Pam's sexy little NA6 - Seniorita!

[Hammer]

I still love your carbon fibre wrapped centre console. Me like very very much.

[jojoeffe]

I still love your carbon fibre wrapped centre console. Me like very very much.

I like how it matches up with the mats.

Ain't she pretty

[Pamex]

Thanks Hammer. It was done by a mob in Sydney and I have to say I'd be loathe to get rid of it. It's stood the test of time quite well.

Myredmx5: Thanks for the offer. I might hold off for now though, until I get the B-Specs and sort a few other things out.

[Pamex]

Also, hoping whoever it was reads this: I received a PM yesterday about the handbrake that showed up in my work email... (the notification) but not in my PM box. Whoever you were (as it didn't tell me that), are you able to resend?

I priced up air compressor hire yesterday. I'll be hiring as I can't find a compressor with enough oomph and a big enough tank capacity for spray painting at a reasonable price. All going to plan... Seniorita will be black after Easter.

I love working in the building industry and being able to buy/ hire stuff for really cheap. Having contacts that will do you a pretty good deal is so handy.

[PaulF]

Also, hoping whoever it was reads this: I received a PM yesterday about the handbrake that showed up in my work email... (the notification) but not in my PM box. Whoever you were (as it didn't tell me that), are you able to resend?

I'm pretty sure that the email will actually have the username of the person who sent you the PM.

[jojoeffe]

I priced up air compressor hire yesterday. I'll be hiring as I can't find a compressor with enough oomph and a big enough tank capacity for spray painting at a reasonable price. All going to plan... Seniorita will be black after Easter.

Do they hire safety equipment as well, or will those $10 spray masks from Bunnings do? Is it only the more complex coatings that require special breathing gear to stop you ending up brain dead?

[Pamex]

It actually didn't, just the subject line. Very odd. Have PMed it to Dave to find out what's going on.

In all the QLD stuff that just arrived I found another set of surprise springs. That puts me at 9 full sets of MX5 springs now. Anyone want some? Or some Tanabe shocks and springs? Or a style bar?

Jojoeffe: Yup, they hire it, and some will provide PPE with their equipment. I'll just pilfer it from work though.

Out of interest, I heard that petrol/ diesel compressors can damage the long term finish of the paint through fumes. Which I'd never heard/ considered. I'd be keen to find more out about that.

[Bizi]

Pam, your stories are inspirational, as usual.
Maybe bensale can give you some tips (& -alex if she's in MEL, too!) since -Alex's car has turned out so well from the DIY spray booth.

I re-read your garage thread this week, got inspired and bought some Vitaloni Sebring Mach 1 mirrors (aka M2 1028 mirrors; OEM textured black).
viewtopic.php?f=57&t=47478&p=652178#p652178

Still getting inspiration from your stories so please keep up with the updates.

I am interested in your JDM gear acquisitions and favourites, if you ever want to discuss what you like best.
I'm psyched to be gettting some JDM wheels from another NA8 owning forum member, so will one day have a half decent looking but fairly stock Clubman.

Unfortunately it's bucketing down here this F1 eve.
Hoping it clears in Melbourne so that all my mates there can get to see the F1 without Irish weather.

re. your paint job:
What are you thinking of doing with the paint, that's custom?
Look at -alex's recent pics and some other NAs with the sills kept body colour. I think it's a better look than OEM and you can always paint the sills black just before you sell. -alex has the most interesting NA here right now, since it's got so much going into it.

Thanks for the updates!
Ben

[Bizi]

Pam, do you have any post-Easter updates? Otherwise let us know, once you're done in the spray booth.

I'm making progress with mounting my own Vitaloni Sebring mirrors, so will hopefully have them colour coded in a suitable style, then will compare with your latest pics!

You might also like this: a Japanese comparison of various mirror options.
http://translate.google.com.au/translat ... /Milor.htm

Also: http://www.geocities.jp/motorcity3349/a ... irror.html

And all the goodies on one car, yum: http://www6.ocn.ne.jp/~g502/exterior-na8.htm

[slees]

I’ve gone with an RACV battery. Delivered to my door by a lovely chap for $239.00. 36 month warranty with them. Considering the SuperCharge equivalanet is $240 at Autobarn, I thought this was pretty good.

Hi Pam. I know it's going back a while, but was wondering if you were still happy with your RACV battery, and if you would do that again?
I have an RACV one in my recently acquired 1998 NB which is not holding a charge for very long (part no 2340 - Jul 09 - assume it was 3 year warranty).
The current RACV price is $246 for the same part no but now it's only a 2 year warranty. Am wondering if it is now a different battery?
Apart from that I am confusing myself with the battery options from reading the many many forum posts here about batteries.
Thanks - Steve.

[Pamex]

Hi Steve,

Still very happy with it. It has been absolutely fine.

It's out of the car at the moment and we've been using it to start other cars and I'm using it for a bit of bench testing. Still going strong. I'll be putting it back in the car when the time comes to rig everything up.

Because I was a member, it was about $130 or so, delivered, so it was actually one of the cheaper options at the time.

I'd certainly use one again.

Apologies to others, I just noticed updates from way back!

[slees]

Thankyou very much Pam.

[corners]

Just read this front to back. Wish the photos still worked


Otherwise great resto by the sounds of it!

[Pamex]

An update. A long time since the last one...

So the MX5 resto is still going. Basically, busy at work, other stuff going on, blah blah. You all know the drill.

How the MX5 sits currently: Exterior paint hasn't been done yet, but all the rest of it has. Engine and gearbox (engine painted) is back in, steering on, suspension all on. Wiring pretty much sorted, neatened, back in. Diff, obviously, is on. A lot of the underneath is done, a lot of the engine bay is done. It's really downhill from here.

We decided to take the Kingswood to QLD this week. More comfy, Nik won't complain about my Sparco seat (because I just can't deal with all the complaints again ) and on gas, so cheap to get up and back. Flights were out of the question. $1200? Yeah right.

We did a bit of prep on the Kingswood, but one thing we didn't realise, and this is crucial... is that they originally came with a fibre timing gear. Yes. Fibre.

This gave out about 10km north of Narrandera. A lovely town in southern NSW.

We got towed back to Narrandera. We then had to source a new gear and all the bits and bobs.

We could have sent it to a mechanics, but they pretty much didn't want to do it. Reading between the lines on what time frames they were giving was 'we so don't want to do that, it's a bitch'. So what did we do? Change it ourselves.

Now an old cheat's method is to take the old timing gear off and tap the new one on. Simple. Except... there's a welshplug right at the end of the camshaft. If you tap that out, it is an engine out job.

So we had to take the camshaft out. A little nerve-wracking when you normally don't touch them. We have an engine builder who does that at work. I do gearboxes. Simple stuff.

But... we got the camshaft out so we could tap the new gear on. It's a case of dizzy, oil pump, fuel pump, rockers, pushrods, lifters out. Grill out. Radiator out. Pulleys, fan, etc. were all off for the timing case anyway.

So that's what we've been doing the past few days. The entire town of Narrandera were great. They all stopped by to check how we were going, and found parts and helped in any way they could.

This is something I'd happily do at home. But on the side of the road, with minimal tools, it was a bit of a task.

We're rebuilding the engine over Christmas and doing a few others things. It will eat into MX5 time, but it's worth it. We've also promised to be back for the Narrandera Hot Rod Show at Easter.

Onwards and upwards.

In fact... as everyone didn't tell us about the fibre gear as they assumed it had been already changed... we may have just changed the last ever fibre gear left on a RUNNING Kingswood, as most of them apparently died around 100,000km, not 365,000 km.

I still want to ask the person who thought that was a good idea 'WHY FIBRE ON A CRUCIAL GEAR?'. Speedo gears sure. TIMING GEAR? Gah!

Hey, we're back in Melbourne and will remember this adventure in 20 years. Life is all about the experiences.

[taminga16]

'Every adventure is only a disaster rightly considered'
Greg.
P.S. When we catch up I will regail my Forbes adventure.