mx5cartalk.com

Hey guys, new to miatas and to using forums for that matter!!

I recently obtained a 1989 na mx5 (she's rough but i think i scored on the price) and have some big plans for it! (unfortunatly no turbo or engine conversions because its going to be dríven on P's )
Any way i thought i may as well make a build thread and post the things i do along the way.

So far on the "To-do list" is:

-Lsd
-Gv Lip
-Acquire Hardtop
-Wheels
-Davis brown roll bar
-Bolt on flares (depending on wheel specs)
-Potential wing
-Aftermarket seats
-Updated look of interior
-Paint
-New soft top (maybe)
-Coilovers

Im sure this list will continue to grow but that seems to be it for now. Hope to get constructive criticism from all of you and hopefully some positive feedback along the way!
(First time posting on a forum so if i make any nooby errors be sure to let me know!!)

-Cheers

Hi and 'Welcome to the obsession' as we say around here!

Dj-Barma wrote:(First time posting on a forum so if i make any nooby errors be sure to let me know!!)

Well you've made the first 'mistake' already..... We like pictures here-abouts so make sure you post lots more!

BTW, even when you add a picture as an attachment, you can still post it full size....... like this.....
White is always a nice colour on the '5'.

cheers mate!

And thanks for pointing out the thing about the images!

Welcome Dylan! You're going to have a blast. Don't worry too much about forum mistakes, we're a friendly bunch and you'll be helpfully corrected if any thing should be out of place. But we do like them pictures!

You'll find a ton of inspiration here on mods for your car, one of the best things about MX-5s for me is the huge after-market availability and the ability to make your car totally your own. You'll get a lot of differing opinions of course, but that's what makes it fun. (I kinda hope you don't do the wing unless you actually need it, but that's me). I recommend you focus on handling to start with

You might be on your Ps for now, but that won't last forever, so start saving for a visit to NitroDann for some turbo goodness a few years from now

Welcome! Look forward to seeing the updates


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yeah wing is defiantly not high on the list, just thought id experiment a bit and see weather it works or not. As for pics only had the car for about 3weeks and havent had much time to work on it or drive it because of having to prep my prev car to sell! will defiantly be A LOT more pics in future posts!!

You might be on your Ps for now, but that won't last forever, so start saving for a visit to NitroDann for some turbo goodness a few years from now

Roughly how much we talking to get her turbo'd once i can?

My material for the door cards should arrive soon, once it does ill take a lot of pics of the process and final result!

Also think my current diff is stuffed, makes a spinning noise when you let off throttle... any of you guys have this happen before?

ManiacLachy every MX5 needs a wing! However, nothing like a good alignment, tyre pressures, well sorted out suspension on the correct settings and ride height to balance out the wing or lack of wing

NitroDann has posted a great thread on how to turbo for $2,000 http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=741308#p741308. However turbo cost and power expectations are an exponential function.

Looks a pretty stock little car and thats not a bad thing for many. An 89 MX5 is already eligible for Club Permits in Vic so in that State good cars that have not been modded are probably going to sell well. The first priority for a car like this is attention to mechanicals- i.e. brakes, transmission, engine cooling system etc. If these things are "right" then the car has a good chance of being reliable and safe and enjoyable to drive etc. If mods are made its probably no bad thing to see that mods are reversible e.g. keeping stock rims not selling for a pittance.

Yeah i keep most parts that i take off/replace with aftermarket. Did the same with my BMW. Engine seems healthy so far (Lots of k's 345,000) but haven't had a chance to have a in depth look at it. Today i went to mx5mania and got fluids spark plug ect so i can service it and also got some diff fluid hoping that fixes the noisy diff, if not ill just get an LSD

Although when i bought the car the prev owners said that it had a new engine put it but couldn't tell me when or at how many k's.

I worked out that going turbo would cost me 4k including engineering. Everything adds up. New injectors IC and piping, tune plus the usual nitro Dann stuff. I think it's a great deal for the power increase ;)


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yeah, i think turboing' my mx5 would be better than spending the 2-5k on a car with stock turbo(s) as i think it will make the mx5 even more fun to drive!! give it that lack of power it has! Plus i have a while to save for it or decide weather its worth doing or not.

Also my material for my door cards arrived today so should be starting that all tomorrow so more pics and all will be up soon!!

So the other day i decided that i wanted to "update" the look of my interior so bought some material from California and once it arrived took the door cards off to re-cover.
Once i'd taken the door cards off i noticed that the old ones were pretty crappy and had some water damage, so i decided to also make new door cards.

Marking out the new cards:
I just traced the old door cards out onto a sheet of 3mm MDF, and proceeded to cut it out with a jigsaw.


I then marked and drilled out the holes for the door clips:



I then cut out the fabric and made sure it was able to fit around the whole card:


Also the things for the screw that join the top piece and the bottom piece were broken so i got some silicone tubing and filled it with epoxy and filed down then drilled so that i could properly connect the two pieces (prev owner had done it with tape) (also dont have any photos for this)

And the final product:
(Still need to do a few more cuts ect but waiting for my door pulls to arrive!)


Keen as to get them on the car! also am going to make a mat for the center console delete out of the same material! Let me know what you guys think!

Looks awesome!


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