Plate mounting options (was :new mx5 owner)

Mathew · Post by **Mathew** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 1:51 pm

Hi Mike, congratulations on your impeccable taste in automobiles.
As far as the plate mounting question... the standard mounts position the plate directly above the radiator intake which is great for airflow to the radiator, but looks ugly and in many cases the back of the bolts holding the plate on get pushed back into the bumper leaving small dents. You could put a smaller plate in this location (Ross from Mx5Mart can source them) but a few club members who have these have recently had problems with "the boys in blue" over their legality ($200 fine). you could make up a bracket that comes out of the radiator intake and positions it to one side, but those that I have seen look pretty ugly (Sorry Bill !!). The option of stick-on numbers seems to be going out of fashion in a hurry, once again thanks to the boys in blue. On my car I have mounted the plate below the radiator intake and whilst it looks quite good, it comes into contact with the road on steep driveways and the like. Back when I was single and didn't have a house (but had somet!
hing I vaguely remember called "free time") I once spent the good part of a day turning my front plate into a swiss cheese replica using a drill and file. My idea was to leave only the plate border, the letters/numbers and a few small strips of metal holding it together. I then painted the frame and letters yellow and everything else matt black. From a couple of metres away it just looked like a black plate with yellow lettering. My cunning plan was to mount it in the radiator intake and the air would not only flow around the plate but through it as well. I cant really determine if it made any improvement in cooling, but it made a good talking point. Most people thought I was mad (I prefer the term eccentric) but a cop who spotted it and pulled me over thought It was a great idea and let me off (especially after I informed him that it showed up better on a speed camera photo than my previous "stock" plate had). But it was probably just a case of a good cop on a good day. I r!
eplaced the "swiss cheese" plate with a personalized plate recently, b
I'll ever find the time or enthusiasm to modify it again.
I don't really think mx5's have much of a problem with overheating. I drove my current supercharged mx5 around for a few weeks with the plate in the middle of the intake, and those nasty big factory fog lights on either side of it. There was bugger all space left in the opening, but I never once had the engine temperature increase any more than usual.

Ashgrove School · Post by **Ashgrove School** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 2:15 pm

Our front plate was mounted above the grill (on the bumper) initially and
yes it did look a bit odd. We moved it down so it is in front of the front
grill and have not noticed any loss of power or overheating due to this. It
looks heaps better there too. We just loosened the frame and rotated it
around so instead of it sticking up and over the bumper it hung down over
the front grill.

Like everyone has been saying about the stick on smaller plates - depends on
how bad a day the cop has had...

Geraldine
admin@ashgrove.school.nz

Michael & Kate Cooper · Post by **Michael & Kate Cooper** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 9:05 pm

An MX5 on a hilly drive on a hot nor'wester Canterbury day overheated with
the pl8 in front of the intake, and had to stop right outside the pub at the
top of the hill!! Bummer ay!!

Kate

Mark Roberts · Post by **Mark Roberts** » Wed Feb 27, 2002 9:46 pm

Our front plate was mounted above the grill (on the bumper) initially
and yes it did look a bit odd. We moved it down so it is in front of
the front grill and have not noticed any loss of power or overheating
due to this. It looks heaps better there too. We just loosened the
frame and rotated it around so instead of it sticking up and over the
bumper it hung down over the front grill.

After years of mangling the numberplate on kerbs etc I did the exact
opposite operation, with which I am very pleased indeed.

carl.halvorsen · Post by **carl.halvorsen** » Thu Feb 28, 2002 6:36 pm

Think how lucky we are. At least our plates are tiny compared to European
plates. I checked out the "InTENse" ( MX5, Miata, Eunos Roadster) 1Oth
Anniversary book - noting the position of other country plates. Some US
States do not have plates at the front. In the UK it is common to have large
ugly vinyl stickers on the nose.Most of the European cars have the plates in
the radiator opening or to one side. Obviously this does not cause cooling
problems.

Carl

Fletcher Blades · Post by **Fletcher Blades** » Fri Mar 01, 2002 7:15 pm

Unless the plate was deep inside the mouth, hard against the
radiator... I'd suggest that this MX-5 already had a marginal cooling
system for other reasons, and the plate just tipped it over the
edge...

I used to have a marginal cooling system... fine around town, but
100kmh on the open road would cause it to slowly overheat... (ie. the
temp needle would go past half-way)... all fixed by a radiator
clean-out...

Fletch.