Out of the blue car purchase

Always had a soft spot for the MX-5, and with me and my mate feeling a bit depressed about wanting to do some track days but never following it through, we purchased this! Literally woke up this morning, saw it, decided to take a punt and got it for £500, and it drives superb.

We are literally going to replace all brakes and pads, full service and it's going straight out on track for some fun!!

cheap chips madness! enjoy

Good buy, that's the way to do it, just do it, done. Hope you have some fun in it.

Good buy, that's the way to do it, just do it, done. Hope you have some fun in it.

Thanks guys. Were booked in for an open track day at croft on the 4th July, can't wait!!

I personally wouldn't bother taking my mx5 to Croft. The tracks too big and fast for an mx5. Teesside is good for mx5s as its quite technical.

On another note your mx looks very clean. Have you checked the front chassis legs for rot/delamination?

We looked as best we could and the front rails looked OK. We will be getting on a ramp soon to have a good look around the car properly, fingers crossed it's not a duff.

We looked as best we could and the front rails looked OK. We will be getting on a ramp soon to have a good look around the car properly, fingers crossed it's not a duff.

Mine aren't too bad. You can get replacement weld in sections for them. The body work on yours looks very clean! My 10th anniversary edition (1999) just had 2 rear quarters and inner quarters.

Jealous. I just paid £4K for my track car and need probably anther £1K to get it track worthy etc.

Maybe I should have just gone for a disposable car. Seems a great deal that one though.

H.

What car have you got H? Hoping this MX5 allows just one fun filled track day, if it does make it through one il be over moon lol.

I keep contemplating when I get a new car to keep my daily driver (Lexus gs300) and getting that out on track, not sure how much fun it would be though as it's an automatic and weighs as much as a small house!

What car have you got H? Hoping this MX5 allows just one fun filled track day, if it does make it through one il be over moon lol.

 

I keep contemplating when I get a new car to keep my daily driver (Lexus gs300) and getting that out on track, not sure how much fun it would be though as it's an automatic and weighs as much as a small house!

Got this about 3 weeks ago and have plenty that needs doing. Probably going to run it for 12 months and see how it goes. Needs new pads, brake lines, fluid change now. Will look at seats and harnesses etc in the not too distant. Fairly heavy car for track day use but I just fancy a bit of fun for the time being.

H.

The MX5s are great fun we run one as a track car too. Last year was good, with brake, suspension, wheels, tyres, seats, harnesses, cage mods, but this year we have gone for a SC makes 200hp on standard unleaded. This is the missus driving at Castle Combe last year

Looks good, depending on how it goes at Croft and how she performs, we will then consider getting coilovers, extra bracing etc. We've made the mistake to many times getting a car, spending half the time pissing around getting bits fitted for track use, then never doing it because we always find something else to fix.

So this time it's definitely going out in standard form, apart from the service and brakes!

Looks good, depending on how it goes at Croft and how she performs, we will then consider getting coilovers, extra bracing etc. We've made the mistake to many times getting a car, spending half the time pissing around getting bits fitted for track use, then never doing it because we always find something else to fix.

 

So this time it's definitely going out in standard form, apart from the service and brakes!

Did that.... left it all standard and then tracked it.... the "lean" was just silly, felt like a sidesill was going to touch the tarmac! We were also both bracing knees on dash and doors, because the standard leatehr(ette) seats do nothing for you while cornering, was good for a laugh though

Hahaa, sort of at that point now, because work on the SC has taken a lot longer than expected so missing quite a few track days this year but the additional power will make the MX5 just about perfect in my mind so worth the wait. Should be done in the next 2 weeks, cant wait!

On the coilover discussion here is the car at CC on the MeisterR coilovers (they usually have a groupbuy running on MX5Nutz) on standard road settings and this was a HUGE improvement over standard! Then the improvement this to set for track was another big step, so worth the money

The SC will be awesome. Seen quite a few videos with the superchargers on and they certainly shift , will definately be good fun!

That's sort of what we want , so then when we do start to do the upgrades we can feel the improvements being made, rather than going all out and not knowing any different.

We do have one them seat belt buckles that locks itself in to avoid us sliding across and out the car at least lol.

The SC will be awesome. Seen quite a few videos with the superchargers on and they certainly shift , will definately be good fun!

 

That's sort of what we want , so then when we do start to do the upgrades we can feel the improvements being made, rather than going all out and not knowing any different.

This car is for my missus to have a bit of fun at track and wow does she have that! The SC is because she pretty much goes round 90% of Thruxton with her foot welded to the floor, so she needs to learn braking and oversteer its so progressive, nothing close to how a turbo comes on, so think it will make the MX5 rather good.

All the changes we made we for specific reasons and everytime we have thought it was money well spent. Lets hope the SC is the same.....

We do have one them seat belt buckles that locks itself in to avoid us sliding across and out the car at least lol.

Cheaper than buckets, but I really like the buckets, although a PITA to get out of the car.

So far we have now managed to get hold of a CG lock, and we are officially booked in for the 4th July at Croft Circuit.

As usual, so much for not doing much, but so far we are in the process of cutting out both rear arch sills due to bad rust, should all be completed by the end of this week:

Drivers side rear is the worst:

We have purchased some new rubber - Toyo Proxes and some new 16" alloys, gonna spray them white, and get some mario kart decals on the car to fun it up for the track once the welding is completed. Next weekend will then be a good service on the car, get a geo set up done and hopefully then have successful day on the track!

Good work!

Rotten in the same place as mine.

What condition are your chassis legs in?

The front chassis legs are good surprisingly, I believe it is a a common spot for them to rust through!!

Looks like you have bought the same repair pieces as us for the arches, we will be welding that in over the top this week on both sides.

Well that's good news. Mine have signs of the dreaded rust starting.

Yeah I only bought a cheap rear quarter, then trimmed to fit what I needed.

I need to pull my finger out as its still in primer

Bought some MG wheels for £40, needed some work on thembut, lots of sanding, more sanding, cleaning and scouring. Absolutely over the moon with the way they have turned out. Should hopefully be getting these fitted on Saturday with the new rubber.

We have made some Mazda stickers for the centre caps to give it the finishing touch.

Looking good mate. I did another day on Monday. Coilovers are 100% needed by the way (stock bilsteins on mine)

Looking good mate. I did another day on Monday. Coilovers are 100% needed by the way (stock bilsteins on mine)

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm261/jonny_106/6105282F-4EC9-4255-8672-40034BFA628F_zps4zvryum2.jpg

I miss the "lean" mine did exactly that and felt so weird in the cabin... MeisterR coilovers definitely fixed that and the car corners quite flat now. They are also adjustable, so easy to change back to road to drive home. I run 6F 8R for road and 25F 28R for track, if I want it to handle well.... if I want it be lose, slow and fun 25F 15R

Wheels look very good.

Will be down at Thruxton next Friday (24 June) if anyone else fancies joining

My back was killing after due to forcing myself into the seat so I didn't fall out, and my knees from wedging against the centre console. Hopefully getting some Komi damping adjustable shocks with lowering springs of a local owner. Wouldn't mind a half cage too. Tyres are needed before the next one, enventually finished the toyos