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!

New Roof

After nearly a year of owning Scarlett, I've finally got enough cash together to buy her the new roof she desperately needs. Her roof started to rip in the summer, and just got worse and worse until there were cat sized holes in the roof. (I know that they were cat sized, because I'd seen cats going in and out of them!)

Drivers side rip:



Passenger side:



Scarlett went to Jack Smith's in Swansea for her new roof on Tuesday this week. These guys are one of those best kept secrets. They have no website, no FaceBook page - nothing. But if you ask on PistonHeads, MX5nutz or just about any car forum about getting a new roof, you'll find that their name comes up.



If you go there yourself, don't be put off with the tiny back street workshop. These guys are friendly, funny
and do a simply superb job! Thanks for the coffee and donuts guys! They craft a new roof for you - made to measure - while you wait. It takes about three-four hours. You need to be aware that they take cash; they have no facility for cards. (There is a cash machine round the corner).

Here we are mid-fit:



And here we are after the event. I stopped around the corner to take a few shots before the rain started.





I'm really happy - it's made such a difference.

Ignition!

I ordered some new ignition leads from Autolink on eBay. I've decided to go for bright yellow as my plan is to change all the hoses for yellow silicon too at some point. They look great. :-)

Tunnel Run

I just drove down to Worthing this morning and decided to take a little video of my blast through the tunnel... The sound isn't great, but you can just hear the induction kit roaring through the tunnel!

Video on Flickr

Slight Issue

We hopped in the so far incredibly reliable Scarlett to pop off on a mission earlier and she was misfiring badly after a few hundred metres. Turns out that the front (long) plug lead wasn't in properly... so I tried reseating it and it broke in my hand! I'm assuming that it's just fragile and old - so time for a new set. Luckily, we have a spare MX-5 lying about, so I pinched one for now and we're up and running again...