MadManMike Posted July 8, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2022 @Wrayvon was right, the cover is just screwed on (Though I see your 5 screws and raise you to 14!). It became apparent immediately that the cable had snapped. Easy fix, I've ordered the cable already. Also spotted that I don't have a stop fitted, so I've dug out a decent size bolt I can use - ordered some square washers for either side. No wonder the cable snapped! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali C Posted July 8, 2022 Report Share Posted July 8, 2022 Some will know that I sold my MX5 (sad) to get a van…well today I picked up my new whip…a 2015 Renault Trafic. Being honest it wasn’t really my first choice of van as I thought the Transit Custom was much better looking but after dozens and dozens of comments from people on social media I ended up going for the Renault due to supposedly having better fuel efficiency and engine reliability. I also heard the Transits are extremely easy to break into which isn’t ideal if I’m potentially going to have bikes in the back. I’ve only driven it a few miles home but it seems really nice, bought from a local family owned business (guy used to race Downhill he said) and comes with a years warranty which gives some peace of mind. I also got insured with Brentacre who will cover me no matter what camper mods I end up doing for no extra cost. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrayvon Posted July 12, 2022 Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 On 7/8/2022 at 1:48 PM, MadManMike said: I only just spotted this, haha I wish there was fuel saving options - even on a gentle cruise I'm getting less than 20mpg I would say. If you're spirited, you can watch the fuel gauge go down while you drive! At least you have a fuel guage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrayvon Posted July 19, 2022 Report Share Posted July 19, 2022 (edited) Time for a new dash. Got an auto electrician to give me a hand with the wiring as I've seen the state of the existing wiring But yeah, this will be fitted soon: Quite different to the pleather dash I have currently featuring the original sierra dials .... Edited July 19, 2022 by Wrayvon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamKidney Posted August 25, 2022 Report Share Posted August 25, 2022 Long time no see. Still spannering on old rice boxes. Busier than ever, I need to find another set of hands to get me through now. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Rainbird Posted August 25, 2022 Report Share Posted August 25, 2022 Well that seems to suggest the risk was worth taking. Nice one Sam, stoked to see it's working out well for you man. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted September 26, 2022 Report Share Posted September 26, 2022 WTF happened to project Binky ? its been a hella long gap between episodes and the stanceworks guys voice is starting to annoy... Also, as you've all owned at least 10 mx5s , what advice would you give to buying one? Asking for a friend (genuinely). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted September 26, 2022 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2022 6 hours ago, manuel said: what advice would you give to buying one? Asking for a friend (genuinely). Rust. Everyone says it and it's true, they rot, badly. It seems mk2.5's are the worst for it, but they all rust around the sills and generally underneath. The mk4 came out in 2015 and I know of one that had rust advisories on its first MOT! From personal experience, when I buy another one, I'll check: 1) Is it rusty. If you can see rust on the sills, it's much worse than it appears, as they rust from the inside out. Usually due to blocked drain holes behind the seats. Many owners don't know about these drain holes and they fill up with leaves and crap over the years, collecting water and then rotting the sills. Ideally you want one that's been cleaned out frequently and garaged, or one that's just been properly repaired. 2) Is there blue smoke on start-up, or when driving - get someone to follow you on a test drive. I may have been unlucky, but my Eunos ended up having three different engines, all of which were 1.6's and they drank a lot of oil. The first did most of the miles, the next two were just lemons. 3) Brake calipers are prone to seizing - especially the rear, when people leave the handbrake on. Check the discs to see if they've been used lately, if they're rusty, there's a good chance the rear brakes aren't doing much. When I got mine, both rears were seized - I assumed they were just crap old brakes, but closer inspection showed I was driving with just front brakes 4) Low mileage doesn't necessarily mean good car. See point 1. A car with 40k on can be more rusty than one with 120k on. Things to do when you buy one: fit a roll bar, or at least a cabin brace, they make a big difference to stiffness. If standard, replace the exhaust. They're very quiet as standard and a decent manifold and exhaust system isn't mega money - if it's age appropriate, a de-cat pipe will give small performance gains too (Plus it sounds nice imo!). Adjustable coilovers make a massive difference too, though it's certainly not bad handling on the standard suspension. Oh and if you get a mk1 with the speakers in the seats, take them out, cut circular holes in the foam and fit new round speakers - they sound much better. I can't remember the exact size to use, but a search on Google will reveal that. All in all, you can't really beat them for smiles-per-gallon - they've relatively cheap to buy, fuel economy not too bad and just great fun. I know mine had a reputation for being unreliable, but in reality it did 260k, three Euro trips and several track days. It would still be in my garage now if the rust hadn't finished it off. Most days I consider selling the Tiger and buying another one, next summer maybe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark W Posted September 28, 2022 Report Share Posted September 28, 2022 Having owned a Mk2.5 and a Mk1, I would say to not bother with the Mk2 or Mk2.5s. They have more creature comforts and feel more civilised, but they feel like they have no character compared to the Mk1, and just feel less 'fun'. That may be because I had the 1.6 Mk2.5 which is seemingly the slowest engine they did, with my Mk1 1.6 feeling a lot more peppy. Ads had tinkered with that engine a decent amount so it's not exactly a fair comparison, but AFAIK even the basic engine was still more powerful than the 2.5. There's just something about the cabin in the Mk1 that's a lot more charming, and ultimately you can't beat pop-up headlights. Every time I got into my Mk1 it felt special somehow, whereas with the Mk2.5 it was just... 'meh'. It was still a fun car, and it was a hell of a lot more fun than the Passat that replaced it, but it isn't a Mk1 ultimately. You make a lot of compromises when you decide to get an MX-5,s o you might as well go the whole way and get the fun one. A cheaper upgrade to get a Mk1 sounding nicer is to change to a cone-style air filter. I did that on mine and it made a noticeable difference to the engine note when you're further up the rev range, and was sub £30 for the whole kit so not exactly pricey! On the rust front, that is the biggest issue to watch out for. I'm super glad I sold mine when I did - it failed it's next MOT on rust-related issues, then failed the one after that on even more rust-related issues. They did a different setup for the subframe on the 2.5 compared to the 1, and basically made it so it had the opportunity to hold water between the two 'skins' of the subframe. As you can imagine, this doesn't end well. Other notes were that the glass rear screen on the Mk2.5 was nice, but it meant that raising and lowering the roof was harder. The stitching started shitting the bed around the edge of it because as the hood material starts getting more brittle with age it doesn't handle the movement as well, especially if you've got enough tension in the roof to stop it leaking... At least on the Mk1 with the plastic rear window it just flops down. As long as you make sure that it's folded down neatly you shouldn't get any creases or f**kery. Keeping the drain holes clear is super important. Getting one of those super long bendy little brushes is a good shout as you will need one in your toolbox. Going bottom up when you clean them is a lot easier than top down, but just be aware you're going to get a wet arm when you shift the blockages in them. Lastly, if you lower or stance an MX-5 you ideally need to get in the sea. They ride really nicely as standard, and if you ever want to drive it fast the extra feel you get from it will make it a lot easier to get near the limit (or just know where the limits of grip are if you want to get slide-y). It'll make it a lot nicer to use as a daily too. There's someone locally who's stanced their MX-5 and it seems like a criminal waste of a fun car, they can barely get it around town. If you're into it then fair enough I guess, but there are plenty of other cars out there that are pretty shit to drive to begin with that you may as well start with rather than getting one of the best handling little cars around and turning it into a bag of dick. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Rainbird Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 On 9/26/2022 at 4:21 PM, manuel said: WTF happened to project Binky ? its been a hella long gap between episodes and the stanceworks guys voice is starting to annoy... Quite like Mike @ Stanceworks' vids, but know where you're coming from with the voice! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted October 3, 2022 Report Share Posted October 3, 2022 If only he said chassis right. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted November 23, 2022 Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 Bloody engine management light on, a month after a service on a 4yo car is a ball ache (should have just bought another banger) vw can’t look at it until the middle of December Ffs. Also my usual local access to a proper scanner moved to Germany, gah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted November 23, 2022 Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 4 hours ago, manuel said: Bloody engine management light on, a month after a service on a 4yo car is a ball ache (should have just bought another banger) vw can’t look at it until the middle of December Ffs. Also my usual local access to a proper scanner moved to Germany, gah Can you not scan it with a cheapo scanner to get a rough idea? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Booth Posted November 23, 2022 Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 I bought one of those £20 from eurocar parts to diagnose some bits on my last caddy and it's surprisingly thorough. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted November 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 I have an ELM 327 interface and an app for my phone, works well for fault finding. Haven't had to use it for a few years though, since I had the Eunos and now the Tiger... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted November 23, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 This one, to be precise: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bluetooth-Scanner-Diagnostic-Adapter-Android/dp/B07CP632CL/ref=sr_1_12?keywords=elm327&qid=1669219392&sr=8-12 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Rainbird Posted November 23, 2022 Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 In the unlikely event you're down in this neck of the woods any time soon, I have a full VCDS setup you're welcome to plug in RJ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forteh Posted November 23, 2022 Report Share Posted November 23, 2022 1 hour ago, Luke Rainbird said: In the unlikely event you're down in this neck of the woods any time soon, I have a full VCDS setup you're welcome to plug in RJ. But only if he's allowed to dream first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusevelt Posted November 26, 2022 Report Share Posted November 26, 2022 (edited) This is probably an old repost video but damn seeing this for the first time makes you wonder how many graveyard places like this exist in the world especially with this cost-of-living crisis. Can't be an easy thing to keep hold of our precious passions. Edited November 26, 2022 by Rusevelt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 Ive seen that place before. I'm pretty sure the guys a breaker and has an ebay store. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 Doesn't seem like the best location to be a breaker, not exactly secure there 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisRider Posted February 8, 2023 Report Share Posted February 8, 2023 Long time no post... I've got 4 VAG vehicles here between us all (2012 golf 1.6tdi, 2010 golf 2.0tdi, 2008 a4 2.0 tdi, 2012 caddy 1.6tdi) and it's about time I sorted out VAG com again as I haven't had it for years and it would be pretty useful for when they each inevitably go wrong. I've researched it and I'm a bit lost about which cable to get (there's loads and I'm assuming they are hit/miss quality) and how to obtain VAG com without a fee, if that is still possible. I've seen more expensive options like Ross tech but I'm unsure whether I need to go that route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamR28 Posted February 8, 2023 Report Share Posted February 8, 2023 If you have 4 VAG vehicles, I would (and did) go genuine Ross-Tech. £60 a pop at a dealer for the same level of functionality, pays for itself pretty quick... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisRider Posted February 8, 2023 Report Share Posted February 8, 2023 3 hours ago, AdamR28 said: If you have 4 VAG vehicles, I would (and did) go genuine Ross-Tech. £60 a pop at a dealer for the same level of functionality, pays for itself pretty quick... Cheers Adam! Presumably this is the one to go for? https://www.gendan.co.uk/product_VCV210.html I think we each plan on sticking with VAG cars for now so that should keep us going! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke Rainbird Posted February 8, 2023 Report Share Posted February 8, 2023 I'd echo thoughts about keeping a genuine cable, rather than the knock off ones which can be a faff. Fine if you need it once in a blue moon on a project, but not really worth the aggro for more general family use IMO. They pop up occasionally on the FB groups, and from memory there's a VCDS Users group (not sure what it's called, but something along those lines) where genuine versions are traded semi frequently for good value. They seem to depreciate to a point then hold their value, particularly the unlimited VIN version for obvious reasons. Think I paid £180 for mine (unlimited) many moons ago, then sold it for £200 a couple of years later when I didn't really need it any longer. They've also updated versions a few times over the years to cater for more modern cars. Without looking I'm not sure which generation you need, but if it's not the most recent version you may be able to save a few quid too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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