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Lifted from my build thread on MX5Nutz, here's the EP3 replacement. Split from the Mrs at New Years, and the single life is a little costlier than I was expecting. So, as an extravagance the Civic had to go. One of the most depressing Sundays of my life seeing the poor girl drive away from my house. 
Anyway, life goes on and I found a cheap project beater to keep my mind occupied. Taken a bit of getting used to, but it's got a lot of character and is a hoot to drive. I'll let the shameless copy/paste blurb do the talking...
----
After a short search, I picked up my 5 last week for a bargain price of £500. It's a UK spec 1996 1.6, so the lower powered car but I'm not massively fussed about the power. Price was key here, and this car fitted the budget of "cheap" quite nicely.
Before I went to view the car I spoke with the owner for half hour or so about the car, and what her last 4 years with it. She said that the car needed (and I quote): "some attention to the suspension needed, the bumpers are a bit messy, and the roof leaks." Filled with a little apprehension, I took a trip down the motorway for a look on a Saturday.
What met me was a very uneven, dirty and sorry looking little 5!
Straight away I saw what she meant about the suspension, the OSF arch and the NSR rear arch were poles apart. I could get a fist between the wheel and arch on the NSR and bearly a finger on the OSF. "Some" attention needed indeed. The other thing she didn't mention was that it had a completely different wheel on the NSF! On the upside the roof hadn't leaked at all, and still hasn't even with all the rain we've been having over the last 3-4 days. Score.
I went away and gave it some thought, totted up what it was going to cost me to get it to a decent state and made an offer. Offer (and challenge!) accepted, and a buyer for my car I picked up the 5 and started collecting the bits I needed.
Replacement wheel off eBay for £20, and a very reasonable priced set of shocks from LagunaBlue94 on here and I was set to get the car safe (and level!).
As a bonus the car is taxed until October, and MOT'd until late August. No major advisories on the last MOT, and receipts for plugs and leads, tyres, brake calipers, etc.. in the last 6 months.
Clearly the OSF suspension needed attacking first, this is what we were met with once the wheel came of:
The spring had snapped, popped off the collar and was resting on the wishbone. Slowly working it's way through with every turn... :trigger:
Next thing that needed attention was the very tatty looking bumpers. The rear was the victim of a reversing "incident":
Both bumpers have had paint at some point in their life, and not good paint at that. It was flaking off all over the place, not to mention it was stone chipped and completely knackered:
After spending 4 hours getting frustrated stripping bumpers off the car, snapping bolts and drilling out said bolts I managed to get both bumpers up onto stands to take a look.
Bit of DA love at 180 grit to level off the bumpers and take off the crap paint:
Decided to smooth the front bumper completely, losing the number plate plinth and badge holes.
Before:
During:
Nearly finished preparing the front for priming:
Finally after 5 hours work, managed to get the bumpers into the oven at the end of the day for priming:
Didn't take many pictures DAing the bumpers at 120 grit due to the amount of dust kicked up! But here's the last pic before they went in for paint:
I don't have any more pics as we ran out of daylight, and finished attaching the bumpers at 7.30pm Sunday night. Beer was needed!
Whilst the bumpers were cooking off I had to remove that awful fixed aerial that made the car look like a radio controlled toy! Dirty grommet on there at the moment, but will be replacing with a MX5Parts stubby when I get round to it.
All in all, not bad for the first weekend of ownership:
New wheel
Replaced shocks all round
Front + rear bumpers fixed and resprayed
This weekend I plan to mop and correct as much of the paint as possible, then it's on to the to do list:
Refit Front plate on relocation bracket
Sand sand spray wiper arms
Detango lights and associated wiring
Stereo + iPod fitting
Oil and filter change
Rocker cover gasket replacement to fix oil leak
Once the above is sorted I might look into getting some new wheels, and maybe sort out the ride height if a decent set of shocks/coilies show up in the classifieds.
More to come once she's had a clean and a good drive at the weekend.
Anyway, life goes on and I found a cheap project beater to keep my mind occupied. Taken a bit of getting used to, but it's got a lot of character and is a hoot to drive. I'll let the shameless copy/paste blurb do the talking...
----
After a short search, I picked up my 5 last week for a bargain price of £500. It's a UK spec 1996 1.6, so the lower powered car but I'm not massively fussed about the power. Price was key here, and this car fitted the budget of "cheap" quite nicely.
Before I went to view the car I spoke with the owner for half hour or so about the car, and what her last 4 years with it. She said that the car needed (and I quote): "some attention to the suspension needed, the bumpers are a bit messy, and the roof leaks." Filled with a little apprehension, I took a trip down the motorway for a look on a Saturday.
What met me was a very uneven, dirty and sorry looking little 5!
Straight away I saw what she meant about the suspension, the OSF arch and the NSR rear arch were poles apart. I could get a fist between the wheel and arch on the NSR and bearly a finger on the OSF. "Some" attention needed indeed. The other thing she didn't mention was that it had a completely different wheel on the NSF! On the upside the roof hadn't leaked at all, and still hasn't even with all the rain we've been having over the last 3-4 days. Score.
I went away and gave it some thought, totted up what it was going to cost me to get it to a decent state and made an offer. Offer (and challenge!) accepted, and a buyer for my car I picked up the 5 and started collecting the bits I needed.
Replacement wheel off eBay for £20, and a very reasonable priced set of shocks from LagunaBlue94 on here and I was set to get the car safe (and level!).
As a bonus the car is taxed until October, and MOT'd until late August. No major advisories on the last MOT, and receipts for plugs and leads, tyres, brake calipers, etc.. in the last 6 months.
Clearly the OSF suspension needed attacking first, this is what we were met with once the wheel came of:
The spring had snapped, popped off the collar and was resting on the wishbone. Slowly working it's way through with every turn... :trigger:
Next thing that needed attention was the very tatty looking bumpers. The rear was the victim of a reversing "incident":
Both bumpers have had paint at some point in their life, and not good paint at that. It was flaking off all over the place, not to mention it was stone chipped and completely knackered:
After spending 4 hours getting frustrated stripping bumpers off the car, snapping bolts and drilling out said bolts I managed to get both bumpers up onto stands to take a look.
Bit of DA love at 180 grit to level off the bumpers and take off the crap paint:
Decided to smooth the front bumper completely, losing the number plate plinth and badge holes.
Before:
During:
Nearly finished preparing the front for priming:
Finally after 5 hours work, managed to get the bumpers into the oven at the end of the day for priming:
Didn't take many pictures DAing the bumpers at 120 grit due to the amount of dust kicked up! But here's the last pic before they went in for paint:
I don't have any more pics as we ran out of daylight, and finished attaching the bumpers at 7.30pm Sunday night. Beer was needed!
Whilst the bumpers were cooking off I had to remove that awful fixed aerial that made the car look like a radio controlled toy! Dirty grommet on there at the moment, but will be replacing with a MX5Parts stubby when I get round to it.
All in all, not bad for the first weekend of ownership:
New wheel
Replaced shocks all round
Front + rear bumpers fixed and resprayed
This weekend I plan to mop and correct as much of the paint as possible, then it's on to the to do list:
Refit Front plate on relocation bracket
Sand sand spray wiper arms
Detango lights and associated wiring
Stereo + iPod fitting
Oil and filter change
Rocker cover gasket replacement to fix oil leak
Once the above is sorted I might look into getting some new wheels, and maybe sort out the ride height if a decent set of shocks/coilies show up in the classifieds.
More to come once she's had a clean and a good drive at the weekend.
