Project BRG: All In the Details

14 December 2022

This week my focus for the Roadster was in the little details.

Chapter 1: Engine When I bought the Roadster, one of most annoying things was the fact that the engine bay was covered in dust and the rocker cover was coated with oil. After covering the distributor and the alarm module with a plastic bag, and disconnecting the battery, I put the garden hose into flat and sprayed the engine bay down.

Although I first started with water mixed with dish soap as a degreaser as that's what ChrisFix used, I quickly found that it was not effective in getting the oil off the rocker cover. That's where some Australian Export Degreaser came in handy and made simple work of the oil.

After cleaning the rest of the engine bay with the soapy water along with a wheel brush and a toothbrush, it ended up coming out okay, definitely not show quality though, and definitely not what I'd consider 'clean'. After that, I cleaned the intake pipe using some antique polishing oil and it came out surprisingly good. Next on the list for the engine would have to be to either polish or paint the rocker cover in silver.

Since the engine bay was all clean now, I installed an old Spoon Sports reservoir sock that I originally found in the garage. Yes, I know it's not a Honda, but I mean, the Eunos Roadster is basically like 1/20th Honda S2000 so.....

Chapter 2: Interior Along with the dirty engine bay, the fact that the original Nardi woodgrain shift knob and steering wheel were missing also annoyed me.

I bought a Nardi Prestige shift knob in Mahogany Wood to replace my tacky old D1 Spec one.

Although my new Nardi one only weighs 85g compared to my old one weighing 380g, I think it is worth it just for the looks itself. For those that didn't know, my Roadster is a V-Special meaning from the factory it came with a woodgrain Nardi Evolution shift knob but my Nardi Prestige will have to do for now due to my very shallow pockets.

Other than the steering wheel, the last missing piece of the V-Special puzzle are the floor mats. I bought a set from Facebook and they are in pretty good condition. Although it still has the passenger metal 'V-Special' badge, unfortunately, the passenger side one is missing. It is annoying, but it was also a blessing in disguise as it meant I got a really good price on them.

When closing the door after installing the floor mats, I found that the driver's side door bushing cup was missing. Luckily Garage5 came to the rescue again and I got a new used one.

Chapter 3: Water and Rust On a sad note, the Roadster developed a new leak, this time coming from the passenger side A-pillar. Luckily, there is an easy fix for this. I got a plastic straw, cut it around 6cm long, and inserted it into the seal. And surprisingly, it actually works!

Unfortunately, the rain rail still seems to be leaking water into the trunk and interior. This time I covered the stud holes and the rivet holes in Selleys Sealant. That stuff sticks to everything including your hands, so I couldn't get any photos. All you need to know is that it came out a bit chunky, got all over everything, and does not look pretty.

While the sealant was drying, I went about opening the rocker panel drain holes. Half of mine were so squished that not even the smallest size flat-head would fit in them.

Although I was about to give up, I gave it one last go with a sharp-tipped tool and it slowly slid in with a lot of force. After that, I incrementally used larger flat-heads to pry at the hole giving me more leverage and making the hole larger. I finished off with a zip-tie in the hole to clean up any old debris and then a coat of black paint over all the paintless bits that the screwdrivers chipped off.

Surprisingly, all the drains were dry other than the back drain of the (RHD) passenger side rear hole which dropped a bottle full of water. When the car was sitting in the rain, I also realized that the inside of the soft top was quite damp.

I read on some old forums to use 303 Aerospace Protectant for vinyl versions which will protect the soft top from getting brittle and cracking. Tip: Miata/MX5/Roadster came with either vinyl or fabric soft tops. If your soft top is vinyl, it will look like grained plastic.

Before applying, I vacuumed the soft top to get rid of any loose debris then opened the plastic window and put a towel over it to avoid it getting damaged.

The soft top now has a nice deep black sheen that I never knew it needed.

To top it all off, I cleaned the inside and outside of the plastic rear window using Meguiars Motorcycle Clear Plastic Restorer.

Looks a lot clearer now! Now that its the end-of-year break, I'm sure I'll get up to installing a couple more bits and regret doing them halfway through as well. Stay tuned.