Nick's NB8B - The Mexican

[nick_sixx]

Long time lurker, finally met up with a few of the Brisbane lads last week and had a blast - figured I'd post a progress thread to try and keep me motivated!

About 6 months ago I sold my HSV VXR and bought a moped to ride to work on instead (working in Newstead = no car spaces). I figured I still needed a car for weekends and rainy days, and had ALWAYS had a soft spot for the NB after choosing it as my starter car on Gran Turismo 3 and keeping it throughout the entirety of the game.

I managed to find a relatively clean 2004 example at a wholesale car yard, and one test drive had me hooked.



The day I picked up the car, and affectionately named him "The Mexican" aka Mexi (pretty sure this is the nickname of at least 10,000 MX5s).

To date, the changes made are:

- New radiator and top tank (unfortunately under warranty with no option to go larger/alloy)
- Carbon Fibre CAI
- BC Racing Coilovers
- Brembo pads
- Konig Wideopen 15x7 with torched lug nuts
- Potenza RE002 195/50
- HIDs (6000k)
- DIY front lip
- Rear bumper cut
- Kenwood double DIN DVD/GPS headunit
- Pioneer 6.5" coaxials
- Voodoo shift knob
- Aluminium pedal kit
- New floor mats





Next up is a roll bar so I can track the car, along with a good service, and removal of baby teeth!

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[Lokiel]

I'm not a fan of black rims (you either love or hate them, there's no in-between), but the rear bumper cut looks great, I doubt anyone would even pick it unless you parked next to another NA/NB. Many guys take too much off, too high and extending around the corners which looks obvious. This is how it should have looked from the factory.

Looking forward to your future modz; please include your opinion on any modz and the handling effects of the roll-bar installation too (there's two camps regarding this; one camp believes it makes little-to-no difference and the other that it makes a massive difference to chassis-twist rigidity. I have an MX5-Plust twin hoop roll bar which incorporates a torque box and noted the big improvement immediately).

[Steampunk]

I'm not a fan of black rims.

Good thing they're bronze then.
Nick you don't need a roll bar to go on the track. Just make sure car is good order, especially the brakes.

Re tangible difference with roll bar, I thought I was the only one in the camp that reckons it makes not a huge difference, on my old NA8. Having said that though it IS noticeable but more so in NA6 because theres no seat belt tower brace and on NBs as the windblocker is not mounted rigidly nor is it a strong structure in the first place.

[nick_sixx]

I'm not a fan of black rims.

Good thing they're bronze then.
Nick you don't need a roll bar to go on the track. Just make sure car is good order, especially the brakes.

Re tangible difference with roll bar, I thought I was the only one in the camp that reckons it makes not a huge difference, on my old NA8. Having said that though it IS noticeable but more so in NA6 because theres no seat belt tower brace and on NBs as the windblocker is not mounted rigidly nor is it a strong structure in the first place.

Wanting the roll bar for better peace of mind! Even if not for a rollover, I hear side impact intrusion is dramatically reduced.

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[Apu]

It's got to be a huge hit on the side for the roll bar to make a difference...by which time, it's not going to matter much.

You'll be surprised at how tough our little cars are. I've seen a couple that have been t-boned and the intrusion bars work really well.

[Vat]

Re tangible difference with roll bar, I thought I was the only one in the camp that reckons it makes not a huge difference, on my old NA8. Having said that though it IS noticeable but more so in NA6 because theres no seat belt tower brace and on NBs as the windblocker is not mounted rigidly nor is it a strong structure in the first place.

I run the NA seat belt brace on my NB8A and it does make some difference, but much like the shock tower brace not to the point that I think it world make a difference on the track. It feels like it takes the diagonal element out of big suspension movements across the cabin, in that you would get a hit on the front left, and then after a very brief delay feel the response on the back right of the cabin. I would guess that loading is being transferred across the car so you're getting a simultaneous response rather than a delay associated with twisting.

With Brisbane's poor roads, I find the refinement benefit is enough to justify having it in.

Since I style my hair with a Schick 5 blade razor, I don't particularly miss the wind blocker that much and there's not enough disturbance in the cabin to rip my hat off. My wife is ok with it, although her hair does kind of look like the wind's been at it anyway. Roger's trick of running with the passenger window up and the driver's down seems to work well.

[Vat]

- Rear bumper cut

Apologies for the double post, but on Tapatalk it's too hard to quote two posts in one.

Love the bumper cut as well, do you have any dimensions for it and how did you go about it?

[nick_sixx]

- Rear bumper cut

Apologies for the double post, but on Tapatalk it's too hard to quote two posts in one.

Love the bumper cut as well, do you have any dimensions for it and how did you go about it?

Sure! So I got in behind the bumper and located the two central mounting points and drilled small pilot holes through the bumper at the same level adjacent to each mounting point (on the outside of the lowermost seams if that makes sense). Then I put masking tape along the length of the bumper, and penciled in a line connecting the two pilot holes and extending out to under the taillights. Took measurements at mirrored points along the line just to double check everything was level.

I knew I was going to curve the edges so basically hacked into the bumper in a straight line from the exhaust tip upwards, then cut along the with a jigsaw. Once I had the centre section of the bumper gone, I masked up the exhaust side and freehanded in a curve that I thought reflected the natural lines of the NB. Cut out that section, traced it to a piece of cardboard, and then transferred the outline to the other side to rinse and repeat.

The jigsaw left a pretty woeful line, so I lay down more masking tape, drew in another level plumb line, and tidied up the cut with an angle grinder, then an orbital sander. Most of the bumper the cuts I'd seen just left the bumper "raw" but one or two finished it off with a rubber edge trim. I thought this gave the cut bumper a more purposeful look (plus it hides any minor imperfections) so a 2 metre strip went around the edge. I painted everything in site underneath gloss black, as my rusty muffler, chipped tie down hooks, and raw sills were ruining the aesthetic.

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[smy0003]

Really nice bumper cut, I think the black trim on the silver looks great.
Also, Konigs bronze is really dark, isn't it? The darker bronze suits the silver quite well, you have a similar thing going to my old NB8B, except I was too much of a wuss to ever do a bumper cut.

[nick_sixx]

Really nice bumper cut, I think the black trim on the silver looks great.
Also, Konigs bronze is really dark, isn't it? The darker bronze suits the silver quite well, you have a similar thing going to my old NB8B, except I was too much of a wuss to ever do a bumper cut.

Thanks. If I did it again, I'd probably use a heated box cutter/Stanley knife (with plenty of sharp blades) to get a better-finished cut. I knew I was going to put the edge trimming around it though, so I was happy to just get it 80% right.

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[nick_sixx]

Another shot of bumper. Looking to get a lip spoiler/ducktail boot lid to enhance the flow a bit better in future.

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[Vat]

Cheers, that looks really tidy. I'd wondered about hiding the edge and whether stripping might be a good way to hide any cutting technique deficiencies. Black goes quite nicely with the Evo Gold so it's definitely an option. It certainly visually lowers the car.

[nick_sixx]

Anyone got any ideas for where I can relocate the sensors/fluid bottle that are obstructing my intake? Would ideally take the bend out of the flexible piping

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[nick_sixx]

Finally got the roll bar in yesterday after much trial and error. Sheared the LAST bolt to go in, so whole thing had to be redone two more times. An exercise in patience to say the very least.

So far, opinion is overwhelmingly positive. The MX5plus torque box bar has done wonders for stiffening up the rear end and drastically reducing NVH. The feeling is akin to fitting a rear anti roll bar onto a FWD car - turn in seems a lot more responsive without being snappy. Will report back once I have more mileage with the bar in

[Lokiel]

:
Anyone got any ideas for where I can relocate the sensors/fluid bottle that are obstructing my intake? Would ideally take the bend out of the flexible piping
:

That bottle is your power steering reservoir which isn't so easy to move due to the plumbing work required.

Not sure if it helps much (will reduce the amount of kink required) but you could delete that black plastic shield that your relays are mounted to since it's purpose was to funnel fresh air into that area for the OEM intake - you don't need that now.

You'll need to find a place to re-mount the relays - here was my original solution, a DIY bracket (note: the SE has 3 relays, not 2 so you may find a better place to mount 2 relays since you won't require as much space):




IIRC, the OEM bronze bracket under the intake hose can be removed too, I don't think there will be anything left bolted onto it - in an MX5, every "lightness mod" is a good thing!