1989 MX5 Eunos - FINISHED.

[Hammy]

Hi, I'm Hammy and this is my build thread of my current Eunos import. It's a 1990 and was imported into the UK in 2000. I picked it up earlier this year for a bargain price off the bay of E.



I would like to say I had a plan, sadly I don't - I decide as I go along... I would also like to say I had a heap of money to throw at this, sadly, I don't have that either as I have a wife, a child, a house and lots of animals. Sigh! I do however like to be creative and make things out of nothing... I make pretty much all my own things and rarely buy anything... out of necessity rather than choice



So, here is my NA arriving home. It had been sat on the previous owners drive for 7-8months idle. I went to view it before I bought - in the middle of winter covered in ice and snow. But as it was going for a song (cheap) and it appeared pretty solid, just lack of care... I gave it a chance.







VIN plate:





Being red and sat outside without so much a cursory glance, the paintwork ah faded...













The interior however I scored a bonus and this is why I had bought it really - the previous owner had just spent approx £1000 getting new leather seats, door cards etc made specially... had only driven it once before it stood doing nothing until I bought it...





The vinyl hood also seemed to be in good condition that I could see - no obvious splits or tears.





The engine bay was the usual tatty mess and noticed the engine itself listed :shock:





I sorted that with fitting the engine mounts properly.... the previous owner had said the engine had been serviced a few miles before it was taken off the road - it also had cam belt and pump changed and a new clutch - this explained somewhat the listing engine. The previous owner did produce all the paperwork to prove servicing etc so I was happy





I did a quick check underneath and it all seemed solid enough - usual rust ont eh wishbones etc, but generalyl solid enough - with some unknown brand coilovers.. looking a bit tatty, but all solid enough...









After taking one of the front arch liners off, this lot fell out from behind the wing (fender)





A quick clean to check the and all was clear in there with no rust





So that's how we stood for now. Better get cracking and start work making this tired lump, well again...

[Hammy]

I thought it best to check the paint to see what it was like. I clayed it, masked off an area and tested with a soft pad... well, it's it good condition...





Not bad...but I will still probably respray the whole thing.

After that - well, after I had to go in to make Sunday lunch.... As the car had not been run for approx 8 months I pulled the plugs from the engine, put a drop of oil in each cylinder and hand cranked the engine with a rathchet on the crankshaft pulley... about three rotations. Nice and smooth. Oil was indeed brand new, all fluids seemed fine, air filter was new.

As the battery was dead it had fully charged by now... so I cranked the engine over with no plugs. Sounded good. In with plugs and fire her up.. no sooner had I turned the key she fired up... fantastic. Nice and smooth - a bit HLA noise to be expected, but oil pressure good. Left her running for approx 20 mins and all was well.

Result

[Hammy]

So begins the tidy up. Having removed the rather manky expansion tank and washer bottle I cleaned these up by leaving them in a hot bleach solution. Came up well...


Decided on a quick win and cleaned up the area behind the bulkhead, the wiper arms, motor..plastics and interior air intake and motor..








I then decided to make a start on the wheels... so a clean up first:


...and after


Not sure about these... I would strip and do them completely at a later date.

[Hammy]

So now it was time to tackle some metal work. I removed the rear arch liners and the area behind when I poked about was rusty... so time for the air crinder and cut some metal out:


Removed the bad areas, and thankfully inside was all good, so just need to weld new metal in:


Make a template:


and the other side:


...had a quick check of my wheels as they were a constant distraction: Still not sure about them...


SO back to metalwork, welding and grinding done and some rust prevention and anti rust primer:


Same on other side, but no pic...

[Hammy]

SO now I turn my attention to the front bumper. I had to spend all of £10 to buy a new front bumper as the one on the car was a bit of a mess when I removed the front number plate... so I started taking all the bits off the replacement bumper..



I spent what seemed like hours and hours sorting out the front weather strips from the bumper... got them right in the end.


The metal brackets holding front bumper to the wing had gone past there best, so I made new ones:




I then decided I would start removing the aircon....


For unknown reasons I sprayed the front RB classic red... I would later change this also


In painting mood, I took the whole front end back to bare metal, prepped, primed and painted it all:








I then striped and refurbed the bonnet catch and horn...






This is far from serious stuff... but my job was taking most of my time so I was grabbing little bits now and then. This would result in a long drawn out restoration...

[Hammy]

Then I started to strip all of the suspension and sand blast it clean... I found the front upper on one side bent and the lower one too. It had taken a knock sometime in it's life so this forced me to check all the rails... they were straight as die so all good there:









SO they were scrap and I bought new ones..well second hand but straight for £20. Bargain.

You can probably tell the haphazard approach to this... doing lots of different bits. AT this stage msot of the car is stripped.

The haphazard approach continues

I tested praying the rear panel..


Then I set to work making good the new front bumper and the original rear bumper..


The middle of the front had a dent... I tried and tried to get this filled using heat gun, plastic filler... spent about a day doing it.. it was driving me mad to get it flat...


Eventually... I got there...but what a job to get it right...


I then decided to make good all the plastics... I used a method of heat and lemon oil... to bring back the original plastic - came up as new










That's enough haphazard for a day...

[Hammy]

Step forward another day and more haphazardness

After getting all the garden done and other unnecessary indoor cleaning work for men, I was allowed to go play :-)

So today, I'm making my own grill. Now I like the gaping mouth of the Mk1, but it does need a grill guard. Step in an old Epiphone amp - this is the stainless, powder coated grill from the Power Amp valves:


Tape the end of it with masking tape:


Find the centre:


Use the edge of the thingy behind bumper to get the curved shape:


Join up the lines:


Cut and trim:


Tape up and mark the lines:


Cut and trim:


Test fit, mask up and mark the top edge:


Cut and trim:


Test fit :-)


We are gonna need some of these:


Drill some holes and tie up with zip ties:


...all the way round:


Done :-)


Let's see what it looks like on... smashing. Not worried about the two outer holes as the tow hooks cover that


Let's see it in place:


Still got the gaping gob...


Job done :-)

[Hammy]

Moving on to the rear end... i removed...well say removed, I think it was diving intervention that helped me remove them... much cussing trying to get these out... but eventually got them all out.





I would have to cut the lower bolts out of the hub as they had rusted solid. Time for some happiness... front arms all blasted clean...


..and replacement arms too:

[Hammy]

Continuing with the well thought out plan... i stripped and refurbed the front calipers:






I then moved onto the back ones...

To get the rust off, I dipped all calipers and arms into an electrolyte solution and cranked the power up to suck of that rust

[Hammy]

Time now for some painting and more repairing. Bumpers and rear wing...

[Hammy]

So now the wheels had bugged me so I did them again from scratch... much better now




No more bugging me

[Hammy]

Stripped, refurbed the coilovers- look better than new and gave them my (what will be) engine colour scheme

Refurbed the strut brace

Refurbed the anti-rollbars (same colour as strut brace)

Finished the lower rear wishbones

Refurbed two shot blasted cam covers -

Pics.













Need to paint the other letters black...but bit too late to do it tonight. The centre bit where the plugs go will also be black.





Right, bed, got almighty headache again....blurgh

[Hammy]

Did some more..... all wishbones done now...

Anyway some more pics... all the wishbones are done now also... ready for new ball joints and bushes.











Hmm...little miffed here a - bit untidy on the M, will need to touch that up. Hard to tell in this pic but I added some gold fleck to the red


Also need to tidy up the H and the 6 a bit..


Finished off repairing and refurbing the coilovers and the cam cover...

[Hammy]

Stripped and painted more stuff..





I also finished one of the drive shafts...









...then I go all haphazard again and start making my own dials:




Made quite a lot as it's fiddly to cut out....


Eventually got a set I was happy with...

Which turn out like this at night...

[Hammy]

So we will continue...

Following my plan of action to the letter I picked up the to-do list and looked at what was next in logical order. Then I woke up.

Carpets out I think today, hood off and lets take car of some things. With the carpets out, the tray of the parcel shelf looked nasty...




Yes, they need some work... but the rest of the area don't look bad. The drain holes where clear - I'll tidy the area up, but first get the panels off.. no, wait, get the roof off first. Not particularly easy on your own and a British Garage - my garage is classed as 'bigger then normal' by british building standards becasue I can get a car in it. I can't got out of a car once I have it in the garage, but the car can go in!!

I digress..


It's time to tackle the frame on the hood and the hood itself. Remembering of course my lack of funds... I say lack what I really mean is stolen by my family - hey ho

It's in OK condition, but stiff


Hmm...more rust... no problem tough I have a way of taking care of theat permanently.


Rain rails holders had seen better days also...


First job was to clean the whole hood with sterilising solution - this permanently gets rid of mold caused by damp, but more importantly, prevents it returning. This is the same stuff used to sterilise baby bottles.


Whilst that was drying off in the sun, I put the seats back together after stripping them to refurb the rails:


I also notice my grass needs cutting again...

Whilst the hood was still drying, I blasted these panels clean, antirust solution, and sprayed them up.


I also did the rails holders..


Time for some food....

After stocking up on calories... I went and took the hood apart without removing the pop rivets and refurbed the frame..and put it back together again.






So now with the hood completely dry I tackled the interior of the hood with my own mixture of chemicals.... here it is part way through:




...and done.


At this point I kicked my own behind and smacked my head as I had forgot to fit new tension cords... another day.

[Hammy]

So, I congratulate myself a little as I actually go two days with joined up jobs... I'm getting good - this haphazard thing I will beat

I cut the grass first.. then started work on repairing the odd splits I did find. Again lack of money, but along comes - bicycle repair kit




I then fitted the new tension cords... I am not doing that again, that has to be the worst job ever. What a pig. Then cleaned the hood up and rubbers and machine polished the plastic window. Done

[Hammy]

So with that done, I turned my attention back to the......engine bay, Time to strip and clean it up in there....

So part way through....




About 6 hours later I was getting there and after putting inlet manifold back on to see what I looked like I had it liek this:


I also found the steering rack - hidden as it was behind 20 odd years of grime. So out that came, clean up the area, clean up the rack and refurb and put it back together again.


Knackered at this point... so will strip it back again tomorrow and finish it properly.

[Hammy]

Second time a bit of joined up thinking.....

I continue with the engine bay. Stripping it back again, new gaskets all around and spend the next 8 hours, putting it all back together again.... I'll let the pictures do the talking

















Done. I can close that bonnet now and work on some other stuff

[Hammy]

So, having repaired some dings and dents and some body work, it was time for sanding, cleaning, cleaning again, then some more and applying fresh stone chip. I used one of my biggest airguns open wide to apply the finish as close to factory as I could get. I did the sides and the arches...









...and a little while later, and several coats wet on wet, done.








SO that's it for another day.....

[Hammy]

Suffering as I do from time to time by a bad back - brought on by stupidity - my own stupidity. I ahd to stop crawling around on my cage, sorry garage floor and do some... interior stuff.

I made a test KGW-a-like cluster to try some ideas out.... this is a rough one for testing.




No funds makes you creative...

I am literally making everything myself (except the leds) - including the rings. With some trial and error I got it right so, I made some more properly.... I will show you these later on. Time to turn my attention to something else.