Well, not actually done anything to the mx5 today but her indoors has been playing with her embroidery machine, now we can have mx5 serviettes, t shirts, pillow cases etc, there’s no end of stuff to have an mx5 on!!
Applied Renovo black to the hood and changed the Coolant header tank for a new one…
Do I apply the Renovo once or twice ? There is enough for a second ap if it needs it . ??
Just the once, but i hope you didn’t do it in direct sunshine as i did two weeks ago…my lid looks black, shiny and crispy, i’m hoping the proofer will calm it down a bit when i get chance to apply it.
I also applied Renovo hood cleaner and restorer (went for two coats, just because I could). Thankfully, the clouds meant I was able to do it without the threat of direct sunlight. Hoping to apply the proofer next weekend.
Finished off by fitting a set of clear side repeaters - makes such a difference!
Nah I did it under cover. We have a 45 foot carport so I did it under there. I have the proofer which I will put on tomorrow.
Hood looks really good .Its nice and even in colour I just wondered if s second ap was a good idea or not. ??
Gave her a good wash and polish ready for a day out in the Cotswolds tomorrow. God its a lovely colour when gleaming in the sun hard to believe it’s a 12 year old car.
Strange how a little car like this i spend a good two hours on and our other car a 2 year old 4x4 i clean with a hose and brush in 20 minutes !
My mates Z Sport is exactly the same…right down to the wonky applied Z Sport badge on the wing. Mazda obviously had a cross-eyed apprentice on the job that day.
Ha, i never noticed until on a club run someone was taking action on the move shots.
Washed it, cleaned the interior & found a small split / hole in one of the creases in the vinyl handbrake gaiter, which was rather surprising at only 33,700 miles! Mended that with some black yarn to give a virtually invisible repair. If it splits again they look easy to replace & MX-5 Parts list a reasonably priced replacement item which is leather instead of the standard vinyl.
Reading the post about boot lock problems prompted me into doing what I’d not got around to for the last month - adding some Silent Coat to strategic areas in the boot, the tyre noise had been excessive on rough chipping surfaces and quiet on smooth.
Now it has improved somewhat, but still not brilliant, some air gaps when lid up need looking at. Some pics.
One of the tingyest bits, the shield over the fuel pipes, added the silent coat on the back, made a big difference to its tingyness
Boot floor in nearside wing is also noisy, outside the chassis rail visible by double line of spot welds
Back of cross panel of PRHT cavity, at ear level, but probably not much effect here, and boot floor above diff
Boot floor in offside wing and also the well
And while I had it in pieces I took a picture of the lock system, some of the wiring matches the Mellens drawings, some of it doesn’t - no great surprise.
2 hours?? Sometimes I spend a full day on mine!!
In my son’s 1990 Eunos Roadster we are hunting down an elusive pattering noise that comes from the driver’s side rear on slow speed corners to the right, that load up the suspension. To remove things from the equation we have had the wheel bearing replaced and replaced all the ARB bushes.
http://ethancollingridge.com/MX5/diary/2019/05/index.php
The noise is still present though!
Rob
Just to prove a trivial point try swapping the rear tyres left to right and see if the pattering moves sides. Of course immediately put them back again for normal motoring.
This kind of noise can sometimes happen with a tyre slowly going out of shape either in small sections or by scalloping; various way for this to happen - impact damage, poorly repaired puncture(s), overheating, tracking, wheel bearing, brakes, etc. It happened with my sister’s old Viva after the front left tyre had been cooked by a tight wheel bearing - the tyre was scrap even though it still held air.
Took it in for service and MOT and was disappointed to find it will fail the MOT as it needs 2 rear and 1 front drop link at around £108 a corner due to the seals failing. My fault for not getting it to Rodders before I left on my grand tour holiday.
Dealer also reckons one of the rear Bilstein shocks is misted and quoted £478 for that. I always thought they had to be installed in pairs though. Also the warranty renewal cam through so it’s total cost today is just shy of £1,000.
Definitely going to get it to Rodders once the family issues are resolved.
I’ve just had the two rear drop links replaced on my 5… £19.80 for both links and fitted by my mechanic for free. I couldn’t afford to take it to your garage !!!
If I’d had more time, or an inkling it might fail, I’d have got it sorted sooner. Unfortunately I had very little time between the cruise and the extended warranty running out and wanted an independent view as I was very disappointed by the service and knowledge of the supplying Mazda dealer.
It’s the price of convenience I guess.
8am this morning it was car out of the garage and masked the body of the car off with industrial grade shrink wrap so that i could soak the hood with Renovo proofer, left it till mid afternoon to dry and the put it back in the garage until next weekend.
I noticed the deck cover of the PRHT was noisy (grumble-grumble-grumble) going up and down so checked the chrome-dome Allen bolts. They were both loose and each had a millimetre gap between the fixed and mobile brackets where there should be zero. I took the bolts out, added some thread-lock and re-tightened them. Added some clean grease to the quadrant gear as well.
The cover now goes up and down with a quiet whirr instead of the grumble that was potentially heading for a graunch - especially near the fully lowered end of the travel.
This is at least the fourth time I’ve re-tightened them, almost every year it seems, but first time I’ve added any thread-lock. I hope it holds…
Productive couple of hours on the car:
K&N Air filter, Dashcam, SmartTOP Roof Controller & reversing camera kit all fitted 
A SmartTop controller is on my long list of Mods I want to do to mine was it as easy to fit as they make out?