Good work I've only been drving mines (my first car) since Octoberish and I'm already firmly in love with it. Enjoy!

Nice looking car and an absolutely cracking price to boot!

Now get that hard top off and get the roof down, you'll soon realise what a silly idea having a roof is! Mine is only ever down if wet.. (or lately, frozen!)

Absolutely love mine, still have a grin whenever I drive anywhere

I know, I've only driven it a bit today and I already love it. It's just so much nicer than my current car, alas I was driving it on my "allowed to drive cars with the permission of the registered keeper" clause of my insurance so I got it home and there it will sit until February when I tax, MOT and insure it. Going to be so disappointed as I'll have to walk past it in order to reach my other car.
Regarding the roof I actually tried to get it off in order to get a couple of pictures (with my parents convinced that removing it would instantly mean the interior would become soaked with water or something ) but I couldn't get the bolts undone at the rear of the roof where it attaches to the car, any ideas?

I also cannot believe the price I got it for, the only reason I offered so low in the first place was because I'd been looking at MK1 MX5's and had absolutely no idea what MK2 ones were worth .
Imagine my surprise when they rang me a day later and said they'd sell to me as the dealer hadn't offered them as much as a P/X

-JB

It's not going to be a 2nd car, the one I have at the moment is going to go to my brother when he learns to drive so I'll be using the MX5 as my daily.

Indeed, part of the reason I wanted an MX5 was as a stepping stone to other, more powerful RWD cars.
Definately going to need to find an empty area of private land where I can legally practice such things as catching slides, etc, hopefully with some degree of mechanical sympathy as well (no sympathy to the tyres , I'll be replacing the rear ones anyway).

Probably have some fun along the way as well, ran across a patch of ice as I pulled out of a T junction (from the long leg of the T) and slid the back out by a few inches for a few seconds by mistake, laughed my head off after I realised what had happened.

-JB

You're doing it wrong!

Nice car OP. The view down the bonnet is indeed nice, and combined with the low driving position makes it feel just that bit more special than a regular hatchback.

As predicted I was gutted this morning when I had to walk past it in order to climb into my Clio.
It's a real shame I need to wait until February to insure it & my idea of day insuring it on the 25th was shot down with a brief google search, they all want you to be 21+.

While I'm on the subject of insurance my mum actually suggested that I front it... Like that'll happen, if anything happens I want to be confident that the insurers will be covering me and then there's also the whole "not committing fraud" side of things as well.

-JB

It will be worth the wait, trust me!

^^ Good advice from snotty, the MX-5 section on here is a wonderfull tool which has already helped me on a number of occasions. For example, I had a leak under the bonnet, I had no idea where it was coming from but after posting one very vague photograph of an obscure area in the engine bay, I had a diagnosis after about 2 and a half hours. I've found Nutz particularly useful for finding breakers, used parts and good group-buys, to echo the above I'd recommend signing up over there too!

Don't be worried. Also - don't listen to any old farts telling you about how much their MGB used to leak in the winter. An MX5 with a properly functioning soft top is 100% watertight. Even if your softtop was absolutely shagged, I'd still recommend you sell the hardtop, and put the money towards a gorgeous new mohair roof.
Both my cars have lived outside through very cold winters, and its never a problem. Even with a foot of snow on the roof there's been no issues due to cold/rain/snow.

Honestly - I speak from experience - All a hardtop does is be a source for cursing when your away from home, its a cold crisp winters day, and the suns out.
A good hood is warm, waterproof, and goes down anytime, in 10 seconds flat!

Well, you've chosen the perfect car. They are very simple to work on, when compared with many other types of cars. Most things are very well designed, accessible, and sensible.

Here's a job you can do that's easy - rod your drain holes. Ideal to do tomorrow while your having a cleaning session on the car.

When water runs off the soft top it runs into a Rain rail - this runs around the curved rear deck area under your back window. The water then drains into two drain holes, where it passes THROUGH the car, and exits through two little drain tubes tucked up underneath the chassis of the car in front of the rear wheels. Naturally, lots of dirt, leaves, muck etc also gets stuck down the sides of the roof, blocking the holes. Once these holes are blocked, water can back up and ends up all over, usually causing the rear deck carpet to be wet and soggy, getting into your interior, and getting all sorts of places it shouldn't.

This dampness is the main cause of people complaining of soggy MX-5's, and also cars that steam up or never demist in the winter.


The holes simply need unblocking every so often. You need to use something long and flexible. A long bit of stiff cable, one of those very long tube cleaning brushes, something along those lines. I uses a bit of stiff Plastic Vacuum tubing from the garage.

Remove your hardtop ( and sell it ) and look down the side of the hood, behind the seatbelt towers.




You can see the car in that pic has a little bit of muck in that area. You might need to move the carpet about to see the holes - they are in there.
Using your long tool clean out the drain tubes. If its not been done often, you may find there's all sorts of gooey mess in there.
you can check they are unblocked by pouring water down the holes. You should see a steam of water coming out from under the car, in front of the rear wheels.
Its an easy job, costs nowt, but is very important. Anyone 'enthusiastic' about their MX-5 will be aware of this.

Done that - congratulations. You just bonded with your car

If you haven't already, even if you decide your keeping the hardtop for now, I'd still recommend removing it and making sure the hood goes up and down properly, and is in good condition. I've seen a number of cars (My original MK1 included) where the previous owner had left the hardtop on for years and hood itself had actually suffered and was faded on the inside surface and creased badly.


RE tyres. What size wheels do you have? MX'5s being light, and 'sporty' are very sensitive to the types of tyres used. Having a pair of cheap budget tyres on the rear is not a good idea at all.

At the very least, I'd suggest the rears should be replaced. Ideally all 4 though. Don't worry about expensive 'premium' tyres - There's lots of midrange brands that are going to be infinitely better, Toyo, Hankook, Vredestein, Kuhmo, etc etc.

If you have 15" wheels then Toyo T1's or Uniroyal Rainsports are the current best value buys, and you could get a pair fitted for less than £100. In fact if your smart or know a friendly fitter you could get all 4 for about £140 fitted.

The tyres make a HUGE difference to the handling and control of the car. Also bear in mind tyre pressures, which again have a far more marked affect than on larger duller cars. Standard pressure is around 26-27psi all round, so an awful lot of cars actually have OVER inflated tyres.

Get some more pics tomorrow, and if theres anything you want to question post it up! I'm on holiday at the moment so I'm also spending a few days working on my car you see, so I'm in that kind of mood!

Yup, your doing the hardtop wrong

No tools are required to remove/fit a hardtop. It can be done in about a minute. You can do it on your own if your tall enough to be able to reach over far enough to lift it yourself.


Undo all four latches. Two at the top, two at the sides. Undo the heated rear window flying lead (behind passenger seat).

At the back are the two silver lumps, attached to the top. Under here is a 'frankenstein bolt'. This bolt is attached to the chrome trim piece, with the other chrom philips head screw that you've been trying to undo. That screw stays where it is.

The silver latche slide backwards off the Frankenstein bolts. With latches undone, open the doors and grab the hardtop where the rear edge of the side window would sit. Give it a shove backwards. It needs a fairly hefty shove on both sides. This will unclip the Silver latches from the Frankenstein bolts.

Once both sides are free, it will just lift off over the rear of the car (make sure your radio aerial is out of the way first!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lESz5At1dFc

Watch how at 10s he gives it a tug backwards, then the same on the other side.