Rexanne - Gold s2 restoration project

[johnnyboy]

Did a little more on the passengers sill yesterday.

Hi Steve. Sorry to divert you, but a workmate of mine is considering buying a first gen MX5 for some fun alongside his company diesel Mondeo. Any tips you could give him? Similarly, could you recommend a good MX5 forum? (He is a proper middle aged boy racer by the way...).
 
John

[Steve-A]

I\'m sure I can offer a few tips John.

They are awesome little cars

First off //www.mx5nutz.com  is one of the bigger and better uk mx5 forums. Its perfect for the \'middle age boy racer\'. The mx5 owners club are a bit too into their wood rim steering wheels and flat caps and get a bit upset about non factory extra modifications, if you get my drift...

There\'s also the miataturbo.net forum, which is an american forum with all the knowledge about turbo set-ups and clubroadster.net which is an american forum more interested in fashion than function.

Tips wise: Don\'t buy a UK spec 1.6 that was made between 95 and 98, they were detuned to 90hp from the 115hp that all other 1.6\'s were to make them cheaper to insure. UK cars hold a slightly better price and suffer from rot more, but are cheaper to insure than imports. The imports don\'t have such good rust protection, so if they were imported a long time ago they may well be just as bad/worse than a UK car.

Imports are normally specced right up with AC, PAS, CL, electric windows and often a LSD. UK cars are often poverty spec, to me not an issue as it\'s not really what the cars about!

The 1.8 has slighty better brakes and more chassis stiffening than the 1.6. There is little difference in the 0-60 times but the 1.8 has better midrange. Some say the 1.6 is more rev happy.

They rot at the back of the sills where the where the roof drain holes get blocked and it rots from the inside out. The rear wheel arches also go. If you\'re buying a UK spec mk1 the sills will have been done or need doing! Obviously they are old enough that they could be rotten all over the place but those are the two usual spots.

The soft top roofs are expensive to replace, so look for one in a reasonable condition, the rear windows can crack if folded too hard when cold, but are replaceable separately to the main hood.

Mechanically they are pretty bullet proof, and spares are very easy to come by and cheap on owners forums. I paid £15 for my 2nd hand mx5 gearbox....

Hope that helps

[Ian65]

What sort of money are we talking for a full kit?

Had a shipping quote from Respeed today of $50 ( approx £32) to send the full polybush kit over here from the US making a total of $210 or approx £135.
Dunno what to do now... is that still cheaper then buying a kit in the UK?

[Steve-A]

Well I\'m ready to order so we could at least halve that shipping cost?

£32 is pretty reasonable. I\'ve paid loads more than that for shipping of much smaller items from the states before!

[myatt1972]

Had a shipping quote from Respeed today of $50 ( approx £32) to send the full polybush kit over here from the US making a total of $210 or approx £135.
Dunno what to do now... is that still cheaper then buying a kit in the UK?

I think it is cheaper than buying in the UK but if someone knows different im all ears.
Not something Im doing in the near future but they dont go off so good to have in the shed.
Keith...

[Ian65]

Well I\'m ready to order so we could at least halve that shipping cost?

£32 is pretty reasonable. I\'ve paid loads more than that for shipping of much smaller items from the states before!

here\'s my message to Billy and the reply...

> Hi,
> could you please let me know a total price including shipping for this polybush kit?
>
> Polyurethane Complete Kit For SA and FB
> $160



I can fit that within a flat rate box that would run around $50.

Anything paid extra through our website when ordering will be refunded.

-billy

I don\'t know if we could save anything by shipping them together...
a heavier bigger box may cost more to ship and then we\'ve got postage within the UK or petrol to fetch them from each other.

I\'m up for it though if it works out cheaper

[mpk490p]

Billy is really good, he should be able to get 2 kits in a box with the same shipping cost ive had a couple of \'shipping boxes\' from him and they are usually quite full!

[Steve-A]

Ian, shall I contact Billy today (probably phone) and see how much the shipping will be for two bush kits, then if it makes sense I\'ll order two, and if not I\'ll order one and let you know?

I\'m also gonna order my wheel spacers today (once I\'ve gone out and measured the centre bore!)

I did quite a lot more metal work on the passengers sill area yesterday

I\'d finally un out of door metal, but Dad had managed to get me a piece of similar gauge steel from his work. Its slightly thicker if anything, but only slightly, so won\'t hurt.



First off I put on the second piece of inner sill structure and the first piece of new metal to join the sill to floor plan.



Then I replaced the section of floor that was rotten. The floor section was definitely more rotten this side than the other, so I overlapped my new floor plate a little more.



Then once the one of the floor was in I could finish off the section that joins the sill to the floor. First piece here.



Then second.



And finally I put the first piece of outer sill on.



Slight .... up here, and I forgot to put the joggled edge on it to retain the seam line. I\'m not sure how easy it will be to do now on the car. I\'ll have to have a think about how to sort hat before I put the next piece on.

[Ian65]

Ian, shall I contact Billy today (probably phone) and see how much the shipping will be for two bush kits, then if it makes sense I\'ll order two, and if not I\'ll order one and let you know?

Thanks Steve,
sounds good to me... I assume you\'re going for the full bush kit, same as me? ( the $160 one).

First off I put on the second piece of inner sill structure and the first piece of new metal to join the sill to floor plan.

Good stuff!
good to see you\'re doing it properly and repairing the inner sill strengthener.
I\'ve seen a few repairs on these cars where the repairer hasn\'t bothered and has just patched the outer sill ( bodged it in other words!)
I admire your dedication and perseverance mate....
I haven\'t been out working on my cars for ages.... brrrrrrr!
As I\'m getting older, I\'m turning into a fair weather restorer / enthusiast.

[Steve-A]

Yes I\'m after the $160 kit too. L

[Steve-A]

What I meant to put was ( damn phone typing) :

Yes I\'m after the $160 kit too. Lioks like I\'d be phoning tomorrow now, but I will ask about the shared postage

I really wanted to do a proper job of building the strength back into the sill, more for my piece of mind than anything else :p I\'m glad that approach is showing through via the pictures

I\'m a bit fair weather in terms that I won\'t work on it while it\'s raining, mostly because the gazebo is only showerproof and it\'s not much fun in the rain! Don\'t think the welder will like it either!

Think there\'s 2 more days of my pace fabrication in this corner, then the back of the passengers wheel arch needs a day or twos work, then that should be the rear rot dealt with and I can start to clean up and por15 the whole underbody. I can see it getting messy :p

[Ian65]

I can see it getting messy :p

don\'t get any POR15 on your skin.... else you have to wait till it wears off,
great stuff on the car but not on yourself!
I\'ve been doing the undeside of my car with it and it\'s tricky not to get covered in the stuff.

[CHC (RIP)]

Happy New Year Steve - great job you are doing there.
With rgds the front driver side sill - On my previous rex in the 80\'s I was using the standard sissor jack when the car rolled foward (can\'t remeber what caused it now) and the result was as you have found. So perhaps this is what had happened.

From what I\'ve seen, a poly bush set on eBay is currently about £240 so the US set seems damn good.

Keep up the good work.
Cliff

[Steve-A]

Thats for that extra reassurance Cliff For now I\'m just gonna paint over the area and not worry

Well there\'s not been much progress on Rexanne over the last few days. Firstly we had high winds, and I came outside to find this:



Well it wasn\'t that neat and tidy, I had to stop the poles from flailing around wilding half attached to the cloth, so it didn\'t do any more damage to the paint work, before I took a photo!

No major damage to Rexanne, just a few light scratches, but the gazebo is gonna need major surgery if its ever gonna live again. Without shelter its been far too windy to try and carryon on with the welding work.

So I\'ve been putting my welding skills to use, and learning more, by helping my dad\'s company out by doing a few days fabricating. Making things like this:



Its much easier to be neat and tidy when its all nice clean fresh metal and I\'m not upside down in sub zero conditions trying to work on it

I\'ve also spent a fair amount of time doing this:



Helping my friend Ian (pictured) with his wrong wheel drive VW, trying to make the steering a little less like pudding by fitting a different front subframe with new geometry!

I\'ve ordered the re-speed bush kit (and a kit for Ian65 too) which Billy said would be ready to be posted in a couple of days, and I\'ve emailed Danny about the wheel spacers, so slow progress is still being made.

I\'ve also been having dirty motorbike thoughts this week. I\'ve been tempted by the idea of buying a more commutable bike, to run along side Rexanne, instead of buying a economical daily drive car. The maths says it will save me money and if I need to take a passenger or don\'t wanna get wet etc I\'ll still have Rexanne to drive.

The only tricky bit will be the swap over time between selling the rotary mx5 to get the money to finish Rexanne and buy the bike, and acutally finishing Rexanne, at which point I will be left with just a bike for transport! I was considering kinda rushing Rexanne onto the road, as once this weldings finished and the bushes are fitted, technically I think I could get her through an MOT with just brake lines. But then Ians thread reminded how much I really wanted to do a proper restoration and make her special. So hmmm, lots to think about.

One thing I don\'t have to think about is that if I do get a less race rep and more sports tourer bike I think I\'ll be once again drawn to the v twin rumble and dry clutch clatter of a Ducati. I miss my 748 at times! A monster 620 would do just fine....

[CHC (RIP)]

Definitely a good idea to practise the welding skills but don\'t you find the extra thick metal off putting?  It gives a false sense of security.  I\'d prefer to practise with thin plate and multi positions - nevertheless very good idea.
Is that a new number plate you fabbed up?  Surely must be for a bike with a central bolt hole? (he...he..).  No seriously, is this something you have done?  Is so it looks to be of a suitable standard, so it shows how much improvement you have made since striking your 1st arc.