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Before I get started I'll say it now, no pretty photos to be uploaded in this post, they'll come later, and to be honest, until I start putting things back together I can't imagine much of it will be pretty anyway!
So I picked up my second ever MX-5 around May of last year, my first being an early NA UK 1.6 which was much loved until I fancied something a bit pokier and bought a 350Z, good car, bit sedate considering it's a 3.5 V6 though...
The new car was advertised for the low, low price of £800, with a hardtop, a set of Team Dynamic Pro Race 1.2s (budget tyres on the limit mind), fancy TSIs and some other desirable bits, the owner even suggested it had a Torsen diff (still unsure on this, pretty certain it's an open, but the ears aren't the same as those suggested on the 'spotters guide'). To my mind even if it was a rot box it was worth around the asking price in bits so I went to have a look.
The car was what could be described as a 'rough diamond':
Hardtop was tatty, rattle canned black and the spoiler was attached by some shoddy silicone work (think plumbers blind apprentice shoddy)
Boot had about 3 inches of water in it
Gear knob was missing(!?)
Various little dents and dings
Some interesting paintwork on various panels
Budget eBay coilovers that had the car sat mere millimeters from the ground
Chrome style bar with harness eyes (not trusting this as far as I can throw it!)
Jeep style headlights that wouldn't go down
Radio wasn't connected to the aerial so just produced white noise
Probably some other stuff I've forgotten
On the plus side the sills looked like they'd seen a bit of work, the rear arches seemed clean
With the above in mind I offered the bloke £600 and he didn't put up much of a fight.
With the other half following closely behind I set off, straight away I could hear the chassis rails and exhaust scraping away, didn't help that the blokes yard was full of potholes, but a sure sign the car was stupidly 'static'
The first roundabout on the way home (in drizzle I'll have you know) the back end stepped out without much prompting from the right foot, which took me somewhat by surprise, probably the budget tyres though. At least it was easy to catch and bring back round!
Got the car back to her parents (temporary home as we're in a mid-terrace near the centre of town with no garage or driveway) and there it sat for a few weeks.
First job was swapping the suspension for some OEM units that some kind soul agreed to post even though they were only listed for a tenner, what a guy! The first obstacle was the wheel nuts, the previous owner had air-gunned them on and they snapped my 1/4" breaker bar. took an air-gun to remove them and one of the nuts was properly mangled in the process, fortunately the threads are still ok.
Once the car was up in the air I had a good long fight with all the suspension bolts, as usual the captive nuts in the rear LCAs had come loose making the job way harder than it should have been! Ended up undoing the top hub nut and prying down the top control arm for the fronts as I suspected the long control arm bolt was going to be as shagged as everything else. In the end it probably took 6 hours to swap all the suspension out, not a bad job! At least now the car was driveable, however on a quick runaround I found the suspension was bouncy to the point of unstable, not sure why...
The car stood, looking pretty unloved, for the next few months as I was finishing my degree and planning my wedding. I managed to do the odd bits and bobs, but working on a gravel driveway is pretty difficult so couldn't do any big jobs so I just went about building up my parts collection ready for hitting it properly.
At some point during this period the engine gave out, it would start, but immediately die. Someone suggested the MAF sensor, someone else suggested the injectors. Not sure how I arrived at the conclusion, but I didn't follow any of the recommended advice and instead bought a Megasquirt 2 PnP unit.
Fast forward to just before Christmas, I'd managed to clear enough space in my parents garage to get the car in, a bit of dodgy towing down 5 miles of back-country lanes and it was sat in a dry garage with my now anally arranged set of tools, time to get to work!
I jacked the car up and started by removing all the suspension components, diff and PPF (the diff bolts were a real pig and will all need replacing due to some intimate time with the Dremel)
Then off came all the body panels, minus doors and hardtop.
Finally the engine and gearbox came out.
Fortunately I've got access to a shot blaster at work so as and when I get a chance (not often) I've been cleaning up the de-bushed suspension arms. So far I've only de-bushed the rears and will start work on the fronts soon, I'm using Greg Peters method (carpassionchannel on Youtube, well worth watching his videos if you don't already!); bearing puller, an old bolt and some assistance from a blowtorch, far easier than cutting and burning like I did on my old CRX...
So, what's the plan from here?
First up I need to rectify the rusty bits I've found, I'm going to replace the whole outer sill and inner rear wheel arch sections on both sides as they're somewhat crusty
Following this the chassis rails need replacing as the current ones are flat as a pancake (will be getting beefed up with the assistance of a set of Skidnation chassis rail covers, and maybe a butterfly brace if I'm feeling fancy!)
Has anyone got any experience with the MX5 Heaven replacement panels? They're a bit cheaper than Moss and get even cheaper when you buy bundle packs...
Will upload some photos later on, promise!
