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Hey name is Michael and just thought i'd show you my beast. Its a 01 NB8B bought it in feb 02. It was actually a spur of a moment thing, i saw it, wanted it and had to have it. Such an unbelievable car but we all know it lacks on thing and that straight line power. Cutting corners does not go well with me and if your gonna spend the money you might as well do it right the first time. It helps if your mechanically minded and research is your friend. Now we all know that the Sp runs the standard NB8B motor and that the standard rods dont like boost and tend to banana over time so reliability was my concern as it's a daily driver. So i decided the bottom end needed to be rebuilt with forged internals and low comp pistons, the head was not going to be touched. Now before i even started this project i made sure i had 3/4 of parts needed for the build up as i didnt want the car off the road to long.
So the photos begin (hope im doing it right) i was lucky to score these they came off unfortunately a burnt out sp

So next flyin miata was given a call piston, rods, bolts/studs, mounts were all paid for dollar was a juicy $0.94 aint i lucky.

Well done in getting the bargain parts. It even looks like you got the updated EGR pipe (with the flexi-joint). My original EGR pipe was replaced under warranty as it snapped/cracked off.

Good luck on your SP replica build. Keep us up to date. It seems you're doing it the right way.

I just had the engine of my SP rebuilt with the right gear. Now I have high confidence my SP will keep on running, with occassional stop for fuel.

Once i had most of the parts the rest came together in the space of 4 months. So the engine rebuilding begins

Many more long nights to come
Didnt mention running pwr radiator and custom made intercooler. When designing the intercooler i couldn't stress enough that i didnt want to hack at the car so no cutting or chopping of the bar/supports was done and all air dam undertray were keep in place. This restricted me in a cooler no longer than 600mm with a max height of 180mm and a width of 70mm and the outcome
While the engine was out gearbox was removed as was the whole rear end and i mean the whole rear end complete diff and craddle with all suspension still connected as the diff was making way for a guru center plus the fuel tank was removed to 1. change the fuel pump and 2. replace the fuel line system to jap spec as they run a return line great for tuning and saving fuel. Once that was done everything was put back on (went quite well).

Exedy 5 puck clutch was installed ready for the gearbox and tailshaft to be installed

Next on the list was to install oil filter re location kit and oil cooler with all the necessary hoses and fittings (dont skimp on these do it once and forget about it) as we all know what pain it is to remove the oil filter. Those anodised fittings my gosh straight ends aren't to bad but if you have a slight bend it ends up costing you 2-3 times the amount. One thing i did remove to make room for the intercooler was the power steering pipe/cooler and replaced it with a little remote power steering cooler just below the bumper bar support

All this was made possibly by one man, a man that most sydney siders would know as he may have worked on your car at some stage especially if its turboed anyone care to guess..... Daniel Deckers ex cheif mechanic at Mazda Australia. I cannot stress enough the workmanship that he produces from building rotary engines to setting up mx5 race cars. Anything you see on my car can be done to yours and highly recommend Daniel to do this for you. Its hard to find a mechanic with so much knowledge thats still loves his job not to mention you can trust him and know your pride and joy is in good hands. Anyone who knows him knows how easing going he his and willing to help you out if you have any questions.

So whats the end result you say..... 170kW @ the wheels on 12psi

It has transformed the car completely, the sheer enjoyment will never end not to mention how every passenger i take for a ride cant believe how much power/torque can come out of a 4cyl.

I hope you guys enjoy it and if you have any questions just let me know and ill be happy to help
PS. Stupid question but if i want to add to this i dont reply post i just hit the edit button correct.

sledgehammer wrote:...PS. Stupid question but if i want to add to this i dont reply post i just hit the edit button correct.

Yes

Wow, great stuff indeed.
You even got the SP CF airbox, btw why did you have the hot pipe from the turbo going all the way across on top of the airbox?

Any other details on the brakes, size, type of rotor etc?

I do not know much about the mods but I can see from the quality of work that a top professional has been involved. It does look like a first class job. Very interesting to look at the photo's.

VERY nice!

The workmanship looks top notch, great stuff.

Looks good, like the look of those brakes. Where did you find the airbox?

Id say he got the airbox from the same donor SP as the turbo etc. The build quality is incredible. After getting Daniel to do basically the same treatment to an NA a few years ago, I can appriciate the quality of the build....and how light your wallet now his haha

A simply stunning build. Well done.

I'm also interested in why the intercooler pipe runs over the airbox...

I'm also interested in why the intercooler pipe runs over the airbox...

A better route than running behind the radiator and I would have thought.

AB7 wrote:Wow, great stuff indeed.
You even got the SP CF airbox, btw why did you have the hot pipe from the turbo going all the way across on top of the airbox?

Well originally on the Sp the pipe work is approx 2.5meters in length from the turbo to the inlet of the cooler creating a pressure drop between gear changes, (kind of feels like turbo lag until it re-pressurises) this way the length is reduced to 1 meter in length. Theres also the fact its pretty tight to go around the front of the air box as is down one side of the air box with too much complex bends plus things like power steering lines, lower radiator hose tend to get in the way.(i tried every possible way) only because i needed or should i say wanted that Sp airbox.

SPy vs. SPy wrote:Any other details on the brakes, size, type of rotor etc?

As you can see brakes are Ap Racing 4 pot calipars as used on race cars that Daniel builds consisting of 300mm DBA 5000 series slotted rotors with custom made alluminium hats and dog bones both anodised in your choice of colour. He actually sells them as a kit which include adr approved braided brake line and a whole range of pads too oh and longer wheel studs too. I must say the original brakes are quite good and never really had any problems with them (in standard form of coarse) but the fact he had them on the race cars as well as the fact we made sure that they fit behind the standard NB8B rims i just had to have them, and must i say they are mighty good... the harder you press the more it stops.

Fuzzlet wrote:Id say he got the airbox from the same donor SP as the turbo etc. The build quality is incredible. After getting Daniel to do basically the same treatment to an NA a few years ago, I can appriciate the quality of the build....and how light your wallet now his haha

Actually this air box came from an owner that bought an Sp brand new an within a couple of thousands kays replaced it with i beleive one of SMB carbon fibre airbox. Daniel did the job and actually kept it. Wallet didnt become light all at once just later down the track as i didnt buy everything at one hit so actually didn't hit me that hard. Working two jobs made it a little easy to save too.