Ger's 2006 MX-5 NC 2.0 Sport

General Discussion Forums Readers Rides
83

I’m itching to get it all underway, but I’ve decided to only get the suspension at the same time as the wheels to transform it in one go. I say that, the suspension is a third of the cost of the wheels, I really want to get it sooner…

Ah yes! I forgot to put the ironing board in the photo!

That’s the aim!

You’ve made the right choice. I miss my Boxster, but I don’t regret selling it for one second. I regret not test driving an MX-5 before purchasing it too. It’s lovely to have the power, sound and speed and I did enjoy my time with it, but I wouldn’t trade the MX-5 for one. A white 981 however is another story.

The edging for my cut-up air box had arrived, so I’ve managed to install it today. Looks a little neater now.

Still need to get round to acquiring some duct piping for it, but currently I’ve not noticed any difference in power. I may get round to it when I fit the pipercross foam filter.

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84

I like the stripe, I’ve been toying with a door stripe but not sure what colour would look best on a black car. What is the induction sound like now with the airbox modification?

The US Club uses a red stripe but I’m not convinced…

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85

See I’m warming to the red! It’s very ‘Mazda’ and as much as I like the yellow, I quite like things being how the manufacturer would do it. I’ll have to do a few more mock-ups. Maybe a faded stripe like that, but yellow.

In the meantime, I’ve bought some new LED 501 W5W bulbs to use as the side lights and the numberplate bulbs. I’m very skeptical of non-OEM LED lights as they tend to be very blue, which is something I want to avoid. However, these particular ones from Amazon seem to be very ‘white’. These, along with a HID kit that I already have to go into the dipped beams (I’m waiting on the adapters), should finish the look at the front.

Here’s the standard bulbs

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A comparison in bulb size

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Very bright!

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Nice and white, rather than blue

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It’s done wonders to modernise the front. I’m just about to place them into the numberplate lamps, but I couldn’t pull the bulbs out without risk of smashing them. I’ll give them another go shortly.

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86

You know what since I posted the picture so am I :grin: definitely growing on me

My car had led side lights but they were much bigger than that and didn’t last long.

87

I’ve given up on LEDs, they just don’t last, apart from the number plate lights i’m back to standard filament bulbs.

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88

Fitted LED’s 4 years ago (side repeaters, number plates etc) and they are still working last time I checked.

89

It completely depends on the quality. A lot of ebay LED’s are build without consideration to heat, the soldering joints are poor and the heat eventually kills the bulb. I’ve actually had a Cree bulb burst into flames on me before. It’s trial and error, I’ve got a bag full of 501 W5W bulbs that I know aren’t that good from experimenting. The larger SMD bulbs are far superior than the conventional dome LED bulbs.

I’ve fitted the same bulbs in the number plate lamps too

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It’s done wonders for both the rear and front in the night

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I’ll be fitting the 5000k HID bulbs soon to match.

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90

Since having the shock absorbers on the front replaced, and since I bumped the N/S/F wheel recently, I’ve been meaning to get an alignment done. Had the chance today before starting work, so I headed there nice and early.

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A&A have been great every time I’ve been there, and they’ve just had a brand new hunter system installed only weeks ago.

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The difference is sublime. As said, this is the first time I’ve had an alignment after the failed shock absorbers, so it’s the first time the car is set up the way it should be. Very happy with the feel of it on the road, much more confidence in the steering especially on uneven roads.

The HID adapters came today, which gave me a good excuse to fit the Xenon HID bulbs that I’ve got lyring around.

All fitted, very happy with the results.

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I went with 4300k for the OEM look. The 4300’s have a slight pink hue to them due to swaying the other way on the kelvin scale. It’s what’s commonly used in early HID examples, which matches the age of the car.

I’m aware of the gap in the projector cut-off and was worried about glare, but there isn’t any glare at all, which is great.

The only issue I had installing these were the black HID adapters. The adapters didn’t have a big enough surface for the headlight clip to hold onto, so the bulbs were at an angle and the light output suffered. I used large plastic washers on the back of them which was enough for the clips to hold the bulb into place. The light output is outstanding, and a huge upgrade to stock.

I’m going to run the car as is for a while now, all of the things I wanted to do that were easy/cheap have been done. Next up will be the suspension, alloys and tyres, but I’ll be doing a track day before I consider replacing any of these to get a feel for the car.

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91

How much is the alignment?

I tried a few garages locally and they wanted £120-£150, a friend said that was too much but I was not sure, never had it done before.

92

If it’s somewhere who can do it properly and you know what you want the final numbers to be that’s quite reasonable.

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93

£66 for all four wheels with a Hunter system putting in any spec that you want, or just using factory spec. £90 if you need the castor done though, but that’s rarely the case. A&A have quite a good reputation, worth the travel to get the car done with them.

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94

I’m in S.E London :frowning:

£66 seems great.

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Where are A&A based?

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96

I believe they are in Cardiff.

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Cardiff indeed, it’s worth the trip. You can’t book, you just turn up and get seen to so the earlier the better. Plus you can test the car out on some Welsh roads when you’re done :wink:

98

The wooden gearknob kept clicking and creaking everytime I used it, and it was starting to grind on me. I tried to remove it but when I used superglue on the thread, some of it must have dropped onto the shaft and glued the thread to the stick.

It put up a fight with some pliars but eventually got it off.

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So I’ve decided to go back to the old one temporarily but, after feeling how weighted it is, it’s now there permanently. I’ve had my fun with the wooden gearknob!

However, it does look a state

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It also doesn’t match the interior. The interior is full of silver highlights (gaitor base, steering wheel, handles, gauge surrounds, etc), but this is the only part that’s chromed. I’ve decided to respray it in the same silver as the rest of the interior.

Easy enough to take apart, the numbers are stuck down with tape and the silver piece here is screwed into the knob with a single screw.

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One coat of primer, spray and lacquer later, and we have a finished result.

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Very happy with the finish of this. Cost me nothing to do, looks almost new and now suits the interior. Thoroughly recommend doing this for other MX-5 NC owners.

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99

Shame about the wooden knob but your refurbished OEM item looks the business.
Nice finish on the painted part too :ok_hand:
Good job :wink:

100

That looks sooo much better than before, great work - just don’t scratch it now with any rings on your fingers lol!

101

Thought I’d visualise my future plans for the car again, except I did it with the standard wheels. I’ll be honest, I love the look!

Front before

Front after

Rear before

Rear after

Seats before

Seats after

Wheel before

Wheel after

The interior is just ideas at this stage, I may not do them all as it could be too much, but it’s food for thought. Respraying the wheels, interior parts and putting the stripe on the door is all incredibly cheap; I’ll be doing it myself so it won’t cost more than £50 for the whole job. The steering wheel re-stitch would be a bit more expensive, same with the rev counter. The most expensive items here though is the suspension and the rear diffuser. Suspension isn’t so expensive, but the diffuser can be due to delivery. I have an idea for the rear lights that includes red vinyl with a section cut out the middle, but then to wrap the whole lamp a second time with clear vinyl so that it doesn’t peel.

First things to do will be the suspension, wheel colour, caliper colour and the side stripe all at the same time. The wheels would be off so to do the springs so may as well paint them and the calipers at the same time.

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102

That all looks superb! Has to be done i’d say

1 Like