Practical Classic Nov 2008 - MX-5 / Eunos buying guide
Discussion
As above, basically. Its not hugely in depth, but its a good 2 or 3 double page spread with all the common questions answered.
Anybody got a copy? Or alternatively I'll buy it for you all tomorrow and get it scanned in and hosted as a jpg or pdf.
Thought this may be of use to everyone else in my position, it would be a great starting point and perhaps could be a sticky for the forum? Maybe chuck in all the other 'advice' type threads we've had.
Anybody got a copy? Or alternatively I'll buy it for you all tomorrow and get it scanned in and hosted as a jpg or pdf.
Thought this may be of use to everyone else in my position, it would be a great starting point and perhaps could be a sticky for the forum? Maybe chuck in all the other 'advice' type threads we've had.
Edited by snotrag on Tuesday 14th October 17:00
That would be good if you could get it on the forum 
Mine has a tapping noise on cold start up, it sounds like one of the tappets is making a knocking sound, goes after a few seconds. It has 41000miles on the clock and had an oil change 4000miles ago (5 months ago) so the oil is pretty fresh, put 10-40w castrol GTX in iirc. Checked the dipstick the other day and the level is just slightly below max. Do you think it is anything to worry about?
Thanks
Ross
Mine has a tapping noise on cold start up, it sounds like one of the tappets is making a knocking sound, goes after a few seconds. It has 41000miles on the clock and had an oil change 4000miles ago (5 months ago) so the oil is pretty fresh, put 10-40w castrol GTX in iirc. Checked the dipstick the other day and the level is just slightly below max. Do you think it is anything to worry about?Thanks
Ross
If it is gone in less than 10 secs then it's normal. It takes a few secs for the oil to get up to pressure and it will have drained from the top end. If you have an earlier car (-95) with a proper oil pressure guage you should see the dial go up at the same time as it stops rattling. Maybe try some Wynn's Hydraulic Lifter Treatment in the oil filler.
If it takes longer the chances are it needs an oil change. Use a good semi or fully synthetic, 5w40 iirc. I use fully synth but my specialist says that he finds semi better. A couple of changes with flushes may be necessary it its gummed up a bit.
Worst case scenario occurs when, like on mine, the car has not been used much and oil changed infrequently. After several flushes and oil changes it was still very rattly all the time and sounded awful. Fortunately my specialist changed the head for a good spare one he had for not much money and it is cured. However, without this option you need 16 new hydraulic lash adjusters (at about 40 quid each) plus the labour - not cheap. This is the worst case scenario though, cheaper to buy a new engine probably!
If it takes longer the chances are it needs an oil change. Use a good semi or fully synthetic, 5w40 iirc. I use fully synth but my specialist says that he finds semi better. A couple of changes with flushes may be necessary it its gummed up a bit.
Worst case scenario occurs when, like on mine, the car has not been used much and oil changed infrequently. After several flushes and oil changes it was still very rattly all the time and sounded awful. Fortunately my specialist changed the head for a good spare one he had for not much money and it is cured. However, without this option you need 16 new hydraulic lash adjusters (at about 40 quid each) plus the labour - not cheap. This is the worst case scenario though, cheaper to buy a new engine probably!
thank you for the advice 
it seems to go after 10 seconds or so, but will probably use a oil treatment for the lifters. It doesn't make the tapping noise if the car is used frequently, but isn't getting used much at the moment, so when it is started you can hear the tapping more, i always keep the revs below 3k rpm until the engine has warmed up anyway to try to prevent extra wear on the engine from a cold start.
I'm considering joining the MX5 owners club, what are your opinions on the club, is it worth while joining?
Thanks
Ross
it seems to go after 10 seconds or so, but will probably use a oil treatment for the lifters. It doesn't make the tapping noise if the car is used frequently, but isn't getting used much at the moment, so when it is started you can hear the tapping more, i always keep the revs below 3k rpm until the engine has warmed up anyway to try to prevent extra wear on the engine from a cold start. I'm considering joining the MX5 owners club, what are your opinions on the club, is it worth while joining?
Thanks
Ross
Edited by Ro55H on Wednesday 15th October 21:35
lol i was just interested in the car meets they have, the run outs and the magazine, but don't really want to pay the joining fee if the magazines aren't much good, think i will just join the local owners club forum for the meets tbh. Had MOT today, passed with flying colours so treated it to some new carpet mats lol think i will give joining the club a miss for the time been.
so treated it to some new carpet mats lol think i will give joining the club a miss for the time been. Edited by Ro55H on Wednesday 15th October 22:14
thats not very good, i'm only young so older people won't want to talk to me lol think am a boy racer probs lol Me and Dad once went to a TVR meet and were totally ignored, felt like spare parts so didn't bother attending anymore. I got the new Zoom Zoom magazine, its got abit about the mx5's history from the mk1 onwards, so will get them posted on this forum, did you know that "The mx5's small doors and intimate cabin are meant to evoke the anticipation felt when entering a japanese shrine" lol
I'm a member of MX-5 OC but to be honest I haven't been to a meet for ages, mainly due to the miles involved. I live in Wokingham so my local region would be South Central but they are really boring so I don't go there. I used to be on the old MX-5 Europe mailing list before the forums existed and a group of us got together to form a new region in West London, headed by Steve Gibson. I went to the first ever meting and have been a member ever since. The area coordinator is not Bob Pain who is a great bloke and always makes a point of welcoming any newcomers regardless of their age/colour/religion. It's a very friendly group and I always have a laugh when I go there but it's a it of a pain for me as they meet in Richmond.
A couple of years ago myself and another 5er tried the South Central meet again just to give it another chance. They were all friendly enough and did want to talk to us but they were mostly well over 50 and made me at nearly 40 feel really young. What's more, as it was late autumn, most of them turned up in their other cars, mostly Volvos! They don't have a forum or a website with details of meets/runs but instead rely on a mailing list. Not great.
Because of that, we decided to create our own local meet at a pub in Cobham. From that Cobham Commoners was born. Our home on the internet is PlanetMX5. We are a really friendly bunch with people travelling from as far as High Wycombe, Reigate & Basingstoke and have a wide variety of members from those who want to keep their cars completely standard, some who modify the looks, others (like me) who go for performance mods and even one with an LPG conversion! A number of us are interested in track driving so we grouped together to buy a track car, an old 1.6 Mk1 which we bought for £750.
I'm also a "member" of MX-5 Nutz and have been on a few drives and shows with them including JAE twice and Japfest. They really are a friendly bunch who are very mod' friendly
I am still an OC member though, partly out of loyalty to Bob and the West London area and partly because of the club insurance deal with AON which always beats all other quotes for me and includes some limited track insurance
So what I'm saying is, your local region of the OC might or might not be a good place to be, it's a bit of a lottery but that doesn't make the club as a whole bad. I'd also suggest that if you want a local club and the ones that exist aren't good enough then don't just sit back and moan about it, get off your arse and do something about it!
A couple of years ago myself and another 5er tried the South Central meet again just to give it another chance. They were all friendly enough and did want to talk to us but they were mostly well over 50 and made me at nearly 40 feel really young. What's more, as it was late autumn, most of them turned up in their other cars, mostly Volvos! They don't have a forum or a website with details of meets/runs but instead rely on a mailing list. Not great.
Because of that, we decided to create our own local meet at a pub in Cobham. From that Cobham Commoners was born. Our home on the internet is PlanetMX5. We are a really friendly bunch with people travelling from as far as High Wycombe, Reigate & Basingstoke and have a wide variety of members from those who want to keep their cars completely standard, some who modify the looks, others (like me) who go for performance mods and even one with an LPG conversion! A number of us are interested in track driving so we grouped together to buy a track car, an old 1.6 Mk1 which we bought for £750.
I'm also a "member" of MX-5 Nutz and have been on a few drives and shows with them including JAE twice and Japfest. They really are a friendly bunch who are very mod' friendly
I am still an OC member though, partly out of loyalty to Bob and the West London area and partly because of the club insurance deal with AON which always beats all other quotes for me and includes some limited track insurance
So what I'm saying is, your local region of the OC might or might not be a good place to be, it's a bit of a lottery but that doesn't make the club as a whole bad. I'd also suggest that if you want a local club and the ones that exist aren't good enough then don't just sit back and moan about it, get off your arse and do something about it!
I went to an OC meeting once, me aged 24 and a mate who was a couple of years younger, dirty and overalled from working on the car. Wish I could have scoped it out before commiting, was a bit odd. Small turnout, one couple were 75+, couple of people turned up in their other cars 'cos it was a bit damp! I wanted to talk supercharging and oversteer, they wanted to talk about Saga holidays. I downed my Stella and exited with some huge oversteer out of the car park, pissing myself laughing, just glad no one saw me there.
Ro55H said:
lol i was just interested in the car meets they have, the run outs and the magazine, but don't really want to pay the joining fee if the magazines aren't much good, think i will just join the local owners club forum for the meets tbh. Had MOT today, passed with flying colours so treated it to some new carpet mats lol think i will give joining the club a miss for the time been.
I see you are from Cleveland, in which case that would put you in the Tyne-Tees area - my area when I first joined the OC (until I moved south and I now go to the meets that Lazza mentioned above). The TT lot are very friendly and they often have 'tech-days' (think they have one coming up soon, or has it just gone?), so you could save yourself some money by learning to do your own servicing. so treated it to some new carpet mats lol think i will give joining the club a miss for the time been. Edited by Ro55H on Wednesday 15th October 22:14
For the 30 quid membership, as well as the club meets and events, you get a bi-monthly magazine, which I must admit has dramatically improved in the last 6 months or so. You can also get discounts at Mazda garages (I took mine in last week and got 15% off), plus there's club insurance, which can be cheaper (it was for me for a few years).
NiceCupOfTea said:
As far as I know there is no SE group (or at least it is dormant).
SE groupHowever, I think SERoadsters is probably more active. I know a few of them - a good bunch. Roland is just amazing!
OllieBirmingham said:
I went to an OC meeting once, me aged 24 and a mate who was a couple of years younger, dirty and overalled from working on the car. Wish I could have scoped it out before commiting, was a bit odd. Small turnout, one couple were 75+, couple of people turned up in their other cars 'cos it was a bit damp! I wanted to talk supercharging and oversteer, they wanted to talk about Saga holidays. I downed my Stella and exited with some huge oversteer out of the car park, pissing myself laughing, just glad no one saw me there.
Like I said, it's a lottery. Some of them are like that. Others are much more fun. Don't tar them all with the same brush. If you don't like how it is at the moment, join anyway, go along to all the meets and encourage others like you to join you. Before long you will have moved them on from the dark-ages
Like Lazza, I was at that first West London meet in April 1999 - I travelled 50 miles because my local group were so 'middle-aged' (I was in my mid-20s). But, as Lazza says, the club is more than just the local group and the wealth of information, knowledge and experience available to new owners is well worth the membership fee.
The club has been good to me - I've made a lot of friends and this year, my local group was good enough to sponsor my motorsport activities (in return for plastering my car with their web details!). Around 30 of them turned up to my first sprint of the season - so they're not all of the 'cream tea' brigade. Mind you, I like the odd cream tea now myself ;-)
So, give it a go and don't give up if the first lot you meet are 'not your type'.
The club has been good to me - I've made a lot of friends and this year, my local group was good enough to sponsor my motorsport activities (in return for plastering my car with their web details!). Around 30 of them turned up to my first sprint of the season - so they're not all of the 'cream tea' brigade. Mind you, I like the odd cream tea now myself ;-)
So, give it a go and don't give up if the first lot you meet are 'not your type'.
MX-5 Lazza said:
NiceCupOfTea said:
MX-5 Lazza said:
Indeed - their website has been "coming soon" since 2005!I'm sure it's not confined to just the MX5OC - I'm not a member of any OCs as they seem to be full of infighting, politics, and cliquiness. Web forums fill the void for me
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