I got my wife a mx5 for her birthday, and after a few weekends upgrading it with after market sparkly bits, induction, remote locking etc, I am suprised to find, that I really enjoy getting my hands dirty for a change.  I have the relevant haynes manuals for the car, but was wondering if anyone knows of any detailed auto mechanics DVDs I could buy, to help me gain some knowledge.  I spend time looking at utube stuff, but am never certain if procedures are being followed properly/safely.  There is a classic car club near me that I can join for 30 quid, and I could use their ramp for free, but I would like an understanding of the principles first.

I can't help with videos or anything, but I'm sure people like Haynes would have general purpose mechanic skills stuff?

But I can say from experience...I've been working on my own (generally old and decrepit) cars for the best part of 20 years and the one and only surefire way to learn is to get in there and try stuff. Start small, servicing is the perfect place to start, and look up how to do each specific job as you go, or find someone who doesn't mind you looking over their shoulder while they do work. If you have the chance of hanging around with the classic car beardies, it would be very valuable experience too.

In the end the only important thing to make sure you learn, is how to work safely - how to lift a car, electrical safety and care with fumes and fluids - the rest can come with trial and error if needs be. Every DIY mechanic has broken things when they meant to fix something else, or found out the hard way how not to do a job...it's all part of it, and part of the joy when something goes well and you've fixed a problem for a tiny fraction of the cost of going to a garage.

There's another Haynes book called -

Do It Up: Mazda MX-5: A Practical Guide to Renovation on a Budget

Not the same as the normal Haynes manual as it basically covers the bits and pieces you are more likely to do but in far greater detail. I used it to change my hood and it was a pice of p***. Lots of big colour pictures covering the usual jobs like changing electric window motors and all the bits that are likely to go wrong. You don't get chapters on stripping down engines and gearboxes which is fine by me as that sounds far too frightening! I got mine from 'The Range' , probably stocked in Halfords, well worth a look.

 Cheers mate.  I already have that one, and it is really usefull.