From Mexie ... to MXSE ...

[KevGoat]

The first couple of items I fitted - 321cc Denso Injectors and NoPro washer bottle - I have just realised I took no photos!

I've never done anything like change injectors before! After a great deal of reading how to's and watching YouTube videos and with a summary write up from mazda-speed.com printed out (How to remove/install fuel injectors on the MSM), I finally plucked up the courage to try it!

Took a while to locate the fuel pump relay under the dash for starters. I was then surprised how much fuel still comes from the fuel rail, even with depressurising the system! Hardest part was fitting the new injectors and rail back in place, they didn't seem to fit. Probably the way I placed them in. With the rail fitted over the injectors, there seemed to be way too much gap to tighten the bolts. It looked like if I tightened the bolts, I'd snap something - and that wouldn't be a good thing. In the end, after convincing myself that everything I'd read said these were plug and play and fitted, I just slowly started tightening each bolt a little at a time, working along so that they were all being pressured in at about the same rate. They actually went in easy!! Once all tightened up, put the intake back together, fitted all the hoses and replaced the fuel pump relay. Double checked everything, then reached inside the car and turned the key ... Started! Left it idling for about 15/20 minutes and kept periodically checking for any leaks while I tidied all the tools etc up. It was running fine. Hopped in and went for a drive. All good! Couldn't really say I felt any difference, but with the upcoming upgrades I felt it was a worthy change.

Fitting the NoPro was easy. No instructions needed. Remove the stock washer bottle and bracket. Remove the washer motor and replace the rubber grommet (even if it looks good) then fit the motor to the NoPro bottle - it's a perfect fit. Change the tubing over to the other side and connect to the motor, run the supplied wiring through to the existing plug and, making sure of correct wires to wires, add the supplied connectors and plugs to the new loom. Plug it all in. Now bolt in the bottle. Fill it up and check for leaks. That's pretty much it! Great kit! Everything is supplied and it all fits perfectly. There's heaps of write ups on these and the improvement in appearance in the engine bay is well worth it.

[KevGoat]

There's masses of images around of the NoPro fitted, but 'cause I like photos as much as anyone < **seriously? we hadn't noticed! ** > and this is my thread after all, I just took some photos of mine





Just ran the loom along the back...


The supplied plugs are direct fit...

[track_addict]

Good read Kev. Was this the car forsale out on Main North road? If it is, it looked like a very good buy. With swapping the head unit over, did you replace the speakers and/or take the factory amp's out of the equation? I've read the bose speakers can have issues being run by aftermarket head units as the speakers are low impedance. If you want to offload that spare speed hut boost gauge one day let me know .

[KevGoat]

Good read Kev. Was this the car forsale out on Main North road? If it is, it looked like a very good buy.

Yeah, that's the one. He had it priced a fair bit above others from interstate, but with travel & transfer costs etc, the trade in price he offered me on the NB8A and some other costs that I asked him to absorb, the end deal worked out pretty good ....

Luckily, the stock sound system in this one wasn't the Bose unit, so I didn't have any issues with changing over the head unit. I was rather happy when I realised that!

[KevGoat]

There was a thread started on here about the GarageStar Delrin door bushings. After reading the huge amount of positive write ups on the US forums on these, I purchased a set through OMGPham. They're a one size fits all, so in some cases some minor modification is required. I found that I had to slightly hone out the bolt holes to allow the driver's door to close flush to the body, but apart from that, they're a 5 minute fit. Takes a bit more force to close the doors but no big deal. Results are freaky!! The doors don't shake and rattle when going over bumps and the car generally feels more solid. Ridiculous that something so simple can make such a big difference.

[KevGoat]

Purchased TopGaiter (UK) red stitched handbrake & gear lever gaiters. I've used these in my other 5's and they are good quality. Also fitted JoyFast red stitched handbrake handle and chrome button (kept these from the NB8A) and carried over the CarbonMiata Seatbelt Extenders from the NB8A as well.

[KevGoat]

Back in June, I ordered a BEGi TBI and CAI. Chose this one over the AEM for a couple of reasons - the way it looks suited my ideas for my engine bay, plus the included filter cover. I'm pretty hopeless at fabricating something like that cover.

The biggest issue with the BEGi kit is the time it takes. I didn't receive it until 3 months later!! Bell engineering's communications updating me of the status of my order was sparse and confusing. At one stage I received an email that the parts were being picked up from the powder coaters the following day, then a week later I received an email saying that my parts were ready to be dropped off at the powder coaters the following day

That aside, when I received it all, I was happy with the quality. I also liked the way the parts were separated out and separately packaged and labelled for easy recognition. Unfortunately, the instructions were next to useless! Luckily, I recalled that BillyBunter had done a summary in his garage thread. Searched back and found that and printed it out and just filled in any gaps myself as I went along.

First off was install the TBI. This is an easy installation and an absolute "must do" considering the known faults with the stock part, plus it just looks so much better!

On to the CAI. The install was reasonably straightforward. Hardest part was the tight fitment of the filter cover with the stock aircon piping. A bit of bending here and there of the pipes and the cover, and it all fitted in. I made up a bracket to fit the three relays that have to be moved. Wasn't keen on their idea of just zip tying them together.

Keeping with the de-clutter theme, I purchased a Cobalt 3 point strut brace from Moss Europe and had that ready to fit at the same time. I really dislike the SE strut brace with bits hanging off it everywhere. The Cobalt brace not only looks a lot neater, but the way it pulls everything together when tightening down the bolts through the bracket behind the firewall, it's probably more effective as well. I didn't go with the similar brace that has the cross bar between the towers, purely for the sake of appearance and sticking with the less clutter theme. Having felt how tight my car is now with this brace, plus the other upgrades I now have (GarageStar door bushes and MX5+ Twin Hoop), I seriously doubt I would have felt any further benefit. Very happy.

With the removal of the stock strut brace, I had to re-consider the catch can. Read a lot about them and basically found out how many different attitudes there are to them and the way they should work and be fitted (or not)!! I eventually settled on a 3 port Mishimoto. Same as the brace, it's appearance fitted in nicely with my theme, while also seeming to be well made and effective. The extra port would allow me to run the PCV vent through it as well. It's a tiny unit, but the way I drive, I don't think I'll be pushing much through it. Time will tell.

The next piece of the puzzle was the removal and blocking off of the stock catch can drain back to the sump. I followed Lokiel's fix for this by fabricating a blank and fitting that to the sump so that everything could be neatly removed.

... and lastly, was the matching of various parts around the engine bay to match in and balance with the black wrinkle finish on the BEGi.

So ... photos ...















































From this ...




To this ...





... and thoughts on the performance upgrade? ... I haven't reset the mbc yet (set it back to stock boost for now), and as I have mentioned often, I'm a pretty boring driver these days, not a WOT or high revs type driver. But the initial impression from a 250km drive last weekend? ... WOW!! We all read about what the CAI upgrade does to the SE, but until it's actually done, the improvement just can't be imagined. Well worth the cost and effort!

[Lokiel]

Now that you've got a MBC, it's time to get rid of the OEM EBC solenoid on the front of the engine to clean it up even more.

Without the two rubber hoses helping to support it, the solenoid is just held by the bracket and there are reports at mazda-speed.com of the bracket snapping and swinging down into the moving belts since it will still be attached to the wiring harness.

When you disconnect the OEM EBC solenoid plug, install a 47ohm resistor (you'll see 50ohms written in various places but when you go to buy the resistor you'll find 47ohms is the closest) across the socket's terminals to ensure that a CEL code isn't generated for the "missing" EBC solenoid. When I did this, I bent the resistor legs into a U-shape to make them a bit fatter so that they'd sit firmly in the socket, then taped it tight with electrical tape and put a rubber bung over the whole socket for waterproofing and tucked it out of site. This is a simple idiot-proof mod so don't be daunted if you're worried about screwing around with the electrical system. If you screw it up, the worst that can happen is that you've wasted a few cents on the resistor and you have to clear the CEL code - you can always plug everything back in.

[KevGoat]

And ... to the Twin Hoop! ... one came up in Melbourne and this time, the cards fell my way! Arranged to call in and pick it up on our way home from Canberra a few weeks ago. Only issue was most of the fittings were missing from the removal process. I had a feeling this might happen as some of the bits require the seatbelt towers to be dismantled as well as the seat belts removed to get at some of the captive nuts. No biggie, Automotive Plus helped me out with all the missing parts.

Gave me a decent weights workout fitting it in by myself Not all that difficult to install, but I did get frustrated with the captive nuts falling loose, so I ended up drilling through and bolting them in place. Even if I have to remove the bar for any reason, at least those nuts won't fall back into the seatbelt tower now

Also made up a windbreak - a la Lokiel's Gina (seems like I've copied a lot of his stuff ) From the drive we did last weekend, the windbreak works better than the stock one did!!

Also from the drive we did last weekend, I was absolutely gobsmacked at how tight my car feels now, and the improvement in handling! GarageStar Door Bushings, Cobalt 3 Point and MX5+ Twin Hoop ... makes an awesome threesome









So after all this, and to celebrate her recent one year anniversary with us, she thoroughly deserved a decent clean, clay bar, polish and wax ...



Looking forward to the next 12 months ..........

[KevGoat]

Now that you've got a MBC, it's time to get rid of the OEM EBC solenoid on the front of the engine to clean it up even more.

Thanks for that. It does look ugly there. Doesn't sound too daunting, and I don't mind doing most electrical stuff, so I'll do that.

[Lokiel]

It's quite surprising how much difference that little bit of plastic between the roll bar hoops makes. When I first got my twin hoop roll bar I found the cabin wind turbulance quite noticeable and my eyes dried out badly, like when you direct the air vents directly at your eyes and crank the fans up to max. Adding that little bit of plastic made a world of difference.

You commented on the amount of pictures you're posting in your thread - keep 'em coming, (read in a redneck/hillbilly voice) "Pictures is good!".

[KevGoat]

Used Lokiel's tip on removing the stock electronic boost control solenoid today.



Unplugged the connector, then added a 47ohm resistor as suggested - whopping cost of 50c for a packet of them from Jaycar!



Used a zip tie to make sure the resistor remains in place



Started the car to check for any CEL - all good. So taped it up well, then tucked it away and removed the solenoid



The stock spring clamps on the BOV hose looked out of place now, so changed them over for stainless clamps to the match all the rest.



Thanks Lokiel!

[KevGoat]

My Bear Hooks arrived today ....



Fitted the rear hook. The front hook will have to wait until I have time to modify the grill ...

[KevGoat]

Had a good opportunity to do some full throttle runs on the weekend and it showed up the (known) issues that the SE has when improvements are made to the intake and fuel delivery. The well documented "band aid" mods that partially overcome these issues, require some resistors and a diode. Not long after my Bear Hooks arrived, a diode that I'd ordered arrived - and may just receive the over packaged award of the year ...

This diode ($2 including postage!) ...



Arrived by courier, in this packaging ...

[joshuam]

Haha, from Element14?