Would it be cheaper / easier to .... šŸ˜Š (just a bit o fun)

General Discussion Forums MX-5 Chat
1

ā€¦ put a retractable roof in a mk1 :smiley:
or
ā€¦ put pop-up headlights in a mk3 :smiley:

donā€™t tell me itā€™s impossible :anguished: have u seen Fury Road? :stuck_out_tongue:
anything is possible! :blush:

1 Like
2

Why would you want a retractable roof

Allowing for obvious legal issues, it is patently obvious that popup lights are easier to fit. Its only a couple of motors. Wonā€™t look very good, but youā€™re not asking for that.

The NA roof is already retractable, but I think you mean a folding hardtop. You need to cut away most of the rear deck, bin the boot lid, probably have to reposition the fuel tank etc etc, to meet a stupid requirement.

Someone in Japan did a sort of folding hardtop on a NB in 2005. It was pretty awful

2 Likes
3

heheh yeah i seen that vid. :laughing: i donā€™t mind slower. just want to press the button. :blush:
didnā€™t think of the legal q. heard of it, but will have to look into.
yep, i meant electronic roof.
to put mk1 lights on a mk3, i thought youā€™d have to chop into the front quite a bit. :thinking:

4

As the pop up lights were stopped on all cars for safety reasons (something to do with hitting a pedestrian), I would guess that your car would probably fail an MOT if you went down that route?

1 Like
5

good point. the EU directive seem very complicated to me. :blush:
seems like this could prevent it tho. :disappointed:

6

I would ay that pop ups are cool though. This is one of the reasons I have a MK1 rather than a MK2ā€¦and I always let people pass, so I can flash my lights at them!!!

2 Likes
7

heheh yes it was definitely the deciding factor in me getting 2 mk1s :blush:

8

There are some people on Miata.net who have added mk1 front end panels to a mk2 or 2.5. It does need some decent metalwork skills as the front wings are half and half.

Or you could graft the mk3 wings & bumpers onto a mk1 to make it look like the Gran Tourismo mx-5 Roadster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWIN5gjk4l4

1 Like
9

In 2001-2002, I visited the Mazda design place in Frankfurt, as part of a group of existing MX5 owners from all over Europe to look at prototypes of the NC that was in development. We had a look at a dozen or so prototype shapes from Mazda in Germany, Japan and US, and assessed the competition.

Even then, engineers were looking to see how they could emulate the low nose of the NA. Chatting to one, he let on they were looking at how Jaguar did things with the XJ220; on that car, the headlights are hidden behind retracting covers. The regulations didnā€™t ban the headlamps, just made it more difficult to engineer them (so they were also thinking about breakaway headlamps). In the end, too expensive to engineer for a relatively low volume car.

The original MX5 wasnā€™t intended to have popups. The designers wanted small slim headlights, but mid-1980s lighting technology wasnā€™t up to it. So for the designers, the defining feature of the front wasnā€™t popups, but the sidelamp housings, which were deliberately oversized to look like headlamps (as side lamps, indicators, they could have been made much smaller).

Years later, ahead of the NC, Mazda had the Ibuki concept car, which was a hybrid MX5, using the electric motor to provide a torque boost under WOT, like a supercharger. It employed special LED headlamps that could be colourcoded to the carā€™s bodywork.

image
image1920Ɨ1080 144 KB

2 Likes
10

The first conversion was in Poland, because MX5s are super expensive there, but wrecked German cars are not.

There is at least one NB with a NA nose in the UK, displayed at OC national rallies. Some crafty striping down the side hides the join. emulating the general advice never to buy a used car with pinstripingā€¦

2 Likes
11

So interestingly the expensive LED headlights on the MK4 are actually closest to the original designā€¦

1 Like
12

very interesting. i want to learn more things about mx5s now that iā€™m a fully qualified electric window motor replacer, new stereo installer & gear box re-assembler. :blush:
the design on the XJ220s is a neat idea. shame it didnā€™t transpire.
iā€™d love to go on one of those tours, see if theyā€™ve got any free samples. :wink:

13

heheh thats a great vid :blush:
i knew it would be possible. but i figured it would involve some chopping.
iā€™ll have a look on miata.net :+1:

14

Mazda did effectively say they looked back to the NA model, rather than the NB or NCs, for inspiration, and how to get the model back on the right trackā€¦

In 2001, when we looked at the various ideas, Mazda in the US was thinking of a MR2-Elise competitor, moving to a MR configuaration. Those got the thumbs down from the group. There were some designs that were certainly Jaguar inspired. But I suspect our comments of ā€œlooks greatā€, looks expensive ā€œlooks like a Jagā€ killed those. The NC design was slipped in, as one of the Yokohama entries (Mazda ran internal competitions). But there was also a wild card design; extremely simple roof, very low doors. Looked great, and looked stripped back. We were told this wasnā€™t a MX5, but it was an idea for something with a smaller engine. This might have been one of the origins of the ā€œbaby MX5ā€

1 Like
15

Not a tour, but a special all expenses paid invite out of the blue. I was flown from Belfast by Mazda.

The Frankfurt site is a bit bland, middle of nowhere, and they didnā€™t let you go wandering.

1 Like