Got my MX5 back today after a 6 week makeover
Discussion
I finally got my car back to today. I have had this car just over three years. It was a scruffy, but very sound 1994 RS-Limited with a few dings and scratches here and there. I initially cleaned the car up a bit before taking on a 2600 mile trip around Europe with my son, which took in a few laps of the Nurburgring on the way back. That left me wanting a Porker... However, after 3 years trying 997s, 996s and 993s, I'd been left a little cold - all capable cars but not really more 'fun'. A could'nt see a Boxster being that different either.
Work has been manic the last 12 months, and I had been missing club, and Pistonheads events, and driving the car less and less, and it was once again beginning to gather dust. So, I decided about 3 months ago to bite the bullet and just plough some effort into the car I love, my trusty RS. In the last year, I had already fitted a Stainless Steel exhaust system, from a 4-2-1 Manifold, through a small Jackson Racing Cat, and a Dual rear box. I wanted the car to be the best it could, and given my lack of time, I was looking for someone to take on the project for me.
Via the MX5 Nutz website, a member called Garath was suggested. He had been doing some great work on bringing some ailing Mark 1s back to life, and was planning on starting an MX5 Restoration business (now operational - called 'The MX5 Restorer' http://www.themx5restorer.co.uk/ ). A quick visit to see him near Eastbourne led to a work list and agreed estimate being drawn up. I was looking to bring my car up to as close to 'new' as reasonably possible. Jobs to do included: All dings and scratches fixed, and body prepped - Full respray in the original Montego Blue, refurbish the BBS alloys, source, paint and fit new Rocker Cover, fit new rocker gasket, replace 'O' Ring, heat wrap and re-hang exhaust (was moving about a bit), change cambelt and water pump (as a precaution), clean out the engine bay, clean out the interior, fix worn Recaro seat panels, and fit new roof. The car, as I mentioned was sound and in good overall condition - so this was a serious spruce up, rather than attacking anything wrong. I was to drop the car over in a couple of weeks. In that time, I found that a good friend of a friend is a Master Trimmer (trained at Rolls Royce, now works on Astons) and said he would do the seats for me over a couple of weekends - and MazMania would be at the Owners Club Spring Rally and could fit a new hood for me there - that left all the rest for Garath and his collegue Marc to sort out for me.
Garath removed the seats for me to take away to the trimmer, when I dropped the car off around the 10th of April - and that would be the last I would see of if for a very painful 6 weeks. I picked the Seats up from the Trimmer on the evening of the 22nd May - They were AWESOME - a fantastic job done!. My plan was then to drive down to Eastbourne with the seats, bright and early on the Sunday (23rd May) morning to pick the car up at 9am, then drive up to the MX5 Spring Rally in Paddock Wood to have my new hood fitted and enter the car into one of the competitions. Bright, early and Sunday mornings never seem to work well together for me - so I arrive at Garath's new unit at 10:30. Garath gets the seats fitted in a jiffy as I look over the car - the paint job is great - I did say that I was keen to avoid or minimise any overspray, and could not find any. The windscreen had been taken out, and the car very well taped up, obviously. (They also repainted my tired old wiper arms in satin black). A few final jobs to be finished, was deciding whether I wanted the old 'Eunos' and 'Roadster' badges fitted, which I did. The engine bay looked great, very clean, the Rocker cover effect was exactly what I was looking for. Upon start up, it looked like a little over exhuberance in the clean up - we had to spend a little time drying up some excess moisture before I could get on my way.
Seats
Car:
Engine Bay:
It was great to be back in the car and I was getting reaquinted with it - realising that another job I need to do is sort out the alignment again - a trip to WiM will be needed over the coming weeks. I made it the Spring rally about 12:30, a little late for my appointment for the new roof, but not a problem as Peter from MazMania appeared to be running a little behind also. Getting there so late meant that I could not take part in any competitions - and as we were chatting so much while the roof was being fitted, I did not leave till almost 4pm after everyone had left and most of the Sales stands had been taken down and the trucks gone. Peter did a very good job on the roof (as you would expect - all while a rain storm hit while the car had no roof), and the car looks great with its new Black Mohair/Glass hood. All in all, a very expensive, but thoroughly enjoyable end to 6 weeks without my car. Hope you enjoy the pictures.
Roof being fitted:
Work has been manic the last 12 months, and I had been missing club, and Pistonheads events, and driving the car less and less, and it was once again beginning to gather dust. So, I decided about 3 months ago to bite the bullet and just plough some effort into the car I love, my trusty RS. In the last year, I had already fitted a Stainless Steel exhaust system, from a 4-2-1 Manifold, through a small Jackson Racing Cat, and a Dual rear box. I wanted the car to be the best it could, and given my lack of time, I was looking for someone to take on the project for me.
Via the MX5 Nutz website, a member called Garath was suggested. He had been doing some great work on bringing some ailing Mark 1s back to life, and was planning on starting an MX5 Restoration business (now operational - called 'The MX5 Restorer' http://www.themx5restorer.co.uk/ ). A quick visit to see him near Eastbourne led to a work list and agreed estimate being drawn up. I was looking to bring my car up to as close to 'new' as reasonably possible. Jobs to do included: All dings and scratches fixed, and body prepped - Full respray in the original Montego Blue, refurbish the BBS alloys, source, paint and fit new Rocker Cover, fit new rocker gasket, replace 'O' Ring, heat wrap and re-hang exhaust (was moving about a bit), change cambelt and water pump (as a precaution), clean out the engine bay, clean out the interior, fix worn Recaro seat panels, and fit new roof. The car, as I mentioned was sound and in good overall condition - so this was a serious spruce up, rather than attacking anything wrong. I was to drop the car over in a couple of weeks. In that time, I found that a good friend of a friend is a Master Trimmer (trained at Rolls Royce, now works on Astons) and said he would do the seats for me over a couple of weekends - and MazMania would be at the Owners Club Spring Rally and could fit a new hood for me there - that left all the rest for Garath and his collegue Marc to sort out for me.
Garath removed the seats for me to take away to the trimmer, when I dropped the car off around the 10th of April - and that would be the last I would see of if for a very painful 6 weeks. I picked the Seats up from the Trimmer on the evening of the 22nd May - They were AWESOME - a fantastic job done!. My plan was then to drive down to Eastbourne with the seats, bright and early on the Sunday (23rd May) morning to pick the car up at 9am, then drive up to the MX5 Spring Rally in Paddock Wood to have my new hood fitted and enter the car into one of the competitions. Bright, early and Sunday mornings never seem to work well together for me - so I arrive at Garath's new unit at 10:30. Garath gets the seats fitted in a jiffy as I look over the car - the paint job is great - I did say that I was keen to avoid or minimise any overspray, and could not find any. The windscreen had been taken out, and the car very well taped up, obviously. (They also repainted my tired old wiper arms in satin black). A few final jobs to be finished, was deciding whether I wanted the old 'Eunos' and 'Roadster' badges fitted, which I did. The engine bay looked great, very clean, the Rocker cover effect was exactly what I was looking for. Upon start up, it looked like a little over exhuberance in the clean up - we had to spend a little time drying up some excess moisture before I could get on my way.
Seats
Car:
Engine Bay:
It was great to be back in the car and I was getting reaquinted with it - realising that another job I need to do is sort out the alignment again - a trip to WiM will be needed over the coming weeks. I made it the Spring rally about 12:30, a little late for my appointment for the new roof, but not a problem as Peter from MazMania appeared to be running a little behind also. Getting there so late meant that I could not take part in any competitions - and as we were chatting so much while the roof was being fitted, I did not leave till almost 4pm after everyone had left and most of the Sales stands had been taken down and the trucks gone. Peter did a very good job on the roof (as you would expect - all while a rain storm hit while the car had no roof), and the car looks great with its new Black Mohair/Glass hood. All in all, a very expensive, but thoroughly enjoyable end to 6 weeks without my car. Hope you enjoy the pictures.
Roof being fitted:
Don't think i've seen that colour before but I bet it looks great in the flesh.Looks like they have done you proud! I've been loudly promoting Garath on here and other forums since I first saw the quality of his work (when he was working on his driveway!). He is passionate about what he does and I've never seen anything remotely close to a complaint or even a niggle!
The guy who did your seats... do you think he's be keen to do more private work? Not sure I need it myself but I'm sure there are plenty who do
The guy who did your seats... do you think he's be keen to do more private work? Not sure I need it myself but I'm sure there are plenty who do
MX-5 Lazza said:
Looks like they have done you proud! I've been loudly promoting Garath on here and other forums since I first saw the quality of his work (when he was working on his driveway!). He is passionate about what he does and I've never seen anything remotely close to a complaint or even a niggle!
I have had a problem with my previous paint guy, in so much as I wasn't happy with his work on one of the cars he did for me, so I am working with the owner to put that right, and I won't be using that paint guy anymore.But other than that I think everyone has been happy, and I am working hard to keep it that way
I'm really pleased you are happy with the car Jazzy, it really did look stunning, oh and you wont find overspray on any rubbers etc, because they were removed
Nice work Jazzy. I have the same car which bit by bit is having all the work done to bring it up to scratch. Have fitted Rota RB's but it is my intention to have the original BBS's refurbished and will keep them. Seats were in our track car for a spell but are now back, they need refurbishment too. And although it scrubs up reasonably well, I need to consider a respray. Same colour of course, it really looks fantastic in bright sunlight when you get little bits of green in with the blue. It'll all be done in time.
Still need to fit the new stereo, new RS badge, stick-on front number plate and rear spoiler, paint the cam cover and calipers ... and I haven't even bought the style bar, white dials or front splitter yet.
Still need to fit the new stereo, new RS badge, stick-on front number plate and rear spoiler, paint the cam cover and calipers ... and I haven't even bought the style bar, white dials or front splitter yet.
MX-5 Lazza said:
The guy who did your seats... do you think he's be keen to do more private work? Not sure I need it myself but I'm sure there are plenty who do
I'm going to ask him - If he does not want his details put on the site, people can PM me and if he is OK for me to do so, will send his details. Not sure if I was given 'mates rates' but once I went through the options with him - I decided to go the whole hog and get both seats fully re-trimmed. That included getting the text embroided onto the new cloth. He did say he could make the pads better for me (simpler design, more comfortable), but I wanted them to look exactly the same as the original - and they do. We had a pig of a time trying to track down the belt guide straps on the shoulder of the seats - but eventually was able to order them via Mazda in Japan (they don't appear to be Recaro items) - this was through Milcars Mazda in Watford, who have a Eunos parts ordering system in their parts department. They have been able to order them (and bill me a whopping amount), but we are not sure if they are actually in stock (you cannot order if they are completely discountinued - like the full seats). If they do come through, I should have the belt guides in 2 to 3 weeks, and they will be fitted to the car. 
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