My era of MX5 ownership! Twilight Blue NB8A

[philz]

Yeah I mean what is the purpose of it... but alright I understand.

[RG.net]

its the little things that count.

good job.

[PUR157]

If they're anything like the NA MX5 ones... the ones with foam backingn should be the front and the rear ones are alot "smaller" if you get my drift...
the front ones have a more chunky backing
(or are all 4 the same on the NB??)

1red5 was nice enough to label mine before he sent them to me... (or maybe it was for his own purposes... either way... )

I love to see this clean look going around now...

If you're a little undecided over wheels... try get a PS2/3 and pop in a copy of GT3/4 and go virtual wheel shopping

[CheyneX5]

If you're a little undecided over wheels... try get a PS2/3 and pop in a copy of GT3/4 and go virtual wheel shopping

Amen to that!

[hks_kansei]

ok, as per wheels I chucked in GT3 again and went wheel shopping, (GT4 does not have the NB8A in it, only NB8B. GT3 has NB8A and Twilight blue!)

anyway, I checked out a few that I've had my eye on, first was the Enkei SC14........ not bad, but average.

I looked at a few others, different finishes etc, and I'm liking the look of Silver, or even better, White wheels, the White TE37 looked especially nice........ too bad they dont cost 500cr in real life


anyway, painting!


last week they were Primed, here's the pic, nothing special really. washed, wetsanded with 400, primed (plastic primer is clear unfortunately)

anyway, that was left to dry for a week.



so after that today I set about the next step COLOUR!

grabbed the reflectors, gave them a quick wetsand with 800 and a quick wash, then set about colouring them.

a couple of quick mist coats, left to tack dry, then a wet coat, again, left to tack dry, then another wet coat.
here they are after the first wet coat.




Little bit of peel, but I'm happy with the finish, I'll be sanding the peel down before the clear goes on.


another closeup, showing the fleck.

so, yeah, now to let the colour cure before I can get to some more sanding and then clearcoating.

[broady]

not to be a party pooper, but aren't all aussie cars supposed to have reflectors? as per ADR

i thought it was bad enough to have the clear reflectors (though i myself have put them on)

[hks_kansei]

not to be a party pooper, but aren't all aussie cars supposed to have reflectors? as per ADR

nope, I've made sure to do my research.

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=36374&start=15

[Jeo]

As I said in that thread, I still think it's illegal to remove them if they came there standard. Think airbags, they aren't necessary, but if they are already there you can't remove them.

Having said that, I'd still do it. You'd have to be already doing something terribly wrong to get pinged for that.

[hks_kansei]

If I do it right, it should look like they were never reflectors to start with. They will hopefully end up looking like blanking plates

[bruce]

If you wanted a lot of work you could fill it all in and repaint your bars (forget it!).
Do the American cars come with blanking plates and no reflectors? (just checked, nope. Might have a light in the front one?)

[hks_kansei]

US market I believe has lights in theirs.

the back of the reflectors has blank areas where a globe socket would be attached.


also, I got mum to take me and the car for a run on Saturday, keep the battery charged etc.
I had to make some concessions for her, she's doing me a favour in driving my cars while I cannot, the drive would be roof up, and I put the stock knob back on because she could barely change gears with the voodoo on.

anyway, I said to her "the car needs a good rev this week, keep it from getting lazy" so we pull up off the highway, and I say "Just rev it out in either 1st or 2nd"

she changes into 2nd at 3000rpm, I said "a bit more than that" so she revs 2nd to 4500rpm and changes, then tries to rev it out in 3rd. I just said "you're welcome to do that, but by the time you reach redline in 3rd you'll have no licence.

*sigh*

I want to drive my car again

[CoffeeBoss]

she changes into 2nd at 3000rpm, I said "a bit more than that" so she revs 2nd to 4500rpm and changes, then tries to rev it out in 3rd. I just said "you're welcome to do that, but by the time you reach redline in 3rd you'll have no licence.
*sigh*
I want to drive my car again

I have had similar experiences with my two sisters in my car.

Me: "It's a Japanese sports car! It likes to rev!"

Sister/s: "But i don't want to hurt it!"

Me: "It likes it, trust me."

Of course, once you teach them that sensible use of the entire rev range is actually a form of mechanical sympathy, then they'll be asking you for the keys every other day...

[hks_kansei]

I'm kind of lucky, my family dont really "get" the MX5.

it's good, because they dont want to steal it even though I wouldnt mind if they did, they just have to ask.


mum and dad are headed to Tassie next week for a holiday, and I offered them to take it if they wanted. They politely declined though, instead taking dad's falcon, free fuel + luggage space won over.

[hks_kansei]

ok, they've had a week to dry now so I did a quick trial fitting.

it's looking great!

the trial fit is just the first coats of colour, I still need to give them a little wetsand to flatten the peel (I need to find some super fine paper first, a mate who does car detailing has said I will need at least 3000-4000 grit and then polish afterwards)

so anyway, I need to wetsand the peel, put another colour coat on, then a couple of clearcoats, then let them cure and polish them.

anyway, enough of the words, I'm sure you all want pics!



Stock, as you would all know.




it's looking very nice!





now in Photos it looks like the colour is a perfect match, and on the can it was as well, however under a bright light to the eye you can see that it isnt 100%, because it's on an orange reflector the colour looks to be about a shade darker than the car, and also not a pure blue, almost a slight purple tint (probably the orange of the reflector filtering through)

anyway, I havent had a chance to look at it in sunlight yet, and I'm hoping that with another coat of colour or two it should reduce the effect of the orange.

[hks_kansei]

FINISHED!!!!

ok, yesterday I wetsanded the peel down a little, put on another coat of colour, then 2 coats of clear.

looks great!

anyway, here's the finished product.

first step was removing the fron indicators, the drivers side is easy, there's an opening in the undertray that you can put your arm up in and push the reflector out from inside. The passenger side however is more difficult, no hatch.

now since I'm incredibly lazy and really couldnt be bothered undoing the arch liner, I got a bit creative.....

stuck a sash clamp handle through one of the vents, and tapped around until I found the back of the reflector, then pushed it out.










now, if you look, Yes, the colour isnt 100%, but it's not as bad as in the pics, the car is actually filthy so if I cleaned it it should be a better match. Granted I havent been able to look at it in full sunlight yet, I am expecting the colour to be a pretty sh*t match in sun. Still closer than orange though