mx5cartalk.com

I bought another MX5, this time as a promotional car. The plan is to put all the carbon fibre parts I make onto this car. So it will get a carbon fibre bonnet, boot, roof and most likely door skins. I like the fact the car is black so the carbon fibre doesn't jump out at you like it would on a coloured car.
The car is a bit untidy and unloved, hardly ran, has clunky noises, unregistered, no RWC, etc, so was cheap. I took the punt and bought it hoping it wouldn't take too much time and money to get the car mechanically sound and presentable.
First thing I did was jack it up and find where the clunky sound was coming from. Straight away I could see the front Uni joint is farked. So problem found, and not too hard to fix.
Next was see why it was running so bad. I thought I would start with the plugs, and go from there. Turns out the plugs and connectors on 2 and 4 are all corroded. So I stripped the coil packs, cleaned them up, sprayed them with WD40, installed new plugs, reassembled, and it runs perfect now.
Edit- forgot to mention, as a bonus it has Bilstien adjustable coilovers. Otherwise it's all stock.
The car...
hosting images

The plugs..
image uploading

From the looks of plugs 2&4, it looks like they were completely submerged in water in the sparkplug "wells" at one or more times in their life - almost like the PO washed the engine bay with a hose and the 2 rubber seals weren't water-tight (can't think of how else that much water would get in).

The body looks clean though.

Well bought - look fwd to the latest project!

lightyear wrote:Straight away I could see the front Uni joint is farked. So problem found, and not too hard to fix.

Could you elaborate on your fix for the buggered uni joint? Does it involve replacing the whole tailshaft as i was under the impression the uni joints are not replaceable?
My front uni joint is buggered also and I'd love to know if i can avoid having the whole shaft replaced.

My plan was to replace the tailshaft. I haven't done it yet. I was just happy to have, found the problem.

Awesome!

I really think you need to do a turbo NC!

Bad timing to be buying a turbo NC..

I have finished using the car for the fastback, so cleaned it up and put the tailshaft in. It drives perfect now. I came across a great deal on some wheels and tyres. Konig 15x8.5's and A048's for $1200 delivered.

Cant wait to see the end result- especially the final weight numbers! Well done with the deal you got for the Konigs and A048's too!

Like the Hypergrams, been eyeing them off on Goodwins for a while now..
Hope you find the A048s better than I did on my MX5, they were not that fast to start with and heat cycled out by day two..

This car will likely end up on the track, but just a fun car. It would be nice to do a round with the MX5 club, but with the prices Neil is charging these days that won't be happening. Also for $400, I don't think there is a faster set of tyres out there.

There was a deal going recently for Ad08R's for $400. I'd wager they would offer more fun for the money.

Did you get offered any other tailshafts? I need one.

I just pinched this tailshaft from the other MX5. There was no reasonably priced ones offered for sale. Best bet would be to ask Jan.

I went to bolt the leather seats into the car from the silver MX5, and had a thought. Always bad.. The thought was to see if I could bolt my ultra light full carbon fibre seat onto the stock rails. So had a look and took some measurements, turns out the seat is about 50mm wider. So made up some brackets and welded them on to the runners. Had to cut a fair chunk of metal off the runner next to the tunnel. Drilled the new holes and it all bolted in and works fine. The brackets are mounted lower than the runners to help keep the seat low. Now the seat was in, I couldn't get my knees under the steering wheel. So had to remove the wheel and stick the race set up in. The seat is tight, but comfy and supportive once your in.