Gwenny The Mx5 tear down
Discussion
Hi people,
Id first like to apologise for the massive essay im about to write
this is my little mx5.

I found it forsale on fle-bay late at night when I wasn’t even looking at mx5’s…still not sure how this happened but hey ho.
So in the pics on the advert it looked in o.k condition, I expected it wouldn’t be a minter for the money but I wasn’t after a minter so all is well.
I went ahead and brought it anyway as I got “the vibe” from the car, don’t know if its only me who gets that when viewing potential cars?
After driving the car less than 2miles back home I desided to call the mx gwen after my nan who recently passed as even though she was well past her time she was still game and was always up for a laugh.
Me and my mrs have just brought our first house and moved in around 5 months ago, as iv been a busy boy decorating and helping pick fabric and paint (as exciting as it sounds…) I haven’t really had chance (been allowed) to sort the garage (man cave) out.
So first things first, clean. Paint. Install electrics/lighting. Move all my tools etc in.
This is what I was faced with


Which ended up like this (now has electrics which it doesn’t in the pic and the rest of my tools/table)

Which means I can get the mx off the drive from under its night cap

Heres some more pics of the little beasty, it does need a massive clean so don’t judge just yet. It has been stood for the last 3 years, some of this seems to have been outside. Damp, mould, smells, moss.






And this is all the history I have with the car

My original idea was to service it, cage, coilys, super sticky licky rubber and some new rims.
But iv desided that it could do with a fair bit of love as it doesn’t apper to have been looked after for quite some time.
First off was to strip the front end and make sure behind the wings wasn’t crammed full of dirt and dead tree. So I set about doing that…
Which kicked off a fair few hickups

Mmm muddy

Had a few bolts snap unfortunately and 1 that was rounded by a previous owner. The one that was rounded was stoping me getting the bumper and passanger wing off so had a think and went down my local tool shop and got these

Which thankfull after lots of praying and sweating whizzed the rounded nut straight out.
After a good inspect it all seems to be pretty solid, no rust or holes, the odd scab starting but nothing that carnt be sorted before its undersealed/painted (any recommendations product wise?)
All dirty before giving it a quick clean

CLEAN-er

Now that the front off and ready for me to spend some time cleaing it all before its painted I thought id turn my attension to the rear end (oo er)
Remember by dirty petrol cap now its clean ?


Some idiot didn’t connect the battery vapour venting tube up or secure the batter down properly.
Which has led to there being damp.
After having a good mess with the sound deading it was apparent that there was quite abit of rust under it.
Iv given it all a love tap and seems fairly solid so just needs addressing properly and I should be able to get away with not cutting it out


Also gave the passanger arch a good clean
Before-

After-

So to sum up.
I brought a car for summer fun, trackdays and ring trips and iv brought a car and desided to do a light restoration :s
Once all is painted underneath and rust addressed there will be updates featuring –
Ripping out the air con,a rollcage, coilys, polybush’s, new rad, new rims and tyres, seats, and either eaton supercharger OR itb’s still unsure. Most likely will go charger route though.
And ring trips and track outings
Thanks for reading. Hope I haven’t bored you all.
Hi guys,
Iv been slacking with the updates I know but iv been a busy boy working on the mx and shiz so not all bad
A lot of this wont be in order as iv got so many pics, not a clue what order they happened in and iv missed bits out forgetting to take pics (im useless I know lol) im back on it now though so will document everything better from now on. SO-
Just to list as I don’t have pics of it all iv-
Changed CAS O-ring
Rocker cover gasket
Removed both wing mirrors as they where broke and rusty
Fixed accelerator pedal as there was a tear on the backing plate
Changed gearbox turret oil and boots
Removed all the AC
Removed some surface rust and treated/stonechiped floor pan, behind wings and front end also replaced all the bolts/nuts from bumper and wings.
I brought a new Mishimoto rad a shroud and a set of new hoses and milkalor clamps



Removed all this s
te


All back togeather

Took all the breather plates out the rocker cover and got it acid dipped at work ready to paint


Took all the front apart to clean treat and stone chip


Got this at a BARGAIN of £60 brand new

Changed this old thing to sexy poly one and changed lower boot, oil and bush


I then decided to take the seats and carpet out to check for rust and genraly give it a good clean. Then found this, good job im changing these for buckets anyway ay lol

Found abit more “service history

Finaly got this out. Was a right pain as everything was rusted. Luckly the floor wasn’t lol

This is how my ecu is held in place at the moment will be making a proper bracket for it at some point

Gave the floor pan a good clean, lots of hair and dust
?


Had trouble with the headlight units, the screws where all rounded and rusted in the cages.
I finaly got them all out and since replaced the light units and screws for alen key bolts which have all been greased to make sure it doesn’t happen again


The bay looked like this when I first got it –
Before

After

Next things to be happening will be (in no order)-
cage, seats, wheels, coilovers, new set of locks for doors and boot, new boot, new pair of wings, new wing mirrors (suggestions?), polybushes, tsi’s and GV lip (how original lol)
Id first like to apologise for the massive essay im about to write

this is my little mx5.

I found it forsale on fle-bay late at night when I wasn’t even looking at mx5’s…still not sure how this happened but hey ho.
So in the pics on the advert it looked in o.k condition, I expected it wouldn’t be a minter for the money but I wasn’t after a minter so all is well.
I went ahead and brought it anyway as I got “the vibe” from the car, don’t know if its only me who gets that when viewing potential cars?
After driving the car less than 2miles back home I desided to call the mx gwen after my nan who recently passed as even though she was well past her time she was still game and was always up for a laugh.
Me and my mrs have just brought our first house and moved in around 5 months ago, as iv been a busy boy decorating and helping pick fabric and paint (as exciting as it sounds…) I haven’t really had chance (been allowed) to sort the garage (man cave) out.
So first things first, clean. Paint. Install electrics/lighting. Move all my tools etc in.
This is what I was faced with


Which ended up like this (now has electrics which it doesn’t in the pic and the rest of my tools/table)

Which means I can get the mx off the drive from under its night cap

Heres some more pics of the little beasty, it does need a massive clean so don’t judge just yet. It has been stood for the last 3 years, some of this seems to have been outside. Damp, mould, smells, moss.






And this is all the history I have with the car


My original idea was to service it, cage, coilys, super sticky licky rubber and some new rims.
But iv desided that it could do with a fair bit of love as it doesn’t apper to have been looked after for quite some time.
First off was to strip the front end and make sure behind the wings wasn’t crammed full of dirt and dead tree. So I set about doing that…
Which kicked off a fair few hickups

Mmm muddy

Had a few bolts snap unfortunately and 1 that was rounded by a previous owner. The one that was rounded was stoping me getting the bumper and passanger wing off so had a think and went down my local tool shop and got these

Which thankfull after lots of praying and sweating whizzed the rounded nut straight out.
After a good inspect it all seems to be pretty solid, no rust or holes, the odd scab starting but nothing that carnt be sorted before its undersealed/painted (any recommendations product wise?)
All dirty before giving it a quick clean

CLEAN-er

Now that the front off and ready for me to spend some time cleaing it all before its painted I thought id turn my attension to the rear end (oo er)
Remember by dirty petrol cap now its clean ?


Some idiot didn’t connect the battery vapour venting tube up or secure the batter down properly.
Which has led to there being damp.
After having a good mess with the sound deading it was apparent that there was quite abit of rust under it.
Iv given it all a love tap and seems fairly solid so just needs addressing properly and I should be able to get away with not cutting it out


Also gave the passanger arch a good clean
Before-

After-

So to sum up.
I brought a car for summer fun, trackdays and ring trips and iv brought a car and desided to do a light restoration :s
Once all is painted underneath and rust addressed there will be updates featuring –
Ripping out the air con,a rollcage, coilys, polybush’s, new rad, new rims and tyres, seats, and either eaton supercharger OR itb’s still unsure. Most likely will go charger route though.
And ring trips and track outings
Thanks for reading. Hope I haven’t bored you all.
Edited by Ringy01 on Wednesday 26th August 11:12
Hi guys,
Iv been slacking with the updates I know but iv been a busy boy working on the mx and shiz so not all bad

A lot of this wont be in order as iv got so many pics, not a clue what order they happened in and iv missed bits out forgetting to take pics (im useless I know lol) im back on it now though so will document everything better from now on. SO-
Just to list as I don’t have pics of it all iv-
Changed CAS O-ring
Rocker cover gasket
Removed both wing mirrors as they where broke and rusty
Fixed accelerator pedal as there was a tear on the backing plate
Changed gearbox turret oil and boots
Removed all the AC
Removed some surface rust and treated/stonechiped floor pan, behind wings and front end also replaced all the bolts/nuts from bumper and wings.
I brought a new Mishimoto rad a shroud and a set of new hoses and milkalor clamps



Removed all this s
te

All back togeather

Took all the breather plates out the rocker cover and got it acid dipped at work ready to paint


Took all the front apart to clean treat and stone chip


Got this at a BARGAIN of £60 brand new


Changed this old thing to sexy poly one and changed lower boot, oil and bush


I then decided to take the seats and carpet out to check for rust and genraly give it a good clean. Then found this, good job im changing these for buckets anyway ay lol

Found abit more “service history

Finaly got this out. Was a right pain as everything was rusted. Luckly the floor wasn’t lol

This is how my ecu is held in place at the moment will be making a proper bracket for it at some point

Gave the floor pan a good clean, lots of hair and dust
?


Had trouble with the headlight units, the screws where all rounded and rusted in the cages.
I finaly got them all out and since replaced the light units and screws for alen key bolts which have all been greased to make sure it doesn’t happen again


The bay looked like this when I first got it –
Before

After

Next things to be happening will be (in no order)-
cage, seats, wheels, coilovers, new set of locks for doors and boot, new boot, new pair of wings, new wing mirrors (suggestions?), polybushes, tsi’s and GV lip (how original lol)
Edited by Ringy01 on Wednesday 26th August 11:15
Edited by Ringy01 on Wednesday 26th August 11:18
Hey peeps,
Long time no update, I have been doing bits and bobs to Gwen but haven't been documenting it very well :sad:
Just to update I have-
Taken every panel off and treated/rust proofed behind.
Wired in fans to a switch.
Done general tidying.
Lotus Elise seats
13" et0 minilites wraped in kumho v700 semi slicks.
Here's some pics


[IMG]


Cleaned all this mud out, litraly it was packed in everywhere (didn't take many pics but lots of mud)


Painted

Coilovers and cage are next. After that MOT/tax/insurance and trackdays/sprints and 'ring trip is in order. All work and no play lol
Long time no update, I have been doing bits and bobs to Gwen but haven't been documenting it very well :sad:
Just to update I have-
Taken every panel off and treated/rust proofed behind.
Wired in fans to a switch.
Done general tidying.
Lotus Elise seats
13" et0 minilites wraped in kumho v700 semi slicks.
Here's some pics


[IMG]


Cleaned all this mud out, litraly it was packed in everywhere (didn't take many pics but lots of mud)


Painted

Coilovers and cage are next. After that MOT/tax/insurance and trackdays/sprints and 'ring trip is in order. All work and no play lol
Edited by Ringy01 on Wednesday 26th August 11:20
I go to town with a wire brush drill bit or a flap disc on an angle grinder to get it all back to bare metal where i can. Then use the hammerrite rust converter stuff, then zinc primer and stonechip or paint. Im sure someone will have a better way of preventing rust but iv always done this and never had it come back (touch wood)
Just been out to the garage to get the mx up to temp so i could reset the base idle. When i was standing by the engine bay i felt water flicking at me so had a poke around and found that it was pissing coolant from the front of the block somwhere onto the pulleys :angry:
Its even wet by the injectors it was flicking it about that much. So yet again...more mazda problems
Its even wet by the injectors it was flicking it about that much. So yet again...more mazda problems

Ringy01 said:
Just been out to the garage to get the mx up to temp so i could reset the base idle. When i was standing by the engine bay i felt water flicking at me so had a poke around and found that it was pissing coolant from the front of the block somwhere onto the pulleys :angry:
Its even wet by the injectors it was flicking it about that much. So yet again...more mazda problems
Water pump is down there Its even wet by the injectors it was flicking it about that much. So yet again...more mazda problems

Also check the pipe that runs along the side of the head under the inlet, mine went there
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