The Price Of Perfection

[goz_83]

Slam panel installed today. Took the opportunity to give the radiator brackets a quick coat of paint too, as they were looking a bit worse for wear.

Melvey also posted me 2 sets of 5mm spacers, which I received and installed this evening. I didn't take any time to step back and appreciate them, it's bloody cold out there.

[Sebastian]

interested to see how the spacers change the look of the car . I've always wanted a pair on mine

[StewyD32]

I got a set of Melvey as well, I think they we're 8mm of not defo 5mm. Made a nice difference but not too noticeable.
It's more noticeable when the tyre is wider than the alloy and car is lowered like mine was

[goz_83]

It's been a couple of weeks since I updated this thread. A couple of weeks ago, I dressed up the engine bay a little. I replaced the stock intake pipe and replaced it with blue silicone pipes. There is also a mini oil breather cone on it now. Also replaced the windscreen washer hoses with blue silicone. Looks much better. Will do pics when everything is done.

I also got the it Terrecleaned today. Noticeable response. Feels smoother and I expect to get better mpg after removing 15 years of crap. Cost €143 inc vat with a 10% boards.ie discount. Vat rate is 13.5%, but I was almost charged 21% (€155) until the guy that did the job pointed out that I was paying too much. Fair play to him (Eugene). The back seat needed to come out to access the fuel tank, where he connected the Terraclean machine, so there was no messing about at the engine. Took a good hour and a half, but he wasn't exactly rushing (even though I was!) I had to put the foot down to get to work on time.

Today I also received my new samco coolant hoses (collected at the Parcel Motel), so now i'm just waiting for the purchase of the evans waterless coolant.

And after perseverance, I finally found a decent set of wide spray washer jets. I had a nice set, but the fixing nuts went missing, so i've been using the stock set. Amazon, I could kiss you!

In other news (yes, theres more) I noticed a nasty deep scratch on the passenger side wing. Looks like it might have been malicious, because it's on the top part, beside the bonnet. Called the chip doctor in and had him take a look. He said the scratch would be €160 to fix, as it is deep and wide. So I told him I could get it resprayed for half that and told him that if he fixed the small chip on the bonnet, a scrape below the couresy window and the scuffs on the rear bumper, as well as the big scratch on the wing, we had a deal at €160. He agreed Getting done next Thursday at my place.

[Chris_Heilong]

interesting that they go in trough the back seats. will be getting this done before the NCT next year.

[goz_83]

interesting that they go in trough the back seats. will be getting this done before the NCT next year.

I wanted it done before the rolling road to make sure my baby is showing max horsies. Plus, the saving in fuel consumption alone is worth it and I do very little driving. Much less than 10k since I got it. If you only save 5%, it adds up to a lot. How much is spent on fuel weekly? I would hazard a low guess of €40 per week with my driving, which is over €100 per year savings if the improvement is only 5%.

[Kace]

What is terrecleaning - is it like powerwashing the inside of the fueltank and pipes or something ?

[Bernard]

I'm having it done myself on Tuesday after reading up on it today.
From Youtube.com

[goz_83]

The phone number for Graham is 0831025570. Make sure you mention the boars.ie discount of 10% unless you find better. Should only cost €143 inc vat at 13.5% or €126 ex vat

[gt94]

The phone number for Graham is 0831025570. Make sure you mention the boars.ie discount of 10% unless you find better. Should only cost €143 inc vat at 13.5% or €126 ex vat

Is he making his way to you or are you driving to a shop/garage?

[gt94]

I'm having it done myself on Tuesday after reading up on it today.
From Youtube.com

Is he making his way to you or are you driving to a shop/garage?

[Chris_Heilong]

The phone number for Graham is 0831025570. Make sure you mention the boars.ie discount of 10% unless you find better. Should only cost €143 inc vat at 13.5% or €126 ex vat

Is he making his way to you or are you driving to a shop/garage?

They come out to you or your work place.

[goz_83]

Yep. And after doing a few miles, I've noticed more of an improvement.

My exhaust bracket came away from the backbox again. Got it sorted at Atlas today for €30 so I hope that's the end of it.

[goz_83]

I ordered me a set of those chrome plated mx5 gas bonnet lifters from the mx5 parts site. End price, delivered to my parcel motel will be about €45. I think it'll add a touch of class.

[goz_83]

Brought the car down to atlas for a look over pre-nct. Being lazy I asked them to change the oil and the filter ( I supplied of course). Also decided to get the coolant changed, along with the new samco hoses. One of those magnetic sumps to go on too.

She needs a drivers side shock due to a leak. Also a brake hose clip needed. Thankfully Gerry is able to sort me out with a set from 96 model. Hoping to collect and get sorted today. Will be all ready for the test.

[goz_83]

Looks like i'll be ordering from camskill after all. €187 for 2 new shocks. The used ones can't be used, due to broken brackets and likelihood of early failure.

Ah well, at least I know the new parts will be sounds. Thanks again to Gerry anyway, who was on the ball with the parts nice and quick for me. The little hose brackets will be handy though, so it wasn't a wasted trip. Waiting on a call from camskill to confirm the shocks are for all fto variants. Update: confirmed and ordered.

Now she is all serviced and fresh coolant, so i will hold off on the evans coolant for now. 2 out of 3 samco coolant hoses are in place. The lad doing the service couldn't find where the third hose went. After checking for a whole minute, I found it was the hose connected to the heater matrix I will be getting that sorted when I drop the car back down to get the new shocks installed. Hopefull it won't interfere with the rolling road in any way. I had noticed less a lot less tolerance in the right front shock, because the tyre was rubbing more when turning left onto, or off a path ramp. I will be glad to have that sorted.

[goz_83]

WTF? So, the top mounts are knackered too! I walked home and brought the set Gerry gave me in a taxi. One of them is gone too so I've had to go back to camskill and I've ordered 2 mounts at a cost of €150. Hopefully will arrive tomorrow. It's definitely adding up now, but I didn't think it would be wise to only order 1 mount.

[Chris_Heilong]

WTF? So, the top mounts are knackered too! I walked home and brought the set Gerry gave me in a taxi. One of them is gone too so I've had to go back to camskill and I've ordered 2 mounts at a cost of €150. Hopefully will arrive tomorrow. It's definitely adding up now, but I didn't think it would be wise to only order 1 mount.

What the hell? you must be flying over those speed bumps.

[goz_83]

Actually I think it's just old age and pot holes. They're not completely gone, but I'd rather have them replaced with fresh ones. There hasn't even been a knocking sound, but why wait? Won't cost me any extra in labour getting it done now.

[goz_83]

Car is back in the body shop to get the chassis fully checked and welded and sealed where necessary. Seems like there were a couple of holes filled with fibreglass and sealed over, which is not a good idea. The guy at atlas said it looked like it was good few years done and i'm glad it's been spotted (but it wasn't spotted by the nct guy ).

I'm also having the tints removed from the side windows, which is painful for me. It's just so stupid. Would understand if they were very dark, but.......ah feck.

Having the nasty scrape sorted on the wing too. Getting it fully resprayed. Hoping they can fit my gas struts for the bonnet too.

[goz_83]

Just collected it. The paint shop was closed, so George couldn't paint the wing, as there wasn't enough blue paint left. He said the corrosion is sorted and the tints are gone from front windows

He did polish out the scratches on the rear bumper, which i'm happy about. Oh, and the mx5 gas bonnet lifters are installed and working their magic . I will leave the bonnet stay on, just incase it is needed in the future. There was no charge for the work. Some pics.

[Chris_Heilong]

I like, so when is your NCT appointment?

[goz_83]

Not booked yet

[ottostreet]

Looking well, I like the struts!

[goz_83]

Cheers. fto gas struts are looking good. They're not stiff and the bonnet closes once its pressed down only a couple of inches. The biting point is quite high.