Panda Racing No.2

Here's my previous project:

Panda Racing No.1

A year after selling it, and owning 5 cars in the interim I decided another MX5 would be a suitable replacement car to get me to the train station and back. Last week I therefore found myself schlepping around the M25 to Essex in the rain to look at a sorry looking 1.8 incorrectly advertised as a V-Spec that I hoped was actually an S-Special.

I collected it and after inflating the tyres (the rears were on 11 and 13psi) I set off home. It doesn't have the 112mph limiter my 1.6 had. It runs out of legs at 122mph though (speedo and TomTom in agreement at that part of the dial). It's woefully underpowered and it feels quite baggy compared to my last one. Remind me, what is it I like about these cars again?

I'd say the 1.8 engine isn't as sweet as the 1.6. Where the 1.6 enjoys being wrung out, the 1.8 prefers to make progress on the slightly higher torque it produces and you gain nothing from screwing the last 500rpm out of it. I'm hoping the more manly 1.8 drivetrain will last better on track than my 1.6 did though as that ate clutches, brakes etc. for fun.

My journey home averaged 29 MPG. Pretty appalling for a small car of this nature, especially when my M3 would have made circa 33 for the same journey.

Anyway, Sunday I had time to give it a quick going over and evaluate what needs to be done to it. I nearly always forget to take photos of what cars are like when I get them so tend to only have the 'after' pics. So here it is on the drive in the state it arrived:

Paint is very tired, car has ingrained dirt and hasn't been cleaned properly in years. It will look a million times better just having some TLC and a proper clean, sorting out the number plate bracket that's fitted upside down and a few areas of the plastic front and rear bumpers that have crazed paint will get re-painted. Good points are that it appears to have no rust on the bodywork (which is why I bought it) and the hood is new and watertight.

Wheels belong to the previous owner so they'll be going back to him. Will be good to lose the oversized budget 205/50/15 tyres that are blunting the car's responses.

Popping the bonnet revealed years of dirt and grime.

The whole car seems to have been neglected so its no surprise to see a filthy engine bay. Washer fluid was empty, oil was on minimum and coolant was below minimum. At least it's mainly standard without lots of shiny tat or an awful induction kit or anything. Only areas of note are a broken dipstick handle (the history for the car shows this as an advisory on its first MOT in the country) and a broken clip for the bonnet stay, meaning over time the bonnet stay has been sat on the radiator top-hose, making a small but noticeable indentation in it. I'll get a new clip and replace the hose.

Poking around it in the daylight it's in quite a strange state. It's almost as if it has just arrived at the docks. It's got all the Japanese licencing info in the windscreen still, there are random JDM stickers here and there and the interior is filthy, and unbelievably still has Japanese parking tickets and other odds and ends in it.

Here's the important sticker saying it's an S-Spec:

...and the inside of the boot lid holds clues to a potential previous life as a trackday/club racer/road warrior:

Anyway, as it started raining I pulled it inside to give the inside a clean and sort out:

Sticking my head in the footwell to hoover it out I found this:

An original JDM flare.

I can't decide whether to set it off for a bit of fun or to sell it. Are these rare and would there be a market for it?

Mazdaspeed gearknob fitted. Not to my taste but possibly worth a few quid to someone? Will be in the For Sale section soon.

The Nardi Torino that's fitted I do like. I'm tempted to keep it 'in stock', but may well sell that on too?:

This is the funniest thing in the entire car:

A 'carbon' ashtray.

Apparently it's the one Takuma Sato had fitted to his F1 car so he could have a crafty bifta during qualifying. Will be going in the For Sale section too.

A bit of CSI digging about while cleaning the inside gave further clues to what the boot stickers had hinted at. One of the stickers was the Safety21 logo. Digging about I found the rear deck fuel tank cover had been tin-snipped and beneath them, covered up very well with metallic tape was the evidence of where the rear stays of a rollbar had been mounted.

Then looking under the floor, holes where the main hoop had mounted were visible, but there were none where the front legs would go on a 6-point cage. Therefore, I'd assume in Japan it had a Safety21 4 point rollbar.

Anyway, I gave the interior a thorough clean, removed all the unnecessary stickers. Pulled the Nardi off and replaced it with my Momo. I also climbed underneath and had a look at the suspension. The rear Mazdaspeed coilovers were backed off to their softest setting and that was that. It's now much more pleasant inside and with the back a few clicks softer it drives better too.

So far I've bought some proper chairs for it and some scaffolding to protect my head in case it falls over. Today I'm going to buy some coilovers and some wheels. It'll then need a front lip, an alignment, some brakes, harnesses, a hard-top, some paint and a thorough stripping / lighten-ing. Hopefully will get it on track by November. Will be doing it as a rolling project though, commuting sideways in it everyday and seeing what it's like to live with as a daily drive.

Panda Racing No.2

NurseHolliday

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