RE: Shed Of The Week: Mazda Eunos S-Special

RE: Shed Of The Week: Mazda Eunos S-Special

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Discussion

Brompty

153 posts

143 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
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Trabi601 said:
Wouldn't buy a Mk1 with any mention of corrosion in the MOT - that one has knackered sills and at least one arch.

If you can see the rust bubbling, it'll be 10 times worse once you start cutting back to good metal.

Better to spend more and get one that has had all the work done - there are only 2 kinds of MX5 Mk1 out there - ones where someone has spent several hundred quid on sorting the rot and ones where someone will have to do it very soon! - I flogged mine rather than try to fix it up.
Just check Youtube videos for proof of this - the cars rust from the inside out so by the time it is visible there can be not much left.
I would love one though. I met an owner the last time my Mini was in the garage: the looks and the fact that parts are so easy to get hold of make these a great buy.

paul n

247 posts

168 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
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Ved said:
Had one very similar. Great little thing but the most uncomfortable car I've owned for ride quality.

One clean Eunos! by David Gaunt, on Flickr

Eunos sale photos by David Gaunt, on Flickr

2010-09-25 at 20-06-16 by David Gaunt, on Flickr

Best mod ever by David Gaunt, on Flickr
did you have spacers on the wheels on your car? if so what size? looks good and I thinking of doing similar to my s special (supercharged) smile paul

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
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bmv6197 said:
As for the tyres, anyone who's had the "pleasure" of running Pirelli P6000 on an MX5/Eunos Roadster will note their astounding ability to never wear out, and when cold or wet, to provide a similar level of traction to a greased monkey. If only they'd made the MX5's sills out of an equally solid, robust material... But after a few brown-trouser moments on wet roundabouts, the new owner will surely be waving goodbye to his/her Italian rubber in favour of one of the very reasonably priced other alternatives...
^^^^^^ THIS THIS THIS! I bought a Eunos with a pair of P6000s on the back. I had them on the front of a Volvo T5 at the time and they were fine, but OMFG they were unbelievably poor on the MX5. If the road was slightly damp you would find the back end sliding all over the place on roundabouts even if you were going Honda Jazz speed. Took them off and sold them on eBay after the 4th time they gave me a scare.

Lester H

2,673 posts

104 months

Saturday 22nd October 2016
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What an interesting history of reviews the MX5 has! For at least a decade, the pure Series 1 ( and it has to be the best looker) could do no wrong. Of course we are harking back to a time when British cars broke down a lot. Then we started to hear about the rot in the sills and arches just like - say - a Montego. So then the fatter mk 2 became the one to have, according to the pundits in those lovely glossy classic mags, with most cars out of the reach of mere mortals.However, then these started to rust/ get damp interiors through leaking hoods, etc. We were told Eunos was no good because of lack of underseal, now same pundits tell us they are the best buys, as they have better spec. Nice car, not as immortal as we were led to believe.

suffolk009

5,344 posts

164 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
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There are problems with the sills and rear arches. Can't deny that.

But its easy and relatively inexpensive to fix. Stop worrying about it. These cars are over twenty years old now.

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
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Lester H said:
What an interesting history of reviews the MX5 has! For at least a decade, the pure Series 1 ( and it has to be the best looker) could do no wrong. Of course we are harking back to a time when British cars broke down a lot. Then we started to hear about the rot in the sills and arches just like - say - a Montego. So then the fatter mk 2 became the one to have, according to the pundits in those lovely glossy classic mags, with most cars out of the reach of mere mortals.However, then these started to rust/ get damp interiors through leaking hoods, etc. We were told Eunos was no good because of lack of underseal, now same pundits tell us they are the best buys, as they have better spec. Nice car, not as immortal as we were led to believe.
yes

Wondered if the 'controversial statement' in the second paragraph of this week's Shed was a bit of a dig at a certain Mr Harris as well

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
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suffolk009 said:
There are problems with the sills and rear arches. Can't deny that.

But its easy and relatively inexpensive to fix. Stop worrying about it. These cars are over twenty years old now.
How old were these cars when the rot problems became apparent? 10 years? I think people forget that the old school British roadsters were bubbling with rust at 2 years old, needed welding by 4, and were as rotten through by 6. Sills and arches aside they seem fairly corrosion resistant, I've certainly never seen one blistering and bubbling all over like a Mercedes!

NDNDNDND

2,001 posts

182 months

Sunday 23rd October 2016
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The MX-5's and rust thing is becoming weirdly over-stated now.

MX-5's rust no worse than any other car. They're just really well made, they last a long time, and unlike more coveted (and delicate) sports cars they're treated as daily-drivers and not often looked after particularly well. I think mine had been in the UK perhaps 12 years before I had the rust fixed - and this was before it became an MOT issue. The car's now 24 years old and still going strong. Yes, things wear out and need replacing, but its an old car that gets driven hard. Spend a couple of hundred quid every few years on maintaining it and carry on driving. No worries.

Trabi601

4,865 posts

94 months

Monday 24th October 2016
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I don't think it's overstated. It's something you have to be aware of when buying a Mk1.

Cars which appear clean can be full of rot, as it starts on the inside - by the time you can see it, you need hundreds of pounds of restorative work doing.

You can bodge with new arch skins and patching outer sills - and you can do it for a few years, but you will at some point need to have the inner sills sorted.

And that's the big issue - you may see some other cars with surface rust, and that's exactly what it is - but on MX5s, the rust you can't see is structural and with cars only worth £1-£2k, doing the sills will write them off for many people.

I wouldn't touch a £1k car with visible rust - I'd want to spend more and get one with proof the sills and arches have been sorted.

thecremeegg

1,952 posts

202 months

Monday 24th October 2016
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NDNDNDND said:
The MX-5's and rust thing is becoming weirdly over-stated now.

MX-5's rust no worse than any other car. They're just really well made, they last a long time, and unlike more coveted (and delicate) sports cars they're treated as daily-drivers and not often looked after particularly well. I think mine had been in the UK perhaps 12 years before I had the rust fixed - and this was before it became an MOT issue. The car's now 24 years old and still going strong. Yes, things wear out and need replacing, but its an old car that gets driven hard. Spend a couple of hundred quid every few years on maintaining it and carry on driving. No worries.
Nope, they rust more than most cars - finding one that hasn't got rust or had rust repaired is almost impossible. I've owned a few, looked at many!

SebringMan

1,773 posts

185 months

Monday 24th October 2016
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J4CKO said:
It sounds usable as it has an MOT but this is a bit of a project really, rather than a cheap MX5, if you do all the jobs yourself it could be cheap though, less so if you send it to a garage, some stuff has been done like the brakes.

None of the advisories are anything that requires much in the way of expensive parts, sounds more like labour, get it, stick it in your garage and work through it, beg borrow or steal a mig welder for the cills/arches and practice on some bits of metal, read up on it and have a go, I did on my 944 and had it checked over by a pro and he said my effort was a lot better than a lot of stuff he sees done by garages, I didnt mention it took me a month...




Advisory notice item(s)
Fuel cap seal perished
Centre brake light inop
Brake pedal rubber worn
N/S/F inner sill corroded, advise repair
centre Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2)
rear Brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)
O/S/R sill / wheel arch corroded
Front tyres worn on inner edges
nearside front coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)
offside front coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)
nearside rear coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)
offside rear coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)
nearside front lower Suspension arm ball joint dust cover deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)
offside front lower Suspension arm ball joint dust cover deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)
nearside front upper Suspension arm has slight play in a pin/bush (2.4.G.2)
offside front upper Suspension arm has slight play in a pin/bush (2.4.G.2)
O/S/R tyre worn bald on inner edge / Advise replacement
N/S/R tyre wearing on inner edge
I agree, but it requires cash spending on it IMO. Maybe not as much as people reckon.

Most of the advisories look to be by a picky tester. ANY car over 5 years old will have a slight amount of rust on the springs. My friends' springs on his Focus got this advisory. Did they look mega rusty or even old? Did they bks!

Taking a look at the list it would need as a best case scenario:

-New fuel filler cap potentially - £10 from a breaker?
-Brake light bulb or wiring issue ; it can be left TBH!
-Pedal rubbers - £15
-Exhaust system; I am going to assume it's a pattern or original system where if you were to bodge it with weld it would probably blow holes anyway, although the exhaust is probably shot internally - I'd want to spend £350 on a new Stainless system that wasn't too loud or hunt around for a secondhand item.
-A new sill IMHO at a minimum, or a patch to get it by for a year, and possibly repair even more rot then ; ££££
-Grease/sand the brake pipe if it's not too iffy. I've not had much luck with copper lines in the past. Cupronickel mind you.
-Change the tyres all round - Around £200-250 for something decent.
-If the arms and balljoints are good change the boots - £25 for a boot that will not perish by the next MOT
-Two top arms ; £350ish?

For the price you can't really moan considering the spec.

P6000s? They will be very old now! Didn't they go out of production some time ago?

Ved

3,825 posts

174 months

Monday 24th October 2016
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paul n said:
did you have spacers on the wheels on your car? if so what size? looks good and I thinking of doing similar to my s special (supercharged) smile paul
Not that I'm aware of but if they are a bit wider track than yours I guess they must have been there. Not my doing so can't comment on the best application.

Digby

8,230 posts

245 months

Monday 24th October 2016
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NDNDNDND said:
The MX-5's and rust thing is becoming weirdly over-stated now.

MX-5's rust no worse than any other car.
Apart from lots and lots of Volvo's wink

Lester H

2,673 posts

104 months

Tuesday 25th October 2016
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Digby said:
NDNDNDND said:
The MX-5's and rust thing is becoming weirdly over-stated now.

MX-5's rust no worse than any other car.
Apart from lots and lots of Volvo's wink
My post was not intended to " rubbish " MX 5 but to drew attention to pundits' views of it, according to these motor noters, usually in the glossy mags, the car was invincible, but you had to ignore imports, then ... ten years on the mk 1 became a rust bucket, but the Mk 2 was sort of ok, then the import became the best of the bunch on the basis of air con and Momo wheel. Moral: just look at the car and take it on its own merits.

ukaskew

10,642 posts

220 months

Tuesday 25th October 2016
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NDNDNDND said:
The MX-5's and rust thing is becoming weirdly over-stated now.
I can't think of too many 25 year old cars that are still so ubiquitous, particularly considering many will have been 'well used'. I think many are overlooking just how old many of these cars are,of course they're going to need work. A few hundred quid even on a car that cost age and doesn't exactly seem outrageous.

There are plenty of Fords out there (for example) half as old that are succumbing to rust at an alarming rate.