Seeing as there are a few issues with fitting these parts together in a Mk1 and making everything nice & snug, does anyone have any photos of successful mods that have been carried out?
I’ve heard of a few people crafting wooden adapters and such like. Mine currently has half the cardboard box the battery came in wedged underneath it until I can create something a bit more permanent.
Also, it looks like the WestCo battery has undergone some minor changes in its life. The one I had delivered differs ever so slightly from the picture on the MX5 Parts website, in that it doesnt have a pronounced ‘groove’ for the clamp, more of a raised eyelet.
Sorry to hear of the problems Tommo, but this is one of the reasons why I always recommend the Panasonic original. If you have to make mods to the fittings/fixings then the battery is not a drop in replacement
The battery I bought from Halfords for my Mk1 fitted the battery tray fine but was slightly taller than the existing one (which wasn’t Panasonic or WestCo) so I had to bend the hook part of the battery clamp to accommodate this. Works fine although I’m wondering if I need to fit vent tubes. These we not fitted to the existing battery and not mentioned by the Halfords instructions. There is a small hole at each end of the battery which I imagine could be for vent tubes. I have some tubing connected to the outlet in the floor but no fittings to connect it into the battery.
Couldn’t agree more, which makes me wonder about all the reviwers on the MX5 Parts website saying they fitted it with no problems at all. Maybe it’s just an issue with the Mk1 5/Eunos? Dont know for certain.
The previous owner of my Eunos had a homemade clamp, which was made of 2 threaded clamp rods, 1 went to the clamp bracket, the other hooked around the ariel bracket/mount & a bit of bent steel over the top of the battery. This sort of worked OK for the Halfords type battery, but I wanted to put it back to a bit more of an original type fitting, and having had no reason to doubt the MX5 parts website or products in the past, went with the crowd & their reviews. Plus, if im honest, it was easier to log onto their website than try and get time off work to get to a Mazda garage, but thts due to my bosses being tyrants [6]
If the WestCo curls up its toes I’ll certainly give the Panasonic a go
Installed one in my UK 1.8iS Mk1 without any problem at all complete with vents, tray and clamp. If I recall clamp was designed for a slightly wider battery but it still fitted fine in the slot across the battery. Will try to post a piccy at the w/e if I get a mo.
The vent tubes were already fitted to the boot of my car, and the tubes fitted straight onto the WestCo battery no problems, which surprised me a bit seeing as they’ve sat in the boot for gawd only knows how long!
As promised picture of the Westco neatly installed in my UK Mk1 with clamp, tray, vents etc…no issues at all. Just looks like Geoff’s picture! I can only think that there were different sizes of OEM batteries making some installations more tricky than others. By the way wire at the front of the picture with the red connection on the battery is for the Optimate which I have plugged in all the time to keep the battery in top condition. Great bit of kit as most folks know.
