Hi

Going to buy an MX5 a few years old

They seem to have a very common rust problem with the lower rear sill and the sills in general. Seeing how easy it is to cover up such horrors with filler etc plus the cost and time to repair if found to later be an issue, I've been looking at paint thickness meter gauges.

They seem to retail at about £150 but if they let me spot the lemons it will have more than paid for itself

Has anyone had any experience with these and could offer advice.

Forget the old magnet idea, it doesn't work as I once found out to my cost

Thanks

I looked at half a dozen for a mate before finding a solid one
There's some bloody awful ones out there, so tread careful.
One we looked at was that bad you could get three fingers in the hole at the back of the cill


Chap down the road has a Mk1 import version (Eunos) though and that is as solid as a rock

Having had a mk2 with exactly the problems you describe, I'd say take your time and get a jap import. The other issue is the caliper sliders aren't really at home in british weather - much easier to sort out than the sills though!

[Edited on 27/7/13 by garyo]

if you are looking at a MK2 onwards,check the front chassis legs,in front of the ARB mounting,s,they rot through from the inside and are nearly imposible to repair properly.
there is plenty on the interweb about the problem.

I've had three, two good ones and one terrible one. The bad one had a little visible rust on the off side outer sill at the rear. I thought I could deal with that so I bought it. I peeled the outer sill back to have a look at the inner sill, it was quite rusty but salvageable with readily available panels. The crunch came when I looked at the front chassis legs. Both legs had dissolved on the inner sides where the rear of the front sub-frame bolted to them. I don’t have a paint thickness gauge, but I don’t think a gauge would have found this corrosion. I only found it when I had the car up on ramps. A repair would have been possible but much too much work for me. If you get a good one they are a joy to drive, I preferred the MK 1. The MK2 1800 seemed more sophisticated, but for me the early V special with a LSD dff was much more fun.

Do you want a really accurate gauge, or something to let you know if there is a wad of filer in there?
Have a look on fleabay, there are some pen gauge thingys, I suspect a magnet with a spring or similar, should indicate differences in thickness accurately enough, and about a tenner or so.

Have a look on Detailing World for the best info on paint thickness gauges. Some of the professiionals spend big bucks on them but you can get very good ones at far more sensible money. I got mine through a group buy on that forum and was much cheaper and is a great piece of kit.

Good posts thanks

Didn't know about the chassis legs being a rust problem, just that they tend to get flattened on lowered cars

Am thinking about a jap import but not sure how to buy one

Cheers