'93 S Special refurb project

[Nickapp]

Eunos as collected

image.jpg (352.41 KiB) Viewed 10693 times

Eunos as collected

image.jpg (352.41 KiB) Viewed 10693 times

After much nagging/reminding by Wayne (MM) I am finally putting fingers to keyboard to document my newish '93 S Special Eunos that I've now owned for around 4 months.

My first experience of MX5s ended a couple of years ago, when I sold my mk1 UK 1.8iS to a bloke who was building an kit car, primarily due to me discovering that, beneath the shiny paint, had all of the structural strength & integrity of a damp tissue, with rotten sills and arches to a scary degree.

So this time around, I wanted a structurally solid shell that I could turn into a fast road/track car rather than a cosmetically perfect concourse entrant!

So here are a few pics of my first MX5 and then the Eunos

My first attempt at MX5 ownership

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as I picked it up

[paggers]

Nice looking car there. Looking forward to the story.

[Mazda Mender]

At last;-)

Greetings Nick
M-m

[Nickapp]

Those pics are rather random, it's 'Dennis' who's the latest acquisition - red n' black, get it?!!

Anyway, jobs tackled thus far are as follows...

New larger 1.8 discs fitted and refurbed front calipers from Autolink

[Nickapp]

In with the new!

Had to trim the disc backing plates with tin snips in order for the larger diameter discs to fit without catching, easy enough

[Nickapp]

Next I managed to pick up a s/h TR lane bar with harness bar welded onto it for a decent price. So out with the rear trim and tank cover, off with the arch liners and in with the drill!! Definitely need some decent HSS drill bits and a 90 degree drill attachment to to make life easier, as access is very tight in parts! There 'might' have been a little swearing when tackling this job!

[Nickapp]

Next after bolting in the roll bar, which did incidentally create the feeling of greater rigidity, although that might be all in my head, I started with a wire brush and large tin of satin smoothrite paint to tackle any areas underneath where I came across surface rust on my travels under the arches or floor pan. Thankfully after lots of digging around, my initial impressions were confirmed and there was no structural corrosion, just small areas of surface rust in certain areas which were all treated with wire brush, Dinitrol rust converter and then a coat of black smoothrire.

I also treated all of the 12 holes that I had drilled when fitting the roll bar, with some Dintrol wax to prevent corrosion.

I must point out that this car is cosmetically far from perfect with various scuffs and scrapes, but it is structurally perfect with original spot welds visible around arches and sills that I can happily jack the whole side of the car up on, using my ingenious trolley jack adapter - the sill seam slots into it perfectly!

[Nickapp]

A few random pics to follow to give idea of general condition...

[Nickapp]

Forgot to mention some of the basic facts, so...

Car's got 142000kms on clock and was imported in 2006, since when it's had the same owner who sold it to Carl at CBS and who them sold it to me for a billy bargain price, if not quite as cheap as some of Wayne's bargain finds!

I've changed all fluids inc PAS and also new plugs, leads etc.

A month ago it began to be reluctant to start when hot and was popping and banging on the overrun. New temp sender (rear of head) sorted that and it now runs very sweetly and is very quiet mechanically

[Nickapp]

OK, so next I did a quick DIY refurb of the 14"
Watanabe rims, using masking tape, newspaper, wire brush attachment for drill and primer, top coat & lacquer.

Before and after pics - they'll do for now but plan on professional refurb once funds allow!

[flea]

Welcome Nick

[Nickapp]

I then picked up a rough set of 15" BBS RX rims for future trackday tyres - these are the VW ones with a 33 ET

[Nickapp]

Then it was time to fit the GV style front lip. Was originally going to get the front and rear bumpers repainted black, but I rather like it as it is, so they're staying red for now!

The underside of the front PU had a slight crack in it so this was repaired using aluminium mesh and epoxy before drilling to fit the lip.

Then off to Bolton for full geo, only to find we had 2 seized camber bolts, so back home to replace and copper grease all of them! Humph

[Nickapp]

During the recent process of removing/snapping/replacing each of the 8 camber bolts in turn, I ordered myself a set of the P5 chassis rail reinforcement kit, to fit whilst I was down & dirty under the car.

This obviously entailed the removal of the seats carpets etc!

[Nickapp]

Oh and here's a snap of my patented cad/cam generated MX5 trolley jack lifting adapter!!