trimmings

Door pockets

beading

Good ol' wash and wax.
Teledials also sold.

can't even tell that it's there..



my huge package..

all grey

two done, two to go

awaiting delivery

new rota colour plans

Test fit

Progress for today.
Test fit + camber = WIN!

Three down, one to go

I need a bigger garage..

primered

Too lazy to remove tyre.
Will have to paint it black after.

after hours

Sample bottle ordered for the teles
During the day:

...and then some:

one down, three to go

Finally started work on refurbing the teledials.
Well started on one at least.
Weeeeeelll...after washing the car that was, and breaking the tap in the kitchen..

Armed with a small old yogurt pot filled with water and a sheet of 240 wet and dry, I started smoothing off the bubbles under the paint.

All nice and smooth and a smidge of filler was needed to sort out a small nick in the rim.
Time to leave that for a few hours

lowering was so last year..

This year's thing is drag racer style. Low front, high rear.

pooorch!

Picking some new porch, i mean porsche wheels tomorrow.
15x7.5 and 15x8 teledials with adaptors. Will see how they look; not sure if they will suit the car or not..

tunnel run

quickie

Doesn't look too shabby consider i forgot to clean it...

Thanks to jon for the awesome pic :)

costco

My mini meet, as I had organised last year, is today!
This one hopes to be bigger than last year. Super excited, although it's raining which is a tad annoying.
Will be on my way soon, so some pictures later! :D

six days

Excitement! My second ever mini welsh/cleaned-uk meet this coming sunday! :)
Lots of pics of mango with some other much nicer rides to come...

mascot

Finally got round to taking a photo of my new mascot, who fits snuggly inside the cup holder between the seats. He is a three inch tall Domo plush toy. Came with a ball chain like you get on a sink plug, attached to his head but it was tacky so I had it removed.

zoooooom!

Not much to update with the car today. What with fuel prices rocketing up to one thirty per litre my driving has become slower and more careful. But today I thought to hell with it, I get paid in two days anyways!
Had a quick blast down the dual and boy did it feel good. The car was so responsive!

One downside; its dirty again! ;)

unlucky thirteen

Only two new things down to the car. The addition of a number thirteen pool ball gear knob, which was a bitch to fit. Once completed, I then treated the car to a good wash and wax, just look at that the shine on the front bumper!



splash

Not a lot has happened in the last few months. Still paying the reminder of the money for the little mazda, and with a holiday to pay for and a new gym membership then there really haven't been many updates.

Bought myself some pressed metal plates as the snow and ice had damaged the original ones. Would have preferred them without the GB symbol but beggars can't be choosers!

Decided to paint the callipers a wicked orange colour to tie in withe the mango theme. Although with the steels and the trims back on you cannot see the calipers that much, at least they will be painted for when new wheels go on ;)

Some more coats may have to be added though, as the paint has started to thin out.

trax

First weekend in september (two thousand ten), is when the annual car show Trax is held. Two whole days beofre the show were spent prepping and cleaning the car in preparation to go on a club stand with the cleaned-uk boys.

After leaving the house at four am with James, we headed towards trax for the nine am opening time, some one hundred forty miles away. After finally meeting with everyone else on our stand and finally getting in at half nine we just managed to squeeze all of our cars on to the stand!

Can just about see my car in the background as some of the cleaned guys write on the roof of a ratty fiesta. All in all, a wicked day out and will be going again this year!

ogmore

A few weeks in my eyes was anough time to wait before adding my own little touches to the car.
First up was a flower garland, had wanted one for a while so though bugger it! May have to get another in just white and orange in the future but this one will suffice for now.

Next up were these highrolling bad boys.


Genuine dice from Las Vegas, converted into valave caps!









After discovering a few stone chips, sob :'( a bra was mext on my list. Had a two month wait as it was the first of it's kind and a template had to be knocked up before I could have mine sent out. Also got a nice ten pound refund off the price for letting them display my car on their website :)
http://www.autobra.co.uk/shop/autobra-mazda-bonnet-p-686.html

Had a mini meet with a few fellow car enthusiasts after this, a sneak pic of the car, although a lot more pics were taken. Needs a hefty slamming but other than that, is looking very cool!

collection

Fast forwarding to december twenty third. Pick up day! Seeing as I had waited long enough, I demanded that the car would be the first ready off the transporter. Mazda agreed although they didn't have much of a choice!
Left the house at eight am and got there just before nine.
After filling in all the relevant information and checking the car for any damages I then wait for Chris to fill em up with a free quater a tank of fuel :)

Then the slow drive home with my brother, it was christmas after all and the roads were icy as hell. A crash on my first day would have been so unfair!

Initial plan was to wait a week before washing it, I last three days!

Result after it's first every wash!

Notice the pearlescent yellow sparkling through the white and the orange interior lights - very helpful for future plans.







strip

As previously mentioned, a brief history over the past year of how the ts came to be.

August two thousand nine, my first and current car, a mark one citroen xsara westcoast passed it's mot.
The weeks to follow would be a frustrating time for me, with seven thermostats being changed only to finally relise that the head gasket had gone. The option to scrap the car and gain two thousand pounds towards a new car was a much more tmepting offer than to repair the xsara yet again.
Any spare time was now spent researching a new car.
Many cars were considered;

the volvo c thirty and the bmw one series coupe, but both of these were too pricey, even in basic spec.

Other cars which failed to finish at the top of my list included the mark five astra bertone coupe, the mark one xsara vts and a few others. I was after a new car for a change and something where I would not have to worry about constant breakdowns, so these were scrapped (ahem) from the list.

In the end, I was left with three cars; the fiat five hundred, the vauxhall corsa and the mazda two.
The little fiat was then dismissed as I wanted only the top end model and couldn't afford it!

Both the corsa and the two were test driven and out of the two of them, only the two made mke feel like a small eight year old boy, so that's what I chose. So on the sevnteenth of october I went in and ordered a mazda two ts model with crystal white pearlescent paint. Probably not the best colour, especially with winter around the corner but oh well!

With an estimated waiting time of six weeks for the new car to arrive and for the xsara to go to the crusher, I started the stripping straight away. Any modifications that can be sold on to fund my new car would be coming off. Thankfully when changing things, I had kept the orignals so could just swap them back over.


The week before the mot



First to come off the xsara were the alloys but with a damaged locking wheel nut key and the manafacturer being in germany I was a bit pressed for time for a new key to arrive before it was collected. Eventually got the last wheel off the day before collection, phew ;)










The french pressed metal plates has already come off with the standard going on. Have actually kept the french ones as a little memory of all the good times I had in the car ;)
Up next was the exhaust and wow does the original one look tiny in comparison!

Finally, it was towed away one morning when I was in work, never to be seen again!

So with the xsara finally gone I was expecting a call any day now from mazda. They eventually did call me to say that the order had been delayed so there would be an extra month waiting time so I would get it right before christmas, if I was lucky!

Fast forward to pick up day...in the next blog ;)