Nelly the £300 MX5! Bangerific?!
Discussion
Hi all,
I'm an auto electrician by trade and when visiting one of my garages that I deal with for the last 9-12months there has been this rather sad looking MX5 parked with it's nose in the hedge, so it's story goes like this....
It was dropped into the garage because it was running rough, little else was said. Upon looking around the vehicle they found 2ltrs of coolant in the boot, and an empty bottle with coolant residue in it... the car had boiled at some point. A compression test revealed low compression so a new headgasket was fitted along with a new radiator (cause of the problem) and upon start up was not alot better. So off came the head again and all the valves, stem oil seals and the head was rebuilt and put back on. The car now runs spot on.
Left over the weekend, first start monday morning runs fine for 5-20 seconds then clouds of thick white smoke from the exhaust (smells of burning oil). Compression is very good, oil usage is not so good... So the lady decided she would pay what she could of the bill and write the car over to the garage, who didn't have the time or inclination to carry out a repair.
So here I have my £300 1995 Mazda Eunos Roadster 1.8 S Special in Black.
So that's the beginning of the story of M23 NEL aka "Nelly the Elephant"
So today begain the initial clean up/see what we've got... so after a quick bucket of soapy water and a hose down we were left with what looks like could be a good car. The paint is flat and rough as a badgers arse, but when all the little repairs are done it'll get a full detail and see if we can bring life back into the tired looking paint.
At some point the rear panel has been replaced with one from a British car, so it can have the standard size plate added. I prefer an Eunos one myself but we'll wait for that to some along.
It has also had the drivers side outer sill panel repaired as well, it's a neat enough repair but doesn't include the standard swage line and I can see some surface rust creaping into the rear arch from the sill area, so I shall look into this at a later date. The n/s sill is also looking a little tired in the usual place, so I'm going to probably get it MOT'd and then see just how much needs doing to make her reasonable.
There is worryingly a little rust around the screen edges, and the n/s A pillar lower. The rust only looks superficial but I think it needs the wing off to look into it any deeper, and they we get to the n/s wing... well it's a bit mangled. So it is going to get replaced, mainly because it's hideous but it will also tie in nicely with any A- Pillar repair work I have to do.
Rust to bottom of A pillar
Rust to top of A pillar
The front end is ok other than that, with no damage to the panels until the drivers rear quarter which has quite a large dent. I'll look into getting a paintless dent repair man on that one, or take it to a good local bodyshop I know.
So I thought I'd clear the bin bag of rubbish from in the car, so get to work and also removed the boot interior trim to find this....
£52 worth of pound coils in the jacks little recess, which makes my £300 car actually a £248 car... BARGAIN! I also found this, which will be kept and will be worn at least once to amuse friends/family!
The car's door sticker reveals it as a S-Special (Limited Edition) but it's lost it's BBS wheels for some 15" TSW's atm, which I'll be looking at getting changed. The Nardi wheel is still there but looking a bit tired, and the gear knob fell off in my hand whilst manouvering round the drive so will get that replaced with a tasteful add-on. The hood doesn't look in too bad shape but it leaks around the top of both the windows and at the n/s latch, so will have to have it apart to inspect said area. The idea for me is to make it OEM+ so will do a few minor mods tastefully to just make it a bit nicer to drive and look at. I'm going to get it up in the air at the weekend to assess the undersides and give the brakes a quick clean up, but for now I have a little list of things:
Remove interior - deep clean and refit (inc. carpet out)
Clean brakes - replace parts where needed with mx5oc recommendations
Service Transmission - New oil for diff and gearbox, new shifter oil and boots (if needed)
Sort oil consumption - Sounds like rings, but new rocker gasket on order to try before leak off test
Clean underneith - Apply Kurust, Stonechip and Waxoil where needed.
Sort leaking hood
New battery - going for a lightweight race style battery (sealed, no gas, no acid, no hassle) and a battery disconnect switch in the boot.
Service engine inc. new belts, waterpump and a good detailing.
Thanks for reading and any advice/thoughts would be greatly appriciated.
All the best,
Daniel
I'm an auto electrician by trade and when visiting one of my garages that I deal with for the last 9-12months there has been this rather sad looking MX5 parked with it's nose in the hedge, so it's story goes like this....
It was dropped into the garage because it was running rough, little else was said. Upon looking around the vehicle they found 2ltrs of coolant in the boot, and an empty bottle with coolant residue in it... the car had boiled at some point. A compression test revealed low compression so a new headgasket was fitted along with a new radiator (cause of the problem) and upon start up was not alot better. So off came the head again and all the valves, stem oil seals and the head was rebuilt and put back on. The car now runs spot on.
Left over the weekend, first start monday morning runs fine for 5-20 seconds then clouds of thick white smoke from the exhaust (smells of burning oil). Compression is very good, oil usage is not so good... So the lady decided she would pay what she could of the bill and write the car over to the garage, who didn't have the time or inclination to carry out a repair.
So here I have my £300 1995 Mazda Eunos Roadster 1.8 S Special in Black.
So that's the beginning of the story of M23 NEL aka "Nelly the Elephant"
So today begain the initial clean up/see what we've got... so after a quick bucket of soapy water and a hose down we were left with what looks like could be a good car. The paint is flat and rough as a badgers arse, but when all the little repairs are done it'll get a full detail and see if we can bring life back into the tired looking paint.
At some point the rear panel has been replaced with one from a British car, so it can have the standard size plate added. I prefer an Eunos one myself but we'll wait for that to some along.
It has also had the drivers side outer sill panel repaired as well, it's a neat enough repair but doesn't include the standard swage line and I can see some surface rust creaping into the rear arch from the sill area, so I shall look into this at a later date. The n/s sill is also looking a little tired in the usual place, so I'm going to probably get it MOT'd and then see just how much needs doing to make her reasonable.
There is worryingly a little rust around the screen edges, and the n/s A pillar lower. The rust only looks superficial but I think it needs the wing off to look into it any deeper, and they we get to the n/s wing... well it's a bit mangled. So it is going to get replaced, mainly because it's hideous but it will also tie in nicely with any A- Pillar repair work I have to do.
Rust to bottom of A pillar
Rust to top of A pillar
The front end is ok other than that, with no damage to the panels until the drivers rear quarter which has quite a large dent. I'll look into getting a paintless dent repair man on that one, or take it to a good local bodyshop I know.
So I thought I'd clear the bin bag of rubbish from in the car, so get to work and also removed the boot interior trim to find this....
£52 worth of pound coils in the jacks little recess, which makes my £300 car actually a £248 car... BARGAIN! I also found this, which will be kept and will be worn at least once to amuse friends/family!
The car's door sticker reveals it as a S-Special (Limited Edition) but it's lost it's BBS wheels for some 15" TSW's atm, which I'll be looking at getting changed. The Nardi wheel is still there but looking a bit tired, and the gear knob fell off in my hand whilst manouvering round the drive so will get that replaced with a tasteful add-on. The hood doesn't look in too bad shape but it leaks around the top of both the windows and at the n/s latch, so will have to have it apart to inspect said area. The idea for me is to make it OEM+ so will do a few minor mods tastefully to just make it a bit nicer to drive and look at. I'm going to get it up in the air at the weekend to assess the undersides and give the brakes a quick clean up, but for now I have a little list of things:
Remove interior - deep clean and refit (inc. carpet out)
Clean brakes - replace parts where needed with mx5oc recommendations
Service Transmission - New oil for diff and gearbox, new shifter oil and boots (if needed)
Sort oil consumption - Sounds like rings, but new rocker gasket on order to try before leak off test
Clean underneith - Apply Kurust, Stonechip and Waxoil where needed.
Sort leaking hood
New battery - going for a lightweight race style battery (sealed, no gas, no acid, no hassle) and a battery disconnect switch in the boot.
Service engine inc. new belts, waterpump and a good detailing.
Thanks for reading and any advice/thoughts would be greatly appriciated.
All the best,
Daniel
What a bargain!
I dont know if it's a common thing with MX5's but i found a total of £18 in mine when i bought it!
Going slightly off topic, but i notice youre an auto electrician. Would you have any idea how much it would cost, roughly, to have an MX5 rewired (not including a new loom, i already have one)?
I dont know if it's a common thing with MX5's but i found a total of £18 in mine when i bought it!
Going slightly off topic, but i notice youre an auto electrician. Would you have any idea how much it would cost, roughly, to have an MX5 rewired (not including a new loom, i already have one)?
I never get why people (like the original owner) spend money getting a garage stripping down an MX5 engine to try and fix it.
http://www.autolinkmx5.com/engine-mx-5-18-mk1-bp-c...
A bit over £400 and you can get a complete working one.
http://www.autolinkmx5.com/engine-mx-5-18-mk1-bp-c...
A bit over £400 and you can get a complete working one.
Just buy a working second hand engine, it will be cheaper!
Also, if you are not going for perfect car, some of those dents will push out and leave a little crease and hopefully not crack the paint (if heated a little).
Dont sink money into it, it will be excellent (engine should be sub £200). Start sinking money into it and you will regret it!
Good luck, they are excellent little cars- your car might/should have LSD.
Also, if you are not going for perfect car, some of those dents will push out and leave a little crease and hopefully not crack the paint (if heated a little).
Dont sink money into it, it will be excellent (engine should be sub £200). Start sinking money into it and you will regret it!
Good luck, they are excellent little cars- your car might/should have LSD.
Excellent buy.
I will watch with interest what the final on the road cost turns out to be.
A good buy in anybodies book.
The difference in the durability and performance of these cars compared to the dreadful non durability and poor performance of the MGB, which is the car Toyota was seeking to better, is very saddening to me and other UK enthusiasts.
No wonder the BMC/BL/Rover/every/other/reincarnation went bust.
Well done to you good luck with the restoration.
I will watch with interest what the final on the road cost turns out to be.
A good buy in anybodies book.
The difference in the durability and performance of these cars compared to the dreadful non durability and poor performance of the MGB, which is the car Toyota was seeking to better, is very saddening to me and other UK enthusiasts.
No wonder the BMC/BL/Rover/every/other/reincarnation went bust.
Well done to you good luck with the restoration.
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