kevin s's blog

[kstrutt1]

Not sure how big a job the washing machine will be, it's a hoover, the bearing kit was only £27 so I figured it will be worth a try, I know there is a spider bolted to thed back of the drum which carries the bearing, which is not to expensdive either. The last one was a bosch, the bearing also went in this after 6 years but it was unique to bosch, so cost well ove £100 and the whole thing was cliped together plastic. Writing it off.

The bearings have not arrived yet so I have been playing with the cars, the focus has been pulling the trim out of the mx5 to vinylkote it so all the colours match.

The good news is the spotless floors, not bad for an 18 year old car (the brown marks are leaves)

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I then noticed a mark in the transmission tunnel, closer inspection revealed a 2 inch long crack!

So I had to crack the welder out, fortunatelly welding a small crack in sound metal is a lot easier than patching rust., picture shows it welded up.

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[kstrutt1]

Been busy on the mx5, my other half wanted a lighter interior, she did not like the tan /orange combo, so we hatched a plan to re-colour it with vinykote, if it all goes horribly wrong a black interior is not to expensive!
So the plan was hatched, a light tan seats, door trims and lower dash with everything else black. We bought a new dash as the original had drilled holes in it and a black carpet from a mk 2 fits fine but is better quality, over thedlast few days I stripped thge interior. (new door trims already fitted in pic)

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I then went to swap the cdash and found the old cross car beam was different, ours had an additional moduled and bracket, I think it is a radio amp no longer used, but decided to sawp the beams as this also avoided having to unclip the wiring.

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This took an hour or so as all the ducting etc had to come out first, when finished it looked like this.

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Next the dash was re fitted, and connected up, after another hour or so we ended up with this.

[kstrutt1]

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The vinylkote has woked brilliantly on the vinyl and plastic parts.
The seats were also treated but the vinylkote did not work so well on the leather facings, so I will get some gliptone scuffmaster which I have also found works well on leather in the past.

The other news is wit it on the ramp I had a good poke around underneath, the only rust I can find is where the bottom of the siderail has been grounded on the drivers side, it is also a bit dented but better than most I have seen, for now I have protected it with wax, mechanically the only problem I could find was the exhaust in 2 pieces! This led to us splashing out £180 on this.

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Also gave the tr a quick check over pre mot, everything seems ok so I will try to book the test this week.

[rich.]

nice! id love to buy an mx5 for my girls, so im following this thread with interest i should add they are 2 & 4 so i would get time to make the most of them...

[kstrutt1]

My daughter is 17 this year, her first question when she saw the mazda was can I learn to drive in it?

She got a fairly short answer from her mum!

She will be learning in the Cmax. (its already insured for any driver).

[rich.]

both my girls have already asked for the keys to my truck... god help me when they get older...

[JPB]

My daughter is 17 this year, her first question when she saw the mazda was can I learn to drive in it?

She got a fairly short answer from her mum!

She will be learning in the Cmax. (its already insured for any driver).

Hmm, In the Mazda, she'd learn to drive whereas in the modern thing, she'd learn to pass her test.

Few cars are more predictable or easier to catch than the MX5 and it's a big shame that more new drivers don't learn on something RWD with a bit of feel about it. Still, no doubt negotiations can be undertaken once she masters the Cmax.

[rich.]

or you could buy her one once she has passed her test??

[kevin]

My daughter already has designs on my MK1 MX5!
Superb little cars

Kev

[TerryG]

agreed
Have you seen the turbo charged one they have on mighty car mods?