Sticky Number Plate

Someone bumped into Scarlett in a car park and broke her front number plate housing. Of course, they left no note or anything, but that's a different story and a pet gripe of mine. I've always liked the idea of having a stick on plate, so I jumped at the opportunity to replace it.

After quite a bit of research, it seems that you can most likely get away with a stick on plate if you ensure that the font is correct, that the material is not unduly reflective and that it is positioned as vertically as possible.

I ordered one from eBay for £7.95 and it arrived within a couple of days.

I removed the broken plate holder and then gave her a wash. Much better without a plate IMHO!



The holes in the front needed filling, but I didn't bother painting the filler as I intended to place the plate on the vertical curve above the MX-5 'mouth'. This didn't work! The plate got placed onto the bonnet as shown in the picture below and now I just need to find a decent day to finish off the repainting.

The foot prints are going to be removed as soon as I can borrow a hair drier... I'm bored with them!

Brace Yourselves!

I picked up a strut brace from a mate on the MX-5 Nutz Auto Jumble group on FaceBook. (Click). It arrived on Thursday and I've been too busy over the weekend to fit it. However, I got home this evening and decided to brave the freezing cold.

The tools required are minimal, as is the effort to fit. It really is a case of undoing four nuts, placing the bar in place, refixing the nuts and then tightening everything up. It took five minutes. I'll tighten the brace a little once I've had a drive tomorrow.

LED Lighting

I love the clean white light that LED's give, so I've been meaning to change all the bulbs on my car since I got it. I've only just gotten around to ordering some. I found a decent list of lights on the MX5 Owners Club forum, which I'm replicating here with an additional column showing the LED replacements that I ordered.

Location	Voltage/Wattage	Colour/Qty	Type	LED Version
Headlamp Dipped Beam	12 volt 55 Watts	Clear x 2	HB4*	N/A.
Headlamp Main Beam	12 volt 60 Watts	Clear x 2	HB3	N/A.
Sidelight (front)	12 volt 5 Watt Capless	Clear x 2	501	LED 501
Indicator (front)	12 volt 21 Watts	Amber x 2	581	*LED*
Indicator (side)	12 volt 5 Watts Capless	Clear* x 2	501	*LED*
Interior	12 volt 5 Watt Festoon 30 mm	Clear x 1	269	LED Festoon
High Level Brake Light	12 volt 21 Watts	Clear x 1	382	*LED*
Number Plate/Boot Light	12 volt 5 Watts Capless	Clear x 2	501	LED 501
Stop & Tail	12 volt 21/5 Watts Capless	Clear x 2	580	*LED*
Reverse Light	12 volt 21 Watts Capless	Clear x 1	582	*LED*
Fog Light	12 volt 21 watts Capless	Clear x 1	582	*LED*
Indicator Rear	12 volt 21 Watts Capless	Amber x 2	582A	*LED*

* If clear lenses are fitted then use 2 x 12v 5w Capless Amber bulbs type 501A.
 * Headlamp HB4 dipped bulbs were replaced in 2003 by (H7?) 55 Watt bulbs (from VIN numbers 413680)
(Original Table from this MX5OC Forum article - many thanks guys.)

As of 7th January, I've replaced the front sidelights, the numberplate lights and the interior light.
I've got some more on order because the LED bulbs that I bought for (and used in) my classic mini were actually too wide to fit into the socket in the front headlamp cluster! Damn.

Here is the light from side lights only in the daytime...



...and night time!