Mlr's Nb Mx5

[The Bogan]

I have finally found a car that I can play with on the weekends.

A 1999 NB MX5.

I was after something that I can have some fun with at the track but still drive around to the shops or get a burger at Austinmer beach, it needed to be a light, 4 cyl, manual and RWD, plenty of aftermarket support and parts, finally after looking at 1 bazillion different brands and models I decided on the Mazda.

I also wanted a car that wouldn't draw to much FnF style attention on the street so the majority of the other makes and models didn't float my boat

It is as stock as a rock at this stage apart from some crap 16" rims which will be replaced at some stage.

I will update this thread as I proceed with the modifications I do.

At this stage there is no problems at all with the car so my first step is to do a service of all oils and fluids to start fresh.

I went to PEPS auto this morning and got a basic service kit to start the ball rolling, it had some NULON fuel system cleaner when I filled it up last night so I will not install a new fuel filter till that has gone through the tank.

I will post a list now what I want for the thing in no particular order, there will be certain things that I feel that will need to be done prior to throwing it around in anger but I feel that in around 6 months it should see its first attempt at a light super sprint.

Service it

Better tyres

Good brake pads

Shocks and springs

Oil cooler and filter relocate

Roll bar

Sway bar

Maybe some bracing

LSD

And then

Exhaust

Maybe new CAI

Maybe advance the timing a bit

And then

Hard top

Rims

I may also look around for another 1.8 motor to freshen up but this may or may not eventuate, though from past experience having a spare stocker laying around may be prudent.

Day 1

Wash, polish, glaze, wax

Spark plugs

Air filter

The beastie and some stuff to do >>>

[Duncan]

Excellent choice Mark, Chris has been getting some very cheap racing out of his.

Looking forward to seeing how it goes

[Pezhead]

Nice one there Mark. It will be interesting to see how you go with this and if you can pick up where Chubs is leaving off.

Suspension and a few more HP should make a big difference. When I drove my wife's at wakie it did get too much body roll and that really hurt the times. The chassis on these seem pretty good for a convertible.

Good luck with it.

[Victory]

It is a worry Mark to see you join the hairdresser brigade!!!

How are you going to cope with the following:

• the lack of power means that you have to have actual driving skills to maintain mid corner speed

• the excitement of trying to explain to the boss why you spent $1000 fixing the car this week and then do it all over again next week. (I have four R33's registered at the moment so at any point in time there will be at least one working)

• not having the power to break / wear out things all of the time means that you just have to put fuel in it and drive it. What are you going to do with all of the extra time that you will have on your hands?

• It will be different being able to buy parts for normal prices instead of inflated Skyline prices.

Coming from a four cylinder NA background it would be hard to go back but you will be like Chubbs continuously bragging about how cheap it is to run a MX5 and set good lap times........

[r32-25t]

Looks the goods mate, can't wait to start seeing some times

[MBS206]

so its been about 2.5 months since my last hair cut. When do you have a free appointment?

[XKLABA]

Nice choice Mark, always been a fan of the MX-5, ever since I came across one in my area with a mid-late 50s guy with a golf /drivers cap driving it up and down the HWY giving it to the falcodoor brigade and boy racers, his was the same shape as yours just blue with a nice set of rims and turbo charged, quite a quick little car and very unsuspecting

Interested to see how this progresses and looking forward to chasing it around a track someday

[The Bogan]

Thanks guys.

If you need your hair done matty I could use some Wiss snips for the cut and a oxy torch for the dry if you are in the neighbourhood.

Minor update:

Yesterday I flushed the cooling system and added distilled water and coolant, also cleaned the MAF sensor, not really exciting but its a start.

I am getting some massive tyres (205/45 16, either Kumho KU36 or Federal EVO) for it on Tuesday and I have been looking at some new coil overs from MX5 Mania that fit my budget but they are not back till the 13 of Jan.

The oils will get done on Wednesday and hopefully flush out the brake and clutch fluid.

I have been interwebbing the MX5 motorsport nets and forum inters working out what bars and bracing is needed, i.e. actually does something, but that is proving confusing due to the amount of contradiction out there.

I may need to pick Chris's brain and go out to watch some MX5's racing around and have a look at what the guys are using, or not using.

Its good to have a toy again.

I must remember to keep it to the budget though, LOL.......

Life is good.

[Duncan]

Life is good.

cool post

you should get out to a couple of race meets (cams and mra), most people will be only too happy to show/talk to a new owner; and it lets you see what people are doing instead of just what people who talk on the internet think (imagine if you tried to learn to set up a race skyline based on SAU posts....)

[evil_weevil]

good buy Mark!

keep an eye on ebay and Mx5 cartalk for bonds roll bars.

they are CAMS compliant and are a great bang for buck mod in terms of safety.

If I see any ones or parts pop up I'll flick you a PM.

with Mania - what coilovers? yellow speed or BC?

yellow speed seem good for the road cars for a heap of fun and the occasional track day.

TBH I wouldnt bother with under body bracing mate, the roll bar will stiffen it a bit more but I think its more a JDM Fanboi thing these days. the guys I race with dont have any.

with the oil cooler and relocater kit, let me know what one you go for. i need one!

brake pads - ive had the QFM A1rm's for a while and have worked really well. really affordable too.

and this sucks, im now not the only homo hairdresser here anymore!! hahah

[The Bogan]

They are the Yellow speed ones mate.

On a lighter note: I did a load test on my battery today, it seems if I go swimming for two hours and leave the lights on the battery goes flat, all in all the test proceeded as I you would have expected.

[The Bogan]

Productive day in the garage today.

2.25 Cat back fitted, better flow and not hectic noisy, and about 1/2 the weight of the stock system, the stock headers will stay as they are a good looking system from the factory .

Changed:

Engine oil and filter

Gearbox oil

Diff oil

Tyres ordered, 2 x Bridgestone Potenza RE002, a pair of the RE001's that are on it ATM are at about 50% so they will stay for a few more months before I need to replace them, the others are on the markers, tyres should arrive tomorrow.

No wonder Chris wants a oil cooler and relocator, the filter is a bitch to get to and the muppet who last put one on did it up stupid tight, it took about 30 minutes or more to get off, I ended up needing a hand from a mate to hold a worklight while I punched a screwdriver through it all the while trying not to hit the positive terminal on the alternator, PITA but its done now with only minimal blood loss.

[evil_weevil]

Hahahaha yes been there done that. I had Ando and Clappa help me doing the same thing a few years back!!!

Factory nb headers are pretty good. I think you'll find the 3-500 spent elsewhere!

A good cold air induction is to put a pod behind the lhs headlight

[The Bogan]

I was thinking that but then whilst googling I seen a pic of a modified standard CAI pipe, the inlet at the bottom of the std airbox is appox 3" diameter but the std CAI has a 2" inlet, I am going to have a look around at some wreckers and attempt to find some OEM style 3" plastic pipe which will adapt (heat gun) to fit the std air box, I need something with 90 deg bend at a length of around 250mm.

The smallest part of my intake will then be the throttle body.

This should only cost a couple of bucks at the most and will increase the CAI volume by almost 100%, and look stock.

It will get air from the spot behind the headlight you mentioned, just like the std one only better (bigger is always better, or so I have been told, lol)

Well that's the theory, LOL.

[andy65b]

Looks good. I have moved the same way from the Stagea to my weekend MX5.

Have a look at the MX5 Plus rollbars. Not sure they are CAMs approved but a great design and easy to fit plus they are better for the over 6 footers that drive MX5's.

I think my mod list is very similar but the budget... where did that budget go..

[The Bogan]

R002's fitted.

I have had a few attempts over today to fad up a CAI.

Version 1 was all the std intake but with a larger feed for the CAI, I didn't like it.

Version 2 was a totally different intake, I got the idea (stole the idea) from some Jap company (and Chubbs) that had made up a short intake which drew air from the cold side behind the headlight, all that was needed was a 90 deg elbow reducer 2.5" to 2.75" and a filter.

It has really cleaned up the engine bay and after a quick test blast I am very happy, power increase? but the induction sound is pretty cool now.

It is only a start for now, the filter was a $5 cheapy form Just Jap and only for fitting purposes, I am going to have a shop around tomorrow for a quality (LOL) pod filter and then fab up a enclosure.

I will also get some wrap for the exhaust manifold as the stock heat shield is a POS (I didn't like the way it looked at me), some new gaskets a wire brush and then wrap is most likely take at least 6 beers.

And that hectic cam cover breather will not be around for long either, it looks crap, a catch can will be plumbed to it at some stage, and by the look of that POS the sooner the better.

Another fun day with more fun on the way.

And that is one sturdy looking bar Andy.

[evil_weevil]

Good move!

see - easy innit!

the induction noise on these things with a pod and cold air set up and be really loud.

mines quite offencive. some people have asked if I have quads fitted!

[The Bogan]

Fitted the new fuel filter today, STUPID clip design, the old hose and clamp style was a breeze to do, the clips are APITA, I went to stick a golf tee in the hose but it didn't fit properly and leaked fuel, STUPID NEW STUFF.

Fitted a better quality pod and mounted the IAT sensor in the top of it, also rerouted the hot side breather to a more stealthy place out of site.

I was talking to a guy (65 yr old dude) who was at Just Jap the other day, he had a sorted white NA6 there which he races in the MX cup thingies and MRA, after bending his ear and bleeding him for info I got some good tips of him.

I got the OEM strut brace that he recommended off fleabay for $110 delivered, the OEM item is a solid item whereas most aftermarket ones have got a hinge thingy where the brace connects to the mounting point, which he rates as rubbish as they twist and flex at the hinge and do next to nothing.

Exhaust wrap is on the way, 50' x 2" in black with stainless ties shipped for $35, I just need to get a new manifold gasket and lower gasket from PEPS, I will wire brush the thing, remove the standard cover fixtures and give it a coat of high temp paint prior to wrapping.

The brake, clutch and power steering fluids are next on the list, all it will take is plying my neighbour with alcohol and some time as he has already supplied the fluids at mates rates.

I am tossing (LOL tossing) up wether to get a roll bar or a set of coil overs next, roll bar may win as if I do decide to track it sooner rather than later it will need one to pass scrutineering (I don't have a hard top for it yet).

Work donated some nice stiff (LOL stiff) cardboard and I am attempting to fab up a template I am happy with for a cover for the pod, when I am happy I will knock it up out of ally at work and give it a coat of paint in the silver body cover to keep things neat.

That's it for now, and with all this talk about tossing and stiff, I have things to see and people to do.

Rock and Roll

[The Bogan]

Chris, did you advance your timing, if so how much, it was recommended to me to advance my timing to 15 deg to take advantage of PULP only fuel.

[The Bogan]

Removed the window tint today, the door windows and quarters took about 5 minutes total, the rear glass took 3 hours, it just didn't want to come off, the top tint layer came straight off but the plastic layer under the tint would come off with it, no matter how much heat or steam I threw at it, I ended up peeling it off at of a rate of 1 square cm at a time and it left all the bloody glue behind, metho made short work of the glue though.

Its done now and looks like new, much cleaner really, I think I prefer it without tint.

Also my rims will not accept spacers, I was going to get some 25mm ones to push out the track but luckily removed a wheel to check after taking the measurements, STUPID ROH RIMS.....

Also I hate waiting for the mail man.