What was I thinking?

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Overall D

Original Poster:

341 posts

161 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
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This is a cross-post so not every reference might make sense but I thought I wanted to share this anyway.

Ey up! You might've seen my currently hibernated touge roadster project previously. It's alive and more or less well but a bit far away from me now as feeling generally bored and looking for a good pint, this summer I've found myself settled in Yorkshire of all places (see 1), having moved from somewhere in Eastern Europe. Having sorted myself with a practical and sensible car, namely 53 plate Mini Cooper S I've of course soon developed an itch for something that would keep me busy in the garage (see 2). With a rational level headed approach I've set out to find a good 5 that would match my preferences - it should be Mk1, have 1.8 drivetrain and be finished in BRG/tan combo and so I immediately bought the first snotter off ebay that matched this description (see 2), then proceeded to catch the first train to Shropshire hills to collect it. Picturesque snowy landscapes out the window lulled me into the beautiful dreams of open top motoring and riders and horses as one (eh?) but the first sight of the car brought me back to prosaic reality. The car was indeed green and the interior was indeed tan and it was 1.8 with LSD so technically I couldn't challenge myself in court. However the roof and seats were ruined (this was expected), there was some bad lacquer peeling and bubbling on driver's side rear arch (this was partly expected), the underside, though solid, was covered in underseal of lovely red hue, passenger door card was torn, judging by its looks, when transporting wild animals (this wasn't expected) and generally the car was desperately screaming for some love (see 4).

Okay, to be fair, it was a a Japanese import with a stack of papers dating back to 2005 when it came here, with only 3 mature owners, no scene mods and solid underside. Along these lines was I comforting myself as I've won the auction anyway and there was no way back. Or indeed there was, as I've now needed to drive 150 miles back home. On summer tyres, when it was snowing for 2 days straight (see 5). Helpfully, phone satnav took me on 40 miles of untreated B-roads to avoid motorway road chaos in the east. Shortly I've found out that original factory fit radio was stuck on volume level of 41, also known as ear bleedingly loud and that Japanese imports come with indicator and wiper stalks mixed up, so I was cheerily greeting everyone at each roundabout with a swing of the wipers. A very slow swing, as the wiper mechanism was obviously borked. But what mattered most, it was bloody fun. It was so good to throw the car into corners, beautifully balanced, and steering it out with the right foot, limited slip diff helping to keep the car on the line. In the last 8 months my life has changed dramatically and I kind of lost all the reference points, it was all so different, and I've almost forgot how good these cars are but now it was coming back to me. It was good.





I got back home and went to sleep. In the morning, with a cup of coffee I got out to take another look at the car. It didn't look so bad. Was I just accepting the fact it's here anyway, or was it just the sunshine but it looks it should be alright.



1: see title
2: see title
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4: see title
5: see title

Overall D

Original Poster:

341 posts

161 months

Tuesday 2nd January 2018
quotequote all
In the last few weeks I've started sorting the niggles out. Door gubbins came out to replace the motor/mechanism on the driver's side and service the passenger one, now that both are cleaned and greased windows go up and down quick and nice. I've also greased the door locks and swapped the barrels between the doors so unlocking the driver's door now feels right and tight. Sorted out the door cards using a donor card for the upper part of the passenger side, fixing all the bits where they attach to the door and just generally cleaned them up, here they are ready to go in.
 

 
Spent a few hours yesterday polishing my knob and really enjoyed the process. Started with this:
 

 
Part way through:
 

 
Used a Stanley knife blade to get most of the Varnish off, then sanded over with 240, 600 and 1200 grit paper and finished off with this lovely timber wax.
 

 
All that is left is make a new knob ring, just waiting for leather off cuts in the post.

Edited by Overall D on Tuesday 2nd January 23:59

M1C

1,832 posts

110 months

Wednesday 3rd January 2018
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Looks great! I really like this trim combo personally.

Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah

12,787 posts

99 months

Wednesday 3rd January 2018
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Very nice. How much did you win it for out of interest?

Depending where in west yorks you are I may be able to restore the seats for you?

Cambs_Stuart

2,833 posts

83 months

Wednesday 3rd January 2018
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Great little car. Look forward to seeing how this progresses.
Good luck to you!

RC1807

12,482 posts

167 months

Wednesday 3rd January 2018
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New knob ring made of leather, eh?

Overall D

Original Poster:

341 posts

161 months

Thursday 4th January 2018
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Thanks!

M1C said:
Looks great! I really like this trim combo personally.
I really wanted a BRG & tan MX5 for a long time, they are rather rare on the continent and I never managed to get one - before now that is.

Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Very nice. How much did you win it for out of interest?

Depending where in west yorks you are I may be able to restore the seats for you?
It was more than it's really worth in the hindsight with all the things that need attention. Thanks for the offer! I will have a go myself though, I enjoy a bit of DIY and always wanted try my hand on leather repairs.

RC1807 said:
New knob ring made of leather, eh?
For ultimate comfort obviously. Finished it today.


Overall D

Original Poster:

341 posts

161 months

Saturday 21st July 2018
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I forgot I had a thread about this little shed! Well, since December I've tidied the car a little and put some nice bits on it too. First was a new soft top. Installation went okay until the dreaded moment of putting it up for the first time. Last time I did it (on the red Roadster) it took me and three mates pulling and pushing to stretch the vinyl enough to be able to close it, so this time doing it on my own I've used some creative thinking. A long bolt at the front of the top, a rope tied to the garage door and careful reversing saw this done.





The previous owner had refreshed the standard suspension recently which is all well and good but brand new springs meant that in terms of ride height the 5 could challenge a Qashqai. A used set of HSD Dualtechs sorted this out and added a bit of stability in the corners.

Then somewhere around April two late night runs down to Berkshire and Kent under a banner of "that's a too good deal to pass" resulted in a set of mint RPF1s and a brand spanking new full Racing Beat exhaust setup with a manifold included. Standard manifold was a bd to remove, heat shield bolts spinning and not enough space to get any kind of cutter or grinder to them but I got there in the end.

Almost too shiny for this car:



Love how it sounds, very nice deep tone without a whiff of a drone on motorway - and that's with the decat fitted as well - here's a couple of sound clips:

https://youtu.be/b4-IG8laeLE
https://youtu.be/pRwIG1p_Mk4

About that time a colleague was visiting Japan, I've jumped to opportunity and ended up with a new set of Runabout S800 mirrors too. Apart from all that I've also made some little improvements here and there like replacing the half dead factory radio and speakers, fixing the electric window regulators, etc. Quite happy with the way it turned out I took it for a few drives - this is how this little banger sits now (well, technically two months ago, but nothing's changed):











Then a few weeks ago it was MOT time and it failed on rust. It also failed on other stuff but half of it is easy to fix and other half was just the garage being eager idiots. Anyway, for a few days I felt a bit down and was contemplating breaking it for parts but decided against it, sorted everything apart from welding and booked it for some sill work in August. Hopefully in a few weeks it will be back on the roads.