Ghostly Goings On - over the moon

[Noel Tidybeard]

9 hours ago, Ghosty said:

I recently added a £6 replacement washer pump to the front end as it never worked for me (and somehow passed an MOT like that?)

you only need a means of getting water onto the screen- a fairy* bottle will do

*other types of bottle are available- pixie, elf, etc

[Ghosty]

Things have been dull the past couple of weeks. The 205 isn't seeing much action - while I was replacing the backbox I found out that the boot floor is a bit crispy round the edges, and one of the inner wings is shagged. I've agreed to pass it on to another forumer in a swap deal.  Today I picked up a set of STEELZ N TRIMZ for it with usable-ish tyres as they were offered to me for nothing . I'm going to fit them and sell off the GTI pepperpots. If anyone wants any, I've got six of the buggers, with tyres in various condition, from scrap to 6mm of tread.
The Civic's EML is now on almost permanently, which I think is due to the aftermarket cat. EML isn't a fail on a 2000 car though so as long as the emissions are OK I'll just live with it for now. I don't think I can get the manifold/downpipe flange to seal properly either though, partly as one of the bolt holes is too close to the manifold tubing, so you can't get a nut on it... It's running fine though. 


I mentioned in News 24 that I popped over to Sheffield to have a look at a car this week, it was on an eBay auction and the seller wasn't taking offers, and wanted to let the auction run. Anyway, after one of the longest weeks of my life, I managed to win the auction within my budget, and the seller has got the top end of what he wanted for it, so everyone's happy. The price I'm paying is pretty much spot on the going rate for such an example at the moment - and a lot more than they were going for last year - I felt like if I didn't get one now they'd slip out of my grasp possibly forever and I'd have to compromise.  It's an awfully honest car with a big pile of service history, and the condition of the car backed it up. I really, really wanted to get it. There's certainly room for improvement, on little bits of it, and it's going to need a small amount of welding, but it's really not a dog. 
The seller was a lovely bloke and let me properly look around it and took me for a drive in it too, mechanically it's perfect and he could answer all my questions. He was daily driving an LS430, and claimed to also have a Spitfire that he'd had for a not inconsiderable amount of time - and as that was his keeper this car couldn't stay - he was selling it after his dad that had been using it replaced it with an SLK. 

I think it might be my keeper, though. 


No prizes for guessing what it is. 

Especially @SiC. 

[reb]

Is it blue?

[SiC]

I was going to say MX5 ...

HOWEVER I wasn't sure if your post number was a incidental clue:


If it isn't that, then you ought to try/have one sometime before they're silly money. Like a 205 GTi but arguably much better. Rust less, safer, more powerful and arguably better to drive while far less likely chucking you off the road.

[Ghosty]

24 minutes ago, reb said:

Is it blue?

You know what it is... 

LOL at the post count, that's pure coincedence. 

The answer will pop up tomorrow. Not much in the way of collectionage as I'm getting a lift to it. 

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Is it that Volvo coach cms206 is selling?

[Ghosty]

World's most boring collection. 

[Ghosty]

woot

[HMC]

Nice one, my fave mx5 colour, think it was available from launch?

[SiC]

Whats the verdict?

How do you rate it against the auto you had?

[wuvvum]

Nice!  Same colour as my first MX5.

[hairnet]

is this place the sad lonely hairdressers club now 🤣

[Ghosty]

It's a whole different car to the auto! Love it, and it's a bloody good one too. Handling is spot on as it's got a front strut brace. 

It's a 1991, as verified by the Japanese deregistration certificate, and was given an H plate on import to the UK, but for some reason on the V5 it's 'declared year of manufacture 1997'. Weird. 
 

It needs a clean up, a head unit, and not a lot else. 

The head unit works but has a smashed screen and cuts out over bumps...

The steering wheel isn't an Impreza wheel, it's a Momo Club 4 and seems to be worth three figures to dubbers and Porsche people. It's super comfy so it can stay, especially as the OEM wheel is also a Momo.

No idea what the wheels are, but the centre caps say 'CP Rag Time'...

[Ghosty]

Here it is at home. Also the 205 now has some steels, trims and slightly-too-big tyres. Further investigation of the boot floor suggests it's actually OK but the underseal is fucked. 

[SiC]

Looks like you got a good 'un. Not sure on that aftermarket gear knob though! I'd be tempted to sell that wheel and go back to OEM - especially if it's worth a bit. The OEM is a lot more dainty and reminds me a bit of the Ferrari 348 MOMO wheel. 

[HMC]

Has this got one of the famed oil pressure* gauges ? Early models ftw

[loserone]

Gutted to have missed out on the 205.  Top MX5 ing though, you'll enjoy that!

[Ghosty]

3 hours ago, HMC said:

Has this got one of the famed oil pressure* gauges ?

Yes. 

I've not decided what to do with the 205 yet as the rotten boot floor actually just seems to be underseal, meaning it's solid aside one inner wing.  I need it gone fairly soon. 

[loserone]

52 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

need it gone fairly soon. 

Uh, PM'd, obviously.

[LightBulbFun]

7 hours ago, Ghosty said:

It's a whole different car to the auto! Love it, and it's a bloody good one too. Handling is spot on as it's got a front strut brace. 

It's a 1991, as verified by the Japanese deregistration certificate, and was given an H plate on import to the UK, but for some reason on the V5 it's 'declared year of manufacture 1997'. Weird. 
 

I wonder if it may have been imported via NI then to the UK?

I fairly recently came across another MX5 i think? much like yours with the same such registration oddities, and when I looked into it, I found it had a separate NI record with the correct date of first registration etc 

and someone here mentioned that a fair few JDM imports came via NI for one reason or another

sadly I cant seem to find the post/topic where it came up EDIT: found the post!  https://autoshite.com/topic/5996-late-registration-madness/page/35/?tab=comments#comment-2114926

but I cant find any NI record for your car, however it can be tricky to dig up other records that share the same VIN, it has had a previous british registration mark for what thats worth

 

 

 

very nice buy btw, I would like to have a drive of a Mk1 MX5 some day, pop up heads FTW  

[Ghosty]

@LightBulbFun I have the import docs, it came in through South Shields and hasn't been to NI. I suspect someone misread/filled in a form, it could have been put on a boat in Japan in 1997, or someone misread a 1 for a 7 etc. Doesn't matter for now but could be a problem when its historic tax eligible. I have a Japanese deregistration certificate from 1996 that might verify it as a 1991 if that counts for anything? It has the chassis number etc on. 

[LightBulbFun]

31 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

@LightBulbFun I have the import docs, it came in through South Shields and hasn't been to NI. I suspect someone misread/filled in a form, it could have been put on a boat in Japan in 1997, or someone misread a 1 for a 7 etc. Doesn't matter for now but could be a problem when its historic tax eligible. I have a Japanese deregistration certificate from 1998 that might verify it as a 1991 if that counts for anything? It has the chassis number etc on. 

it is peculiar tho because if the DVLA are convinced it was from 1997 then id expect it to be issued an R prefix  age related registration mark

but I see no record of that in the registration history (not for the 2 records I can dig up for this vehicle anyways, one of which has no import marker, the other has an import marker, but not a non EU import marker which is weird given its from Japan! but this IS the DVLA LOL)

however looking it up via its first registration mark I notice it has no year of manufacture recorded on that older record, so I have to wonder if it was declared manufactured 1997, after the private plate was put on it, so the DVLA never bothered to issue it an R prefix registration mark, but who knows!

indeed do hang onto that Japanese document it may come in very handy for when you want/need to get the car properly declared manufactured 1991

(being an MX5 Id like to think there are plenty of clubs out their registered with the DVLA who can provide you with a dating certificate , and if you can get a dating certificate especially with good evidence to go with it then your laughing )

[Asimo]

22 hours ago, Ghosty said:

it's got a front strut brace.

Why?, it doesn't have strut suspension - MX5 front suspension is classical wishbones with a spring / damper unit. 

Top mount of the coilover plays no part in the suspension geometry, it just takes the spring and damper forces into the bodyshell.

 

[paulplom]

The strut brace does exactly that. It braces against the strut towers, keeps them apart and helps to stop them flexing and stiffens the front end up.

I'm not sure you'll be driving hard enough on the roads to notice the difference. I haven't noticed a difference with my roll bar anyway.

[Ghosty]

Did a bit more nosing about and research today. 

> The rear suspension has had some attention - there are some shiny new droplinks and KYB Excel-G struts. One spring looks a lot newer than the other though... 
> The wheels are Bridgestone Rag Time CR - so they're period to the car, and JDM yo. - I suspect these were fitted in Tokyo. (for those that don't know, Bridgestone in Japan made aftermarket wheels). Also they appear to be 14x7 - so no wonder the car handles so well. It's on 195/60/14s. 
> The strut brace is an adjustable Cusco item - wonder if it was chosen for its colour? There's a sticker on it in Japanese but after checking with Google Translate, it only reads 'Eunos Roadster'. 
> The brake pads are new - wonder if they're still bedding in a bit as the brake fluid is clean but the brakes are a bit naff. 

Weirdly, the broken Aiwa head unit is the same one my dad had in his 190E in 2003. Good memories of that. 
I had a look at Bluetooth radios, but you can't get one that has Bluetooth and plays CDs for less than three figures, and all car radios look shit now. 

Off to eBay and I've ordered myself a mid-2000s Sony Xplod with Bluetooth as they look vaguely acceptable and it does everything I want it to, in box too. 


Beep boop, beep boop, beep boop. 

[Jamie]

nice colour, i had an early import marina blue MX last year . was probably the most fun car to drive ive ever owned (160 cars!)

 

this is the guy i sold it to, i wasnt that chavvy, nor did it have a turbo back then

[Ghosty]

I'd come to an agreement to sell the 205, however as I had three manual cars at the house my mum couldn't easily get her auto Bini out of the garage, so I've been hurried along with the sale to make space/not have cars lying about. This mercifully didn't poise an issue and the 205 is now paid for, taxed by, and registered to the new keeper - everyone that's after a go will be happy to know it's staying in the fold. This means I can park it out of the way up the street until it's collected in the near future. 

The radio I ordered for the MX5 was posted today - the seller had been working in some capacity that meant he couldn't post it in the week, I'd bought it Monday morning typically. Still, he was friendly and courteous, and it's going to arrive at the same time as some other bits so I can have a nice mass spannering session at some point. 

One of the other bits is a numberplate bracket for the MX5 so I can mount the numberplate on one of the two factory towing eyes - the private plate means it's possible to have quite a small plate and it looks a lot better than a large, mostly white space, knackered acrylic plate just screwed into the bumper. 

The third is an interesting one. When I got the Civic, one of the first things I noticed was general wear to the steering wheel - the foam rubber type stuff has come loose at the ten-and-two positions and you can twist it around on the wheel, in places the textured surface has worn through to the air bubble-filled foam below, and there's clear wear on the spokes where thumbs have been resting for a long time.  It's a bit of a letdown as the rest of the car is pretty much pristine. I told myself I'd sort this with a leather steering wheel, as it'd go well in the car, and as I'm more than familiar with how to chuck a Civic about, a good steering wheel makes a big difference to the driving experience.
As such, I had a nose on eBay to see what Honda steering wheels were available - the airbag connector is the same across a lot of cars of the period so S2000, Integra etc steering wheels fit as a straight swap. Alas they're big money, S2K wheels start around £150 and anything with a red H is at least £200-250.

I'm a bit more canny than that, though. Older Civics are starting to thin out - they're still there, but most of what's left are low spec giffer examples. And in any case, my Aerodeck SE VTEC is a pretty high spec car and still doesn't have a leather steering wheel - AIUI that was only supplied on the VTi, with red stitching. And that's a VTEC YO part, so it's rare and £££, naturally. 
What about an Accord? 
There aren't any Accords left that aren't fucked, and again, rarity problems. 

And so, we look to Rover. We can plonk on a wheel from an HHR 400 or a 45/ZS, right? They're basically the same car, and you can get a nice sporty three spoke leather wheel, surely it'll fit, sorted! 

No no, we aren't doing that. Besides, it'd have an MG or Rover badge on the airbag. 

But fear not, for there is a better solution! 


Rather conveniently, the Civic's steering wheel is used by another car - and it's completely identical aside from what badge is moulded into the airbag. 

Strangely, it's the 600. You'd think it'd use an Accord wheel - no, it uses the one from the Civic. 
And on higher spec cars, it was available in black leather. With black stitching. 


I found one in good nick from a low mileage car on eBay for £50 posted. 

The wheel is a straight swap, the original Honda airbag will fit in it, and it'll look factory. 


Now that is a WINNER. 

[loserone]

2 hours ago, Ghosty said:

everyone that's after a go will be happy to know it's staying in the fold

Hooray!

[MorrisItalSLX]

Fantastic work on hunting down that steering wheel, that’s the kind of parts hunting I could really get behind. Who doesn’t like a nice OEM upgrade?

[Ghosty]

After waking up to a PM, rather suddenly the 205 has left ghost__house and headed a bit further north.