Today I closed the spreadsheet on my unlucky Niseko’s lifetime costs, as I now have Glasses top-book Insurance payout and the SORN refund. It might resurface as a Cat N, but I’ll be unlikely to track it down.
It averaged 37mpg (total miles divided by total fuel), best tankful was 47.5, worst was 29.5 (but that included an MOT)
It averaged 88p per mile total costs for the last nine years and 17,000miles (not many during COVID).
I might recover some expenditure on the spare virgin Niseko wheel and tyre, the two sets of floor mats, the Dave-fab expansion tank, the bonnet lifters and the Fog/DRL mod. On the other hand if I’m lucky enough to find another genuinely rust-free Niseko, these might well have a relevant home again.
We do like the Icy Blue colour very much, and I very much appreciated the extremely comfortable height-adjustable heated seat and the adjustable steering column and the climate control.
But, my warm, dry garage will gladly welcome almost any rust-free low mileage NC PRHT 2litre, and I’m now looking again. Alas my back says no to an ND.
Air-con has never worked since I bought the car. Didn’t know if the compressor was buggered, major leak or just needed a re-gas but because nothing happened (no loss of revs) when I turned the aircon on, I thought it was going to be costly. Booked it in for a gas check at my local (neighbour owned) garage and all it needed was a recharge. £48…sorted.
The alloy wheel centre caps were getting a bit scruffy and I was thinking of buying new ones.
But following a suggestion from Roadster Robbie at the National Rally I decided to have a go at refurbishing them
Glass’ trade-in or retail? Probably a big difference between them and I would have hoped for somewhere between the two in your circumstances. I would advise anyone not to accept the first offer from an insurance company as these things can often be negotiated.
I’ve been considering selling my near perfect 25k miles Kendo as it is little used but after a roofless drive one warm evening last week I think I’m back in love with it!
Installed IL motorsport front anti roll bar bushes brackets and new end links. Installed front tein flex z coilovers and slackened everything off and re-torqued everything up under load but will need to tweak the height once it’s driven, hasn’t dropped very much at all.
Friday was another reassembly day, got all but one of the arms polybushed and fitted, the radiator pack all fully assembled and hosed up including the now rust-free steering cooler, one of the Meisters in, the refinished crash bar back on… Basically all the bits I had ready to fit got ftted,and also finished painting up the hubs and some other bits. Totally forgot to do the bushings in the last upper arm so it’s still not in, doh. But a good day and it’s looking more and more like a car.
(there’s quite a lot of little fiddly stuff along the way… The epoxy mastic is awesome stuff, super tough and about as good a protection as a diy’er can really use, but it’s incredibly thick and gloopy and loves to glom up threads and holes. So especially for flat surfaces like the crash bar or the shock tops, that’s tending to need a bit of sanding or chipping to get just right. I expected it and kind of accepted it instead of trying to mask everything, but now it’s coming home to roost!)
And then, this morning the steering rack bushings i ordered about 7 months ago that were out of stock, that I’d ended up completely forgetting about, arrived. The rack’s been in the shed for 6 months so that was amazing timing that they arrived immediately after I finished bolting all that back in and put the radiator etc in the way too. Had a little temper tantrum but decided might as well get them in anyway. So today ended up being about taking all that out, doing the bushings which took about 5 minutes, then reassembling everything. But I guess I improved some fitment and tidied up some scratches in the new paint in the bay and suchlike so it’s overall ended up almost exactly how it was on friday, but more so.
Fluids can go in now so I can actually run the engine without destroying anything, woo hoo! But I should probably get some more exhaust on there first eh. Actually as soon as the exhaust is sorted I can whack on all the underbraces too which will be a good moment, just because they’ve been underfoot for ages.
Treated my 51 plate Chili Orange 1.8 Icon to a MOT, it passed ‘just’ with advisories, she has been until recently a daily drive and living outside in all weathers. Only 136,573 miles but still drives great.
And I whispered softly in my car’s ear that the “Windscreen cowl grille caps” that I ordered from MX5Parts back in July (and which have been out of stock absolutely everywhere) are now in stock, and on their way to us
Bullit [05 plate Chilli Orange 1.8 Icon …left out in all weathers until garaged in 2019…but only 46,438 on her clock at MOT five weeks early on 29.8.23]
THANKS YOU for this info. So Motivating re saving pennies for a Respray
I didn’t do anything but a shout to Matt from Kent Dent Repair who came out this morning and removed the dents that came with the car. Quick, reliable and did a fantastic job. You would never know.
Not only do Duke Street do a great job but offer a free annual check and touch up in case the coating has been damaged by speed bumps etc.
They will issue a “no charge” invoice which gives proof that the rustproofing has been maintained. Useful if selling the car in the future. Nice guys, good service and good value. Highly recommended.
OK
So yours a few months younger than Bullit and more miles on the Clock but in my experience of low level Sports Cars [Triumph Spitfire Mark IV] it’s not been the Engine but Corrosion that sent them to ‘Live on a Farm’
Bullit got Severely Neglected due to ‘Life, the Universe & Everything’ BUT thanks to Guidance from the Club I’ve managed to ‘bring her back from the brink’ [the dreaded ‘C’ Word : Corrosion]
It hasn’t been cheap [?] and the worse part was having to wait 3 months after she failed on this in a Queue for Specialist Welding post Pandemic [e.g. keeping her battery healthy]
But we got there
One thing I have managed to do for my MX-5 during this period is get her Paperwork organised
Owning the same vehicle for 16.5 years it builds up so finally got a big file and clear plastic envelopes
This means I MIGHT BE ABLE to give you some costs re corrosion via PM if you wish
Needless to say these will vary depending on where you live and what year I had the work done plus I got 10% discount via Club as Garage are Club Members
Many thanks for your encouraging reply, but I think after a discussion with my other half who also has a 51 plate 1.8, that it is beyond my capabilities to carry out the necessary work. It is only been in the past couple of years that I had to get a new hood, diff to replace a whining one, sills, chassis legs and radiator have been
repaired or replaced. We are considering to carry on driving the car whilst looking for a possible newer replacement.
