Spoiler

[leamyj]

That's the spoiler that I have on mine..i'm fairly sure it's oem.

John

[Real Rayzor]

Hi Graham.. if it's the standard oem whale fin spoiler your after I have one there. Your welcome to it... it's black though but probably needs a tidy anyway.
Ray

[mrges]

Thanks for the replies.... and now I read them I realise that "yes.... it's the oem whale tail"!

Ray, pm sent.

[mrges]

Thanks to Ray, the above spoiler issue has been resolved

And thanks for all the suggestions regarding removal.



So, here's what was fitted:

Spoiler 01.jpg

A good blast of the hairdryer was useful in softening the glue, and Steve, the fishing line was defo useful at the start, but it was very slow going! Along with copious amounts of WD40 It did cut through enough of the glue to let me raise the spoiler enough to fit in some plastic garden strimmer line (again, with lots of WD40).

Spoiler 02.jpg

Soooooo, (eventually) off it came, and left this mess behind:

Spoiler 04.jpg

Spoiler 03.jpg

More hairdrying and WD40 removed this gunk........ along with the paint (GGGRRRRR - though really, what else should I have expected?)

Spoiler 05.jpg

A light sanding and quick blow over with paint for protection and it was time to fit the replacement. That old phrase of "measure twice, cut once" just wasn't enough. Believe me, I measured 10 times..... then some more...... then fired up the drill.

Spoiler 07.jpg

Finally, and thankfully, all fitted into place. I prefer the look (but kinda scarily enough, when I had the spoiler-less boot, I actually liked the "clean" look of the rear of the car, and briefly thought about just leaving it as it was..... but didn't).

Spoiler 08.jpg

Spoiler 09.jpg

Spoiler 10.jpg

Now to remove it again, and have a go at painting it and the boot lid!

[Pops]

Well done, you must have bucket loads of patience. Will you touch up or respray the boot lid ? Suppose the worst of the damage is covered by the new spoiler

[mrges]

Thankfully , as you say, the bulk of the damage is hidden by the spoiler. I don't think I'd have the skills to touch up the damage - I think I might go for a whole boot respray (And spoiler too, of course...... even tho I'm starting to think that the black spoiler doesn't look toooooo out of place).

[Real Rayzor]

Great work Graham. Looking good.

[Steve]

nice work! Brave man

[leamyj]

Much better looking than the one you replaced!

[mrges]

Thanks folks. And on the subject of the spoiler - I now have the one I removed........ it's just gathering dust in the garage, and so is free to a good home should anyone be interested. I'll also put it up in the For Sale section later this afternoon.

[Pops]

Did you ever figure out what the big bolt was for ?

[mrges]

Yes.... but forgot to post it! On the Midlands run a few weeks back I mentioned it to a fellow MX-5er who suggested that it appeared to be there as a "press" for the light switch on the lip on top of the boot. Maybe other cars have a rubber bung there?! Oh, and I'm guessing it's a light switch, however when we looked around the interior of the boot we couldn't find one anywhere.