Zawrilla's 96 Monty (Lots of pics)

[zawrilla]

Hey guys,
Thought I would introduce myself and my car on here as I think I'll be sticking around for a while.
My name's Chris and from Sydney, still a poor boy studying at uni. Used to drive around in a Swift Gti and then a Nissan 180sx until I got tempted to find my own Mx5.







Bought the car about 1.5 months ago and it's been great owning it. It hasn't been all hassle free though, but I did pick it up for a good price so I guess I was kind of expecting to find some problems here and there. All still pretty stock but as money permits, this will change. Anyway specs are:

1996 Montego Blue Na8
119 thousand kms
Everything is pretty much stock except for a Pioneer CD player and speakers, and a Sony amp that came with the car.
Other than that it also came with King (sh*t) springs on standard shocks.



Since purchasing I've changed the engine oil/filter with Elf Excellium, changed spark plugs over to NGK iridium, and will soon be getting new brake pads and fluid as they're currently almost dead.

The car came with pretty big dorky 17s that I didn't really like so I splurged and bought a set of 2nd hand Enkei RPF01s which I reckon work really well on the car.

From this:

To this:


I've also slapped a few stickers on there...featuring an angry Domokun, you know, in case the car needs to defend itself when I'm not around.



Watch OUT!!


I'm in the process of chasing down a few parts for it, namely an intake, BD roll bar and probably an exhaust for Monty as well. The plan is for me to keep this car comfortable to drive everyday for about 1 year, and then I'll be looking to pick up another daily and turn Monty into a weekend cruiser and fairly dedicated track car. It's been to Wakefield once - 1 week after buying it and I'm itching to get back out there again.

[zawrilla]

Ok, so onto the dramas. I've got a small tear in the soft top and also was not sure if the seals were going to do the job. One night after heavy rain I was worried and when I checked in the morning, my car was dry - in the cabin. HOWEVER, I probably could have had a small child swimming in the boot.
I started pulling apart of the boot trim and rear shelf area to find lots and lots of rust and dampness on the galvanised metal plates that cover the fuel lines/tank. $500 later I purchased a new rain rail, fixed up the rust, bought replacement metal trim parts and now its all good. Anyway, being a complete noob to Mx5s, I had no idea - but I didn't even have a rain rail when I purchased it (and for how long before that I don't know) - hence the extent of the damage.
Until the other day when I found that water was also coming in from my tailights - but not a huge issue, I'll get it sealed up soon.

Before:



After:


Despite a few little headaches, I really love the car and every time I drive it after fixing up a problem, or finding that annoying rattle to tighten it, it's the most satisfying drive. I've got lots of plans for the car, but even in its current form, it's more than enough.

The car in all it's Eggbox glory -


Thanks all,
-Chris

[timk]

Nice, I like it! Getting rid of the cheap bling certainly made a big difference.

[Tezzax5]

Really nice colour but just keep an eye on the radiator (Top Tank).

[Sasso]

Love the colour! What sort of plans?
Was it you I saw at the circuit club track day at wakefield?

[Fatty]

did you buy it in vic? looks like alfadogs car which he sold recently... a really awesome colour.

[zawrilla]

Sasso... yes it was me that you met at Wakefield that day.

Fatty... No this isn't Alfadog's car.. I had my eye on it when he was selling it but I still hadn't sold my old car at that stage so it didn't happen. I bought this locally.

The plans I have are firstly as stated. I want to play around with an intake, exhaust and BD rollbar. When the suspension goes.. I'll definitely look at getting a nice entry level coilover set up and then work things out around that before seeing if I want sway bars and other types of suspension adjustments.

In amongst all this I will probably dress up the car a bit.. like an OEM lip, some vent rings/dial changes, and probably finish it off with a set of gauges to keep an eye on everything.

These plans won't happen immediately..but over the course of the next few months I'd definitely like to see them eventuate.

[bensale]

Awesome looking car, congratulations!

[PUR157]

ahh... good to see Monty again...
changed abit since I last seen him
not to mention how good he looks clean...

not so hot on the Garage Vary lip now? you seemed pretty keen before

[rich85]

enkei's look about ten times better, those were some cheesy rims that came on it, dont people know how to match rims to a car?? i reckon some clear indicators and reflectors would look good on it

[zawrilla]

Recently purchased an intake of 1red5. Great person to deal with (thanks Andrew). Anyway, I had a go at fitting it and it's all in there, and working. However it's not completely finished. I will be enclosing the filter and running a CAI through the fire wall like the mania-style intakes. Also I will be mounting the filter side properly..so far it's just held up by cable ties .

I love the difference in sound that it has made. The car just sounds so much stronger now even if it really didn't get any power gains.

Here's some pics with the stock intake off and then the new one one.

[Steampunk]

Awww... shucks...
Right back at ya mate.
It was really making me sad to see it sitting there, in my room, for all these months not being put to good use.
I'm glad you like it.

[zawrilla]

New (used) seat. Nice tight fit.. have to make sure I don't gain any more weight .

Needs a clean though.

[Spranga]

Man that bloke in the white T Shirt is handsome...

How much did you pay for your sprint? I am still after a cheap one.

Dan

[zawrilla]

ended up picking it up for 300.. but that's because of some idiot on ebay who did proxy bidding or something and made the price jump heaps without it being necessary.