Mexie & Kev say hello

[KevGoat]

Hey all MX5'ers .... totally off topic ...

Personal post - wishing my son luck ... he's competing in the South Australian State Open Short Course Swimming Championships this weekend.

Short Course means 25 metre length pool, Long Course means 50 metre pool length as seen at Olympics.

Tonight he won the silver medal in the 200 metre Individual Medley with a 1.7 second PB (personal best).

Tomorrow night (Saturday night) he competes his two main events - the 200 metre Breastroke & the 400 metre Individual Medley (100 metres of each stroke - butterfly, backstroke, breastroke, freestyle). He's currently the Long Course 400 metre Individual Medley State Champion, so fingers crossed he can take the Gold Medal in the same event in Short Course as well!

Bloody proud of him whatever his results ....

[KevGoat]

Swimming update...

My son won the 400m IM event, however he was then DQ'd for a (questionable) technicality by a non qualified official on one of his turns

Ah well ... onward to the Australian Short Course Championships in Perth in a few weeks ....

[Old Dude]

Thats great news Kev, I bet your very proud of him. I don't know how they manage to do all those early morning start, they deserve a medal just for that.

Cheers
Dale

[KevGoat]

Back on my build ...

My OEM R Package style lips have been delayed for a few weeks due to the warehouse being out of stock of the rears .

My Ryoku Rob tow hooks are on their way.

All LED's are now in place in the dash & instrument panel including taking apart the BMW clock to remove the red filter. New HVAC facia fitted to replace the old faded & dented one, new later model hazard switch fitted with all black buttons. Removed a pile of old unused wires from the radio area & from behind the glove box & tidied up the remaining cables into looms. Also painted the tombstone brackets on the dash as they looked daggy. Can't actually see them except when taking the dash apart, but just a feel good thing to do.

Also need to run cables to the boot for a future sub amp, then the dash can be put back together.

Once I get the dash back together, I'll try to take photos of the new lighting. Very happy with the way it looks, but often doesn't come out so good in photos.

NGK Iridium plugs & new NGK leads also need to go in.

Just need some warmer weather to get back out to finish things.

[KevGoat]

Thats great news Kev, I bet your very proud of him. I don't know how they manage to do all those early morning start, they deserve a medal just for that.

Cheers
Dale

Thanks Dale, yeah I am very proud. Those early mornings are killers. Did them all with him for years

It's quite amazing how these kids can be so committed. He's 21 now & he completely sacrificed all his teenage years. He went to no parties, never went out on weekends, didn't have an 18th or 21st birthday party, doesn't drink at all. Totally focused.

[transwest]

Well done Kev a great read and i love to see a car come back to its former glory.Also all the best with the swimming such dedication from the young man = Terry

[KevGoat]

Some updates

Shiny new (standard) HVAC Panel fitted. Thought about one of the aftermarket HVAC panels but decided to leave that for now. Fitted a later model hazard switch with all black switches. Sorted all the wiring behind the radio. Plus can't forget those magnificent painted tombstone brackets (yeah yeah I know )



Finished:



upgrade one part you notice the other old, scrappy looking parts - so ordered new AC button to replace the scratched one.

Also, quite a while ago I found these cheap JVC CS-V627 6.5" 2 Way Coaxial Car Speakers on ebay for about $35/pair and thought for that price I'd try them. The special has finished, but they can still be found relatively cheap - about $50 now I think. They fitted the standard hole perfectly and the door cover fits over them. When I had everything back together today I was able to hear them for the first time. Quite impressed! Fairly good bass & all round sound for the price. I am eventually going to add a sub to the rear shelf, but in the meantime these have really improved the sound:





Also finally finished all the LED lights plus fitting the instrument rings so re-fitted the instrument panel. Luckily, I didn't put everything back in until took it for a drive...the speedo cable hadn't fitted back in properly & wasn't working. I also found that I had to replace the LED bulb in the handbrake warning light with a standard bulb as the LED wouldn't switch off...huh??!! If anyone can explain why please do .....

Anyway, I will try to to remember to get a photo of the dash lighting once it gets a bit darker...



So that lot finally done, it was time for a little under bonnet attention...



Old vs new:





I didn't expect to feel any difference as my old plugs were not all that old and the leads didn't actually look that bad when I removed them, but she started up & idled a lot better, and on a short drive felt more punchy. Happy

[KevGoat]

As promised, photos of dash lighting ...

As those who have already done this upgrade before would know, the White SMD LED's give the dash a bright, clean look at night. A huge improvement over the old, pale, yellow'd look of the original bulbs. In reality there are no dark patches and the HU doesn't appear as bright as the photos display.

Also added LED bulbs to the footwell lights, though still pretty useless.

...apologies for the quality...

[Old Dude]

Very nice Kev.....I'm actually in Adelaide at present working. You've done a great job on the car, the guy I'm working with went out to Birdswood to the Historic car museum and said it was very impressive. He showed me before and after photo's of the restorations they do and it reminded me of what you have done to Mexie

Cheers
Dale

[KevGoat]

Welcome to Adelaide Dale

Its been a while since I last went to the Birdwood Car Museum. Its a great display, worth the trip out there. Must put that on my summer drive list. Nice drive through the hills ...

Just went out to my car to show my son the new lighting when he got home from training and realised I'd forgotten to change the ashtray bulb to match the rest ... looks like the console is coming out yet again tomorrow

I need to make a subtle light on the dash/steering column near the ignition switch somehow. Don't know about anyone else, but I always seem to have trouble putting the key in this car's ignition at night. Don't know why, I've never had that problem in any other car before.

Also want to work out a way to fit a decent interior light above the mirror somewhere for better light inside, more like "normal" cars. The courtesy lights under the dash are useless for virtually anything. Seen something at Rev9 that includes the whole top panel above the windscreen, but very expensive.

[KevGoat]

Thought I'd post a selection of my car ownership history.

I started out in the mid 70's with a Valiant VF Station Wagon - bought this, my first car, off my parents. 225ci slant six, column auto, big comfortable and very nice to drive. Customised the interior (these were the panel van craze days). Sold that for an ex RAA Holden HR Panel Van. 3 on the tree, no syncro in first, chrome steel wheels, customised the rear.

After only a few months of driving the van, the Ford Escort 2litre Rallye Pack was released. The press rave for this car in the papers & car magazines was similar to the recent release of the Totota 86. So, I obviously had to go in to a Ford dealer on my way home from work one afternoon. Instant love. Three days later, following much persuasive discussion, I drove out with the dealers brand new "special" showroom car - supposedly not for sale Highly factory modified & rare - Rallye team modified heavy duty LSD (broke it & had it replaced under warranty within 7 months ), Lowered on heavier duty springs & matched shocks, specially imported wider wheels & tyres than the standard cars, Sidedraught Webers, motor balanced & blueprinted, Mild Cam & Modified Head by Cosworth, Strengthened bottom end, Extractor 2" freeflow exhaust system (best sounding 4 cylinder exhaust I've ever owned!!) - no Cat converters in those days. Exterior bodywork was completely stock, looked identical to the standard factory rallye packs with the same front/rear spoilers. Only noticeable difference was the low stance, bigger wheels & bigger exhaust. Interior was also pretty stock, just a couple of extra more accurate guages. Absolutely awesome car, couldn't keep my mates out of it Embarrassed most V8's on the road at the time that tried to prove their muscle against it haha.

After that came a few minor modded cars - a Mini, Holden Sunbird (embarrassed about that one - yellow as well ), a brand new Mitsubishi Express van which I modified for camping inside with "panel van" style mods outside including teardrop windows, sunroof, alloy wheels & bigger exhaust off standard headers. That got written off by a drunk driver who was unlicensed and driving an unregistered & uninsured car who fled the scene, leaving 4 injured people . I was unconscious on the ground, my mate was trapped between two cars, my wife was inside my van with a minor leg injury and the passenger in the drunk's car was unconscious and seriously injured after hitting the windscreen.

So this accident actually changed my wife's and my thinking on life. We were now in heaps of debt, so worked our guts out for the next 7 years & paid of every debt we owed - credit cards, personal loans (one for the destroyed van) and best of all our house. We were never going to be in that situation again.

Suffice to say during that period our cars were pretty basic. My wife's Datsun 120Y was as faithful as ever. I owned a Mitsubishi Lancer hatchback that just got improved with some wheels & exhaust. At one time we owned an old campervan and later on even owned a VW Kombi Campervan!

Then, lives on track, a nice business building up from home (hate working for people ) there was something missing. Started reading the local Trading Post weekly and came across an interesting sounding Holden HQ GTS Monaro. I'd owned an old HJ Monaro in the past - 5litre 308 4 speed with a twin exhaust but otherwise completely stock. I decided to go have a look at this HQ. Advertised as a full strip down ground up restoration back to original. Pretty pricey in the ad, but had been for sale for a while because no one liked the colour, GTS Burnt Orange with black GTS striping. Well, my wife & I drove over and as we pulled up behind it, I just looked at her and knew I would be driving that car home. WOW!! This car was as it had been dríven out of the showroom. Underbody, engine bay, interior all imaculate and all restored using materials sourced from Holden! Nothing had been used that was not original! This bloke had spent the past 3 years on this build. Why selling? Had to get money for a retaining wall around their new house that the Council had told him had to be built before they could move in!! Thank you Council!!

So after going home, checking all the numbers with GMH I withdrew the cash and the car was mine. Owned that car for over 5 years and never missed a beat. Fast, good economy for a V8, I improved the soggy factory suspension, then over a period improved the engine with 4 barrel Holley on Edelbrock High Rise manifold, mild cams, new lifters, extractors & dual free flow exhaust - Growled!! Never touched anything I couldn't change back to original.

Sold that car for a decent profit ....



The XC Falcon in this photo was also mine. A rust bucket but bloody comfortable. 302 V8, extractors, lowered etc etc. ...

Family came along, and practicallity took over. An old Tarago led to a 1999 TCR10 tarago only a few months old with only 7,000k's on the clock. Still own this great van!

But amongst the practical years, being a completely rational family man, this appeared for a short time:





Although I only owned the Pug 205GTi for a year, oh what a year.

There was also a Celica in there at one stage.



Nice car to drive, but had transmission issues and the local Toyota dealership made us an offer we couldn't refuse for a Toyota Echo for my wife.



So that pretty much sums up my Auto history.

Can't wait to see what is down the highway .........

[KevGoat]

Aaargh!! ... after working so carefully on all the new wiring of the new head unit & speakers & fixing up the wiring behind the tombstone, about half hour in to the first drive & the left speaker started cutting out! Turned out one of the soldered joins behind the head unit had broken apart

Anyway ... the other day I picked these up from an online wreckers for the front bumper ...



Bit different to the normal ones I've seen. Now I just need some warmer weather to fit them & wire them up ... and then see if I need to match them in with some chrome rings on the side indicator ... the domino effect ...

[KevGoat]

Sometimes it's the little details ...

I was sick of looking at the bare seat mount bolts like this:



so I purchased some covers from MX5 Parts UK. As usual from them, they were received very quickly & I went straight out & fitted them ...



but the result disappointed me, so I decided something extra was required ...

out with the seats:



find my trusty rattle can of black paint & a quick spray:



result:



Not a big dollar upgrade, but not seeing those rusty runners & bolts makes a difference.

[DanZig]

Great stuff Kev, looking great.

Quick question, where'd you get the new HVAC Panel from? Mine's pretty yellow and a real eyesore.

[KevGoat]

Great stuff Kev, looking great.

Quick question, where'd you get the new HVAC Panel from?

I got mine from here:

http://www.autolinkmx5.com/heater-contr ... 4666-p.asp

I've bought quite a few new and used parts from Autolink, directly from their website and also via eBay.

Because of the new panel, I also finished up purchasing new AC & Fan knobs from MX5Parts UK:

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/trim-c-23_314_98.html