MX5 NC1 Niseko, Icy Blue (2008)
Bournemouth area.
Hi to all,
Recently bought the above car with just over 27k miles on the clock. 2 previous owners.
Limited service history, Mazda until 2012 then Mazda had no records but the latest owner had records for a service in March 2022 and 2021 that he had carried out.
I bought on condition and milage. The fact the car was 3 miles from my door was a bonus as I had been looking at cars 2 hour drives away.
Why an MX5?
I am hopeless at DIY and any form of engineering/mechanical work.
I do however love cars. Always have since very young and it was alway in the back of my mind to do something one day.
It must be in the genes as my 12 year old daughter and 10 year old son have a passion for cars as well. Son is a demon at taking things apart and putting them back together better
Shows far more acumen than me even at 10!
About 6 months ago I decided to bite the bullet and spend some hard earned cash to help nurture their interest and scratch my own itch.
Originally we started looking at Caterhams and Westfields. New parts with clear step by step instructions, what could go wrong?
The price!!
We moved on to looking at various cheaper alternative kits requiring a donor car. Most in this country are based on an MX5. The hunt was on for a good donor until the epiphany.
Why buy a decent donor that you have faith in and then rip it apart. Buy the quality example and enhance that.
So that’s exactly what we have done. Car bought, we now have a list of things that we want to do to it to maintain and improve on the base car.
The car will be for weekend fun and hopefully a track day or 3. Unfortunately with the kids ages they will miss out on that second thing for a few years.
We will be doing all the work together, using this site as an amazing resource as well as YouTube. We really are starting from scratch and hope to develop ourselves as well as the car as we go.
I will start a dedicated build thread but for now here are some of our plans.
Day 1.
-Fixed poor fitting PRHT. The roof was banging into the windscreen when going over bumps. Taking the release mechanism apart and tightening sorted it a treat.
Week 1.
- Tools purchased so far. Socket and spanner set. Low profile jack (2 tons) and 4 axel stands (3 tons). Torque wrench x2 and a few odds and s0ds.
-Changed gearbox oil (Castrol syntrans multivehcle GL4)
-Changed rear diff oil (Red Line diff oil GL5)
Both 75w-90
‘full service’ recept from March so engine oil and filter will wait a tad longer.
Week 2
-
Stubby aerial fitted
-
Jass Performance lowering bracket fitted to drivers height adjustable seat to drop it by 1 1/2" at the base. Makes a big difference to me (6ft2).
This weekend was supposed to see a brake overhaul but still waiting for the pads. I think the car is still on original parts.
Brembo plain discs front and back bought.
Castrol Dot 4 brake fluid bought, SRF looked amazing but can’t justify that price tag for my use.
Roddisons break pads arriving next week. Pricey but come highly recommended.
Really tempted to upgrade the hoses whilst I’m down there. IL Motorsport ones tickle my fancy. Anothe £100 odd though. Really interested in opinions on this. Should I just do it now with the discs and pads?
Yellow Dot RX8 ARBs bought off FB. I will clean up and Hammerite. Will fit at the same time as -
- MeisterR coilovers. Most probably Zeta rather than Club Race. On the shopping list at some point. Will fit ARBs then so only one geo is required.
Wheels. So tempted by Enkie RPF1s. Will need to save up a bit first.
Decent rubber. Old owner put new ASDA budget tyres on. Will wear them out and get decent rubber with new wheels.
Underseal. Anywhere decent seems quite a journey from me. Still researching options.
Excuse the long post. Rather excited as you may tell.
Thanks for reading,
Billy and The Kids
