my Mazda mk1

[willttqs]

Hi, I bought this car five months ago, and really enjoy driving it, but it has not enjoyed being left outside all winter and has begun to rust. I plan to sell it in the summer because i will not be able to keep it warm in the summer. I was thinking of getting the sills repaired before the selling, what is your thoughts?

thanks

will

i am not sure how to upload pictures of the sills, but these are pictures before rust

http://www.flickr.com/photos/44280760@N03/sets/721...

[St. Anger]

Nice looking car, what exhaust system is that? The exits look much bigger than mines!

[browna]

If you really wanna sell it then fixing the sills will help, but you won't get the money back in extra value IMHO.

Almost any mx5 will rust, you just gotta accept it as a design fault.

I'd fix up the sills as much as you can, slap a load of waxoil everywhere and keep running it. It is their Achilles heel, but keep on top of it, and it should last a good few years before it becomes unfixable, then just buy another one for £800 and keep/sell the best bits of ur old one before scrapping.

Cheap motoring at its best so I've discovered. (just keep away from the mx5nutz forum, too much £££ modding temptation!)

[willttqs]

i think it cost 450 quid, it is pretty big and not silly loud, but nice enough. i think just before the summer starts in april/may time i will put it up on ebay with a reserve of 1500 quid

[Eighteeteewhy]

willttqs said:

i think it cost 450 quid, it is pretty big and not silly loud, but nice enough. i think just before the summer starts in april/may time i will put it up on ebay with a reserve of 1500 quid

If you get the sills/rust sorted I think that sounds about right as it does look a nice car. Without the work I think you'll probably struggle to get £1500+ IMO

[willttqs]

i took some pretty good pictures of it i think, but seem to get them uploaded. it is really good fun to drive, so will be keeping it for a little while yet i think

[Marvindodgers]

browna said:

Almost any mx5 will rust, you just gotta accept it as a design fault.

I find this a strange comment when we're talking about 20 year old cars? No car is designed to last 20 years, so the fact that so many Mk1 MX5s still exist and are being enjoyed is actually testament to the opposite.

[Munter]

Not so much a fault. If the design was to last 10 years or 150,000 miles. It's exceeded the design requirement for the vast majority of cars.

I'll give you it's a weak point in the design in that it's generally the 1st area to go.

Anyway to the OP I'd sell it with the rust in place. Telling the buyer you didn't want to bodge it for a sale, and reduced the price accordingly so the buyer could be sure of the quality of the repair when they have it done themselves.

[Riknos]

It is a design fault; as even 7/8 year old etc cars have rusted, but not on other parts of the car, ergo it's not an 'age' thing, but a design flaw. Which it is.

[MX-5 Lazza]

It's mostly just a design flaw that is exacerbated by poor maintenance i.e. if you keep the drain tubes clear the water doesn't flow through the sills. The drain holes should only be required to allow condensation/moisture to escape, they aren't meant to be a main water drain for the hood.

[TNTom]

St. Anger said:

Nice looking car, what exhaust system is that? The exits look much bigger than mines!

Looks the same as mine maby?? Ignore the stickers and the slightly out of place left exhaust!

[willttqs]

I think my exhaust is this one, as it has a huge centre box

http://www.ilmotorsport.de/shop/article_detail.php...

[St. Anger]

TNTom said:

St. Anger said:

Nice looking car, what exhaust system is that? The exits look much bigger than mines!

Looks the same as mine maby?? Ignore the stickers and the slightly out of place left exhaust!

Brilliant! I take it you misunderstood the template too?