Right, back to the story of the purchase etc.
As mentioned, I got given this Haynes book by the previous owner with the car, already used it a couple of times as reference.
Great book if you have an MX5.
Then he also added this huge woodwork vice in for me, got to be worth a few £££'s
Will be mounting it to my woodwork bench in the shed.
And lastly a tin of underbody sealant to use once I have finished the rust repairs.
Thanks Paul !!
I was up early as usual today, so once I had made the boss a cuppa tea in bed, I disappeared to the garage for large parts of the day.
First job to address was the door sills, removing the stainless protective plates, I found some surface rust.
Used an abrasive wheel to grind it back to clean metal, then primed and painted the marks after which I wet sanded them, and then gave it all a final pair of blending coats.
Much of these repairs are hidden by the stainless protectors.
Drivers side.
Neighbour Mickey was on hand to help with keeping me company and taking photos.
Between coats of primer and paint I kept busy with other jobs, like polishing stainless steel, removing the ashtray insert and then modding it to remobe the little grille inside to make an easy access coin holder for parking money. I did try to convince Nicola she needed a drinks holder.
Amazingly as always, they looked good before, but afterward it was apparent that there was room for improvement.....
More coats of paint followed, eventually the repairs had about 4 coats of paint.
During one of my "breaks" I dismantled the handbrake lever.....wooden handle in a crappy before pic.
Sanded all the old damaged varnish off, and also the stained wood.
Then proceeded to give it coat after coat of Danish Oil.
Another job that needed doing for now was to scrub and then nourish the leather.
Before pic.
Passenger side after. Distinct improvement.
Throughout the day Harley the Fearless was on hand to help me.... she seems to really like the rear parcel shelf.
Then started all the reassembly work, rather rewarding.
During the day I had also stripped out the boot, wire brushed the battery clamp area and repainted it all, Nicola cleaned up the lining mats and I managed to buy a replacement battery cover with intact press studs of
www.mx5nutz.comResulting in it looking like this.
Also removed and polished the stainless speaker plates and ally gear knob.
In the end I decided not to cut out the rust in the sill as I wanted to spend some time indoors with my wife....
Still, interestingly the driver side of the car has much less rust (not that there is much anyway) than the passenger side.
Rear drivers side sill
Rear passenger side.
This is now tomorrows job to cut out and let in fresh steel.
So there you have today's progress.
Bootfair in the morning, then have a mate over in the afternoon to look at the Chevy trucks lights.
