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. 

 

[Mr Laurence]

4 Months since I last updated this thread!! Damn….

The hardtop has gone again. After I took the photos in the last post, it came off until it got sold. It was too rough to justify putting any work into, and it still let water in anyway. Amazingly it only took me all of half an hour to sell!

Put two new tyres on the rear, since one of the old ones had a 2000 date code on. As you’d expect, it’s made a huge difference especially in the wet.

Passed its MOT too! The underseal advisory is pretty fair; it’s really caked on. At some point when I’m feeling brave I’d like to take it all off.

That tear in the roof has started causing bigger issues now it’s raining more though. After a few weeks on my drive not being used, this is what I was greeted to:

 

A lot of scrubbing and disinfecting later and it’s looking ok again, but I’ve been keeping a closer eye since. A few disposable dehumidifiers and a roof cover have slowed the mould down, but clearly aren’t a permanent fix. The roof needs replacing, ideally soon.

 

 

[FakeConcern]

Those early MX5s always look so nice to me and yours being clean and red looks extra nice!

 

 

Also as it's only a week to go, someone's got to say it...

Merry Christmas Mr Laurence.

[Mr Laurence]

A reminder to anyone with an mx5 to clean out the drain holes! I did mine when I first bought it last year and when I checked today, they looked like this:

I know they’re a maintenance item on these cars, and it’s been sat under a tree not moving since I made my last post on this thread, but I was surprised at just how quick they clog up. A quick clean out with a radiator brush sorted them out, but clearly this is something I’ll have to start doing more often.

Hood replacement has been booked now too, so with any luck that’ll help too.

I've also noticed some more water ingress in the boot, mostly around the lights. The gaskets on the rear lights are a pretty common failure point, so I’ve ordered a set of those, and fingers crossed that’s all it is. 

[MrBig]

33 minutes ago, Mr Laurence said:

A reminder to anyone with an mx5 to clean out the drain holes! I did mine when I first bought it last year and when I checked today, they looked like this:

I know they’re a maintenance item on these cars, and it’s been sat under a tree not moving since I made my last post on this thread, but I was surprised at just how quick they clog up. A quick clean out with a radiator brush sorted them out, but clearly this is something I’ll have to start doing more often.

Hood replacement has been booked now too, so with any luck that’ll help too.

I've also noticed some more water ingress in the boot, mostly around the lights. The gaskets on the rear lights are a pretty common failure point, so I’ve ordered a set of those, and fingers crossed that’s all it is. 

Are these the same on a mk2 as well? If so where are they please? Should probably check mine!

[Mr Laurence]

4 minutes ago, MrBig said:

Are these the same on a mk2 as well? If so where are they please? Should probably check mine!

They are yes. There’s one behind each door. They’re slightly easier to get at with the roof down, but you can clean them with it up too.

[Mr Laurence]

In my haste to order gaskets for the rear lights, I hadn't noticed that genuine Mazda ones are sold individually, rather than in pairs like non-gen ones. Thankfully the passenger side of the boot has stayed dry, so I'm hoping my mistake won't have caused any problems. Even if it isn't the cause of the water ingress, judging by the state of the gasket and the amount of water on either side of it, replacing it won't do any harm:

The light unit itself was also full of sludgy dirt that I wiped away along with some similar muck on the body.

And a better look at the offending gasket:

while I had the time free, I also pulled off the door cards to grease up the window rails. The passenger side especially was pretty slow, so it's made a noticeable difference, especially for the cost of sorting it.

Maybe it's just in my head, or because I'm working on a car that's been better taken care of, but little maintenance jobs like these seem a lot easier on mk1s than I remember them being on my mk2. everything is exactly where and how you'd expect, and (so far) I've not had any broken clips or brackets to fight with.

 

[Mr Laurence]

As of Tuesday, the leaky roof has been replaced! Dropped off at MX5 City in  South Kirkby and they were able do in 2 hours what would have taken me two days. With all the miserable weather recently it's been nice not having to worry about water getting in. The drive there and back was also the longest run it's been on since at least the autumn, so a good chance blow some of the cobwebs off of it. The rear window on the new hood seems to be larger than the old one, and made me realize just how yellowed the old hood was almost as soon as I got in

[stuboy]

im am yet too drive an mx5

[Mr Laurence]

11 minutes ago, stuboy said:

im am yet too drive an mx5

If you ever get chance to I'd definitely recommend giving one a try. Even a rough one lives up to all the hype they get

[Mr Laurence]

No big updates since my last post really, I’ve mainly just been using the MX5 to potter about locally and go to work when the weather’s nice, but I’ve started chipping away at the little jobs I’ve been meaning to sort.

The big one that’s really been bothering me is the paint. As red cars do, it’s started getting really flat, dull and pink. It’s a bit hard to get a good photo of, but it looks way worse in person:

I didn’t really want to go all two bucket wrongun on it, but it was starting to really let an otherwise nice car down. Cutting and polishing seemed to do nothing at all, and if anything made it worse. Turns out that as far as I can tell the dullness was being caused by  polish or some sort of cleaning chemical ingrained in the surface of the paint. A very thorough scrub and some wax later and:

 

By no means perfect up close, but far better than was. 
 

I’ve also made a list of some of the things I’d like to get round to over the next few weeks:

 

The paint on the centre caps and few other bits like the wiper arms has started going a bit flakey. For the cost of a few tins of paint it seems like a really easy win so I’d like to sort those next.

The weatherstripping along the bottom of the windows also isn’t looking great. The rubber section has started crumbling away when I touch it. A really common MX5 problem, and another nice simple thing to sort.

The door step rust doesn’t look any worse than last year, so a bit of a back burner job, but I’d like to try and tackle it myself. Most sill repair panels include that section, and after a 5+ year break from when I last touched a welder I don’t think I could ask for a better way to get my eye back in. It’s a nice flat panel that I won’t need to lie on my back and do upside down, and you can’t see it from outside the car.

It’s also just about due a service, so I’ll order the parts and deal with that next weekend. Looking through the service history, it last had a cambelt in 2019, so even though it’s only done 5000ish miles it’s getting to the point where it’s probably due one by age.

All little maintenance jobs really. I’ve been itching to get my teeth stuck into a proper project at some point, but all these bitty details will have to do for now 😂

[Matty]

Looks well worth the time and effort. Pretty car that 👍

[Mr Laurence]

2 minutes ago, Matty said:

Looks well worth the time and effort. Pretty car that 👍

Thank you!! Even a year on I still feel like I was really lucky to find such a good one

[Matty]

10 minutes ago, Mr Laurence said:

Thank you!! Even a year on I still feel like I was really lucky to find such a good one

Id concur with that. I know little about MX5s but it would appear that they copied the small british sports car so faithfully that they included the endemic rot! But in much the same way, buy a good one and look after it and itll last.

[Mr Laurence]

Picked up some paint and spent this afternoon smartening up the centre caps and wiper arms today.

Before:

And after:

Both came out better than I was expecting honestly. There’s something really satisfying about sorting out little details like these to me.

Service kit and new weatherstripping have been ordered too, so those will be the next jobs.

[Mr Laurence]

Mot booked in for tomorrow, only done about 1000 miles since last year, so hoping for a decent result. I finally stopped dragging heels over the weekend and got round to servicing it, and couldn’t see anything really obvious it might fail on while I was doing it. Fingers crossed!

[Mr Laurence]

 

Result!!