Does anyone do anything interesting with there '5 ?

[chockymonster]

franv8 said:

chockymonster said:

The next job I have to do on our Eunos is repair a rusty bit in the sill front of the rear passenger wheel.

I've got no idea on how to go about it though

I had this - on the Eunos witht eh chrome (prob stainless steel kickplates) - over time the edge wore through the paint inder the plate and then I believe it was an electrolytic action at either end of both kickplates. The driver side rotted to a small quarter inch hole (took a few years to get to this mind). Haven't got a welding set at the moment so a friend just filled the hole with a mig, ground it back and now I'm repainting that bit. Is your rust in the same position? It's a pretty easy repair in truth. Only thing is I've bent the sill plates getting them off...

Not the same place but I haven't looked under the kickplates.



Poor picture but it does explain the problem, I did treat it and it hasn't got any worse but I want to make it look pretty again.

[NiceCupOfTea]

phatmanace said:

NiceCupOfTea said:

So far I have:

- replaced the Recaro bucket for a standard Mk.1 seat (although it is still the wrong type with separate seatbelt stalk)
- wired up the headrest speakers (although the pass. seat ones are much louder!)
- Had a full service (all belts and fluids sorted)
- Flushed and refilled with fully synth to sort the HLA rattle
- 4 wheel align
- Fitted a mesh grille to protect the radiator
- washed, claybared, Megs 3 staged, and Renovo'd the roof

- thrashed the nuts off it

Still to do: new back box due to loose baffle, sort seats/speakers...

Which speakers did you put in the headrest? - and did you already have the wiring looms or did you have to do the whole shebang...?.. only ask as I'm about to do the same thing on my '5'

Well...

It's a 94 on model Mk.1 Eunos, so it has the later style Mk.1 cloth seats (with the integral seatbelt clip) with headrest speakers and seat back "thumper".

Unfortunately the driver's seat had been repalced with a tiny Recaro that sat far too far forward, high up, and was too small to accommodate my arse!

Got hold of a a pair of cloth seats, but sadly they are the earlier type with no seatbelt clips, no "thumpers" and a slightly different pattern.

I wired up the headrest speakers anyway, but irritatingly they are much much quieter than the passenger headrest speakers I guess they have a different impedance...

So, I am still looking for a 94 on cloth seat with headrest speakers / thumper / integral seatbelt clip

The car has a connector coming up under the seat, and the seat should have a connector (although mine came with bare metal wires). I get the impression that it changed several times over its life.

There is a guide somewhere on the net on how to fit them - try asking on the mx5oc forum

[steve bowen]

chockymonster said:

The next job I have to do on our Eunos is repair a rusty bit in the sill front of the rear passenger wheel.

I've got no idea on how to go about it though

Rust is one of thoese things its best to totally get rid of. With this in mind a brand new front wing is less than £100 from MX5 parts.

[chockymonster]

But it's the rear wing
That's the front of the rear arch, just in front of the passenger rear wheel.

[Wigeon Incognito]

chockymonster said:

But it's the rear wing
That's the front of the rear arch, just in front of the passenger rear wheel.

Wing or sill? Looks like sill from the photo.

If it is the sill then that's the classic rust spot on the MX-5 (normally due to blocked drain holes).

Unfortunately they rust from the inside out so once it's visible, that part of the sill is truly shot. Repairs can be cheap but I'd get a few recommendations from other people on here as the difference in the quality of repairs I've seen has been huge.

[franv8]

If you can't see any rust round the kickplates then don't worry - it was purely around the ends on mine, I was worried about what I'd find underneath but it was like it left the factory.

Hole in the sill, best answer is get the rust cut out and weld in new alas. I doubt it'll be a large area on a 5. Capri I once had had a hole about the size of a golf ball in the outer sill, I ended up doing the bottom 6 inches of the car along that side by the time I'd finished...

Sprayed primer so far onto bootlid and backpanel, have debadged rear panel too (2 holes to fill) - sorry about being a touch excited, have always been frightened of bodywork so these are new steps for me!

Seems a lot of people have blown cars here - I'm guessing stock power got boring a bit quickly then!

[redgriff500]

With it or to it ?

With this one I have :

Fitted:

JR Supercharger and AFPR, then upgraded to Powercard and Bipes
DIY Water Injection (currently diconnected)
Sound deadened doors
Upgraded speakers (Ok, only actually got one fitted so far)
Fitted Mk2 glass screened hood
16" Rover alloys
Koni suspension
FM ARB's
Wilwood Big Brakes
Exige seats
4-1 manifold
JR system
DIY cat replacement box

And probably a few other bits... loads more to do too !

Edited by redgriff500 on Thursday 7th June 18:32

[lord summerisle]

MX-5 Lazza said:

So yes, I'd say I'm doing a few interesting things with my '5

so when are you entering the MX5OC speed championship... was most disappointed to see no '5s entered at the last round at Loton Park when the Hillclimb and Sprint Association (which is looking after the championship) was one of the invited clubs. i've only heard of one guy in this years championship.

for me, i need to changed the oil in the gearbox & diff, get a new clutch soon, find a way of getting the rear disks off to fit new disks and pads, get the rust sorted on both rear sills...

damnit! too much to do!

[MX-5 Lazza]

lord summerisle said:

so when are you entering the MX5OC speed championship... was most disappointed to see no '5s entered at the last round at Loton Park when the Hillclimb and Sprint Association (which is looking after the championship) was one of the invited clubs. i've only heard of one guy in this years championship.

I'm not quite at that level just yet and I have a fair bit to do to the car before I'm happy with that too.
Kev Hamilton, up in Scotland (a good friend of mine) is the only person I know who's competing at the moment and he's not doing that with the OC (he had a write-up in STHT).

To be honest I'm disillusioned with the OC. There are some good people on there but there are also a bunch of tossers who seem to be out to ruin it for everyone else. It's a shame as I've been a member for about 10 years, on the forum for +3 years and on the UK & euro email lists for a few years before that but it's lost it's sparkle. I much prefer the banter on MX-5 Nutz or Cobham Commoners (or PH, SOT, FFS, JDMP, Miata.net...) these days.

[lord summerisle]

dunno his name off hand, but was the only '5 entered in the Lydden Hill sprint at the start of the season.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Kev Hamilton is competing in the Adrian Hemingway Northern Speed Championship.

[franv8]

It's a shame when a few people spoil a website/community for the others. I think for forums to survive this the original community (at least the positive side) just has to carry on ignoring the posts of those who antagonise - they then have no choice to get bored and go somewhere else.

Painting update - made a lot of learnings, like I need to take more measures against garage dust, and the bootlid is a mini disaster (small area of paint reaction and spraying clearcoat is harder - I can safely say it is more prone to runs than the colour and primer coats!) - but back panel is good for a first go. Will bolt it back together with 'redo the bootlid sometime' on the joblist!

[MazDave]

I've been doing the HSA Speed Championship (which has a specific class for MX5s for the first time this year) So far I've done 3 events (Lydden, Wiscombe and Goodwood) and only the last one has had any other MX5s entered apart from me. I think this is mainly due to the large number events (some 18 throughout the year) Only your best 8 scores count though so most people will chose 8 or so events that they want to do so the turn-out at any specific event can be limited.

It really is easy to get in to and you don't need to anything clever with the car (mine is mechanically completely standard) so it's a low cost way into motor sport.

I'd love to be up against a good number of similar cars - that's what the sport is all about, so come along to a round near you and take a look. All the details are on the HSA website

Dave

[MX-5 Lazza]

Well if my car was stock I'd probably give it a go. However it's very modified and needs a bit of fettling before it's finished. Yes it would be quite capable as it is but I'd be much happier with the fuelling & cooling sorted out.

If I was to compete, being supercharged would I be competing directly with other MX-5's or would that put me into a different class with some serious hardware?

[MazDave]

The series is the same as all Motorsport series i.e. if you are supercharged or turbocharged they multiply your engine capacity by 1.4 so you'd move out of the "up to 2.0l" constraint of the class.

Bad news for you - good news for me as I wouldn't stand a chance against FI cars...

Dave

[MX-5 Lazza]

MazDave said:

The series is the same as all Motorsport series i.e. if you are supercharged or turbocharged they multiply your engine capacity by 1.4 so you'd move out of the "up to 2.0l" constraint of the class.

Bad news for you - good news for me as I wouldn't stand a chance against FI cars...

Dave

In the series Kev H is racing in that same engine size multiplier rule applies but it doesn't matter as the biggest engine size class is +1800 anyway. I think it's meant to be a series for small engined cars. I didn't know if that was common in other race series.

[lord summerisle]

MazDave said:

I've been doing the HSA Speed Championship (which has a specific class for MX5s for the first time this year) So far I've done 3 events (Lydden, Wiscombe and Goodwood) and only the last one has had any other MX5s entered apart from me.
Dave

hopefully see you at one if the later events... probly Loton if you come along as i'm down to marshal most of the remaining meetings this year (and i know i'm down for the next HSA day). The only thing thats keeping me out from competing this year is simply cost - i cant afford the entry fees.

i suppose now in the over 2000cc any FI '5 will be completely outclassed... simply by virtue of some of the cars that are eligable for the class...Roger Blacks Audi quattro with is 4500t cc v8... Simon Bainbridge's Audi TT with the same 4.5 v8 turbo... plus various other awd turboed cars that are pushing out around 400-500bhp

[Kinkyboots]

You may find some interesting stuff on http://seroadsters.proboards21.com/
A look of stuff I have done on my car is mentioned on the SE Roasters site - they are a great bunch of guys with good knowledge os 5's so if you ever have any problems its a good place to start. They also organise the odd pub meet and run around Kent.

Edited by Kinkyboots on Friday 15th June 21:21