MadaboutKitcars

Nope....

clearly you are not a dutchman!

Well spotted!

Got them off FleaBay for £65 the pair, the great thing with these lights as apposed to the mk1 granada lights i was considering is the reversing lights are built in saves me having to fit a seperate reversing light, keeps the back end tidy.

Thanks, I'll check them out

That's exactly what I need,

Thanks Chris

They say great minds think alike!

I was considering sticking a red bulb in one of the reversing lights to use as the fog light,
But I think it has to be a set distance from the tail/ brake lights to make it 100% legit,

I did take it for a brief blast up the road today, I seem to have some slight rubbing due to the increased wheel size, will probably need to cut back the inner arch fillers, might as well wait til I have the rear spacers.

Hopefully I'll have some workshop space available later in the week so I can tackle the wipers, boot lock and bonnet latch,

Until then I'm going to eBay a few items to try and generate the money for the spacers and wipers.

I believe the overall diameter of the wheels i. A shade under 27 inches
the suspension is completely standard, before I fitted the wheels I was planning on lowering, looking at it now, that won't be possible or necessary.

Running wheels and tyres this big will cause the speedometer to be fairly inaccurate ( about 7mph at 60mph) other than that it's just a matter of clearance
I'm fitting a double din Sat nav stereo which will help me keep an eye on my speed

The tyres are 215/55/16 - big and bouncy
wheels are 16x8 et20 offset all round, rears will be spaced 50mm each side

I've been looking at a few other builds, has anyone managed to use either the original bonnet or boot latch to latch the bonnet? I notice there's not a lot of room, so I would be cutting into the metal in front of the rad.

Most builds seem to use bonnet pins, I'd quite like to use the original bonnet release lever/cable

Update time!

Finally i managed to get a mornings work done on the MX250

The petrol tank filler is extended, The shiny aston petrol cap is for the classic mini, about £15 from huddersfield spares

http://www.minispares-online.co.uk/chrome-aston-petrol-cap-for-classic-mini/

it fits perfectly, requires slightly longer M4 grub screws than it is supplied with but it allows the original mx5 cap to be used inside. A modified mini fuel tank rubber is used as well so the neck can be fitted from above with countersunk screws but remain hidden under the rubber seal.

I also have a dummy filler neck which ive modifiel to allow it to fit to the original mx5 neck extension, this allows a locking mini cap to fit inside the aston cap, i'll fit this if / when someone robs my petrol!

http://www.minispares-online.co.uk/dummy-filler-neck-for-classic-mini/

Wiper arms arrived yesterday from [url]www.motoringclassics.co.uk[/url]

http://www.motoringclassics.co.uk/wiper-arm/p2104

The 16" stainless blades came from ebay (boltonbits) who i have used a fair bit with mini parts and always send items quickly and can't be beaten on price..... not bad for £15 a pair

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16-Stainless-Steel-7mm-Wiper-Blades-Hillman-Minx-Hunter-1975-to-1979-Avenger-/390648783705?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5af47b6359#ht_1813wt_1161

i will need to remove all the brightwork to get it polished before i wrap the car, the wipers are a little dull for my liking and could do with a few minutes on the polishing wheel!

The washer jet is an ajustable aftermarket stainless classic mini one. They come in pairs but have twin jets so i only fitted one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLASSIC-MINI-CHROME-WINDSCREEN-WASHER-JETS-PAIR-/251425948863?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a8a2784bf#ht_272wt_1161

My job for tomorrow is to get the car ready for wrapping,

obviously that will involve removing all the bits ive been working so hard to fit! but it needs to be done to get it right first time.

I have quite a bit of some really good quality metalflake pink sparkle vinyl, left over from a nissan Juke we have just completed but i'm not sure it will bring out the best in the car!

I agree that some parts are almost not worth selling, now that tribute make a 1 piece front end the wings can also be sold, .... i guess every little helps!

most were sold on ebay with 99p start just to clear my garage

Summary of parts sold and what they fetched,

Boot lid £4.80

Soft top + tan tonneau £150

Set of wheels with 3 good tyres (no centre caps) £30

Set of 4 wheels with caps and good pirelli tyres £65 :l

Bonnet, Both wings, front bumper, rear bumper and all lights / headlamp motors £180

Black Tonneau £38

By my calculations this means the donor car set me back less than £100.

I think the wiper arms I have are 10 degrees cranked right, not 15 degrees as the link above, part number u77300

Happy to help

Brilliant. I bet that cost a few quid,

decent chromes cost up to £130 a metre, so I doubt I'll be doing that! I already have the vinyl for my car but I'm keeping it under wraps - excuse the pun

Chrome looks great but is a complete b****d to fit as its prone to discoloration when used on tight curves (which the mx250 has loads of!)

Ha ha,

I can safely say it won't be leopard print, I have do have Brown snakeskin, not enough to do an mx250 fortunately!

The vinyl I have is a pearlescent colour, that's all I'm saying

Today's efforts were not quite as fruitful as I'd liked.
Decided to make sure the car was driving sweet before I started stripping it.
Basically it had developed a strange idle problem, revs going up and down. Turned out to be a bad connection where I'd repositioned the fusebox,

With that sorted I then needed to cut out the rear arch liners I'd fibreglassed in, note to self..... Smaller tyres = no rubbing

Attatched the numberplates and took it for a cautious drive to the nearest petrol station, everything went well so I planted my foot on the way back, slight rubbing at drivers rear wheel when I hit a pot hole, I shall investigate further tomorrow

UPDATE time

After taking a good close look at the susspension components, it seems that one of my rear springs is sagging a little, due to the age of the car i thought it would be wise to replace both rear shocks and springs before i continue with the build.
i was going to invest in adjustable ride height, however i noticed all the adjustable kits lower the car from 20mm - 60mm, at their maximum adjustment, would still be 20mm lower than stock! i couldn't risk this being too low for the large wheels

so...

I ordered standard rear shocks and standard springs

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301002872500?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2648

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271016714599?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

there is an excellent guide here:

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=403704

includes all the pictures, torques and nut sizes for a rapid job! get your WD40 out, there will almost certainly be a rusted in bolt or 2

If you suspect dodgy suspension components, I would recomend doing this before you fit the tribute kit, the upper mounts are located deep into the boot space, even deeper once the new rear is bonded in place!
not so much a problem if you have long arms!

the highlight of this job was probably the 4 hours spent removing the drivers side lower shock bolt, as the encapsulated nut decided it was going to demote itself to a regular nut, leaving a 5mm gap to squeeze the mig welder into weld it back on!

All is complete, ride height still looks a little wonky but it has been on axle stands for a week, i will take it for a spin tomorrow and see if it settles.

Ok,

it was actually easy ease I used, only as it was closer,

I took the car for a brief spin yesterday, the new shocks and springs have made a massive improvement, so much so i think i'll replace the fronts in the near future as well, absolutely NO rubbing on the rear.....

today the spacers arrived from [url]www.freakyparts.co.uk[/url]

i went for 40mm wide, i also fitted inner arch liners made from rubber sheet

the pic below shows the R/H side with spacer, the L/H side without.

big difference!