Before:
After:
Some arsehole who was probably on his mobile decided to smash into my MX5 recently, and drove off without stopping. The damage was far worse than it looks in the 'before' picture.
Repair process as follows:
1. I bought all the replacement parts online for £1,500.
2. Luckily they were already assembled and attached to a very good condition* MX5 with the 1.8 engine and only half the mileage of my old one.
3. The local garage shifted across some good bits from the old one to the new one, did a bit of welding, new MOT etc; Suffolk Mazda came to collect the old one, paid me a very fair £350, bringing the net cost of the exercise down to £450, and that was the end of that.
* There are various niggles still to be sorted out. When I drove round for half an hour just now to keep the battery charged, the bloody handbrake light stayed on. I don't think the handbrake was actually on, because it drove OK and the brake disks weren't overly hot when I got back home, but it still doesn't 'feel' right somehow. It's not as lively as the old one with the 1.6 engine, which had 109 bhp ex-factory twenty years ago and was probably down to about 90 bhp when I bought it. Ah well, back to the menders it is, then.
No wonder he's never around
8 minutes ago
14 comments:
Handbrake light - wiring differences? wire/connector knocked off the switch?
Performance - needs an Italian tuneup because it's been commuting all the time? dirty fuel filter? dirty air filter? choked cat? dirty plugs?
Have fun!
DECB, your guess is better than mine. Up to the garage to sort out.
Get it tuned by some professional tuners. Back in the day I had a Mk1 Golf van. After I'd taken it to the tuners, it would do a ton on the flat, no trouble. I asked them what they'd done to it. "Breathed on it" was the answer.
B, I'm not a speed freak and I don't think it's a bhp problem.
It's difficult to describe except by comparing it with how the old MX5 was to drive (which was nigh perfect, given it was a twenty year old automatic with a 1.6 engine and less than 100 bhp, who cares in a car that doesn't weigh anything). But as you don't know how the old one was, that's meaningless.
I was going by the "it's not so lively" remark, which I thought indicated a lack of power. I'm not a speed freak either, the speed was just to give an idea of the increase in performance. It was the improvement in fuel economy that I was after.
Nightmare.
JH, ta. Old cars are always a bit of headache, but it's self-inflicted. And some drivers are arseholes, we have to accept that.
MX5's weigh just over a tonne. That's <100 bhp / ton then. The thing I am rebuilding weighs 500 kg max and has about 85 bhp. That's 165 bhp / tonne.
Do what B says - get it breathed on....:-)
L, yes, but I am not a speed freak. The new one is supposed to have more bhp's - about 140 ex-factory, so maybe down to 125 after twenty years and 73,000 miles (and once the brakes are fixed)? That's plenty.
L. yes. I know. And you are exactly correct. I'm the oddity. Out of curiosity have you ever driven an original Lotus Elan - on which the MX5 was said to be modelled?
L, no I haven't.
I'm realistic about cars and would only test drive something if I seriously intended to and could afford to buy it, i.e. £2,500 absolute max. Up the age of 50 I'd only owned three cars, since then I've bought four, i.e. three plus a replacement for one of them.
So I've not test driven many. The only cars I've ever test driven and not bought were an MGF and an MGTF. Didn't really feel it.
My three current cars should see me through well past 2035, and if they all die after that..? I don't know what I'll do.
MW. The question about the Elan was really as a comparison for you. If you like the litheness of the MX5 you'd love how an Elan feels, considering that it's a 1963 design it's astonishingly good. It weighed about 700kg and had initially between about 90 and 115 bhp.
If you are ever offered a go in one, jump at it.
L, I'd be a bit nervous driving a national icon that's worth £20,000-plus. That would spoil the fun. When the old MX-5 got totalled, I was pretty pissed off but at least it wasn't a serious financial loss.
MW. With an Elan of that value it's pretty hard to actually 'write it off'. The value is such that all you need is the chassis plate and you can rebuild it. FWIW the 26R version is £100K nowadays.
But, if you do ever get a chance I urge you top screw up your courage and give it a go.
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