1991 Mazda MX-5 - The winter daily!

Absolutely loving the logic of buying a RWD convertible for the winter! I hope you'll be driving flat out with the roof down through 2 feet of snow! ;D

That would be nice. Less stuff for me to paint! Want much for it?



Some of the reasoning was that if I do get it stuck in a snow bank, I can just fold the roof down and jump out, rather than climb out through the window. I've had to do that before, and it's not a graceful sight, as I'm kind of fat and have bad knees.



That's reassuring. I will be running full winters as well, so I'm guessing I'll be doing better than most, when it actually snows.
What I'm concerned about is that the car has a single layer hood as it's been replaced at some point. It was full of condensation when I picked the car up, but I hope the working air condition will keep it dry enough over winter.


As for an actual update, everything is not fine in the wonderful world of t-mobiles internet dongles. Because my internet is a bit unstable, login to photobucket failed 3 times in a row, and because photobucket is rubbish, I can't log in to upload new photo's for a few hours.
Color me not impressed.....

On a more positive note, the car barely has any rust at all. But more about that later, when my internet decides to work.

www.ebay.com/itm/180715706998?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_503wt_1165
I'm thinking of going with these, to see what they're like. As winters are normally quite bad where I'm from, I've allways used Nokian Hakkapelliita, as they're just about as good as it gets, but to be honest, for the short winters in the U.K, and for the abuse this car will get, I am going to go for something more reasonably priced, like these toyo's, or maybe a set of nankangs as they are starting to make some tidy winters now.



And that is exactly where I started! The drivers sill had a few bubbles on the rear, right where someone has kinked the bottom of the sill a bit. I stripped it off, and to my surprise it wasn't that bad! The only problem I found was that as soon as I cleared of a little paint and rust, water started running from my car. I guess that explains why the carpets are soaked then... ;D So far this is the worst rust I've found;




After that positive surprise, I got on my crawler, and slid under the car to have a proper look at the state of things. The car has hit quite a few things, so there's a couple dents but none of them have any serious rust. It's all surface like this. I reckon this car should last me a while if I just underseal it properly.



While I was under there, I had a good look at my exhaust, as it's supposed to be a sports cat-back from Longlife. Turns out the front section is 52mm, with 50mm bends. The rear section is 45mm, which shrinks to 41mm on the bends. Looks like longlife to me all right!



Something I'm not as happy with as the condition of the body is the condition of the brakes. How these discs where an advisory on the last MOT I will never know. There are bits missing!



One ting that made me chuckle after I stood back and had a look at the car, is how low it is. It's on some cheap nasty coilovers, and it's pretty nice and low. So low in fact that when it's sitting on ramps, I get my beer belly stuck on the sills, and it sits level with the other cars in the workshop!



The car in general looks tidy enough in photo's, yet it's not really that great. It's done a few miles, and obviously sat in the sun with bird curse word on it. As a result, the paint is not great. Another reason why I won't feel guilty abusing this car!



Apart from that the interior looks like it'll clean up nicely. The only major wear is on the seats, but the rest seems fine! Well, the wood needs sanding and lacquering. I'm not keen on the idea of getting splinters in my fingers, while trying to navigate roundabouts sideways. The only thing keeping me from getting my carpet out now is the gearknob, which has decided it quite likes being where it is. I think it's corrosion holding it to the shaft, but I didn't like the idea of applying heat and wd40 seeing that its wooden..... I'll see what I can do about that tomorrow.

re the condensation, mine had loads when I brought it (the seats were dripping, had to drive on towels). But regular use solves it no probs. if you can leave it with the hood down for a couple of hours, that helps, but also, when you go to park it up, switch the vents to re-circ. This stops colder moist air entering the cabin over night. A combination of the above and I had a dry interior by the time I went back to work in the new year

I do miss mine, nothing better than on a sunny winters day blasting past traffic with the roof down (even if you are wearing a wolly hat, scarf and gloves )

proof that MX5's make good winter cars