The Story of Smac's Eunos Roadster so far.....

[smac]

Well, I figure its about time I started one of these things on here.

A few years ago after finishing college, I decided I wanted some sort of project car to tinker with in my spare time.
At the time I really wanted some sort of Alfa, maybe a GTV6 or something along those lines, but as I was already running one Alfa as a daily (a 156) my wallet really didnt like the idea of trying to run another one

So the search started to focus on more affordable optons, mainly Jap stuff as they became plentiful over here during the boom times and prices had fallen greatly now that we were in the middle of a recession.
As my search continued I ended up setting my heart on an MX5, mainly for three reasons

1) cheap to buy and maintain
2) relatively nice interior, something I'm very particular about
3) lots of scope for modifications

So after a quick search I purchased this 93 Eunos Roadster




At this time I really didnt have a clue what direction I was going with the car, all I knew was I wanted some wide wheels, cue XXR's
I think I was happy with these for about a month before realising there were much better options out there.



This would be followed up with some wide arches, I added some rubber trim around where the arch meets the car body to give them a more 'factory' look



Next up came a roll bar, well kind of.... importing a new bar into the country was silly money, and second hand bars very rarely came up for sale, so when I spotted this Carbing aluminium bar with door bars I thought "grand". (not completly sold on the merits of an alu bar)
Heres a quick trial fit before I garaged the car up for the winter, I planned to fit it some stage before the following spring, thankfully that didnt happen.

[smac]

It was during the course of the winter that I would start work on the interior, which although 'nice', after discovering Rev9's website I figured it could definetly be improved upon.
It was also around this time that I finally decided on a theme for the car, after learning more about the mx5's classic sports car roots.
So I decided to go vintage, and a bit mental with the old diy.

First up was my own KGW style instrument panel, started off with this


evolved into this


then this


and finally all done



Door cards were next up after falling in love with Revlimiters car



Also decided to make my own Zoom style center console and radio panel from bits of plastic I had left over from making the instrument panel.


So come spring the car was looking something like this (yay for blurry pics)

[shane]

wow interior is gorgeous!

[smac]

At this stage I still hadn't gotten around to fitting the roll bar, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise as a Hard Dog Deuce, my favourite roll bar, came up for sale second hand, also managed to get rid of my Carbing and broke even on the whole deal.

A pic of fitting


and all done





At this stage the wheels really were beginning to bother me, I felt they let the rest of the car down.
I'd been lusting after either a set of Wats or Heyashi Street for a while at this stage, moreso the Heyashi's, however getting a set wide enough to fill the arches was going to be both difficult and expensive.
So when Rota released the BM8 I figured what the hell, and ordered a set.

At first I had some issues with tire size


Before eventually settleing on a 215/45, not a big fan of stretch but as this is fairly minimal I dont mind




I'm missing out some bits and pieces of the build here and there but the pics tell most of the story anyway

[WASABI]

Well done! Like the flares (with the edging...beautiful), and the gauges. In fact, I would like to know more information about your DIY gauge set up. Thanks for starting this.

-Jim

[smac]

Next up was some more love for the interior in the form of RS Refine gauge rings


Which were complemented with Revlimiters Version Rosso Gauges




At this stage I was pretty happy witht the car, except for it needing a front lip





Though there was a certain front bumper I really liked......

[smac]

Well done! Like the flares (with the edging...beautiful), and the gauges. In fact, I would like to know more information about your DIY gauge set up. Thanks for starting this.

-Jim

Thanks Jim, more info on the build up of the gauge set up here http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.p...%2Bkg+%2Bworks

Will update with more progress tomorrow

[smac]

It was now winter time again, which ment the car was once again garaged up for a few months, this gave me time to get the exterior more in line with the interior.

First step was this little collection of parts


This was to be my insperation



Attacked the front bumper with a dremel


Old lemonade botttles turned out to be the perfect diameter for light housings.



Fiberglass



and filler


expanding foam



more filler and a ruler



getting there



test fit



Still some symmetry issues

[smac]

At this stage I was getting really few up with filling/sanding so took some timeout to focus on some other jobs that needed doing.

First up were frame rails that a member on MX5Ireland had made up in 2mm stainless



only pic I have before camera died on me


Fitted the Aerodramatics door handles around this time too, and decided to cover my tranmission tunnel with the material I had left over from the door cards.
Door cups are painted with 'chrome' paint for the time being, looks ok from a distance but cheap n nasty up close





No excuses left at this stage so had to get back to work on the bumper
This is it with all the filling finished and front lip fitted, ready for paint.

[smac]

So off it went to the paint shop shortly after this, where it would stay for almost 5 weeks, not complaining though as I'd rather it was done right than quick, took lots of primer.

Finally got it back earlier this week, which brings us right up to date, got my Runabouts fitted aswell

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Wow! That is some fantastic talent and sense of asthetics!

[I<3flippyheadlights]

This car... omg

[smac]

Thanks lads

[I<3flippyheadlights]

You wanna make me one of everything on your car? I'll be your best friend

[smac]

No update, just a few random shots from this evening, must remember to bring the camera with me next time I take the car out so I can get some pics with a nicer backdrop