Thursday 9th April 2015

Mazda Eunos: PH Fleet

Spring has sprung ... and so has part of the Eunos's heating mechanism

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I'm not a wuss about driving convertibles through the winter or especially precious about the Eunos, given it's hardly a concours example. It is, however, rust free and I'd rather keep it that way if possible. There, excuses for the fact it's not been covering many miles of late sorted.

Seal makes bid for freedom; successfully restrained

But now spring has sprung! And like many with a weekend car the Mazda has been taking its first 2015 forays out onto the road. Glorious it's been too, as the pictures here attest. Not bad for a weekday commute, right?

Like anyone woken from a long sleep the Mazda was a little stroppy. Yes, something's gone wrong with it! Given how hard Mazda worked on giving the original MX-5 the character traits of classic British roadsters I wouldn't have put it past them to have included these 'faults' in the design, set to trigger at certain points in the aging process and evoke memories of the MGs, Triumphs and Lotuses that inspired it. Possibly.

Firstly there is something up with the ventilation system. No matter which position I put the knob in I couldn't get warm air out of the dash vents and so removed the glovebox (couple of screws) and fished around with the mechanism to see what was up. Seems something has gone twang in the springs and cables that connect it and the lever no longer operate the flaps correctly.

Bank holiday fettling for the brothers Trent

Consulting with in-house MX-5 oracle James from Autosport it's apparently a git of a job to fix and requires arms like Mr Tickle combined with the dexterity of a brain surgeon to sort. I have neither. So I've manually set the vents to floor and windscreen for warm toes and a demisted view of the road ahead and will, if necessary, wrap up on my top half if it's chilly. Denial mechanics at its best.

The second glitch did require some work though. On my first drive in a long while I took the Mazda to Farnborough for a launch and on the way there dropped roof and windows. Pulling up in the car park and chatting with Autocar's Matt Prior as I closed it up he looked on thoughtfully as the window emerged from the door, along with a significant section of the seal that runs down the back of the quarterlight. Ah. No amount of stuffing it back would get it all the way in and I had a plane to catch so I left it with the window as far up as it would go and hoped it wouldn't be too much of a faff to fix.

Once all that's done time for a drive

Once home I researched new seals and found the one in question runs out from inside the window mechanism, over the top of the quarterlight, along the bottom of the door and round to the catch. And costs nearly 80 quid. Time to look up the DIY options. Seemed if I could get the door card off without breaking any of the plastic catches, ease my way past the icky waterproof membrane and reach inside the door I might be able to tug it back into place. The excellent Paul Hardiman workshop manual had the instructions on how to do this and - glory! - it worked. Sticky windows are a common MX-5 problem and if I'd just squirted silicone lube into the seals on the season's first drive it'd have never happened. I already knew this of course. I just didn't get round to it. Lesson learned, thankfully with the minimum of fuss and expense.

While I was doing this my brother was round with his UK Mk1, joining me for a bit of Bank Holiday tinkering. Finished up we did what anyone would do and went for a noisy little tear-up on the local lanes. Joys of spring and all that!

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Fact sheet:
Car: 1993 Eunos Roadster (JDM import model)
Run by: Dan Trent
Bought: January 2011
Purchase price: £1,250
Last month at a glance: Spring sunshine makes for smug roadster ownership

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Previous reports:
Streching the Eunos' legs
Has Dan killed his Eunos?
The Eunos returns to Scotland for another road trip
Look, I was kidding about the downforce, right?
Why have one wedding car when four will do?
Dan's Eunos loses its horn
Just how many wheels for your wagon?
Wheel refurb goes a bit ... colourful
Dan gets back on track with his Eunos
The answer to everything?
More exhaust noise? Don't mind if I do...
Skidfoolery at Silverstone on the eco tyres
Er, more skidfoolery at Silverstone on the eco tyres!
Hibernation? Not for this Eunos!
Sell it? Nah, I'll just drive it, ta

[HorneyMX5]

Mine is also suffering post winter blues. My windows are slow, the fuel pump keeps cutting out and my heaters blow very hard on cold, not so much on hot.

Struggling to care though, as soon as the charger makes itself known with it's signature whine all thoughts of niggles disappear in a cloud of tyre smoke and a face full of grin.

[HorneyMX5]

snotrag said:

Pedant mode - he's right.

Its not a 'Mazda Eunos'.

that's like saying a 'Toyota Lexus'.

The mk1 cars were either a -

Mazda MX5 (Europe),
Mazda Miata (America),
Eunos Roadster (JDM)

Someone should tell the DVLA this. Eunos MX5, Mazda Roadster, Mazda Eunos MX5, etc etc all seen on V5s.