mx5cartalk.com

Hi everyone, thought I'd post some info about my car and see if anyone can help with a couple of questions. Bought this NA6 through ebay several weeks back and enjoying it quite a bit so far . I've owned a few Jap cars previously (AW11s) but this is my first Mazda. Car has a few mods including Koni suspension, Mazdaspeed rollbar, upgraded swaybar, and NB brakes. Motor is stock. Probably not going to go too crazy like some of the epic build threads on this forum - then again some of you probably said the same thing

So these pics are from the original listing:








And now in its new home:

We thought the wife's Yaris was small until we put my car next to it, now it looks like a Tarago...


So my first question is: can anyone identify the wheels? I don't think they are anything special but would still like to know what brand they are. The closest thing I could find to a manufacturer marking was this symbol on the inside:


And my second question: the car came with the original drivers seat but no rails (the Recaro is mounted on modified Recaro rails). If anyone has a set of drivers side rails they aren't using PM me, would like to have them on hand. I'll post in the WTB section too but not sure how much traffic that section gets.

And finally I'm going to put my name down for the MX500 NURBUSHRING run on Saturday 17th November, so hope to meet some other members there.

cheers
Jeff

My first mod!

So this is what the battery compartment looked like when I got the car...



After spending ages unsuccessfully trying to find a suitable off the shelf battery box, I resigned myself to making my own tray for it to sit on, since the factory brackets were badly corroded. Gave the area a good clean and then slapped on some rust converter and some rattle can red. Built the tray out of garage scraps and drilled a couple of holes through the boot floor to put bolts in.

Test fitting:



Painted and corner shaved so the crappy carpet cover could go back over. I'm amazed this is Mazda's solution, and would prefer a proper sealed container, but this'll do for now.

Installed:

New battery hold down arrangement looks neat!

wheels look like the typical bob jane specials.. logo kinda reminds me of yhi brand for some reason.

Future mods planned???

vrmmmpshhh wrote:wheels look like the typical bob jane specials.. logo kinda reminds me of yhi brand for some reason.

YHI is right, see http://www.yhi.com.sg/

Thanks for the wheel identification guys! Same company that makes Advanti wheels, not too shabby.

Mods planned and purchased:
Sony DSX-S100 headunit
Fusion CP-AS1080 super slim active subwoofer in the boot

Future mods wishlist:
omgpham's Carbon Fibre mirrors
Tougerun Carbon Fibre ducktail spoiler from Moss Miata
Vented headlight cover (passenger side)
Vented turn signal intakes
CAI of some description
Extractors
Paint the wheels dark bronze/gunmetal or matte black
Replace the baby teeth with a proper tow hook


I'll also probably go back to standard licence plates when rego is due next month, because paying an annual fee is a scam...


Hopefully my car will eventually look somewhat like this beastie:

Got these for Christmas from JustJap :-)

http://justjap.com/store/product.php?productid=18068


I believe they are the same as the ones Mania sell, but Mania are more expensive. They are sold as "universal" but the supplied bracket holes don't line up with the factory holes. Mania recommend drilling a new hole in the door but I wasn't keen on that idea. So instead I cut through the mounting bracket like so:



This separated the ball socket from the mounting plate, and the socket section fits neatly inside the factory mounting brackets:



I've glued it in with a two part steel reinforced epoxy paste from Supercheap. I also had to cut off the little guide pin that sticks out of the base of the factory bracket; due to the angle of the mirror arms I had to mount the factory brackets upside down when I put them back on. Also the ball and mounting screws developed surface rust the first time they got wet, so I recommend painting all these bits:



So here it is mounted on the car. It's easy access to adjust the tension on the ball for positioning the mirror, but once I had it how I liked it's really set and forget.

Any updates??

Some maintenance issues - oil and filter change. Also fitted a new 42mm ASI radiator as the original developed a crack. The new radiator was a tight fit and I had to cut down the fan mounting posts to about half size so that they would fit into the engine bay.

Also I've been doing some painting. Hope to get the photos of the completed work up after the weekend, but here's a sneak peek:

Better late than never right?

Here's my red NA with black wheels and black a-pillars, I'm really happy with the new colour scheme

I'm really liking the black rims and black A pillar . Gives some coolness and also aggression to the car - well done. I'll be asking my panel beater for a quote to spray my white NA8's A pillar black when it goes in for a crash repair next week.

Planning to do much the same thing whenever I respray my car. Looks great. Do you still have the Recaro? How's the fit?

Yes still using the Recaro even though I now have a standard seat with rails I could put in. I'm 6'4" and it lets me sit a little lower than standard which helps me fit behind the wheel. I find it pretty comfortable although my thighs get sore on long trips.

put the front lip back on!