I bought this little car from an import yard half way through 2007, it was in great condition, fresh coat of paint, new auto exe springs and some new tyres.
This is her the day/night of purchase.
I have done all of my learning hours in this car, and what a great car it was to learn in. About six months down the track, the clutch master cylinder, slave cylinder and the clutch it self and the brakes all went at the same time, that was a costly experience, it got so bad that you could not stay in gear at the lights, it would simply lose pressure and stall
.I eventually bit the bullet and replaced it all, the mechanic was even nice enough to machine the flywheel and brake rotors for free
.Soon after tradgedy struck again as the thermostat went on a 38 degree say, in the middle of arthurs seat, i had to sit there and wait for the racv for 2 hours as the engine was at boiling point. Luckily... no damage...yet.
I had heard alot about the Mx5 Factory in Ringwood so i went for a visit and a service, they were very helpful, basically all that heat had eaten away the cam seals and the rubber gasket the car would go through 2ltrs of oil a month which was not good.
I got it serviced and decided to wait a while.
The car was doing well, i was loving it! then a month or so later i got my Licence (Feb 08)
A few more months down the track it was late at night and sopping wet, on my way home from a gig and some imbercile thinks it was ok to take his road rage out on me, i cut him off purely by accident, he was going alot faster than i had intended.
He got out of his car and did this
And this
This night taught me that there were some very silly people out on the road to be weary of, i thought i was a goner
.After a week of looking around for parts etc i got a new front guard and new healight fitting's and motors.
Head lights were done by James at the Mx5 Centre in Moorabbin and the guard was done by Dick at the Mx5 Factory.
I thought it was about time to start making the car a bit more to my personal liking, so... i started wth the interior as most people do, i removed all the wooden trim and replaced the centre tomb stone with a NA8 tombstone, i also aquired some I.L Motorsport Tri-Beveled Vent Rings, a Nardi torino steering wheel, some NB carpets, Some black leather gearshift and handbrake boots with red stitching and a spun magnum Voodoo shift knob.
All together the look like...
Then a week or so after finishing that i replaced the old tattered soft top with a 6month old NB top and frame with glass window and demister.
Old top with torn window
New top
I was so impressed with the new roof, it kept alot more noise out, it was easier to put up and down and it looked fantastic
.soon after i also fitted a mania cold air intake, power gain was minimul but effective, throttle response was better but that sooouuuuuuund, oh my god is it good!
Next on the list was new wheels, i was a bit broke at the time so i thought to myself, in the meantime i could paint the stock ones... so i did, i decided on gloss black, after much research and hesitation i went for it.
Off they came
then i cleaned them, took a long time, as i wanted a quality job.
On with the masking and primer
And on with the paint
Voila!
A day after the wheels were done i noticed that a set of I.L motorsport smoked indicators were for sale on the forum, i jumped at the chance and grabbed them and with the freshly painted wheels they look brilliant!
So car going well and im happy untill about 2 months ago. i went in for the 200k service at mx5 factory, as i drove in i felt a big clunk, then a violent wobble then nothing... the car just stopped... something bad had happened.
We opened the hood but could not see anything so we opened it up and to our shock... i had been struck by the short nose crank problem, but beyond repair.
I my heart sunk and i literally stoof there and looked at the car for a good hour, i finally tured to dick and asked how much a full engine swap would be, he grinned and said "boy howdy do i have something for you bud" we walk to the back of the workshop to find a crate, inside was a NA6 Longnose jap spec motor with 30,000 km's on the clock which had also been fully reconditioned by dick.
This was the damage
old engine
new engine
i ended up taking the offer and $2500 later the 5 was back on the road better than ever.
now that everything is done so far i am happy, the next things to go on will be a Fujitsubo Power Getter Full Exhaust package, 15x7 wheel's (yet to decide on what kind and some sparco sprint's.
Mods so far are as listed.
Jap spec long nose B6 engine
Mania CAI
I.L Vent rings
Voodoo shift knob
Mr Gaiter shift and hadbrake boots
Nardi torino wheel
NB Roof with glass window
OEM boot lip spoiler
Painted Stock Daisy Wheels Gloss Black
Sony Cd player with Aux in.
Here are some current pictures.
December 08.
It has been a while since i updated this, here goes.
In december i had a little prang (more bad luck!). The damage was done to the drivers side door, rear guard and front quarter panel. This was my first ever accident, not very nice... it happened in the middle of the CBD, X-mas eve, peak hour traffic. I could not think of a more stressful time to drive. I wont go into detail, if you are curious, PM me. But basically it was the result of somebody harassing me, i moved foward to let them past and... bang! from the blind spot.
The damage was alot worse than it looked, it was all cosmetic and not at all structural. Just new panels were needed.
Lucky that it was an insurance job...
I took it to Mx5 factory once again and repairs were underway. A new door, mirror and front guard were needed. The rear guard was saved with no reason to use alot of filler or Bog.
Even though i made a driving error, we all do at some stage, there are many positives that have come out of this.
- I was not hurt.
- Finally got to colour match the front guard (was a slightly lighter shade of red)
- Door lock was rebuilt (had collapsed and would not unlock half the time)
- New wing mirror (was badly faded)
- Car got a full exterior detail (orbital buffing, wax, polish etc)
- Also got a new windscreen chucked in, the old one had a few stone chips.
Here are some pics.
I was very happy with the repair job, i was also given a sports muffler by FFG (dont worry mate, will get you something for your generosity), dick fitted that just after the repairs. It has a great, racey sound. Love it!
Janurary 09.
I got the car back on the 30th of Jan, 1 day before the Winton Driver Ed day (what luck!). i took it straight to get a wheel alignment done, was done by a gentleman by the name of Phil. He was recommended to my by Ben Sale.
He did a great job, can't remember the exact specs but i do know it was 1.5 neg cmber on the back and 2 neg on the front.
The next morning was the big day, Ben and i left my house at 4:30 am, got to campbellfield by 5:30 to meet with Fatty, Robbo, Fattima and Manga_Blue, we convoyed to Winton from there.
It was a great day, lots of happy faces, screeching tyres, nice cars and Hot weather. I got alot out of the day, especially after my little pang
It was also my first time out on track, i was told i did very well and that i was incredibly smooth, me and my car
The night was great too, most of us stayed at the Vic, a group of us had dinner there and had a good chat and laugh, was a great experiance. soon after, we all decided to do a Maccas run to get 50c cones, Wun and i being the only sober ones had to lug everyone around in 2 mx5's
Eventually we walked to where d-mag was staying, had a few drinks some laughs and went back to the vic for bed time.I went along to the sprints day the following day to spectate, it was a shame it was so hot, the turbo guys were dying out there.
All around it was one of the best weekends in a long time, i would like to thank everyone for a great time, cant wait to do it again!
February 09.
When i got back from winton, i noticed the car had picked up alot of surface grime, i tried washing it off but the car still felt a tad rough. I came home one night a few weeks ago to find my neighbour washing his car and rubbing it down with something, i was curious so i walked over and asked what he was doing. He said "claybarring"!. he showed me how to do it then did a small section on my own car, the depth and smoothness was incredible. It also happens that this man was the previous owner of a clubman and and SP, also a former Vic mx5 club member.
I called around a few places and also started a thread here on the forum, asking which was the best claybar product.
I ended up with this.
A few days later i gave it a go and here were the results. (the photos are quite ppor quality thanks to the iPhone camera)
Note. white car belongs to Ben Sale.
A few weeks later i attended the Vic Dyno day organised by Peter (pcmx5). It was a very informative day, lots of impressive results.
I managed to pull 72.3 rwkw with a Mania CAI, reletivly low km Longnose jap spec engine (40,000km), sports muffler and timing bumped to 14 degrees btdc.
.March 09.
Nothing big this month so far, i did go to the melbourne motorshow though, alot of nice cars. I got to sit in a lotus elise and exige, a porsche GT2 and a New NC!!
The NC was great, the new Recaro seats were among the best i sat in for the whole day, the new centre console design was also quite tasteful, leather and all.
i was also amazed the the so called "noise enhancer" comes as standard! Mr Loch Stewart has done well
.When the door on the car was destroyed, the speaker also died with it which means...... NEW SOUND SYSTEM!.
The speakers i previously had were a budget set of Sony X_plod's. They were ok i guess, no low end what so ever though.
Seeing i work for sony as a sales rep i can get alot of cheap goodies from places like JB hi fi etc, i went in and bought a nice set of candence splits, under 1/2 Price, They retail for $229 and i got them for $100.
They sound very good, lot's of low end for splits, punchy, chirpy and Crisp!, being a musician i needed something that is within my budget and is clear. i did a lot of research and this was the budget conclusion. they sound better than the Jaycar kevlar splits through a headunit.
Next was where to mount the tweeters, started a thread, got advise, looked some more. mr_rotary was kind enough to help me by showing me a few photo's of his install.
I gave a it a crack and this was the outcome.
I also scored a NB8A off crzymx, thanks man.
Also, if anyone noticed, the backrests in my seats look all droopy and empty, i took out the backing foam. It really increases lumbar support and acts as a semi bucket seat. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for extra ride comfort, great thing too is it is completely reversable!
April/May 09
These past couple of months have been a bit slow, lost my job... got a new one and now really just settling into it, therefore it has not really left too much for the little red thing....
HOWEVER! if there is a will, there most certainly is a way!
First i will start with the small things, About a month ago i realised that no matter how good my new speakers sound with the roof up, all low end disapears when the roof is down, i had a think about it and decided to research a bit. For the time a sub was out of the question. I'm still not sure if i want one yet?... I had a bit more of a think... then a bit more... and ended up getting some of this.
This was actually inspired by Jeo, he did a similar job but more detailed. Basically this stuff is a think aluminium material backed by a thick black sticky gunk.
I didnt do the whole doors, it was $30 just for those 2 squares
i will eventually do it but for what i need right now it sounds great!. It looks a bit "gapped" here but this was the half way mark.
It definatly keeps more a punch in the cabin when the roof is down, bass is noticably better but nothing to write home about. I suppose in the end, the only way to fix the issue is get a small sub, not high on the priority list though...
Next ->
This is probably one of my favorite mods yet!
Ever since i got the car, i have been on the hunt for a specific set of door cards, the came on the last of the NA8's and had the tear drop speaker covers on them.
After about a year of searching i finally found some
They were in pretty average nick and one was missing the top half (crash pad). that was not such a problem anyway as i would put the ones from my old cards on as i cut holes in them for the tweeters.The speaker covers had some old tape crap on them, the vinyl had thick caked on dust, which had deeply sunk in.
The photo is bad quality, maybe thats why it doesnt look so bad.
After a good run over with some metal polish for the covers, some swearing trying to make 2 new door cards out of 3 and a half average ones and a good dosage of 303 vinyl protectant, this is how they look. (excuse the poor quality)
Overall i am thrilled with how they came out.
And just for shits and giggles!
This next mod has been coming for a long time but never really got around to doing it, i have always know that the NA6 lacked in the bracing dept compared to the other mx5's. so... what do we do about this then hmmm?
Cusco Sub Frame front brace, just yells JDM.
The rear one is on back order and i will have it in a couple of weeks.
When it was installed i took the car around a little twisty pass near my house (Kew Boulevard). I instantly felt the difference, Nearly no body roll in the front of the car, the ride is smoother and it handles bumps better, whoever thought a piece of bent aluminium could do that!
The back is a little more twitchy now, hence no back brace to counter the front one. I highly reccomend this to any NA6 owner.
A day or so later i attended the vic dodgey day, it was a brilliant day. Lots of great cars and people, good laughs, some great learning experiences and all the rest!
Unfortunatly the car was dropping a tiny bit of all from the CAS O-ring, so a few of us changed that over in no time.
The same day i got the brace fitted i also had the car treated to a full cut and polish using Zymol detailing products. The reason this was done is because i was not happy with the job that was previously done by mx5 factory on my car. I will admit it was rushed as i needed the car for the Winton Driver Training Day but there were still deep swirls on the paint.
After half a day of polishing it came out great, i took a photo at dodgey day of it with the new tonneu cover on.
10 points to anyone who can spot the goodies placed somewhere on the car!
15x8 949 Racing 6UL's!!!!
Unfortunatly these were not mine but i got to try them out. To put it short, im in love. Looks and the ungodly grip, and the way the sit in the guards.
I will be getting a set before the years finished i have told myself.
One random shot (this was for the Ninja'd thread)
Here are a few pics also from the weekly meet us victorians hold...
17/5/09
This isnt a huge update, but what the heck.
I bought a couple of things today...
First of all, a new ash tray cover, mine was 20 years old and silver so i got a brand new black one.
I also got some Zymol Quick detailer to make the car extra shiny!.
The other day i picked up some semi-sealed beam headlight globe housing's as my car has sealed beam units, i have been meaning to do this for a long time now, the oem sealed bem unit are more rounded and make "hot spots" on the road instead of direct light. The new units i got are a more flat surface which alows the light to spread more.
Here are the old and the new next to each other (old - left new - right)
To match with these i got some philips crystal vision globes, they are a white light with a slight blue tinge and are 55-100w
Here is a "old" and "new" comparison.
Both new ones in.
Someone also found a few photo's of me fron winton back in Feb. Thanks!
And here are a few more photo's from last weeks garage cafe meet.
.23/05/09
New wheels!
I found these on firesport classifieds, they are 15x6.5, +38, 16kg each with tyres and the brand is ROH Australia.
I'm am quite happy with them, they are all in good, round condition. One has gutter rash on a part of it but it will buff out.
These are going to be a restoration project, the tyres are coming off in the next few weeks, i will get them sandblasted and either paint the centres or get them powder coated. Lips will be polished and then to finish them off, wrap them in some Re001's.
They look rather average on the car at the minute but they sit nicely, i am think of either making the centres silver or black and polishing the lip.That should spice things up a bit, Suggestions welcome.
Cheyne.
