Post by stillettorebel on May 20, 2017 4:17:26 GMT
I sold my MX5 in the UK and emigrated to Australia in April 2010. Summer of 2011 (Oct/Nov) I started looking for a replacement (I'd finally had enough of the wife's mid-90s Corolla). I had a plan in mind and knew I wanted a white NA 1993 or newer, with minimum mods and (hopefully) no accident damage. I had a budget of around $8,000 (approx. GBP 3,500 at the time). I looked at maybe six or seven NA's before I found this one in August '12. It fitted all of the above criteria and even came in below budget.
First things first; personalised plates.
Next was having it converted to LPG. This cost c.$2,000 but the government gave a rebate of approx. $800. The conversion paid for itself in less than four months. I average 5c a kilometre on LPG.
The reason I wanted a white NA is because I intended to have Martini racing livery. In May '13 I finally got around to getting it done.
I have done a few other small mods, such as installing a second powerpoint in the passenger footwell to provide constant power to my dashcam, replaced footwell lights with LEDs, replaced the orange bumper reflectors and side indicators with clear ones, de-tango'd the front indicators, had the spare wheel installed under the boot (this involved having a 'racing' back-box and some custom pipework done for the exhaust)...
M1L3S and I then went camping in the outback for a week...
I decided to upgrade my windscreen washers...
And most recently I have removed the original handles and made my own...
The state of Victoria does not allow any modifications to the engine unless they are done and approved by an authorised engineer. This is why I haven't added an after-market air filter or basically done any work on the engine (other than the LPG conversion - which I paid an engineer to do). Tbh, I really should have the spare wheel and after-market exhaust inspected and approved because it is no longer OEM and not 'legal'. Of course, there are a lot of cars on the road with un-approved (and often obvious) modifications. However, I regularly get pulled because of my racing livery, and it's just not worth the hassle and expense of explaining to plod what's approved and having to pay for an MOT to prove it.
First things first; personalised plates.
Next was having it converted to LPG. This cost c.$2,000 but the government gave a rebate of approx. $800. The conversion paid for itself in less than four months. I average 5c a kilometre on LPG.
The reason I wanted a white NA is because I intended to have Martini racing livery. In May '13 I finally got around to getting it done.
I have done a few other small mods, such as installing a second powerpoint in the passenger footwell to provide constant power to my dashcam, replaced footwell lights with LEDs, replaced the orange bumper reflectors and side indicators with clear ones, de-tango'd the front indicators, had the spare wheel installed under the boot (this involved having a 'racing' back-box and some custom pipework done for the exhaust)...
M1L3S and I then went camping in the outback for a week...
I decided to upgrade my windscreen washers...
And most recently I have removed the original handles and made my own...
The state of Victoria does not allow any modifications to the engine unless they are done and approved by an authorised engineer. This is why I haven't added an after-market air filter or basically done any work on the engine (other than the LPG conversion - which I paid an engineer to do). Tbh, I really should have the spare wheel and after-market exhaust inspected and approved because it is no longer OEM and not 'legal'. Of course, there are a lot of cars on the road with un-approved (and often obvious) modifications. However, I regularly get pulled because of my racing livery, and it's just not worth the hassle and expense of explaining to plod what's approved and having to pay for an MOT to prove it.
le sigh