So I've done it yet again,

I've bought yet another car,

This makes it my fourth road legal car (currently). Considering my Mk1, the whole reason I joined this website is back in bits, again, (and still not finished) it is a touch silly, but I said that about the justy, and another car I've not bothered to make a page for. 

So here we go, a friend had a mazda mx5 for ages, not really used, long story short I offered to buy it for not much IF he got it MOT'd, he did, so I bought it.

83000 odd miles, 10(!) Owners (including me), not quite a looker.

It is a pretty well specced car from new. A 2001 but prefacelift, 1.8 with LSD and hardtop with heated rear screen, that alone is worth the majority of what I've bought it for.

Has some wheels on it, rainsport 5s on the front and old Yokohama semi slicks on the rear.

Coilovers on it, pretty decent mid range ones with damping adjustment.

It's not a show car, but drives better than any car I own, simply cannot get over how tight it feels.

I did have to go to Scotland to get it, but wasn't far from the ferry,so made a day out of it.

This is my first RWD car, although I have driven and "enjoyed" some before. 

Drove really well and was very well setup, it is a touch low for the roads I drive but so far no problems.

Big radiator in it, hot air intake etc but otherwise it's standard. Engine is sweet as could be, slight weeping from somewhere but perfect otherwise.

Got on the ferry and all the way home no problem.

Being first Sunday of the month, the local car show is on, so, not bothered to go out and get the justy I took this exactly as it was.

Packed doesn't describe it, a good time as always,  funny I never bother bringing my one working Skoda to it anymore.

Some questionable stickers on the back glass, may leave them, probably won't.

 

Took it back out to give it a good clean, wasn't washed in a long time, moss etc growing, spiders made the engine bay and cabin their home.

I quite like the wheels, they aren't perfect but a bit of metal Polish should clean them well.

Light is fairly sympathetic here, but it cleaned up pretty well in all, was parked outside so paint is oxidised.

These are single stage AFAIK so it will come up decent. Probably the one time single stage is worth anything.

Pulled apart the boot and cleaned it, gave the interior a mild cleaning to get the rough off it. Gave the headlamps a rough Polish with a rag, they are pretty poor, and the lenses are very dull.

Pretty good pic of the oxidation here.

Found a lot of documentation for it behind the passengers seat, Owners manual, service book etc, even a diary of sorts from a previous owner. AND the badges that are missing from it.

Pic of the interior,  originally had an OEM nardi airbag wheel, which I got with it. Currently has a Momo millennium on a quick release.  Very 2000s, I love it. Even found some buttons on a bracket in the glovebox, they go on the steering wheel, look like something from an early fast and furious movie.

Has an odd mismatch of gauges, oil temp sensor (coolant temp on the cluster is hot when at operating temp) and a genuine smiths volt meter from an MGB, also got a boost and oil temp gauge with it, useful for other projects.

Has a short shifter also, very tight, very notchy but makes an odd rattle when driving which I need to fix.

Nice pioneer head unit, speakers are surprisingly good and meant to be original ones to boot.

It has had welding done a year or two ago so for MOT purposes it IS sound. Some cosmetic areas I'd like to fix are the rear arches, not catastrophic yet, but will be a cut and weld job If I wish to pour money into it.

Not intending to do much with it other than drive it,although I won't do many miles on it really since it'll be split between the rest of the cars.

Shortlist is:

-Full valet, Polish, refit badges

-Diff Oil

-Fix foglamps

-Fix intermittent airbag light (loose wire)

-Fix cluster temp gauge.

-Fix shifter rattle 

-Fix windows (stuck)

-New Number plates.

-Fix Oil leak

Just general Clean up really, I'll drive it as is happily. In spite of it's shabby looks it is a very nice car, I probably won't do track days in it, but it may replace the monte as the car I use for my expeditions into the UK, atleast the monte can have a long overdue rest.

I'm going to spend this week cleaning up my other cars, working on the vRSDI too, and tackle buffing this paint at the weekend.

6 hours ago, DieselMonte said:

Has some wheels on it, rainsport 5s on the front and old Yokohama semi slicks on the rear.

If I might suggest, OEM wheels will improve the drive over those oversize aftermarket items.

I gave the love to a girlfriends MK1 MX5 which she bought as a grey import from the docks in Ireland, she did not know what the weird metal thing was on the front bumper, I knew immediately, it was a timing strut, from the lowered stance, the rollcage, the magnesium split rim wheels, the exhaust tailpipe..............

 

It turned out that it was a track car and had all the right bits and none of the show and no go stuff.

 

You speak of "single stage" paint I presume you mean non base & clear? Her black MX5 definitely was base and clear because it had vicious vandalism scratches all along both sides which I managed to flat, compound and polish out, they looked white against the black base coat.

Yeah non clearcoat, I meant. Was wrong. It's mazda A3F which a Base/Clear paint.

So we'll see how it comes up

Had a poke under it on the pit. It is as you'd expect.

Body is there, suspension is fairly corroded. Was advised on mot and was told exactly what I was getting.

Cleaned up the air filter (needs replaced really)

Got some genuine toyota pedal pads and stretched them to fit this.

Washed it again and pulled the hardtop off, not impossible to do solo, soft top was hardly used and needs to stretch to clip on. 2 small tears either side but nothing to worry about really.

Pulled the plates off In preparation for polishing, getting a loan of a dual action to do it.

Driven it for the week, engines sweet as, doesn't seem a lover of our 95 octane e10, use the same additive I do in the rest of my stuff which helps. Runs fine, just seems to run better on the good stuff.

As figured it is a tad low, especially for where I am. But it drives well, not like I'll be able to adjust much given the underside.

Did notice some oddness in the brakes, and found left front caliper is sticking, so will be getting a new caliper and new discs and pads soon. Calipers roughly 50 euro, discs and pads from mtec about £90 so hardly breaking the bank.

Getting about 27mpg currently, suspect caliper and a few other tweaks will bump it nicely. E10 is definitely hurting it there however.

The tears will leak into the car but are easy to repair from the inside. As for E10 be careful there as there are odd reports of hoses failing due to the high ethanol content. I've switched to E5 on my Mk1

1 hour ago, skomaz said:

The tears will leak into the car but are easy to repair from the inside. As for E10 be careful there as there are odd reports of hoses failing due to the high ethanol content. I've switched to E5 on my Mk1

My lovely country doesn't have e5, or premium fuel.

"Premium fuel" here is still e10 95 octane with extra cleaners. And being near the border I have a suspicion half of it's mixed with kerosene (joking).

I can get it over the border but it's getting to be a pain.

1 hour ago, DieselMonte said:

My lovely country doesn't have e5, or premium fuel.

"Premium fuel" here is still e10 95 octane with extra cleaners. And being near the border I have a suspicion half of it's mixed with kerosene (joking).

I can get it over the border but it's getting to be a pain.

Ah... I've never noticed that when I've been over visiting the MIL and we've been tripping about but then I've probably always filled up in the north before heading off.

Something to just keep an eye on them over time??

Spent a few hours there polishing, got a loan of a friend's dual action and I'm in love, what a nice bit of kit.

This picture will not upload the right way around, however:

Paint is pretty far gone so just did my best to improve it.

Tried out heavy cut first, then carpro fixer, then carpro reflect. Heavy cut was painful. Carpro stuff has so far astounded me, it's much easier to use than my previous Meguiars stuff. Way easier to buff off too.

Paints far from perfect never will be bar a respray, which I'm not doing.

BUT, it has come up decent, needs glazed, sealed, waxed etc which will help cover some of the wear.

Bumper came up well, looked almost blue with how faded it was.

Definitely going the right way so far.

That's one hell of an improvement though even if it's not perfect!

I'd suggest you get a grilled for the mouth pretty quick if you can as the radiator is pretty exposed if you're using it regularly on country roads.
👍

1.8 Toresen LSD hardtop - nice!

I don't know what's up with briskoda but it keeps uploading some of my photos upside down.

Anyway.

New plugs

New Air filter (and short ram jobby)

Had a go at fixing the fogs

Regulator has me tortured.

Completely and totally, but I may finally have it back together next day.

New Discs and pads, and lh caliper. Took my time painting and cleaning up.

Pads were 'ok'cheapish brakefit ones, had good life aside from the caliper sticking.

Discs were clearly replaced with the pads, so no lip. Could have reused them but didn't want to risk it considering.

Slight improvement.

Got the flags back on it, are MG ones apparently.

And New plates finally.

Not really driven it since just keeping busy at it.

Bit more work done.

Repaired the foglamps,

Cleaned up the interior and dyed the carpets.

And got a strut brace for it.

Also got a replacement (used) battery for free. Better job than the one in it so.

Still leaking oil, think I've traced it to a sandwich plate for the oil temp sensor.

Driving well, majority of my list is already done. Nothing stopping me driving it now really. Bit better on fuel seemingly with the new caliper on.

Looking good! Any issues with getting the steering wheel off? My OE flash to pass has given up which is probably the stalk playing up meaning I need to get the airbag wheel off...

On 24/04/2025 at 23:52, skomaz said:

Looking good! Any issues with getting the steering wheel off? My OE flash to pass has given up which is probably the stalk playing up meaning I need to get the airbag wheel off...

Previous owner put a Momo Millenium in it, with a quick release. I have the oe nardi wheel for it.

Doesn't look a major pain to take them off, no worse than the fabia ones.

Currently tackling some surface rust underneath. Won't be used in winter, or do massive driving so won't need to be perfect.

Not much else on this, had more time than I'd wanted waiting between coats.

So I Tinted the fogs and buffed the exhaust tip.

Not much better, but mostly no longer brown and manky looking.

So since the justy didnt want to come along to Retrorides, i took the mx5. Had it looking as good as i could. It is not a show car but it is pre-2000 just a late registration. Gave the wheels a buff up which helped but theyre still pretty bad.

Very late ferry which i cut very close, as the port tunnel was closed, so i had to go through dublin to get to the port.

Made it down, about 460 ish miles each way.

Was a lot of driving and it held up fine.

Trying to keep this in one post so not as many photos.

Ended up sleeping in it both nights.

Was held at Goodwood way south. First day we were put near the entrance.

Weather was unbelievable the whole weekend.

An amazing mix of cars, bikes etc came in.

Whole event was brilliant start to finish, cant recommend it enough.

Second day was put out on the (far end of) the track.

Load of stalls etc setup, was a lancia ypsilon outside the bilstein booth and an sd1.

Added to the sticker collection on the hardtop.

The ones that were on it are not my taste, but part of the history of it so im hesitant to take them off.

Made it back through customs eventually. Wasnt home till about 4 am monday.

Did really well the whole trip.

Even though it was visibly dripping oil it didnt move much off the level.

Ran it on premium when i was in the uk, since i cant get in ireland. It did seem to prefer it.

Averaged just shy of 40mpg on the way back and for a brief stint on the way down, behind a friends hillman it managed nearly 50mpg.

Didnt have any issues rubbing etc, boot was full up.

Got some nicer mats and some heater hoses from a friend for not much too.

Might be doing a trackday in this soon ish, so see how it goes.

Not much else to add,

Had to get new foglamp bulbs for it.

Used to love michibas yellow bulbs but lately ive had two sets on two different cars fail almost instantly.

This one, one failed within a week of barely being driven. The other bulb lost its colour and went dim, no wonder.

Got Lunex bulbs for this and another car that so far seem much better, nice colour, good light and much cheaper.

And i finally got to use an exhaust tip vanhireboys sent me years ago for the vrsdi.

Didnt fit it, or anything else i owned but fits this.

Does look a bit, very ricey from certain angles where you can see the bolts, but better than the normal tip, wasnt happy with how it came up.

So bit of an update.

Was prepping it to take to melbourne last weekend. Left it a bit later than i should have but got all I needed done.

Got given some plastidip a while ago and had some paint laying around, seen the wipers were a bit tatty so sprayed them.

Quick scuff and gloss black on the arms, the little deflector got some plastidip for that black textured look.

Found the source of my oil leak, the sandwich plate that the oil temp sender uses was leaking. Although a very awkward job to do. Very poor location it was relatively simple to sort. Took all off. Cleaned and tightened all back up and its dry.

Changed oil and filter at the same time too,

Found out a 90915YZZS2 toyota oil filter fits, but not on mine because of the lack of access. Put a blueprint one on for now, reckon a mazda b6y1 filter will work so ill change it out next service.

Took off the rear undertray as it was caked in oil and grime, cleaned up the engine bay etc as much as i could.

Also found what i thought was my exhaust rattle.

It was not, rattles still there but not quite as bad. Bodged a pinhole i found too. New exhaust would be nice, but unless i win the lottery, not gonna happen anytime soon.

Undertray was battered, cleaned it best i could

Gave it a coat of paint anyway,

And reinstalled, its better than nothing.

Also cleaned and plastidipped the little ashtray, as it stood out with how faded it looked.

Looks sort of standard now and blends more with the black interior.

Also got new door bushes, which made a surprising difference, in terms of rattles etc. Car generally feels more solid if nothing else.

Tried and failed to fix the cigarette lighter. Its been a problem the last 10 years if previous owners notes are to be believed. Did try making one from the parts justy work, no avail.

Interestingly, their is power to the unit and it will work occasionally then blow the fuse, so just a new unit at some point.

Since I had an empty slot in the gauge pod. And the sandwich plate was off i fitted an oil pressure sender, had one spare with the car anyhow.

Wired up from existing wiring and it works, doesnt seem too accurate but it does work.

Also fixed the radio, as it didnt get fm signals.

Because the jack for the antenna was buried in the dash, easy fix.

Also should mention did the oil in the diff a while ago, genuine toyota oil that met the same spec as this thing. No chunks, but definitely wasnt fresh.

So that was the mechanical bits sorted,

Gave it a good clean up pre leaving.

Very early ferry but atleast the tunnel was open this time.

As with the heat last weekend, it was not terribly enjoyable. Car was extremely hot inside, shifter boot is torn and i reckon it was just pumping exhaust heat into the cabin.

Mate went with me. Neither of us had ac, in black cars in 30°heat, but atleast he had tints.

About 3 and a half hours over. We were early so stopped by the motorist for a while and squires. Nice spots both of them.

Got to the track around 5 ish.

Had paid for running saturday, but we went to a car show at the motorist saturday morning, and were otherwise out and about.

Only actually got one (not good) run in.

So clearly ill need to remedy that next time.

Was very busy anyhow so probably for the best i was out of the way.

Made it to the ferry sunday in good time

Car drove well, had no problems in the heat aside from my comfort. Still got 37mpg for the whole trip so not terrible.

Got a small haul of parts for the mx5. Including a coolant reroute kit. Washer bottle relocation, spoiler even. All will be put on in time.

It is cleaning up to be a much nicer car than i'd thought, unfortunately, i intend on keeping it and messing with it a while longer.

Also got a set of very nearly new ar1s for the monte, and got cetane booster and tyre softener stuff from a man at melbourne.

So good weekend in all even if i only got the one run in.

Cant recommend the place enough, i really like what they're doing, even if it is a bit of a journey to visit.

Got the washer relocation done and wired up,

Then set about the reroute kit.

Not a fun job but not massively difficult.

Did note some more gunk in the cooling system than Id anticipated.

No chunks, but nothing particularly good either.

Took it down to flush it all out, rad, heater core etc.

All went together alright. Missing a few blanks and plugs (since sorted)

Ran some rad flush etc through it which has done well. Incidentally it has fixed the constant hot coolant gauge in the cluster. Presume due to me using the sensor already in the reroute. Nice it was an easy fix in the end. Reroute kit had a motorad thermostat in it so left it alone too.

Some assorted bits from Bofi, note the genuine oil filter too.

However, on the very last hurdle, problem.

The radiator bung. The one and only time I used it (just pulled the lower hose previous), stripped. Completely gone. So new rad needed, and new rad ordered. Not at an ideal time either as the monte and other cars have needed work too.

Aside from that, ive got my hands on some adaptor brackets to fit the larger sport discs to the rear of the mx5. Using the standard 1.8 caliper setup to boot.

So after finally washing the irish sea and lots of bird poo off it, i got it on the lift.

Rear discs been wanting changed this while. So may as well upgrade when im at it. Corroded pretty deep considering i have been using it a good bit, and its stored dry.

Still solid discs mind. Doubt there'll be much measurable difference besides just having new brakes on.

Still life left on the pads but new bosch ones to go on. Ideally wanted mintex or similar, but its what I could get locally.

This is how ive left it. Caliper and carrier got a wire brush and paint so waiting for it to dry.

Did have to trim the rear dust shields and probably could have done a nicer job at it. Painted it to cover the bare metal.

Tyres is the next big thing for this, probably going to get regular tyres to replace the AD08Rs on the back for now. May possibly have a line on some take off AD08Rs in the right size, but be a while off.

I fear i may be learning to weld on it over winter. Depending on how finances go.

For a car that was maybe not loved the majority of its life its come along pretty well, but its certainly never going to be perfect.

While you were doing the re-route kit did you check for any oil leaks from the cam angle sensor? Once the o-ring seal starts to go hard they can leak and knacker the coolant hoses back there so worth checking just in case, albeit a bugger to get at (nearly put my back out doing mine a few years back).

18 minutes ago, skomaz said:

While you were doing the re-route kit did you check for any oil leaks from the cam angle sensor? Once the o-ring seal starts to go hard they can leak and knacker the coolant hoses back there so worth checking just in case, albeit a bugger to get at (nearly put my back out doing mine a few years back).

Iirc the cam angle sensor is on the front of this particular engine.

I was given the silicone heater hoses previously (off the same car) theyve gone on

Was told the NAs had that problem causing the hoses to rot.

Ill have the rocker cover off over winter so get new seals anyhow.