The MX-5 wasn’t quite perfect: Yet.
I’d bought it because I knew that the BBR turbo was perfect for me in terms of power, reliability and insurance cost. But they were few and far between (only 800 made, between 1992 and 1994), and only available in white, red or black.
I found red a tad boring (although these days, with black alloys, I like them) and they tended to fade badly; I went to see a white one but the early white cars were more of an off-white cream that just looked dirty and old compared to the frozen white paint job of Maggy the 3rd (when she wasn’t stained with smoke, that is!). So a black one it was then – I could always wrap her or respray her later anyway.
I did look at one red one, with a respray in mind, but with the BBR cars being UK rather than Japanese models, they’d had 20 odd years to rust in the UK weather (Jap cars don’t seem to rust), and this one was absolutely riddled with it.
After much searching I’d found the black one, and it had been garaged daily for 14 years of it’s life. Hence there wasn’t a patch of rust on her.
I didn’t like the interior – browny tan coloured panels, carpet and leather seats. True, Maggy the 1st, my British Racing Green Roadster/MX-5 had had the same interior, but it suited the BRG colour scheme better and had a more traditional classic sports car look – think Triumph Spitfire and MG-F.
I decided to replace the interior.
Bad move.
This was a huge job. First, I sourced a black interior from a scrapped car, from ‘Junk Yard Dog’ off the MX5Nutz forum. Then one sunny weekend, I ripped the entire interior out. Not an easy job, especially getting the wheel off and taking the whole dashboard out.
I managed it, but made a few mistakes.
I’d taken a few pictures of the wiring looms I’d disconnected, to make sure I didn’t have any problems plugging things back in. But I got lazy towards the end and didn’t bother to take some essential snaps, assuming it was pretty obvious what plugged in where.
It wasn’t.
I’d also had to cut one cable, assuming it was easy to fix when I put it back together.
It wasn’t.
And then there’s the cable I snapped accidentally during the removal but didn’t notice until later.
Much later.
Eventually I got her all back together. Almost predictably, the car didn’t start.
Much pfaffing around over the next few days ensued. After much cursing and my Dad asking why I hadn’t taken enough photos of what went where, and him quoting the ever famous “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” saying, I managed to get her running!!
Yay!
Meanwhile I’d got hold of a pair of old cloth seats and had them recovered in black leather and suede with red stitching and the Roadster logo much like the seats I’d had in Maggy the 3rd. I sold the tan leather seats on eBay.
However, all was not well.
A week or so later, all electrical power was lost half way down the road. I pulled up and tried to start her. No joy. Panic. Try again – she started!
Odd.
A few more days pass, I park the car up one night, try and start her the next day – no joy. She just wouldn’t start!!
I had to call out roadside recovery.
It seemed that although turning the key fired the starter motor, there was no spark generated at the spark plugs – or an incredibly weak one. Occasionally, she would start.
So what was the problem? Well, that was the question on my lips for the next 6 months. After speaking to friends, colleagues, family, my 5 year old daughter, the local cat, anyone who could possibly have any ideas, reading hundreds of articles and forum posts, speaking to my MX-5 Guru friend James, replacing many, many electrically related components (good old eBay again) and spending a small fortune at garages: we found it.
A bad connection on the battery.
Was that all?!?!
Hard to say. When I’d first had problems starting her up after switching the interior I’d tightend the battery well – recalling a similar problem I’d had with Smokey Disaster AKA Maggy the 3rd. But back then it had been a problem with the old immobilser that hadn’t been fully removed and me breaking a connection – possibly.
I didn’t care: Finally, Maggy the 5th was back on the road and running well!!!
But not for long…
Next part of the story: Gremlins return