MX5 hunting grounds...

[trooperiziz]

Morning all.

Many years back I had a 1991 Eunos 1.6 for 18 months, which was great fun but for some reason I never took her out on the track. Roll forward a few years and I have the urge to buy another MX5 and this time take her out to play at the weekends, I used to have a race prepped mk1 Golf which I took to trackdays, but time for something I can slide around a bit

So, where is the best place to look? I've got a maximum of £2k to spend, but for the full £2k she would have to be very nice indeed, i'd prefer to get closer to the £1k mark if possible
I'm pretty easy on what I want, i'd prefer a Eunos rather than UK and a 1.8 rather than 1.6, but anything is possible if a good one pops up. The only thing I am certain on is a cloth interior, don't want to be slipping off the leather seats in a long right-hander...

I've scoured ebay, pistonheads and autotrader with a few possibilities, but nothing that really jumps out the page, is there anywhere else I can try, any owners forums out there (or anyone on here looking to sell! )

edited to add: looking back at my car history on here, it was actually a 1992. I think the colour made me forget everything else, canary yellow, what was I thinking...

Edited by trooperiziz on Wednesday 17th June 08:57

[maz8062]

Why don't you just follow the numerous other threads that ask the exact same question 3 times a week.

[skinny]

you'll be slipping off a cloth seat too. budget £150 for a decent bucket seat if you're looking for a track toy...

[Munter]

skinny said:

you'll be slipping off a cloth seat too. budget £150 for a decent bucket seat if you're looking for a track toy...

I disagree. I find the cloth seat in mine ok for slippage. It's not as figure hugging as I'd like. But you don't slide around on it like I have on some leather seats. Not been in an MX with leather though so cant do a perfect comparison.

[FELIX_5]

Ebay is your best bet to bag a 'bargain', or you could try

www.mx5nutz.com
www.carandclassic.co.uk

[trooperiziz]

maz8062 said:

Why don't you just follow the numerous other threads that ask the exact same question 3 times a week.

Why don't you read what i'm asking for?

I'm not asking what to buy, i'm asking where to buy it, didn't see a thread when i looked.

[trooperiziz]

FELIX_5 said:

Ebay is your best bet to bag a 'bargain', or you could try

www.mx5nutz.com
www.carandclassic.co.uk

Thanks Some interesting stuff on the nutz forum...

[MX-5 Lazza]

Munter said:

skinny said:

you'll be slipping off a cloth seat too. budget £150 for a decent bucket seat if you're looking for a track toy...

I disagree. I find the cloth seat in mine ok for slippage. It's not as figure hugging as I'd like. But you don't slide around on it like I have on some leather seats. Not been in an MX with leather though so cant do a perfect comparison.

I agree with Skinny. If you are planning to do more than the occasional trip to the track you will want to replace the seats with something that gives more support, especially for the shoulders & thighs where the MX-5 seats have no support whatsoever.

[Risotto]

With Autotrader, don't forget to search for 'Mazda Eunos' as well as 'Mazda MX-5'.

I know, there's no such thing as a Mazda Eunos, but it's there in the list of models all the same!

[dan1981]

Don't forget to pick up your local ad mag / free ads / yeller what ever it is in your area.

Quite often find them lurking in their with non enthusiast owenrs.....

[tuttle]

Hmmm don't find my leather too slippy at all, that said, it is old & worn enough to have a surface like grip tape
Agree with those that think a bucket seat is the answer, OEM seat just don't have enough support for thighs/shoulders when cornering with gusto.

[MX-5 Lazza]

With standard seats you will find yourself bracing yourself in corners with your knees against the centre tunnel & door. The knee against the centre tunnel can get a bit sore if it's a long day (it did for me anyway).

[Munter]

MX-5 Lazza said:

With standard seats you will find yourself bracing yourself in corners with your knees against the centre tunnel & door. The knee against the centre tunnel can get a bit sore if it's a long day (it did for me anyway).

I guess I do brace myself a lot. Not noticed it apart from when (you'll note thats not IF) I spin I generally pull my left calf muscle pressing against the foot rest/clutch. I suspect thats more to do with fear than bracing...

[skinny]

on track, your right knee is bracing yourself against the side of the car, and you're hanging on to the steering wheel to stop yourself falling out the car. not exactly the best way to carefully control your throttle, braking, and steering inputs!! plus, the left knee often ends up bruised from teh centre console. even if your bum isn't slipping out of the stock seat, you have no upper body support at the waist and shoulders to keep you upright and no leg support to stop your bottom half moving.

when you are strapped into my drivers seat (sparco corsa), your shoulders, waist, hips, and legs are stuck firmly in place, and you can use your arms just to steer with a lot more precision and feel - trust me it makes a big difference.

[trooperiziz]

Thanks for the input guys, looks like I need a new seat, any recommendations on where to get one?

I put in a sneaky low bid on a poorly advertised mx5 on ebay tonight, fully expecting to be outbid, and won!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

Not too bad for a grand I think, she looks in pretty good nick (apart from a little bit of the usual sill rust) and should do just fine as a track hound and occasional weekend runabout.

I was tempted by this
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1094645.htm

I was going to go take a look tomorrow, but it has no service history at all and although it could be huge fun, it would have been a very brave choice!

[dan1981]

The second one is literally just round the corner from me. They seem to know their 5's there. They've got a couple of their own track toys.

[trooperiziz]

dan1981 said:

The second one is literally just round the corner from me. They seem to know their 5's there. They've got a couple of their own track toys.

Yup, they have a couple of mx5s that they use on the track, this is one of them.
I've seen some photos of the engine bay, and the turbo install is not a new one by any means! It's been in a while so must be pretty well bedded in and has been working for a long time.

Could be a bargain for someone, but the fact that it has no history, has had a colour change, has some bling wheels and the engine bay is pretty tatty meant that it was too much of a risk for me personally. Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt that it is a solid and straight car, but too many risk factors and possibility of costing a lot of money if it goes bang.

Still... £1800 for a turbo MX5, extremely tempting to take that risk!

[Fruitcake]

MX-5 Lazza said:

With standard seats you will find yourself bracing yourself in corners with your knees against the centre tunnel & door. The knee against the centre tunnel can get a bit sore if it's a long day (it did for me anyway).

Couldn't agree more. I've done trackdays and drift days in MX-5s and other cars. The Mazda is the only car I get out of with bruised knees at the end of the day.
This is especially noticeable if you've got wind down windows - ouch.

A proper seat is a must

[Risotto]

trooperiziz said:

Thanks for the input guys, looks like I need a new seat, any recommendations on where to get one?

I put in a sneaky low bid on a poorly advertised mx5 on ebay tonight, fully expecting to be outbid, and won!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

Congratulations, looks like a decent example. You may have a KG Works instrument surround there (although it's hard to say from those photos).

Here's one to compare yours to when you get it:



If so, I'm sure one of the JDM fans would be interested - you could put the money towards the new seat you mentioned!

Edited by Risotto on Friday 19th June 17:57

[MX-5 Lazza]

Interesting car... The surround does indeed look like it might be a KG Works one so that would be worth a few pennies. You could also sell the "roll bars" as they aren't real roll-bars i.e. they offer no roll protection. Also, the seats are out of a Mk2.5 so they will sell for a lot more than Mk1 seats would
Any idea what make the wheels & dual-exit exhaust are?