mx5cartalk.com

Hi guys, well, I guess i can't really say it was a long journey before i finally got my 5, but it took a few months (not 3 years thankfully!)

I don't have many pics to add yet, but they are of my 1st mod! haha when i got it, it had a tip almost big enough to fit my head in! it fill the cutout in the rear bar completely!

here are the before and after pics, poor quality sorry, taken on my phone


before, whoa! i think someone is living in there, hellooo!


after, ahh much better, better note, better look, only a tad quieter (the missus could still hear me coming up the street)

TheMissus wrote:What's the plan for the next mod - you do say this is the first?

Well, chassis bracing is probably 1st of the list, followed closely by a wheel alignment, too much shimmy....

The next is possibly not really a mod. I suspect that it has a rx7 AFM on it, but haven't had a chance to run a tape measure over it yet. If it is, i think i'd like to return it to a stock AFM but keep the ram pod and add a heat shield. don't want to cut and holes just yet so no mania CAI

It currently has Jasma headers and a 2.5 catback, i am not sure i like how loud it is yet, possibly move down to a 2.25 system....

the rest are mostly small mods,

brought a nice Drift shift knob to replace the crappy one it came with, it has a piece of rubber hose shoved up it and is loose, moves when shifting
new benny's boot for the shifter to replace oem,
move the amp from the parcel shelf(gah!) and hide the splits wiring boxes.
lets not forget the timing shift to 14degrees, grabbed a new o-ring today too.
oh and a special sticker for the top of the windscreen

took some more pics today, will get them up tomorrow

I think ,if you do some checking through past posts, that 2.5" is too big for Na6 and 2.25" is the right size

a couple more shots


Rear end, the back looks like it has about 10-15mm more space under the gards, probably a good thing, i think its very close to the 100mm minimum height under there


The front


obligitory engine bay shot, its a but dirty and the humps need a polish... easy fixed. The filter is HKS and looks like the foam used to be yellow, needs a clean too i think


hmmm i have a receipt here that says these are 22k km's old, time for some new plugs and leads i feel.

Someone suggested looking to the UK for some parts that were looking rather expensive here is aussie, I can't remember who, but thanks



6 piece hose set, some Magnecor leads and shipping for about same price as just the hoses, cheers!

Well, it was a day of maintenance today, CAS o-ring changed, 36mm was a perfect fit! Iet me tell you, having air-con makes this takes bloody difficult, in the end i had to unbolt the coil pack and slide it out on the passenger side of the motor...oh and a note to self, if you ever to this again, let the motor cool down for a while 1st! damn that thing was hot! While i was at it, set timing to the legendary 14°, must admit, i don't feel the difference, my gut even tells me i may have lost something...

Workshop closed up early, so i didn't get the time on the hoist i was looking for, so home early and into it the hard way.

Spotted some other interesting bits while it was in the air

And last but not least, those hoses, holy! i swear the two lower main hoses where factory! there was so much crap and dried up seepage that i had great difficulty getting those b*stards off




had much difficulty with that one, there wasn't a gap big enough to get my hand through and i had to cut it off once i had managed to move the spring clip, there was no room to wiggle

You didnt throw it out did you? I want a midnight snack!

Those spring look like auto exe ones. i have them on my 5, came from japan like that.

Well following the advice of the forum and forumites I put the car into get a wheel alignment, balance and remove the nice screw pictured in an above pic.

My hope was that maybe some of the vibrations in the car would be fixed...well. When I 1st got it back I took it for a blat down the new Tugun bypass, figured it would be the best surface to check for non road surface vibrations, anyone who drives the M1 between Tugun and pretty much Beenleigh knows the road surface is completely sh*te.

I know now what people mean by the 100kph shimmy! I had just paid to get more vibrations! So, back I when and tried to explain...

About 3hrs later i got a phone call "I think we found the problem, come and have a look" 5 minutes walking later I get and see my car about 2 feet off the ground. I walk up and he spins one of the front wheels around by hand... uh oh, the damn thing is out of round by about 2-3mm. Then he says, "watch this" and proceeds to turn the car on and let the rear wheels spin...passenger side wheel has an indentation on the INSIDE of the wheel about 5mm deep covering an arch of about 150mm and the drivers side wheel is visible out of round, but only 1-2mm...

He went on to tell me how they had swapped wheels between postions and this is the mix they had come up with that gave the least vibrations...and gave me a card with the numbers for a couple of places that fix wheels and said that getting them repaired is about the only option other than replacing them

So, I took it for another blat down the Tugun bypass...I must admit, hes good, I reckon there are now less vibrations than when I 1st dropped it off this morning and apart from a very obvious vibration at about 108kph, I am happy with the result

And leaving it on one positive note, I am now 100% sure I have a VLSD... sliding out in the wet only had me 90% sure

CheyneX5 wrote:Those spring look like auto exe ones. i have them on my 5, came from japan like that.

Cheers CheyneX5, that more makes sense than Mazdaspeeds

Changed the 3 small water hoses that go from thermo to inlet, inlet to tb and tb to head last weekend.

Funniest thing happened and I didn't really pick up on it till have way through last week, my cold start is working properly now! revs to about 1250 on cold start up and slowly drops to about 850 as it should. Used to cold start at about 900-950ish. Still can't figure out how changing those hoses would fix it? blocked maybe?

I am still getting small backfires when giving it some stick but not at WOT, I think an aftermarkt ecu is on the cards sometime this year.

I am picking up a 290x700 sheet of ACL heat shielding today, need to get something between my headers and the new filter, 120mm is just too close for my liking.

Looks sweet!!!

It looks very very similar to a V Special a dealer imported that I was working for. It had a rollcage and intake like that.

When I first bought mine it had an intake like that and i got my mechanic to build me one and got a ducted headlight made a bit of difference!!

Enjoy the NA!

madboy wrote:

Nice BRG mate.

Just a couple of questions.. what roll bar is it?...does it fit under the hardtop and/or compatible with glass window??..
and finally... where can I get one