Makkuro Eunos

[benpopham]

Looking good Ben. I would like to know the meaning behind まっくろ　Eunos out of curiosity though? Unless I have missed it further back in the thread. Also... are those horse pens?

Jealous of the GV Bonnet (Hood) though

まっくろ or Makkuro is 'pitch black' because the car is all black. also I am a Studio Ghibli fan, and a character in one of the films is little black dust sprites called Susuwatari or Makkuro. I have a little toy one hanging in my back window too.

Yes they are horse pens, we have 8 horses at my house.

[MX5Wisher]

Oh ok. I asked my Japanese Teacher and he was confused. That is good to know. Any photos of the horses?

[benpopham]

I got a chance a few weeks ago to fit my Flyin' Miata LBBK with the OEM 1.8 discs, pretty straight forward few hours work in the driveway. First impressions are that they are a massive improvement over my original 1.6 tiny brakes, the feel is so much better with a nice bite. I had a few teething problems with a slightly long pedal but after bleeding them again they are better.



Last weekend was Players Classic at Goodwood circuit, and show I have been to a few years ago, and again had my car accepted. The generally quality of cars at this show is of the highest in the UK, so many exceptional builds all in one place is a rare sight in this country, also... the sun was shining!

I spent a few evenings before the show tidying and polishing, black cars take a lot of love.



Ready to leave the night before.

[Tee]

I love this car, really enjoyed reading your thread!

[benpopham]

Finally got around to putting all of my Work Emotion wheels on a few days ago, and you know what... I love them. They really change the look of the car, really purposeful and aggressive.



A really odd feeling, I wasn't sure I would like them when I first put them on. The Equips have always been my favourite wheels, and taking off the wheels I have always wanted to put the Emotions on felt weird, but I do like it. I certainly still prefer the Equips though, both sets are staying.

It currently gives me 5mm more ground clearance and with the 205 profile tyres, I have a little more tyre on the road and I can really feel it, the car handles more predictably and is very grippy.



Any way, they are staying on for the Autumn/Winter, then back to the Equips

[nashcarr]

^ THey look awesome!

[MLambert19]

I think the phrase I'm looking for is "spoilt for choice"!

-Matt

[benpopham]

Well its been a while!

Firstly, yep, still alive and the Eunos is going well, I have moved house twice and had a baby boy called Felix. So life got busy. The car went into storage at the end of September last year until the beginning of April, just to keep it out of the worst of the British 'salty road' winter here. A friend of mine let me know his garage was going to be empty all winter and would I like to keep my car in there, so I jumped at the opportunity. Parked and waved goodbye for a few months.



By the time April rolled around I was desperate to drive it again, and it was worth the wait (after a much needed battery charge!)



Over the winter months I had been doing some parts collecting and carbon making. Mostly the carbon parts are stupid, but just a little bit of fun. One person that I showed the fuel tank access panels to described them as 'It’s like knowing the wife has stockings and suspenders on'. I still use the original carpet over the top of them, but had to take a picture before they were covered up again.







I also found a selection of Mazdaspeed parts, including a short shift that I rebuild with a Cusco solid bush. A set of Mazdaspeed anti roll bars, engine mounts and a rear strut brace. I'll get a picture of the rear strut brace with the carbon jack handle panel soon, they look neat.





Also after hunting for a few years found a set of Work Equip 02's in 15 inch and 4x100 stud pattern, unicorn! They are only 6 inches wide unfortunately, and need a refurb, so a project for a little bit further down the line.



Also late lats year got one of the new Garage Vary boot lips, its quite subtle, and points more rearwards than straight up like other boot lips, I think I like it, its been fitted for a while and I'm not certain on it yet, we will see.

[HarryB]

Excellent updates and quality parts as always Ben! Any ideas on weight savings on the CF panels (if any)? I have been wanting to do my own in CF as well (scrap cutoffs from work), along with the parcel shelf itself and replacing their bolts with aluminum ones. Guess I may be able to shake off 1kg or so, and although not much, weight saving is more of a mentality thing than anything!

[benpopham]

Excellent updates and quality parts as always Ben! Any ideas on weight savings on the CF panels (if any)? I have been wanting to do my own in CF as well (scrap cutoffs from work), along with the parcel shelf itself and replacing their bolts with aluminum ones. Guess I may be able to shake off 1kg or so, and although not much, weight saving is more of a mentality thing than anything!

Thank you very much.

Im not certain of the weights of the originals, but the bulkhead carbon panels were 158g for the larger one, and 60g for the smaller one.

[oldgrayleather]

Well its been a while!

Ben - spectacular to have met up in Japan and fantastic to see you back here posting! You might want to consider sharing some of your Karuizawa pics too, mmmm?

[benpopham]

Next up.. Karuizawa Roadster Meeting 2019

An opportunity came about for me to attend the Karuizawa Roadster meeting this year and work with Car Make Corn's. I have been the UK agent for Corn's for around 18 months now, and also have been running my carbon fibre company for 11 years, I have a very good relationship with Corn's. I was asked if I would like to share their booth and sell some of my carbon products as well as assist them with their sales. How could I turn this down?! I instantly booked flights to Heneda and got to work producing carbon parts to take with me.

2 months working over time gained me this massive pile of carbon to fit into my suit case to Japan.



This would be my third trip to Japan in the last 2 years, but first time travelling alone. A few weeks before heading out there though, Pete (oldgreyleather) messaged me seeing if we could meet up out there, as he would be in Tokyo for work and also visiting Karuizawa, the trip was getting even better!

I arrived early on Friday morning and met up with Pete in the afternoon and headed over to Corn’s to pester them for a little while. Tomoyo san and Tomio san are the loveliest pair, always happy and friendly.









Just as we thought that it was time to head home Tomio san pulled round his car and said we were off for dinner, a 90 minute drive west towards the countryside and out of Tokyo, we had no idea where we were going, but damn it was worth the trip.



The next day Pete and I did some more sight seeing around Tokyo and then got the Shinkansen to Karuizawa and our hotel for the evening.



A few emails back and forward before I left with Masanori san (event organiser) meant I managed to book a ticket to the ‘Welcome party’ the night before the show, and 2 nights in the Prince Hotel West Karuizawa where it was taking place. I had assumed this would be a small gathering of local Roadster owners, but I was very wrong!



A massive hall full of very friendly Japanese Roadster owners (plus 3 Australians, 1 Canadian and me!) This was certainly an experience, everyone was amazing, all wanted to see pictures of my car and show me there’s, adding themselves on my facebook account and inviting us back to rooms for drinks!

First thing Sunday morning Pete and I walked to the show ground, and I helped Corn’s set up their booth and my table of carbon bits







The show was amazing, more cars than I could look at and I nearly melted in the sun. Made a nice amount of carbon sales and talked to people all day about what I do, excellent day. Heres my favourite cars





















Again, what an experience. After we had all packed up I headed back to my hotel room just to process it all, it had been a crazy 24 hours, and now I was all by myself in the middle of rural Japan! An early start again the next day back to Tokyo for a last day of sight seeing, and then a 8am flight on Tuesday morning.

Already can’t wait to go back next year, who’s joining me?

[benpopham]

Oh and I picked up these beauties for a steal

[BRGNA8]

awesome to see posts from you again ben! congrats on the baby boy as well! Car is looking good as ever and those carbon parts! tasty!

[HarryB]

Congratulations on the baby and thanks for sharing all this amazing material. Pretty fond of your carbon skills/parts, they look amazing! MINI guys are lucky to have you, but it seems our luck is changing too as you introduce all these nice parts. Any plans for a VVT engine front cover?

Also, do you happen to have more pictures of that gorgeous NB coupe?