Winter woes.....

[93 Mk1]

great job, its encouraging me to get my act together with mine

I know exactly what you mean Steve - these jobs just built up until I could stand it any longer !! Make a start....it's that time of year and then you can be all sorted for our "summer" ahead !

[93 Mk1]

After doing my cam over, CAS seal etc recently, I had to refit the strut brace. I never noticed it when taking it off but it was pretty awful looking !



So after around 20 minutes work with wet & dry paper, WD-40 and some metal polish, it looked less embarrassing:



Hmmmm, if only the rest of the engine looked as bright........
Anyway, if any of you are wondering how effective Fabsil is on our roofs then have a look.....it was raining recently (ok, all the time ) and you'll notice how the water goes into droplets instead of soaking in:



I still had a small bit of water ingress into the boot after replacing the light seals (which p#ssed me off no end ). A few years ago, my electric aerial died a slow painful death so I replaced it with a bee sting type á la Golf Mk2 16V. It turns out this was the source of the leak this time so I removed it, cleaned up the base and applied some silicone sealer and refitted. So that's that.....hopefully !
While I was doing this work, I observed to myself that artifacts excavated from the Egyptian period ~ 3100 BC were probably in better condition that my battery anchor bracket:



So I picked up a new one from Mazda for the pricely sum of €11. A secure battery and 3 months road tax....we're back on the road

[mrges]

Fantastic. Now to get out and get driving it - and when the rain stops.... getting the roof down

[93 Mk1]

Fantastic. Now to get out and get driving it - and when the rain stops.... getting the roof down

Well I can report that the gear shift feels completely different.....springy almost (in a positive way) but more slick also. But yeah, let the weather improve so we can get those roofs down ! An R53 Cooper S has been added to the stable lately so that's been a bloody distraction as well. It's such a fun car to drive......

[MX5Spares]

Is there a wiff of nappy when you drive down the road.Like the old OXO ad from years back .

[93 Mk1]

Is there a wiff of nappy when you drive down the road.Like the old OXO ad from years back .

Robert, I'm waaaaay too young to remember adverts like that !!!!

[mrges]

Graham, what's the vacuum gauge hooked up to ?

Sorry... just realised I never replied to this (and I went and took photos at the time... then completely forgot).

This is the set up - (forgive my lack of technical speak here) both pipes originate from this small box which is plugged into a connector. The top most pipe goes into the canister-type thang, the other tracks underneath then up to (I think!!) the throttle body. The clear pipe I traced back to the bulk head - so I'm guessing this goes to the gauge.

Vacuum 1.jpg

Vacuum 2.jpg

[leamyj]

Yep, you can tap in anywhere on the vacuum pipe to feed the gauge...afaik!

John

[Len]

thats a great job. I am blue in the face from the Autoglym roof protector that lasts no time and is crazy expensive. I used the VW / AUDI soft top protector spray before and its good but expensive. Have to do the roof on my SAAB so Ill try it there first before the MX5 and see how I get on. Im a bit morre cautious with the MX!!!

[93 Mk1]

The mohair roofs are just something that needs regular cleaning, I think, Len. Let us know how you get on !