I want to buy a cheap MX5 to fix up...

[moebiusuk]

...but I know nothing about mechanics. I want to use this opportunity to learn.

I've recently moved into a property with a locked garage so I can work in there. What do you guys think? Could I get a non-rusting MX5 for £750? If so, does anyone know of any good examples? Or are there better options?

Any advice for the first time tinkerer would be really helpful.

[JonnyFive]

Get one thats rusty, doesn't matter too much and you can learn to weld at the same time.

£750 should be enough.

[krisdelta]

Non rusty? I think you'd be pretty lucky to find that for shed money. Anything you spend that kind of money on will be quite old and quite possibly rusty. All part of the fun surely if you're doing it up yourself.

[em177]

I have the perfect project car for you by the sounds of it I'm not going to have the funds to finish. Sham your at the wrong end of the UK!

[moebiusuk]

I'm sure there isn't a straight answer for this but how easy is it to fix rust for someone who's never welded in his life.

I'm a computer programmer so I sit at a desk all day and never get a chance to do any handy work. The only DIY I do is building Ikea furniture :/

Em, have you got any pics or details handy? I'd quite like to see what you're selling.

[JonnyFive]

Get the grinder out and grind away at the panel until it's clean metal. Clean up, shape new panel and weld in. Or you can even buy the sill panels ready to weld straight in. Grind flat, filler/sand, paint, done.

Takes us about 4-5 hours per side in the workshop, they've been doing it years though.

Or, get over to 'MX5 Nutz' and speak to 'MX5 Restorer', hes in Sussex.. I'm sure he'd be happy for you to go down one day and watch him do it, have heard very good things about his work.

[Garlick]

My tidy 1997 96k mile, FSH, three owner UK 1.8is was £600, although I did get the sills done professionally: http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=173&i=265...

[moebiusuk]

Nice! How much was it to get the sills done professionally? I know it differs but what sort of numbers am I looking at?

Evening classes sound like a good idea! I'll look into that.

[Garlick]

To be honest I can't remember but I think I paid circa £400 for the sills...I think

All in it owes me £1350 and I'm really enjoying it

[JonnyFive]

moebiusuk said:

Nice! How much was it to get the sills done professionally? I know it differs but what sort of numbers am I looking at?

Evening classes sound like a good idea! I'll look into that.

We as a main dealer charge around £200-£300 per side, depending on how bad they are.

That gives you an idea. Though one customer took hers to a bodyshop and wanted them to replace the whole sill panels, £1500+

[CrispyMK]

I brought a 1990 import for £700, it is quite tired looking in places and had a slipping clutch. It needs a few little bits doing to it which I plan to do myself. It'll be my first car that I need to carry out DIY work on to keep it on the road. I've done the odd bit before on other cars but I plan to learn properly on this car.

I took on the clutch change which didn't end well, although that was due to the weather being so cold I died twice of hypothermia. It meant taking it to a garage and paying £200 to fit it for me. They seem to be a pretty simple and at this sort of budget what's the worst that can happen, I've had mine 8 months now and if I had to give it away tomorrow for free that'd still be pretty cheap motoring compared to friends who have cars on finance.

[eltax91]

I just bought a '98 R reg MKII 1.8iS with minimal rot and sound mechanicals for £500. Whats the catch? It's a CAT C fixer-upper.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[Garlick]

So my £600 buy was a good one then.

[moebiusuk]

This is sounding like a better idea the more I read. Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated.

I'm looking at getting a late MK1 now for about £750. If anyone is selling, PM me.

[CrispyMK]

Garlick said:

So my £600 buy was a good one then.

Looking at the picture it looks like it!

Although mine only owes me £304 so far!

[MG CHRIS]

The main problems with mx5s are rust mechanically not much goes wrong with them. But there is plenty of choice out there for less than 1k.
I bought this for 600 quid back in January which was a good buy with very little rust and the sills have no signs of rust either I have some nice mods to go on the car next week during my week off

[V8RX7]

Your best advice would be to find a neglected one.

Tatty interior, torn hood etc.

However IME if you want a really nice car it's cheaper to buy one than to buy a shed and do it up - unless you can do all the jobs yourself.

[moebiusuk]

Yeah I could drop £2k and get a good one but I'm looking to use this opportunity to learn. I don't want to add coilovers or supercharge it, I just want to get a half broken (not too broken) one and fix it up to make it a perfect stock model.

That shouldn't cost too much should it? The reason I chose the MX5 is because I thought stock parts were plenty and cheap.

[eltax91]

Garlick said:

So my £600 buy was a good one then.

Dunno.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=...

[Meoricin]

Do an MR2 instead - I happen to know of a slightly rusty MOT failure which is in need of some loving and for sale for peanuts.