Details .....Details....

Tarting up the engine bay.

Politics is beyond depressing right now, so I'll stick to posts about my MX5 for a while.

Restoring cars is less boring, and there is actually a result at the end of it. Can't same the same for political commentary.

Whilst the bodywork has a reasonable appearance, there's a lot of external detail stuff which needed doing. I started with the engine bay, the wheels, and other external bits like the wipers. I painted them, and made a bit of a hash of it.

More successful improvements included a new gear lever knob, leather binding on the steering wheel, and painting various visible bits such as the heat shield on the exhaust manifold and the brake calipers. The leather on the original steering wheel rim and gear lever knob were beyond restoration.

Not genuine, but pretty close in appearance.

This is the original well-worn gear lever knob.

I also replaced a missing bolt on the folding top, which actually meant replacing two, to get a matching pair.

Replacement bolts (6mm x 12mm)

 The pics are self-explanatory.

The bolt on the left is the original, the one in the middle the replacement, and the one on the right was temporary.

The other thing I tackled was the mag wheels, all of them having been fairly comprehensively kerbed by previous owners. That was entirely unsuccessful, as the product I bought to cover the kerb damage (and to prevent further damage) refused to stay in place.

Tyres are Toyo A Drive R1 - excellent grip & feedback.

They detached and flailed around on each wheel at different intervals - entertaining, but not useful. the problem is that already damaged rims don't provide a stable mount for the self-glued strip. They would probably work well on new rims.

Wheel refurbishment may be in order.

A good result - but much more to do.