Lee's 1991 Mariner Blue Eunos Roadster

[lee]

After years of interest and months of serious lusting, I've finally bought myself an mx5!

As the title says, it's a 1991 Mariner Blue Eunos Roadster. 115,000 ks on the clock at the time of purchased, and came with a few bonuses (fog lamps, Roadster mats, Roadster door sills, Midnight Blue roof, tonneu cover, mazdaspeed wheel, and apparently it has an LSD in the back).

I got a deposit for my Astra on Tuesday, paid a deposit for the MX5 on Wednesday, sold the Astra on Thursday, and bought my MX5 today (Friday). It's been a busy week for me!

I can only post one picture, as I didn't bring my camera today, and the pics nanotech took the other day are on facebook which is blocked at work. I'll post up some pictures soon.



Things to do and buy (in no order);
-Mania CAI
-upgraded springs & shocks
-cusco underbody bracing
-upgraded sway bars
-15" wheels
-darker parking lights
-white smoked reflectors
-RS Products interior stuff (AC dial & knobs, pop-up headlight and hazard switches, gauge faces, meter panel)
-Replace the spoiler with the lip-style spoiler
-Remove or replace the the front lip with something that looks a bit better
-Replace the roof with an NB one when the roof it has dies in the arse
-Replace the stock gear knob with a #2 billiard ball (because it's blue)
-Replace the Sony head unit (radio & CD player) with something with Bluetooth so I can do music and calls wirelessly
-Get some better door speakers, and get the headrest speakers working
-Get the fog lamps working
-Bump the timing to get more torque

Ultimately, when the engine has killed itself, I plan on doing an electric conversion on it. This probably won't happen until about ~2018 though.

This car is going to be fun

[bensale]

Congratulations mate, so glad to see that you've finally got one! I can't wait to see what you do with it!

[CheyneX5]

She's looking great man, isn't it great that as soon as you found a buyer for your Astra, this car popped up!

Twas meant to be!

[lee]

Thanks for the input, guys! The mod process is going to be slow until about August next year, as I probably should be saving for my Europe trip. I'll do a few little or necessary things, like getting a new head unit and replacing the gear knob, but nothing too drastic. I'll give it a wash, clay and wax in the coming days

[CheyneX5]

More pics or it didn't happen!

[mxfive95]

Awesome car Lee, great to see you got the one you wanted in melb

[-alex]

Congrats, just in time for Christmas..! We'll have to go for a cruise when I'm in Melbourne next.

[Stu]

Well done Lee

[lee]

It was a perfect xmas gift for myself

I didn't get to burn a tank of fuel in the first day of ownership, but since I've had the car, it's from Geelong to Philip Island and back home via Mount Martha; about 550 ks all up. It's a fun little car

I can knock three items off the checklist; in the JB HiFi boxing day sale, I bought myself a nice Kenwood head unit with bluetooth and a couple of Alpine speakers (which I'll eventually get around to fitting), and I found out that the fog lamps do work (I had to have the headlights on for them to work). Something I forgot to include was a wheel alignment, which will happen early Jan.

A couple of new things I've learnt about the car;
-I reckon it has been resprayed in its time, but to the original colour. I don't mind; it looks just about showroom condition!
-The roof is a deep shade of blue. After looking in the receipts which came with the car, it is a roof from CabrioWorld. It's in brilliant condition, and is very taut.
-It has a flare!

Pics will eventually come...

[hks_kansei]

Brilliant news Lee!

it looks like you've grabbed a very, very tidy example!

Congratulations!

[taminga16]

Congratulations on the sale of the Asrtra and the purchase of your 'New MX5'.
Greg.
P.S. Great colour.

[lee]

Almost a week later, and I am completely smitten

Quite a bit has happened since Sunday. First change is the removal of the aerial and sun visors. I took the aerial off because I never listen to radio anyway, and I took the sun visors out because they are completely useless, and they got in the way of the roof latches. I'd like to get a stubby aerial, in part because my dad listens to the radio, and also because the little black plastic bit where the aerial screws in looks strange on its own.

Before I move on to my second change to the car, I reckon it's about time I loaded some pictures up. These are some shots from the meet-up on Tuesday night (most photos taken by Ben or Cheyne);













On Wednesday night, me and my girlfriend went out for dinner, and when we came back, we found someone had gotten frighteningly close to my car. Needless to say, the guilty person is lucky I wasn't around at the time...


I took the plate off today, and pressed it back. Luckily, it didn't do any damage to the bumper.

The second change was fitting a brace between the seatbelt pillars. I reckon it could be doing some work in stiffening the car up, but then again, it could just be mental. Either way, it looks good, and it wasn't expensive. I'll probably end up replacing it with a BD bar at some point.







The third change was the removal of the old sony CD/Radio head unit and replacing it with the Kenwood KDC-X8016BT I bought on boxing day. The unit itself retails for around $400, but I paid about $280 for it! Not bad for a player with CD, Radio, USB and Bluetooth

In the removal of the old head unit, I discovered why the headrest speakers weren't working; they weren't actually connected!



The green and purple wires are meant to be the channels for the headrest speakers. They were meant to plug in to the wires coming out of the right plug in this picture;



In the above picture, it is interesting to note that the plug on the left is attached to the car via one wire; two had been cut and left bare, while 4 had been cut and wrapped in electrical tape. The person who installed the sony head unit had done a fairly shocking job. The 4 screws attaching the unit to the centre console were all of different lengths and thread pitches; one of them was about 3cm long! No unnecessary expense had been spent in installation. When I installed the new one, I used bullet crimps to make all connections, which will make it easier for me if I ever decide to upgrade.

Everything is all nicely installed now. The headrest speakers are now working, but I am yet to balance everything. I have USB Dock cable running through into the centre console for charging, and a microphone mounted just to the right of the fuel gauge for hands-free calling. It all works a treat!

I've recently bought a little Sony point & shoot camera (locals will be able to guess where from), so I'll be taking more pictures of projects as they happen. I'd like to turn this thread from a word diary to a picture diary

My next major purchase is likely to be related to suspension. It handles much better than the Astra, but not quite as sharply as I'd like. Does anyone have any suggestions on a relatively inexpensive upgrade from stock shocks & springs?

[taminga16]

Hi Lee,
The car looks beaut. Re: the suspension changes, have a chat with the bloke that sold you the Seat Belt Tower Brace.
Greg.

[bensale]

Glad you like the bar I hope it was worth shouting my chicken parma the other night

Bugger about the number plate... I had that happen once, someone reversed into it with there tow bar... I'm just mindful of where I park now...

First priority with the suspension should be getting a wheel alignment done, my thead has the spec I ran when the car was stock and I can also recommend someone who will do a brilliant job for a reasonably price if you're interested. If you want the improved looks lowering the car will give you then lower it with one of the million spring and shock combos and it will make a very good difference but if you want the biggest handing improvement for not much money get some adjustable sway bars fitted. If they're whiteline or similar 24/16mm bars run the front hard and the rear soft and you'll be happy with the improvement.

I'd also put the front and rear subframe braces pretty high on your list, they make a huge difference! If you're not a brand snob you don't need to buy cusco ones and you can save a lot of money and get the same result... Although the anodized blue does look cool..!

[lee]

Thanks for the tips, Ben. It'll be something I get later in the year, as I won't have much spare cash lying around until after Europe, unless I can find some good, cheap ones for sale on the forum!

I've spent a bit of time on the car today. First thing to do was to take the foam out of the seats. It really wasn't as easy as I was expecting it to be. I've never seen any walkthough for the task, so I had a stab at it myself.

I moved the seat and the back support all the way forwards, and had a go at the three metal rings holding the fabrics together. After much swearing, pain and frustration, I got the first one off. I discovered I could loosen them off somewhat by using an old screwdriver in the centre of the ring, then fiddling them about with some pliers. After eventually getting the other two back rings off, I tilted the back of the seat back to upright, and pulled the foam out through the front, only to discover 6 MORE RINGS attaching the foam to the fabric!! Much more swearing, pain and frustration ensued. I thought I'd finish it off by holding everything together with zip ties, so I pulled the release which tilted the seat forward. Unfortunately for me, the spring is rather strong, and my head was in its path of motion... I think I was punched in the face by my own car...

It does give a much more active driving feel. I sit lower and deeper in the seat, and the side bolsters hug me more.

Anyway, I didn't get any pictures of the process, but I did get some of the result;

Unfoamed seat on the left, foamy seat on the right


Foamy stuff




I also removed the front mudguards, as I didn't think they looked brilliant. This process was much easier than the seats; just 4 bolts with an 8mm head on them. I think I do prefer the no-front-mudguard look, so I reckon it'll probably stay this way.

Before;


After;



Because the car was filthy, it was time for a wash. I decided to not be lazy and only clay and wax the front panels like I did last time, and actually do the whole thing. Here it is mid-wax;


And here it is after the full job;




It's beautiful. Smooth as glass