Seniorita. The built not bought restoration.

[Pamex]

Why not create a build thread. Here's a bit of backstory first:

As many know, I am currently restoring from scratch a 1990 MX5. She reached 450,000km, and although the engine is still strong, the rest of the car started to feel a little bit weak and let down.

Part of the problem was that because I'm always working on other vehicles, my own gets neglected.

HKS_Kansei and I have moved into our own place, with two separate massive garages. This means that I now can house her undercover permanently... and WORK INDOORS. Oh... the joy. It means I can take my time, and do it right.

A good friend of mine (the co-owner of the Volvo actually) has moved the states and his parents and him have very, very graciously leant me his 626 wagon as a run-around whilst I complete the work. (The wagon is a thread on its own!)

This prompted me to.... strip the guts out of her completely... and knuckle down.

As an aside, I work as a classic car mechanic, so do these types of restoration every day. This also prompted me to do it, as I'm a little bit jealous of how good some of the customer's cars are to drive and look at. Everything fresh and rebuilt. So good. I kind of wanted that for myself.

A few notes on this build:

1.Exterior Paint. I've tossed and turned over this, trying to decide on a different colour. I can't. I spent hours with colour swabs, images, discussions with many... and I can't put my finger on the exact colour. So that will be left for now. The red paint is still decent, so it can stay. I'll just polish it up when it comes time for the test drive.

2. Engine. Over, many, many beers, myself and many others have offered differing opinions on what should happen. Yes, it has 450,000km on it. It's still very strong though, and I have a strange fantasy of seeing how long it can go. Can I rebuild it? Of course. Do I have the money to buy the parts to rebuild it properly? No.

I'm leaving the engine as is. It will go straight back in. I can do a swap in 8 hours, so if need be in a year or so when this one blows up, I can spend a day putting another one in. I will then have the money to rebuild this one properly.

For those wondering about the engine: I just service it regularly and I don't drive it hard. I'm aiming for it to last to 700,000km, which by having a look inside a while back... it will. :-D Hold me to it.

3. The rest of the parts I will refurbish myself. I'll be making serviceable diff uni-joints and the like. Working with classic cars where parts are low, you learn how to take even the craziest things apart and rebuild them. Whereas most people now, just go and buy a new one.

Basically, this is a labour intensive build. Very much built, not bought. I know it's all very cool to go and buy brand name parts off the shelf, but I'll work with what I have instead.

So... I started in January of 2013. The end date is May 28th.

I don't have that many photos of stripping her. Let's just say it was done fairly strategically and as organised as possible.

I wire brushed the engine bay completely.

Image attached.

Currently, the engine bay is POR15-ed black.

I'm currently painting the entire undertray with Wurth SKS underguard. It's a great product I've used on other restos. It's fairly non-toxic. You can spray on, but I find dabbing it on with a ratty paintbrush gives the best results. This stuff looks factory and will refresh everything underneath. The other benefit is trade price is only $28 for a litre bottle, which goes a long way.

I'll wrangle HKS into taking a photo of the underbody and I'll post it up.

Next Stage:

-Painting the engine
-Making up all new brake and clutch lines (it's easier to get them right without the engine in)
-Re-install engine and gearbox.
-Sandblast the hell out of a heap of parts and paint them, ready to install all new rubber bushes
- And... the list goes on.

Ciao for now... back to the garage!

[Old Dude]

Looking forward to the build Pam

[Pamex]

Hoping it's good in the end! HKS_Kansei has told me I'm not allowed to work on other cars until I finish mine!

I want to do some work on the 626!

[Pamex]

Weekly update: Unfortunately there is not much progress. I've been very sick for a while, and lost a bit of motivation.

I did get more progress done in 2 hours on Sunday than I have in a month though. The rear end is dismantled (apart from the diff. It can stay, as I'm not reconditioning it, just changing the oil. It's a good diff).

Tailshaft off: I'll make this serviceable. It's a complete unit, but that's nothing that can't be changed. I'll make it so I can change the uni-joints in it when need be. Simple stuff.

PPF brace off, all control arms off.

Got some more paint on underneath.

That's it for this weekend. I was more concerned with picking up my new air compressor and getting some air tools for home. I'll be building a sandblasting unit in the next few weeks, so I don't have to take everything in to work to do.

The decision has also been made to do the exterior paint on the car. I'm going with Porsche Auratium Green for the body and cream for the hard top.

After talking with the paint shop I use, yes, my compressor is more than enough to handle it and yes, it should be fine. I'm going to get all the underbody stuff done and then prep for paint.

I'm doing my engine in a burgundy red similar to what came on a lot of MGs (am I predictable or what?). Similar to this: . The paint is already mixed and sitting there. I figured this will work the best with my chosen exterior colour, and with any future colour changes.

That's it for this week.

[Lokiel]

Can you be talked out of that colour at all ???

Looks a liitle too "EH Holden green/blue":



Surely a "Seniorita" would wear more striking colours to be noticed more?

- or is she "not that sort of girl!"

[Okibi]

Looking forward to seeing your build.

Since you play with classics, you might be interested in my Spitfire.

http://www.pixelculture.com/1_04_2013_Spitfire_04.jpg

http://www.pixelculture.com/1_04_2013_Spitfire_02.jpg

http://www.pixelculture.com/1_04_2013_Spitfire_03.jpg

- Dave.

[Kenstaki]

Looks gorgeous in that dusk lighting.

The fuel filler cap is in a such unfortunate location.

[bootz]

Like the Green, should suit the NA classic lines.

[PaulF]

Looking forward to seeing this progress.

[MrRevhead]

450k! Good ol B6's!

If you want to keep a bit of a retro colour theme, I have always been a fan of Audi Aviator Grey.



Volvo Terracotta Pearl also looks good IMO

[Apu]

Ooh...love that grey!

[Pamex]

Howdy all!

I really love that grey. I did actually consider pretty much all of the above colours when deciding. There were many agonising nights over beers with colour charts, and I am also an offender for going to hardware stores where paint chips are available and trying them all out.

The one colour I really keep coming back to is the pale green. I'm not sure why. Perhaps too many hot rod shows in the past year or so. We had a Morris 1100 in recently that we restored before I worked there, in a very similar colour. More a drab olive pale green... but it certainly fueled part of the love of the pale green. I recently pulled up to the now sold parts store I used to frequent, next to... an EH Holden in green/cream. I have to say... I loved it. Utterly.

Hks_Kansei has been busy photographing in the garage again. Unfortunately there's not many photos of progress lately... as there's not much visible progress. I'm working around the rear end and there's no space there to take photos.

Some of the underbody paint and a bit of engine bay:

Engine bay:

[Pamex]

Cheers! I just got HKS_Kansei to send me fixed images (I have lost any technological know-how in the past few years ) as you did this! Thanks.

[noddi85]

NICE.......