Alex's white NA8 build.

[GR124]

What an amazing transformation, really nice job Alex.

[ManiacLachy]

Great transformation, looks like a great place to be!

[Alex 2550]

Thanks very much guys.
All MX5s are a great place to be


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[Alex 2550]

Happy new year all you wonderful MX5 people!

Time for a few little updates.
But firstly a huge post on why there has been a delay.

Well this year started off not real great the wife and I live in the Bega valley near Quaama and Cobargo so I’m sure you have all seen what has been happening down here and what’s been going on.

We love camping and worked in the industry for nearly 20 years between us, we have a kitted out Patrol and an Ultimate camper.

We were camping on my parents in laws property at Mogo that backs on to the river.

At 11.30pm on the 30th we were watching the fires and it was 20km out from our place, to put in perspective we had Yankees gap fire burning 13km away for 45 days so we weren’t as concerned as we should of been.

We decided we would go home the following day in case anything happened and the highway was shut, we did not expect what was coming.

Because of working on a dairy as well as a 9-5 job I wake at 2am most mornings.
I was laying awake when my phone went crazy!
Messages from friends like “are you ok?”, “where are you?” And “your house is on fire!” .

I looked at the DEA hotspots App and it wasn’t a good sight. Now spoiler alert our house wasn’t on fire luckily.

I woke my wife with my exact words “the sh*t has hit the fan”
We woke the other family members and said that we were leaving and going to try get home to fight.
I also said you may all want to think about packing up because the fire west of Mogo was gaining momentum but of no real threat...... yet.
We left our camper and dog (fur baby) in Mogo because it was the safer option, so we thought.

We raced home and got stopped at Cobargo out front of the pub, when we got out of he car it was about 50 degrees, no joke and windy. the fire was about 10km out, I pleaded with the cops to let us through but to no avail.
We stayed in cobargo in the hope we would be let past but only 20 minutes after we got there the buildings started to burn, it was that fast and we headed to Bermagui with at least 40M flames raging beside the car as we saw Cobargo start to burn.

We got to bermi’ and we got told to “take shelter in the ocean” I said to the wife that bermi tathra rd was still open let’s try get some fuel (before supplies and power run out) and get down to tathra. The Patrol has aftermarket tanks so we threw 200L in it and tried for Tathra.
We got a call from a friend in the know saying don’t stop that road is being closed.

We got to tathra and then Bega but couldn’t get home till the next day, New Year’s Day.

my neighbours said at about 11am New Year’s Eve that they were taking shelter in the dairy, the pit full of water, The houses were still standing but being hammered by embers and they didn’t expect them to be there long, that was the last contact before phones were lost.

It was about now that Mogo got hit, the family packed up just before the fire hit and where we were camping is now black, so much for leaving the camper and dog in the safe place.
They had to defend the property at the front and back and were trapped, lucky they have a bobcat and excavator. The hard part was because of the lack of phones we didn’t know if anyone was safe and not knowing was the worst part.
The 3 houses across the road are gone.

We kept trying the road blocks to get home and finally got told to “go for it” but were pulled up by police with three other cars about 2km from home, we waited for 4 hours then (with thanks to the Police) got taken home.

We got off very lucky with burnt paddocks, fences, 100 year old driveway trees, letter box’s ect but the house was standing and we have no idea how.

I jumped straight in the tractor and started putting fires out and feeding cattle.
Yesterday was my first day off since New Year’s Day, we lost about 85% of fences on the properties, sheds, the old dairy, irrigation and pump lines and about 90% of the paddocks, still plenty of work to do but we are getting there.
We had no power for nearly 2 weeks.

We were so so lucky, not a single animal injured, no major loss of property and everybody safe.

From our lounge room we can see many burnt down houses and we feel almost guilty for getting off so lightly.

Sadly we know the Salways that lost there lives, my wife more so than me, she also went to school with Sam that lost his life near Albury so it was a very hard day for her.

As a side note the Salways actually lost 4 family members in January, 2 grand mothers, a husband and a son and...... well im lost for words.

There wasn’t much time for photos but I’ll shoot some through in the next post shortly.

Alex



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[Alex 2550]

Only a week before heading bush for some time off.

then a few from a week later,




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[Alex 2550]

So enough of all that crap and back to your regular programming, the MX5.


And another long post, sorry everyone but this is a couple month catch up.

So my MX is good from far, far from good.
It’s solid but not a show car by any means.

As was seen in the photos at the beginning of the thread the car has a few cosmetic issues from a light hit in the back and a rip in the front bumper from the previous owner along with cracked paint, the front bumper has been poorly painted before.

I decided it was time to fix some issues up, tidy the car up and do some preventative maintenance.

This got a little out of hand Hahahaha.

This all came about because I am planning on doing the JDM masters show in Canberra this year if held, it’s around November.

So firstly I ordered some custom plates but I will leave the content for now as they haven’t arrived just yet, hopefully this week.
This seems like an odd thing to order first but content I had looked at before became available.

I purchased off the forum a while back.
-rear bumper cover and support, support is fitted already.
-boot lid.

I then decided to place an order with Carbon Miata.
I ordered,
-GV style rear panel in glass.
-kg works spoiler in glass.
-vented headlight cover in glass.
All these will be colour coded and,
-real quilted leather trans tunnel cover to match my doors and sills.

I then placed an order with Moss UK.
I ordered,
-shifter rebuild kit with 5X bronze shifter Bush.
I noticed the upper shifter boot was stuffed and the lower split when building the console so figured I would get a whole kit.
-Moss mk2 Turn signal intakes.
And because of the sale they were running I also got...
-clear side indicators with chrome rings, these worked out nearly free with the sale.

Now with TSI’s of this style you loose the Parker bulb and I never liked this however Moss has a clever little sequential LED bulb that goes into the factory holder.
So it acts as a Parker until the indicator goes on, it then changes to flashing amber and after indicating returns to Parker, like some modern cars.
Now Moss has none in stock and said there was a supply problem.
I found the same bulb on eBay.

So I ordered from eBay,
-sequential LED bulb kit.

I wasn’t done yet and after speaking with MX5 Mania I have ordered,

-New genuine front bumper skin.
-GV style front lip.
-Jass performance cowl scuttle panel.
-Jass performance radiator cooling panel in black.
-Jass mirror polished fuse box cover.
-Jass performance up graded shifter boot.
-Gates racing belt.
-crank seal
-cam seals.

Now it’s great to support our forum sponsors but also people that contribute here and it was on to mx5performance.com.au and our good friend Beavis is sending..... well actually has sent and is a legend to deal with.

-timing belt tensioner spring.
-magnetic sump plug.
-Cusco 1.3 bar radiator cap.
-crank woodruff.
-cas o ring.
-Beavis Motorsport crankshaft holding tool.
-Beavis Motorsport brake master stopper brace.

And I grabbed from a local business.
-GMB idler puller.
-GMB tensioner pulley.
-Gates water pump because it still uses a cast impeller.


So yer Its going to be a big couple months for the MX, the panel shop is ready to go at the end of Feb/early March depending on when stuff arrives and if I have to adjust any of the glass pieces. All parts will be colour coded except the GV Lip and that will most likely be done in gloss black rather than leaving natural.

I’ll chuck up the updates as stuff arrives, I’m pretty excited!!!








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[Alex 2550]

This post is mostly for Stan the man who may think with all this cosmetic crap I’m loosing my way on the path to the dark side and neglecting that beautiful head in the garage, well not exactly.

I have some moisture around the crank and I think it’s got a little coolant in it so full timing belt job is on the cards first up and I’ll knock it over before the car goes into the panel shop.

But to also stay on track with the performance side of things I purchased these



Flow force 650cc EV14 injectors.


Spartan 2 wide band and controller so still plodding away with it.


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[Alex 2550]

We have arrivals!
On Friday the package from Moss showed up as well as the bulbs from eBay.


I straight away fitted the side indicators
After

Before


I also wired in the LED bulbs which was pretty easy, I soldered in an extra wire so I could return to stock at anytime.
the resistor heat sink orange things (technically speaking) requires a bracket be made so I made an alloy bracket that uses a factory bolt behind the bumper to provide cool air and mounts them out of harms way where they can’t be seen I then loom wrapped it all and tucked it away, because of mounting these I have fitted the TSI’s and the bulbs are fitted and working great but I’ll leave photos until colour coded unless someone really wants to see.

I think that’s everything up to date, order from Beavis at MX5 performance is next to arrive.


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[ManiacLachy]

Big update!

Very sorry to hear of your experiences with the fires! The devastation in those photos, and hearing about familys lost is heart breaking.

I look forward to seeing more updates on the car as your parts arrive.

[Alex 2550]

Thanks heaps for the kind words lachy.

Yer there is going to be a fair bit going on with the car this year and I’m really looking forward to it and I plan to keep the updates coming.

I also plan to drive the car more this year and I’m really really excited about that.


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[93_Clubman]

Wow Alex - great to hear that you & yours came through ok, but as you say so very random. Good to see you've got some MX5 projects to get re-involved with.

[Alex 2550]

Wow Alex - great to hear that you & yours came through ok, but as you say so very random. Good to see you've got some MX5 projects to get re-involved with.

Thanks very much mate,

Yep back to business as usual now.

The numberplates have arrived at the RMS so I guess I can do the plate reveal now even though I can’t get in till Thursday to pick them up, drum roll please.......... the new plates are



I will get pics of the real things soon

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[Alex 2550]

Ok so I picked up the plates today and a package arrived from mx5performance.com.au also known as our good friend Beavis.
Now little shameless plug, service, speed of delivery and price were all fantastic!!! I couldn’t recommend Brendan enough if you guys need anything check out the store.......top bloke as well who provides us some great videos and content on here that’s worth supporting.

So much awesomeness going on here!!


And as promised the plates.


I painted up the brake master brace tonight in satin black, I was going to leave it stainless but decided the black went better with the theme of the car and I bolted it up, everything lined up perfectly and went straight on, I also chucked the 1.3 BAR Cusco radiator cap on.
I’ll get some photos shortly but I will say the master cylinder brace (Beavis Motorsport brand) does add a little something aesthetically to the engine bay and from what I have read will make a difference. I’ll report back on that after a drive.



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[Alex 2550]

Just a small update,
Cusco 1.3 BAR radiator cap, these also have a silicone seal rather than rubber.
Looks like a radiator cap.


Beavis Motorsport master cylinder brace.



And how the front is looking, the TSI’s will definitely be colour coded but I’m still waiting on my new front bumper, GV lip, vented headlight cover, KG works spoiler and GV rear panel before car goes to paint, expect it all early next month or late this month.



This weekend if I get a chance will be timing belt and water pump job.


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[Roadster2]

Loving all the visual mods that are coming along! Watching this thread in anticipation.