ThePog

Yes I have been thinking along those lines as a resort, we have some spare M20 rod at work..

Sounds like you are setting up the NZ branch of Scimitars-R-us

Anyone have any? It is for a good cause honest.

Need internal spring compressors so I can cut the fronts without removing them which looks to be a mission. The height and wheels on this are working for me;

Yea super keen for the dirt too.

Stop that shit. I have been distracted all day now. Have done some research now, cutties in the front, wind down the self levelling in the rear - done.

So I replaced the wiper assembly, all sweet. While there i missioned the drainage system, fuck the romans and their aquaduct bullshit this was epic compared to that shit. So then it rained and fuck me if there was not EVEN MORE water in the frigging footwell. Much much unhappiness and a serious poke around revealed a patch of floor consisting of entirely underseal devoid of any actual metal metal right by the throttle pedal mount, which without the carpet and shit holding it in place was flailing around like a male strippers cock at a hen night. The beauty and justice of it is that the improved drainage was now directing ALL of the water runoff right into the car through the hole rather than just some of it. Fortunately the hole was localised in this area and I cut a 75mm square hole to get rid of the rust and welded in a new patch in a fucking trice. All is mint so far. I also went to Tekapo with the family this weekend gone which driving-wise was mostly uneventful. A small issue with a surge at road speed was the only worry, but not enough to stress about. Overtaking is epic in this thing, it just chocks down a gear and you are doing 140kph before you have even got alongside whatever you are passing. Must be devastating for those on the receiving end of that shit. Achieved a rather pleasing 25.2 miles per gallon. Here is proof that I tell no lies - a truly average cellphone pic highlighting very few of the things I love about this car while artfully positioned aligned to the paint marks in a carpark in Tekapo itself.

Why dont all Mx5's look like this? Makes me want one.

More rain, more water. Fortunately considerably less than previous so my repairs have been 75% effective. Windscreen wiper mech is fucked, dude i bought it off had 'fixed' it. Still works but makes a bad sound when wiping and sort of jams. Bought another off TM $125 will sort it this weekend + bonus silicone around the windscreen and drains while all the plack shit is off for the wiper replacement action. Still pulling water out of it with the dehumidifier every night, I expect there is some little gremlin cunt who lives in the spare wheel or something who puts the hose through the window at 4am just to piss me off.

You must be gagging for this to be finished before summer... Keep up the awesome posts, I for one really enjoy seeing a project done by someone prepared to put serious time, money and enthusiasm into it.

The mighty X1/9 will waste you all!!! (in the corners, maybe)

Bang on the money there, it will not be a race day - all of the above would apply. Just as fast as you want to go, no stupidity/pissing contest etc. The track days that I have been to the rules are that if the marshalls see anyone being a dick then they get black flagged and get a talking too. No one got black flagged when I was there though as everyone was sensible. If you have not done it before then I can probably organise driver training sessions, this is of great benefit.

It is really up to the organiser, but if it has a legit WOF there should be no problem. I can vouch for the fact that track days are fucking tough on cars, so if you take a shitter out then it will break and you will have wasted your time. Brake fade is a major issue on road cars when on the track, so that and the suspension is what needs to be in top nick.

There is one on the 9th of august - am hoping to tag along to that as part of the learnings for the OS one.

I think 25-30 cars would be about right - any more then it gets crowded/actual track time drops. I would like to think that there would be enough people interested to keep it within OS but if we need numbers to make it economical then for sure. Have been talking to the man who organises the Uni Motosoc track days, he is going to give me a run down of the deal.

Has to have a NZ/Aus safety standard tag inside. Pretty much any motorcycle helmet sold new in NZ will be fine.

Bitches I have been thinking about organising an OS trackday, it may take a bit of frigging around to set dates and finalise costs etc, but I have been on a couple of these and they are truly awesome fun. Generally speaking you would need; 1. A car with reg and wof (or one with a motorsport logbook) 2. A legal helmet 3. Cotton overalls (at minimum) 4. A fire extinguisher attached to the chassis of the car. The cars need a short going over to check things like the battery fixing/bald tyres etc. I have been told that weekday track time is cheaper, but it the day and the cost ultimately depends on how many want to come along.... It has cost $80 - $100 for the day the previous times I have been. So who is keen?

So having nearly sorted the water issues with massive dehumidifier action it rained and I find a centimeter of water in the drivers footwell. Fuck you mercedes benz. Have traced this to one of the two drains for the windscreen in the center by the wiper mech. Will effect an awesome cure tomorrow with garden hose and silicone. I will post photos for judgements of my personal rangi grading.

18mpg if I drive like a dick. Mostly I drive like a dick. Actually I am generally a dick, not just driving. I own a company and have a fuel card though so sort of irrelevantish, probably wouldn't want to have to pay it personally though. One of the other owners has a newish Pajero that uses about the same amount of fuel so fuck it.

Have had the dehumidifier running in it every night, it has mostly stopped smelling like a P lab and is now a fairly pleasant place to be. Sweet jaycar speakers have both stopped working - I suspect wet from the valet. Probably just spend another $25 to fix that. Had to pull the drivers seat out and reweld the bit I had previously fixed, a daily dose of 115kg fat cunt will soon show up the weakness of any chair. Have discovered it puffs a wee bit of blue under heavy acceleration, has done 345000 kms so I can live with that. Dont actually want that to be the case but meh. Dude i bought it off has a spare engine if it gets out of hand. I know I am on to a winner here as the wife has suggested it could be her car and I can drive her Caldina. Right. Still don't really know if i am going to keep it, but what the fuck else is there that is; 1. Rear wheel drive 2. A wagon 3. Grunty 4. Cheap as fuck 5. If not actually stylish then at least not common/generic 6. Lux with a capital L Also when you drive it you feel vastly superior to everyone, even other merc drivers - you have what they have but they paid $150k, you paid $3k haha dipshits Fantasizing about lexus V8's, but I do that about most cars i have owned. Can't see it as there is a massive chunk of steering componentry in the way of the exhaust Going to sell the Hilux now, then sell this if it annoys me.

Got a full valet done, now smells like an industrial chemical factory, plus it has a bonus extra few litres of water in it. Has dried out a fair bit since I had it done, but still feels pretty wet under the carpets etc. Just borrowed a proper dehumidifier off horse25 and has already pulled a 1/4 liter out - thanks David.... Have sourced some genuine merc Hatch struts after some sifting around - first price $450, second price $320, third price $160. Should get those this week which I am looking forward too as that hatch weighs a frigging ton and my kids insist that they sit in the back 6/7 seats when we go out in it. Back is fucked enough as it is without that to contribute.

Anyone got a medium size dehumidifier that I can borrow for a week or two?

Dehumidifier works a treat, has pulled out a fair amount of moisture, doesn't fog up now. ****Ladaspeed top tip**** Dehumidifiers don't work at -2 degrees. Central locking stopped working after I unlocked using the passenger side, position switch obviously fucked. Unplugged it and all is well now although the passenger side is no longer a master. During the hunt for the fault I uncovered the vac pump for the central locking, and it was pretty obvious how all that shit worked, so $35 later and some dicking around it now has keyless entry....

Na you just end up looking at big negative balances and think 'Ah whatever' and go and buy a new toy anyway...

Its getting the wheel alignment sorted next week, my man is sending it somewhere to get sorted with industrial cleaning machines while it is in the shop. There is a stain in the middle of the back seat that indicates a small animal or pygmy with diarrhoea has not made it out in time - one of my children cried when I made her sit in that position.