So, having been touring the North Coast 500 in a rented MX-5 10th Anniversary for my birthday road trip, I took the plunge and bought this Mk1.
8 owners, 85k miles, and seems to be in good condition, as far as the body structure goes. Seems to have been a second car for most of it’s life It’s not a minter, but was good enough to make me buy the first car I saw, and I ‘never’ do that…
I’ve not owned an MX-5 before, but have collected a fair few cars along the way.
Planning to keep it fairly standard and leave it alone for now. Got plenty of projects already, although a mate has an LSD going spare, and another one has a sporty exhaust on the shelf…
Anyway, some pics.
According to the history file, these tyres are over 10 years old.
Driver’s wing looks like a replacement. Gaps are a bit big.
It’s got a nasty judder that I’ve been trying to diagnose, so I jacked it up, checked for play and buckled wheels tonight. Nothing obviously wrong. While I was in the neighbourhood I took some pics underneath.
Seems to be in fairly good condition, and smothered in waxoyl. I can’t see any obvious signs of welding.
Is this upper body brace standard on a late Mk1?
Could do with a replacement driver’s seat, or a passenger seat of this type to cannibalise. The wear makes me think that the car might have been clocked at some point.
The car pulls, stops, turns well. Great fun to drive.
Fuel consumption is sensible so far (only done 100 miles but I think it’s fine).
Issues with the car so far
Serious
Major vibration / shudder pulsing through the car at all speeds. Seems less bad under power. Might be diff to propshaft alignment, as I guess the alignment adjusts when the rear of the car squats down.
Moderate
Some electrics not working - mirror adjusters, stereo, interior light. Need to find the right fuse box diagram and get the multi meter out.
Slight driveline shunt on/off the power. Engine rocks a bit when revved so could be tired old engine mountings.
Belts loose and squealing on startup - suspect oil on the belts but will replace as well as clean up, as they’re cheap
Hot oily smell - suspect oil leak onto exhaust manifold - cam cover gasket on order.
Slight PAS fluid leak from the top of the rack
The Goodyear Eagle tyres are over 10 years old so could do with replacing, but seem to grip OK. Will probably use them for the summer and wait for the next Costco tyre discount offer. Would people recommend Bridgestones, Michelin or Goodyears for one of these? Those are the brands that Costco normally deal in. I’m probably leaning towards Bridgestones.
Takes 5 seconds of cranking to start, at any temperature. Not sure if this is really an issue, but not what I’d expect.
Minor/Cosmetic
Driver’s seat wear
Slight oil leak from rear of head - cam sensor area.
Aftermarket soft top is a bit crap - doesn’t really fit right on the tops of the doors. and you have to fiddle with the rear glass to get it to fold. I think I’ll live with it for now.
I’d like to replace the door cards with ones that have storage pockets in them.
Passenger wing has been painted badly. It’s gone flat and not been finished properly at the bottom.
Rear of sills slightly rusty. Will clean drain holes and monitor. Not planning to use the car in winter so shouldn’t deteriorate too rapidly.
Hard top could do with repainting, it’s a little bit scuffed, and knocks at the back when it’s on. I think it’s an aftermarket one. I don’t really plan to use it anyway.
Exhaust is a bit elderly, but seems to be holding together.
Front suspension is a bit crashy over bumps. Not sure if they all do that or if it’s bushes.
Wheels could do with a tidy up / lick of paint. Not a priority for now.
From investigations in the history file:
There’s no evidence of any rust related welding, or obvious rust on the car, apart from the rear sills.
It’s had a new rear bumper and back panel at some point - minor rear end bump. There’s no obvious damage in the structural or B surface panels.
The alarm and immobiliser is 12 years old but still works. Cat 1 at the time. I think the suspension is stock, so it’s not due to excess lowering/stiffening.
The Haynes manual arrived yesterday. I’ve ordered a DAB stereo and a cam cover gasket. I’m not planning to mod this car externsively, but as with all older cars, there’s always something that could be done.
Overall I think it’s good for the £1575 I paid for it, provided I can sort out the vibration/judder issue. Seems to be really solid underneath, so the rest is worth sorting out.
I think anyone who drives a car on 10 year old tyres against all advice of the tyre manufacturers should not spend money on a new DAB stereo before replacing those tyres.
Looks very clean underneath - always a very good sign.
If it is shuddering at all speeds I would check the brakes, particularly fronts. A simple spin of the wheel off the ground may show you where the problem lies.
Oil leak from rear of cam cover could be CAS ‘O’ ring or cam cover gasket. They both characteristically let go in that area. If cam cover gasket you may also have some oil in the plug wells, more likely windscreen end of engine. That is probably the source of your oil smell if engine oil.
Would advise Mazda OE cam cover gasket at double the cost of aftermarket because of the issues I have had successfully fitting the cheaper ones.
If the tyres drive OK and hold the road and no worrying signs of cracking/perishing I would probably leave them. Mine are now 12 years old and car drives/handles without issue. Others have serious signs of degradation and handling problems at less than 7 years old.
You may be lucky with the PAS as sometimes nipping the union nuts up can resolve a small leak.
I would probably give the engine bay a good clean, gunking with paintbrush and some careful pressure hose application. These jobs and their diagnosis always go better with a clean working environment.
If the softtop is in good general order I would spend some time trying to make adjustments rather than replace. You have a glass rear window, so if the top is cloth rather than vinyl, the way to go. Vinyl starts to crack when old and tired. The material shrinks, typically forming small splits in the seams above the doors first before a larger split(s) eventually occurs.
Black Circles recommend 7-10 years as replacement life for tyres. Just looked on the Goodyear site and didn’t see an age statement. Generically I think 7-10 years is good advice., but there are a lot of variables. Tyres that are kept out of the heat and light (on a car that’s garaged) and blown up hard over the winter, or left on stands, will last longer. I just put an '83 Scirocco back on the road that has 20 year old goodyears on it. They’re horrible - it’s like they’re hewn from green oak. No signs of perishing but I’ve ordered replacements.
These look and feel fine, so I’ll replace them when a suitable offer comes up, although I’ll swap another set of wheels & tyres onto the car this weekend to see if that makes a difference to the juddering. I have lots of VW rims that will physically fit, including a set that I think have the right spigot rings for the mazda centre bore.
I jacked it up and span the wheels last night, after a run. All corners were at similar temperatures. No obvious run-out or wobbles. No obvious play in suspension or bearings.
Thanks for the tips on the cam cover gasket. I’ll go with the Elring one I’ve bought and see what happens. They’re an OE supplier to VW, so not crap. A mate who has an MX-5 advised me to look for the cam sensor leak. It seems fairly minor, but if I’m in the area… Does the sensor need re-timing or is it a fixed position?
Re the soft top. I think the rear window is too low. It’s an aftermarket vinyl hood with a glass window. Maybe it’s normal, but rear vision is very compromised by the low position of the window as well. The back/lower end of the glass is fouling on the rear shelf when it folds. Looks to be in good condition. If the right hood comes up 2nd hand I may swap it, but I can live with it for now.
Regarding the pulsing/vibration. You also say there is a “shunt” on/off power. I’d personally check the propshaft UJ couplings for wear/rotational play and for lateral play in the diff nose bearings because it could possibly be either.
So, I noticed the old tax disc holder is one from the owners’ club
It was mostly based down Winchester and Newbury way, until the last 5 years.
Looking through the history, I’d say the owner who looked after it best, and therefore more likely to be in the owners’ club, is a Mr Jeremy Leverton, who had it for a good few years, and seems to have put quite a lot of effort into keeping it in good condition. Does anyone recognise the name or the car? It doesn’t seem to have had the registration changed in its life.
4 new bridgestone turanzas going on At Costco. £53 each. The rears were getting close to the wear bars - I might have been playing too much down the lanes.
Replaced missing fuse and diagnosed bad earth on stereo connection.
Interior light, mirror adjusters and electric aerial now working.
New stereo wired in and working well. Still need to fit DAB aerial.
4 new Bridgestone tyres fitted on Sunday. Juddering isn’t completely gone but is much less frequent and less severe. I’d put the rest down to scuttle shake reall. Grip levels turned up from great to awesome.
Belts and oil seals not done yet
In other news, took the gearbox out of ‘95 Audi A6. F heavy!
Mate tells me he has a pair of black leather MX-5 seats in good condition.
