MX-5 Help please

[Cpt Flashhard]

Quick question team, I might be able to swing a weekend toy / occasional daily driver past Mrs Flashhard in the next few days and want on open top to blast away the XC60 "it's not a boat" blues. Have spotted an 03 51k mile MX5 at a local dealer for £1800. Looks pretty clean but is it this model that suffers from tin worm on the rear arches?

Alternatively there are a few E46 325CI's with much higher miles for a little more. Thoughts?

[designforlife]

Rear arches and everywhere else.

Sills are the big one, and chassis legs in the engine bay on the mk2s/2.5...basically everywhere. There's two types of mx5s, those that have had the sills repaired, and those that need it doing.

(owned a mk2 for 5 years).

wouldn't worry about mileage on an mx5, they are pretty bomb proof, and nothing is prohibitive to replace. refurbed gearbox will set you back about £90, engine and ancillaries, £200 or so.

rust is the main consideration.

[CABC]

for a w/ender i'd get a mk1 for £1800. Eunos import is a good call for less rust.
more fun, appreciating classic and rusty arches that are easier to spot & fix. (mk2s rust inside out, much worse).

[Flooble]

£90 for a gearbox? Not £900? Wow.

[Benrad]

Flooble said:

£90 for a gearbox? Not £900? Wow.

£90 sounds expensive. I slung a £25 gearbox in mine last year and it's fine (not refurbed obviously)

As has been said that's a mark 2 so rear arches and front chassis legs need looking at for rust. Other than that standard checks. Mine burns/leaks some oil but other than that it's fine, I commute 12,000 miles a year in my 1991 at 120,000miles old and it's fine. My last one did 150,000+ miles before rust killed it (could have been repaired but it wasn't a great example of the breed so I cut my losses).

Get a Cobalt stainless steel exhaust from Moss europe and you'll love it as a weekend toy

[CABC]

Flooble said:

£90 for a gearbox? Not £900? Wow.

cut n paste from somewhere yesterday:

Engine 1.6 fully rebuilt! - £350 collection only

Gearbox 1.6 manual - £30 ono Good condition, collection only

Viscous LSD - £100 Good condition, locks up very well, doughnut video to prove it if required. collection only

Suspension components - £100 ono for everything

[Flooble]

Strewth, I was ripped off. Paid £450 for a rebuilt box!

[james_gt3rs]

CABC said:

cut n paste from somewhere yesterday:

Engine 1.6 fully rebuilt! - £350 collection only

Gearbox 1.6 manual - £30 ono Good condition, collection only

Viscous LSD - £100 Good condition, locks up very well, doughnut video to prove it if required. collection only

Suspension components - £100 ono for everything

That is quite amazingly cheap, no wonder you see so many on track days.

[designforlife]

james_gt3rs said:

CABC said:

cut n paste from somewhere yesterday:

Engine 1.6 fully rebuilt! - £350 collection only

Gearbox 1.6 manual - £30 ono Good condition, collection only

Viscous LSD - £100 Good condition, locks up very well, doughnut video to prove it if required. collection only

Suspension components - £100 ono for everything

That is quite amazingly cheap, no wonder you see so many on track days.

mechanically they cost buttons to run, and there are so many second hand/breaker parts sources.

Really enjoyed mine for the most part, however in naturally aspirated form they start to feel a bit slow once you get used to slinging them about.

Have gotten a lot cheaper since the youth got hold of them and started the whole slamming/drifto thing...it killed the mx5 scene a bit, its quite an aggressive and cliquey scene compared to 5/6 years ago. Another reason I decided to move on.

[Cpt Flashhard]

Cheers all, have a green for go from the Financial Controller so looking forward to getting something sorted soon

[finishing touch]

Mk1 Eunos. Salon Motorsport supercharger. 180 odd horses when fitted to a standard 1.6 engine.

What's not to like?