mx5cartalk.com

Hey guys,

So this story starts with a growing love for the Nissan N15 Pulsar SSS named "Helga" (don't ask about the name) where I started with a few simple modifications.
e.g. Coilovers, sway bars, bracing, tints, I.C.E., Recaro SR4s and a few bits off of the Japanese variant (JN15/VZ-R). Created my own personalised plates to kind of replicate my name (Kieron) - KIE20N and hence why the username is "kiezon".



I loved the Pulsar a lot, but it was time to let go as my brother sold his Corolla Sportivo to me for fairly cheap. Given my financial situation at the time as a uni student, it was a bittersweet goodbye.

Now, before the sale of the Pulsar, I grew a love for the NA8 MX-5 after seeing a few photos online back when everything seemed to be "JDMASF*CK". Sure, I'll admit that a few of the "fuccboi starter pack" common mods attracted me but after seeing more and more tracked MX-5s I knew I had to have one. Though, the words I would repeat in my mind for the next three years were, 'one day and as my second car'. This idea of owning an MX-5 now came to mind only in early March of 2017 when a friend sent me a photo of this NB8A:



I was now in love with NBs.

Now, I had already been in an NB a few years back for a couple of minutes and preferred the interior much more than the NA. I was convinced! So the search was on for the 'right' NB. I had found one with 65,000kms, owned by a mature couple with a legitimate reason for sale. Gave the owner a ring and everything was set a few weeks in advance. I and another party was flying up from Sydney, New South Wales to Toowoomba, Queensland. This was the first time I had been serious about flying over to inspect and purchase a car. I was nervous and this was fairly obvious to everyone on the Facebook group and to those on the forum who participated in my previous thread.

I had kind of celebrated my birthday the day before, but I had been too stressed and nervous about the inspection that I couldn't enjoy it (lols).
4:00am. Time to wake up! Way too nervous... AND... We board.



Thought this was pretty cool...



We've landed!



The moment of truth... I probably spent three hours inspecting this car because I was so worried. I even had John (U DA REEL MVP BOIII) drive down for a second opinion.



We even took a little break to chat to the owner's wife about cats travelling and the car itself. Had to take this sneaky shot too:



AND FINALLY! MAXINE WAS MINE! The previous lady who owner before this couple gave her the name btw. I was too excited that I had nearly forgot to organise car insurance, so we stopped by Aldi to sort things out and buy a few snacks for the 900kms trip home.



The girlfriend got pulled over for a RBT and we were cautioned about the kangaroos at 10:30pm so we drove half of the speed limit from Tamworth till we saw more mountains as I assumed kangaroos don't live in such habitats. This was a 120kms+ road FYI. My lord... Never again... We almost ran out of fuel as every petrol station had been closed. Bloody regional servos... lol.





Decided to use our Anytime Fitness key to use the bathroom and perform a light set of leg extensions to get our blood flowing again. Can you say, 'dead legs'?

Obligatory servo photos:





I had eventually become too tired to drive the remainder of the trip, so my girlfriend drove from Newcastle to home.

Sitting cosy in her new home. Excuse the mess. I also threw a broken down cardboard box to check for any leaks and not a drop was leaked. RELIEF.



Gave the interior a good clean.







Visited Lifestyle Store after a long day. I may be leaning more towards the Focal ES 165K2.



Threw in my Clarion NX501A headunit for the time being before I wait for the Pioneer AVIC to go on sale. I'll need to find a cleaner solution without the gap above the headunit. Ugh.



Got to clean up the paintwork a little with a clay bar. OMG smooth!



Passed the blue slip!!!! Also got to throw in the weighted gear knob.



Now to wait for a day to transfer my personalised plates from the Corolla to the MX-5 and get her registered in NSW.




So the plan is to do some minor interior things, lip kit, headunit, speakers, Automotive+ roll bar, OEM hardtop, 2.5" exhaust with an oval Varex muffler (sorry guys) and eventually either a GT2560R or GT2860RS.

Great post, having flown across the country to buy an MX-5 I can understand that nervous feeling. Looking forward to reading more of your impressions and future mods.

Well done Kieron. Glad I could help out. Enjoy your car and welcome to the madness.

Welcome to the obsession Kieron, great story of how you came to pickup your first MX5.
I'm jealous of the generous size of your garage, considering it looks to be in a unit complex!
Looking forward to the updates.

Congratulations on the purchase! I doubt you will find any real issues with the car at the KM - almost a new car.

With that colour, your instrument cluster is in need of the chrome+blue LED treatment:

See kevgoat's garage thread for details: http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?style=3&f=57&t=69985&start=176

The kangaroo warning was something that you must take heed of in an MX5.

I bought mine from Melbourne and drove back to Brisbane via the Newell Hwy over three days.
There were dead roos on the side of the road every few hundred metres in some sections (the drought meant that there were few waterholes so they were concentrated in areas close to dams).

On the last day a truck way ahead of me was slowing down so I knew something was up.
When I was within 500km of him him I saw that there was a small roo jumping on the side of the road so I started braking slowly since I was at highway speed.
At one point the roo was keeping pace with me in front of my left headlight and I kept braking.
The roo looked huge at this point when it was airborne, most of its body was above the hood.
Thankfully it kept going straight, then peeled off to the left and I passed it.

That was a small roo and I had a lot of warning because I could see it from a distance - I'd hate to encounter a large one at night when peripheral visibility is low.

Thanks a heap guys! First kind of major thing I'll be buying is the hardtop, given the suburb at which I work in. Though, minor purchases will include:
- A license plate bracket to lower and angle the front plate slightly just to have it flow nicer with the car's 'lines'.
- 4300K HIDs. I've never had a car with projector headlights, so I'm excited about this one (leave me be...)
- 3000K foglight bulbs. Sorry. I'm not normally into this kind of thing, but I guess it's more of being seen on the road at night if there is a less 'capable' driver present.
- Either Mitsubishi Eclipse air vents or silver air vent rings. Could someone direct me to said silver air vent rings???
- Rubber floor mats for those rainy days.
- Tints! Probably just 35% rather than 20% this time.

Lokiel wrote:With that colour, your instrument cluster is in need of the chrome+blue LED treatment:

See kevgoat's garage thread for details: http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?style=3&f=57&t=69985&start=176

The kangaroo warning was something that you must take heed of in an MX5.

I bought mine from Melbourne and drove back to Brisbane via the Newell Hwy over three days.
There were dead roos on the side of the road every few hundred metres in some sections (the drought meant that there were few waterholes so they were concentrated in areas close to dams).

On the last day a truck way ahead of me was slowing down so I knew something was up.
When I was within 500km of him him I saw that there was a small roo jumping on the side of the road so I started braking slowly since I was at highway speed.
At one point the roo was keeping pace with me in front of my left headlight and I kept braking.
The roo looked huge at this point when it was airborne, most of its body was above the hood.
Thankfully it kept going straight, then peeled off to the left and I passed it.

That was a small roo and I had a lot of warning because I could see it from a distance - I'd hate to encounter a large one at night when peripheral visibility is low.

Perhaps. I did the LED conversion in the Pulsar but found them to be too dim in comparison to normal halogen lights.

As for the roos - apparently my girlfriend saw a Wallaby whilst she was driving. I was half asleep and took a break from driving at time so I can't really confirm its size. I was so paranoid that we would write the car off in the first few hours of ownership, lol. I suppose you could say I was puckering up, hahaha.


As for the events of today... I got the MX-5 registered in NSW and slapped my personalised plates on! Ah... Finally. My heart, soul and wallet hurt though.





Time to get some allen key bolts and license plate bracket. Jeez, the front plate sits high...

kiezon wrote::
- 3000K foglight bulbs. Sorry. I'm not normally into this kind of thing, but I guess it's more of being seen on the road at night if there is a less 'capable' driver present.
- Either Mitsubishi Eclipse air vents or silver air vent rings. Could someone direct me to said silver air vent rings???
:

It's illegal to drive with foglights on when there's no fog in most places.
I live in Qld and don't suffer fog much so I re-purposed my foglights into a CAI duct and oil cooling vents.

It's more common for NB owners to drive with their lights on during the day if they're worried about not being seen.
Some add DRLs but IMO they sit too low to be really effective and they look like they've been tacked on since there's nowhere to mount them to give a more integrated/OEM look.
Rather than spending the effort wiring them up for dubious results and "dagifying" the aesthetics of the car, it's MUCH easier to turn your lights on.

TT Style vent rings:
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/chrome-style-vent-rings-mk1-25-p-438.html
http://www.mossmiata.com/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=81911
http://www.ilmotorsport.de/shop/article_detail.php5?aid=2016&oid=2&depth=0&page=1&count=71&PHPSESSID=a8e0cb795ec354905080f8f3143a6264

Those sites have a LOT of stuff, including simpler vent rings, so browse with caution, preferably not late at night while drunk because you'll go on a buying frenzy and kick yourself for doing so (but forget all about that when all the "toys" arrive).

Your dash has chrome on the two large gauges, you can buy the 3 smaller ones too:
http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/chrome-instrument-rings-mazda-mk25-p-554.html
(to me it looks unfinished if only 2 of the 5 gauges have chrome rings)

While I agree the blue back lighting can be a little dull I still think it's well worth doing.
I am also a fan of the chrome highlights and got most of the catalogue from Mx5parts.co.uk.........

There's quite a few 'extras' on mine which added up to a lot of $$$ but I think the result was worthwhile and exactly what I was after.

That's a very tasteful/nice interior Neyvn72.

So I drove up to MX5 Mania to pick up a few sump plug washers and the license plate bracket. Bought some touch up paint for the two areas where the OEM bracket was rubbing on the front bumper.



Got around to doing the oil change and replaced the spark plugs. Holy hell. The oil filter was a pain! Planning on purchasing some ramps to make servicing easier.

Painted the wiper arms with RustGuard matte black paint



Used some Meguiar's Ultimate Compound to bring back some depth in the paint. A good friend and I decided to apply some sealant to the car to protect it before I take it to the detailer for paint correction and ceramic coating. Should keep me quite happy for the meantime.



Holy...



Haha, I also finally took my friend's advice and threw in weatherproof floor mats to preserve the condition of the carpet. I criticized him for years...



Got around to fixing the stupid lazy cupholder. Kind of over-engineered this one by using the wire from a fold back paper clip. Thank god for that.



Had to buy a couple of mini fuse taps and spare fuses. Hmm, I wonder what it could be for?



"Hello darkness my old friend..." I had been waiting for one of these packages for a week and a half. The anxiety was strong. Ended up receiving both of my orders on the same day!



So the first package was an all-in-one HID kit. Suits HB4 and is in 6000K. Don't worry. It doesn't have a blue hue. I had been looking for a pure white light for a while and luckily that same friend knew where I could source a kit.



Though, I had run into fitment issues as the digital built-in ballast was fouling on the car's structure. Time to modify further? Took out the file and went to town on these little bastards. Had to file them down more than this tbh and it was still a squeeze to fit them. Used some touch up paint on the engine bay and the HID heat sinks.



Here's a photo of the light output and temperature:



And the second package was from Dash Cams Australia.



Ended up buying a BlackVue DR650S-2CH.



Had problems with the Power Magic Pro, the hardwire kit to enable 'parking mode', but a friend of a friend managed to help me find the constant and switch power. For those interested to purchasing a Dash Cam, constant power is via the door lock and switched power is via the wiper motor. Those fuse taps from the earlier photo were used as a means of tapping into said fuses for power.



The rear BlackVue camera will be installed once I purchase the hardtop within the next couple of months (hopefully). Once that's all done, I'll have the windows tinted. I'm tossing up between 35% and 25% tints. Would anyone have a photo of their MX5 with either? I'm currently leaning towards 35% as it will be more useful for the rear dash cam.

I also will be ordering new license plate lights as I snapped both in the process of changing the globes to LED.

A few small things:

Bought a dash mat from Mania.



Got rid of the hard water stains from the windows and mirrors.

Before:



After:



Picked up a used pair of license plate lights since I snapped the old pair while replacing the globes lol. New (left) vs old (right):



Paintless dent removal via The Ding King. Awesome workmanship for a good price!



Sun visor blanks!

Mirrors came up really well

Hey mate, how did you clean up the water marks on the windows and mirrors. You did a great job, and I've got a lot of marks on my daily.

Tried to adjust my driver's headlight a touch higher to match the passenger side today, but didn't account for the all-in-one HID kit placing pressure against the projector and frame of the car. Kept cranking it and the beam suddenly dropped. Broke the vertical adjustment.

WTB: SE (LHD AND RHD) or NB8B/C (driver's) headlights.

Far out, man...



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