Drove up to Potterspury in Northamptonshire this evening to have a look at a well cared for imported Mazda Eunos 1.6. The thing that seemed to have put buyers off was the poor state of the paintwork, which had numerous spots in the lacquer. As we are after a trackday car, this is not really an issue for us.
| The car turned out to be pretty much perfect for what we have in mind. It looks like it has been garaged most of its life, with very little rust and the sills were perfectly clean. Mechanically it looked and sounded very good and had numerous desirable upgrades. We really wanted this one, so we didn't haggle much and paid £1100 for it. |
We had borrowed a trailer with a 165cm wide load bed and it knew it was going to be a very tight fit (the seller measured the width for us). We had less than 5mm spare on each side of the car!
First test drive on the road this evening having got the car taxed and insured. Road tax was more expensive than we were expecting at £235. Insurance for my Dad with a limited mileage (3000 miles), fully comprehensive policy is just £115.
The engine runs very smoothly and is happy to rev up to the 7000rpm red line. It is a decent amount of torque and the 5zigen exhaust sounds really good.
The suspension is quite firm and there is very little body roll. This car has Bilstein shocks and it feels like it has stiffer sports springs. It feels very stable at speed. The steering is very positive and it wouldn't surprise us if this car has a quick steering rack too.
A little disconcerting was the smoke coming from the front brakes but, this looks to be the protective coating burning off the new front discs.
| Spent most of the day working on the front suspension. Mainly just treating surface rust and tidying it up. The rubber shock absorber boots were crumbling, so these have been cut off (leaving the bump stops for) and some new ones ordered from MX5 Parts. Some of the underseal has cracked and allowed some rust in a few places. This is our next job. |
| The one bit inside the boot that did need a bit of work was underneath the battery. Some battery acid had caused a little bit of corrosion but this was all cleaned up, treated and painted. |
Took the car out for a second test drive today, to see if we still had an issues with smoking brakes. We took a fire extinguisher along just in case! No issues today, so we pushed the car a bit harder to see how well the brakes really performed when properly stressed. The answer is very good :-) Lots of stopping power and no fade at all.
Engine bay tidy up ...
| Quick visit today to Retro & Modern Automotive Ltd (was Suffolk Mazda), to pick up an original airbox and inlet, to replace the K&N cone filter. Bargain at £10. Also picked up some 5mm bolts to replace some of the corroded ones. |