Bitten off more than i can chew.....maybe

[devonshiredave]

Morning all,

got my hands on a 1996 mx5 1.6 mot failure from a friend for the princely sum of £100.

my plan is to get it running again and use for weekend/track abuse (sadly my kit-car plans were foiled)

its in fairly crap condition mechanically, most of the body work is ok ish - no dents/fillings etc - however in the engine bay there does appear to be some corrosion (rust) on parts of the structure- both sheet metal and the larger structural parts - there are no holes in it but there is bubbling under some bits of the paintwork.

i will be posting pics up later on - but wondering if anyone else has similar probs? is it worth the time/money to sort out? (i dont have a bottomless pit of cash at present.)

Ive commenced the process of removing the engine so that can fully asses the damage and make a decision.

cheers

dave

PS - Nice Cup of Tea - i see you have an mx5, and it appears you live just down the road from me (Im near chinese garage) - if you have some spare time and fancy giving me some pointers would be most appreciated

[MrV]

Stupid question but what did it fail the MOT on ? if it doesn't include the area's you are worried about then I cant see the problem

For £100 if it is just wielding then I would say you have got a bargain ,you would get more for it than that just selling the engine and gearbox

[devonshiredave]

MrV said:

Stupid question but what did it fail the MOT on ? if it doesn't include the area's you are worried about then I cant see the problem

For £100 if it is just wielding then I would say you have got a bargain ,you would get more for it than that just selling the engine and gearbox

My mate told me MOT failure was due engine not running/brakes stuck ( i think he didnt actually have the MOT but was told what was needed to get it through altho im not too sure if that is all having seen some of the other bits) - having looked in the engine bay the ancilliary parts etc all look pretty tatty, along with other bits like sway bar which are rusted also.

didnt get chance to take fotos last night but after work today will do.

thanks

dave

Edited by devonshiredave on Tuesday 3rd June 12:10

[GHW]

If it's a 1995 1.6 then it's the weedy restricted 90bhp engine, so best to chuck it away and get something a little beefier anyway, especially if it's going to be a track sg.

[Mr POD]

devonshiredave said:

Morning all,

got my hands on a 1996 mx5 1.6 mot failure from a friend for the princely sum of £100.

my plan is to get it running again and use for weekend/track abuse (sadly my kit-car plans were foiled)

its in fairly crap condition mechanically, most of the body work is ok ish - no dents/fillings etc - however in the engine bay there does appear to be some corrosion (rust) on parts of the structure- both sheet metal and the larger structural parts - there are no holes in it but there is bubbling under some bits of the paintwork.

i will be posting pics up later on - but wondering if anyone else has similar probs? is it worth the time/money to sort out? (i dont have a bottomless pit of cash at present.)

Ive commenced the process of removing the engine so that can fully asses the damage and make a decision.

cheers

dave

PS - Nice Cup of Tea - i see you have an mx5, and it appears you live just down the road from me (Im near chinese garage) - if you have some spare time and fancy giving me some pointers would be most appreciated

I want it !!! £100 ? I don't care how bad it is !!!

[dougc]

Uber-project.

Rusty MX5 for £100 + Wrecked RX7 = Rotary track fun!

[vrooom]

I want that mx5...

[Munter]

I'd get in there with a wire brush thingy on a drill. Take off all the rust and see whats left. Get welding done if required. Then slap rust inhibiting primer all over the place and top off with some hammerrite or the like.

Then fit a 1.8 from a mk2.5 out of a breakers yard, witch I guess would satisfy your "kit car" type lust as it'd need a bit of work to fit but not too much.

[devonshiredave]

here are the fotos -









front cross member - dodge or will be ok after scrubbing up?











found the toad taking shelter from the crap weather

Edited by devonshiredave on Tuesday 3rd June 19:42

[Munter]

I'm uneducated. But I dont think thats too rusty at all. Ok you might want to get in there while the engine is out and tidy it up. But I dont think it'd fail it's mot.

The ARB is a bit rusty, so you might want to scavenge a newer one. Or ask Lazza if his adjustable ones will fit on your car, as I think he's going to swap his out as they dont work well with his puredrive suspention setup.

[devonshiredave]

Munter said:

I'm uneducated. But I dont think thats too rusty at all. Ok you might want to get in there while the engine is out and tidy it up. But I dont think it'd fail it's mot.

The ARB is a bit rusty, so you might want to scavenge a newer one. Or ask Lazza if his adjustable ones will fit on your car, as I think he's going to swap his out as they dont work well with his puredrive suspention setup.

nice one cheers, hopefully after this weekend ill have moved much further along and more of it will have come out, will update some fotos then.

looks like im gonna be needing a fair few bits i reckon haha

[MrV]

That doesn't look any worse than mine did (then I got all tarty and tided it up) basic rule of thumb with the rust is if you can push a screw driver through it then it needs to be repaired

What I really like about 5 ownership is how plentiful second hand parts are for them and on the whole how easy they are to work on ,I say this as in how basic they are rather than the ease of doing anything (every nut on mine would rather snap then undo or I need the hand size of a 6yr old child to get to an area )

[devonshiredave]

MrV said:

That doesn't look any worse than mine did (then I got all tarty and tided it up) basic rule of thumb with the rust is if you can push a screw driver through it then it needs to be repaired

What I really like about 5 ownership is how plentiful second hand parts are for them and on the whole how easy they are to work on ,I say this as in how basic they are rather than the ease of doing anything (every nut on mine would rather snap then undo or I need the hand size of a 6yr old child to get to an area )

hhah, already sheared one rusted nut getting the undertray off!

[MX-5 Lazza]

Munter said:

...ask Lazza if his adjustable ones will fit on your car...

Mine are Mk2+ only I'm afraid.

That doesn't look excessively rusty but it does look fairly neglected. The ARBs look like they need replacing but the rest should clean up well, especially if you are planning to remove the engine to do it.
I think it's probably been caused by being driven around for a few years without an engine under-tray so there has been nothing protecting the engine bay from the weather.

I was looking in the engine bay of a well cared for Mk1 at the weekend and even on that pretty much all the nuts & bolts as well as the ARB were rusty so it's not an unusual problem.

If you are removing the engine then I'd clean up all the rusty areas in the engine bay as suggested above and replace all the rusty nuts & bolts.

[dougc]

From the pics it looks to me like it needs a sand down and a spray and it'll be fine. You lucky bugger.

[MX-5 Lazza]

devonshiredave said:

hhah, already sheared one rusted nut getting the undertray off!

Ah, in that case you can forget about most of what I've said

[Munter]

MX-5 Lazza said:

Munter said:

...ask Lazza if his adjustable ones will fit on your car...

Mine are Mk2+ only I'm afraid.

Damn I was hoping they might have been common across the lot. Ah well.

[skinny]

rusty arb's aren't much of a problem - they are solid so half a mm surface corrosion isn't going to make much difference. and they are rarely rusty actually where they go through the mounts. the other bits - just take a wire brush to them and see how it looks underneath. don't think it's gonna be *too* bad.

[Greg_D]

as long as you aren't going to get all precious about it, a wire wheel, rust inhibitor and hammerite will see you right with 95% of that lot, you can get a new motor for £100 if necessary

Greg

[vrooom]

Or you can sell it to me?