Mk1 MX5 1.6, i've finally done it
Discussion
Looks nice in red.
They are great little cars for not a lot of money. I keep thinking of getting rid of mine but then I take it out for a drive (not recently) and then want to keep it. Mines a 95 Laguna blue UK, 1.8 done 76k. No power steering, central locking or electric windows. It's had some sill welding done but drives really nice.
Keep wondering if I should get a wind deflector for it.
They are great little cars for not a lot of money. I keep thinking of getting rid of mine but then I take it out for a drive (not recently) and then want to keep it. Mines a 95 Laguna blue UK, 1.8 done 76k. No power steering, central locking or electric windows. It's had some sill welding done but drives really nice.
Keep wondering if I should get a wind deflector for it.
Nath911t said:
Looks nice in red.
They are great little cars for not a lot of money. I keep thinking of getting rid of mine but then I take it out for a drive (not recently) and then want to keep it. Mines a 95 Laguna blue UK, 1.8 done 76k. No power steering, central locking or electric windows. It's had some sill welding done but drives really nice.
Keep wondering if I should get a wind deflector for it.
Yeah its so much fun, i love it. Mine has power steering and electric windows which is weird. The windows are just problems though haha, always getting stuck.They are great little cars for not a lot of money. I keep thinking of getting rid of mine but then I take it out for a drive (not recently) and then want to keep it. Mines a 95 Laguna blue UK, 1.8 done 76k. No power steering, central locking or electric windows. It's had some sill welding done but drives really nice.
Keep wondering if I should get a wind deflector for it.
Well, 4 months on I thought id update for those interested:
Necessary work:
Slave cyclinder; this packed up over night, tiny hole in it. So no gears could be selected. I ordered a replacement for £12.50 and fitted in 2 hours.
Water temp sensor; the engine was refusing to rev. Would get to 5k and hit a limit. After a few wrongly changed parts, someone advised I should change a water temp sensor (?!) and sh*t me, it worked.
Alternator pulley; the pulley was bent so after about 100 miles, it would wear down the belt just enough to go loose and make a racket.
Mods:
Suspension; I've finally fitted some decent suspension. I decide on a used pair of decent coilovers to keep the cost down and the way I saw it, ANYTHING was better than what was on it before. I sourced a set of Tein HR coilovers, probably about 10 years old for £200.
I replaced a few parts and fitted over a weekend. End price including parts and full wheel alignment was £350.
The difference in the way it drives is unbelievable, it's a completely different car now.
HT leads; because why not, fires up well and pulls a bit harder
Induction kit; I bought a used KN filter, bought some 90 deg silicone hose (to move it away from the hot exhaust) and butchered some kind of induction kit. Works well and sounds good.
Next up; new radiator as the old one is shagged and runs a tad hot. Then a roll cage and some 15" wheels (in white).
Necessary work:
Slave cyclinder; this packed up over night, tiny hole in it. So no gears could be selected. I ordered a replacement for £12.50 and fitted in 2 hours.
Water temp sensor; the engine was refusing to rev. Would get to 5k and hit a limit. After a few wrongly changed parts, someone advised I should change a water temp sensor (?!) and sh*t me, it worked.
Alternator pulley; the pulley was bent so after about 100 miles, it would wear down the belt just enough to go loose and make a racket.
Mods:
Suspension; I've finally fitted some decent suspension. I decide on a used pair of decent coilovers to keep the cost down and the way I saw it, ANYTHING was better than what was on it before. I sourced a set of Tein HR coilovers, probably about 10 years old for £200.
I replaced a few parts and fitted over a weekend. End price including parts and full wheel alignment was £350.
The difference in the way it drives is unbelievable, it's a completely different car now.
HT leads; because why not, fires up well and pulls a bit harder
Induction kit; I bought a used KN filter, bought some 90 deg silicone hose (to move it away from the hot exhaust) and butchered some kind of induction kit. Works well and sounds good.
Next up; new radiator as the old one is shagged and runs a tad hot. Then a roll cage and some 15" wheels (in white).
Another quick update:
Well I bought a new radiator and it runs much cooler now! Not bad for £75 fix as these cars are toast f they run hot at any point, for any amount of time...
I've noticed a bizarre throttle issue. If i'm at, say, 50% throttle, the throttle seems to 'bounce' between 45% and 55%... it can be quite annoying. But this only happens under 4000rpm, above that it's fine. Somebody said I should try a new MAF and turn back through 90 degrees to its original position and this seems to have definitely improved things a lot, not cured it, but it's better.
I plan to do a few track days next year in it as I love track driving but have never wanted to put the wear on my daily car as I depend on it. For this, I want to sort a few things. The brakes and chuck a roll cage in it.
I'm currently part way through doing the brakes. An easy mod on these 1.6 models is to stick the carriers, discs and pads from a 1.8 in (the calipers are the same). The discs are a bit bigger and just offer better performance all round. So i found a full set of 1.8 brakes on facebook marketplace, with a caliper rebuild kit, for £90! I then spent 3 evenings in the garage rebuilding the calipers. I've also bought some yellowstuff pads to help on track. Bizarrely I heard nothing but great reviews about these until posting on a forum saying i'd bought some...ahhh i'm sure they'll be fine...
With these now sorted, I am now 3/4s of the way through fitting the new set. Pic below showing old 1.6 brakes compared to 1.8.
You may notice the disks are old...and yes, this is a mistake. After driving the car slowly (sub 15mph) around the local roads, i can feel that the discs are warped. So i'm going to change these now before I have to inevitably replace soon, and then have to replace the new pads too!!!
Like I said, i plan to fit a roll cage in the new year before my first track day. This will probably be a GC fabrications pr TR Lane one. Then, after all the swearing and shouting, it should be ready and pretty safe.
Hope you enjoyed the update.
Well I bought a new radiator and it runs much cooler now! Not bad for £75 fix as these cars are toast f they run hot at any point, for any amount of time...
I've noticed a bizarre throttle issue. If i'm at, say, 50% throttle, the throttle seems to 'bounce' between 45% and 55%... it can be quite annoying. But this only happens under 4000rpm, above that it's fine. Somebody said I should try a new MAF and turn back through 90 degrees to its original position and this seems to have definitely improved things a lot, not cured it, but it's better.
I plan to do a few track days next year in it as I love track driving but have never wanted to put the wear on my daily car as I depend on it. For this, I want to sort a few things. The brakes and chuck a roll cage in it.
I'm currently part way through doing the brakes. An easy mod on these 1.6 models is to stick the carriers, discs and pads from a 1.8 in (the calipers are the same). The discs are a bit bigger and just offer better performance all round. So i found a full set of 1.8 brakes on facebook marketplace, with a caliper rebuild kit, for £90! I then spent 3 evenings in the garage rebuilding the calipers. I've also bought some yellowstuff pads to help on track. Bizarrely I heard nothing but great reviews about these until posting on a forum saying i'd bought some...ahhh i'm sure they'll be fine...
With these now sorted, I am now 3/4s of the way through fitting the new set. Pic below showing old 1.6 brakes compared to 1.8.
You may notice the disks are old...and yes, this is a mistake. After driving the car slowly (sub 15mph) around the local roads, i can feel that the discs are warped. So i'm going to change these now before I have to inevitably replace soon, and then have to replace the new pads too!!!
Like I said, i plan to fit a roll cage in the new year before my first track day. This will probably be a GC fabrications pr TR Lane one. Then, after all the swearing and shouting, it should be ready and pretty safe.
Hope you enjoyed the update.
willmagrath said:
I've noticed a bizarre throttle issue. If i'm at, say, 50% throttle, the throttle seems to 'bounce' between 45% and 55%... it can be quite annoying. But this only happens under 4000rpm, above that it's fine.
Tenner says its related to closed loop fuelling - the ECU on these cars uses closed loop fuelling below (IIRC) 4200 rpm and at part throttle- in other words its using the air temp and volume, engine coolant temp, and the exhaust lambda reading, to adjust the fuelling up or down (rich/lean). Over 4200rpm (ish), the car uses the open loop fuelling tables. When the car has a fault that seems to disappear over this RPM, its almost certainly this system.
If the readings at lower RPMS from the various sensors are not correct, then the car defaults to a 'safe' mode of just running really rich, they run like crap, stumbly, use loads of fuel but at least its safe and doesn't cause damage unlike what would happen if the car ran lean.
You've already changed the Air Flow Meter (see note 1) and that didnt fix it, the air flow meter also contains the inlet temp sensor on a 1.6.
So I'd suggest it may be the o2 (lambda) sensor. A key indicator would be poor fuel economy, a smoky/sooty tailipipe (more than usual) and the key one is - unplug the lambda sensor. If unplugging it makes little difference to the way the car runs, its faulty.
A further proof of this would be to nail the car at full throttlle all the way through the rev range - at true full throttle, again the car runs in open loop, if it pulls cleanly all the way to red line from idle this ii further proof of the closed loop system being the fault.
The final option could be the engine temperature sensor - if the car thinks its still cold, it will also run rich (warm up mode) and cause it to be a bit stumbly. The engine ECU temp sensor used for controlling fuelling is the one on the back of the head, the sensor on the front drives the fan switch only.
(1).Note on a 1.6 its an Air Flow Meter (AFM), not a hot mire MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor). AFM is a moving flap that measures air volume by how much the flap is forced open - thats why its important that its correctly oriented, mounting them to the side means gravity changes how much the lightly sprung flap opens! Bit of a rubbish design, seen on lots of early fuel injection/ECU driven cars.
Finally, its hihgly unlikely to be the throttle position sensor - it doesnt know the difference between 40% throttle and 50% throttle unlike a modern car, its only a switch, and it only knows 'throttle closed' or 'throttle not closed' or 'fully open'. Its a switch, not a true discrete position.
Hope this helps!
Edited by snotrag on Monday 7th December 09:00
snotrag said:
Tenner says its related to closed loop fuelling - the ECU on these cars uses closed loop fuelling below (IIRC) 4200 rpm and at part throttle- in other words its using the air temp and volume, engine coolant temp, and the exhaust lambda reading, to adjust the fuelling up or down (rich/lean).
Over 4200rpm (ish), the car uses the open loop fuelling tables. When the car has a fault that seems to disappear over this RPM, its almost certainly this system.
If the readings at lower RPMS from the various sensors are not correct, then the car defaults to a 'safe' mode of just running really rich, they run like crap, stumbly, use loads of fuel but at least its safe and doesn't cause damage unlike what would happen if the car ran lean.
You've already changed the Air Flow Meter (see note 1) and that didnt fix it, the air flow meter also contains the inlet temp sensor on a 1.6.
So I'd suggest it may be the o2 (lambda) sensor. A key indicator would be poor fuel economy, a smoky/sooty tailipipe (more than usual) and the key one is - unplug the lambda sensor. If unplugging it makes little difference to the way the car runs, its faulty.
A further proof of this would be to nail the car at full throttlle all the way through the rev range - at true full throttle, again the car runs in open loop, if it pulls cleanly all the way to red line from idle this ii further proof of the closed loop system being the fault.
The final option could be the engine temperature sensor - if the car thinks its still cold, it will also run rich (warm up mode) and cause it to be a bit stumbly. The engine ECU temp sensor used for controlling fuelling is the one on the back of the head, the sensor on the front drives the fan switch only.
(1).Note on a 1.6 its an Air Flow Meter (AFM), not a hot mire MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor). AFM is a moving flap that measures air volume by how much the flap is forced open - thats why its important that its correctly oriented, mounting them to the side means gravity changes how much the lightly sprung flap opens! Bit of a rubbish design, seen on lots of early fuel injection/ECU driven cars.
Finally, its hihgly unlikely to be the throttle position sensor - it doesnt know the difference between 40% throttle and 50% throttle unlike a modern car, its only a switch, and it only knows 'throttle closed' or 'throttle not closed' or 'fully open'. Its a switch, not a true discrete position.
Hope this helps!
Wow, thank you very much for all the info, I'll definitely try this. Could help it to run even smoother!Over 4200rpm (ish), the car uses the open loop fuelling tables. When the car has a fault that seems to disappear over this RPM, its almost certainly this system.
If the readings at lower RPMS from the various sensors are not correct, then the car defaults to a 'safe' mode of just running really rich, they run like crap, stumbly, use loads of fuel but at least its safe and doesn't cause damage unlike what would happen if the car ran lean.
You've already changed the Air Flow Meter (see note 1) and that didnt fix it, the air flow meter also contains the inlet temp sensor on a 1.6.
So I'd suggest it may be the o2 (lambda) sensor. A key indicator would be poor fuel economy, a smoky/sooty tailipipe (more than usual) and the key one is - unplug the lambda sensor. If unplugging it makes little difference to the way the car runs, its faulty.
A further proof of this would be to nail the car at full throttlle all the way through the rev range - at true full throttle, again the car runs in open loop, if it pulls cleanly all the way to red line from idle this ii further proof of the closed loop system being the fault.
The final option could be the engine temperature sensor - if the car thinks its still cold, it will also run rich (warm up mode) and cause it to be a bit stumbly. The engine ECU temp sensor used for controlling fuelling is the one on the back of the head, the sensor on the front drives the fan switch only.
(1).Note on a 1.6 its an Air Flow Meter (AFM), not a hot mire MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor). AFM is a moving flap that measures air volume by how much the flap is forced open - thats why its important that its correctly oriented, mounting them to the side means gravity changes how much the lightly sprung flap opens! Bit of a rubbish design, seen on lots of early fuel injection/ECU driven cars.
Finally, its hihgly unlikely to be the throttle position sensor - it doesnt know the difference between 40% throttle and 50% throttle unlike a modern car, its only a switch, and it only knows 'throttle closed' or 'throttle not closed' or 'fully open'. Its a switch, not a true discrete position.
Hope this helps!
Edited by snotrag on Monday 7th December 09:00
Well, 2021 has been a great year with the MX5. Well, it started off damp and mouldy. Whilst waiting for a house purchase to go through I was living at home with parents and the car lived outside in the wet and many leaks were found. I spent every weekend with towels and sponges drying it out.
In March it passed it's MOT with almost flying colours, just need a small hole patching up. Classic MX5.
I then fitted a roll bar for track days, added rigidity and safety. See picture. I went for a GC fabrications one with a harness bar for any future purchases. It's amazing quality and comes with a nice authentication certificate.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/xxwTmsmy[/url]
The was running great and i decide it was time for a track day. A few pals and I booked a day at cadwell park. Amazing track and I had great day. The car survived the day and also made the 400 round trip to get there with not one issue.
Things I learnt from the day: new tyres needed, polybushing to be done and a sensor needs fixing to release a tad more power.
I also need to build more confidence in the car! It was great on track but in some corners I didn't trust it!
There's currently a problem with the clutch. The bite point moves up and down so I think a new master cyclinder is needed. It's drivable though!
Over winter I plan to sort some rust out, replace wheels and tyres and polybush the ARBs, it knocks a lot!
Thanks all.
In March it passed it's MOT with almost flying colours, just need a small hole patching up. Classic MX5.
I then fitted a roll bar for track days, added rigidity and safety. See picture. I went for a GC fabrications one with a harness bar for any future purchases. It's amazing quality and comes with a nice authentication certificate.
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/xxwTmsmy[/url]The was running great and i decide it was time for a track day. A few pals and I booked a day at cadwell park. Amazing track and I had great day. The car survived the day and also made the 400 round trip to get there with not one issue.
Things I learnt from the day: new tyres needed, polybushing to be done and a sensor needs fixing to release a tad more power.
I also need to build more confidence in the car! It was great on track but in some corners I didn't trust it!
There's currently a problem with the clutch. The bite point moves up and down so I think a new master cyclinder is needed. It's drivable though!
Over winter I plan to sort some rust out, replace wheels and tyres and polybush the ARBs, it knocks a lot!
Thanks all.
D1bram said:
Nice work on the trackday! I've just had the suspension rebuilt and plan a Cadwell trip but think I've left it a little late this year.
Rollbar looks great - how much hassle was it to fit?
Cadwell is great for the MX5, tight and twisty, I loved it.Rollbar looks great - how much hassle was it to fit?
Yeah the roll bar is brilliant. It wasn't too bad, took much longer than advertised though, about 6 hours I'd say.
It's cutting the body work that takes time. If you've got an angle grinder you'll be fine, but I used tin snips. Worked ok but not as nice to look at. Luckily the carpet covers it now!
Quick update:
Havent used the car much in the last few months unfortunately! It had been having a few clutch issues where the bite point tended to move up and down depending on a few factors like how far I'd driven etc. Sometimes it was so low you couldnt change gear. I tried to fix by moving the bite point by adjusting the pedal, but that only helped for a day or so. Unfortunately it properly gave up on a drive to my local Tescos, i got back to the car and the clutch did nothing. Damn. Queue a 4.5 hour wait for recovery in the car park.
I managed to find out that it was the clutch master cylinder that had died. Many of seals go bad over time and the unit fails. I bought rebuild kit for £19 and it's sorted. Aaaah 90's JDM cheapness.
Picture below of it being fixed:
Since then i started painting some old wheels I bought on eBay for £65. I want bigger 15" wheels so i can get better tyres for use on track. I considered spending maybe £300/400 but to save money, i bought some tatty MK2 mx5 ones and am slowly painting them. The world was my oyster in terms of colour. Considered a nice bronze but someone at work has a similar mx5 with white wheels. I know, i know...not to everyone's taste, but im hoping they'll look good.
And up against the car to get a feel for them... please ignore overspray, tires to be replaced!
I've only painted 2 so far as I've been too busy (took 5 hours to sand, prime and paint 2 of them).
The next job is to check out the brakes. Ive noticed under semi-hard braking, it pulls to the left. Ive only just rebuilt the calipers last winter, so hopefully it could just need a bleed.
I've also bought a MK1 RS spolier to fit, i think it should set the rear of the car off nicely. Just also need to paint that as it's currently blue!
I'm on the hunt for a sports cat too. I decatted the car 6 months ago as the original cat broke up, but it stinks and might be a bit too loud for me.
Later in winter before it's MOT in march i will look at getting the sills done. With values on the rise, I'd like to try and preserve this one!
Thanks for reading.
Havent used the car much in the last few months unfortunately! It had been having a few clutch issues where the bite point tended to move up and down depending on a few factors like how far I'd driven etc. Sometimes it was so low you couldnt change gear. I tried to fix by moving the bite point by adjusting the pedal, but that only helped for a day or so. Unfortunately it properly gave up on a drive to my local Tescos, i got back to the car and the clutch did nothing. Damn. Queue a 4.5 hour wait for recovery in the car park.
I managed to find out that it was the clutch master cylinder that had died. Many of seals go bad over time and the unit fails. I bought rebuild kit for £19 and it's sorted. Aaaah 90's JDM cheapness.
Picture below of it being fixed:
Since then i started painting some old wheels I bought on eBay for £65. I want bigger 15" wheels so i can get better tyres for use on track. I considered spending maybe £300/400 but to save money, i bought some tatty MK2 mx5 ones and am slowly painting them. The world was my oyster in terms of colour. Considered a nice bronze but someone at work has a similar mx5 with white wheels. I know, i know...not to everyone's taste, but im hoping they'll look good.
And up against the car to get a feel for them... please ignore overspray, tires to be replaced!
I've only painted 2 so far as I've been too busy (took 5 hours to sand, prime and paint 2 of them).
The next job is to check out the brakes. Ive noticed under semi-hard braking, it pulls to the left. Ive only just rebuilt the calipers last winter, so hopefully it could just need a bleed.
I've also bought a MK1 RS spolier to fit, i think it should set the rear of the car off nicely. Just also need to paint that as it's currently blue!
I'm on the hunt for a sports cat too. I decatted the car 6 months ago as the original cat broke up, but it stinks and might be a bit too loud for me.
Later in winter before it's MOT in march i will look at getting the sills done. With values on the rise, I'd like to try and preserve this one!
Thanks for reading.
Been a while since I updated on this one. It's been running very well but I've hardly used it since October. It sits in the garage only to come out for the odd classic car meet. Most recently I headed to to Surrey for the Black Swan meet. It was great to use it after a few months but the brakes are done. Very warped and need replacing.
The wheels in the above pictures are now fitted with Michelin PS3s fitted all round. It's definitely different to drive and I can't wait to use it on a track day soon.
Unfortunately, rust has taken its toll on the sills and arches. My garage is annoyingly damp and its been dripping on the car. So I'm sending it in for long overdue sill work within the next month. It's going be expensive but will add enough value to the car to warrant it. The garage will then be properly sealed so it doesn't come back!!!
Other jobs to do: I have a very nice 4-2-1 manifold to fit. My downpipe has a leak and it sounds a bit terrible so I've got one of these to put on before summer.
The wheels in the above pictures are now fitted with Michelin PS3s fitted all round. It's definitely different to drive and I can't wait to use it on a track day soon.
Unfortunately, rust has taken its toll on the sills and arches. My garage is annoyingly damp and its been dripping on the car. So I'm sending it in for long overdue sill work within the next month. It's going be expensive but will add enough value to the car to warrant it. The garage will then be properly sealed so it doesn't come back!!!
Other jobs to do: I have a very nice 4-2-1 manifold to fit. My downpipe has a leak and it sounds a bit terrible so I've got one of these to put on before summer.
seabod91 said:
Look up anand viad ??. On mk1 oc on facebook. Get all the rust sorted and then send it to him for protection. He is the go to in the mx5 community. No corners cut and amazing work.
He's also on IG. https://instagram.com/avruztynutz?igshid=YmMyMTA2M...
Good luck in the battle against rust.
willmagrath said:
Unfortunately, rust has taken its toll on the sills and arches. My garage is annoyingly damp and its been dripping on the car. So I'm sending it in for long overdue sill work within the next month. It's going be expensive but will add enough value to the car to warrant it. The garage will then be properly sealed so it doesn't come back!!!
Where are you taking it to? I've had a bad experience with a so-called specialist, and seen/heard bad things about others too.Don't rely on old reviews, you need recommendations from people who have had stuff done in the last few years so they've had time to see if the repair has been any good.
Dave. said:
Where are you taking it to? I've had a bad experience with a so-called specialist, and seen/heard bad things about others too.
Don't rely on old reviews, you need recommendations from people who have had stuff done in the last few years so they've had time to see if the repair has been any good.
I've always used C and C sparkes in Surrey. They've done work for me before that seems OK. I had a quote from the MX5 restorer that was almost 5k!! Which I really won't pay haha. I'm asking for quotes now but no-one is responding Don't rely on old reviews, you need recommendations from people who have had stuff done in the last few years so they've had time to see if the repair has been any good.
willmagrath said:
I've always used C and C sparkes in Surrey. They've done work for me before that seems OK. I had a quote from the MX5 restorer that was almost 5k!! Which I really won't pay haha. I'm asking for quotes now but no-one is responding
Would you not take it on your self? It needs to be done properly and won’t be cheap. Looking at thousands not hundreds.
Have you space to work on it yourself, decent second hand welder and get stuck in yourself. Can get replacement panels easily enough. And there is loads of advice all over the internet on how to go about it. Would save a load of cash too. Obviously not possible if it’s your daily.
Cambs_Stuart said:
seabod91 said:
Look up anand viad ??. On mk1 oc on facebook. Get all the rust sorted and then send it to him for protection. He is the go to in the mx5 community. No corners cut and amazing work.
He's also on IG. https://instagram.com/avruztynutz?igshid=YmMyMTA2M...
Good luck in the battle against rust.
willmagrath said:
I've always used C and C sparkes in Surrey. They've done work for me before that seems OK. I had a quote from the MX5 restorer that was almost 5k!! Which I really won't pay haha. I'm asking for quotes now but no-one is responding
I used the mx5 restorer in 2013 for my mx5. From memory both sills and rear wheelarches were done. It seems their prices have gone up somewhat since then! They always seem busy so I guess they can name their price. Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff