Lately, I've been missing my old "Mexie & Kev say hello" garage thread. Been over two years!! My thread's are not about serious power or technical upgrades, though who knows, maybe MXSE (pronounced Mexie btw
) will become the catalyst for some leaps in confidence in how far I'm willing to go! But really, it's more for me to have some fun and diarise what I do, a place for me to ask questions plus receive feedback and a way to look back over what I've done. Hopefully while doing this, it becomes an enjoyable read for others as well.I considered going back and carrying on with my old thread (despite no photos anymore) and updating from where it left off. But in the end, I decided to start a complete new thread and begin by backtracking with a couple of "condensed" posts of my MX-5 history.
So ... please forgive the rather extended posts to start off ...
My MX-5 experiences began in 2011 with Mexie - a 1990 NA6 in a sad state. She'd sat neglected on a mate's front lawn for quite a while before I purchased her from him. The drive home was ... interesting. She was sitting on home cut springs on the bump stops, virtually no brakes (turned out there were no pads left and virtually no discs left either when I started replacing stuff!), strange noises from the engine bay and gearbox area, windows didn't work, various sizes and brands of tyre on different sized wheels, different shades of red panels from a pretty bad home spray paint, rear garnish missing, no spare wheel or jack or tools in the boot, couple of reflectors missing, driver's door handle broken and arm rest missing, torn driver's seat with some foam missing, many other interior bits, switches and stuff missing or broken and a "replacement" soft top that wasn't fitted at all properly and with the interior metal brackets that hold it in place around the bottom edge missing ...
The following photos are, ahem, generous - taken after I'd cleaned and detailed her ... A LOT!! ...
Note the window! Shows the care with which the roof was fitted
...
Never having done much mechanical stuff on cars before, apart from basic servicing (oil changes, spark plugs etc.) I started reading the awesome array of "how to's" around the MX-5 & Miata community. Pretty soon, she was in pieces and her transformation began ... full base service started me off including all oils, filters, spark plugs, plug leads, fuel filter, upper/lower gear lever boots and bush and much more ... then got onto the brakes with all new discs and pads. I had the hydraulics bled with new fluids. I replaced the suspension with Monroe shocks fitted with FatCat bump stops and standard height King springs (after a short period with lowered Eibach springs that we didn't like). I spent ages under and over, front to back, checking every nut/bolt/bracket/part and tightened, repaired or replaced everything I could find, cleaning it all at the same time. Shampooed all the carpets and while removing the seats broke a bolt and had to have all the seat bolt mounts repaired after finding they and the floor were all rusted. Spent quite a while sanding, cutting, polishing, to get the exterior paint to look half decent.
Over the ensuing couple of years a huge amount of small things were improved, repaired, replaced. New head unit, speakers, some NA8 switchgear, an NA8 tombstone, NA8 electric mirrors fully wired up to an NA8 mirror switch , remote central locking, NB8B seats and an NB windbreak that was later modified to fit with a Brown Davis roll bar, IL Motorsport pedals, oem style front and rear lips with the rear lip cut into the mud flaps, Hurricane headers and full exhaust, RyokuRob tow hooks and some Thompson underbody bracing. All the dash lighting was replaced, including the HVAC. I restored the original daisies by sand blasting them and having them painted in two pak and clear coated ...
We enjoyed a couple of holidays in her ...
Around the Clare wine region
Had to find space for a couple dozen ...
And around the Grampians and Port Fairy ...
And so we move on to 2013 ... and I had now purchased an NB8A (story in next post) ...
The time eventually came to say goodbye to Mexie ... Before her new owner came to pick her up, I enjoyed one last drive ...
I don't blame you, they look great. I would go Marina Blue NA, Velocity Red NB, Copper Red NC1, the dark blue metallic NC2, Soul Red ND.
but the condition completely belied it's "real" mileage. With all the SE and other bits I fitted, it looked great!!
