it's a bit late in the day for a build thread I spose, but now i'm getting into the thick of it a bit more then why the hell not?
lets go back a few months, to april this year in fact, with the looming boredom of a "modern" and the fast approaching summer I felt I needed to get back to my roots with something more offensive and RWD.
so up the golf went for sale, and onto *insert generic car procurement website here* to hunt out an MX5. the only stipulations being it has a hardtop, has no electric 'tat', it's a 1.8 and that it's a lairy colour.
so up steps this car to the plate
badly advertised on ebay, hardtop, laguna blue. base model 1.8. all boxes ticked. perfect.
won the auction for £1500, travelled to kent and picked the old girl up, had a slight bit of confusion as to the location of the logbook, managed to get a years tax thrown in FOC. perfect. met up with my bunch of merry idiots (f6squared) on the way home for some general hyjinx
so home it come, and on with the modifications. first off was a rearrangement of the lights, first with the indicators redded out and some import side markers (not very exciting but bare with me)
then swapped the reverse and indicators around, and oranged up the front indicators.....
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then, just 2 weeks into ownership I tested and exceeded the limits of my skill/the car and stuffed it into a kerb bending a wishbone and a few other bits. drifting in the dry on a public road in a relatively low powered car is something i'd not recomend ;D
live and learn ay? a few new parts and it was only my pride that was left feeling bruised.
so anyway, back to the modification, about this time i'd finished uni, so could really get into some stuff, money was still tight but that didn't stop me
first of my free modifications, the diet. out with the interior, sound deadening, parts of the dashboard, contents of the boot.....
then not content with driving a bare shell of an automobile, some perspex doorcards to give me a bit of protection from the greasy and sharp insides of the doors...
and some pretty pink grab handles for good measure....
next up was an RX7 seat i'd been practically given, a bit lighter, a bit more comfortable and a bit more of a holding monster, apparently a fairly easy fit. well that turned out to be utter fabrication, so I had to perform a bit of fabrication.....
and we're in
continuing in the trend of free modifications, with the consideration i'm handy with a welder....out come miggy for some stitch/plug/seam welding....
genuinely impressed with how much it made a difference.
a few little touches now the ball is rolling....
the infamous orange towstrap, from ryans zombie mk4 golf (before it was the zombie anyway)
quaife nylon gearknob....
after stripping most of the dash out, including the stereo, I found myself singing a selection of 80's ballads in traffic, so to save myself any further embarrassment, I cunjured up a box of tricks of my own creation that charged/amped my ipod that I could neatly tuck out of the way.
did some soldering
mashed it all together
and it's ready to be hidden somewhere under my half dash
grand total of the new sounds - £16. so not quite free but up to this stage I think we're up to about £100 in modifications.
still yet to run out of low cost modifications, I made a gauge holder to replace the centre heater vents, I had the gauges laying around.
next on the list, is something i've posted in the main section on here before, as I wanted some inspiration, as usual you were a helpful bunch and I got to work on these wing cutouts, with the main inspiration being the spoon S2000 kit.....
so monkey see, and monkey indeed do
fitted
bit of filler work
bit more filler work
more filler work
and paint.....
now at this stage I might add that I own a vinyl cutter, so making stickers is a good way to pass those cold welsh evenings.
and cut vinyl I did, from the door cards....
to the windows....
and my pièce de résistance, the P40 warhawk shark mouth....
which my friend alex (who may or may not have previously worked at a signwriters) fitted kindly for me.
oh, blasted the wheels with some matt black while I was there.
then a tour around london, with my merry bunch of idiots....
then after edition38, where i'd hastily cut my backbox off with the sole intention of making it louder, I went about replacing it with a side exit pipe
and that was that for the time being, I was enjoying the welsh roads, with my other MX FWEND, sam.....
around this time i'd started work, so had less time yet an iminent supply of cash, so the first things first were some (very painful looking) seats....
and then a set of wheels turned up that I really couldn't refuse, on the grounds you'll understand when you see them.....
small problem being the tyres were bald, so new tyres were ordered, which left me with a conundrum of what to do with the old ones....
that about covers the cosmetic aspect of the old girl, for now at least, next stage is going to be largely performance related, with last week the application of many small round orange things....
and some hard spinny things.
which replaced lots of small round black things.
and that takes is bang up to date, the next step is this....
which should be designed in a few weeks so I can get handy with miggy once again.
so to end the thread of overwhelming pictorial evidence, I present you with some more pictures ;D
