My MX5 - Its all abit of fun!
Discussion
Hi All,
Been well over due this thread and a mate was nagging me to put one up so here we go!
So summer time last year i received a company car, meaning i could sell my old Mk2 Golf and buy something for abit of fun. I couldn't decide what i wanted and predictably the answer was the PH old faithful of the MX5.
Spending some time on the net i decided i wanted a MK2 1.8s, as this came with a decent punchy engine and most importantly an LSD! The car was going to be used for some drifting and maybe a few track days so any performance mods were a bonus!
With a budget of £1500 to £2000 i set about searching the net for the car, after a few weeks of searching a local car to me came up through a Facebook page. The car had recently had a cambelt change and looked to be in good nick, and as a bonus it was fitted with BC Racing BR coilovers and a Ultra Racing cabin brace! After a few messages and calls with the seller i bought the car later that day.
Initial impressions:
Over the next few days i set about curing a few of its ailments, i increased the height of the coilovers and changed the stiffness so the chassis was more compliant, it also meant i could get into the garage without scraping
. Whilst tooling around under the bonnet i also discovered the worst fitted HID kit in the world, needless to say this was ripped out and turned back to standard. I ordered some Magnecor leads and new plugs on top as the old ones looked a little worse for wear.
I enjoyed the car for a couple of outings and decided it was time to skid! For the 21st my parents had bought me a drift day at Oulton park, so i attended with my dad and granddad for my support crew. The car performed faultlessly with around 7 hours of solid drifting, the only problem was the few offs the lemon behind the wheel had. After a hug with a tyre wall it was a little scratched but never the less it was fun!
After the skids it was time to put the car through an MOT and see what nasty's it had to hide. Quite frankly it failed horrendously:
First job was to fit a cat back onto the car, a used unit was bought and fitted for £20.
Next came the brakes, i went for pagid discs and yellow stuff pads all round. Then to finish her off a set of team dynamics wheels and Toyo T1R tyres. All these were fitted on one afternoon with the help of my Uncle and an airgun (stupid rusty Mazda).
Thought i'd do some flocking on a few trim pieces too, and make a custom induction kit to get rid of the nasty standard item.
So it was MOT time again, and this time the new tech failed it on rusted sills! So a quick call to a local garage and it was patched up, back in for a test and it flew through!
Stay tuned for part 2 which takes us up to the present!
Alex
Been well over due this thread and a mate was nagging me to put one up so here we go!
So summer time last year i received a company car, meaning i could sell my old Mk2 Golf and buy something for abit of fun. I couldn't decide what i wanted and predictably the answer was the PH old faithful of the MX5.
Spending some time on the net i decided i wanted a MK2 1.8s, as this came with a decent punchy engine and most importantly an LSD! The car was going to be used for some drifting and maybe a few track days so any performance mods were a bonus!
With a budget of £1500 to £2000 i set about searching the net for the car, after a few weeks of searching a local car to me came up through a Facebook page. The car had recently had a cambelt change and looked to be in good nick, and as a bonus it was fitted with BC Racing BR coilovers and a Ultra Racing cabin brace! After a few messages and calls with the seller i bought the car later that day.
Initial impressions:
- This is too bumpy
- This is far too low
- This is far too Loud
- But its great fun!
Over the next few days i set about curing a few of its ailments, i increased the height of the coilovers and changed the stiffness so the chassis was more compliant, it also meant i could get into the garage without scraping
. Whilst tooling around under the bonnet i also discovered the worst fitted HID kit in the world, needless to say this was ripped out and turned back to standard. I ordered some Magnecor leads and new plugs on top as the old ones looked a little worse for wear.I enjoyed the car for a couple of outings and decided it was time to skid! For the 21st my parents had bought me a drift day at Oulton park, so i attended with my dad and granddad for my support crew. The car performed faultlessly with around 7 hours of solid drifting, the only problem was the few offs the lemon behind the wheel had. After a hug with a tyre wall it was a little scratched but never the less it was fun!
After the skids it was time to put the car through an MOT and see what nasty's it had to hide. Quite frankly it failed horrendously:
- All 4 tyres just legal
- Brakes on all corners just legal
- Failed emission due to decat (That explains the noise then)
First job was to fit a cat back onto the car, a used unit was bought and fitted for £20.
Next came the brakes, i went for pagid discs and yellow stuff pads all round. Then to finish her off a set of team dynamics wheels and Toyo T1R tyres. All these were fitted on one afternoon with the help of my Uncle and an airgun (stupid rusty Mazda).
Thought i'd do some flocking on a few trim pieces too, and make a custom induction kit to get rid of the nasty standard item.
So it was MOT time again, and this time the new tech failed it on rusted sills! So a quick call to a local garage and it was patched up, back in for a test and it flew through!
Stay tuned for part 2 which takes us up to the present!
Alex
Edited by SirSquidalot on Tuesday 16th June 22:09
I did mine myself with an eBay DIY kit, cost me about £10 and a few nights of application. However in mx5 circles the flock shop is seen as pretty good value for an excellent finish http://www.theflockshop.co.uk (no affiliation to me).
Time for a little bump! So not too long after this thread the car got into just that. Daft old bint plowed into the side of me then drove off, i gave chase and ended up pulling her over and going mental at her. She claimed she hit the kerb so carried on 
. Luckily a witness came with me to assist in getitng details etc.
The damage:
With that in mind i was sure the car was going to be a write off, but after some chat with the insurance company they agreed to repair the car. Around £800 of repairs were carried out, this included new front wing, door repair and a blow over respray on the front left 1/4 of the car. Thank the lord!
When it was back me and Dad decided it was the perfect car to nip to B&Q in, never have i laughed so much with the looks we got
The car was then put to bed over winter, i was moving up north with the missus and had no room for the car. Over winter i raised the coilovers again and got them setup properly as i was fed up on the scraping and bone crunching ride.
Now we have some better weather the car is back on the road and living with us up in Manchester, insurance was alot more than back home in Staffordshire but its worth it!
Over the last weekend the weather has been glorious and has given me plenty of opportunity to get some hooning done on the roads around here, which are epic!
Car has now just ticked over 120k and is still going strong, need to get it MOT'd in the next few weeks and then i have a drift day booked on April 8th at Oulton Park
. Luckily a witness came with me to assist in getitng details etc.The damage:
With that in mind i was sure the car was going to be a write off, but after some chat with the insurance company they agreed to repair the car. Around £800 of repairs were carried out, this included new front wing, door repair and a blow over respray on the front left 1/4 of the car. Thank the lord!
When it was back me and Dad decided it was the perfect car to nip to B&Q in, never have i laughed so much with the looks we got
The car was then put to bed over winter, i was moving up north with the missus and had no room for the car. Over winter i raised the coilovers again and got them setup properly as i was fed up on the scraping and bone crunching ride.
Now we have some better weather the car is back on the road and living with us up in Manchester, insurance was alot more than back home in Staffordshire but its worth it!
Over the last weekend the weather has been glorious and has given me plenty of opportunity to get some hooning done on the roads around here, which are epic!
Car has now just ticked over 120k and is still going strong, need to get it MOT'd in the next few weeks and then i have a drift day booked on April 8th at Oulton Park
SirSquidalot said:
With that in mind i was sure the car was going to be a write off, but after some chat with the insurance company they agreed to repair the car. Around £800 of repairs were carried out, this included new front wing, door repair and a blow over respray on the front left 1/4 of the car. Thank the lord!
How on earth did you get that?! My Mk1 was written off with a £1000 bill for a new bumper and sidelight!
So car was booked in for an MOT saturday:
Failed on:
Emissions (I new this as it has a gutted cat, due to the now cured low ride height the previous cat i fitted smashed)
No side lights (Feel abit of a knob on this one as i didnt do my usual pre MOT check)
Offside inner sill corroded (Bugger...)
Advisory:
Exhaust blowing slightly at centre section.
Not the end of the world then, luckily i had bought a new cat so thats ready to go on, this will be done along with the welding on wednesday, the bulbs i've sorted
So same old MX5 tale then, fighting against rusty sills. I should get them done properly really but i'm not one who focusses on aesthetics, i just like driving it and not having to worry about stone chips or car park dings.
Once this all gets sorted it may be coming with us on a little road trip to Edinburgh over easter, lets see how this week goes
Failed on:
Emissions (I new this as it has a gutted cat, due to the now cured low ride height the previous cat i fitted smashed)
No side lights (Feel abit of a knob on this one as i didnt do my usual pre MOT check)
Offside inner sill corroded (Bugger...)
Advisory:
Exhaust blowing slightly at centre section.
Not the end of the world then, luckily i had bought a new cat so thats ready to go on, this will be done along with the welding on wednesday, the bulbs i've sorted
So same old MX5 tale then, fighting against rusty sills. I should get them done properly really but i'm not one who focusses on aesthetics, i just like driving it and not having to worry about stone chips or car park dings.
Once this all gets sorted it may be coming with us on a little road trip to Edinburgh over easter, lets see how this week goes
Time for another update.
Car was put in for welding and to have my new cat fitted, work was done and the car then flew through its MOT. Hurrah!
So it was time for our trip to Edinburgh, we packed up Good Friday and travelled a solid 4 hours up to bonnie Scotland, car didn’t miss a beat and wasn’t too bad on fuel.
One thing to note however, Edinburgh's roads are atrocious, I mean biblically bad. Pot holes everywhere and a mixture of broken and cracked surfaces in between.
We came back on the Sunday in the worst weather I have ever seen, however the little MX5 felt well planted and inspired confidence in the wet.
From the trip to Edinburgh i was starting to really notice the scuttle shake and general floppiness of the car. From doing some research a clever bloke in the US had come up with a simple yet brilliant solution.
Door bushes made of Delrin: http://garagestar.com/blog/?product=garage-star-de...
These replace the standard rubber OEM pieces and work off the principle of strengthening the car by allowing the doors to have no play, which means less chassis flex.
I was sceptical however comparing them to the oem bushes did give me some confidence.
They took 10 mins to fit and from a test drive i can confirm they eliminate 90% of scuttle shake and the general floppiness of the chassis is improved!
Next up is a drift day at Outlon park on Friday!
Car was put in for welding and to have my new cat fitted, work was done and the car then flew through its MOT. Hurrah!
So it was time for our trip to Edinburgh, we packed up Good Friday and travelled a solid 4 hours up to bonnie Scotland, car didn’t miss a beat and wasn’t too bad on fuel.
One thing to note however, Edinburgh's roads are atrocious, I mean biblically bad. Pot holes everywhere and a mixture of broken and cracked surfaces in between.
We came back on the Sunday in the worst weather I have ever seen, however the little MX5 felt well planted and inspired confidence in the wet.
From the trip to Edinburgh i was starting to really notice the scuttle shake and general floppiness of the car. From doing some research a clever bloke in the US had come up with a simple yet brilliant solution.
Door bushes made of Delrin: http://garagestar.com/blog/?product=garage-star-de...
These replace the standard rubber OEM pieces and work off the principle of strengthening the car by allowing the doors to have no play, which means less chassis flex.
I was sceptical however comparing them to the oem bushes did give me some confidence.
They took 10 mins to fit and from a test drive i can confirm they eliminate 90% of scuttle shake and the general floppiness of the chassis is improved!
Next up is a drift day at Outlon park on Friday!
Krikkit said:
Where'd the door rubber bits come from out of interest, did they really make that much difference?
I got them from Moss - http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/bush-set-door-bushing... (No affiliation with myself)Honestly i can feel the difference, my car suffered with the side windows rattling and the car shuddering majorly over poor surfaces (Partially due to the stiff setup). These bushes do stiffen te cabin up nicely and the car feels a little more supple over those bad surfaces. It’s not eliminated all the shake but it has certainly reduced it.
I always forget about this thread, time for an update
The drift day I attended at Oulton park was great fun, I built on my technique and most important of all the car never missed a beat! It did however get filthy due to what they soak the surface in.
For the rest of 2016 the car was as reliable as ever, its seen a fair few country roads this year including driving to France and back. It hasn’t needed much apart from a quick home service and an aux belt change.
My friends had been pestering me to come along to a "proper" drift day with them, I agreed to take the car out on New Year’s Eve at Teesside for the annual drift day. I managed to fit a fair few tires and tools in the 5 and set about on my way.
The day was a lot different to the Oulton drift days I had done, the car needed to be pushed harder to get the best out of it. The MX5 is certainly a challenging drift car, it’s very snappy and due to low power and needs an abundance of clutch kicks. It was a steep learning curve; I did however get there in the end.
Next up I have a track day booked at Oulton park for the 17th Feb which should be good fun.
After this who knows what, it may be time for a change as i fancy a hot hatch
The inital plan was a TVR but financial suicide isnt a wise idea at my age. We will see what this year brings!
The drift day I attended at Oulton park was great fun, I built on my technique and most important of all the car never missed a beat! It did however get filthy due to what they soak the surface in.
For the rest of 2016 the car was as reliable as ever, its seen a fair few country roads this year including driving to France and back. It hasn’t needed much apart from a quick home service and an aux belt change.
My friends had been pestering me to come along to a "proper" drift day with them, I agreed to take the car out on New Year’s Eve at Teesside for the annual drift day. I managed to fit a fair few tires and tools in the 5 and set about on my way.
The day was a lot different to the Oulton drift days I had done, the car needed to be pushed harder to get the best out of it. The MX5 is certainly a challenging drift car, it’s very snappy and due to low power and needs an abundance of clutch kicks. It was a steep learning curve; I did however get there in the end.
Next up I have a track day booked at Oulton park for the 17th Feb which should be good fun.
After this who knows what, it may be time for a change as i fancy a hot hatch
The inital plan was a TVR but financial suicide isnt a wise idea at my age. We will see what this year brings!Edited by SirSquidalot on Monday 9th January 14:32
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