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Mk1 Mx5 - Brg Uk Spec

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9.9K views 37 replies 18 participants last post by  S S  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Been here a while now, bought a few bits for the car too, so thought I'd post them up along with a mini bio...

Previously was a Ford man, first had a 00' Fiesta and then a 99' Focus. Then started modding them... a lot. My focus was getting pretty old despite being in pretty much 'as new' condition, but high miles, getting to the age where big problems were starting. Didn't know what to buy next, was tempted by BMW E46 coupes and Toyota Celicas (new shape). But after talking to a friend of mine who's into MX5s, saying how they're reliable, great to drive and genuinely tidy sportscars. i was a bit skeptical at first, spent a bit on Eibach suspension on my allready good handling focus, and it was great, no body roll and cornered like a fly, despite being a family car. Anyways sold the Focus, and found this MX5, low miles, looked tidy. so bought it for a good price. loved the car, btu jsut didn't feel as good to drive as my focus did till the snow buggered off and the roads dried out, despite there being a lot more body-roll, fore/aft movement when braking, pretty bad brakes. it was terrific fun, and i'm still loving it.ok intersting stuff below...

Car:
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Found this on gumtree, UK spec MX5, pretty local to me with only 51,000 miles, one previous owner. seemed tidy and had a fair bit spent on it, new rear calipers, new sill and better alloys. it also had a respray, but IMO the respray was dire, not a single bit of trim was removed and the finish is shocking. but gonna try to sort that with a machine polish. handed over ÂŁ1850 for it.

progress:
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^first thing i did was attempt to detango, but failed. so stuck some lamin-x over the sidelight units, looks tidy IRL
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^color coded the side markers too to clean up the body a bit
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^silver calipers, no more rust. gonna do them properly when i swap the disks & pads soon
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^cut down the black-ness of the interior, stuck some Cf wrap on the console. gonna do the heater panel next
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^flatlbade wipers
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^billy bargain coilovers (raceland)

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and how i'm hoping it to look by next weekend. gonna have another go at de-tanging the front sidelight units aswell

Discovered this car while looking for modding ideas ::Clicky. So that's the sorta stance i'll be looking for and the general theme of things...

edit: more eagle eyed peopel may notice in one or two of the pics the tax disk is missing from the front screen; don't worry, pics were taken while i was waiting for the tax disk to come though afte ri bought the car. all legal now.
 
#3 ·
Last pic is looking really nice
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I'd remove the blade on the driver's wiper arm - just because of it's rustyness
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Give the passenger side headlight cover a gentle yank to re-align with the bonnet too
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Mark
 
#8 ·
Give the passenger side headlight cover a gentle yank to re-align with the bonnet too
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that's all it needs? i was planning on taking it out and fitting some washers to raise it a bit lol[/quote]
Yep, that's it. It might be better to loosen off the screws, I just gently pulled mine back up.

Mark
 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
method in my madness, they're brand new dampers with new assistor springs and two new springs (got them for ÂŁ80 though). gonna get another set of new springs to replace the chopped ones and two new bumpstops from rokkor. didn't realize they were chopped at first, fail lol

minor update:
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red letting on the cam cover, think i might get some red crinkle-paint though. looks good on longitudinally mounted engines

thanks for the comments
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#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
i'll have a bash when the weathers a bit warmer, thanks
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detango'd the lights adn removed the tint-film, but not sure how i feel about them. maybe with clear indicators it'd suit...

while ym tools were out, swapped the indicator and sidelgiht units arounds. so big sidelight, small indicator, shibby!

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gonna sort the relay out too so the headlights don't pop up along with sidelights ina bit too
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
had some rust bubble through on the NS rear quarter. so spent this weekend sorting that. pleased with the results:

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before^^ water still in the bubbles... wtf

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grinded & sanded back with some rust curing gel. notice the line where the mudflap was removed? yep, nugget who resprayed it didn't bother to take it off. so while i was at it, filled & flatted it too

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first layer of paint & smoothing (did it in 3 layers)

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while flatting and polishing

and after:

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not bad at all considering i only spent ÂŁ5 for the de-ruster. needs some compound on it to blend it in perfectly. in some lights you can see where the painted part meets the panel through the sanding imperfections

not bad at all for a rattle can jobby
 
#17 ·
Good work on the rust repair. Its always worrying sanding back blistered paint not knowing what you'll find under the surface.

Car looks a LOT better at its new ride height and things are coming together well. Agreed on the comment about the rusty wipers, little things like that really make a difference on an otherwise neat looking car. 10 mins with some wet&dry then satin black and you'll be looking a lot better....

Looking forward to more updates.
 
#18 ·
thanks
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yeah had the wiper off a few weeks ago, sanded it back and put on some matte black. looks much better

been offered an OEM-r splitter, provisionally bought it, sellers just working out postage. after that i think it'l just be the odd minor OEM upgrade. along with some stainless pipes on the exhaust and midbox removal

how it is atm: can see the now rust free wipers
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#19 ·
gona need some welding on the OS rear sill and NS rear quarter panel to fix the rust above ^^^
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also gonna give Jack Smith a call about getting the rear screen section of the hood replaced & refitted witha glass screen if it's nto too much, if not, new plastic screen will do.

done a bit more fiddling on my car, service due in a few hundred miles so thought i'd start cleaning things out and see what needs replacing. before the boring stuff:

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this is the lowest it can go, floorpans actually resting on the floor in this pic.^

had to fix my horn cuz it stopped working, while the steering wheel was off (checking the connections between boss and column) discovered yet more evidence my car is P-reg
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also discovered my car had a modern safety feature... a crumple zone/airbag:
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cleaned out the coolant & washer bottles: (only got pics of the washer bottle)
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before^
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after^ nice having white bottles instead of various shades of brown

also got new headlamp 'hoods' because the old ones had overspray & the odd scratch/scrape on them
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before^
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after^ defo gotta get some crystal headlamps

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under the bonnet (before i power-washed the poo out of the bottles fyi)

service bits:
-new charcoal filter (don't know what it is, what it does, but i want a new one)
-oil & oil filter
-upgrade panel filter
-pollen filter / cabin filter or whatever (stop leaves blowing through the vents *facepalm*)
-NGK-R plugs
-stainless steel exhaust pipes and rear silencer re-wadded (pro-speed jobby)

pricey, but gotta be done
 
#24 ·
i spent ages looking at your engine thinking whats wrong with that.. then i realised, it looks like a 1.6 mk1 rocker cover, but its got a mk2 cross over pipe, but the air box/maf sensor from a mk1 1.8, any idea why this is?
 
#26 ·
ahh fair enough, wounder why its all diffrent?
 
#29 ·
looks good mate, i need a splitter on mine, allthough i dont know if i want a gv one or an oem one, nice looking car though best colour too
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