Fitting the CB

* With thanks to my wonderful boyfriend, Tom, for doing most of the work here while I made dinner! *

Just we did like in Scarlett, we decided to fit a CB radio into Poppy. It was fairly easy with Scarlett so we thought it'd be just the same this time 'round. How wrong we were...

Unlike in the Mk2, the MK1 radio mount is fiddly and in an extra hole in the boot so, while swapping the aerials round wasn't too bad (just watch your paintwork!), screwing the aerial cable on to the base of the aerial was a bloody nightmare. In the end, my little fingers came in handy in doing this bit but it still took us a good 15 minutes!

That done, we attempted to remove the radio/clock cubby and radio to have a look behind and swap in the CB etc. Sounds simple, right? Yeah...or not. Firstly, whoever had the car previously and fitted the remote locking had glued the clock cubby back in and that was, frankly, just a state. Secondly, as photos to be uploaded soon will show, we got the clock out and...wow. Well, I've never seen wires THAT messy. Tom was pretty worried about the safety, too. There was a ridiculously long, curled up, cable in the space too - I'd found a disconnected end of a cable in the boot that didn't seem to go anywhere after my MOT anyhow and we'd not been able to work out what it did. It did, it seems, nothing as it connected to the metre of cabling behind the radio that ended in yet another unconnected connecter. Er, what? Tom reckons it was once a CD changer but was now a complete waste of good space. Took the wire cutters to it, anyhow, and successfully removed 2 metres of utterly pointless cable. Weight and space saving too!

The black box confused us for a while - transpires that's the immobiliser. For anyone wondering, it seems that disconnecting the immobiliser from its cabling to fiddle around behind the radio is perfectly safe and the car will still start after! Nonetheless, with that in the way, the CB was never going to go in so I left Tom trying to move all that to the back in the spaces while I got on with dinner.

A little later, when I wandered outside to check, it transpired that the radio was pretty much jammed in, too, so we spent 10 minutes or so fiddling around with screwdrivers trying to press down the metal spokes on the side to get that out - eventual success (though putting it back in later was as much of a hassle again!). It also transpired, with all these bits out and the wiring tidied a little (Tom wants to put some real work into that but last night wasn't the time and we didn't have all the equipment we needed), that my CB has the aerial cable coming straight out of the middle. This is fine. Except that my car has a metal brace straight down the middle of the radio slot - that's going to need a bloody big hole drilled in it! CB doesn't quite fill up the hole either, although, admittedly, neither did the clock cubby: I suspect that this was why it had been glued in.

Not to worry - we still need to order a new Mic for mine as we only had one lying around the house. Possibly with a couple of adjustable/angled aerial mounts - both on the MX-5s are off at a slightly jaunty angle! So...lots to do, but we're getting there :-) Having a CB in the car should be a laugh, especially as Tom and I are planning a cross-Europe road trip in September with both cars and a couple of friends. Fun fun!

Welcome!

Welcome, welcome, one and all. Come in, make yourselves at home while I put the kettle on...

This is my blog about my beautiful new 1989 MX-5 Mk1, Poppy, and the journey she's (hopefully!) going to go through over the next few years in my mission to make her as perfect as she can be. Quite frankly, she's not far off as yet but I think we can improve her a little.

I bought Poppy last week for, frankly, very little. She'd been acquired by a 19 year old as his second car (*ahem*) and he realised that he couldn't afford the insurance as it was worth twice what she was. I had no intentions of buying an MX-5 to replace my faithful, but rather tired, little Astra but the boyfriend convinced me to go and see her. He bought his MX-5, Scarlett, to replace his Peugeot at the very beginning of January and absolutely fell in love with her - he thought I might like one too.

Well, having seen her at her previous home and had a look around, I was smitten. Didn't drive her that day, as I wasn't sure about driving a car so utterly different to anything I'd ever driven, but the boyfriend had a quick drive. Well, that was it - she drove wonderfully, apparently, and I decided to buy her there and then. Yes, without ever having driven her.

The following day, we went down and picked her up - I drove her home, via a pub for some dinner, and she really was wonderful. Took a bit of getting used to, considering I'd only been driving an Astra for the previous 2 1/2 years, but I did fall for her well and truly.

Poppy has a twin exhaust and beautiful chrome blower trims, as well as an awful lot of the cute additions that came with her actually being an Eunos import, such as the 'Roadster' emblazoned passenger mat, and a pretty good bluetooth radio. However, my wish list for the next few months:

• New black mohair hood with a glass screen (my vinyl/PVC one is in pretty good nick, albeit with a few minor tears, but I'm not loving the PVC rear window). 
• New dials - possibly white with red needles.
• New mats.
• Digital clock, or at least an analogue upgrade.
• Fit central locking (we have the bits, it just needs installed). 
• Possibly improve the fuel economy. Somehow. Bless her, she does seem quite thirsty.

Oh, and I've spares to sell so if anyone needs a tonneau cover or, in a few months, a good condition, albeit not perfect, cheap hood, do let me know!