Dave

Hi Ben. For the mileage, she looks in good shape. The D series engines are pretty bullet proof, even neglected ones will soldier on regardless, but if shes been regularly serviced youll be onto a winner. Always thought the D series was the most refined and smooth (although not the most powerful) engine Honda made. Ive had D series, B series and K and although my d series has no vtec, its really smooth and quiet. Looking forward to seeing where you go with this one, as theres lots of options including Turbo if you want power. Plus the civic M's are the most practical civic having the 5 doors. Good all round cars! PS: thats my old 5 door VTi (aka Ruby) in the forum banner/logo......not mine anymore and still miss here but she's still going strong. I've got my Aerodeck to keep me busy though along with my other cars!

It's a beautiful place Simon. Funny, I never rated it before when I went there every year for 5 years when I was an electrical tester, but had only seen the housing end where the high school is! Hadn't actually went right into the town!

Just been on our first proper road trip with Mindy. Gayle got me a murder mystery weekend for my birthday at a very nice hotel in Pitlochry, Perthshire. We decided that we'd take Mindy as Gayle knew of some cracking roads in that part of Scotland, so would be a great wee test for the car. Gave Mindy a once over before we set off (oil, coolant, brake/clutch fluids etc) then off we went. Mostly motorways until we got past Perth and on the road to Inverness. Have to say that was the one bit I wasnt looking forward too, going by how Mindy drove home on the motorway the say we bought her, but she totally surprised me. She is happy on the motorway, cruises along at 70mph no probs, with occasional we jaunts upwards of that. No horrible shakes or vibrations now that she has her new suspension, and it was quite a relaxed trip. Once we turned off to head for Pitlochry, Gayle took us on another route that goes up to a place called "Queens View". This is the most beautiful tourist viewpoint, with staggering views of the hills/mountains and across Loch Tummel. Mindy having her first wee rest at Queens View! And the best cappuccino ever when we arrived at the wee cafe there The views from Queens view over Loch Tummel Then we headed back to Pitlochry to explore the town and our accommodation for the weekend, Fishers Hotel. The staff were great, the food awesome and the murder mystery a right laugh! For the trip home, Gayle planned a great route, taking in some beautiful little villages and towns along with some of the best roads we've been on! She knows this area very well so as soon as we hit the route she smiled and said "enjoy!" First place we stopped off at was Kenmore, a stunning little village. Next we headed along some even better roads to Killin, another stunning village. The river was impressive, with its waterfalls and large rocky area. Although loads of rocks you could walk out on, these are pretty much covered over during winter when the water level rises We had a look through a little arts/crafts/thrift shop which used to be a mill. Had some old vinyl LP's for sale too (yes, we had a good rumage and bought one!). We also popped into "Falls of Dochart Inn" where we had the best home made scones ever! They were blooming huge!!!! From there we headed through the hills, east and back towards Perth. Avbsolutely an amazing drive and loved every second of those wee twisty roads! Our first trip done, and Mindy never missed a beat. She drove perfect the whole trip, and was so much fun! Now we've seen what she's like on a trip (we covered 250 miles all in) we want to take off for more weekends away! We did notice a slight noise from the left rear which I think may be the start of a wheel bearing going, so will get that looked at although it wasn't loud or anything. Other than that, flawless. Love this wee car!!! Oh, and so many waves from fellow MX5 drivers, from mk2's to mk3's and even the latest mk4! Also got a wee video of Gayle driving down the narrow twisty road from Queens View which I'll post up once I've finished editing it.

^^^^ what Jake says! Both will fit

That looks stunning! Nice height, clean bodywork.......and those rims!!! Love deep dished wheels, was it difficult to get them on there? I imagine you've had the arches rolled?

Thats an epic build mate! Looks stunning!!

First scooby one ive seen fitted to an mb! Looks spot on. Was it easy to fit?

Bang tidy mate!

She's great in the garage mate! I was starting to loose my rag (which I do very quickly since the heart attack for some reason) with that bottom bolt, but Gayle is just so patient and calm when working on the car it's amazing! She always mentions the "tortoise and the hare" tale.........take your time and you'll get the job done, try and rush it impatiently and you'll get frustrated, loose the head and throw yer teddy out the pram meaning job won't get done! She's right! lol

Out for a wee run in DD yesterday seeing as Dave and Sarah were up here on hols. Went to North Berwick, then to Archerfield on way back up. DD drove perfect as always! We stopped in to a relatively new place just outside North Berwick called "Drift" (don't worry, wasnt a drift track and DD deffo wasnt drifting!) for lunch. Awesome wee place with the most amazing views ever! Really great to see Dave and Sarah again, must get a wee trip down to Manchester arranged soon! Wee pic from the day:

yes mate, think that's what I like about this wee mx5, easy to work on and not a lot of sensors. Only some bolts are a pain to get access to but other than that great wee car.Daves MB3 is looking good mate, although he did have a slight altercation with a very low bollardy type thing while up here (seems his rear brakes always get a problem when they visit Scotland too lol

Ah, think that might be the same tank Dougie found, but they were unwilling to post it to uk for some reason. Wonder why the tank changed on later decks? Seems a bit pointless to change it when the model is due to be replaced.

Bloody hell thats some trip!!! Where did you manage to find a new petrol tank? Know Dougie is looking for one too. Apparently the aerodeck tank is slightly different to the hatch, but i thought they were the same? DD was out for a good run today with me, Gayle, Sarah and Dave. Drove perfect as always!

Amazing service from autolink, parts arrived this morning! All fitted and Mindy running sweet as a nut now, fault cured! Big thanks to Gayle for helping me in the garage today, my hands were too big to get to the bolt on the coil pack that was on the back of the engine and up against the bulkhead. Real swine to get to, but Gayle saved the day! Pic below showing Gayle with the offending bolt (and Mindy's nice new red HT leads!) Also Dave and Sarah were here today (DAVEMB2 and SarahFR) on hols so was great to see them again. Had Dave out for a blast in Mindy, then we all went for a run to North Berwick then Archerfield in DD. Was a great day out. Good to see Daves MB3 still going strong and looking sweet!

So, new HT leads (in red) & new coil pack ordered today from Andrew at Autolink uk. Have to say what a really helpful guy on the phone! Hoping the bits come tomorrow. He suggested getting a ratchet spanner to make getting the bottom bolt out of the coilpack a bit quicker/easier, so been to Halfords and bought a set. Weather is utterly amazing here just now (better than where we were last week in Gran Canaria!) so want Mindy on the road asap! So with mindy out of action, only one thing for it.........take my other modern classic out for the trip to halfords. DD (my Honda Civic Aerodeck) performed perfectly as always, so we went for a wee run. Forgot just how nice this car is to drive, and love the looks she gets when we're out and about.

Cheers chaps! Thanks Ali, managed to make a hook using an old CB ariel whip. Got the bugger out! Rubber was all perished so I'm thinking the leads deffo need to go. Final new plug now in. Test drove........still doing it! Going to get the new leads ordered from Autolink (was intending to change all this anyways then pop her in for an oil/filters change to keep the service book stamped) so not too bothered about the cost of changing the plugs and leads. The diagnostic thingy from here >> http://www.mx5tech.co.uk/diagnostic.aspx?fbclid=IwAR16-p8pkCFLQKlspmB7mRn_IWQBNxEH2qbKNBGepUDDfg38kxVjlZdZeFE will hopefully arrive soon so I can get to the bottom of the problem. I'm thinking coil pack/MAF sensor/or maybe o2 sensor? She's ok if your giving it large on the right pedal, only suffers coming out of tight twisties in low rpm and driving through towns etc. Getting nice sun here too and can't get her out to enjoy it.

Bit of a problem developed with Mindy! Seems she has started a slight missfire under load at around 2000rpm and below. Have ordered an OBD (1) reader to see if that can trace the fault but in the meantime thought I'd check then replace her spark plugs. Got nice new ones as I couldn't see any mention of them being changed in her history. Got the first three fitted without any issues (old ones looked really discoloured although only one seemed to be burning wrong.) but the last one (typically the one against the bulkhead so hardest to get at) when taking the plug lead off, the rubber end came off and is stuck to the plug away down inside the hole. meaning I can't get the socket onto the plug to get it out! Was going to be replacing the leads too, so with this one doing that seems a good idea to bin the old ones. I've added some photos below of the problem rubber. How the lead should look: The big rubber bit on the end that seals around the plug is the bit that's came off and is stuck onto the plug away down in the hole. How the problem lead looks (shows rubber bit is missing) And the rubber down in the hole stuck to the plug I need a pair of really long nosed pliers, but the kind that work in the opposite way to normal pliers (like the ones that you use to remove circlips so the ends open when you squeeze the handles) as I think that might be able to pull the rubber bit out. Anyone got any idea how to get this out?

I had the pre facelift 1.4 S and it was the most teliable car ive ever had. Think i had her for 5 years? Maybe longer. Power wise it wont ever be the most powerful, and just to make the same power as the standard B18 VTi (MB6) will take a lot of mods and money. Easier to fit a bigger engine but then that's not the point, you want to personalize/modify what you've got. So, first mods would be: Air filter - K&N etc should have one to fit. Stainless exhaust - On a 1.4, probably best to go for a 2.5 inch as any bigger will probably drown the engine. I've had three powerflow systems, good fit and nice sound without being over the top. Other brands also good such as scorpion etc. Brakes: first stop new oem discs and uprated pads. EBC for discs and pads is a good choice. Not sure what's available to upgrade the discs and calipers to bigger (cant remember off the top of my head what bigger Honda discs etc fit, but we have a topic in the forum with that info) Might be able to get after market upgrades, but bear in mind cost! Bodywork: limited to the vtis kit if you can find one (try our trader 10000RPM on here as he may have them still in stock or can get you it. Other than that its ebay or a breakers yard) or there were some quite over the top (ugly depending on your view! Lol) bodykits made for them during the late 90's. Othr option is to go custom. You can graft the front wing side vents from a MGZS v6 onto your civic for example. Wheels: skies the limit, all depends on what styles you like (and how much you want to spend). Just make sure the stud pattern is 4x100 (vtis are 4x113). For the ET and bore size check out the technical section of the forum, all in there mate. Brand new, wheels are expensive so might be worth deciding on the ones you want then hunt for them 2nd hand, unless they are within budget brand new. Always go for new tyres though as you dont know what bumps/kerbings theyve had and every kerbing damages/weakens the side wall. One of our members fitted a set of 2nd hand wheels/tyres, and a week later had a blowout on the motorway at speed. Luckily he had minor injuries (although was knocked out), but the car was a complete write off after smacking the central barrier. Again, for tyre sizes check out the technical section bud. If you have a big enough budget, the D series responds well to turbo charging. Been quite a few turbo D series engines with decent power gains! Enjoy your civic and keep us up to date with the car/mods. Oh, and good luck with the test! Dave

Tons of info on here mate. We have the biggest database of info on these cars there is. Theres a thread about what firs what from other Honda's too. A lot of aftermarket parts arent available off the shelf, so we mod things to make them fit. Plenty how to guides to keep you right.

Yup, its screwed to the back of that panel. Youll need the receiver too (the wee dome above rear view mirror)

Loving the new plates mate!!! Looks ace!

That looks mega clean, sitting nice mate!