Buying an MX5 as a weekend toy

[ViNcEnXo]

Hi all,
Wanting to pick up an MX5 for around the $10k mark as a weekend toy. There are a couple of imports here and there. Are these any good?

Are there any MX5 specific forums? Searching I couldn't find much, preferable qld based.

Any reliability issues I should know about with the older ones? How hard is it to drop the 1.8 in, is it worth it? Parts expensive? Hard to work on?

Any advice appreciatted.

Cheers,
Paul

P.S. Decided this is a better option than selling the 200SX to buy a brand newy, or an S2000.

[vrmmmpshhh]

theres a huge australia wide mx5 club!!!

i think im stil la member but i havent been to the site in years..

[Shitbreak]

Off the topic of your question but have you considered buying an unregisterable import and going club racing? You can get say an RX7 FD model for about that price (I think) and save your self reg costs and take it on the track. Or an MR2 or whatever.

As soon as I'm in your situation, thats my plan.

[rj-astra]

try

http://www.aus-cartalk.com

[ViNcEnXo]

Off the topic of your question but have you considered buying an unregisterable import and going club racing? You can get say an RX7 FD model for about that price (I think) and save your self reg costs and take it on the track. Or an MR2 or whatever.

As soon as I'm in your situation, thats my plan.

Thought about that, but I want to take it on drives on the weekend, up/down the coast, mountains etc....

[ViNcEnXo]

try

http://www.aus-cartalk.com

Thanks a heap!

[Cal]

Do not buy an import. Mate of mine picked up an Australian 92 model late last week for $8k. It has 244000kms on the clock, but looks pretty tidy.

Cal.

[ViNcEnXo]

Geez thats a good buy, where from? Any other deals like that going?

Also what are the roofs worth? One I'm looking at has a tan roof and I'd rather a black one.

[bahaimus]

Do not buy an import. Mate of mine picked up an Australian 92 model late last week for $8k. It has 244000kms on the clock, but looks pretty tidy.

Cal.

He got ripped. A mate of mine bought a 90 model, Aus delivered, 100k kms with hardtop and stand for $5750.

[Zac]

Wouldn't it be even better to wait until the new model comes out?

[itsnotagsr]

Thought about an AW11 MR2?

[rj-astra]

It has 244000kms on the clock,

How loose would it feel (especially an early NA = not all the brawing) with that many kms on it?

[The Pupat]

Hi all,
Wanting to pick up an MX5 for around the $10k mark as a weekend toy. There are a couple of imports here and there. Are these any good?

Are there any MX5 specific forums? Searching I couldn't find much, preferable qld based.

Any reliability issues I should know about with the older ones? How hard is it to drop the 1.8 in, is it worth it? Parts expensive? Hard to work on?

Any advice appreciatted.

Cheers,
Paul

P.S. Decided this is a better option than selling the 200SX to buy a brand newy, or an S2000.

1.8L is a bolt in I believe.... But you wouldn't bother as there is more bang for your bucks in a turbo kit. But ask the mx5 forums about things needed to turbo and things that will go pop soon after turboed (mainly the diff).

Parts are cheap since it's a just a B6/BP - Laser/323 motor.

Fairly easy to work on but everything is pretty low to the ground (worse with lowered suspension).

[Rhys]

The first model 1.6 are more fun to drive thanearly 1.8s IMHO. If you run into dramas, i did my apprenticeship on these so, if you having any questions fire away.
The one with the Tan roof, does it have the tan leather with the speakers in the headrest? If so it's a local spec clubman or an import Eunos Roadster. The clubman we got out here would be the go, factory bilstens (farked by now probably), LSD, leather etc.
Standard MX5's heli like a mofo, i can assure you.

[Cal]

The one with the Tan roof, does it have the tan leather with the speakers in the headrest? If so it's a local spec clubman or an import Eunos Roadster. The clubman we got out here would be the go, factory bilstens (farked by now probably), LSD, leather etc.
Standard MX5's heli like a mofo, i can assure you.

Not so. The clubman never came with leather seats. The early limited edition BRG's like mine had leather, speakers in the seats and a tan roof. The next car to get the tan seats and roof was the limited edition red NA with the BBS wheels from about 1994.

Cal.

[Cal]

He got ripped. A mate of mine bought a 90 model, Aus delivered, 100k kms with hardtop and stand for $5750.

Yeah yeah.....every man and his dog knows about that one by now. Who bought it?

Cal.

[Rhys]

Not so. The clubman never came with leather seats. The early limited edition BRG's like mine had leather, speakers in the seats and a tan roof. The next car to get the tan seats and roof was the limited edition red NA with the BBS wheels from about 1994.

Cal.

True, sorry Vincenxo. It's been nearly 10 years since i've played with them.

Cal, that limited edition you had, i remember the BRG ones, i'm pretty certain they came in red too? I also remember those hideous was it "Malibu Editions" that were yellow with red interior?

[bahaimus]

Yeah yeah.....every man and his dog knows about that one by now. Who bought it?

Cal.

My Ducati mate from around the corner. He is also buying my WRX off me next week so I will have no fast cars left anymore.

[GaryD]

The guy next door to me bought a second hand blower/ecu kit for his 1.6l for $1000. He reckons it keeps up with z3's

[Babalouie]

1.8L is a bolt in I believe.... But you wouldn't bother as there is more bang for your bucks in a turbo kit. But ask the mx5 forums about things needed to turbo and things that will go pop soon after turboed (mainly the diff).

Parts are cheap since it's a just a B6/BP - Laser/323 motor.

Fairly easy to work on but everything is pretty low to the ground (worse with lowered suspension).

Yeah, it's a pretty easy conversion to 1.8. There is even a conversion kit which has the brackets, adapters and hardware needed at a fair price.

[Cal]

Cal, that limited edition you had, i remember the BRG ones, i'm pretty certain they came in red too? I also remember those hideous was it "Malibu Editions" that were yellow with red interior?

They made 300 BRG cars in 1991. They had tan leather, tan roof, headrest speakers and stainless kick plates. I believe they were all fitted with A/C too.

In 1993/94 they made 100 Classic Red's, which had the same tan leather, roof ect. They were also fitted with 14" BBS wheels.

The Malibu Gold was done in 92, there were 55 of those. No leather though. Not my favourite either.

Cal.

[Cal]

The guy next door to me bought a second hand blower/ecu kit for his 1.6l for $1000. He reckons it keeps up with z3's

Sounds like BS to me. The blower was too cheap to begin with and it should chew up Z3's and spit them out, not keep with them.

Cal.

[Ben Wilson]

They made 300 BRG cars in 1991.

I thought it was higher than that - Like 450 or so?

I'll have to check the gearknob on my dad's one...

[edo]

Surely a std MX5 can keep up with 4 cyl Z3s??? Same sort of power (hardly any) & less weight in an early 5.

[ViNcEnXo]

The one I'm looking at is Oz del. blue with a tan roof off another one.

It's a 1989 with 85,000k's (looks pretty right to be honest). It has A/C but doesn't work. Drives pretty tight, he's asking $11,000. Is this a good deal? Realistically?

[GaryD]

Sounds like BS to me. The blower was too cheap to begin with and it should chew up Z3's and spit them out, not keep with them.

Cal.

well it certainly has a blower (seen it with my own eyes) and i assume a chip. i dont see what he has to gain by lying to me, he's no rice boy. maybe it was z4 he was on about, im no bmw fanatic.

[Cal]

Why does it have a tan roof on it? What happened to the black one? The pre 91 cars had what is referred to as a short nose crank. I'll see if I can find the info on it. Not the end of the world, but not ideal either. Can the kms be verified? That is very low for an 89. It would want to be a very good 89 for $11K, but if the kms are correct and it's really neat, then that's about the right dollars.

Cal.

[Cal]

well it certainly has a blower (seen it with my own eyes) and i assume a chip. i dont see what he has to gain by lying to me, he's no rice boy. maybe it was z4 he was on about, im no bmw fanatic.

Could be lots of things. The blower could have cost $1000, but assuming it's a JRSC, that is an awesome deal. It could be a Z3 with anything from a 1.9L four to an M Roadster with the 321hp 3.2L six.....or a Z4 even.

Cal.

[ViNcEnXo]

Is there anyone in Brisbane I can get to look at it, I can pick somethings here and there but would really like it if I could get a guru to give it the once over, I don't want to buy a lemon and constantly be pouring cash into repairing it.

[Cal]

Where in Brisbane is it?

Cal.