Crusty MX-5 for the track, more cheap = more better
Discussion
So I have a thread over on the Track Days category, but it's sort of turning more into a build thread type thing. I think it would be more appopriate here.
Thread here. The intention of the original thread was to get some insight and opinions on running a car cheaply for the track. However "cheap" is different for everyone so I don't think the thread really has any value with the way things are going.
A little background about me might be good here, I have zero clue about cars. I'm in my early 30s and lived in central Edinburgh for 15 years, there was no reason for me to own a car. At the time I was a mechanic at a bicycle shop, so my transport was roadbikes and my fun adrenaline hobby was mountain bikes. After leaving that, I couldn't justify the cost of parts/bikes (losing that staff discount sucked). So I never really got back into it. Fast forward to now, new job, settled in house I thought, why not? Got my license 2 years ago, 6 months before my first track day and I'm hooked. My knoweldge about cars comes from a literal 2 year binge of these forums + YouTube. So I'm going to get things wrong, I'm going to f
k up. So this is a journey of learning for me and I hope you enjoy following along. I also own a couple of other cars but those are for another day! (another MX-5 visible on street below 
)
Anyway, meet my crusty (we will get onto that in a bit, but fun stuff first!) MX-5. So I thought I paid £1k for this, but I didn't, it was £1600 according to my partner but I can't remember.
It's got rusty sills, dead paint, the roof leaks in heavy rain, it's a base model (no LSD, no electric windows, literally nothing) and it's been neglected. Zero service history. I actually purchased this off Gumtree from a person who owned it for many years, but sold it to their neghbour. This neighbour is the reason the car is in it's current state, they got a driving ban and it sat on their driveway for years before it was sold back to the person I bought it off. If you believe any of that of course.
Uh, interior was nice before I got my hands on it. It also had 40k miles on the clock at time of purchase which isn't bad for a 24 year old car. It drives straight, bushings aren't a total shambles and I guess someone changed the belts at one point.
So I bought it for the track right? You may be asking what I have done to it over the past year. Absolutely nothing. I ran 7 track events (mixture of nights, 2 hours and half days, 4 hours) on completely stock everything except for brake pads + fluid. After the first track event the pads got replaced with Mintex pads because the ones on it where sketchy as fk and literally stopped working after 5 laps.
Let the fun commence! First off, a dirty spreadsheet that my wife isn't allowed to see. I'm still trying to come up with good data points for this, I'm not overly happy with the overlap on the "type" column but it's a WIP. Gives a good overview at least.
So the car came with 14 inch wheels from the factory, I ran some Uniyroyal rain experts for all of my track days so far, here is how they look after about 1k road miles and the rest on the track.
This is the rear offside tire, the front offside is the same. Of course the nearside tires are actually fine. However, they feel terrible. Super hard. I had quite a bit of trouble on the last track day trying turn the car in because it kept understeering, so I assume the heat cycles have just ruined them.
This picture gives you an idea of the punishment the poor sidewalls have endured
I then proceeded to smash a hole in my sill with a screw driver to see just how bad it was and honestly not that bad, I never took a picture of the hole but the inner sill had mild corrosion, I couldn't put a screwdriver through it even with the help of a hammer. So I simply just patched it over and called it a day. It will come back around later but I suspect the car will be in a wall before then.
Pictures of opposite sides below
The jacking points are solid and the frame rails are good, so not too concerned right now.
The chassis legs are also starting to go, however same thing, I can't go through it with a chisel hammer so I intend to just scrape all the crap off and slap some hammerrite on it. I will fix this before I fix the sills, but I won't be purchasing welding equipment until my spending spree (more on that soon) has been pushed to the part of the brain where things go to get forgotten about:
Oh right, fixing stuff.
So the clutch slave was pissing fluid and at one point I couldn't even change gear. This happened on the way to the track as well but luckily some kind person let me use some brake fluid to top it up and get me through the day. I fit a new slave + braided hose.
This particular hose on the power steering is weeping, but gushes when you go full lock to lock rapidly. Part is ordered.
More to come!
Thread here. The intention of the original thread was to get some insight and opinions on running a car cheaply for the track. However "cheap" is different for everyone so I don't think the thread really has any value with the way things are going.
A little background about me might be good here, I have zero clue about cars. I'm in my early 30s and lived in central Edinburgh for 15 years, there was no reason for me to own a car. At the time I was a mechanic at a bicycle shop, so my transport was roadbikes and my fun adrenaline hobby was mountain bikes. After leaving that, I couldn't justify the cost of parts/bikes (losing that staff discount sucked). So I never really got back into it. Fast forward to now, new job, settled in house I thought, why not? Got my license 2 years ago, 6 months before my first track day and I'm hooked. My knoweldge about cars comes from a literal 2 year binge of these forums + YouTube. So I'm going to get things wrong, I'm going to f
k up. So this is a journey of learning for me and I hope you enjoy following along. I also own a couple of other cars but those are for another day! (another MX-5 visible on street below )Anyway, meet my crusty (we will get onto that in a bit, but fun stuff first!) MX-5. So I thought I paid £1k for this, but I didn't, it was £1600 according to my partner but I can't remember.
The bad?
It's got rusty sills, dead paint, the roof leaks in heavy rain, it's a base model (no LSD, no electric windows, literally nothing) and it's been neglected. Zero service history. I actually purchased this off Gumtree from a person who owned it for many years, but sold it to their neghbour. This neighbour is the reason the car is in it's current state, they got a driving ban and it sat on their driveway for years before it was sold back to the person I bought it off. If you believe any of that of course.
The good?
Uh, interior was nice before I got my hands on it. It also had 40k miles on the clock at time of purchase which isn't bad for a 24 year old car. It drives straight, bushings aren't a total shambles and I guess someone changed the belts at one point.
Journey so far
So I bought it for the track right? You may be asking what I have done to it over the past year. Absolutely nothing. I ran 7 track events (mixture of nights, 2 hours and half days, 4 hours) on completely stock everything except for brake pads + fluid. After the first track event the pads got replaced with Mintex pads because the ones on it where sketchy as f
k and literally stopped working after 5 laps.The fun stuff
Let the fun commence! First off, a dirty spreadsheet that my wife isn't allowed to see. I'm still trying to come up with good data points for this, I'm not overly happy with the overlap on the "type" column but it's a WIP. Gives a good overview at least.
So the car came with 14 inch wheels from the factory, I ran some Uniyroyal rain experts for all of my track days so far, here is how they look after about 1k road miles and the rest on the track.
This is the rear offside tire, the front offside is the same. Of course the nearside tires are actually fine. However, they feel terrible. Super hard. I had quite a bit of trouble on the last track day trying turn the car in because it kept understeering, so I assume the heat cycles have just ruined them.
This picture gives you an idea of the punishment the poor sidewalls have endured
I then proceeded to smash a hole in my sill with a screw driver to see just how bad it was and honestly not that bad, I never took a picture of the hole but the inner sill had mild corrosion, I couldn't put a screwdriver through it even with the help of a hammer. So I simply just patched it over and called it a day. It will come back around later but I suspect the car will be in a wall before then.
Pictures of opposite sides below
The jacking points are solid and the frame rails are good, so not too concerned right now.
The chassis legs are also starting to go, however same thing, I can't go through it with a chisel hammer so I intend to just scrape all the crap off and slap some hammerrite on it. I will fix this before I fix the sills, but I won't be purchasing welding equipment until my spending spree (more on that soon) has been pushed to the part of the brain where things go to get forgotten about:
Oh right, fixing stuff.
So the clutch slave was pissing fluid and at one point I couldn't even change gear. This happened on the way to the track as well but luckily some kind person let me use some brake fluid to top it up and get me through the day. I fit a new slave + braided hose.
This particular hose on the power steering is weeping, but gushes when you go full lock to lock rapidly. Part is ordered.
More to come!
Edited by TheLoraxxZeus on Tuesday 27th August 13:42
So the replacement pipe for the power steering has arrived, I hope to get it fit tonight but will see
Lets talk wheels. So the car came with 14s as I previously said, however tire choice on the 14s is limited. (well it was at the budget end). I started by sourcing some cheap banged up ones off facebook, which was a mistake, I'll either sell these or use them to get back and forth to the track with a more wet appopriate road tire fit
Not that there is anything wrong with these, I paid £270 for them with tires. However them being 16s, tire choices are not only just as limited as 14s but also cost a st load more than 15s. I had a phone call with the lovely folk over at Bofi racing and their advice was to just spend money and get proper track tires. I started shopping around for AR-1s and noticed that 14s, 15s and 16s were available. I decided to buy 15s at a £117 per tire + a set of pre-loved 15s
I do wish I had considered AR-1s at first, I ordered the 15s before I realised 14s were availble. So I could have saved money. I'll get these fit locally end of this week hopefully.
Last but not least for now, I do have ZetaRace coilovers sitting and waiting to be fit but trying to find the time is a nightmare
Lets talk wheels. So the car came with 14s as I previously said, however tire choice on the 14s is limited. (well it was at the budget end). I started by sourcing some cheap banged up ones off facebook, which was a mistake, I'll either sell these or use them to get back and forth to the track with a more wet appopriate road tire fit
Not that there is anything wrong with these, I paid £270 for them with tires. However them being 16s, tire choices are not only just as limited as 14s but also cost a s
t load more than 15s. I had a phone call with the lovely folk over at Bofi racing and their advice was to just spend money and get proper track tires. I started shopping around for AR-1s and noticed that 14s, 15s and 16s were available. I decided to buy 15s at a £117 per tire + a set of pre-loved 15sI do wish I had considered AR-1s at first, I ordered the 15s before I realised 14s were availble. So I could have saved money. I'll get these fit locally end of this week hopefully.
Last but not least for now, I do have ZetaRace coilovers sitting and waiting to be fit but trying to find the time is a nightmare
Managed to get the new pipe in, was a right pain in the hole really. Rusty ass bolts, awkward angles and power steering fluid over everything. I did try cleaning the area but got so fked off with the pipe I just wanted it done. The fitment was st, had to really force it into position to allow the mounting brackets to align up.
I've had to cut my undertray off to do any of these because all the bolts are completely rounded, some snapped as well. So the undertray is not going on. This means the ugly ass rusty bits on the chassis rails might raise concerns with the MOT garage despite it being solid. I ground it all back and slapped a layer of underseal on it. Didn't spend too much time grinding, mostly just the high spots and surface rust. Photo was not the final work but I forgot to take a picture of all the bare metal.
MOT booked for tomorrow so hope all goes well!
ked off with the pipe I just wanted it done. The fitment was st, had to really force it into position to allow the mounting brackets to align up.I've had to cut my undertray off to do any of these because all the bolts are completely rounded, some snapped as well. So the undertray is not going on. This means the ugly ass rusty bits on the chassis rails might raise concerns with the MOT garage despite it being solid. I ground it all back and slapped a layer of underseal on it. Didn't spend too much time grinding, mostly just the high spots and surface rust. Photo was not the final work but I forgot to take a picture of all the bare metal.
MOT booked for tomorrow so hope all goes well!
MOT been and gone. Not particularly happy. I got a phone call about an hour after dropping it off saying it was all good, it passed and is ready for collection.
I start organizing all the stuff I need to get done before the 14th, booked alignment, booked shop to put new tires on rims and arranged for 2 of my friends to help with the car. Then what happens as I am walking on the way to the garage?
"Oh sorry, I called the wrong customer, your car is not ready and it failed". I'm internally pissed off but no point venting that with them as it won't change the outcome.
It failed due to rear sills being crusty (should have seen it coming...) and a weeping brake hardline however I don't actually see it weeping, pretty sure it's just power steering fluid that I've caused to run down the pipe. Garage quoted me £160 to fix the brake line (lol) and £80 to do the welding.
So anyway, fk all that. I started fitting coilovers:
Firstly, to whomever designed these things, you can go stub your toe. Nightmare to cut off because of the arms in the way.
I then made an attempt at the nearside and kind of lost my temper. I don't have a spanner to remove the top long bolt and to be honest, I don't think it will budge anyway. So I had to remove the lower ball joint on boths sides to be able to have the space to drop the old coilover. The bottom ball joint vertical bolt was stuck, I ended up rounding it because I just couldn't get good purchase on it. Not that it was turning anyway. A neighbour lent me some bolt extractors that did the trick
However now I need a new set of bolts, I've just ordered a full set for the rear and will replace them all while I am there.
Now onto the real problems, I've booked in to get the sill welded up to pass the MOT and I really don't think that brake line is weeping, however it is quite crusty so I've just got this in the post, which will replace the hardline that goes from the front to rear, between the junctions (I think).
Time is tight, I'm actually starting to think I should have seeked a refund on the track day I've got booked on the 14th. New MOT is booked in for this Friday, I still need to get an alignment once all this is fit. There are some things I simply won't be able to do, like fitting my bucket seats and harnesses
.
Also I was going to give the MOT garage another chance before I decided to go elsewhere, so when I booked in this car, I also tried to book in my other MX-5 and I was greeted with "I'm actually on the phone and I need to pick up, I'll phone you back". Yeah no, why pick up another call in the first place if you're already on another important phone call?!?!
Once I'm done there, will find somewhere else because the front desk employee seems to be dense as fk.
I start organizing all the stuff I need to get done before the 14th, booked alignment, booked shop to put new tires on rims and arranged for 2 of my friends to help with the car. Then what happens as I am walking on the way to the garage?
"Oh sorry, I called the wrong customer, your car is not ready and it failed". I'm internally pissed off but no point venting that with them as it won't change the outcome.
It failed due to rear sills being crusty (should have seen it coming...) and a weeping brake hardline however I don't actually see it weeping, pretty sure it's just power steering fluid that I've caused to run down the pipe. Garage quoted me £160 to fix the brake line (lol) and £80 to do the welding.
So anyway, f
k all that. I started fitting coilovers:Firstly, to whomever designed these things, you can go stub your toe. Nightmare to cut off because of the arms in the way.
I then made an attempt at the nearside and kind of lost my temper. I don't have a spanner to remove the top long bolt and to be honest, I don't think it will budge anyway. So I had to remove the lower ball joint on boths sides to be able to have the space to drop the old coilover. The bottom ball joint vertical bolt was stuck, I ended up rounding it because I just couldn't get good purchase on it. Not that it was turning anyway. A neighbour lent me some bolt extractors that did the trick
However now I need a new set of bolts, I've just ordered a full set for the rear and will replace them all while I am there.
Now onto the real problems, I've booked in to get the sill welded up to pass the MOT and I really don't think that brake line is weeping, however it is quite crusty so I've just got this in the post, which will replace the hardline that goes from the front to rear, between the junctions (I think).
Time is tight, I'm actually starting to think I should have seeked a refund on the track day I've got booked on the 14th. New MOT is booked in for this Friday, I still need to get an alignment once all this is fit. There are some things I simply won't be able to do, like fitting my bucket seats and harnesses
.Also I was going to give the MOT garage another chance before I decided to go elsewhere, so when I booked in this car, I also tried to book in my other MX-5 and I was greeted with "I'm actually on the phone and I need to pick up, I'll phone you back". Yeah no, why pick up another call in the first place if you're already on another important phone call?!?!
Once I'm done there, will find somewhere else because the front desk employee seems to be dense as f
k.Edited by TheLoraxxZeus on Monday 2nd September 10:23
Cambs_Stuart said:
Really enjoying the updates and always good to see another MX5 getting ready for the track track. I've got a clio 172, and always find the MX5 owners to be a good group on a trackday.
Ha thanks, I do like the idea of owning something like a Clio 172, Fiesta ST or Megane but I've sorta committed to RWD cars.Also agree, I think it's impossible to be angry and drive a top down car!
Lucky enough a friend hooked me up with a spare bolt for the lower ball joint. So fast forward a few days.
Welding is done on the sill, 100% a hacky job and that's reflected in the price. However, I care not because the car passed MOT today! A friend and I spent all yesterday replacing the front the rear hardline and it was a right faff, everything stuck, awkward angles for the brackets. Had to cut both brackets off the chassis rails that hold the hardlines in place since the bolts were practically welded to it. I'll get pics up soon for my "solution" to this.
In the mean time, I popped out to grab the wheels from the fitter and not sure if I'm happy.
Nangkang fitting guide states that the yellow dot should align with the valve stem, it does not on any of these wheels. I'm assuming this helps with balance, either through less weights or none at all. Is it normal to just ignore these and use weights?
Welding is done on the sill, 100% a hacky job and that's reflected in the price. However, I care not because the car passed MOT today! A friend and I spent all yesterday replacing the front the rear hardline and it was a right faff, everything stuck, awkward angles for the brackets. Had to cut both brackets off the chassis rails that hold the hardlines in place since the bolts were practically welded to it. I'll get pics up soon for my "solution" to this.
In the mean time, I popped out to grab the wheels from the fitter and not sure if I'm happy.
Nangkang fitting guide states that the yellow dot should align with the valve stem, it does not on any of these wheels. I'm assuming this helps with balance, either through less weights or none at all. Is it normal to just ignore these and use weights?
Dr G said:
Have they needed to use a lot of weights? If not I wouldn't worry about it.
Uh, 3-5 per wheel. Not sure what constitutes a lot.Dr G said:
Good little project!
Ha cheers, it's getting there. 8 days until track day, might even be 6 days because I spotted another full day event on the 12th but not sure if I can sneak it off work 
.Been a while since updates, work has been mad and honestly the recent work on the car left me not wanting to even look at it.
I did go along to the SIDCs track morning on the 14th of September, took along a friend and his mate tagged along as well. It was an OK day, I had fun but was really disappointed because it was absolutely pishing down so never got to try the AR-1s. I did take them incase the line started to dry up but right when it was started to, it came down again.
I also went along to Crail Raceway yesterday and uh....yeah it's certainly different. Obviously the track surface is not as good as Knockhill but it is £35 vs £150-250. Was not a fan of their take on safety at all, no passing rules, people were still going round the track during a yellow at full pelt, there was 3 marshals posted and none of them had flags so they done the whole "hand wave down" thing to tell you to slow down.
What really shocked me is that they expect you to pull over, on a live track, and pickup anything you crash into to. So you knock a tire wall over? Get out and fix it....
Anyway I got to try the AR-1s and they are kinda wild, I actually think my car is too slow for Crail due to the length of the straights so I could pretty much just pin it around 3 of the corners and the other ones I could take at stupid speeds, especially compared to everyone else. I kept getting stuck behind people at a lot of the corners and of course, there is no blue flags and they never check their mirrors.
I think thats my track time for this year up. The car seems to be having an issue going into 2nd when under load, and when the car is sideways and hooks back up there is a horrendous thud coming from the rear offside which happens to be the side with the "modified" lower control arm.
Oh and I'm shopping for power upgrades for next year, more on that later.
I did go along to the SIDCs track morning on the 14th of September, took along a friend and his mate tagged along as well. It was an OK day, I had fun but was really disappointed because it was absolutely pishing down so never got to try the AR-1s. I did take them incase the line started to dry up but right when it was started to, it came down again
.I also went along to Crail Raceway yesterday and uh....yeah it's certainly different. Obviously the track surface is not as good as Knockhill but it is £35 vs £150-250. Was not a fan of their take on safety at all, no passing rules, people were still going round the track during a yellow at full pelt, there was 3 marshals posted and none of them had flags so they done the whole "hand wave down" thing to tell you to slow down.
What really shocked me is that they expect you to pull over, on a live track, and pickup anything you crash into to. So you knock a tire wall over? Get out and fix it....
Anyway I got to try the AR-1s and they are kinda wild, I actually think my car is too slow for Crail due to the length of the straights so I could pretty much just pin it around 3 of the corners and the other ones I could take at stupid speeds, especially compared to everyone else. I kept getting stuck behind people at a lot of the corners and of course, there is no blue flags and they never check their mirrors.
I think thats my track time for this year up. The car seems to be having an issue going into 2nd when under load, and when the car is sideways and hooks back up there is a horrendous thud coming from the rear offside which happens to be the side with the "modified" lower control arm.
Oh and I'm shopping for power upgrades for next year, more on that later
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