A German is trying to invade my Japanese territory

[mrges]

The inconsistency with insurance companies is no less than amazing.... I called Campions in April of this year to get a quote for the MX5 and it was a case of 'computer says no'.... we don't cover convertibles.

[Pops]

A pain in the watsit is insurance, tried fbd twice, kept being pushed from billy to jack so gave up. first Ireland....all our operators are busy but give your details and we’ll get back to you....with 47 products I’m not interested in. Carole nash....no way would they cover the merc, even next year. Axa..cars must be minimum of 25 years old. Campions, mx5 on third party only due to it being a convertible, no merc. Finally a service I’ve not heard of before, Coverage.ie, merc ok when it’s 20 but no mx5

[Pops]

After sanding and polishing the headlight lenses I was pretty happy with the results.....until I applied the uv treatment, first one turned out ok but for the dirt and lines in the coating but the second one went cloudy. Will have to leave them a few days to let the coating harden fully before I can sand them again
First one

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Second one

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[Pops]

While I’ve left the disappointment of the headlights for the time being I plugged in the diagnostic reader to check for fault codes since cleaning out the breather system, no stored fault but one pending for the maf. Checked the readings for it on the scanner and it’s as good as useless, on idle it reads 0.01, if I rev it a bit it reads 0.02 and rev it higher it reads 0.03 so it’s time for a new maf I’d say

[Pops]

So, back to the headlights,
Sanded by hand , 600 then 2000 grit

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Used the big dog to compound the sandpaper marks

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Happy now

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Couldn’t get the byutl strip so used this flexible bonding adhesive

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.

Descent results at last

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[Steve]

they came out great, it'll make a huge difference on the car I'd say.

[Pops]

They’re back in place now

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Candle power has increased

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Bosch purelight h7 bulbs

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After replacing numerous bulbs in the old mondeo , I found the Bosch purelight to be the best, even better than the Osram Nightbreakers ( due to them lasting only a few weeks )

[Steve]

Lovely!

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

[mrges]

The headlights job seem to have been well worth the effort, Pops. Well done.

[Pops]

Thanks guys,it was the Uv coating that Effed up the first attempt, anyway it’s done now.
Some good news is that I’ve now got insurance sorted, it’s as a “daily “on it so now I can drive it, as and when, and as much as I like.
Before I get carried away, I still need a mass air flow meter for it , BUGGER, as the binky guys would say

[Pops]

Fairly decent weather today so I decided to change the oil and filter and the transmission fluid and filter, should have known things don’t go well when you don’t have all day to do it.
Gave it a good spin to get everything warmed up, first problem was that I couldn’t open the drain plug in the transmission, wasn’t such a big deal as I was removing the sump anyway to change the filter, the fluid was well past due for a change, and I also changed the connector plug as it was leaking, about 3.5 liters of fluid came out, it’s supposed to hold 8, any way I refilled the same amount as came out for now.
Onto the engine oil and filter change, poured in a oil flush and let it run for 20 minutes, couldn’t open the oil filter cap so have to leave draining it till tomorrow maybe.

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Transmission sump and filter, and leaky connector plug

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Some of the old transmission fluid

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Pig of an oil filter cap that won loosen.
Ungrateful German bitch

[Pops]

Oil & filter change done now, had to buy a Mercedes filter tool as none of mine or my neighbors would open it, transmission fluid changed as well, car drives much better and quieter, still waiting on delivery of the maf

[mrges]

Tis great when you get a job done and then notice the difference. (Pain in the butt having to buy a specific tool.... thankfully that's not the case with all manufacturers).

[Pops]

It’s a nuisance having to buy a tool that will only be used once in a blue moon especially when there’s 40 years worth of tools in the shed, anyway this one is for most German cars so as one of my sons has a golf it may well get some more use ( if I ever get round to service it)
Did a bit of work on the rusty arches, just used the grinder with a wire brush attachment for now so that I could put on some kurust rust converter
Pics of two of them, the others are very much the same

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The wheels are on the list for repaint as they look much worse than in the pictures

[Pops]

Fitted an old io play 2 hands free kit that I kept when I changed the old mondeo a few years ago , handy for keeping the phone charged as well as playing music

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While doing this, the new air flow meter arrived, now fitted so now I’ve got two reasons to test drive it.
Drove about 12 miles, seemed a bit sluggish but I thought it’s just learning the new sensor, turned out that I’d hit the winter mode in the transmission, switched back to standard and what a difference it made.
So at the moment there’s no fault codes and it’s driving ok.
Still think the mx5 is a more involving car to drive