mx5cartalk.com

Wow!! How time flies when you're having fun! Just celebrated twelve months of SE ownership!!

Lately, I've been missing my old "Mexie & Kev say hello" garage thread. Been over two years!! My thread's are not about serious power or technical upgrades, though who knows, maybe MXSE (pronounced Mexie btw ) will become the catalyst for some leaps in confidence in how far I'm willing to go! But really, it's more for me to have some fun and diarise what I do, a place for me to ask questions plus receive feedback and a way to look back over what I've done. Hopefully while doing this, it becomes an enjoyable read for others as well.

I considered going back and carrying on with my old thread (despite no photos anymore) and updating from where it left off. But in the end, I decided to start a complete new thread and begin by backtracking with a couple of "condensed" posts of my MX-5 history.

So ... please forgive the rather extended posts to start off ...

My MX-5 experiences began in 2011 with Mexie - a 1990 NA6 in a sad state. She'd sat neglected on a mate's front lawn for quite a while before I purchased her from him. The drive home was ... interesting. She was sitting on home cut springs on the bump stops, virtually no brakes (turned out there were no pads left and virtually no discs left either when I started replacing stuff!), strange noises from the engine bay and gearbox area, windows didn't work, various sizes and brands of tyre on different sized wheels, different shades of red panels from a pretty bad home spray paint, rear garnish missing, no spare wheel or jack or tools in the boot, couple of reflectors missing, driver's door handle broken and arm rest missing, torn driver's seat with some foam missing, many other interior bits, switches and stuff missing or broken and a "replacement" soft top that wasn't fitted at all properly and with the interior metal brackets that hold it in place around the bottom edge missing ...

The following photos are, ahem, generous - taken after I'd cleaned and detailed her ... A LOT!! ...





Note the window! Shows the care with which the roof was fitted ...



Never having done much mechanical stuff on cars before, apart from basic servicing (oil changes, spark plugs etc.) I started reading the awesome array of "how to's" around the MX-5 & Miata community. Pretty soon, she was in pieces and her transformation began ... full base service started me off including all oils, filters, spark plugs, plug leads, fuel filter, upper/lower gear lever boots and bush and much more ... then got onto the brakes with all new discs and pads. I had the hydraulics bled with new fluids. I replaced the suspension with Monroe shocks fitted with FatCat bump stops and standard height King springs (after a short period with lowered Eibach springs that we didn't like). I spent ages under and over, front to back, checking every nut/bolt/bracket/part and tightened, repaired or replaced everything I could find, cleaning it all at the same time. Shampooed all the carpets and while removing the seats broke a bolt and had to have all the seat bolt mounts repaired after finding they and the floor were all rusted. Spent quite a while sanding, cutting, polishing, to get the exterior paint to look half decent.





Over the ensuing couple of years a huge amount of small things were improved, repaired, replaced. New head unit, speakers, some NA8 switchgear, an NA8 tombstone, NA8 electric mirrors fully wired up to an NA8 mirror switch , remote central locking, NB8B seats and an NB windbreak that was later modified to fit with a Brown Davis roll bar, IL Motorsport pedals, oem style front and rear lips with the rear lip cut into the mud flaps, Hurricane headers and full exhaust, RyokuRob tow hooks and some Thompson underbody bracing. All the dash lighting was replaced, including the HVAC. I restored the original daisies by sand blasting them and having them painted in two pak and clear coated ...











We enjoyed a couple of holidays in her ...

Around the Clare wine region




Had to find space for a couple dozen ...




And around the Grampians and Port Fairy ...










And so we move on to 2013 ... and I had now purchased an NB8A (story in next post) ...




The time eventually came to say goodbye to Mexie ... Before her new owner came to pick her up, I enjoyed one last drive ...

Don't you hate it when people post in the middle of joined posts!?! Haha ;)

Looks good though, looking forward to the rest of the story

As mentioned ... in 2013 I purchased an NB8A ...



Came with hard top, NB8B wheels, factory side skirts and front lip and an NB8B white dial instrument panel. Immediately, I felt more at home with the ease of driving it around with the low down torque compared with the "revy" 1.6 of the NA, though not as much fun.

Being in so much better condition to start, my thinking progressed to an "SE" wannabe ... I found some SE seats, SE windbreak with speakers, SE steering wheel. Upgraded similar items as Mexie such as the head unit, IL Motorsport pedals, JoyFast red stitched handbrake handle and chrome button, red stitched gear lever and handbrake gaiters. I carried over my front chrome reflectors from Mexie and also added a front grille. Fitted a set of VDO instruments.

For a while I had BC coilovers. Looked great, but I couldn't balance their comfort enough to suit my wife, so these were replaced with the stock suspension. I purchased some Racing Hart CP035's from a forum member and fitted those.

As with Mexie, we enjoyed some weekends away, as well as an extended holiday around the South East of SA and over to Port Fairy and Halls Gap.

For some reason, I never really gel'd with this car like I had with Mexie. However, I did enjoy the privilege of taking this car along to the South Australian 25th MX-5 Anniversary Meet at the Birdwood SA Motor Museum ...

Photo's ...







... pretty much since starting with MX-5's, I'd had a longing for a Velocity Red SE. I was determined that if I found one, she'd be low mileage, great condition, with reasonable history. So the search was never going to be quick. But my wait was rewarded late 2014 when exactly the right car showed up at a dealer the other side of Adelaide ... and the NB8A was traded ...

joshuam wrote:Don't you hate it when people post in the middle of joined posts!?! Haha ;)

Haha ... yeah knew someone would do it!!

... and so ... the story of MXSE begins ...

We seem to, just by chance, have started a "history" of my youngest son (who is 21 btw!) coming with me for the drive home with my new MX-5's. He's been with me each time! This one ... was the best one!

Just here ... I will insert a comment that I made to my son on that drive home on 17th October 2014 ... "this car is so perfect, it's too good to touch! I'm just going to leave this one alone, and enjoy it for what it is" ....

A few days after bringing MXSE home, a Turbosmart Kompact Dual Port BOV came up for sale on the forum. After reading about the issues with the stock BOV leaking, I decided to grab it ...



For some fun, I initially set it up vta ... As an older bloke, the looks I got from other cars was well worth it!

I had removed most of the items I'd fitted to the NB8A before trading her in. Items such as the red/black fabric SE seats and CP035 wheels, I later sold. The rest of the SE items - steering wheel, handbrake handle/button, windbreak etc - I decided to keep. I carried over the chrome front reflectors from Mexie (still have no idea what car these are off initially!) to the SE.

I also had the VDO gauges and gauge panel. I ordered a new Pioneer head unit to replace the stock one. The front bumper already had some damage from the stupid factory number plate bracket, so I ordered a new one from Automotive Plus (forgot to remove the one from the NB8A!!) ...



Set about removing the stock head unit and fitting the new Pioneer and the VDO gauges ...

Before...



After...



Here's the SE with the 15" Racing Harts fitted. Unfortunately, these wheels look a lot better on the SE in photos than they did in real life! Ended up removing them and re-fitting the stock Racing Harts (which I love anyway!!)

3 red MX5s in 4 years, wow! I don't blame you, they look great. I would go Marina Blue NA, Velocity Red NB, Copper Red NC1, the dark blue metallic NC2, Soul Red ND.

Coming from other car clubs the MX5 one always amazes me with the diversity and age range of members (I am 21 btw ) - everybody loves a good MX5. Or 3.

joshuam wrote:3 red MX5s in 4 years, wow!

Yeah, I actually had no thoughts or intention of swapping from Mexie at the time I bought the NB8A. I'd purchased some BC coilovers for her and when I picked them up, the seller also had his NB8A for sale. It was in great condition, some paperwork and came with the hardtop, NB8B instruments, NB8B wheels and NB8B tail lights and a bunch of spares. As soon as I drove it I preferred it to the NA. Turned out the odo hadn't been changed over when the instrument panel was changed and the mileage was quite a bit different than it showed but the condition completely belied it's "real" mileage. With all the SE and other bits I fitted, it looked great!!

Some more photos of the NB8A ...

Back to the SE ... Dec '15 ... I decided to fit a SpeedHut Boost gauge to the instrument panel in place of the stock oil pressure gauge. I already had the VDO OPG, so the stock one in the instrument panel wasn't necessary. This is a fairly popular mod, but takes some courage to take apart and start cutting and grinding a perfectly good, expensive gauge. There's a number of good write ups on how to go about this - "Mazda-speed.com", Lokiel's thread- amongst others.

Around this time, I also removed the air vents to tighten them up and stop them flopping around.

Easiest way I've found to get the air vents out is using card down the sides of the vent to push the clips in. I just cut some ice cream container into strips...



Push the card in either side of the vent until these two clips release ...



Once out, remove the top ring by pushing in the clips with a screwdriver and the vent will come apart ...



I removed the felt type tape carefully from around the inside edge ...



Added some two sided tape to the strips. Trial and error finds how thick to add the tape for best feel ...



Stuck the strips back in, re-assembled the vents and fitted them back in the dash. I've had to do this on each MX-5 so far! Works great!

I'd owned the SE for around six months now and was thoroughly enjoying driving it and getting use to the turbo. I'd never dríven a turbo'd car before! I know that many aren't happy with the way an SE feels stock, but I was. I have never been a big engine power person and don't tend to get anywhere near most car's limits. I like enough power to get me out of trouble if I need it, but not so much it hardly (if ever) gets used. There had been a few times in the NA6 and NB8A when more power would have been nice, now I had it.

Once again, contrary to the many negative opinions on the SE's stock suspension, my wife and I were actually finding it to be really good. We both have bad backs and I'd initially thought this was going to be the one issue we'd have, but we were actually finding it very comfortable. This is actually mildly annoying, as I'd like to lower the car a little, but I'm not going to risk changing something we're very happy with. I might grab some King low's if they come up cheap and throw them on the Billies and trial them, but otherwise, I just won't bother. Just while I'm on the suspension stuff, I was looking at the FatCat website a while ago. Looks like can't order their bumpstops from their website anymore! It directs off to two other stores, who don't appear to ship internationally - or charge alarmingly for it!

So, yeah, considering I'd been looking around for an auto NC at the time, I had absolutely no regrets whatsoever about getting the SE instead!

The one aspect I hadn't liked since getting the car, was the appearance of the cluttered stock engine bay. Every time I open the bonnet, it annoys me. Being an aesthetics person I was growing an image in my mind of how I'd eventually like it to look ... of course, should any changes I make happen to improve the power a little bit at the same time, this would have to be a happy side effect wouldn't it?

January long weekend away ...



Made a friend ...







... long story short ... he came home with us

Didn't touch anything on the car for a few months, then around April, some bits started arriving ..



Fitted the Beatrush Cooling panel ...



I'd painted the radiator brackets while they were off to fit the cooling panel, but I didn't like the look of the silver bits each side. So I removed the panel, masked off around the original and painted that black as well





Much better ...



Fitted the MBC ...

Not long after this, Bear2230 had his red panelled doors for sale and I ended up buying those off him ... wrapping of the year ...



... and fitted ...




I noticed a comment in Crapweasel's thread that he was going to be selling Maniac. I'd always liked the look of the Robert's Autosport grille that he'd fitted on his SE, so I quickly contacted him and managed to grab it and also picked up his Blox “Limited” 6 speed gear knob at the same time.

I love it when a car comes together! Yours is taking great shape. I've got one of those blox knobs, they're good. What did you set the body to?