Restoring my P1800E

[DJS]

Nice work as ever Mitch. I'm looking forward to seeing the car in a few weeks.

[Michael English]

Re: and the plan now is to use a MX5 as the platform or just the front and rear MX5 suspension which unbolts.... I know you've moved on a bit since this comment, but did you look into how 'easy' it is to unbolt MX5 axle & shove it in a standard P1800 chassis? I'm just working on my rear end as it were, & if instead of a refurb there was a fairly simple swap to MX5 that'd be nice! Cl;early hubs are wrong ... how good & easy fit is MX5 back axle into the hole where the original item went? Thanks for any advice.

[Burdekin]

Hi Michael,

How easy or hard to fit the MX5 rear subframe is a question you need to answer for yourself as depends on your skills and experience. But it is definitely doable and would be a good upgrade. If doing the rear I'd also think of fitting the front with the steering rack. Advantages are you can have independent rear and front suspension, certain MX5s come with a limited slip, large selection of excellent suspension choices including height adjustable coilovers, disc brakes all round and bolt on big brake kits available, and non-powered or power assisted steering rack options.

If fitting the MX5 rear subframe you should also consider stiffening the P1800 floor with triangulated (is that a word?) bracing as as ladder system like the P1800 has is not a stiff structure but add triangulated bracing will significantly increase the structure stiffness. Another area where the floor has it's stiffness is the tunnel so fully welding it and adding stiffener plates will also make a good difference and with independent suspension it will work much better with a stiff floor.

This website http://www.miata.net/garage/alignment/index.html has good diagrams of the MX5 front and rear subframes so you will get an idea of what you're looking at. Fire me any questions and will try and answer them but I'm no expert on MX5s or P1800's.

Cheers,
Mitch

[Burdekin]

Hi Michael,

Also if someone thought about using the MX5 front subframe then the MX5 engine and 5 speed box could be fitted. And if looking for more HP there is turbo bolt on kits that can take it from standard up to 265Hp at the rear wheels without opening the engine. Just another option but obviously doing this sort of thing probably takes value off the car.

Best way would be to buy a cheap 1.8l NA MX5 with a hard top then you can sell off the bits you don't want. £1000 for the car and you can sell the hardtops for £350 on ebay so you could get your money back from the purchase of the car by breaking it if you wanted. The MX5 seats are also a nice upgrade for the P1800.

Cheers,

Mitch

[Daemon2]

I'm not so sure this is a fair statement- regarding the amount of work. One never knows what lies under the paint until it is removed.

Originally Posted by Iamtheonlyreal1

I have been looking at your build, and you have alot more work than I do... LOL Dont get frustrated, it only causes more work later.. It looks like you are actually building the car from scratch, I guess we are fairly lucky in the states when it comes to rust. Good work by the way..

[Iamtheonlyreal1]

Originally Posted by Daemon2

I'm not so sure this is a fair statement- regarding the amount of work. One never knows what lies under the paint until it is removed.

Ha Ha... I didnt mean anything bad about his car at all. I am impressed at the level of work and dedication being put into this P1800. I have notice alot of thread on this forum dedicated to searching for rust and rust repair, so I really appreciate the Southern United States vehicle conditions.. Undoubtably I have some rust issues, but it is minor compared to level I have seen dedicated threads on here..

If I run into too much rust, believe me, I will be looking at Mitch's Thread for direction. Hell, I may have to convince him to come and take care of it.. ha ha I had some fairly solid floor pans, but I have some slight bubble here or there on the outer rocker and lower back panel, other than that, it seems solid..

I only made the dont get discouraged comment, because in one of his last post, it seems that he was going in that direction. And believe me, I know what happens when you get fed up and dont want to do anymore.. LOL I have had a few cars sitting around for quite awhile when they ****ed me off and I didnt want to dedicate the time anymore...

[Burdekin]

No offence was taken guys and I do have a lot of work ahead of me. I would have loved to have started with a better car but they are far and few between in the UK but am really enjoying the build but would just like to be further along.

I'm still fiddling with the windscreen aperture and scuttle fit. I was in the garage last night and I am slowly getting there. I tried the windscreen from my parts car and it is slightly different to the one I'm using but I'll keep using the original one. I'm getting the windscreen aperture repair I did spot on with the windscreen and then I'll tweak the scuttle to fit where necessary so I may need a bit of shrinking or stretching along the edge to get as close to spot on that I can get it. It's surprisingly a challengingly bit to get right. I think the guys in the factory even had fun with this as there were some nice hammer marks along the inside of the right side windscreen aperture.

[S60D5-185]

Originally Posted by mitch1971

Hi Michael,

the MX5 engine and 5 speed box could be fitted. And if looking for more HP there is turbo bolt on kits that can take it from standard up to 265Hp at the rear wheels without opening the engine.Mitch

Correct, this is my wifes 1997 1.8 Mk1 MX5 which i turbo'ed in 2004. It has never missed a beat over the years and still goes like stink.

Darryl

[Burdekin]

Finally got the fit right with the scuttle and windscreen aperture so decided it was time to prep and paint the lower scuttle and underneath the top scuttle section. So I stripped it all back, spayed everything with metal ready and let it soak for a good while then washed it all off and dried the surfaces, then did one coat of POR-15, will do another before painting two coats of POR-15 tie coat primer.

[Burdekin]

It's amazing how you forget things. Looking through my old posts here this lunch after reading the recent post about P1800 panels and repairs and it amazes me how much I have done so far on the P1800 and how much I enjoyed it. I need to get back working on the P1800 so am going to bring my tools back this weekend and make a start again next week. Bring on those cold winter nights welding upside down and catching on fire again... ;-)