Seany87's Euphonic MX5
Discussion
Thought I would do a readers car for mine on Pistonheads. I did do one a while ago but as it was less than a page it might be worth copying my build thread from MX5 Nutz. I say build thread, not much goes on, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless and any comments good or bad are welcome. So here goes:
I'm Sean, 25 from Liverpool.
My main interest is in cars (I don't like football, which in Liverpool, is strange, and everyone looks at me like I have two heads when it comes up in conversation) thanks to my dad, who has had an eclectic mix of 'drivers cars' in the past and when I was growing up, such as an old Mini Cooper, various fast Fords, a Porsche 944, and also a:
Lotus Elan +2 S130 -
Which was our favourite car out the lot. Dad spent a few years and several thousands restoring his Lotus, and when it was finished I loved the rawness of it, the way it was faster off the line than a lot of modern machinery despite being 30 years old, the fact that it was extremely light with a modest 1.6 twin cam and a rorty exhaust (see where I'm going with this?) - plus the fact there was nothing else out there that went round corners like it. I was totally sold on having a Lotus, one day, when I was old enough.
Fast forward to January 2011. I've got to the stage where I have a bit of money for a decent car and not a shed, and where insurance doesn't entirely necessitate a liberal application of KY over the ol' brown eye. No Lotus' in my budget still, so I was on the lookout for a lightweight, cheap, average power but great handling car and the one car that kept on cropping up was an MX5.
Despite liking Mk1's, my car would be a daily driver with the odd trip to Coventry and Reading a few times a year, so I reasoned a Mk2 would be more comfortable and suited to a daily drive without losing too much fun, plus being newer, I hoped a Mk2 would be fresher and requiring less work.
I went to a well known MX5 dealer in the Wirral after lusting over many of the cars there, with the intention of spending maybe 2-2.5k on a Mk2, and only after a thorough inspection and test drive of many examples. So what did I do? I took my dad and we took one look at a 2004 Titanium Grey Euphonic 1.8 at near double my intended budget and was instantly drawn to it. I test drove it, loved it, and threw a deposit down there and then. Yes, I had totally disregarded my brain and went with my heart.
Some pictures after the test drive:
I have a list of things to do but I want it to remain OEMish for the time being. Rust is a big issue for this as well as keeping things fresh, i.e replacing worn parts etc. After the rust, the next essential mod is some decent coilovers, as it looks like a 4x4 at the moment. Not going to ruin it with stance, just want it looking more purposeful/sporty.
Not long after I got the car, I kept hearing about how it needed a 4 wheel alignment. One trip to Nigel Langs in Bolton (using fast road settings) and the car was transformed, as you can see a few values were out, which shows you the variation between MX5's that have been aligned and those that haven't.
Another mod I felt that was needed was a new exhaust, as lets face it the standard MK2 exhaust is a bit of a pea shooter. I wanted something that wasn't anti social when driving normally, but sounded nice when giving it some. I use the Mersey Tunnels for work every day and occasionally finish at 3am so a roof down blast through the empty tunnels would cheer me right up after a miserable day at work.
Ultimately, the main consideration was budget, but I just couldn't stretch to an exhaust myself. For our anniversary, my girlfriend said she would give me some money towards an exhaust, so I looked for the best value one. The MX5 parts exhaust kept on cropping up as great value, so that was bought and fitted. It helped that MX5 parts had a special offer on them that month! I chose the single pipe as I wasnt too keen on chopping up the bumper especially if I decided to change exhaust again at some point in the future, but I do think the '5 looks better with a dual pipe.
No pictures of it in the box or during fitting, but heres another picture for the picture w
es where you can see it..
I bought clear reflectors and side indicators and a black grill from MX5 parts, generally cleaned and tidied the car and drove it around for a few months, doing essentials like the shift boots and turret oil, and changing the filter and oil every 6-9k religiously. A slightly seizing caliper at the front was sorted under warranty, but didn't last long until it decided to seize completely as I entered the Mersey tunnel and try and drive me into the side of the wall - break down in there and its £150 quid to get towed out again by the tunnel police. I had a mile or two until I was out the other side, and struggled with it all the way.
My work was another mile from the tunnel exit with a garage next door so I thought I'd got this far, I might as well drive it to work. As I got out I could feel the heat from the wheel. Luckily, as it was dead in work me and my sergeant tried to get the piston back in the caliper. No dice, so I removed the brake pads and drove the slowly with 3 brakes next door for the garage to sort. That was my first big bill with the car, new caliper, pads etc.
Here it is outside the chateau
Whilst cleaning it one day I noticed:
On a motorway drive back up from Reading, I realised I could hear a soft grinding noise from the rear. I said to my girlfriend 'can you hear that?' and she said no, but then I wouldn't expect her to notice if the front wheels fell off. It took a few months of me driving round with that noise bugging the hell out of me before I had chance to get it looked at. When the oil was drained 2 metal tabs were found just like this:
On 03 and later cars they came with a Tochigi Fuji LSD diff, and not a conventional torsen, there have been lots of reported problems with the Tochigi's blowing up or shedding these tabs like mine did. It felt ok and locked up reasonably well I thought, but this must have been the cause of the noise as they would have been rattling away, on my tabs (which I still have somewhere) you can see marks and dints where they have been chewed up by the internals of the diff.
So, the next bill was around the corner. I decided to stick with an LSD and get a proper torsen diff. Seen a type 1 torsen on Nutz that was a reasonable price and somehow had made it to page 3 or 4 without being picked up instantly, plus it came with new competition diff mounts from Moss as well as the prop and drive shafts. Made the seller an offer and bought it. For reasons of convenience I got the garage next door to work to swap the diffs over. While it was there, and before the diffs could be swapped, this happened:
Apparently a 'customer' in a Freelander reversed out of the garage, around a parked car, and didn't notice mine parked there behind it. The garage said 'he' left his details and he didn't want to go through the insurance, so the garage will get a quote from their preferred bodyshop who are 'st hot' and invoice him. There was a crease in the metal so I was doubtful of a fix, I was not very happy and couldn't be bothered with the insurance hassle, so let things progress for the time being. Left the car with the garage for a few days, A) to sort the door, and B) to put in the diff. As a loan car, they gave me the sheddiest Mk4 Golf in the north west, with comically blown shock absorbers and worn bushes. You wouldnt beleive how tight the MX5 felt after driving that Golf around for three days.
Here's what it came out like not long after a recent clean:
They did a decent repair job, needed a small amount of welding at the crease but otherwise it pulled back out suprisingly well, minimal filler was used. There is a very slight and small ripple from a couple of angles but that's the least of the cars worries tbh. The garage had a bd of a job removing the old diff from the powerplant frame and for all the hassle with the door knocked off some money off the total bill, plus I sold the surplus prop and driveshafts so it wasnt too horrendous to get it sorted. I am loving the Type 1 torsen.. locks up nicely and much more aggressive than the old fuji diff.
Well pistonheads, what do you think??
I'm Sean, 25 from Liverpool.
My main interest is in cars (I don't like football, which in Liverpool, is strange, and everyone looks at me like I have two heads when it comes up in conversation) thanks to my dad, who has had an eclectic mix of 'drivers cars' in the past and when I was growing up, such as an old Mini Cooper, various fast Fords, a Porsche 944, and also a:
Lotus Elan +2 S130 -
Which was our favourite car out the lot. Dad spent a few years and several thousands restoring his Lotus, and when it was finished I loved the rawness of it, the way it was faster off the line than a lot of modern machinery despite being 30 years old, the fact that it was extremely light with a modest 1.6 twin cam and a rorty exhaust (see where I'm going with this?) - plus the fact there was nothing else out there that went round corners like it. I was totally sold on having a Lotus, one day, when I was old enough.
Fast forward to January 2011. I've got to the stage where I have a bit of money for a decent car and not a shed, and where insurance doesn't entirely necessitate a liberal application of KY over the ol' brown eye. No Lotus' in my budget still, so I was on the lookout for a lightweight, cheap, average power but great handling car and the one car that kept on cropping up was an MX5.
Despite liking Mk1's, my car would be a daily driver with the odd trip to Coventry and Reading a few times a year, so I reasoned a Mk2 would be more comfortable and suited to a daily drive without losing too much fun, plus being newer, I hoped a Mk2 would be fresher and requiring less work.
I went to a well known MX5 dealer in the Wirral after lusting over many of the cars there, with the intention of spending maybe 2-2.5k on a Mk2, and only after a thorough inspection and test drive of many examples. So what did I do? I took my dad and we took one look at a 2004 Titanium Grey Euphonic 1.8 at near double my intended budget and was instantly drawn to it. I test drove it, loved it, and threw a deposit down there and then. Yes, I had totally disregarded my brain and went with my heart.
Some pictures after the test drive:
I have a list of things to do but I want it to remain OEMish for the time being. Rust is a big issue for this as well as keeping things fresh, i.e replacing worn parts etc. After the rust, the next essential mod is some decent coilovers, as it looks like a 4x4 at the moment. Not going to ruin it with stance, just want it looking more purposeful/sporty.
Not long after I got the car, I kept hearing about how it needed a 4 wheel alignment. One trip to Nigel Langs in Bolton (using fast road settings) and the car was transformed, as you can see a few values were out, which shows you the variation between MX5's that have been aligned and those that haven't.
Another mod I felt that was needed was a new exhaust, as lets face it the standard MK2 exhaust is a bit of a pea shooter. I wanted something that wasn't anti social when driving normally, but sounded nice when giving it some. I use the Mersey Tunnels for work every day and occasionally finish at 3am so a roof down blast through the empty tunnels would cheer me right up after a miserable day at work.
Ultimately, the main consideration was budget, but I just couldn't stretch to an exhaust myself. For our anniversary, my girlfriend said she would give me some money towards an exhaust, so I looked for the best value one. The MX5 parts exhaust kept on cropping up as great value, so that was bought and fitted. It helped that MX5 parts had a special offer on them that month! I chose the single pipe as I wasnt too keen on chopping up the bumper especially if I decided to change exhaust again at some point in the future, but I do think the '5 looks better with a dual pipe.
No pictures of it in the box or during fitting, but heres another picture for the picture w
es where you can see it..I bought clear reflectors and side indicators and a black grill from MX5 parts, generally cleaned and tidied the car and drove it around for a few months, doing essentials like the shift boots and turret oil, and changing the filter and oil every 6-9k religiously. A slightly seizing caliper at the front was sorted under warranty, but didn't last long until it decided to seize completely as I entered the Mersey tunnel and try and drive me into the side of the wall - break down in there and its £150 quid to get towed out again by the tunnel police. I had a mile or two until I was out the other side, and struggled with it all the way.
My work was another mile from the tunnel exit with a garage next door so I thought I'd got this far, I might as well drive it to work. As I got out I could feel the heat from the wheel. Luckily, as it was dead in work me and my sergeant tried to get the piston back in the caliper. No dice, so I removed the brake pads and drove the slowly with 3 brakes next door for the garage to sort. That was my first big bill with the car, new caliper, pads etc.
Here it is outside the chateau
Whilst cleaning it one day I noticed:
On a motorway drive back up from Reading, I realised I could hear a soft grinding noise from the rear. I said to my girlfriend 'can you hear that?' and she said no, but then I wouldn't expect her to notice if the front wheels fell off. It took a few months of me driving round with that noise bugging the hell out of me before I had chance to get it looked at. When the oil was drained 2 metal tabs were found just like this:
On 03 and later cars they came with a Tochigi Fuji LSD diff, and not a conventional torsen, there have been lots of reported problems with the Tochigi's blowing up or shedding these tabs like mine did. It felt ok and locked up reasonably well I thought, but this must have been the cause of the noise as they would have been rattling away, on my tabs (which I still have somewhere) you can see marks and dints where they have been chewed up by the internals of the diff.
So, the next bill was around the corner. I decided to stick with an LSD and get a proper torsen diff. Seen a type 1 torsen on Nutz that was a reasonable price and somehow had made it to page 3 or 4 without being picked up instantly, plus it came with new competition diff mounts from Moss as well as the prop and drive shafts. Made the seller an offer and bought it. For reasons of convenience I got the garage next door to work to swap the diffs over. While it was there, and before the diffs could be swapped, this happened:
Apparently a 'customer' in a Freelander reversed out of the garage, around a parked car, and didn't notice mine parked there behind it. The garage said 'he' left his details and he didn't want to go through the insurance, so the garage will get a quote from their preferred bodyshop who are 's
t hot' and invoice him. There was a crease in the metal so I was doubtful of a fix, I was not very happy and couldn't be bothered with the insurance hassle, so let things progress for the time being. Left the car with the garage for a few days, A) to sort the door, and B) to put in the diff. As a loan car, they gave me the sheddiest Mk4 Golf in the north west, with comically blown shock absorbers and worn bushes. You wouldnt beleive how tight the MX5 felt after driving that Golf around for three days.Here's what it came out like not long after a recent clean:
They did a decent repair job, needed a small amount of welding at the crease but otherwise it pulled back out suprisingly well, minimal filler was used. There is a very slight and small ripple from a couple of angles but that's the least of the cars worries tbh. The garage had a b
d of a job removing the old diff from the powerplant frame and for all the hassle with the door knocked off some money off the total bill, plus I sold the surplus prop and driveshafts so it wasnt too horrendous to get it sorted. I am loving the Type 1 torsen.. locks up nicely and much more aggressive than the old fuji diff.Well pistonheads, what do you think??
Thanks a lot mate. The longer I keep it the more I think I should try something else, but for the money it is sooo much fun. They split opinion but to me they are the best pound for pound fun car out there. I never thought I would be in the MX5 fanboi camp, but here I am.
Still want a Lotus one day though. Wish my dad hadnt sold his plus 2. I suppose he wishes I was a few years older and not in school when he had to sell, so that way it was kept in the family.
Still want a Lotus one day though. Wish my dad hadnt sold his plus 2. I suppose he wishes I was a few years older and not in school when he had to sell, so that way it was kept in the family.
If its sliding when wet I'd look at your tyres, MX5s are sensitive to tyre pressure and good quality tyres are always beneficial.
An LSD is beneficial when accelerating around corners in my experience, so power doesnt get spun uselessly away through one wheel. In the wet pulling away from a junction for example you can sometimes feel the power being transferred as one wheel loses grip to the wheel with grip. Its nice to have but you can still slide the rear. Provoking a slide in the dry with LSD is piss easy never mind in the wet.
My rust has got a whole lot worse and I will update this thread in due course (off to work now) but by the time you see rust on the outside it will be as rotten as a pear on the inside. There is no cheap fix unless you do it yourself or are best mates with a bodyshop owner, it will cost about 500-600 for a proper decent repair. A simple skim and paint will only last a couple of months before bubbling up again, so to any future MX5 owners its worth budgeting for this.
An LSD is beneficial when accelerating around corners in my experience, so power doesnt get spun uselessly away through one wheel. In the wet pulling away from a junction for example you can sometimes feel the power being transferred as one wheel loses grip to the wheel with grip. Its nice to have but you can still slide the rear. Provoking a slide in the dry with LSD is piss easy never mind in the wet.
My rust has got a whole lot worse and I will update this thread in due course (off to work now) but by the time you see rust on the outside it will be as rotten as a pear on the inside. There is no cheap fix unless you do it yourself or are best mates with a bodyshop owner, it will cost about 500-600 for a proper decent repair. A simple skim and paint will only last a couple of months before bubbling up again, so to any future MX5 owners its worth budgeting for this.
Bit more of a catch up session to do before I reach present day.
Cleaned the car during the 3 days of summer we have had so far:
...Including the interior, which I still like sitting in.
Mazda deliberately left the cam cover unpainted so people could paint it themselves. I had a little test of sandpaper versus the front of the cam cover as it would need to be smoothed.. Lots of elbow grease later its clear I achieved diddly squat.. A job for the future methinks.
So I noticed the rust slowwwly getting worse..
Not long after this, the summer downpour started, and I went to my first Nutz meet, and got the car dyno'ed in Runcorn. Was a great day despite the weather. Car came back at approx 127hp at the fly (should be 146 stock) which as I went first I was gutted at until a few other NA cars came back with equally lower than expected results, perhaps a slightly conservative dyno, a few horses lost over the years, combined with a recently discovered binding rear brake all played their part? However dyno owner did some research about transmission losses etc and suggested they might be higher than expected and adding 15hp or so might give a more pleasing flywheel reading although its hard to measure it exactly.
OEM chrome filler cap also fitted. Might get rid as its a bit too 'owners club' for me.
Cleaned the car during the 3 days of summer we have had so far:
...Including the interior, which I still like sitting in.
Mazda deliberately left the cam cover unpainted so people could paint it themselves. I had a little test of sandpaper versus the front of the cam cover as it would need to be smoothed.. Lots of elbow grease later its clear I achieved diddly squat.. A job for the future methinks.
So I noticed the rust slowwwly getting worse..
Not long after this, the summer downpour started, and I went to my first Nutz meet, and got the car dyno'ed in Runcorn. Was a great day despite the weather. Car came back at approx 127hp at the fly (should be 146 stock) which as I went first I was gutted at until a few other NA cars came back with equally lower than expected results, perhaps a slightly conservative dyno, a few horses lost over the years, combined with a recently discovered binding rear brake all played their part? However dyno owner did some research about transmission losses etc and suggested they might be higher than expected and adding 15hp or so might give a more pleasing flywheel reading although its hard to measure it exactly.
OEM chrome filler cap also fitted. Might get rid as its a bit too 'owners club' for me.
akaRob said:
I really like the red leather on the Euphoric. Do they not come with front fogs as standard? Seems weird for such a well spec'd model. Not that they're any use however...
Although I said my rust is worse on the lip of the sill in the arch like on your first pic, I've not got any coming through under the sill like in your most recent one. That would drive me nuts!
Do you ever look at another 5 and think... "st I should have got that model?" That's what I'm thinking right now.. minus the rust, ha!
The 1.8 euphonics dont come with the fogs, or the 6 speed box, but come with all the underbody bracing and the big brake setup as the top o' the range sport variant. Im not particulary sold on the fogs TBH, I havent missed them and I have plans in store for the hole that is left when the covers come off...Although I said my rust is worse on the lip of the sill in the arch like on your first pic, I've not got any coming through under the sill like in your most recent one. That would drive me nuts!
Do you ever look at another 5 and think... "s
t I should have got that model?" That's what I'm thinking right now.. minus the rust, ha!I wish I'd have done my research properly and not bought the first car I saw that turned out to be rotten. To make myself feel better I say to myself sometimes that they all rust and Id have needed to address it at some point.
Knowing what I know now, I would go for a mk2 RS JDM import which rev higher, have a torsen, lightened flywheel and better intake cam. Being an import also less chance of rust. There is a mk2.5 RS import but they are few and far between but very, very nice.
The wheels are Enkei and are two slightly different colours. The face is like a shiney metal and inside the spokes its grey. Pretty nice looking IMO but they suffer the peeling that many Mazda wheels do and they have been kerbed on all 4 wheels all the way round by previous owner/s.
It does need lowering, and would look a lot better. On standard suspension thats not exactly box fresh Im still suprised how little body roll there is and how tight the car feels and good aftermarket coilovers turn it into even more of a go kart I hear.
They rust as there is a water trap in the sills which can often be hindered by blocked drain holes. Not that much of a problem in Japan where they dont salt their roads, but in the UK its a perfect recipe for rust.
It does need lowering, and would look a lot better. On standard suspension thats not exactly box fresh Im still suprised how little body roll there is and how tight the car feels and good aftermarket coilovers turn it into even more of a go kart I hear.
They rust as there is a water trap in the sills which can often be hindered by blocked drain holes. Not that much of a problem in Japan where they dont salt their roads, but in the UK its a perfect recipe for rust.
Another update:
So for a while, I'd not been happy with the way the car drove. It just seemed a bit sloppy to me, if that makes sense?
I'd had the Wheels in motion fast road alignment settings for about a year but didn't think it was an alignment problem after a year. Tyre pressures were experimented with, and I found that 26-7 was still optimum for my Falkens. I hadn't hit anything to budge the alignment out, so I got the wheels balanced and swapped them round too. No change expect slightly smoother on the motorway as you would expect. I started to worry about bushes and shocks being gone but thought before I went down that road I would get the alignment checked again.
Heard lots of good stuff came from the Blink motorsport garage, so a roof down trip in the red hot sun a few months ago and it was there:
I was sceptical of a massive change, especially when it was noted the alignment had hardly changed from the WIM settings, but I justified it to myself in that its ideal to get the alignment checked every year.
But, there was a noticeable difference using their road warrior settings. It felt so much sharper at the front and more planted at the rear. The drive home was fantastic it had to be said! Overall the car felt as tight as a drum when before it didn't, so definitely money well spent in my eyes!
Next up on the agenda, I got myself a pair of these for me and my brother in law:
I'd always wanted to go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but could never justify the journey down. One of my sisters in law lives in Reading however, so me and my girlfriend arranged to stay there a few nights. It was fantastic I thought, even though the Thursday was the prequel day. Brother in Law let me down last minute, but I still had fun mooching around by myself. It was also the hottest day of the year so far, and walking up and down the Goodwood hill a fair few times lost me a few pounds! Plus I still did lots of cool stuff like take loads of photos of Formula one cars past and present, had a ride in a Bowler Wildcat which was immense and did the Porsche Experience - tooling around a field in a Cayenne S: Definitely going next year but for the 'proper' days.
Got loads of photos from that day, but there are plenty of threads on the FOS with dozens of pictures in so I wont waste the bandwidth. One thing I managed to do that was Mazda related however was charm the Mazda rep (who was an absolute milf stunner) at the moving motor show Mazda counter into a ticket to ride the new venture edition MX5 up the hill:
Pretty sure you had to be invited by the manufacturer to get a test drive.. well if you don't ask you don't get is my motto!!
1000 miles on the clock, tight as a drum, pretty nippy and very planted through the bends. Different kind of drive to the MK1 and 2, perhaps a bit too refined for me, but a supercharger would really suit it.
Back up north a week later, I went to another MX5 Nutz meet:
Another great turnout, some good conversations, Costa breakfast and a bit of tyre kicking - great way to spend a Sunday while the missus nurses a hangover.
With another weekday off, and some more hot weather, I decided to pull my finger out my arse and do bits on the car.
First I got rid of my original passenger door card, because it had this tear in and another dent which I thought rather unsightly. Picked up a good condition black door card for a tenner off ebay.
Cut the red coloured inserts out of my original door card and swapped them round, much better and took all of 10 minutes in the sun and eased my OCD.
Next, I painted the calipers, yes I was doing it the lazy way but really couldn't be bothered messing around taking the calipers apart and besides, It was a nice day so I just took my time! Looks glossy but will cure to a matt black.
And this was my dinner as there was nothing else in.. food of the gods! (not)
While the wheels were off, I had a look around for rust. The chassis rails on MK 2.5s rot almost as much as the sills and arches, mine looks ok for now:
Still, I wire brushed what I could off it, and the only thing I had in the garage was matt black stove paint, it said corrosion resistant on the tin, so I gave it a couple of coats. We used it on a rusty barbecue a couple of summers ago and the rust hasn't shown through again on that, so I guess its ok to use until I get some Dinatrol or something before winter starts.
I also ordered an RX8 knob off a scrappy, for a few reasons: 1, Its the closest I'm going to get to driving/owning one, 2, it looks cool, 3, I want to try and not wear out my limited edition Euphonic gear knob and 4, its nice and heavy so should give a good quality shift change.
I was assured it was in good nick with no scratches or anything, so was a bit miffed to see worn leather and scratches. But that's no bother, I expected as much, and will do something with it myself soon.
It really has improved and smoothed the shift quality however, my gearbox ain't the best and its alleviated some of the notchiness that I had with the standard knob. It feels nice and chunky in the hand, so its staying for the time being. One of the best mods so far I think.
So for a while, I'd not been happy with the way the car drove. It just seemed a bit sloppy to me, if that makes sense?
I'd had the Wheels in motion fast road alignment settings for about a year but didn't think it was an alignment problem after a year. Tyre pressures were experimented with, and I found that 26-7 was still optimum for my Falkens. I hadn't hit anything to budge the alignment out, so I got the wheels balanced and swapped them round too. No change expect slightly smoother on the motorway as you would expect. I started to worry about bushes and shocks being gone but thought before I went down that road I would get the alignment checked again.
Heard lots of good stuff came from the Blink motorsport garage, so a roof down trip in the red hot sun a few months ago and it was there:
I was sceptical of a massive change, especially when it was noted the alignment had hardly changed from the WIM settings, but I justified it to myself in that its ideal to get the alignment checked every year.
But, there was a noticeable difference using their road warrior settings. It felt so much sharper at the front and more planted at the rear. The drive home was fantastic it had to be said! Overall the car felt as tight as a drum when before it didn't, so definitely money well spent in my eyes!
Next up on the agenda, I got myself a pair of these for me and my brother in law:
I'd always wanted to go to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but could never justify the journey down. One of my sisters in law lives in Reading however, so me and my girlfriend arranged to stay there a few nights. It was fantastic I thought, even though the Thursday was the prequel day. Brother in Law let me down last minute, but I still had fun mooching around by myself. It was also the hottest day of the year so far, and walking up and down the Goodwood hill a fair few times lost me a few pounds! Plus I still did lots of cool stuff like take loads of photos of Formula one cars past and present, had a ride in a Bowler Wildcat which was immense and did the Porsche Experience - tooling around a field in a Cayenne S: Definitely going next year but for the 'proper' days.
Got loads of photos from that day, but there are plenty of threads on the FOS with dozens of pictures in so I wont waste the bandwidth. One thing I managed to do that was Mazda related however was charm the Mazda rep (who was an absolute milf stunner) at the moving motor show Mazda counter into a ticket to ride the new venture edition MX5 up the hill:
Pretty sure you had to be invited by the manufacturer to get a test drive.. well if you don't ask you don't get is my motto!!
1000 miles on the clock, tight as a drum, pretty nippy and very planted through the bends. Different kind of drive to the MK1 and 2, perhaps a bit too refined for me, but a supercharger would really suit it.
Back up north a week later, I went to another MX5 Nutz meet:
Another great turnout, some good conversations, Costa breakfast and a bit of tyre kicking - great way to spend a Sunday while the missus nurses a hangover.
With another weekday off, and some more hot weather, I decided to pull my finger out my arse and do bits on the car.
First I got rid of my original passenger door card, because it had this tear in and another dent which I thought rather unsightly. Picked up a good condition black door card for a tenner off ebay.
Cut the red coloured inserts out of my original door card and swapped them round, much better and took all of 10 minutes in the sun and eased my OCD.
Next, I painted the calipers, yes I was doing it the lazy way but really couldn't be bothered messing around taking the calipers apart and besides, It was a nice day so I just took my time! Looks glossy but will cure to a matt black.
And this was my dinner as there was nothing else in.. food of the gods! (not)
While the wheels were off, I had a look around for rust. The chassis rails on MK 2.5s rot almost as much as the sills and arches, mine looks ok for now:
Still, I wire brushed what I could off it, and the only thing I had in the garage was matt black stove paint, it said corrosion resistant on the tin, so I gave it a couple of coats. We used it on a rusty barbecue a couple of summers ago and the rust hasn't shown through again on that, so I guess its ok to use until I get some Dinatrol or something before winter starts.
I also ordered an RX8 knob off a scrappy, for a few reasons: 1, Its the closest I'm going to get to driving/owning one, 2, it looks cool, 3, I want to try and not wear out my limited edition Euphonic gear knob and 4, its nice and heavy so should give a good quality shift change.
I was assured it was in good nick with no scratches or anything, so was a bit miffed to see worn leather and scratches. But that's no bother, I expected as much, and will do something with it myself soon.
It really has improved and smoothed the shift quality however, my gearbox ain't the best and its alleviated some of the notchiness that I had with the standard knob. It feels nice and chunky in the hand, so its staying for the time being. One of the best mods so far I think.
People probably think later = better.
Mine was still drivable, and locked up what I thought to be reasonably well, bar the slight grinding noise I'd have been none the wiser.
Ive got the type 1 Torsen on, locks up nice and aggressively. So much fun! My girlfriend hates it which means it must be good.
Mine was still drivable, and locked up what I thought to be reasonably well, bar the slight grinding noise I'd have been none the wiser.
Ive got the type 1 Torsen on, locks up nice and aggressively. So much fun! My girlfriend hates it which means it must be good.
Right, as promised, the continuation of this thread for the benefit of PH, now that I am off nightshifts.
So I decided to try and smarten up the RX8 knob. It helped that the electricity was off for the day and I was bored stless. I live out in the sticks and we get power cuts at least a dozen times a year, usually in the winter when you need power the most, so they've been trying to improve the supply but need to turn it off all the time to fix!
Searching the garage, I found some metallic silver plastikote of unknown age, but I'd guess at at least half a decade as the label was half sun bleached and we haven't seen sun since about 2007.
Also found some masking tape, and 2 grades of sandpaper: super rough and slightly less rough.
Now I knew this wasn't going to be a masterpiece but I was bored like I said, and I didn't like the chrome effect on the knob especially as it was scratched to hell. I decided due to the limitations of the tools I had, a brushed (scratchy) metal effect was the order of the day.
Masked up - quite tricky as its a triangle shape!
Ah..This hasn't gone to plan. I don't touch paintwork for a reason it seems.
I panicked as I don't have any turps/white spirit to remove the overspray. I then remembered my girlfriend has industrial strength nail varnish remover, so some of that dabbed in a cotton bud thing, plus a bit of black shoe polish and maybe a felt tip had the knob looking a bit better from a distance:
Well, it killed 45 minutes and was fun to do even if it does look gash.
A lack of spare cash and a busy work get in the way of doing much else for now, but I do have plans, including:
Fit fuel filter, change antifreeze
Bleed the brakes
Replace cambelt and water pump etc
Drill air box or some sort of cold air feed, or if a racing beat induction comes up nab that
Tidy up engine bay including stainless bolts and painted cam cover
Sort out scratches in dashboard and windblocker
Sort out gearbox lash/ grind
Sort out the rusty sills!!
Sort out rust in the engine bay
Dinatrol car before winter.
Spray inside plastic of headlights black
Replace washer jets with spray type ones
Detail the car to death inside and out
Refurb the kerbed wheels
Look into getting a front lip, possibly also side skirts and spoiler
Some decent coilovers or at the very least lowering springs as its currently a 4x4
And maybe, in the distant future, mildly supercharge it, and lighten it, to focus it into a lightweight powerhouse.
So I decided to try and smarten up the RX8 knob. It helped that the electricity was off for the day and I was bored s
tless. I live out in the sticks and we get power cuts at least a dozen times a year, usually in the winter when you need power the most, so they've been trying to improve the supply but need to turn it off all the time to fix!Searching the garage, I found some metallic silver plastikote of unknown age, but I'd guess at at least half a decade as the label was half sun bleached and we haven't seen sun since about 2007.
Also found some masking tape, and 2 grades of sandpaper: super rough and slightly less rough.
Now I knew this wasn't going to be a masterpiece but I was bored like I said, and I didn't like the chrome effect on the knob especially as it was scratched to hell. I decided due to the limitations of the tools I had, a brushed (scratchy) metal effect was the order of the day.
Masked up - quite tricky as its a triangle shape!
Ah..This hasn't gone to plan. I don't touch paintwork for a reason it seems.
I panicked as I don't have any turps/white spirit to remove the overspray. I then remembered my girlfriend has industrial strength nail varnish remover, so some of that dabbed in a cotton bud thing, plus a bit of black shoe polish and maybe a felt tip had the knob looking a bit better from a distance:
Well, it killed 45 minutes and was fun to do even if it does look gash.
A lack of spare cash and a busy work get in the way of doing much else for now, but I do have plans, including:
Fit fuel filter, change antifreeze
Bleed the brakes
Replace cambelt and water pump etc
Drill air box or some sort of cold air feed, or if a racing beat induction comes up nab that
Tidy up engine bay including stainless bolts and painted cam cover
Sort out scratches in dashboard and windblocker
Sort out gearbox lash/ grind
Sort out the rusty sills!!
Sort out rust in the engine bay
Dinatrol car before winter.
Spray inside plastic of headlights black
Replace washer jets with spray type ones
Detail the car to death inside and out
Refurb the kerbed wheels
Look into getting a front lip, possibly also side skirts and spoiler
Some decent coilovers or at the very least lowering springs as its currently a 4x4
And maybe, in the distant future, mildly supercharge it, and lighten it, to focus it into a lightweight powerhouse.
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