2006 MX-5 2.0 Option Pack
Discussion
I went to a stag do in Wales this weekend. The journey there included some fun roads so it seemed like a good excuse to take the MX5 out. I wasn't quite expecting to wake up to this on Saturday morning though...
The main activity for the weekend was visiting a forge to create a sword to cut the cake at the wedding...
This was great fun, for a while. I don't think we were entirely prepared for it to take the six of us over nine hours of swinging sledge hammers and occasional burns to get to the end product!
The car worked well, no misfires so my plug wire repair is looking promising.
The main activity for the weekend was visiting a forge to create a sword to cut the cake at the wedding...
This was great fun, for a while. I don't think we were entirely prepared for it to take the six of us over nine hours of swinging sledge hammers and occasional burns to get to the end product!
The car worked well, no misfires so my plug wire repair is looking promising.
I bought a pair of Brembo calipers from a Clio 197 probably over two years ago now after helping my friend Alex to fit a pair to his Fiesta ST.
The original plan was to design my own mount that would fit under 16" wheels. I found that the automatic version of the RX8, which wasn't sold in the UK used a 300mm disc that was possible to source in the UK and would fit under the 16" wheels instead of the stock 290mm disc. After much tinkering, I had a 3D model of a mount. I 3D printed it and it sort of worked, as long as you didn't have any balancing weights on the inside of the wheel, the thickness of the mount where the caliper bolted on wasn't completely ideal either. Ultimately the costs involved in the production of a one-off run of a part were also prohibitively expensive, but I had fun designing it and piecing it all together on a spare hub carrier.
Now that I have some 17" wheels there's a much easier option. FreakyParts sell a mount that pairs with a set of 320mm discs from a CX7 - https://freakyparts.co.uk/products/mazda-mx5-mk3-n...
I'll probably end up going that route, but before then I have two sets of 16" semi-slicks to finish off or sell and a number of pads for the stock front calipers. I'll need to also acquire another set of 17" wheels and semi-slicks.
In the meantime, I figured I should refurbish the calipers I'd bought. They were relatively cheap, but the seller didn't plug the brake hose holes before posting so they arrived soaking in brake fluid with most of the paint falling off.
The pad retaining pins were seized really badly within the caliper, I had to chop them into multiple pieces and punch each bit out with considerable force.
I then removed the pistons using compressed air - to my surprise they all moved relatively easily.
The rest of the hardware all came out, with a little heat required here and there.
Some clumsy mechanics have been here before...
I have a friend who works as a gunsmith, he kindly offered to media blast them for me.
They came up nicely!
I repaired the dents using epoxy putty. I had this left over from a previous project, with hindsight I should have purchased the high-temp version, but so far it's survived being baked in the oven to cure the paint just fine.
I did some careful masking and then applied multiple thin layers of red VHT paint.
They were then baked for an hour to cure.
Decals were applied followed by some high-temp lacquer. The crossover pipes are painted from the factory, but they looked quite nice polished up so I left them bare and lacquered over them.
Finally, I treated them to new seals and hardware. The original pistons were still in good condition so I reused them. I think they came out quite nicely, and it was a fun little side project.
The original plan was to design my own mount that would fit under 16" wheels. I found that the automatic version of the RX8, which wasn't sold in the UK used a 300mm disc that was possible to source in the UK and would fit under the 16" wheels instead of the stock 290mm disc. After much tinkering, I had a 3D model of a mount. I 3D printed it and it sort of worked, as long as you didn't have any balancing weights on the inside of the wheel, the thickness of the mount where the caliper bolted on wasn't completely ideal either. Ultimately the costs involved in the production of a one-off run of a part were also prohibitively expensive, but I had fun designing it and piecing it all together on a spare hub carrier.
Now that I have some 17" wheels there's a much easier option. FreakyParts sell a mount that pairs with a set of 320mm discs from a CX7 - https://freakyparts.co.uk/products/mazda-mx5-mk3-n...
I'll probably end up going that route, but before then I have two sets of 16" semi-slicks to finish off or sell and a number of pads for the stock front calipers. I'll need to also acquire another set of 17" wheels and semi-slicks.
In the meantime, I figured I should refurbish the calipers I'd bought. They were relatively cheap, but the seller didn't plug the brake hose holes before posting so they arrived soaking in brake fluid with most of the paint falling off.
The pad retaining pins were seized really badly within the caliper, I had to chop them into multiple pieces and punch each bit out with considerable force.
I then removed the pistons using compressed air - to my surprise they all moved relatively easily.
The rest of the hardware all came out, with a little heat required here and there.
Some clumsy mechanics have been here before...
I have a friend who works as a gunsmith, he kindly offered to media blast them for me.
They came up nicely!
I repaired the dents using epoxy putty. I had this left over from a previous project, with hindsight I should have purchased the high-temp version, but so far it's survived being baked in the oven to cure the paint just fine.
I did some careful masking and then applied multiple thin layers of red VHT paint.
They were then baked for an hour to cure.
Decals were applied followed by some high-temp lacquer. The crossover pipes are painted from the factory, but they looked quite nice polished up so I left them bare and lacquered over them.
Finally, I treated them to new seals and hardware. The original pistons were still in good condition so I reused them. I think they came out quite nicely, and it was a fun little side project.
Kaveney said:
Are the Brembo calipers from the Clio 197 the same as the Megane Mk2 225 or are they different .
The Mk3 Megane Brembo calipers are larger with bigger pistons and bigger pads but i think you need 18 inch wheels for them so yours should be a perfect match with the 17 inch alloys .
I think the Clio 197/200 and Meg 225 calipers are all the same as you say. There's a good choice of pads available for them, which is one of the appeals.The Mk3 Megane Brembo calipers are larger with bigger pistons and bigger pads but i think you need 18 inch wheels for them so yours should be a perfect match with the 17 inch alloys .
Alex manages to get 197 calipers under 16" wheels on his FiST, as long as he's careful about where the balancing weights get placed
. 17" should be no bother, I suspect I'll need a small spacer to clear the spokes, although the Pro Race wheels add 10mm of offset over the stock wheels and the spoke design seems to be quite friendly for clearance.
De-roofed, in the hope that we eventually get some continuous warm weather.
I also picked up a child seat to leave in the NC. I've always had to borrow one from another car before taking my son out in it. I'm hoping this will enable me to find the time to occasionally use it for the school run. If nothing else it'll have a trial run going to the Bicester Scramble this weekend.
The fact that it says Recaro on it is an amusing bonus.
I had a pleasant weekend with the Mazda. On Saturday my son was at a party so I had an enjoyable drive with my daughter, I called in at Gilks' for a coffee...
Then on Sunday morning, it was the Bicester Scramble with my son...
A braver man than me placed those flags and parasol bases...
Then on Sunday morning, it was the Bicester Scramble with my son...
A braver man than me placed those flags and parasol bases...
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