[GT-Alex]

Mimix-5 (NA 1.8) - with good surprises

It's done, Mimix is at home !

It's a '94 MX-5 NA 1.8 I imported from Switzerland in France. Bone stock, except 15" wheels and a strange DVD 1DIN unit. Options are : hard-top, removable hood window, an apparently OEM reinforcement bar behind the seats, electric mirrors, and power steering.

139000km on the odo (about 86400 miles), and it's nearly first-hand : the guy who sold me the car drove it twice after he bought it from the original owner, before deciding to go studying abroad. I have a full Mazda service history booklet (in German, language I don't understand :lol: ), but Mimix's heart tells me a lot more : mechanicals are mint !

Some little marks and details on the body to see, but it's globally clean and sound.

Interior is the worst part, dirty with driver's seat torn.

A good wash (interior - exterior) tomorrow will be helpful, and then a good service with some good oil, nice tires and new brakes to get started and have a good basis (I'll take this opportunity to throw some basics upgrades - good pads & discs, stainless brake lines and some great brake fluid, this won't be too much luxury since I'm a bit tough with them on mountain roads).


After that, priorities are : a roll bar, seats (Lotus Probax or Bride Exas III), other 15" wheels (those are not so bad looking, I was surprised to find them to look acceptable but that's not what I really want on a Roadster), and generally take care of all little things that are not clean. Performance mods will wait beginning of winter : I'll drive it as it is now to see what I need to do and make definitive plans then (even though I have already a great idea of what I will do).

To sum up, look at this picture :

My face looks the same

 

[Flyin' 92]

Looks like a great find. I wish you the best of luck

The seats peak my interest. I didn't know the cloths seats came with adjustable headrests. I assume thats something specific to the European market?

 

[GT-Alex]

Yeah that's a great find, especially considering what I paid for it.

I don't know for the seats, I think there are chances you're right. I was also surprised by the ashtray instead of the cup holders, and by the lack of 3rd stop light (thought every 1.8 had it).

Ho, and thank you !

 

[_spyder]

Yeah that's a great find, especially considering what I paid for it.

I don't know for the seats, I think there are chances you're right. I was also surprised by the ashtray instead of the cup holders, and by the lack of 3rd stop light (thought every 1.8 had it).

Ho, and thank you !

I like the look without the 3rd brake light on the trunk. Isn't that it below, on the bottom of the bumper though?

 

[Flyin' 92]

My '92 came with an ashtray instead of cup holders. Might have been a dealer option. Not a big deal.

Not sure about the lack of third tail light. I'm not all that with European road laws, but I know most, if not all cars need a fog light. The fog light might replace the third brake light.

 

[GT-Alex]

The light on the bumper is a fog light. And yes, in Europe, or at least in France, all cars must have a rear fog light (but I'll probably get rid of it). It's not a replacement for the 3rd brake light, since I know Miatas having both. And spyder, I'm also thinking it looks good that way. It's so natural I didn't even noticed it when I saw it for the first time :lol:

 

[GT-Alex]

Great news of the day :

- I discovered this little one had Bilstein goodness That's a preety rare option I think, I was believing only some limited editions got them, like the BBS edition. But there are some on mine and they were put on the car at Hiroshima :mrgreen:

- there's anti-locking brakes ( I think the right abreviation in English is ALB, right ?). Not a bad thing for my front tires !

- got mine the mail today (Saturday) a precious Certificate of Conformity from Mazda France : since I sent them a letter Tuesday afternoon, I think I set a new time record for it's obtention
This car is giving me so much luck, and I'm now filling my lottery grid with chassis numbers
:lol:
Anyway, huge thanks to Mazda France for being really nice and reactive, this is getting me things a lot easier to get my licence plates !

So today, I had only time to vacuum the interior, it took me already my whole afternoon.
And getting the seats out of the car for this operation was not a bad idea since I found a lot a things under them : parking tickets, CDs, bottle caps and an old candy ! I also found a Pin's, dog hair, coins (for a total of 5.70 CHF) and a sufficient quantity of rice to feed a whole somalian village that makes me think this car has been used for a marriage :lol:

Interior is now in an acceptable state of cleanness, which wasn't a luxury for Mimix to make a new friend

Service book :

I'm happy !

 

[GT-Alex]

I wondered what sort of things were hiding behind the "Swiss Package" denomination, and came accross this link : http://www.mx-5.net/mx5germany/www....ht/Alle Sondermodelle/Alle_Sondermodelle.html

According to this, it's a non-limited special edition available in Switzerland and it should have a Torsen !!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

But I'm going to check that in person when I'll have the opportunity, because this link dosen't mentions the Bilsteins.

 

[Flyin' 92]

Lucky find with the Bilsteins. I know the R-package here in the states had custom valved Bilstein shocks. Mazda and Bilstein made a deal of sorts to have the shocks valved to Mazda's specs. You may have something similar, but I'm not well versed in European SE/LE package cars.

Oh and it's ABS. Anti-lock Breaking System. I hate it, but I have to live it until I can find time and a desire to remove it.

 

[GT-Alex]

Ok, ABS, it's the same as here, wasn't sure anymore about that. We'll see if I like or not.

 

[Flyin' 92]

Under normal driving conditions it doesn't feel much different than a non-abs miata. You won't notice it until you're in a hard breaking situation. I just prefer a firm pedal when I step on the brakes, but thats just me.

 

[GT-Alex]

First drive with the car today, helped everything to get working back normally after a few months without driving (especially the brakes :lol: ).

After a quick refuel, I popped in the middle of an old-timer regularity rally, so I followed their path a bit. It's funny to see people looking at your car and the MGB GT you're following the same way !

 

[GT-Alex]

Made an oil change with a new filter, and the engine's now running perfectly with no undesirable noise. I'm going to do the timing belt and then I'll call it a good base to work on.



Hard-top is now stored in the garage, and today's awesome weather pushed me to do a quick shooting :

BONUS : Magnum mode engaged :lol:

 

[GT-Alex]

Some news :

I had my belts changed, and done the clutch slave, spark plugs (NGK Irridium) with red Magnecors. The cars feels a lot better since that. Lot of pics also, but I wont post them here because I changed my fugly wheels on snow tires today with some Rota K7 on Hankook Evo.

Car is stock with OEM Bilsteins and it fits well. The wheels only rub a bit on the lower triangles when you're steering very fully, but I want and need a custom alignement because I literally killed the previous tyres on the sides.

 

[B4.Eunos]

Drop it like a bad habit now!
Get rid of Some of that gap.
looking good !!

 

[(Adam)]

Paint looks awesome, glad you're enjoying the car.

 

[GT-Alex]

Thanks guys, I'm not gonna drop it right now, it behaves right as it is and getting only springs on it would not improve the ride on our roads. I ordered a custom roll bar, then I plan on changing the front anti roll, get some chassis braces and when all this will be done I'll chose a suspension setup to match all that and cut 20 - 30mm in height

And yes, I'm enjoying it as hell, 10000km (6200+ miles) in 3 months, only on mountain passes and backroads. And a friend of mine is now going to change his Celica for a 2.0 NC because of me :lol: