This is a place where we can put those little pieces of secret knowledge we've learnt about the Copen, as well as unique or original mod's - practical or visual, that otherwise rarely get written about or become lost in the depths of the forum. Whilst trawling through the entire forum for little nuggets of wisdom and hidden gems is great fun when we first buy a Copen, it is time consuming to do. Or we may only stumble across something by chance, only to lose it to the depths of the forum again . Maybe this could be a thread where we can deposit these little nuggets and gems of useful info in a more concise form? Plus, there must be many small mod's or fixes that members have come up with and we never get round to posting on them, or only if a new thread warrants mentioning them. I've acquired plenty in the year since I've owned my Copen. I also hope it might be a way of enlivening the forum with our newly discovered or age-old knowledge, so that others may benefit. If I may, I'll start with a couple of mine. The bonnet support stay / strut. I've found when working under the bonnet in the wind that the support strut was prone to unhooking. There then follows a big crash and much biting of lips. Somebody kindly suggested to me simply not to work on the car in the wind I'm assuming that other Copens have this problem? So after much thinking and messing about involving zip ties and other dead end delights, I realised that if the hook profile was altered slightly by pinching it together a couple of mm, when the wind blows the bonnet upwards, the hook, rather than just sliding out of it's slot in the bonnet, it hits the back of the slot and stays in place. When I need to release the bonnet stay, I just bend it slightly near the top, which is enough to alter the hook angle a little and allow it to slide out of the slot with only small resistance. Since doing this mod the bonnet hasn't come crashing down whenever I turn my back to look for a tool. Or on of my head for that matter. This crashing would usually smash the stay into the edge of the wing (or it seemed to), which caused me to curse several times. Miraculously this violence never caused any paintwork damage, let alone dents. But it was too much to imagine it could never happen. Below is the modified, squeezed stay. I used a vice wrench to squeeze it, but basically any tool with long handles like a plumbers wrench will do the job. The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that I've added a short piece of electrical heat shrink tubing to the stay where it slots into the holder. The original plastic coating was wearing away and the stay was rusting. Hopefully the heat shrink will last a while. It might not look like much but the above picture shows the pinched stay hook which is pushed onto the escape position, but only required a little hand squeeze near the hook to actually release it.
The other tip I wanted to share was where to put a phone, especially when you want to plug it into a double din media centre for sat nav, music files in the phone or Spotify etc. Basically, the solution to this is a leather phone sleeve, glued to the fuse box cover next to the steering wheel. It took me some time to get to this conclusion, after a false start where I thought the little recess above the fuse box (in right hand drive cars; I'm not sure about LHD) had to be the perfect place to put a phone. One big problem - it's too shallow for today's smart phones and no amount of experimentation (mainly in my head) could convince me that it was worth the extra time and effort to make it work. But I did get as far as making a hole for the USB plug and lead to go through and I lined the base of the recess with some thin black foam to reduce scratches and rattles. In use, the my Galaxy S10e would kind of balance on the shelf, but hard acceleration would cause the phone to fly out. Enter the leather phone cover/sleeve. At first I looked on Ebay for small car storage boxes, nets etc, but wasn't taken by their design, neatness or how well they would work. Then I got thinking about generic phone cover, or basically any cover that was big enough to take my phone. I reasoned that it would be best to get a cover a bit too big, especially if I bought a bigger phone or permanent case in the future. I bought this one in black, although I kind of wish I'd bought red now. I think it was for the iphone 8. Case For iPhone SE 2020 XS 8 7 Premium Leather Pull Tab Pouch Holster Cover | eBay It comes with a really handle tab, which you pull to extract the phone. To fix the sleeve to the fuse box cover I used some thick gel tape, after wiping both parts down with IPA. Because the fuse cover is slightly curved I only attached the leather sleeve with two strips of tape, at the top, but the bond is strong and the sleeve doesn't sag downwards. Because of the over sized phone case and I wanted to be sure that the pull tab would reveal enough of the phone to grab hold of, I stuffed a bit of hard foam I had lying around, cut to the right size, down to bottom of the sleeve. So the phone sits a bit further out than if it was used as a normal sleeve, but it still fits well and is never going to jump out accidentally. As you can see, the earlier installation of the USB lead is in an ideal place, although it might be possible to guide it through a channel made between the the gel adhesive pads. It could be even neater that way, so I might relocate the lead soon. If you have a large phone and/or a bulky case already, I would imagine that there are leather sleeves of the same design for small tablets that could accommodate your phone.
I wanted to do something about the "b" pillar door catch/hooks, which had got very corroded and scruffy looking. After looking closely at pictures and measurements of other brand catches I decided to buy a pair of 2007 VW Polo catches for £10 off ebay (in pretty sure the Polo catches are the same as on larger VWs, but were a lot cheaper. The finish on these is, if not mirror perfect, much smarter with no corrosion compared to the Copen's. At first I didn't think they were going to fit, as they weren't a perfect like for like fit. Fortunately, the securing plate in the B pillar is adjustable. To adjust that correctly I first installed the catch, not quite tight, then with a hammer and something not too sharp to use as a drift, I found that the rear mounting plate slowly moved to the new correct position. Result! To finish them off I bought some special red coloured stainless steel screws. They are M8 20mm CS screws. https://www.gwr-fasteners.co.uk/ekm...k-machine-screw-in-gwr-colourfast-34246-p.asp The company also has an ebay shop which maybe better for postage. I use the company direct as they are local to me.
Throttle response. If your copen seems somewhat sluggish in response when you put the foot down, check the throttle cable? In the older models it will stretch over the years and probably has never been replaced. Take the engine cover off if you have it on, and you can clearly see it. Loosen the lock nut on either side of the cable end and take up the slack. Makes sure you leave a tiny bit though. You can test it while standing near the drivers door with one foot inside. You will also be able to hear the throttle stop noise each time you push the pedal if you do it sitting down. Now you have a much more responsive car which will rev as soon as you touch the pedal..
Nothing original, but I thought I would outline some interior mod's which I've installed in an effort to reduce the overall black plasticky feel of the Copen, in particular, the dashboard and to compliment the Red seats. Vinyl wrapping various pieces of the interior is pretty cheap and easy. In this case I went for the brushed aluminium look, which is in keeping with the vaguely retro look I'm going for. Chromifying details is a bit of a thing for me. I do like a bit of chrome The eyeball vents came from MX5 Parts and are identical to the originals. Chromed OE Design Air Vent Balls, MX5 Mk1 Mk2 2.5 Turns out the Copen uses the same rear view mirror as the MX5 Mk2, so this chrome surround is a perfect fit but needs something like silicone sealant rather than the gel tape supplied to get it to stick to the mirror. Chromed Interior Mirror Cover, Mazda MX5 Mk1 2 2.5 MX5 owners are spoilt when it comes to chrome. There are loads of other chrome fitments on the website, but I don't know whether any will fit. I chose to spray my vent rings red anyway, which are the most obvious upgrade in chrome, reasoning that vents and rings in chrome would be a bit excessive. Other chrome I've purchased has come from Sukura Parts on ebay, including the handbrake button and door opening lever surrounds. sakura-car aus Japan | eBay Stores As mentioned above, I spray painted the eyeball vent surrounds metallic red as well as the double din stereo surround, which came with the Pioneer stereo. The black and red leather gearstick shroud was a Toyota MR2 pattern design from JF Customs off ebay. I really liked the red and black look, which doesn't seem to be available for the Copen, at least not without requesting it at probably twice the price. It just about fits, although the tab locating slots don't match the Copen. But it looks fine. A judicious amount of gel superglue secures it in place. The least satisfying extra I have installed is the instrument cluster surround edging in stainless steel. It's not a perfect fit, form wise, the black gel tape on the back doesn't work, so it requires super-gluing and as an enhancement, it looks pretty marginal, some may say subtle, and IMO not worth the money I paid (around £40). But it's ok, so it's staying. Copen ( 2002 - 2010 ) This German shop do lots of 'chrome' look enhancements for the Copen. I don't think I will buy any more now, as I feel that I have brightened the look of my Copen interior in other ways I prefer, even if I have spent a fair amount of money on them altogether.
Sun Visors repainted in Plastidip red rubber paint. I've also improved their fit and stiffened the action, as I believe that all Copen sun visors tend to droop and then we wedge them into the roof clips to stop them flapping. But they still flap with the roof down. This fix will also straighten them when they're in use. Look, no roof latch bodge! Dead straight. And very red! Those roof latches will be getting resprayed silver very soon. With the visors removed from the car for painting, the little grip washers need removing. I used vice grips to squeeze and twist these washers off. Pliers would work as well, at a push. Then carefully noting the visor orientation and the direction that the chrome rod will need to be bent, fit the rod section into a vice, first protecting the chrome from the vice jaws with a few winds of insulation tape. Then apply pressure to the visor at the point inside at the end of the rod (and not beyond that! You can kind of feel the end) and bend it in the direction required to hold the visor in a more straight orientation when fitted. This step requires sensitivity to the metal changing shape. It will bend at first like a spring, but then you keep up the pressure and you can sense the steel yield a little, as it takes a new profile. That little shift in shape was enough, first time, to achieve the improved rod profile. Then the plastic base attachment needs refitting. It's a little tricky, but it is important to get the grip washer pressed down as far a possible, otherwise the visor will move to easily, especially when driving bumpy roads. Putting the visor on a bench with the rod and washer assembly pointing up, I placed the end of a leather punch down onto the grip washer and hit it with a hammer a few times until the washer was pressed down about 8mm. Instead of the leather punch you could fit pliers around the rod and hot them with the hammer. Basically, use anything that will force the grip washer down without hit the chrome rod. This is the paint I used for the visors. This paint does dry rather matt, but I found that treating it with household polish (Pledge) just once has rendered them a pleasing satin gloss finish, which is permanent. Plasti Dip - Muscle Colours - Spray Aerosol - PlastiDip Car Rubber Paint | eBay So now I have sun visors that don't wobble whilst vibrating in the up position and they're now dead straight instead of at a drooping angle when they are down in use.
Just mention re the Sun Visors. If you find they are slipping down and not staying up it is more likely the plastic part or base has a crack or split in it. This will cause it to fall down. After a painful time getting that small lock ring off and its hard to remove, putting it back on, the plastic cracked again. My solution is instead of gluing it and you could do both, is to twist a fine piece of wire around the outside of the plastic hole. It has to be a strong fine piece of wire or it will get caught when you fit it back on. I did it to both rather than wait for the other one to crack and fall down. Problem solved
Regarding the slow retraction of the seat belts, there are various ways of making them behave. But once we've cleaned them we'd like to keep them dirt and grease free, but this isn't easy or realistic when we're using the car in the hot summer weather, as sweat and sun cream are likely to contaminate the belts. I've found that using padded seat belt covers really help in this regard. Not only do they keep the belt away from skin, it also means that when putting the belt on you never actually have to touch the belt. This all keeps down the amount of dirt and grease contamination (even more essential when we consider the amount of dust kicked up through summer driving with the roof down), helping to maintain strong retraction of the belts. In addition, I find the belt covers make the seatbelt more comfortable to wear, especially next to bare skin.
My Copen seems to suffer from panel rub around the front in a couple of places which results in the steel becoming exposed and weeping rust stains over paintwork. It looks worse than it is but I don't want to see any rust, cosmetic or structural. I decided to install cushioning material to reduce the effect. The first interface is where the front wings seem to rub the bumper section, just inside the headlights. After removing the rust and reapplying paint I simply applied a couple of them foam pads. The second place is inside the engine bay where the front of the wings bolt into the inner wings. Again, it's purely cosmetic but it's so easy to fix by simply inserting some sort of spacer between the two panels. I made my own plastic spacers.
