1999 MX5 Restoration

[LesMcQueen]

Hi All,

I’ve been the lucky owner of a 1999 MX5 for the past 3 years. A very generous gift from my Wife for our anniversary. It cost her the princely sum of £700. I wish that was all it had cost me!

It was a bit “crusty” to say the least but was a very good drive and only 52k miles.

I’ll add details of all the work done if anyone is interested, but sills are now solid and it’s had a few performance enhancements which have really made it a great weekend car!

[LesMcQueen]

[LesMcQueen]

Hi Flukey, it really is so much fun. Gave it a run last night and never fails to bring a 😃

[LesMcQueen]

I’ve got a lot of pics on my laptop that I need to upload. But found a few on my phone to add of the restoration.

[LesMcQueen]

[LesMcQueen]

1 of the few pics I have of it before I started spending!

[LesMcQueen]

More paint.

[LesMcQueen]

Paint on, new alloys, lowered, upgraded brake discs and pads.

[LesMcQueen]

I’m going to have to compress the pics after this for the performance modifications. Phone pics too large in size to upload!

[LesMcQueen]

Racing Beat manifold, Sports cat and back box fitted.

[LesMcQueen]

It went in to Blink Motorsport in Winsford for their stage 1 package.
- Cylinder head
- Piper cams
- New ECU and map

They also did a 4 wheel alignment.

So so good and the noise is too addictive!



Most recently it’s had new bushes and anti roll bars.

[LesMcQueen]

Currently enjoying it but have some new parts in the garage I need to fit. Next big job is independent throttle bodies from Blink. After that the seats need attention.

[LesMcQueen]

Hi Dapper. It was a good while ago so can’t remember exactly but think it was in the region of £1800. I’ve not regretted it though.

[LesMcQueen]

Hi Xcore. Actually I thought long and hard about this and whether to go down the supercharger route (very close decision). In the end I love the character of the NA engine and revving it out and that won over. That’s not so say I won’t change my mind and do that in the future, but not thinking of it at the moment and the ITB’s sound really tempting!

[LesMcQueen]

Thanks! Yes I prefer the look of the nearly standard car to be honest, keep it subtle. I didn’t know that about the colour!

[LesMcQueen]

Wow I’d love to see that!

[LesMcQueen]

Thanks, great car, looks like a lot of fun!

[LesMcQueen]

Hi Smitters, sorry for delayed response!

I got them from MX5parts.co.uk with some decent Yokohama tyres. Probably not the lightest in the world but love the look of them. I went for 15”.

https://www.mx5parts.co.uk/calibre-motion-silver-a...

[LesMcQueen]

Hi Glassman, no need to apologise. I’m actually still not happy with the 2nd batch of painting (which that picture is from). The colour match just doesn’t seem right. I will have to bite the bullet at some point and get the lot redone in 1 go.

[LesMcQueen]

Long time since I updated this thread. New family addition and life in general got in the way. Rear suspension rebuilt and new strut braces for the front and rear are the main updates. Also managed to clean out the garage so it can sit in there out of the cold weather. Only managed 700 miles in 2022! Need to remedy that when the weather improves.

Some more photos to follow.