Thanks guys.

We thought that on a jap 4x4 we have , thought that they were unf threads as they looked that way but turned out to be all metric fine. Decent bolt supplier should have them, our local guy seems to have a good range of them.

Bob

Yeah thats my experience of them too, ive had half a dozen jap imports over the years and they were all metric

Whats the thinking on the best MX5 stripdown procedure- is it best to go with lifting the body off the front and rear subframes as shown in the Exocet bloke's blog
( bloghere http://mevexocet.wordpress.com/category/mx5-stripping/ )

or would it be better to go for the traditional way of pulling the engine and gearbox out from the top, the suspension from the sides and then roll the body over to remove the rear axle components ?

Are any parts of the MX5 subframe acually used in the Haynes or does seperating the subframes from the body really just create another seperate pile of scrap metal ?

I had axle stands holding the body up, then pulled the engine/gearbox out of the top and undid the two subframes from the bottom, just leaving the body on the stands for a scrappy to take away.

Taking the engine out makes it alot easier as you don't have to lift the body anywhere near as high, not practical your average garage.

As far as I know the subframes aren't used at all, they're quite big once you get them out, but removing them does make it easier to take off the differential and propshaft. plus you might want to sell some of the suspension on eBay.