What have you done to your MX-5 today? (Part 2)

Carplan “Back to Blacked” the dash and trim.
Fed the leather seats & generally pharted about.
Nicer place to be and it smells posh.

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Oil & Filter changed, oil filter was an absolute PITA, think it had been tightened by a gorilla prior to me getting the car!
I have fitted the K&N Oil filter, not for any claimed oil pressure or oil flow increase, etc but mainly because it has a nut built into the top of the filter housing, so may make it easier to remove next time, hopefully time will tell!

I had a Clio 182 a number of years back and the oil filter was properly stuck on, and took my mechanic ages and some brutality to remove it… He believes it had been put on and tightened without a smear of clean oil being applied to the seal first, hence the difficulty removing it…!

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It’s the position they are in, makes for awkward removal.
I had trouble with my last one, it was tight on and I put it on.:grin:

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Drove it…out for a nice spin with a mate.
The first and the last NC models together. :sunglasses:

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As I had a tear in my fabric seat but wanted to keep the original look, waited until I could get another. Got a passenger one from Germany so it was the drivers side for the UK, and came with a back seat pocket. Had it fitted by Dave the Trimmer of Camberley (07871487617), who did a good job retaining the original metal clips. image

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Fitted the MX5PARTS boot lip to my RF today , certainly improved the look of it :grinning:

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Don’t expect too.much of the nut pressed into the skin of K&N filters.
If the filter is super-tight, the nut/skin will just tear.
The fluted type and corresponding cup are probably a better bet from that point of view.

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Put my heat shield back on with shiny new screws, fitted a new (non-sealed) headlight to match the other one, and advanced my timing to 14 degrees. Holy moly does that make a difference! I’d heard things, but didnt realise the extra oomph it gives. Fun times!

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Fitted Zeromotive pedal covers.

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Look Brian this has to stop, mod after mod after mod… give the others time to catch up :laughing:

Well done mate your building a truly unique 5 :+1:

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The young lad across the road did that a couple of years ago on his little old BMW. He asked if I had anything that would fit the oily mess so I produced my ancient strap-wrench, bought in the 1960s to work on my Mk2 Zephyr at Uni and used dozens of times since.

I also lent him a little Bosch impact driver and extensions and with that apparently the filter came off with no effort at all!

He’d not seen a strap-wrench before, and he even cleaned all the oil off it afterwards.

The plastic is a bit of 3" scrap downpipe to give an idea of size.

We often use this for reluctant jam jar lids, but I’ve not put it on a car in more than twenty years. Back then I found it often dented whatever is coming off, but that is scrap so no bother. Some sharp sand and mud can improve the grip as well. I didn’t have the impact driver then, it could have made all the difference.

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I blame the pandemic for all of it - too much time on my hands and nothing else to spend my money on!

Really… you want my bank sort code and account number :joy: any donation will be most welcome and of course you will be accredited to any mods I may post about

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I’ve been known, many times, to drive a big screwdriver through the whole lot. That usually works but if it doesn’t and the thing gets really destroyed, a pair of long nosed pliers, opened up so the noses go in the holes in the base of the filter and a lever across the handles has always sorted it for me.

A decent strap ‘wrench’ should preclude all that though.

I have an Aldi one that works a treat :slight_smile:

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I have a tool similar to the strap wrench, but with a loop of bicycle chain rather than fabric, unfastens anything

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Glad you got the membership thing sorted :+1:
Barrie

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Surprised you didn’t make a set from carbon fibre :stuck_out_tongue:

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Maguires Ultimate Compound, Polish and Liquid Wax. Took about 3 hours. Painful, but hopefully will keep her looking good for a few weeks :crossed_fingers:t2:

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Decided to brighten up my brake calipers - one of those jobs I wish I’d never started as it took most of the day with only 2 axle stands - worth it though in the end.

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