This weekend I wanted to do something about the loose (and nasty looking) front plate holder. It stuck the plate out of the bumper way further than I liked.
First thing was to take it off and see what I had to work with.
Lots of holes and a very curved bar. I was hoping I could just stick/screw the plate to that bar, but given the curve I felt it was going to wobble too much, possibly have some nasty gaps and maybe not even adhere well.
So I needed a solution. Luckily I have a 3d printer, so I set to work designing some simple supports for the ends of the plate that followed the curve of the bar and would stop the plate from flexing. Took about 4 versions and ended up with these:
I agree with Mike (Xalp). I would think there could be a market for those.
If you don’t fancy the hassle of selling them maybe consider offering them to @Roadie to add to his line of aftermarket bits.
Do you think it would be possible to delete the number plate mounting bolts and just use double sided tape on your brackets to fix the number plate on?
It you recessed the bracket mounting bolts into holes so the screw heads are flush, the number plate would fit neatly onto their outer face.
Either way, it’s a big aesthetic improvement over OE.
Hadn’t thought about offering a kit out - I guess I could! Might iterate the design a little first…
There’s currently nothing holding the supports on - the bolt goes through the plate, through the support and into the bar. That way there’s some play to move things around and get it straight. Once you tighten the screws up the plate holds the supports against the curve of the bar.
Might be possible to put tape on the supports and plate but a) it would increase thickness and b) I’m not sure how well it would stick.
I was going to put some nice hex bolts in with some red washers - make a feature out of them to match the theme of the car.
I deleted the plinth on my ND but found that the top of the grill has plastic thinner than a pop bottle so used body panel clips as rawlplugs and some long metal screws into them.
Thanks Guy for thinking about me but not something I would be looking to take on however I’m more than happy to offer hints and tips for selling them.
First thing to say is that they are very specific to the Mk3.75. Looking at pictures on MX5Parts the plinths are different for Mk3, Mk3.5 and Mk3.75. The rear profile of all are different.
The market for any Mk3 parts have been dropping over the past few years. I know this from sales of the Mk3 wind blocker I produced. So much so that I dropped that item from my sales a couple of years ago. Mk3s are significantly down in the enthusiast market and into the cheap summer fun runabout market. You only have to look at sales prices. You can pick up a very nice Mk3 for less than a good Mk1.
If you do want to go down the route of offering them for sale eBay is the way to go. I do all my sales that way now. Payment and postage is so simple and as a private seller there are no fees for the seller, just a small buyer protection fee paid by the buyer on UK sales. I get sales to all corners of the globe due to the high visibility offered by eBay. Post on here and on Facebook to spread the word and add a link to your eBay listing.
You could also try to work with owners of Mk3 and Mk3.5 cars to produce a similar product for those cars.
Amazing response thanks Paul! If I was going to do it I’d probably just do sets as people wanted them, if for no other reason than to offer something back to other owners. If I got a bit of beer money at the same time, then happy days But I guess you never know - could get some interest on eBay as you say!
It’s surprising how things can take off if you get the right product. Find a niche where you can produce something not available elsewhere or at a considerably lower price than similar products and you have a winner.
As an example my Mk4 wind blockers. It was something I wanted for my own car but couldn’t justify the price of anything currently on the market. Didn’t do anything about it until by chance I met a local lady with a laser cutting business who was happy to help. Admittedly I had an eye on sales, figured if I wanted one at a fair price there must be others who would. I put the feelers out on here and Facebook and seemed to be some interest so went ahead and produced a prototype and fitted it to my car.
First batch of eight sold out in under an hour on Facebook. Second batch of 24 sold out in under two days. That was five or six years ago and they still sell well. eBay sales report shows I sold 110 in the last year.
