Jimmyfloydreturns' Mark 1 MX5

General Discussion Forums Readers Rides
2

Hi all,

Thought I would introduce myself here so I can keep track of all my mods as and when they happen :slight_smile: A little history first though:

First car of note, 206 GTi:

206 GTi

Great handling little car. Bit temperamental, and the build quality wasn’t the best. I ran this whilst studying and could afford it as I only used it for two lectures a week. Since graduating I have an 80 mile round trip every day so the Pug had to go, and was replaced with this Skoda Fabia vRS:

vRS

vRS

Great, great car - 130bhp, 230lbft yet 50mpg+

However (and here comes the reason why I joined this forum…) as good as the vRS, it is lacking in excitement (i.e. its not a petrol). So, I picked up this stunner as a second car - 120,000 miles, £2,000 (expensive I know, but fresh MOT and a years warranty):

MX5

MX5

MX5

I have had her a month and love her! So much fun to drive, I always smile as soon as I get in :slight_smile: In fact, my cars get cleaned once a week but this one has only just been cleaned because I’ve been too busy driving!

As you can see, the paint work is excellent. There is very little cosmetic rust, but there is some around the sills apparently (can’t see it). So far I have fitted an induction kit, new lights and a cat back exhaust, so now she sounds awesome (and I can see where I’m going!).

Plans:

  • Buy and refurb a set of original minilite style wheels, possibly paint black or anthracite (silly over size tyres need to go)

  • Fix leaking roof

  • Fit roll cage (not show bar things)

  • Tidy up interior, possibly get some new seats

  • Sort wheel wobble at 60mph

  • Find drain points and clear them

And that’s about it for now. I doubt I will go too silly and get a turbo /supercharger, as she is fast enough to be fun as is.  Any comments, suggestions or areas of improvement welcomed!

3

Well that’s a tidy little '5 you’ve bagged yourself there. 2k doesn’t sound a great deal to me.

It’s all personal preference really, but as your asking …
a nice set of wheels, lower the ride height a bit, clear repeaters and bumper markers and maybe just a little front lip spoiler and I think you’d be onto a winner.

4

G’day mate, welcome to the forum

Nice car

5

 welcom jim  nice looking mx there, as it happens i like the wheels you have,but thats me 

6

 

spend 300 quid and get a jabbasport remap applied to that fabia and you get nearly 200BHP and 312ft/lbs torque…stupidly quick little FWD cars…!

7

 

Thanks :slight_smile:

Thanks for the ideas, I like the all except the lip spoiler.

I need to search thoroughly but I am presuming uprating the springs and not dampers is considered a no-no with the MX5…?

 

Aye, the PD130 lump responds very well to a remap. However, clutch and fly wheel would also need uprating so I’m keeping it standard and spending the dosh on the 5 instead :wink:

 

8

 That’s a very  clean car. The price you paid looks to be worth it with the bodywork. Nothing nicer than a nice shiny red convertible sportscar!

9

Hiya m8.

L:ooks a good un, and 2k not overpriced if its the right one for you.

It depends on how far you want to go with it, but if you fancy really treating both you and the car, have a look at the reconditioned seats from Autolink.

I got 2 in black leather with uprated JVC’s, really proper nice m8.  If you wanna see um, then email me or PM me and i’ll send yer some jpgs.

 

10

 Quick update - I have brought some original 14" wheels for the bargain price of £50. In pretty decent condition with minimal curbing and some life left in the tyres.

I will fit them and put some pics up as soon as the weather improves! Hopefully correct wheel / tyre combo will rid me of the 60mph judder…

 

11

Thats one of the shinyest Mk1s I have seen, lovely looking. I also like the wheels you have on it too.

12

Tidy mate, tidy Cool

13

 Thanks! It certainly does have excellent paint (other than swirls which can be machine polished) which makes me suspect a re-spray at some point… Don’t think there is anything sinister though.

My clutch could be on the way out, which leaves me a decision - buy a standard clutch (a very reasonable £234.99 all in from Mr. Clutch Canterbury) or get something a bit more beefy in case a turbo charger is added in the future…???

14

Get the VRS to Jabbasport!  Nearly 200BHP and 300+ ft/lbs torque, and slight increase in economy.  I’ve the same PD130 lump in my Superb and got it remapped 35k miles ago.  Been out in mate’s VRS with a remap (which he’d done 30k in) and it was ridiculously quick.   £400 to see off, well, anything…

15

 Yes, it is tempting.

However, I would rather spend that £400 on tuning the '5 - as good as the vRS is, its still a diesel and will never be as much fun to drive as the '5, even though it is much quicker!

 

16

 

 

Before you spend any money find and clean out the drain holes - very easy to do, lots of posts on this forum telling you how. Also give the underneath a good hose down if you’ve been driving it recently. It would be a great shame to see such a shiney car marred by the dreaded rust.

 P.S  Any clean 5 should be worth £2 K. If I had the space and the cash I would start stock-piling these cars as they have to be a great investment - certainly better than 0.1 % p.a.!!

18

 

Okay I will do, as soon as the weather improves! Ill fit and takes some pics of the new wheels too.

Guess I was wrong about my '5 being expensive - sounds like I got a good deal which doesnt normally happen!

 

19

 Bad times for Maria :frowning:

20

Well, the '5 is safely at the garage where I brought her now, with a few bits being looked at. The breakdown was apparently caused by clutch slave cylinder failure rather than the clutch itself, with the clutch pedal not holding its pressure.

This in a way is a good news, as it should be replaced under warranty whereas a clutch wouldnt be as it’s classed as consumable (though after only driving 1000 miles before it went, I would argue it should be replaced as a good will gesture).

Also getting a couple of other things looked at, like the gearbox scraping noise, knocking suspension and wheel wobble at 60mph. After reading some links about the 65mph wobble, I doubt they will be able to fix it but we’ll see…

After I get her running perfectly, I will start tuning. Roughly this order:

  • TR Lane rollbar

  • Upgraded suspension

  • Better brakes

  • Stickier tyres on standard rims

  • Finally, forced induction

Whether I follow through with this plan or not remains to be seen…