Ger's 2006 MX-5 NC 2.0 Sport

Would you make them for sale

I could make one-off’s if you were interested?

I decided to go with the lighter one that I had, and lacquered it with spray lacquer. The finish was lovely, and it’s much nicer to hold too.

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Why do I feel inadequate…:pensive:

I would be interested mate!

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Great write up.
I bought my NC in March and lockdown gave me time to clean up the interior, refurbish the seats and solve the water leaks, even the PRHT leaks I discovered.

Nice to see you’re putting your time whilst not on the Tour to good use :rofl:
(I’ve seen your twitter handle pop up in cycling sites where people mean to tweet the other Geraint)

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Yeah it still happens, my twitter handle is a bit of a mad one. I even offered it to TeamSky back in the day for free as people kept tweeting me by accident, but they told me they didn’t need it as Geraint Thomas is already established on his handle.

Only for them to tweet me later by accident.

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I saw your thread on P/H & was impressed with what you’ve done. Thanks for showing more, I’m now even more impressed! Have you done the RX-8 wiper stalk change?

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Thank you, appreciate it. Not yet, that’s definitely on the list though.

The car’s been detailed, it’s finally finished. I’m absolutely spent, but it looks fantastic. Photos to follow later this evening.

I’ve replaced the windscreen scuttle gromets before I started the detail process. Surprised how cheap these were. The old ones were totally shot, so it was about time.

Anyway, onto the detail.

A lot of hours went into this car to get it to this stage. Fixing the suspension, rebuilding the caliper, removing the horrendous wiring, refurbishing the alloys and finally a full detail, including a two stage paint correction, headlight restore, exhausts, and a full interior job too, including dressing for all plastics.

Lots of work, but it’s paid off. The car is exactly where I want it to be for now, and that’s back to what it should have been like.

The exhaust was first up

1500 grit wet and dry, followed by Meguiars NXT metal polish. This is the only ‘progress’ photo as I couldn’t be bothered to take any during the detail as I just wanted to crack on with the job.

Hope you enjoy the finished result. I forgot how much better polished gloss black looks compared to metallic black.

In total, the cosmetic jobs consisted of:

  • Replaced gear knob with gloss wood knob
  • Roof mould removed and hydrophobic coating added
  • Refurbished alloy wheels
  • Painted brake calipers, hubs and guards
  • Clay treatment
  • Two-stage paint correction
  • Carnauba wax
  • Wet sand and polished exhausts
  • Interior plastics deep cleaned
  • Interior plastics dressed
  • Carpets thoroughly vacuumed
  • Carpets shampooed
  • Leather cleaned and treated
  • Headlights restored
  • Glass polished
  • Rubbers treated
  • Engine bay detailed

The main thing is, this isn’t a show car. It’s not going to enter any concourse competitions, and I’m not going to clean it every week. It’s going to be driven and enjoyed

However, when I do wash it, it’ll be washed correctly as to make the finish last. You should technically never have to polish a car and should only have to wax/protect it, as ‘polishing’ is the process of correcting issues. For as long as it’s protected and washed correctly, it’ll last. It was the same story with the Porsche, it received one big detail, and years afterwards didn’t see a single swirl/scratch on the paintwork. This car is going to be used frequently and on track in the future, too.

Now to drive and enjoy it. I still need to replace the chrome indicators and a few other bits and bobs, so I’ll be tackling those this weekend.

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She looks fabulous Ger, lovely job :ok_hand:

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Thank you TOGs, appreciate it.

It looks like I may need a new shock absorber, which is surprising since they’re under a year old. The O/S/F shock starts to hiss and spit oil from the bottom (where the fork is) when it’s jacked up. I’ve noticed some vibrations coming from that corner when going over certain bumps too, so it’s most likely shot.

I’ve just called the garage that the previous owner had them fitted at to see if they’re under warranty. They’ve said that they should be and that they’ll check with their supplier, so I’m waiting for a call back. I won’t have to have them fit it for me, I’ll do it myself. I wouldn’t even have to have it delivered as they’re quite close to my girlfriends parents, which we see quite often. I’ll just pop in, get the new shock, then come home to fit.

I’ll wait and see what he says when he calls me back. Worst case, it’s £67 on ebay for another. Really not bad at all.

Just had news off the garage, it’s covered under warranty!

I have to pop in next Friday with the old one, and they’ll give me the new one there and then. I’ll fit it the following Saturday.

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Result :+1:

Replaced the indicator bulbs earlier as the chrome covered ones were borderline dangerous.

You couldn’t see them in sunlight.

Better.

The weather was nice while I was at it, so I thought I’d tackle the cubby hole behind the drivers seat. Or lack of. A previous owner had butchered this off to fit a subwoofer, but had given me the remains.

The cut wasn’t clean, so it didn’t line up perfect, which meant glue was sadly not an option. I could have used Tiger Seal but I didn’t have any left. I decided to bolt it to the existing plastic.

I decided to use some speaker clips spread flat so that I can use them to brace the original part to the plastic.

I bolted the metal braces to the bottom, then used the top holes to do the same on the bucket.

A little messy, but there wasn’t much I could do. It’s completely sturdy and it’s not going anywhere. I’ll most likely neaten this up with some self-adhesive rubber/foam around that edge to hide it. I could even coat the inside of the buckets in a soft material, which would be good to eliminate rattles of anything in there.

Next up is to get the old shock absorber out of the car to take to the garage Friday. I’ll do it closer to the day, rather than have the suspension up for a week.

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Couple of jobs done today. Firstly was the seat belts. One of the previous owners had already installed the NC2 seat belt guides, but it wasn’t enough to help the slow retracting belts.

I left the belts in a bucket of Woolite, as recommended by so many online for around 30 minutes. After that, I left them soak in hot water for another 30 minutes, and then wiped down and left to air dry for another 30 minutes.

The drivers side is completely fixed, and acts like new. It shoots back to its normal position, which is quite remarkable considering how bad it was. The passengerside is better, but still not right, so I’m currently doing it all again for the passenger side only as it may need a more thorough clean. They sell Woolite in Tesco (pink bottle) if anyone’s interested, I’d recommend it.

Then it was time to sort the boot lid paint flaking.

Common across all NC’s, the number plate bulb area of the boot is exposed to the road and causes the paint to bubble and fleck, eventually causing corrosion. The plan was to rub it back and re-paint.

A wire brush and some 800 grit sandpaper made good work of the corroded areas.

Masked up and ready to paint.

Lots of primer. It was quite hot today which was ideal for this job (and the seat belts come to think of it).

Built up the colour coats

Lacquered. Again, multiple thick coats of lacquer here to prevent this happening again.

Nice and shiny

Far nicer.

I’ll be replacing the number plate lamps with a new set, possibly LED’s. I’m very picky over LED’s as they have to be 4300k or 5000k, as anything more than that and it looks blue under certain lights.

I’ll eventually be fitting a HID kit into the headlights too as they’re projector lenses, so it’s far easier. Now before anyone mentions the legalities of aftermarket HID kits, they are legal with a few proviso’s. The regulations are that the washers and self-levelling system must work where fitted. If they’re not fitted, they’re not tested. I spoke to VOSA a few years back to confirm, and all sources stated that a HID kit is legal for as long as the light output, beam pattern and colour are fine. The lights are to be a ‘predominately white’ colour, the correct height, and the pattern must not glare. That’s all they test for at an MOT station.

When fitting them though, I know there’s two holes in the shield of the projectors in these headlamps, so I need to figure out a way of blocking that light before I fit them so that they don’t blind others. I only fit 4300k or 5000k xenons in my cars as I don’t like them to look aftermarket. If they look standard, the beam pattern is correct and they’re at the correct height, there isn’t a problem.

Anyway, the passenger seat belt is currently being soaked for its second round now. I’ll let you know if it fixes the retracting mechanism.

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Lovely bit of fettling :+1:

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Good work on the boot lid,

Loving your updates Ger, and the progress photos are great, fantastic work matey :+1:
If you got a spare weekend can you come and tart mine up for me? :grinning:

Keep up the great work

I’ve just been on a ‘like’ frenzy with these posts, great write up and fantastic progress with this car - i know you won’t sell, but as a side point, you have added value to this car ten fold i’d say compared to the price paid and condition when bought. Fantastic!

Regards the wooden gearknob, i personally love it and it makes a great addition - i have an E46 3 Series as my daily and a selling point for that car, for me, was that it had the wood effect interior trim lol!

Will keep an eye out for further updates…

Oh I love a bit of fettling I do (said in a Welsh accent)

Wasn’t bad for 20 minutes with rattle cans I’ll admit. Came out great.

Ah if only you’d asked while I still had the machine out…

Either way, it would be nice to have a catch up with some people on here, considering I’ve only been here for a few weeks it would be good to get to know some people.

Thanks very much for the comments, they mean a lot. I know what you mean about the value too - I know I won’t sell, but I do think how much this car would be worth in this condition back to original spec with new suspension, refurbished wheels and 44,000 on the clock. I bought it for £3,500 in its bad condition so it must be worth a fair bit more than that now?

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