HP added with sticker. 
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Got it, Thanks for your reply. I had thought that you had replied to me by mistake for someone else, And thanks for explaining about the active bonnet of the later NCās something else Iāve learned, Take care mickā¦ Ray in Essex,
Ps, I seem to have sent two thank you posts to myself ( below ) ffs I cannot get the hang of this web site Good as it is Mick ā¦
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. Ffs Iām sending replies to myself now !!! HELP !
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Took it for MOT, pleased to say it passed without issues at 22,557 miles 
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You want the big BLUE reply button at the bottom, NOT the reply button in the right hand corner of your postā¦
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Thought it was time to clean out the drain holes on my Sports Black.
No problem with the fuel cap one, but the ones under the left and right hand side of the rear screen were obviously covered with the plastic welded mesh.
These came off with some gentle persuasion and do slide back into place without the need to be glued down, as there are lugs in place to hold them.
They certainly do their job as not a lot of debris in there!!
Checking underneath the back screen, both drain hoses had worked loose from the fittings, so re installed with tie wraps as the metal clips had gone AWOL at some point. Or were they ever fitted from new?
Now ready for some sunshineā¦and the showers!!
See you out thereš
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Thanks Ianā¦ I had been told this once or twice before. Re The BIG tab NOT the SMALL black tab ! It was probably YOU on those occasions too !! Bless your heart Wasnāt it YOU who got my car photos installed ? And then showed me how to do it myself ?
My problem is I lost a lot of my āmemory retentionā after a near fatal road accident But then it returns for a short while Only to fade again, I suppose that This is just the sort of moment when I should have pressed the black tabā¦ (private tab ) Best regards to you Ian
And thanks for your help in these matters Ray from Epping Essex
My Bro-in-Law has been spending a lot of time refurbishing the underside of his 5. Heās really gone to town and luckily any corrosion has been surface rust thoā heās replacing all the control arms as they have suffered badly. Still, all nice new bushes etc is a bonus and heās future-proofing it for quite some time.
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Looks like new doesnāt do it justice. Wound the clock back to zero and a bit further. Nice job.
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Me 9:30am: āIām just going to change a bulb and fiddle with the style bar - wonāt be more than an hourā¦ā
Me at 6pm: Finally got two working headlights on the NB. At least it was easy to check they worked in the dark. 
.
It was supposed to be so easy - I dropped a dipped headlight bulb last night on the way home, so needed to nip to Halfords, grab a new one and fit itā¦ but having had the car for just two weeks (and not driven it much) Iād not noticed it had aftermarket headlight units so bought the wrong one. 
. Another 15 mile round trip to Halfords later, I had what I needed.
Finally got the correct bulb working, but the units arenāt great and the wiring was flakey (and mostly relied on insulation tape) so it took forever. There was much swearing.
In between all that, I decided I didnāt want the style bar, so removed itā¦. only to decide I did actually want it after all, so refitted it.
Thankfully finished the day with the hoops I wanted and two working headlightsā¦ although Iām planning to swap the lights out for OEM units. Iām just not a fan of these ones - I think Iām too old.
I suppose this is what you call āgetting to know your carā. It was annoying, but I had fun. I think.
Still need to find a sensible place for the front number plate, which looks like itās been blu-tacked onto the carās nose. 
.
Oh - and if youāre interested, sheās now called āCrowā because of the number plate.
Happy Saturday, folks.
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Great work and looks the businessš
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FINALLY found a gap in the horrendous weather to get out and put all the centre caps onto the alloy wheels. Our car came with one missing so been running with an āodd one outā for months. MASSIVE thanks to Waxy Tax for sorting out out with the new centre cap - it is spot on and we really reckon sets the car off having a complete set of wheels. All of the Mazda badges bar one where missing from the centre caps. Opted for the black living flame. Now just need another wee gap in the weather to give her a good wash and wax. Happy Sunday folks 
Huge thanks again to Waxy Tax.
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That looks lovely, The underside is a real credit to the owner, good for youā¦ may you have lots of sunshine and lots of bends and curvy lanes ā¦ with the roof down sunglasses and bobble hat on And a little thatched pub with a roaring fire, Oh And sensibly priced beer,
Iāve got all of those things near me in a lovely little village called Moreton ( near Ongar ) . The āWhite Heartā ā¦.
We should all meet up this summer for a jolly ! No roaring fire though during summer months ā¦. ā¦ Best regards from Ray in Essex
Close ups?? 
Having completed the sound deadening project in the boot decided it was time to change the spark plugs that I purchased last year. With only 30k on the clock but 16 years on the calendar I thought the time had arrived. Having now changed them over for nice shiny Delco ones I think I caught it just in time. 1 came out easily the other 3 had that dry creaky feeling and needed a fair bit more than the 9ft lbs of torque that the replacements used. The firing bit looked OK on the FoMOCo original plugs but the threads were dry and starting to show signs of corrosion. Think that was a job that needed doing.
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Finished replacing the cam belt and water pump etc today, surprisingly there were no left over bolts and it started first time and no leaks! Phew!
Very satisfying and hopefully saved a few quid on garage charges.
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Treated it to a new lid.
I thought itād take ages to find a good one in the right colour that wasnāt miles away.
First one I saw - 10 miles and a good match! Ā£500 lighter, but job done.
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Service & MOT day today, so a little blast around the bypass was in order!
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