Emily's 04 VR SE

[emily_mx5]

tbh i don't really recognise the cars

Yeah they're not really on the forum.
NB8A is Luis, nicest guy with a million spare parts, thats who i've gotten a lot of stuff from, modified green NA6 is his girlfriend Jess's car and the silver NA8 is their other flatmate Steph's car.
They literally txt'd me "drive to palm beach, meet at caltex in 1 hour!" it was very random haha.

[Hjt]

Nice work, sounds looks like the weather was perfect. Nice photography as well.

[luist]

Pretty certain I drive past the far left NB8A everyday to work in the mornings and arvos in Silverwater. Also, saw the second to the left NA in Silverwater this morning too!

yep, that would be us! was a great drive. good day for a cruise. our other flatmate, james, is about to buy his first 5 as well. so we have a fair few in the family!

[emily_mx5]

Update
busy busy week

A/C drainage hose
It completely bewilders me that someone would go to the effort of plugging up the hole rather than putting the hose back
This caused water to leak all over my passenger &/or my ecu. Either way not good at all. Thanks to JBT for taking a pic to show me what it should look like.
I found a replacement hose, although I am still missing the rubber grommet.

Yay fixed

Rear Garnish Panel
So someone tried to break in and in the process ripped a big chunk of plastic from around the keyhole

So I took it off and attempted to repair it lol.


Step 1: Bog. (somehow got it everywhere haha)

Step 2: Sand with trusty dremmel

Step 3: sand some more and then paint

Final result is OK, not fantastic, but abit better than damage.

Painted Badges
Whilst the garnish was off I figured may aswell paint the badges, plus it always annoyed my that the "eunos" letters were blank.
Mid Paint:

You can see how much more vibrant the black "R" is compared to the faded "oadster" letters

Shaved/Sanded Read Lights
So to get the panel off I had to take the lights out aswell, so I figured may aswell get rid of the ugly letters that just collect polish and dirt.
Step 1: Sand letters off with 600 wet&dry
Step 2: Sand with 1200 wet&dry (could use finer, thats all I had)
Step 3: Pollish with buffing wheel and plastic polish
Step 4: Hand polish with plastic cleaner
Quite a pointless thing to do I know, but I was bored and now they are clearer and shinier than they were before so no harm done

[Apu]

Well done Emily! You can get the grommet at Clark Rubber.

[Suspense]

Where did they attempted theft occur?

[emily_mx5]

Thanks Bryan

Where did they attempted theft occur?

TWICE within 6 months at Mt. Druit.
It was pretty serious aswell, they
- slashed the soft top AND broke both windows
- broke the steering lock / twisted the steering column
- cut EVERY SINGLE wire under the steering column
- cracked the glove box and bent the hinge rail
- ripped and scratched the plastic around the boot key hole
So after his insurance repaired the soft top/windows/wires, the previous owner was fed up and sold to me really cheaply haha

But I still have a dodgy steering column and a dodgy glove box

[Hjt]

Mt. Druit.

There lies the problem...idc what people think, some neighbourhoods aren't designed for nice vehicles.

[A.Chen89]

A hard top helps in the west hehe

[emily_mx5]

Haha yeah I think thats why he sold the car to me after 6 months lol.
But I would have thought that you would only cut the wires you need to "hot-wire" it, which they obviously didn't manage to do,
haha what a fail
Does anybody know how hard it is to change the steering column? haha

[emily_mx5]

Front Intake Scoops + rewiring


I have wanted these ever since I saw them on a tidy black NA that zoomed past me. I'm not trying to "aid performance" or anything, I just like the aesthetic look, so if they cool the engine bay a couple of degrees = bonus But mostly I just HATE the orange reflectors in the oem parkers.
However they don't have any space for a parking light, so I relocated the parker bulb to my new clear reflectors, which came with bulb holders.

(They look pretty crappy in raw black, so I will get them painted matching BRG in the coming weeks.)

The rewiring was really easy to do, and would be the same process if you wanted to duplicate the indicator signal.

Step 1: Remove the parking light; undo the 2 screws and pull out. Take out both bulb holders. The small (T10) wedge bulb is the parker and the the larger bayonet bulb is the indicator
For my new units I needed to replace the clear indicators with orange bulbs.


Step 2: Cut the wiring of the parker bulb - make sure to leave enough wire to reconnect if you ever need too!
If you are duplicating the indicator lights you will need to tap the existing wiring.


Step 3: Place the parker bulb into the new holders and check polarity. For mine: 'oem black = white' and 'oem red/green = pink'


Step 4: Cut 2x 30cm lengths of wire. I used red and black 15amp auto cable as this is suitable for both the indicator and parker current draw.

Step 5: Strip + solder + heatshrink to bulb holder wires. Basically this is just to elongate the bulb holder wires.


Step 6: Slide through hole just behind where the light sits; If you then look through the reflector hole you can see it hanging right there. Pull through and secure into reflector.


Step 7: Strip + solder + heatshrink the original car positive (green&red) to your new positive wire (red) and original car negative (black) to your new negative wire (black). Cut excess wire so there isn't too much hanging in there.
Put light unit back in and your done!

I think it looks really good at night time

[Apu]

Ohhh! I want to get those indicators! Good job as always! Love your hands on approach.

You've also given me ideas with what you did to your badges...will add to my colour scheme.

[Hjt]

I'm loving the P plate, i think i would get in trouble with the parker lights though

[emily_mx5]

Ohhh! I want to get those indicators!

Totally worth it.

Will add to my colour scheme.

Keen to see!

I'm loving the P plate

Shut up haha its super stealth Nah I'm not even trying to be dodgy but the car isn't magnetic! and no room for bracket with my fancy proper offset bracket.

i think i would get in trouble with the parker lights though

How do you mean?

[Hjt]

How do you mean?

Something in the ADRs about forward facing lights, and that only amber should be seen from sides. Forget exact wording and legislation, but my reflectors are to far around the edges to get away with it.

My wheels will be enough of an issue!