Post by miket on Jan 19, 2014 12:56:32 GMT
It's been a while since intro'ing myself back in October so time to leave some occasional ramblings for any future novices in case useful and/or encouraging.
The donor I bought was a local, 135k miles, 23 year old, early-1.6, Mk1 in Mariner Blue - found on ebay with a few days MOT cover remaining and secured for £330. It had had some industrial scale welding to rear sills and the locks didn't work, but otherwise looked okay ... or at least as far as this novice could tell ... what could possibly go wrong?!
The drive home at night reminded me how my old Triumph Spitfire lights used to glow vaguely, and showed that the brakes had been untroubled by the recent "careful lady owner" and no longer did much - oh, and the driver footwell was full of water such that my feet were soaked - maybe, just maybe, that prompted the sale. The car has since gently drained on to the floor.
On the plus side I found that I had pretty much a FSH across 23 years and 6 owners - including every MOT cert - that can't happen often. I guess MX5 owners love their cars.
The plan was to dismantle carefully and sell parts in spring. I have a reasonable sized garage, but it's filling up fast. In practise I find I'm not sure what will sell readily and be worth the hassle - so I find myself dithering over how far to dismantle (say) the doors. It would probably have worth having a better idea at the outset. So at the moment I'm just putting dismantled bits to one side to revisit at 'quiet times'.
So far the cockpit, boot, engine bay are largely cleared back far enough to free up the loom - the dash came out yesterday. For a 23 year old car the 'indoor' bits are pristine and coming apart very easily. Only a couple of bolts along the top of the front of the engine bay have sheared. I've had the benefit of the Rod Grainger manual (ebay £15) and it's now getting nicely grubby with use.
The main 'surprise' has been the aftermarket Piranha alarm .. with no key to get its top off. There's also what I presume is additional related central locking wiring in the doors (no 'plipper') - perhaps that's part of the reason why the door locks didn't work mechanically.
Thus far I've done all the work with the tyres on terra firma - but next it's up on the stands and see if the welding/rust can hold the car up okay (with appropriate precautions). Then I can do the messy bits: fuel, coolant, brakes etc.
The main non-donor spends so far have been engine-hoist (£80 on Preloved), torque wrench, breaker bar, shelving and waterproof (and so hopefully tough) labels. I've used the breaker bar, but more for the pleasure than necessity.
Things I wish I'd read before I started (i.e. before I disconnected the battery):-
Headlamps are best left up (mk1) before starting out -tho' popping off the retractor arms is a doddle.
Fuel lines are (I read) pressurised and should be depressurised before opening-up, so I read further about how to .... "first start the engine". Ooops.
So it's all so-far-so-good for this novice. Next thing to find out is what you use to blank of things like the old carbon canister pipe - ideas on a postcard to the usual address.
Back with more ramblings in due course. Cheers all.
The donor I bought was a local, 135k miles, 23 year old, early-1.6, Mk1 in Mariner Blue - found on ebay with a few days MOT cover remaining and secured for £330. It had had some industrial scale welding to rear sills and the locks didn't work, but otherwise looked okay ... or at least as far as this novice could tell ... what could possibly go wrong?!
The drive home at night reminded me how my old Triumph Spitfire lights used to glow vaguely, and showed that the brakes had been untroubled by the recent "careful lady owner" and no longer did much - oh, and the driver footwell was full of water such that my feet were soaked - maybe, just maybe, that prompted the sale. The car has since gently drained on to the floor.
On the plus side I found that I had pretty much a FSH across 23 years and 6 owners - including every MOT cert - that can't happen often. I guess MX5 owners love their cars.
The plan was to dismantle carefully and sell parts in spring. I have a reasonable sized garage, but it's filling up fast. In practise I find I'm not sure what will sell readily and be worth the hassle - so I find myself dithering over how far to dismantle (say) the doors. It would probably have worth having a better idea at the outset. So at the moment I'm just putting dismantled bits to one side to revisit at 'quiet times'.
So far the cockpit, boot, engine bay are largely cleared back far enough to free up the loom - the dash came out yesterday. For a 23 year old car the 'indoor' bits are pristine and coming apart very easily. Only a couple of bolts along the top of the front of the engine bay have sheared. I've had the benefit of the Rod Grainger manual (ebay £15) and it's now getting nicely grubby with use.
The main 'surprise' has been the aftermarket Piranha alarm .. with no key to get its top off. There's also what I presume is additional related central locking wiring in the doors (no 'plipper') - perhaps that's part of the reason why the door locks didn't work mechanically.
Thus far I've done all the work with the tyres on terra firma - but next it's up on the stands and see if the welding/rust can hold the car up okay (with appropriate precautions). Then I can do the messy bits: fuel, coolant, brakes etc.
The main non-donor spends so far have been engine-hoist (£80 on Preloved), torque wrench, breaker bar, shelving and waterproof (and so hopefully tough) labels. I've used the breaker bar, but more for the pleasure than necessity.
Things I wish I'd read before I started (i.e. before I disconnected the battery):-
Headlamps are best left up (mk1) before starting out -tho' popping off the retractor arms is a doddle.
Fuel lines are (I read) pressurised and should be depressurised before opening-up, so I read further about how to .... "first start the engine". Ooops.
So it's all so-far-so-good for this novice. Next thing to find out is what you use to blank of things like the old carbon canister pipe - ideas on a postcard to the usual address.
Back with more ramblings in due course. Cheers all.
