What did you do to your MX5 today ?

[Pops]

Not sure how common it is for the rad to crack but I think it's something caused by the plastic going brittle, probably just something to keep an eye on, it seems that the weak point is the area around where the top rad hose fits, the header tank changes colour as it gets older which fits with the colour of your one, keep a look out for the stress marks around the top of the rad, I wouldn't worry about it too much but it's something to keep an eye on

[Fla]

It’s been a busy few days down in the barn. New EBC USR discs all round with green stuff pads. Replaced the handbrake cables and cleaned up all the calipers. When I was wire wheeling the front calipers they actually came up blue? Not sure was this an option back in the day.

Today I’m under sealing wings and sills. Painting the repair with acid 8 and primer. Then it’s only change every fluid in the car, swap wheels for old tyres with heaps of thread and then it’ll be off to the nct on Wednesday night.

Oh and had a surreal dealing with my new local Mazda dealer. They only recently added the franchise on. Went down ordered some brake bits and the price was reasonable. Then he gave me a wheel nut so I could hopefully pass the test. Then I said, there’s no chance you could get me the original build sheet spec of the G Ltd. he was like, yaill email mazda and try and get that for you. How things had changed.

[Pops]

Nice to have a friendly dealer, those discs look nice, I've seen on the mx5 restorer YouTube channel that they are specifically sided and they must be fitted on the correct side

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Notice the direction of the grooves on the left front disc, I'm not sure if yours are the same

[Fla]

Yes. They are marked right and left and then you have rear and front. The picture of mine is a rear caliper. Unless they marked my boxes wrong I just filled the stickers.

[Pops]

Very good, I just looked at the pic I posted, what caught my eye was the price list, ouch

[Fla]

Haha these are exceptionally expensive. The good thing is though. I bought these 3-4 years ago, the full handbrake 10 years ago and the tyres 8 years ago. In total probably close to €1000 worth of kit which is going on the G Ltd now at no cost in January!

[Fla]

Busy day today

Coolant flush and change
Oil and filter change
Toyos fitted to rims
Under seal done of wings and sills
Sill repair etched, primed and stone chipped
Rat damage fixed, he ate HT leads and light wiring
Replacement bulbs
Insurance

I’d call that productive. I hope the brake run in goes well tomorrow before nct.

Oh and had another weird experience with the main dealer. Went to get get an oil filter. First polish lad hadn’t a clue. Main guy came in, gave me the correct filter in 30 seconds and four bulbs. Charged me a tanner. That was a genuine filter. Am I in Bermuda Triangle or something?!

Looking forward to the first spin in 5 years tomorrow. Wish me luck.

[Steve]

Excellent! Take some photos!

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

[Fla]

Umm forgot about that Steve! She’s in the nct Centre now so we’ll find out shortly if it was worth the effort and pain!

[Pops]

Umm forgot about that Steve! She’s in the nct Centre now so we’ll find out shortly if it was worth the effort and pain!

How'd you get on with the nct? Good news hopefully

[Fla]

Well for a car that was parked up five years of its twenty five it was positive enough.

Failed on handbrake, brake line (hardline) and a single boot.

So the handbrake I knew about, having an issue getting the rear calipers to bite even though it’s all new. The only thing that’s old is the calipers and they were new refurbs I put on to pass the last test. So hopefully I’ll fix that tomorrow.

The brake line is a cheap enough part, €15 or €60 so that’s not too bad and the cv boot is a quick repair. All in all not the worst.

[Pops]

Not too bad considering how long it's been "resting",
I had a similar problem with the handbrake last year, the way I got it to adjust properly was to release all the cable adjustment and then disconnect the cables from the calipers then use the splined adjuster to adjust the caliper, refit the cables and then adjust only the cables, there's a small amount of adjustment of the outer sleeve where they bolt to the calipers but as I'm sure you know, the main adjustment is done at the handbrake lever.
Another thought is that the cables fit in a kind of wrong way round position, on the balance bar where the two cables connect to the single cable from the handbrake lever, the left cable connects to the right hand side of the balance bar and right to the left

[Fla]

Hiya. Ya I spotted hat wrong way around thing during dismantling. I do have what I call installer ocd. As a telecoms tech and general hobby builder I’m all about the detail. To the the point where I will complete undo something if it’s out by a few mm.

I think my calipers are working permit but the part that allows the handbrake to sling back may be seized. I’m going to do as you say though and un do and reconnect all again and lube up the spring where the handbrake connects. Hopefully that’ll sort it.

[Fla]

Today

New rear brake pipe installed left to right €34 from main dealer and only took 3 days from Belgium. Brakes bled and rear handbrake sorted I hope.

Tomorrow test driving...!

[Steve]

excellent!