PH Fleet Update: Mazda Eunos Roadster
Dan Trent's impulse purchase 'bargain' is sucking up an awful lot of money, but he still seems happy...
Written in the post-purchase afterglow, my first report on the cheapo Eunos was, with hindsight, a little over-ecstatic. So, after the first few weeks of ownership, am I still quite so over the moon?
Well, I've spent pretty much its purchase price over again on various bits and bobs. And not just the succession of stick-on numberplates I keep having to buy, after the various wonky/air-bubbled/peeling attempts I've tried thus far. Suffice to say I'm glad they do a discount on repeat orders for just such eventualities.
For now, a slight funding crisis should at least bring relief to the postie, who's been cursing my impulsive, online shopping habits and, literally, shouldering the burden with box after box of deliveries to the office door. So, after an initial spike, I have to say sorry to Autolink, MX-5 Parts and others - the boom times are over for now...
So what's been costing the money? Well, there was that first £350 service, including the rather expensive fitment of braided brake lines and subsequent pairing of that work with self-fitted new discs and pads. On the recommendation of an MX-5-owning colleague, I went OE with the latter but we'll see how we go with that.
There was also the eBay special strut brace, which, I'll admit, is more about vanity than any truly functional improvement. The K&N air filter kit, on the other hand, looks good and sounds better, this and the cat replacement pipe freeing up the breathing and unleashing a cheeky, Alfa-esque, twin-cam rasp.
Then there's the cambelt kit. With the offer of help from fellow motoring scribe John Simister, himself a former MX-5 owner, I decided to take the plunge and change this myself, the kit comprising belts for cams, alternator/water pump and power steering pump/air-con compressor, plus all the necessary tensioners and gaskets. Not bad for £70, but I was more than a bit nervous about tackling a proper, hands-on bit of spannering like this myself.
A combination of John's watchful eye and the expertise of Messrs Haynes and Hardiman (the latter's MX-5 Renovation Manual a godsend and now nicely patinated with oily fingerprints) saw the job through successfully, thankfully without any stripped or seized bolts or fittings.
It's certainly empowering, doing a job like this yourself and, with the rest of the fluids fresh and the brakes all new, I'm pretty happy the Eunos is mechanically fit. The clutch hasn't got a whole lot of life left in it, but other than that I'm happy to have atoned for the total lack of service history when I bought it.
Next job: suspension. As everyone has told me, a geo set-up is essential, but if I'm going to upgrade the dampers as planned there's no point doing it until that's all in place.
Aforementioned chat with Bilstein is approaching fruition, subject to confirmation that my shrugged "well it should fit" optimism means I can, with a change of top-mounts, go for the full monty B16 kit for the Mk2 with all the height-adjustable, tweakable damping goodness that entails.
I appear to be spending more time fettling than I am driving at the moment. So, an impromptu mini-roadtrip around Surrey and Hampshire's finest back roads was hastily arranged with a trio of MX-5 and Elise-owning pals. The weather duly obliged with a hearty downpour; a 7am meet in a lay-by with a load car geeks in the pouring rain is not, it seems, the easiest sell for long-suffering other halves.
The rain did at least mean some skidtastic fun, the Toyos on my newly fitted OZ Ultraleggeras - from my Clio 172 Cup but, happily, correctly sized - not quite as progressively slidey as the Tigars on the original 14s, but the conditions more than slippery enough to reveal I am not quite the drift god I fancied myself to be. And the less said about that the better.
Clearly cash isn't the only thing I'm running out of, then, but with the parts budget depleted it does at least mean I'm left no alternative but to get out and drive the thing more and, though the new dampers can't come soon enough, I'm absolutely loving the Eunos. Sure, it's not quick. But it's so small and wieldy even a single-track lane can be fun. The bonding process is well and truly underway.
I was very luck a couple of years ago to get a scruffy but servicable UK Mk1 for £750 off the bay of E. Hardly spent a thing on it other than a service, and lashings of T Cut to get the coachwork back. Sure it was a bit lose compared to a lower miles Eunos I'd had a few years before that, but it was still a great little car. Full Magnex pipe it came with always made me grin. That was a good summer.
Ah well...as long as it makes you happy etc etc.
In comparison, all 6 of the UK models I saw were rotton through on at least one part of the car.. all at the same price range / age too.
Just be careful with the suspension too. If the springs/dampers are too hard, combined with those wheels you may end up taking away that which makes the MX5 special. If you end up with a crashy ride you will have totally spoiled the set-up and the handling will suffer as a result.
Please be warned.
Just be careful with the suspension too. If the springs/dampers are too hard, combined with those wheels you may end up taking away that which makes the MX5 special. If you end up with a crashy ride you will have totally spoiled the set-up and the handling will suffer as a result.
Please be warned.
The very idea of changing suspension components before optimising the existing set up with geo & chassis braces is a bit arse/face.
The very idea of changing suspension components before optimising the existing set up with geo & chassis braces is a bit arse/face.
What I want to know is how you lose a stick on plate! A hard one can drop off sure. But a sticker...thats some top quality work!
Mine's just coming up for its MOT and I've spent nothing whatsoever on it since the last one.
Admittedly one or two things are currently, er, broken... but that's because I'm a spanner rather than it being the car's fault. And I've been too busy to fix them.
Next question will be - do I spend out on coilovers (finally!) or do I decide I fancy a change...
I am a reformed MX-5 hater. I've had my share of decent cars for a 20-something (VX220, Caterham, Megane 225) but I have to say that I don't feel short-changed now I've downsized to the little Eunos, it's a cracking car. For a grand I honestly can't think of anything better that wouldn't be heaps of trouble to run or live with.
3000 mile road trip around the Alps this summer. The car's only 21 years old...what can go wrong
A new rear screen - I cracked the old one on a cold a frosty morning and my wife is fed up with the gaffer-tape fix.
A new clutch. Apparently it's worn out, dammit.
Two new rear tyres, service item!
A new stereo, the seat speakers haven't worked since day one and now they're unplugged I can't hear a thing. The sound quality is so bad it was embarrasing playing Europe - the final countdown at full blast whilst dis-embarking the eurotunnel last summer going to LeMans.
New dampers - the old ones are getting tired.
And the wheel geo out to be done after the shocks
Then there's things like a n/s rear repair panel for the wheel arches, plus fitting, plus paint.
Also quite fancy an original momo wheel - must stop being the eternal underbidder on ebay.
And the gear lever gaiter is providing too much warm air for my lfet hand.
And the n/s electric window motor is on the way out.
Which will double theprice of the car, ....but is still less money than I spend on putting effin petrol in all the cars in just two months.
Ah well...as long as it makes you happy etc etc.
I just picked up a P-plate UK 1.8iS for £1100. It has done a fair few miles - 122k, but only 3 owners from new and FSH - including the cambelt service just 3k miles ago.
I often feel the myth about buying imports is now just a myth - most imports have been around in the UK for 15 years or more, so are just as likely to be rusty as UK cars.
The advantage with UK cars is that it's much easier to insure them cheaply.
The advantage with UK cars is that it's much easier to insure them cheaply.
As for insurance, a classic policy with Peter Best cost me £170 (for 3000 miles) or £208 (for 5000 miles), no NCB required and it even allowed me to commute to work.
I re-ran the quote twice, exactly the same details, one marked as import, the other marked as UK, and exactly the same price
Not a drop of rust in mine. I don't know whether being an import makes any difference but whether it's kept in a garage will. Apparently there are some drains for taking water from the roof which get blocked, fill with water then rot the sills out. I looked at several cars with this problem before (finally) I found one which didn't have it.
The very idea of changing suspension components before optimising the existing set up with geo & chassis braces is a bit arse/face.
Team Dynamics made a +30 offset wheel for one of the race series IIRC.
I'd have a Eunos over a UK car any day. My 1991 1.6 Eunos was a peach at 17 years old with no rust, my later 1995 1.8 Uk car needed extensive sill repairs at 10 years old, something which sped up it's change of address considerably.
I re-ran the quote twice, exactly the same details, one marked as import, the other marked as UK, and exactly the same price
Not a drop of rust in mine. I don't know whether being an import makes any difference but whether it's kept in a garage will. Apparently there are some drains for taking water from the roof which get blocked, fill with water then rot the sills out. I looked at several cars with this problem before (finally) I found one which didn't have it.
All I know is that if you correctly declare a car as a Jap import Eunos, you'll pay more than you will for a UK spec. car.
I've seen equal numbers of rotten UK and import cars - at one time the stuff about imports being less rusty held true - but most imports were only a few years old when they came into the UK, so there's very little difference these days.
My P-plate UK car is rust free- something I couldn't say for any of the imports I saw.
All I know is that if you correctly declare a car as a Jap import Eunos, you'll pay more than you will for a UK spec. car.
Still either on Eunos or MX-5 ticking the box to say import makes no difference, only the 2 model types do.
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