What you put in, you'll get back ten fold
***** THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO THE SITE AND HELPING YOU,OTHERWISE IT CLOSES AND ALL THIS ON LINE GARAGE IS GONE FOR GOOD*****

Greetings and welcome to menders, this site was built for every owner that might need her to help keep those bills low and also keep them on the road where they belong, she is run by very passionate enthusiasts owners for passionate enthusiastic owners, see her like a on line garage, there is a lot of tech stuff hopefully explained for everyone to use, if there is something you cannot get your head around, or you feel that there is a strong walk through guide missing that needs creating by one of us or from yourselves, please let us know, we are also on false book and youtube, which as short tech vids to help, and again if you feel there is a vid that would help please get it touch.
the menders is free, but like everything there is a cost to run things and bills( we are just happy its not a heating cost), so if we have saved you hundreds, please throw a small donation in the pot so we can keep on going to carry on helping others in the same way .

*** we are currently looking for a sponsor for this year, so if you have the passion and can see this sites worth to everyone , please get in touch and step forward to help***

And thank heavens that we are now on the way back up the brighter ,warmer longer days, "come on summer", and lets see those project builds.


M-m

Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

A place for members to show off their pride and joy. Also room to document your projects.
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Sun Jul 23, 2017 12:14 pm

Wednesday was very foggy,which made for some cool photos. We headed over to the Black Mountain Pass again in the hope of getting some more photos but sadly the fog ruined the view

Image

Image

Image

Image

Thursday we visited Rhossili Bay

Image

Image

Turned the sat nav off and took the route as it came. No matter what,you'll never be disappointed with the views

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

We finished the holiday with a visit to the Total 5s HQ in Barry

Image
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:22 pm

Not much to update car wise. The silver daily had its yearly inspection,all was well except it needed a steering rack gaitor and the handbrake adjusting. The bodywork was advised too which i knew about. Both rear arches need replacing along with the front wings/fenders. Bumper may aswell be replaced as thats got some bad paint cracks.

I got messed around with a part that was for sale so put the money towards a hard top for the daily. Paint isn't in great condition,but the whole car will be painted eventually.

Image

Image

I removed the stickers today,to find how poorly the hard top spoiler had been fitted. They've bonded on 3 brackets to the glass,one side was taped on...so that needs looking at

Image

Also noticed some scratches on the glass just below these spoiler brackets,looks like either sanding or grinding marks?

Image

Over the past few months i've been collecting and building up a small video games collection. Today i moved into my fiance's place. I had already sorted out the man cave ready for the move in ;)

Image

Image

Image

Yes that is my Mazdaspeed boot spoiler hanging from the ceiling,storage space is limited lol
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Fri Aug 18, 2017 8:31 pm

Back in April you may remember i had a photoshoot for Fast Car Magazine

Image

Today the feature was published

Image

Image

Image

As mentioned in the Magazine,a special thanks to H&S Performance, Autodoc, All-Trims, Garagestar, Auto-Genie, Rev9, J's Garage, Jass Performance, Revlimiter, BN Media, MX5Nutz and my friends/family
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Sun Aug 27, 2017 8:39 pm

Today i received the photos from the magazine shoot,photos courtesy of Matt Woods Photography

There were 70 images but i've picked the best 10 (in my opinion)

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Wed Sep 06, 2017 12:12 pm

The 1st September marked 4 years since my previous MX5 caught fire. On the 10th Sept it'll also be 4 years since i got the Purple MX,wow how time flies!

The weekend just gone saw the return of JAE (Japanese Auto Extravaganza), the UK's only 4 day jap show. It was also a year ago i had the running/ECU problems coming back from the same show. You'll be glad to hear i made it there and back with no issues :)

We went up with the club we always attend with,although attendance was very low this year,but we still had an awesome weekend. The week before the show i had one of the organizers ask for my car to be inside the hall for their Show & Shine

Image

Image

Image

We stuck around till the end and watched the awards (couldnt get the car out any sooner). And to a huge surprise I ended up winning Best Mazda! Its great to finally see a reward for the work. A mag feature and trophey in one month is pretty awesome!

Image

Monday just gone and me and the other half started to strip the daily MX. The MOT (annual inspection for those overseas) had an advisory of the passenger wing/fender due to corrosion. Managed to source a replacement along with another front bumper for a very good price. (bumper had severe paint cracking,so it made sense to change that too)

Image

The bottom didn't look great...

Image

Gave the inner wing and bumper fixing areas a coating of underseal before refitting

Image

All back together along with an import plate surround and some 6mm front and 10mm rear spacers.

Image

We also picked up a twin exhaust and silenced de-cat. The initial plan was to cut the existing bumper and eventually fit an R-Package rear lip. Then this Auto Joy/VIS Racing fibreglass bumper came up for sale locally so went with that instead

Image

Found out the rear lights were siliconed in,which resulted in 2 snapped studs on the driver side light,luckily i had a spare pair of lights. Also swapped the broken number plate panel for my painted carbon fibre one i had on the other MX

Image

So yeah.... we've done more to the daily MX in the last 2 weeks than we have all year lol
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:50 pm

Browsing through the interweb looking at stuff when i get a notification pop up saying [url]https://www.facebook.com/jdmpartsrupewrecht/]JDMParts.rupewrecht[/url] had posted an item. Followed the link and it was a Mazdaspeed Trap Timer.

I've only seen a handful of photos of this device and i missed out on one that Dan shared about 6 months ago. So we exchanged a few messages and had agreed for him to bid on it for me. We ended up winning it,it was expensive but who cares,you cant take money to the grave!

I spent the next few days and nights trawling through Yahoo Auctions for more stuff to buy (may aswell include more stuff in with the shipping!) After a week or so waiting for shipping they arrived on my doorstep today

Image

Its all Mazdaspeed....i kinda got an addiction with the brand. Dan won be floor mats,horn push button and the trap timer.

Sadly no box for the Trap Timer but the original instructions were which was a bonus. A big thank you to Randy over at MazdaRoadster for the translation he posted online a few years back,they were a great help!

I also managed to score a few items here in the UK too.

Oil Cap (still waiting for delivery,but this is the actual item)

Image

Carbon Fibre Gear Shifter (i think it's missing the shift pattern sticker on the top?)

Image

I also got from the same seller as the shifter (thanks again Chris Horne) a 360mm steering wheel. The steering wheel had seen better days but certainly looks like its been used well.

My original plan was to strip off the old dye and re-dye it using RevLimiter's blog as a guide. Spoke to a couple of Leather Repair companies and nobody would touch it. Spoke to a local company called Moores Vehicle Trimming based 20mins away from me and they were happy to take on the task.

He quoted a very good price,so agreed and left my details thinking it was a restoration job,turns out it was a retrim.... winner! 9 days later and i receive a call to say it was ready for collection. They said they originally under estimated the duration of the job and it should have been alot more,but they stuck to their word and honoured the original price. Very happy with that and the quality of the work! Will certainly be using them again for any future work.

Here are some before and after

Image

Image

Image

Image
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:57 pm

Some photos of it all fitted

Image

Image

Image

Image

I also got bored and painted up a spare Xbox One controller to match the livery of the car lol

Image
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Fri Nov 17, 2017 10:43 am

An MX5Nutz member kindly sent me an original owners handbook

Image

I also had another book arrive,this time from Japan and purchased through JDMparts Rupewrecht

Image

The Mazdaspeed obsession continued when i stumbled across a damaged A-Spec Type 1 bumper only a couple of hours away

Image

The middle of the bumper is paint flaking off and adhesive tape from the number plate,the damage is in the corner

Image

It had the lower rubber lip and air damn included, the parts that are always sought after for this. Luckily the lip was there,because thats whats keeping it all together lol

Image

Me and the other half took both cars out for a drive to a local meet,would have been rude not to take a photo together

Image
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Sat Jan 13, 2018 8:31 pm

For a month or so I've had problems with the Purple MX5 not starting and the battery going flat. I originally put it down to lack of use and the cold weather. The battery died again last weekend so I fitted a new one and it still wouldn't start. So I got the car up in the air and found the culprit

Image

Made up a new earth strap,and after fighting with the only bloody bolt, it was back together and it fired up first time with no hesitation....winning!

Next on my to-do list was to find some decent headlight bulbs. Working at a Motor Factors I've tried most bulbs we stock/can order in and I've never found anything close to HIDs. HIDs have been ok in the past,but the high beam has always failed no matter which kit i buy.

Image

A few friends have suggested buying LED bulbs, I've always been on the fence about them because of the 'lack of beam pattern'. So i took a chance and ordered a pair of Night Eye bulbs. The base comes apart, so the base is fitted first with the retaining clip,then you insert the bulb and twist to lock it in place. The bulb bases have a heat sink fan to draw out the heat,these are a little noisy but the supercharger and iPod its hard to hear them :P

I've done some comparisons to a standard halogen, Ring 150% and the Night Eye. I didn't realise till afterwards that the Night Eyes were 180* out,so were effectively on high beam.

Image

Image

Something I've been wanting to do for awhile was yellow tinted headlights. Lamin-X was my first option but after seeing the price and size of the tint sheet,i gave it a miss and went with a cheaper eBay equivalent

Image

Image

Image

Image

With the Night Eyes flipped round 180* so they're pointing in the correct direction, I took some photos with the tint. Not as bright, but such an improvement over what i had. As always, its hard to photograph the true light

Image

Image
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Fri Feb 09, 2018 8:44 pm

I guess the term 'daily driver' should be used loosely now, as the car has turned into a project in itself lol

You may remember us picking up the damaged Mazdaspeed Bumper. The original intention was to have a go repairing it myself, but lack of time prevented this so I dropped it off to a local body shop. Expectations were certainly exceeded and they've done an incredible job!

Photo again when we got it....

Image

Image

Image

While the bumper was being repaired we finally got the car into another bodyshop to have the rear arches repaired. The piece that joins the rear section of the sill were very bad, but its solid now :)

Image

Image

Image

Image

You may remember the rear bumper being replaced by a fibreglass item. I found out the bumper is a potential copy of the VIS Racing Magnum kit. After fitting it the rear corners seemed to poke out. After finding out what it was, noticed it should have matching arches. Luckily the guy i bought it from had the matching front arches but not the front bumper (which i'm not keen on anyway, hence the Mazdapseed bumper)

So with the original arches repaired the fibreglass ones were fitted and semi-blended in. While it was there I also got the VIS Racing Magnum rear bumper repaired and primed aswell as all the dings,dents and scratches filled and primed

Image

Image

Image

Image

I trial fitted some 20mm hubcentric spacers to the driver side and although it helped a little bit, the wheels are far from being flush. I then tried an additional 10mm on the front and it was better, and it'd probably suffice due to the weak specs of the Watanabes :(
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:19 pm

With the dilemma of the wheels spacers, I thought it'd be best to sell the Watanabes and buy another set of wheels. As much as it pained me to advertise them, they sold within a few hours and I got the full asking price.

So I spent today playing around with wheels and seeing what would fit. Started off with the 15x9 ET0 Rota RKR from the Purple MX, knowing they'd be waay too wide for these arches.

Guess I was wrong....

Image

Image

Image

Image

This obviously wasn't a straight fit :( The rear coilovers were wound up 15mm and the lips of the fibreglass arches/flares were shaved. The fronts are untouched but are currently catching.

I'm hoping to cut the original front wing/fender and hope its enough clearance. I've already got a set of 195/50r15 Yokohama Parada Spec 2s sitting at work which i'll be using. Don't really want to run any more stretch and cambered front wheels look awful.

New wheels have been picked and hopefully ordered tomorrow. Will keep that a secret until they arrive.
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Sun Feb 18, 2018 8:35 pm

We finally got a day off with some decent weather so got a chance to have a look at the front arches/fenders. At first glance it was quite obvious what the problem was...

Image

The lip had folded out on itself and was cutting into the tyre. I tried to cut the original metal higher,but I couldn't get me and the grinder in with enough visibility to cut it smoothly. So I opted for cutting the lip off, flush with the fibreglass. Smoothed off the surface and gave it a coat of Zinc primer followed by black Underseal.

(photo before the zinc primer and underseal)

Image

The new wheels arrived, Rota Grid V 15x9j ET0 and I fitted my Yokohama Pada Spec 2 195/50r15s too. It kills me to sell genuine wheels to get copies but unfortunately we don't have the money to buy 'real' wheels at the moment.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Fri Mar 02, 2018 8:58 pm

The silver MX5 was originally purchased as a daily car but also a joint mini project between me and the other half. As you can see the car has turned into a whole new project. I've now given my half of the car to the other half so its now hers. But i'll keep on updating with the build progress.

The fuel consumption isn't great and its starting to become expensive to run. Infact, the 2 weeks i drove the Purple MX to work it used less fuel than what the Silver MX currently uses!

With future plans of having a mini me some day, it was time to adult and get a suitable sensible daily. Of course i had to have a Mazda and this was for sale not far from me.

Mazda 6 Takuya
2012 (facelift)
2.2TD
68k miles
2 Owners

Its got half heated leather,dual climate control, 18" alloys, bluetooth stereo and a couple of other bits and pieces (pretty standard stuff for modern cars,but luxuries for someone whos driven MX5s for the past 6-7 years)

I was looking at the Estate version which happened to be a Sport model (had Xenon lights, Bose Audio etc) but it had sold by the time i got there. I'm happy with the Hatch,plus it looks better IMO.

I've already been looking at the Garage Vary,AutoExe and Damd parts list, luckily for my bank account they only do pre-facelift stuff ;) No doubt i'll end up doing stuff to do,i can't leave anything stock for long

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Sun Mar 04, 2018 7:47 pm

It was an early start this morning, it was time to paint the Silver MX5 (yay!) A friend lent us his unit and all his tools and equipment for the day. Progress went extremely well and we were ready to paint by lunch time.

We used Gloss Graffiti paint supplied by Illuminarty, the finish is very good IMO and we haven't flattened it. We also fitted a Project-M (aka Vindi) Bootlid with a blended in ducktail along with the Mazdaspeed front bumper. Just a few changes and a lick of paint can totally transform a car! The Bronze Rota Grid Vs contrast nicely against the blue too

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Image
User avatar
hoodedreeper
Regular
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 7:31 pm

Re: Hoodedreeper's Mk1 The Purple Monster

Postby hoodedreeper » Sun Mar 11, 2018 1:38 pm

Cant believe it was 1 week ago we painted the MX5! Finally had a clear evening to take some photos

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Image

Return to “Members Mx-5/ Roadsters”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 26 guests