Joe's NA6

[Jeo]

Love your car!!!
It looks almost identical to mine when I first got it....black, the hyperfangs etc.
Mine has the black leather interior

Cheers. I do like the look of yours there (not that I'm biased towards the best coloured NA's...)

I'm not sure about the tan leather to be honest. The first MX5 I test drove was red with tan and I really liked it. Then when I found this one, I was less excited about the tan. I has grown on me over time, but I still don't like it as much as I do on other colour NAs. There's a dark blue NA with a red interior that I see around uni from time to time and just adore that. Ohh what I'd pay for a good condition factory red interior.

My drivers side seat is a bit "full of holes" at the moment and the passenger isn't far off it, so I've been tossing up what to do with them recently. So far I've come up with...
Buy another pair of NA seats
Get my current ones re-trimmed
Buy a new set of aftermarket seats (leaning towards the Sparco Speed but really open for options here)

But then the big question is, Do I go tan or black?
My interior does still have a few black pieces spread around, so I think the black seats could still fit in enough while throwing a little more contrast in to the equation.

[Jeo]

Tuning session booked in for next Wednesday. Yay!

[Jeo]

Tuning session win!

90.4kw at the wheels

The sheet will be up once my scanner stops mucking me around

[grump]

this would have to be one of the nicest looking NA's, the wheels really suit it. I like.

[trader]

Great dino result Joe - wish I could crack 90 but then I've only 1.6 to play with.

[Jeo]

Thanks guys. I'm not sure if I would have chosen the wheels myself, but I certainly won't be changing them any time soon.

The girlfriend should get her car back today, so I can finally start organising this bonnet of mine. As fun as it was having only the one car between the two of us for the last two weeks, I didn't think it would be much fun going down to no cars and still two people. Thought I'd give you all a little teaser pic first though...

[Jeo]

[Jeo]

After much stuffing about and procrastination I started installing my bonnet today. I wasn't particularly keen on having to cut the carbon fibre myself to get the bonnet pins in, but every shop I spoke to either said "we'll have a go but because we can't vouch for the quality of the bonnet, if we break it we're not paying for it" or "we've never touched CF before but can't be that hard can it?". Really wasn't interested in the first group and wasn't so keen on the second, so I spoke to a few others who had done their own and got the same response from all of them, "its not that hard, just be careful".

I got a mate around today to give me a hand and we hooked in. Now before I get in to the shiny picture part, a little explaining first. I test fitted the bonnet up a few weeks ago and while most of the panels lined up, the part that latches in to the stock front catch/clip thing was a little too big. After a quick consultation with a couple of mates and the Carco guys, I came to the conclusion that the easiest way to fix it would be to move the stock latch down a little.

Headed off to Bunnings this morning and stocked up on high tensile bolts, painters tape and a fresh set of Dremell bits. Came home and began the fun. To move the stock front latch I had to remove the front bumper (which was just a world of fun). Once the bumper was off the latch relocation was quite simple; drill three new holes and we're done.






Remove four nuts and the stock bonnet come off, replace with four bolts and a new bonnet and the easy part is done.










Mount the pin itself, then drill a hole in the bonnet...




Mask up and draw around (I had a template)...






Very careful cutting...




Test fitting the mechanism…




Drill the bolt holes to mount the mechanism to the bonnet…




And we’re done for the day. I did end up getting both mechanisms mounted but apparently I forgot to take a photo of that




All in all, it wasn’t that bad. I was so scared of cracking it, but just as everyone else had said, take your time and it will be fine.

I’ll get the bumper back on tomorrow and I’ll be done. I’ll get a few more bodgy photos then but a mate bought a new car about a week ago so there should be a photo shoot this weekend, from which I’ll defiantly have some better photos.

[Jimmy]

Nice work Joe

[hks_kansei]

But then the big question is, Do I go tan or black?
My interior does still have a few black pieces spread around, so I think the black seats could still fit in enough while throwing a little more contrast in to the equation.

my opinion is that it should be full tan (seats, carpet, dashboard, doors) or full black.

I hated the NB's tan interior because it was just seats and carpet, looked like an afterthought.

[PUR157]

(a case of posting before thinking... )

[Jeo]

Well the bonnet is now on and doing its thing, I'm really liking it. Took photos but the phone doesn't want to talk to the lappy for some reason, so no photos just yet for any of you.

But then the big question is, Do I go tan or black?
My interior does still have a few black pieces spread around, so I think the black seats could still fit in enough while throwing a little more contrast in to the equation.

my opinion is that it should be full tan (seats, carpet, dashboard, doors) or full black.

I hated the NB's tan interior because it was just seats and carpet, looked like an afterthought.

I can see that, carpet and seats wouldn't be enough. When I say I still have some black parts still there I mean tombstone through centre console, top part of the dash, etc. I think with black seats there could still be enough tan to pull it off, but I certainly see where you are coming from. I would only consider black seats if I went aftermarket though. What do people think of re-trimming stock seats in a two tone black/tan leather? *I went looking for pictures to demonstrate my thoughts here but nothing obvious popped up, will have a better look around tomorrow*

Here's some Mazda came up with earlier,

Black NA w/ Red Interior
S-Limited

Black (although it looks like a dimly lit Neo Green) NA w/ Tan Interior
V-Special II

Does this help or hinder?

Not really sure what you mean there sorry. Mine is an imported V-Special?

[PUR157]

Whoops... look like I missed the point of some previous posts...
Don't mind me...

Bonnet looks great by the by... bring on the full install pics! (please )

[Jeo]

You're right mate

Phone decided it wanted to talk to the lappy so bodgy pics below.
Excuse the dirtiness of the car. These were taken about 20 minutes after finishing the install as I was rushing to work, carbon dust everywhere!














With any luck I might be able to fit that photo shoot in later today, so you may get some better photos tomorrow.
Edit: Yes photos are going ahead tonight, leaving to wash car in about half an hour.

[Jeo]

I forgot to charge my camera before we went out, so I only got a few photos. My mate got a whole heap, but I haven't actually seen any of them yet, so no love for you guys there.

Below is one of the few that I got that actually worked. I really liked how the shadow came out.