Roadsternut

[roadsternut]

Looks like a great job.

Can I ask what 'bedliner' paint you used to paint your custom tombstone? I'm struggling to find anything suitable in the UK, (or I'm looking for the wrong thing!)

Cheers

Halfords bed liner, then give a light rub over with 800 grade wet and dry, skim with standard satin black, to tone down the coarseness.



You only need to give it a light skim.

Noticed they have started stocking peelable paint........

[roadsternut]

Nice arm rests

Ha ha. One fitted. One on the shelf.

[Mr slow]

We'll I wasn't expecting halfords!

Many thanks

[roadsternut]

After a summer of frustrating mechanical issues, the car now seems to be reliable. Last mechanical change was the fitment of a Mazda OE clutch and a refaced NB6 flywheel, to replace the SPEC2+ clutch and 1.8 flywheel. The NB6 flywheel used the same part number as 90-93 1.6 UK MX5s, M2-1001s and Mazdaspeed NA6s. US and Japan NA6s got a heavier flywheel. To say the change was transformative is an understatement. The engine has some zip now.

It had its one and only summer outing to the MX5OC Rally. I was stuck at the back.



Some interesting cars there out of the 1500 MX5s that attended.









Only one other S-Limited there




So I decided the recover my Mazdaspeed kneebrace in some red vinyl. Never tried this before, and it shows, a mess of contact adhesive, bulldogs clips, pegs, paperclips. And its the wrong red. So this will have to be redone, with something thinner than the vinyl I had.









Then I decided to wind back the clock, and try something I last did in 1998; ditch the airbox and fit a generic cone filter. But I wanted to do it better



Stupid studs on the AFM preventing the filter fitting properly Extract the studs and fit bolts





These universal heatshields didn't exist in 1998; back then, I was just using bent up bits of galvanized sheet



Some things don't change. At least this time I ended up giving it a coat of gloss black



Finding clearance between the manifold and the RS Aizawa brace





A simple little fix; the shifter had been polished, but you couldn't see it, A little o-ring pushed down the Moss leather boot enough (and it stays put) to show a bit. Makes it look a little more vintage.




On a roll, so I decided to tackle that broken lock spring that had been bugging me for two years. First extract the dinitrol coated lock





I found the broken spring



Fit new spring



Completely filthy job refitting this.

But the Mazda god curses me again. Go for a spirited drive, got back, god awful rattle. Found this lying loose (starter motor bracket fell off)



Blame the spanner monkey who fitted the clutch....

[roadsternut]

One of these days, I'll get some better pictures

[— Madaboutmx5s —]

I am glad to see the black car coming together and you getting to use it and nice to see it back to a high standard again. Last time I saw this car was just after I'd had Performance 5 fit the FM2 kit to my silver car. Part of the reason for doing this was the YouTube video of the 'blackbullet' iirc on a track day at Donnigton.

Likeiwse thanks for sharing the photos of the OC event. I should get my arse into gear and attend one of these shows. Looks like some nice cars attended.

[roadsternut]

Maybe this;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvP7f21xSJ4


Then there is all this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CclT...Y&feature=user
https://youtu.be/Uu3z8FNeUM0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeSY5FsN1MQ


Er...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrigd5Ik2vY

All thats gone, never going back to that, though I might take it to Curborough in April.Or else wimp out and just take SAZ9961 back; its been a long while.

[Stealth97]

Beautiful.

[roadsternut]

Following on from
http://mazdaroadster.net/showthread....768#post177768

I did a trial fit of a Maxilite; I need to wait another frustrating week for tyres.

First impression; spotted one pock in the paint, so overall quality looks good. Centre caps are chromed plastic with a wire lock spring. Weight; on bathroom scales, they were an even 6kg.

The shape; original photos were deceptive. The shape (size of the centre part, dish) looks right.

[roadsternut]

Oh dear.




The fronts aren't fitted because of this:



Front caliper brackets are fouling the wheel, gouging it

Despite this:



And Maxilite saying:

We have a TÜV certificate so clearance had been checked from TÜV as well the wheels fit both brakes on NA

er, no, these wheels don't clear NA 1.8 brakes fitted to a NA6. I was so pleased; tyre came round to the drive, noted the wheels fitted "like a glove". I even left the centre caps off so I could apply a sealant to the wheel. The wheels looked great; I especially liked the almost grey like finish.

I'm awaiting a response from both the manufacturer and supplier, given that it seems their entire stock of MX5 wheels will now be difficult to sell. I suppose the answer is a wheel spacer. But are these wheels a write-off because of the gouge left by the caliper? Also, how thick a spacer? I read that the front track is narrower than the front, so its ok to just put a spacer, up to 5mm, on the fronts only.

[roadsternut]

So finally got the Maxilite wheels fitted; ordered some smart anodized 5mm wheel spacers from SCC in Germany (4x100, correct 54.1mm centre bore) for less than half what FM charge for theirs. Kept the stock studs; front took 8 turns torqued, rears 7.5 turns, so happy with that.








Still love the interior

[—Martin—]

Looks great, inside and outside.

[— Madaboutmx5s —]

Looking good. The wheels fill the arches nicely. As you say the interior looks a good place to be.

[roadsternut]

Recovered the doorcards.

Drivers side had some seatbuckle damage and a bad attempt at a repair



At the NEC Classic Car Show, Martrim had some stretchy red vinyl that seemed a close match; think it was Matador Red.




Recovering the door cards is an easy job, but one I had never done before. I found this video had great advice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdu6jpz5pwo

mainly because this guy didn't bother with any measuring, and just freestyled it.

Separate the top; some staples, stop glued studs and some screws. Likely you will have to replace the screws with some slightly bigger ones when you reassemble. You need brand new Stanley (craft knife) blades.



Peel off the old trim; the passenger side was still in good condition, but I decided to redo both. I was careful to extract the old vinyl intact, as it might still be useful for another S-Limited/LE owner. Tip; the foam padding is doubled over, with one half glued to the vinyl, and other half stapled to the door card, with the fold at the bottom of the card. So, if you peel from the top, you can either remove the foam intact, or, what I did, slice through at the bottom. One lay of foam was enough for me.



Lay out the vinyl, roughly cut to shape, and make the cuts for the corners





Used a spray adhesive; other brands are available



Spray liberally, particularly at the edges of the door card



Give it 5 minutes to tack up, then fold as per the video; one pull up to tack the vinyl to the car edge, before folding over



You need plenty of excess to pull in the corners cleanly.








You can cut off the excess later on.

So a bit disappointed to find the door top looked darker



But this was down to 22 years of dirt, sweat, polish.

Some scrubbing improved things, but it still needs work







Recovering the Mazdaspeed knee brace took 5 attempts of stretching, Fairly pleased with this



With the console delete, my fuel and boot levers were exposed. I had used a piece of the S-Limited carpet, over a plastic form, as a cover, but it didn't work. A piece of the vinyl, with the edges folded and glued, has enough weight to drape over the levers. Very easy to reach under to pop the petrol filler. I may add some velcro or a Tenax stud finish this off

[RustRat]

Great work redoing your door cards!