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.

[SirSquidalot]

Just got my Mk2 back on the road over winter its had:

• New Cat
• New Team Dynamics Wheels
• New T1R's
• New Pagid discs
• New yellowstuff pads
• New induction system
• New interior trims
• Welding on both sills at the rear

Took it out over the weekend and did 150 trouble free miles, then last night went out for a proper hoon. Its fantastic! However the alternator is whining like a wounded beast

Edited by SirSquidalot on Thursday 9th April 16:21

[Krikkit]

Mine is looking very sorry for itself after the winter - the rust has started creeping in on both sills.

It's in pretty good mechanical fettle though, I did about 150 miles of hooning over Easter which was rather fantastic. Unfortunately the stereo's knackered!

Thanks for the tip on the renovation manual as well, I'll be furnishing mine with a bit more TLC now.

[Deutscheblonde]

Gave me a case of Deja vu...

[rodericb]

Oh, one of those. I was expecting to see something about a 30X or 800M.......

[snotrag]

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)

(Brand, model).

Eunos also did some really cool stuff like the Cosmo. I think there were Eunos premium versions of some of the more normal hatchback type things. There were separate Eunos dealerships were they sold the Eunos cars, and Eunos badged Citroens!

Pedant fin!


anyway - yes, as a long time and multiple 5 owner thte worst thing you can do is lay them up. All the trouble I had with my first was when I parked it one winter instead of fitting winter tyres like previous years (Only because I bought an entire car for the price of 4 winter tyres).

Once my current car is back on the road (next 2 weeks) I am flogging my 'daily driver' and I'm just going to use it, Its there to be used and I'm an idiot for letting it spend more time on axle stands on the drive trying to make it unattainably perfect, than I am for just driving it.

[rovermorris999]

I've just got mine out and about again. I gave it a clay and polish in its Airchamber then off to the local Mazda dealer to book in for a new cambelt. Then to decide what to do with it. Only a few hundred miles last year but I love it when I do drive it and I doubt I'll find another one quite like it.

[GibsonSG]

Dan, you've made me very glad that I used mine throughout the winter! Avoided salted roads where possible but an active winter has resulted in a very happy Eunos Roadster! Here it is on Boxing Day with the Malverns in the background

[suffolk009]

Hmmm. I've had a slow passenger side window since I bought the car (about 8 years ago). Now the drivers side has started to slow, I'll have to try the silicone lube idea.

My wife tried to start an earnest conversation the other day about selling it. Didn't get very far with it.

[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.

[Henry Fiddleton]

(puffs up chest)

Used mine daily for the station commute and 1 track day over the winter.

[liammedler]

Mine proved a dependable workhorse when equipped with winter tyres for my daily commute to Gaydon from Oxford ... until it dropped a valve on the A34 2 weeks ago. Still, a very usable winter car in my opinion and something I will buy another of in the near future

[YorkshirePudding]

Been using mine over the winter with no trouble and now the suns out, it decided to stop working Sat,

[rovermorris999]

YorkshirePudding said:

Been using mine over the winter with no trouble and now the suns out, it decided to stop working Sat,

It's punishing you for all that salt!

[PATTERNPART]

My drivers window went slower and slower until the cable snapped. The nice man at Freelance Mazda put a whole new unit in and it goes up and down like a rocket. Twice the speed of the passenger one. Wind up windows would have been perfectly adequate! I did some delving and was impressed by the quality of clips and fit as well as condition. I sprayed some wax on the metalwork and replaced the sticky membrane.

Has anyone else noticed light diagonal scratches on both moving door glass panels?

[YorkshirePudding]

rovermorris999 said:

It's punishing you for all that salt!

[JamesHayward]

HorneyMX5 said:

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

Just checked my V5. Mine is simply registered as 'Mazda'.

[TWPC]

I wish either of my brothers were into cars. :envy:

[Sampaio]

Portuguese weather means I've been using mine non-stop since I bought it last June! No snow, no salt and a hardtop to top it off (pun intended).

[GibsonSG]

Sampaio, that has just made me a teeny bit jealous!