***SOLD**"*New project arrives at Wayne mansion, 96,1.8 green badge S spec in M8 Renovation,011

[Mazda Mender]

There is always a story behind these projects and how we all find them or they find you....welcome to build 11.....

I have been looking for a MK 1 to do a project with, i needed a half descent shell, was not fussed about if the engine worked or not, whether it was an auto or not, was not worried about the interior either, but the underneath had to be fair also, a tired Special edition would be nice, but when your looking, honestly the rubbish that is out there when they think they have a "rare car" to bang a premium on it for something that is worth £400 tops or scrap really, there was no point in looking at middle of the price bracket or top end as it would be getting all new , interior, engine etc etc, plus it was going going to be used for guides for here for you lot to benefit from, which i would of just broke even when she was sold and someone would of got a cracking MK 1 to show off and use for a long time to come,,there was one that i shown an interest in , it was a B2, wrong seats, wheels, steering wheel etc, rear sills and arches were very scabby ,it needed to new front wings, roof, lots of welding and paint, high miles, he had lost it on a roundabout resulting in the front drivers side hitting the centre raise so had damaged the who knows what and in the lack of control also manged to brake off the rear tail pipe, the underneath needed sand blasting as it looked like it at been sat on a beach for years, so with that in mind my Budget was £400 plus £200 to get her picked up and brought here, i watch this scrapper go in the end for £1,200, i was lost for words, it was a real shed, someone as lost their mind and been right royaly shafted it wanted at least to bring her up to spec and source all the correct missing items, welding ,paint, repairing damage, body panels, service work and protection would be £4,000 plus and with the cost that brings it to £5,200, and with high miles she will never be worth that much ....ever.

So the search continued and 4 possibles were sent to to view, two shown promise, one was an Auto but with horrid pics, so messaged him and nothing came back, now this S spec i knew, myself and daryl went to view this some 18 months back and was asking to much in relation to what needed to be spent to sort to make it worth my while for my time, he would not budge on the price so we wished him good luck and walked away to get another project at the time, so she as binged up again...."destiny" it was meant to be, but she is to good for the engine swap, interior swap etc etc, as she is a nice roadster to be sorted and put back to spec..So my idea for the original project goes on hold while i search because now i have this one , one will defo pop up now, it's s*ds law.

She is a 1.8 1996 S special 5 speed green badge, with 60,000 miles in montego blue M8 in fair condition, but i see the potential in her once finished , i have not managed to have a proper look at her and shoved cameras in box sections yet but will assess her over the weekend properly ....

[fujikun]

looks great wayne looking forward to it

[blackyb]

Is this possibly going to be mine when you have worked your magic.

I live in hope that the bank of wife says yes.

Cant wait to follow the build thread bud.

[Mazda Mender]

I need to make a plan of attack, which i will look at better over the weekend one of which will be a engine bay clean to see what i am dealing with in there.
So i tried? to wash the 3-4 years of dust etc off her to access the paint, the sponge would not whip and stuck, so the first wash was with Jizza clean to break it down, then washed, its looking like she will need a full fresh paint applying, the soft top is fit for the bin only, so that was dried and stowed and put my spare Hard top on to keep her water tight.
that will do until the weekend when the camera comes out to look inside those sills, then i will be able to make a full list of attack....

Looking at the paper work she was imported in 2008 with 41,253 miles and is on 60,000 now , so she as done a lot of sitting around, time to rip her apart and make her a lot better than she ever was.

[blackyb]

Hmmmm, I'm watching

[Mazda Mender]

And the worst thing you can do is slap a name to them as you then get deeply attached, so it is Jimbo, yes this one is a HE..

Re set the drivers window stops to stop it hitting the HT, well i would of done the two if there was , as there was only one which explained the issue, also did away with the window lock switch, noticed that the membrane and speaker were letting in water, and the tweeter connection is not there???, the side lights,tail lights and instrument lights are not working, but i can see the hanging wires of a added rear fog lamp, so i guess it will be a fuse blown, the buzzer that comes on with the door open with the key in the ignition as been unplugged, there is some lovely washing lines of speaker wires been added on the drivers and passenger sides, that will need to be investigated further and the immobilizer box as been rip tied to the steering column and hanging down loose, the dash in the corner of the drivers side as been man handled to hard where the bonnet pull is so needs fixing solid again,the seat belt stalks are the wrong ones, and so is the bonnet prop.

My list of attack is to follow...
M-m

[Ang_Sid]

Jimbo...nice name that

[blackyb]

I could live with a Jimbo!!

[Mazda Mender]

Jimbo...nice name that

You picked it
M-m

[Mazda Mender]

New rear fog lamp switch fitted and wired in correct, electric fault sorted so the side lights,tail lights and cab instrument lights now work, sorted the immobilizer wiring and box behind the dash so it is now neat and secure, dash made solid at the bonnet pull,also sorted the disgraceful wiring to the HU which were all just twisted together and industrial earth tape around them, they just all pulled apart, There was an attempt at soldering on two connenections, but was p*ss poor, also disconnected the "god knows why"? speaker cable that had been run to the passenger side door like a washing line on top of the carpet, and the two on the drivers side running to speakers fitted to the fuel tank cover/plate/shield?, why? when it would of been easier to wire into the seat headrest????so they will be coming out....

Sorted the boot area , more so around the battery which was the wrong one, one bolt snapped so needed to be drilled and re-tapped for the securing bracket, also soldered up the boot lid brake light that was not working because of snapped wiring ( common)side light sockets are toast so will need replacing, i noticed that the seat belt stalks were the wrong ones from a earlier model, managed to find a correct one for the passenger side , but only the gearbox tunnel washer and bracket for the drivers side so the search is on, i also noticed that the holding clips where missing and trim bits as we removed the old frame and roof which was well past its best some years back, and i am so glad that the last owner had her under a car port for 3 years as it was not keeping out water, and the rain rail was shot, spotted the HRW socket bracket had surface rust, so that was removed to be painted, so newer roof on which is a HRW MK 2.5 vinyl skin on the MK 2.5 frame and the better made MK 2.5 rain rail, which everything had a deep clean before new fitted, also fitted new upper and lower gearshaft seals and found the some sound proofing insulation that was missing.

While i was doing the wiring for the speakers and soldering everything back as it should be, i sealed the door skin hole where the speakers secure so it will stop water weeping past and into the cab, the system all works as it should including the OE tweeter, so am at a loss to why the washing lines were put in and the OE wires cut .
But i feel a bit more confidant around the roadster knowing that the wiring is now all good again...

[blackyb]

Looks like the internal wiring was done by bodge it and legit automotive.

At least with your attention to detail Jimbo shouldn't go up in smoke due to dodgy wiring.

[Mazda Mender]

Only a quick one as it was more getting in the zone to clear my head of the work load we are dealing with in work to keep of a lot the countries dairy Co's, meat, general food makers, care workers etc etc still being able to produce products for us all and help us get through this, it is insane the amount of wagons we are filling each day, it is twice as worse as the xmas rush but with no build up ready, but hay ho...

I noticed the arm rest compartments lid stopper had gotten broken at some point so replaced it, the gear shaft gaiter looked tied , so replaced it with a leather one, i also noticed that two of the sun visor screws were the wrong ones so replaced them and that one of the striker bolts was missing, so replaced all with newer ones ...

Thats it but i am documenting everything on this build no matter how small, the plan is to get everything that is missing in place, then jizza the engine bay, full full service etc, including all new coolant hoses, then onto the brakes and underneath area, replace the zorst, suspension???, dust boots if needed? and then cosmetics.

There is a big list for this, which are missing items, to do list, and tasteful upgrades for every day use .
M-m

[Mazda Mender]

Only quick straight after work....

Three more jobs off the list....when i tracked down the electrical fault on the lights, i noticed that the front side lights were not on, so unscrew the units to find that they were and hanging down into the depths of the body work, but as the norm someone along the way as pulled the bulb sockets out instead of twisting them out and snapped off the lugs that hold them tight in place, so our friend Andrew sent me out some aftermarket sockets to swap out so it is never a problem again.
The boot brake light after repairing the twisted together wires still did not work so Andy again sent a correct bulb and all is good, at the same time he sent me one of his Eunos badges he had made, as it was missing off this roadster, looks really well...

Daryl as gotten her up on stands ready for the attack on the brakes etc underneath.

[Mazda Mender]

Just quick to wind down a little after work...

Lights left on buzzer fitted, which was lucky as i found yet another twisted bit of wire with electrical tape around it so soldering iron out and sorted it ...the interior light was not working, so a clean up of all the connections and happy days...

[Mazda Mender]

Another quick after work to wind down...
The correct Seat belt stalk fitted, the firewall scuttle seal replaced,( someone had cut the old one down???) and HT leads changed, they have needed doing for a good while by the looks of it....
Thanks to Autolinkmx5 for getting the parts out, more arriving today.