Hammer's Clubbie

Hammer · Postby **Hammer** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:47 pm

Here's my newly acquired Clubman. She used to belong to Tezzax5, who has upgraded to a very rare Crystal Blue SP.

The journey began when I picked the Clubbie on New Years Eve from Terry’s place. I caught a Qantas red-eye flight from Sydney to Brisbane. The temperature in Brisbane Airport was already 28 degrees Celsius at 7:30 in the morning (Thanks for the lift from the airport Terry). After the formalities of selling and buying a car was concluded, I immediately drove her back to Nelson Bay, Port Stephens. Embarrased to admit it, but I drove her with roof up & A/C on all the way - too bloody hot.

I know it's sad, but the Clubbie ended up getting a name during the inaugural 10hrs drive back from Brisbane to where I had to be for New Years Eve - a distance of 760kms. Call it boredom, call it passion for the car, or call it enthusiasm for the raw experience of driving a Clubbie on Pacific Hwy for 10hrs (those Bilstein definitely made you feel all the bumps on the road), but there you have it, she’s now got a name – “Ruby”

[edit - since have been renamed "Ginger Spice"].

She'll park proudly next to my other pride and joy, my SP.

Here’s the start of her photo journey….

Photos of Ginger (taken by Tezzax5) prior to me picking her up. She was well looked after by Tezzax5. I'll continue to do the same...

Here is Ginger getting a wash to remove all those road grime and bugs from the previous day's 10hr drive. I'm lucky that Port Stephens have no water restrictions. :mrgreen:

Both dams are overflowing.

Ginger's boots are being replaced by an old set I kept when I sold my my Honda Integra a few years ago. Funny really, I bought these wheels for the Intergra, the year Ginger was made - 1994. The new boots are Enkei RP01 (not too sure of the model now). They're strong and very light considering they're 16"s. These are part of Enkei's Racing series of wheels, but are now discontinued.

The original Clubman wheels (14") where unbelievably light. I think the lightest wheel I've lifted. The Enkei's are light too, but compared to the Clubman's, they're heavy. I hazard a guess, but I think, the 16" Enkei's are over a kilo (maybe two) heavier per corner (including the tyre). :cry:

But for individuality aspect, they are miles ahead of the original.

Both ORIGINAL and the ENKEI's in this photo. I know the car looks like a 4WD, but after a short drive, the suspension has settled down and the Enkei's fill in the guards nicely.

Here she is, with four new boots.

And finally some photos with my SP...

To be continued...

d-mag · Postby **d-mag** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 9:27 pm

You do realise that I, along with many other people here, hate you. :lol:

Postby **orx626** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:14 pm

That's awesome Hammer!!!

Two mighty fine examples of an NA & NB....you need an NC to complete the stable! :mrgreen:

Cheers,
Danny

sliq · Postby **sliq** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:28 pm

when i read boots, i thought those rubber gear shift boots.

excellent work, hammer.

is ruby going to have custom plates?

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Sun Jan 04, 2009 10:58 pm

Looks great & new Enkeis really suit the car!

Postby **Okibi** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:24 am

Going to respray the SP to match? :mrgreen:

feel_ixx · Postby **feel_ixx** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 12:59 am

damn do those rims look nice. And to answer your question about the rims, yes the metal filler can fix anything up as long as you sand it back down afterwards. However you will need to respray the whole wheel if you want the colour to be even. Then you'd need to respray all the other rims too to make THAT colour even.

SuperMazdaKart · Postby **SuperMazdaKart** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 1:58 am

someones been doing 11's?

Hammer · Postby **Hammer** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:07 am

d-mag wrote:You do realise that I, along with many other people here, hate you.

orx626 wrote:That's awesome Hammer!!! Two mighty fine examples of an NA & NB....you need an NC to complete the stable!

Cheers,
Danny

Thanks Danny. Not as awesome as your Renesis NC though. I wish I had some of your know-how, not to mention access to equipment that you do.

For a long time, I've been wishing for Mazda to release a NC MPS, but now that I'm a little low in funds due to the recent acquisition, I'm kinda hoping they don't - well, at least not for a while, until I saved enough dosh. :mrgreen:

sliq wrote:when i read boots, i thought those rubber gear shift boots.

excellent work, hammer.

is ruby going to have custom plates?

Thanks Sliq. Ruby has QLD custom plates right now, which I'll have to remove for NSW plates. I've never been a fan of coloured plates, but after seeing her red QLD plates, I like them. So I'm contemplating at getting red NSW ones now. Not sure if I'd like to give the RTA $130 per year extra for the priviledge though

93_Clubman wrote:Looks great & new Enkeis really suit the car!

Thanks. I was just very lucky that my Honda Integra had the same PCD patterns as the MX5. The tyres that I have on them are just that little bit higher though. Perfect for the Integra, maybe a little too high for the MX5. I should really have 205/45s on, but the tyres i have on it are 205/50s.

Having said that, the speedo seems more accurate now - verified this with my GPS that I'm assuming are more accurate than the speedo considering GPS units are being tracked by no less than 3 satelites an any given time. Plus speedos have always been calibrated to be slightly more optimistic from factory to avoid any litegation, right. And the extra sidewall provides that little bit more extra flex to compensate for the Bilstein

Okibi wrote:Going to respray the SP to match?

Hmmmm.

Nah. Leave it her in red. Otherwise, naming her Ruby won't make too much sense :mrgreen:

When I was going for the NA. I had two colours in mind that I really wanted, that is this red, and a Laguna Blue. But red has always been my first choice. I think it's the signature colour of the NA.

feel_ixx wrote:damn do those rims look nice. And to answer your question about the rims, yes the metal filler can fix anything up as long as you sand it back down afterwards. However you will need to respray the whole wheel if you want the colour to be even. Then you'd need to respray all the other rims too to make THAT colour even.

Thanks. This is why you never let anyone else drive your car. Lent my Integra to my GF at the time, came back with gutter rash on two of the Enkeis. Not happy Jan

I'll probably wait until I need to replace the tyres, before I tackle the repairs. I'll most likely pick your brain again on this in the future.

jules · Postby **jules** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 1:30 pm

Love this picture. Timeless NA beauty.

Jules

Craig · Postby **Craig** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 2:46 pm

jules wrote:Love this picture. Timeless NA beauty.

For a car released in 1989, they still look awesome don't they!

jules · Postby **jules** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:09 pm

You betcha big daddy!

Jules

CoffeeBoss · Postby **CoffeeBoss** » Mon Jan 05, 2009 5:43 pm

*envious glares in your general direction*

Having spent some time with this NA6 in Christchurch, i know with great certainty that i would LOVE to park one next to my NC.

And, according to the story of the NA6, I think your on the money with red. I have the UK publication, which is an English translation of the original Japanese publication on the car. Truly a great read, it covers the whole genesis of the NA from those who made it happen. Pictured here on the left. You'll notice the car on the cover (and all the initial press shots inside) all feature a red na

Seriously, well done! Looks super clean, and with some meaningful and tasteful additions. As I see it, you have one problem now - choosing which one to drive!