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Rich's 1999 MX5 1.8i S


Rich
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There are so many MX5 shops out there, spoilt for choice!!

 

Here are a couple of photos of the car jacked up. I did think about putting the axle stands on the subframe bolt but I was concerned it could slip off so put them just in front, which I assume is ok?

 

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I also removed the door cards over the weekend to slap abit of grease on the window runners. Most of the old grease was at the bottom of the runners and was like hard butter so wasn't doing much!! After cleaning this out and putting some LM grease on there I've shaved about 3 seconds off the time it takes for them to go down and up - much better! :)

 

While the cards were off I noticed the speakers were the same size as the ones I had in my Mondeo, which I kept in the loft. The standard ones were pretty good anyway but I decided to fit these and it's even better now :D All I had to do was remove the old speakers from the adapters (screwed and glued in!), trim part of the rear and then the Pioneers fit perfectly.

 

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On the drivers side the plastic covering had been ripped and the door card split - why can't people be more careful when removing parts (this wasn't Iain, probably the owner before)! Also the internal door lock doesn't work, it just flaps about. I found the problem, which is a piece of plastic that screws onto the rod and connects to the handle is missing. I have bought a pair of handles, surrounds and rods from ebay for £9 delivered so when they come I'll swap the handle over and repair the torn plastic with a bin liner or some other plastic if I can find any.

 

I also noticed yesterday that the passenger door isn't opening/locking properly with the drivers. If I turn the key and let go it doesn't work but if I turn and hold the key then wiggle it abit it works. Hopefully it's just the connectors that need spraying with some contact cleaner.

 

Drivers side with plastic missing on the threaded bar

 

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Passenger side to show what's missing

 

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I also tested the brakes again and it's definitely stopped pulling to the right when slamming on at speed now but the rear feels like it's squirming still so I'll definitely be cleaning/greasing those.

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If you want to further improve the doors - add some dynamat. Makes the doors a bit more solid sounding and it helps road noise a bit and makes the speakers work better. Less buzzing too. I done mine ages ago along with some ex demo JBL GTO speakers from halfords for £15 and the improvement was superb.

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I bought it from halfords but you can get it cheaper online i think. I have read people using roofing stuff from b&q with similar effects but might smell a bit :lol:

 

I put the plastic sheet over the top but its missing on drivers side. I cant say its made any difference having it not there!

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Cool I'll have a look and take some measurements see how much I'd need. I've not really been on the motorway yet so not experienced the road noise!

 

What does the plastic covering do, is it to protect the electrics or/and the back of the door card? I noticed where it's ripped on the drivers side there is a motor that has surface rust on it.

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If you want to further improve the doors - add some dynamat. Makes the doors a bit more solid sounding and it helps road noise a bit and makes the speakers work better. Less buzzing too. I done mine ages ago along with some ex demo JBL GTO speakers from halfords for £15 and the improvement was superb.

Careful, you'll get addicted and before you know it, you'll get "DJ-Wozza-itus" and spend years aiming for the perfect sound with the highest quality. ...

 

Only messing, enjoy :D

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There's not much you can do in an MX5 anyway so should be ok! :lol:

 

I've been reading up on the sound deadening and you put it on the back of the door skin? I thought you put on the metal under where the plastic sheeting it, although I guess there's no harm in doing both. It seems most people just put it around the speaker hole to stop vibrations.

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If the pitch changes with the road surface then it's tyres.......

 

I get terrible road noise on some surfaces on the Accord, how would you know what tyres are causing it if they're different on each axle?

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I fitted the dynamat on the doors themselves and used a 1inch wallpaper roller to get it stuck on nicely. I did it primarily to make the door speakers work better and go louder without farting and buzzing. The positive side effect is the doors feel more sold to close and it cuts the road noise down a bit.

 

The yoko low energy tyres on the lexus are terrible for picking up road noise at times. Goodyear eagle f1s on the other hand on the audi were very good at insulating.

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My door handles and rods arrived on Wednesday so I fitted the drivers side yesterday. Before fitting it the passenger door used to lock via the drivers side with the key but you had to do it hard and hold it in the lock position for a couple of seconds. Once I connected the drivers handle up to the rod the passenger door would no longer lock.

 

I was scratching my head for ages trying to work out what was wrong and thought something must be sticking as both doors locked when the button was pressed in. I disconnect this rod from the lock one that was connected to what I thought was an actuator further down the door, which I thought triggered the passenger side to lock. To my surprise after disconnecting it the passenger side locked as normal, even better than before you don't need to hold the key.

 

I Googled some photos of the MK2 central locking and found most had 2 rods, the handle and the lock ones. Looks like this 3rd rod on mine is actually connected to a solenoid and is for remote central locking. The car didn't come with a fob so I don't need it so have left it disconnected. Problem solved! :D

 

The 3rd bar is the diagonal one.

 

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It goes down to this solenoid.

 

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This is what I disconnected, it was bolted to the bar above.

 

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I fitted the dynamat on the doors themselves and used a 1inch wallpaper roller to get it stuck on nicely. I did it primarily to make the door speakers work better and go louder without farting and buzzing. The positive side effect is the doors feel more sold to close and it cuts the road noise down a bit.

 

The yoko low energy tyres on the lexus are terrible for picking up road noise at times. Goodyear eagle f1s on the other hand on the audi were very good at insulating.

 

I've seen some stuff on ebay for £20, which should do both doors but I'll see what it's like on my road trip. I'll probably get some for that price though, even the cheap stuff must be better than nothing.

 

 

Don't you love it when you can recycle things like the speakers :D


Agreed! Nice one Rich :)

 

 

Although I am no where near as bad as my Dad if something still works I'll hang on to it in case I need it! :D

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When I washed the car the other day I had a weird problem afterwards, the drivers window would only go down 1/4 of the way! I tried a couple of times before driving off but when I got to the end of the road and tried again it worked fine! 

 

I removed the door card yesterday (can do that in 2 minutes now! :lol: ) and the foam around the wiring/plug for the window was wet. Any ideas on how it's got in, if it was the window strip wouldn't that run down the inside of the door skin? The plug is underneath the plastic covering under the door card. There is no water runs on the inside of the window so I don't think it's come from under the roof.

 

I jacked the rear of the car up yesterday to clean the rear brakes up. There were 2 bolts just in front of the diff which I jacked from, it seemed fine but just want to check? I placed the axle stands on the wishbones but I couldn't jack near here otherwise I couldn't get the stands in! I had to drive on to bricks again too so need to make those ramps soon.

 

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Cleaning the brakes up went well, looks like copper grease had been used on the these slider pins as well so cleaned it all off and used proper brake grease. The end cap for the lower slider was missing and the pin itself showed more corrosion than the other side so I need to find a replacement. It cleaned up a little but I might just replace these on all 4 corners now.

 

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I noticed this on one of the pads but I can't work out if it's a scratch/chip or the start of a crack - what do we think?

 

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Hopefully that's all it is then.

 

Just got back from our weekend away. The drive up there was good, had no issues but boy it gets warm inside the car and my legs were feeling abit cramped after a while. Only had 10 minutes of rain on the way and it was sunny all weekend.

 

Took it out for a blast around the lanes with the roof down obviously ;) Really enjoyed it, some great roads up in Norfolk.

 

The drive home today was interesting in torrential rain. The Toyos don't like the wet that's for sure! I didn't really go above 60mph, I felt quite vulnerable compared to driving the Accord or Civic.

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Yes probably, the car was definitely more nervous in the wet, standing water and crosswinds don't help when it's so light as well. I suppose it's just going to take some time getting used to a RWD as it is my first one. The vulnerable feeling came from being in a car with little metal to protect you and how low it is, but this was down to the weather.

 

Really enjoyed it though and will be taking it back up next August instead for at least a week or 2 and hopefully when the weather is nicer :)

 

I also worked out the mpg for this tank but I won't be recording it everytime like I do the Accord and it was 36.5 mpg. I did around 50 miles around the lanes and was taking it to the redline alot, the drive there and back was more sensible!

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