Oh i forgot to add that i received my photos from the track day at Lotus Test Track. I’m not happy with the quality of the images,tried to improved them with Adobe Lightroom but when the original image is bad,theres not much you can do.
Hi hoodereeper,
Love your car and following your thread. Amazed what you have done and the effort you have put in. I’m the same as ‘marper’ - would really like to hear your views on the effect of the wing.
Doesnt really take into effect till you’re in 3 figures,i haven’t been able to test it out much,but it did help at Lotus 
Made some new Canards,this time out of 2mm aluminium and 2mm steel for the brackets (previous ones were 0.8 aluminium for both). Made them abit bigger too,now i need to re-do the splitter and make that bigger too haha
Had a change around with the hard top screen and purchased some slap stickers. Either the stickers are bigger than i thought or the screen is alot smaller than i thought,or both lol
I got my friend Jack from J’s Garage to fabricate a new exhaust,as the previous one was hidden and looked crap with the diffuser
And a short video,its quite echoey,will sort out a better video at a later date
As of late i haven’t been washing the car as often as i’d like to. So took the opportunity to give it a once over and get some recent photos
I stupidly reversed into a curb and bent the diffuser. Next job is to remove it and cut the middle fins down to prevent it happening again
well nice love it
A couple of months ago i got chatting to YasidDesign about an illustration of the MX5. I wanted something touge related to take the car back to its roots,but with its current appearance.
Finally got round to shortening the centre fins on the diffuser,haven’t hit anything since haha
Recently got the car all cleaned up ready for the MX5 Spring Rally at Wentworth House. A big thank you to Stuart at Auto-Genie for the valet work the day before,its a shame the poor weather spoilt the day,but Stuart still did an amazing job inbetween the rain/hail showers!
Met up with some crazy northerners before heading to the Rally,perfect excuse for some photos
Sadly didn’t come home with a trophey,but i don’t blame the judges for choosing the Pitcrew and Italia,both cars are works of art and well deserved winners! I know what i need to improve on (annoyingly i knew they were there but couldnt get it all sorted in time due to lack of money) so i’ll hopefully be back for the National Rally or the Spring Rally next year.
The car received a big welcome,alot of people seemed to have liked it and was great to speak to so many like minded people
It doesn’t sound like a massive job (or exciting) but i’ve fitted Electric Windows. The headache was trying to wire up the Mk2.5 switch to the Mk1 loom. With the help from Mazda-Menders,i got it sorted and with a Mk2 switch it works as it should.
My latest purchase was some LED Garage Vary lights from Rev9. Very easy install although i need to sort out the hyperblinking (my fault,i’ve connected the resistor incorrect)
Also fitted some 6000k LED Number Plate and Reverse bulbs (also got the reverse light working again). I was struggling on ideas on what to do for the rear fog light,so i switched the wiring on the bootlid,and the 3rd brake light is now the Fog light.
Another purchase was some Tyre Stencils. After searching about for a decent paint that is long lasting,i settled for some Rubber Tyre Letters made by Tred Wear
Extremely to fit,degrease the area,key the surface with course sand paper,clean tyre and glue the letters on
Oops forgot the video link
Just to let you know changing your 3rd brake light to a fog is an mot fail as it is an original factory part it has to function as per design
Oh really? I’ve seen/read many 5 owners doing it and its passed? Ive also checked with my MOT tester and he said its no problem?
That’s what I thought but a friend of a friend is a vehicle inspector for vosa and because it’s fitted at manufactur and not a retro fit it must work as designed so therefore by not working when the brakes are pressed it should be an mot fail
With the Electric Window conversion done and dusted i ordered some Stainless Switches from Jass Performance
A few weeks ago I met up with a friend who owns a local Media Company (BN Media). They’ve just bought some new equipment that allows them to record in 4K,so they invited me along to do a day’s worth of filming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBJhfkL1Ock
Every year i look forward to attending one of the UK’s largest car shows Modified Nationals. I thought i’d try my luck with the Show & Shine this year,and i got chosen to be in the Top 16 inside the Exibition Hall (its a pretty big deal getting in here as competition is extremely tight).
With the car in place it was show time! Surrounded by the country’s best modified cars,it was very daunting having the MX sitting there,especially as she’s wearing a few battle scars.
Sadly i didn’t win anything,which i knew was expected,but just having the experience of being there means alot.
I’ve already got more plans for the car,even though this House Saving is supposed to be starting. Luckily the other half is encouraging it (for now) so we shall see. Possibly big changes are in the pipeline…
My photos from the show can be found over at Chris Baker Photography - Modified Nationals 2016
Package from Garagestar 
In May my AEM wideband failed (gauge was stuck on 14.7) Got the car on the ramps and found out the plug had melted along with part of the loom. Fitted a new sensor and loom,but the gauge was reading leaner than normal. After trying a different gauge and taking the charger off to check for Manifold leaks,i was left scratching my head with no clue.
The car started to spit flames rather well (alot more than normal) after the exhaust started to blow from the front. I got the car booked in with Clive at Autotronix Developments for him to have a look. Clive diagnosed the blow was the flexi on the Fujitsubo manifold and welded in a straight piece. While it was on the ramp he checked the fuel filter,it still had japanese writing,so i’m gonna take a guess and say that hasn’t been changed in a LONG time. With some tweaks on the dyno and on the road the car was back to showing 12.4 AFR on WOT and runs awesome now.
Finally got round to tilting the diffuser up with the help from a friend
Sunday 10th July was Japshow at Santa Pod,i was invited along to be apart of the Fitment Junkies club stand. An awesome day despite the odd rain shower through out the day.
We left early to beat the traffic,got 10mins out and stopped for fuel,where i discovered a flat tyre 
Theres a first time for everything! With the boot filled with cleaning and camera equipment,i didn’t have a spare. Ended up waiting 3hrs for my Dad to come deliver a pair of Rota RKRs so i could get home.
Moral of the story,carry a space saver…or get Recovery through the Bank/Insurance company
I happen to be browsing through eBay looking at parts and came across a listing for an MX5. Price was pretty good,but it needed some TLC,myself and the other half had talked about getting a joint project for awhile but it never really happened. I contacted the seller and arranged to view the car etc etc managed to knock him down on the price and got it trailored home last night.
Its a 1990 1.6 Import,cambelt and waterpump done approx 20k miles ago. Panels are pretty straight but the paint work has seen better days.
Its got a seized driver side rear caliper which i’m in the middle of sorting. Only other concern is the driver side rear arch has started to corrode quite badly (you’ll see in the photos below).
No real plans for this except tidy it up and get it MOT’d and on the road
Will add updates to this topic as there probably wont be that many compared to the Purple MX5
Wow. The first time I’ve seen this. What a build! Keep up the good work. Saying that you just be running out of ideas?
There’s ALWAYS things to do with the Purple one. I’ve got more plans but its having £££££
Its been a busy few weeks with the new Silver project…
New Caliper
New Rear Brake Pads
New Handbrake cable
HIDs removed
Horn wired up
All broken interior trim replaced
While i was tidying up the wiring under the steering column (its got a black box with a loom attached,but most of the loom is bunched up and not connected) I caught the accelerator pedal and it happened to move alot more than usual.
It was cracked all the way along the plate,and only held on by the bend on the left (i snapped it off for ease of removal). What a ball ache that was to change!
While the rear wheel was off having the brakes sorted,i spotted these…
Looks like they haven’t moved in a long time,something else to look at sorting
It seems when ever i ‘browse’ eBay i end up spending money. Found a listing for some ‘Mazda MX5 Mk1 Alloys’,they had 4 bids at £102 ($136). Looking closer at the photos,the stamp in the centre was very distinguishable. I ended up winning them for £118 ($157)!
RS Watanabe 14x6 ET? (i’m guessing either 35 or 40) with 185/60 tyres (will need replacing)
Yesterday (Monday 1st August) i took it for its MOT (yearly inspection for those over seas) and she passed with a couple of advisories
Let the fun begin!
Fitted the Deep Corn Nardi that was removed from the Purple car
Received a delivery from Driftworks
We dropped the RS Watanabe’s off at a local Powder Coater last week. They didn’t have the colour we wanted,they didn’t have a sample either. He said if we allow him to go ahead with the colour,he’ll do it at a lower price. I’m glad we took the gamble cos they’re stunning!
Stuck some Uniroyal Rain Expert 185/60r14 on and got them mounted on the car. The car also had the rear camber arms free’d off,greased and adjusted,new track rod ends and an alignment. Garage said it was the worst car they’ve seen a long time oops!
Also fitted some clear Headlamps from eBay
First time seeing the Purple Monster. Some £££’s and dedication there. Well done on the shows. Question… I noticed you have white spokes and polished/chrome rims. I have a motorbike that has the wheels the same, but the chrome/polished bit has white cracking (spiders) all around them. Do you know of a technique where I can get rid of them myself or can you recommend a particular company that could redo these please?
Many thanks,
Mark
Sounds like theres ‘worming’ underneath the lacquer. The best thing to do is to sand back and remove the lacquer and either polish and leave it bare metal (you’ll need to keep on top of it) or get them re-lacquered