a breath of fresh air. You're right it drove just a normal car at legal speeds :mellow:

Thanks for confirming it's not just me, I thought to myself that all these road testers can't be wrong!
 
So I went to see a 2.7 Boxster today and test drive it... I can safely say that unless this was a complete lemon that Boxsters are firmly off the list ! The car itself was very nice and I definitely fit fine in a Boxster. I've only sat in a Boxster once before and I remember the clutch in that one being really stiff, same with this one. The steering and gearchange are nothing like as nice as the MX5, it drives like a normal car, a bit like my Golf only with a heavier clutch. People say that Boxsters don't suffer form scuttle shake, and whilst it's x10 less than an early MX5 there is still some present.
Also the gearing was really long so to hear the engine sing you had to be doing silly speeds, or drive everywhere in 1st gear which kind of misses the point :wacko:
I'm sure it's a great motorway mile muncher but I struggle to see what the fuss is about on normal roads!

Next stop the Mazda dealers to test drive a mk4
 
Gorgeous car Carl. Beautiful shade of red. Are you sure you want to change to a Mk4 ??!
Thanks :) I want to use my second car for longer trips more, I'd love to drive to Monaco next year and find myself hankering after something with a few more creature comforts. I had a mk3 2.0 a while ago and found it a bit dull & soulless, Not entirely convinced yet on the mk4 mainly due to the extra grand or so I'd have to spend on top of the ÂŁ10k+ for the car to make me fit with lowered seat rails & telescopic steering column etc. But I do find myself being tempted by a 986 Boxster S which are extremely good value for what you get at the moment!

You can pick up a full service history car for sub ÂŁ5k now, yes people say they can be money pits but there's just as good aftermarket suppliers now for the 986 as there is for the MX5 so parts don't seem to be any more expensive than other 20 yr old cars. Yes the IMS bearing is a worry but on the 2.5 it's extremely rare, and a lot of 2.7 and 3.2 cars have had them changed to uprated bearings by previous owners now anyway.

I went out for a drive last night in the MX5, hood down I thought this is great why do I want to sell it? then literally round the next corner a Boxster owner doing the same thing came past going the other way, he must have been in 2nd because the flat six howl was still ringing in my ears for ages :) I definitely had impure thoughts...
 
Discussion starter · #170 ·
Thanks, I need to get out there and test a mk4 before I decide. The 1.6 was still going strong but it drank oil as the oil scraper rings had gone, that started off the RS conversion!
 
Discussion starter · #167 ·
Been driving the car with the newly refurbished rack on for a couple of weeks and not entirely happy, it seemed to be very slow to self centre, it would do it but around the 12 o'clock position it felt slightly stiff. Couldn't put my finger on it but definitely not the normal fantastic steering I'm used to.

Anyway after a bit of research I decided to re-adjust the pre-tension on the rack, you loosen the locknut then the adjuster, then tighten to 4.8nm (my torque wrench only just went down to this!) then back off by 25 degrees before tightening the locknut.

Problem was that the locknut is 41mm, yes 41 not 40 which my biggest adjustable maxes out at :rolleyes: Borrow HUGE adjustable spanner to find that there's bugger all room with the hydraulic pipes in the way. Amazon Prime to rescue and the next day I'm the proud owner of what looks like the world's largest socket!

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Couple of minutes later and the locknut was loose and I went through the procedure, torque to 4.8nm three times, then back off 25 degrees, tighten locknut. Interestingly the adjuster had been set at the 4.8nm point but hadn't been backed off by 25 degrees. Steering tested with engine off and no play, went for a test drive and the old MX5 steering was back! nice and light and self centring. It's amazing what just 1/16th of a turn can make.
 
WIM fitted me in after lunch so all sorted now, I managed to get them even but way too much toe-in with my temporary setup at least it got me there :)

Saw a silver mk2 that was booking in for some lowering springs to be fitted but didn't manage to talk to the owner, anyone from here?

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Fitted the refurbished steering rack, I've got it close but it'll be good to get it checked so off to WIM in Amersham to get the tracking reset this week. Also got round to removing the a/c fan which I've never got round to wiring in parallel which has given me lots more room in the engine bay. Changed the thermostat gasket with an OEM one, the old one was completely saturated with coolant it was like it was porous! took my time to clean the surfaces with a polishing stone to ensure perfect flatness.

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Refurbished steering rack fitted (should have repainted the brackets whilst I was at it!

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Lot's of room now

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Discussion starter · #164 ·
Steering rack has been removed and sent away for refurbishment, mounts and trackrod ends came off OK (with a balljoint splitter) but the power steering pipes were an absolute pig to remove!

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Been tracking down a noise in the steering / suspension the car has had ever since I've had it. It's got worse recently so more investigation finally tracked it down to a spacer in the end of the rack on the passenger side. It looks like there's some bushes behind the spacer that have compressed over time letting the spacer move making a clonking noise. Found a company that will refurbish it so now just need the time to remove it and send away.

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Also fitted a leather armrest cover (around the existing armrest lid) matching the handbrake and gearlever gaiter, looks quite nice in the flesh :thumb-up:

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Tracked down why the speakers were buzzing and distorted at medium / higher volumes. It looks like they got wet at some time in the past, I replaced the old window scrapers a while ago as they were brittle so this was probably the result prior to that.

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I was going to buy some new ones but a bit of research on the Japanese labels on the back, and it looks like these were aftermarket 3-way speakers fitted when the car was in Japan. Worthwhile trying to repair them to keep a bit of the car's history so a couple of patches of thin material and some inner-tube repair glue and they were fixed for the grand total of ÂŁ0 :D

The sound now is so much better with no more buzzing I'm surprised how loud these speakers can go without distortion.

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Making my way down the list of jobs and finding some more in the process which are keeping me busy :rolleyes: Need to sort out a weeping thermostat gasket at least I hope it's just that, change the steering rack, and fit a new period correct radio and BMW analogue clock.
 
Finished the 1.8 brake conversion last week, I've now added a Willwood adjustable brake proportioning valve which allows me to send more pressure to the new back brakes (which were proportionately much bigger on 1.8 than the 1.6) Overall very pleased with the new setup, they are definitely an improvement over the 1.6. It wasn't that the 1.6 were bad but the new brakes seem to need much less pressure to get the same braking power and when you really stand on them the car pulls up a lot quicker! Still playing around with the proportioning valve to get the fronts to lock up just before the backs. I think I've got it right at about 5-6 clicks but I need a brave passenger to come out with me to see which wheel locks up first :D

Fitting was a bit of a b@stard because the pipes were the originals not disturbed for 29 years so needed a lot of tightening to stop them weeping on one connector.

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Started fitting driving/fog lamps to the car this weekend, I looked at the JDM ones but they seem to be very large, taking up some of the airflow in the grill, plus there's a lot better lighting technology out there these days. I bought a set of Ring BRL0382 driving lamps which are only 70mm across so after I removed the baby teeth they fit nicely in the corners of the bumper mouth which was what I was looking for.

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Brackets were made up to brace the bottom of the light by replacing one of the plastic bumper fixings with a nut & bolt, the top fixes directly to the metal bumper mount making it nice and sturdy

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Now onto the electrics, I bought a rear fog light switch from eBay and what turned up was a front fog light switch! result :) I already have an OEM rear fog switch for the back they have the lines pointing horizontal where the front switch lines point down. I removed the other switch blanks and to my surprise in one of the blanks was a wiring plug, so after a bit of searching it looks like my JDM Eunos came with the switch wiring in place which just needs the switch plugging into. This then powers a connector in the engine bay which you run a relay & signal wire from.

Switch blank with wiring behind

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New front fog switch plugs straight in

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Loom connector in engine bay located on drivers side with signal & relay power

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Next step is to make a loom to a relay then wires down to the fog lights when I get some time.
 
Discussion starter · #157 ·
Treated the interior to a bit of bling today from Jass, a Roadster gearlever surround plus some window switches. Looks great but the switches seem really stiff, anyone else found that?

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Rear callipers going on now, plus a few surface rust spots under the chassis to treat & re-underseal as well as repainting the chassis braces. Size difference between the old and new disks is even more on the rear brakes.

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Thanks, the Panasports were lovely but they looked lost in the arches and moved around a lot on the sidewalls when pushed, The TD's actually look a lot better in the flesh, plus I have a long term project set of these 15 x 6.5 Watanabe RS-Eights squirrelled away to sort out eventually...

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