Turns out, that once the secondary bumper was sorted the rear was pretty straight-forward. Well, mostly anyway...
So, I ended up replacing the secondary bumper with four pieces of curved 30mm box section (see black bits in the photo below). Unfortunately, due to the number plate indent section on the new rear outer bumper panel, I couldn't have the box section span across the whole rear. But, the new pieces do extend out to the sides further than the old secondary bumper, so it still provides quite a bit of protection - just not dead centre in the rear if hit by a narrow object.
The rear bumper panel and replacement boot lid fit really well. So, no fibreglassing and bogging (with filler) required like on the front - yah! Tail lights all sorted easily too (although waiting for replacement number plate lights - as the tabs that secure them were broken on the old ones).
However, the next challenge was sorting out a new high-mount (third) brake light. My initial plan was to put an LED strip light in the centre of the boot lid (like the previous boot lid had), but took a while to find a DOT / SAE certified one with the right dimensions. Managed to get one out of the USA (via Amazon - see www.amazon.com/dp/B00D2CU55S/).
I was just about to start hacking the boot lid to fit the new LED brake light when I had another thought. Earlier in the day I had seen a later model MX5 (an NC - mine is a NB) and it had its third brake light mounted just behind the rear window. Bit of research later and yep, a change in plan. Managed to get a second-hand NC brake light off of TradeMe. Fitted that last weekend and I think it has worked out much better.
Whew! Lucky I didn't start hacking the boot lid. However, I now have a DOT certified LED third brake light, if anyone needs one 😁
Rats and mice to tidy up now and then I can send her away to try and get certification, but looking pretty good I reckon. Here's a short video showing front to back...
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