Decision made, have ordered some BC Racing DS Coilovers.
Deep joy.
TBC
Month: April 2026
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Foggy Headlights – Cured
I love it when the plan comes together, I’ve been meaning to sort out the foggy headlamps on the car caused by the plastic being aged by UV over time and have been watching YouTube videos about re-polishing headlights that are going cloudy; something you see on MX-5’s a lot.
Usually they show a wet sanding method moving up through the grades of paper to the finer ones. In one video I watched the lad spoke about his dad just going straight for some T cut. In my head I combined this with another one in which the presenter pointed out you can buy headlamp polishing kits for this sort of thing.
This got me thinking about what if I bought a rotary polishing sheepskin wheel for my drill and used the T-cut I already had for polishing would this work?? Well yes it does.
So my method was to apply the polish to the sheepskin wheel and then went at it with the slower speed setting with the drill. I followed the shape of the lamp, concentrating on the milkiest areas and also did some rotary patterns to mix he polishing actions up.
I reloaded the pad with polish after one song on Planet Rock with associated DJ chat and then repeated the process for a similar amount of time.
To be honest as the T-Cut starts to dry while you are polishing you can see if you are making progress.
1) Foggy Headlight – not yet an MoT fail. 
2) T-Cut to Polish Light 3) Drill with polishing wheel and sheepskin 4) Result after two five minute sessions Now follow-up is more tricky as you need to coat the lens with something to protect it from UV going forward and I have some headlamp film to do that which I’ll fit next time. I
I’m very happy with the result.
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Broken Key – Sorted
One of my car keys got broken beyond repair when the transponder chip got damaged as well as the casing.
Researching the solution I found I would be fine if I had two working keys but sadly I only had one.
Worse, Google’s AI told me it thought the cost for replacement would be painful. I put it of for a week or two but solid track day bookings meant I’d need to get it sorted out in the short time I had left.
I phoned a local auto locksmith (Doms Locks) explained the predicament and he told me that I could be up and running with a non-branded three button key, cut to match my MX5 key profile and with a transponder chip programmed for my Mazda for £160…. SOLD I said.
So he drove over in his van, cut a new key and programmed the transponder and the other key functions. I have to say I’m really happy with it and I now have two perfect keys once again and I got to talk about cars with another petrolhead for an hour.
The key’s buttons have open, lock and boot opening functions but not the alarm isolation button that I’ve never used anyway. It is not a match for the OEM as you can see from the photos but it all works and the car is unlikely to be worth very much anyway should I ever sell it.
So if you are in the Berkshire/Surrey area and need a key replacing, he might be worth a call.
Next week the car is off to Aylesbury have its steering wheel modded and reupholstered in leather – more of which soon.
Replacement non-manufacturer replacement key with Mazda badging. -
New Towing Eye
I’ve always been concerned that the OEM towing eye was a hazard for pedestrians when I was not on track and also that removing it left access for water and created a rust trap – as with the rear one that I had to replace as it was corroded badly.
So I decided to replace it with this one from Jass Performance. It screws straight in and looks better than the old one. £38 well spent.
Im booked in now for Silverstone GP Circuit and Thruxton, so on with prepping the car.
Dilema
I’ve managed to break on of my keys when it literally fell apart on me and I’ve no transponder for a replacement.
The question is whether to risk it or get another key. Apparently I need two working keys to programme a third.
TBC
