Jack
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Posts: 11 
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Post by Jack on Jul 20, 2016 21:47:34 GMT
First time properly posting after being a member and lurking for about 2 years. This is also my first time writing a build log/diary of sorts so please don't be too critical, i may ramble on and turn it into a short story but will include some TL;DR's! So the story starts off back in April, A 19 year old in love with old vw's having just sold my '73 beetle and driving a Y reg fiesta at the time where driving was just a means to an end. I came home from work and get stopped my by father who asks me if i would be interested in one of our neighbours mx5, at this time i knew of them but didn't know much about them nor was i very interested. Quick youtube/google later i found that it was common knowledge that they were quite popular fun little cars however i thought i'd never get insured on one. Over dinner the topic comes up again however this time i found out that it would be going cheap as it had been in the garage and not driven for a year due to a pregnancy and arrival of a baby. I get pushed into going to have a chat and 5 minutes later i owned a mk2.5 mx5 Trilogy for £500. An alternator belt later and it was down the MOT station with a couple of minor advisory's and it was on the road, that evening i was frantically phoning insurance company's and managed to get my quote down to £900, it was done. So within the space of 2 days the 5 and i were together on the road with the compulsory photo for my Nana to cherish.  Fast forward 2 years of hassle free ownership with a wee bit of fun every now and then, Here are a couple of the progress/my favorite pictures, first of all, THE CHROME AND CREME HAD TO GO!     So We're at the end of summer 2015 and i did a buy, For those who are Die hard JDM enthusiasts, scroll down very quickly! After about 4 years of wanting a mk2 golf, 3 door GTI quite badly and 2 years of actively searching for a reasonably priced one that's not at the other end of the country i finally found this absolute gem. 1989 Atlas grey small bumper GTI. Full service history, All MOT's present since day 1, 130k genuine miles, new gearbox and heater matrix earlier in the year. Completely standard apart from some of ebays finest coilovers. To top it all off the underside was spotless, arches all solid and just a solid runner! It had to be done for the quite reasonable price of £1800    TL;DR, - At 19 rescued my neighbors mk2.5 Trilogy. - Drove, modified and loved it for 2 years. - Year and a half into owning mk2.5 bought mk2 golf. |
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Jack
New Here
Posts: 11
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Post by Jack on Jul 20, 2016 21:48:07 GMT
05/06/16 After about six months of contemplating it, I finally wrote the spec list for the mk2.5 so it could be put up for sale to make way for a mk1. The plan was to sell/swap her for a standard mk1 so I could start again, however this time with pop ups! Criteria was fairly basic; A standard (unmodified) import in either White, Mariner blue or yellow in the best condition I could find (without spending silly money). On Tuesday the 7th I saw this listing for a white mk1 with a paragraph for a description and not the greatest pictures really but it was only down in Southampton (about a 40 min drive). However from what I could see in the ad it looked rather clean. All would need to be confirmed with a viewing. The chase began, messages were going back and forth and organised a viewing for the Thursday afternoon. Thursday came along and was a gorgeous day, blue skies so the hardtop had to come off! Before the car had stopped rolling I could see it just looked gorgeous! Started looking round and all seemed in order and the underside looking immaculate, standard car apart from some rather horrific 17's. Went over the car top to bottom, inside and out and was content. Got handed the keys and went for a little spin round the block. First impressions it's slow, really slow! Took it back, shook his hand and told him I'd see him tomorrow, I was having it. Thursday evening and Friday seemed to drag so much, but short blast down to Southampton, paid the good man some money and I owned a mk1. Here is a little walk round I did of the car once I got it home.            Huge shout out to my good friend Scott in his epic Del Sol, genuinely love this car so much!  TL;DR, - Decided after 2 years of ownership of the mk2.5 wanted a mk1 on the Sunday. - Within 2 days of looking found clean looking mk1 40 mins away on the Tuesday. - Was viewing it on the Thursday. - Bought on the Friday. - Pictures once I got it home. - Picture of Scott's epic Del sol which was my personal taxi to collect the mk1. - Decided mk1 is too nice to use as a daily driver, keeping the 2.5 as the daily and the mk1 plan on cleaning it up and doing a bit of a restomod. |
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Jack
New Here
Posts: 11
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Post by Jack on Jul 20, 2016 21:48:21 GMT
For those that don't know me, i kinda like wheels.......Alot......like maybe a little too much. Being #wheelwednesday i thought it would of been not to buy some more wheels, taking myself up to a grand total of 10 sets of wheels...... So last night of my daily trawl of ebay/facebook i stumbled upon some rather cheap 17" ssr professor sp1's that i couldn't pass up on. I'll also add some quick pictures of a few of my other sets. I currently have: BBS rs001 15" 4x100 8+9j plus spare, radinox lips all round, black spiked bolts, custom hex nuts, 5th wheel going to be a space saver wheel about approx 4j BBS rs 15" 4x100 6.5j plugged, welded and redrilled from 5x112 flat backs professionally BBS rs764 16" 4x100 6.5j Daily wheels on the golf, nothing special. BBS rm012 15" 4x100 9j Stainless lips and hardware, immaculate BBS rm012 15" 4x100 6.5j Standard, never been refurbed. BBS rf 15" 4x100 8+8.5j Quite rare wheels, ali lips, gold bolts. Exip mega 15" 4x108 7.5j Again, quite rare and unique wheels, one of my favorite single piece wheels Rota grid, 16x8 et20 Daily wheels on the mk2.5 Some horrible 17" wheels that came with the mk1 that will be thrown away once i fit some rm's to the mk1 this weekend. SSR professor sp1's i picked up tonight, 17" 5x114 8.5j       |
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Jack
New Here
Posts: 11
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Post by Jack on Jul 20, 2016 21:48:31 GMT
Well last weekend was great, i was contagious with tonsillitis and was alone for the weekend, Great this means i can bring the mk1 home and start playing. Firstly wanted to start by attacking the engine bay; This is what i was dealing with.  Started off by removing the air box, washer bottle and some unnecessary brackets for connectors and fuses. Then the cleaning and scubbing starts!  Cleaned the right hand side of the bay, then proceeded to the left hand side, removed the overfill tank, did a carbon canister delete and again removed some brackets that were not needed.  After both sides, Front and rear panels were done it was a nice acchievement to see the difference and then to put all back together. (washer bottle motor seal was crap so left it out, will aquire another soon and relocate it out of sight)   Next was the rather grim fuel filler cap, again pictures will speak 1000 words, also took off the drain pipe and it fitted nicely on the external tap so got a nice flush and clean out. Ofcourse Oven pizza makes everything better!    Next was the boot, On first looks didn't look too bad, untill i pulled back the carpets and had a good look. It appears the previous owner is in need of a blue peter badge with his battery securing abilitys, in all fairness i was hanging off it and it wouldn't move, just not aesthetically pleasing. Again it was a case of stripping and moving things then spraying and scrubbing.     Now for the hero of the day, Autosmart G101, making light work of the built up dirt!  Time to rebuild and looking rather OEM.  Now i'm not really a drinker atall but after more hours than i care to mention getting lost in my own little world of meticulous cleaning i felt like a cider. Cheers  TL;DR, -Did some cleaning. |
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Jack
New Here
Posts: 11
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Post by Jack on Jul 20, 2016 21:48:43 GMT
Firstly the important bits, KEYS! If you can't be bothered to read the next paragraph, CHECK YOUR KEYS FOR CRACKS Basically bought the mk1 with 4 keys, 2 originals and 2 aftermarket ones, In using one of the originals i put in my boot lock, 3/4 the way in and went to turn and it snapped, yes my fault but not much pressure was applied so tells me was already cracked. Went to use one of my spares and realized it too had a crack in the same place and the same with key 3, key 4 however was fine. Went down to the locksmith and got 2 brand new keys made up and don't plan on using any of the supplied original keys. Picture 1 is of all 4 supplied, Picture 2 is of original key 1 Picture 3 is of original key 2 Picture 4 is of aftermarket key 1 Picture 5 is of aftermarket key 2 (working) Picture 6 is of the 2 new keys plus my mk2.5 key for comparison      Now the boring but important bit is out the way, Surprisingly i BOUGHT NEW WHEELS! Late Tuesday night at about 22:00 a lovely guy called Barry posted up some fresh refurbed BBS RM's for quite a reasonable price with brand new tyres, best bit was he was about 45 mins away, got chatting and turns out we were both a bit bored watching tv so decided to meet, met up in Warminster at about 22:45 and by 23:00 i had the wheels, Once coilovers are fitted and some bigger tyres i think they'll be lovely on the car.    Now with the mk1 i wanted to go with a clean look, however being a child at heart so i need an exhaust as the standard one with cat was making me sad, Now here in the UK we pretty much have 3 options -Cobalt, Nice deep tone but would need to delete the silencer in the center section to make it a decent sound. -The mx5 parts system, which is a bit quieter than the cobalt -Or custom, now custom would be the way to go however it gets a bit pricey!! I opted to import a system from America just for a little bit of fun, i fully expected it to be loud especially with the decat however i won't be driving the mk1 as a daily so shouldn't be too bad. Also pictures to follow of the exhaust and wheels fitted, the arch gap/right height makes me want to cry and dare i say worse than the 17's      Little video of shortly after fitting and then outside the garage, TL;DR -Keys are crap and like to snap -Bought more wheels, Fresh refurbed BBS Rm's -Bought new exhaust from America -Fitted said wheels and exhaust -Arch gap/ride height is shocking, Exhaust tends to steal the show for attention though -Videos of exhaust |
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Post by atlex on Jul 20, 2016 21:52:48 GMT
I think I just.
Your wheel collection.
Yes.
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Post by atlex on Jul 20, 2016 21:54:05 GMT
4x100 forever.
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Jack
New Here
Posts: 11
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Post by Jack on Jul 21, 2016 15:27:02 GMT
Always 4x100!
It's probably why i have so much money tied up, saying that i'm looking to downsize a bit, but even so, i prefer odler cars to newer ones so pretty much most of the cars i want to own have 4x100 fitment and its a very popular fitment so there will always be a demand for them and i'll always be able to use them!
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Post by atlex on Jul 21, 2016 15:40:50 GMT
good point on the keys thing, I've gone and replaced all my 'use' keys with new silca maz20rep copies as my originals are all showing signs of the dreaded crack starting.
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Post by AndyMk2 on Jul 21, 2016 15:49:47 GMT
For £500 I'm guessing it didn't come with the trilogy diamonds?
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Jack
New Here
Posts: 11
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Post by Jack on Jul 21, 2016 20:52:31 GMT
It did Andy, complete running car apart from chewing an alternator belt, but yeah was a bit of a steal but it could of needed alot more work, she just wanted it gone.
Ended up giving the keyring to a good friend of mine as she commented on them while on the keys, i'm pretty much stripped the car of anything that could make it a "trilogy" as its pretty much a black 2.5 with chrome and pale tan/white interior so its just all blacked out now.
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Post by AndyMk2 on Jul 22, 2016 7:42:08 GMT
A steal for sure! What did the neighbour make of the mods?
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Jack
New Here
Posts: 11
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Post by Jack on Aug 14, 2016 23:11:26 GMT
So yeah, been a bit quiet recently but life has been a bit manic really with nothing major happening to the mk1, Just finished doing the cambelt on the 2.5 twice as previous owner had gone to town with some metal object to the lower crank gear for the cambelt but she is all good now, (Serious bit: This is a bit of a big thing for me as i'm not mechanically experienced so trying to learn alot and alot of thanks must go to Patrick and Danny who im watching and learning from but trying to put the time in so gaining confidence all the time)  So yeah i did a buy and got me some HSD's and adjustable camber arms as a little treat to myself of the 21st of july, i don't see these being fitted before 2017 but you'll find out later why.  So one of the reasons been busy is ripping apart a mk1 turbo (uk) to be then transplanted into a new import shell, rust and twisted windscreen related matters but anyway, that was one rather funny and tense night but so worth it, pictures follow from about 3pm on a friday afternoon when we got the car to all the way though the night so about half 1 i think we stopped, of which due to busy at work i was working all weekend so was up at 7 on the saturday, but hey, double time is not to be sniffed at, MOAR CAR PARTS. But as much fun as this all was, it was a great oportunity for me to strip a mx5 and see how everything goes together and apart of which i love doing but yeah, pictures to follow as always         Speaking of new car parts, In the post got some Jass reinforced rails (again won't be fitted for months) and a few other little interior bits. 2 weeks ago picked up some absolutley mint set of Super advans, 16x7 and 16x8 et30 all round, not a single mark on them with brand new Federals for less than most would pay for 2 rotas from driftworks! Got a few plans in the making but nothing set in stone, would love to get them on the mk1 though!    Last weekend picked up some pretty light lotus seats on mx5 rails at a reasonable price which saves alot of hassle and more importantly MONEY, Collected from a Lovely guy called Daniel who very kindly took me out in his turbo mk1, well lets just say i couldn't hide the smile on my face, i need to make some choo choo noises soon!   And this weekend i collected a lovely white hardtop, outside is immaculate, headliner could do with a bit of attention but we can sort that in time, also finally fitted my stubby aerial while adjusting the hardtop at home, couldn't resit at having a little clean too, was dark when i finished though so no pictures, sad times! Please don't look at the steels, they were £20 with tyres and good temporary wheels while the rm's got sold and don't fancy putting on more nice wheels while working on the car!   So yeah tonight i did a buy again, been looking at this plate since i bought the car and kept putting it off saying i don't need it but it's got to the point where im too scared that someone will take it before i get it, so i've got it on retention for 10 years till 2026 so will go on soon, just not quite now, or lets face it when im on a bit of a downer ill put it on, but i did buy the flip up bracket from moss few weeks back too.  TL:DR -Watched cambelt get done on 2.5 then did it with help second time -Bought HSD's/Adjustable camber arms, won't be fitting for ages yet -Stripped down turbo mk1 (blue one) to be rebuilt into import shell (silver) -Bought more wheels, Super advan splits this time -Bought and fitted lotus seats -Bought and fitted white hardtop -Finally fitted stubby aerial -Bought new numberplate E16NOS |
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Jack
New Here
Posts: 11
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Post by Jack on Sept 15, 2016 22:21:56 GMT
First of all i feel i need to address the fact the car is on steels, they cost me £20 with tyres on and they're doing me well till it goes to the body shop and for me to decide what wheels and then next to decide on tyre choice! If it makes it any better that're actually stamped steels, bridgestone if i recall correctly!  Well, in all fairness not much has happened since my last update besides cleaning the car and just buying more parts which just seems to be piling up but i did buy some numberplates so just need to find a spare 5 mins and get them transferred over on the dvla!  Well after a visit to Julian "Doctor mx5" despite being quite a clean shell i plan on future proofing her, which means about 6 weeks worth of quality time with him, We've got 2 new rear quarters and cutting into the sills to replace them while he is there, also mentioned while putting the new arches on to roll them flat before respraying the back end of the car and then undersealing the underside of the car, probably a little bit overkill but i want it to be solid and looking smart! the peace of mind will be great and not to mention hopefully good for future resale value! Well last weekend was a bit of an expensive one for me, after a bit of a 3 hour trek up to Derby for the following wheels and hardtop! Ended up buying some lovely Schmidt modernline splits in some lovely sizes, 16x8 and 16x9 et21 all round, ofcourse with schmidt splits they have gorgeous radinox lips and no curbing! reason for buying these is not many splits in 16" and 4x100 so these wheels will fit all 3 cars, mk1/2.5 and the golf, and i think they look great!  Next was a gorgeous hardtop from a lovely guy called Jamie, It's in an immaculate condition and well looked after being resprayed, then with a project g hardtop spoiler and last but not least a rising sun flocked head lining, was not too keen on the head lining at first but its growing on me! My old white hardtop got sold shortly after picking up the new one to a good friend of mine who has just purchased a mk2 rs turbo'd in white so should look smart and going to a great home! Best bit is the white colour match is pretty much perfect, slightly better than the old hardtop which had a very slight creme tint to it, where as this one is a very crystal pale white if that even makes sense?    I also picked up some mint condition, barely used sparco sprints about 2 miles down the road for quite a tidy little price, now just to decide if im keeping the lotus seats or swapping to the Sprints, its a bit of a difficult one but i think ill end up with the lotus seats as i feel they'll fit in more with the build and direction i want to take with the car, but the sprints were right on my door step for a good price so couldn't pass!  On Monday I got a little bit down as who doesn't on Mondays? so did some retail therapy and bought a retro rear panel as i just love the look it gives to the car, Got a great deal on this from my good friend Adam at Japstyle.org  And lastly i ordered a rear jacking/towing point from Zerek fab in America as his fabrication skills are amazing and i love the look and functionality of this rear bar, means can easily jack up the rear of the car and not having to go from the dreaded diff! In its design should be hidden nicely behind the bumper, should be a nice little bit of structural rigidity too!  Well there isn't going to be many updates till after it comes back from Julian but once i do get her back shall be a bit frantic but should be good, Here is just a little list of the stockpile Resprayed hardtop with project g spoiler and flocked headliner New hsd New jass Frame rails New jass door handles and other little bits New camber arms Steering wheel/NRG boss/NRG quick release New Gv rear panel New jacking point New numberplate "E16NOS" New pair sparco sprint seats Already got the lotus seats in and exhaust on. Finally the only bit most will read the TL;DR -Not much has happened as been busy with work -Mk1 booked in with Doctor mx5 for new rear quarters and undersealing, Prevention better than cure! -Fitted terrible steel wheels -Finally bought numberplates for my new persona plate, Still haven't transferred it over -Bought more wheels, SHOCKER, Schmidt 3 piece splits in 16" and other bits including hardtop, sparco sprints, retro rear panel and rear jacking point. |
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Post by atlex on Sept 15, 2016 22:26:06 GMT
nice...!!!! shame about the 16" wheels (trololololol) but the rest is good  (I think the steelies were better. srs.) |
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le sigh