Laurence’s MX5 Thread

[Mr Laurence]

At the start of 2020, on a bit of a whim I bought a blue NB Mx5 for £700. I put a cheap hardtop, some Tein coilovers and an RS front lip on it and drove pretty much everywhere in the thing. Despite having more than 180,000 miles on it by the time I sold it 4 years later, over the course of 4 years it only let me down twice. Of all the (admittedly not very many) cars I’ve owned, it’s been the one I’ve enjoyed by far the most. I even did a few autotests in it

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end; though it didn’t need sorting when I sold it, rust was really starting to set in on the chassis rails and sills. Bearing in mind the mileage, that the thermostat was stuck open, water leaked onto my lap when it rained and the oil that it burned/leaked, I knew deep down that sorting it wouldn’t make sense, so I sold it to a local MX5 breaker who took the hardtop off and sold the rest. It’s still out there, in better hands than mine competing in hillclimb events, which is nice.

 

since getting rid of it last year, I’ve always wanted another, but this time the nicest one I could realistically find. So after months of searching, at the start of May, when this one showed up locally, I knew I had to buy it;

It’s a 1990 1.6 Uk spec NA, and probably the most original one I’ve ever come across. Even down to the cassette deck and bill of sale from when it was new. It’s solid in all the usual MX5 problem areas, and apparently had a respray about 10 years ago. 
 

I haven’t had chance to do much with it yet beyond just driving it, but there’s a few fussy little details I want to get on and sort, as well as finding a hardtop before the end of the summer, so I’ll try and document all of that here.

[Mr Laurence]

I've finally got a dry day off work that I'm not away from home for, so time for a (small) update

When I bought the MX5, it had small rip in the soft top, just behind the drivers' window. It's not really caused any issues yet, but after a few days of heavy rain, there was a small damp patch on the carpet behind this tear. With this in mind, I decided it was time for a temporary fix to slow the water ingress a little while I track down a hardtop or replace the roof. Rather than using a piece of tape, I thought I'd give an Amazon nylon tent patch a go. supposedly they're very waterproof, can be cut to shape, and have a color and texture that seems to match the vinyl of the roof fairly closely.

Paper template, cut to shape and size

And the patch after fitting. They're very thin and sticky, so it's not on quite as smoothly as I had hoped, but I still have loads of patch material left, so I might have another try. It's also not that obvious from more than a few steps away:

 

By no means a long-term fix, but my hope is that it'll keep some of the water out and stop the tear from getting any worse. I'm still on the look out for a hardtop, but most of them seem to be 200+ miles down south, or smashed to pieces. If anyone reading this knows of one, especially in red or black, please let me know! A new vinyl top supplied and fitted seems to be about £500 wherever you go, or £200ish for just the roof. I've heard they're a pig of a job if you've never done it before though, so i don't know how confident I'd be doing it myself.

I also decided to take a look at the worst spot of rust on the car. These kick plates seem to be awful for trapping moisture, to the point where most MX5s I see that have them fitted seem to have some form of grot here. I've left it be, mostly out of fear for what might be hiding underneath, but to my surprise, when I took it off:

Almost nothing that wasn't already visible! I've tried forcing a screwdriver through the bubbles in the paint, and it's solid enough at the moment that I think it's pinholes in the metal. It's a simple enough shape for me to think that I'd be able to repair it myself when it starts getting worse.

[Matty]

Does look a good one this

[Mr Laurence]

1 hour ago, Matty said:

Does look a good one this

Thank you! It’s obviously been very well cared for in the past. It’s surprising how much nicer to drive it is than the worn out one I had before too

[Scott Chegg]

Thought you might have acquired this ex-Coogan MX5 for a second there. Alas a different H968.

[Snipes]

I spent a great deal of time underneath MX5s in an old job in a former life and uk mk1s in red were always in the worst shape, but yours does look very nice. 

[Mr Laurence]

1 hour ago, Scott Chegg said:

Thought you might have acquired this ex-Coogan MX5 for a second there. Alas a different H968.

I never even knew he owned one! Hasn’t been taxed since 2000 by the looks of things, so it didn’t last long at all unfortunately 

[Mr Laurence]

1 hour ago, Snipes said:

I spent a great deal of time underneath MX5s in an old job in a former life and uk mk1s in red were always in the worst shape, but yours does look very nice. 

I’ve noticed the same. UK cars, especially early ones like mine have thinned right out compared to imports. Do you think red ones had a thinner coat of paint from the factory? They definitely used to be the most common colour, but most I see now seem to be green or silver.

[Mr Laurence]

That patch I put on lasted even less time than I was expecting ; after having the roof up and down a few times it was already starting to peel off

Disappointing, but hardly a surprise, so for now, I've just peeled it off. It's not really needed any more anyway, as a hardtop has been found!

Tatty is an understatement - It's had a Stevie wonder paintjob in satin black, the weatherstripping that runs along the bottom edge is missing and there's a chunk of fibreglass missing from the back, but it was cheap and local, so I can live with it for now while I try and track down one in better shape.