mx5cartalk.com

For a very long time now my race car has been an AE86, that i ran in Improved Production.



But a few years ago we had our first kid, and then 6 months ago the second, and suddenly there was no time to be going racing, and certainly no budget to do so. The AE86 languished for about 4 years with very little time to work on it, and almost no motivation as i didnt have the time to take it to the track either.

So at the start of this year i decided that the AE86 would be sold, and that i would get something else that was club reg-able, and could be a nice little fun side project. This coincided with us dropping down to one car too, so therefore the fun car needed to be at least on club reg so I could drive it to work occasionally.

Fast forward a bit and the AE86 sold (hasnt quite gone yet, as you can see from the photos), and from reading Lightyear's threads on PF, I started hunting an MX5. I went and looked at this one, picked it up, and put it through RWC with spare bits from the seller this last weekend. As it sits it has NB stock struts, hence the rally car look ;)







Pretty stock for now, at least to get it through RWC. Reasonable condition, little bit tatty in places, but seems quite mechanically solid. Also picked up a set of Tein coilovers for it, and the hard top at the same time. Have some Avanti Storm's winging their way over from the US for it, and probably pick up a roll cage for it from Brown Davis eventually. Has an NB soft top under the hardtop too, so need one of the NB roll cages. Kind of wanted a black hard top, but at the price that this one was offered for it was a good deal.

Other than that the main things that need to be done are just maintenance. Water pump/timing belt, full fluids change etc etc. Should all be pretty easy to do, especially as its all so open and easy to get at everything.

It wont be as crazy as my AE86, but it shoudl provide some good cheap fun.

You should totally tell us more about the 86.

What he said! Are you based in Adelaide? Will be good to have another one out at mallala doing sprints.


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Nah, im over in Melbourne now. Left Adelaide about 6 years ago. As for the AE86, well there isnt much more to be said than isnt said in the massive thread on PF here: http://www.performanceforums.com/forums ... 6-(56k-die)

But the buyer reneged on it, so I still have it, and wrote up a new sale ad. So for a brief overview here it is:

After having a buyer renege on the sale this is back up for sale. No EOI either.

Basic specs are:
Engine: 139rwkw 16v Smallport 4AGE - quad throttles, forged bottom end, custom ported head and custom Kelford cams. Built by Knight Engines, SA.
Electronics: Haltech Sprint 500 with a Racepak IQ3 dash. Complete custom loom.
Suspension: Tokico HTS102s in custom struts, Whiteline front sway, custom 4 link traction brackets.
Brakes: Wilwood Superlite fronts on 298mm discs, R32 rears on 270mm discs, custom brake bias box with dual Wilwood master cylinders.
Wheels: Either 4x Lineasport 15x6.5 or 4x Simmons V4s 15x6.5
Interior: fully caged, lower half stripped to IPRA specs.

Logbooked for EM

Currently i have plans for the seat and harness. Seat is a tight fit, so wouldnt suit everyone anyway.

Happy to build spec to suit purchaser too, have spares and extras if the buyer wants to add them on. Spares and extras will not be sold until base car is sold.

Has papers and clean numbers if anyone wanted to transform it back into a road car (yes, it would be a fair bit of work).

$13,000

Been thinking about what sort of motorsport i want to do with this, its easy enough to just do track days, but perhaps being able to compete in some category would be interesting.

The MX5 club down here has a series of categories, ranging from Stock to Open. The middle range Clubman one piqued my interest, and Im thinking it might be a goer. Rules are here: https://mx5vic.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Mazda-MX-5-Club-Vic-Tas-Sprint-Rules-2017_4.pdf

Relevant section:

NA Clubman
This class is for NA models (NA6 / NA8) with limited modifications. To maintain parity between the NA6 and NA8 and including ‘Clubman’ models in this Class the following modification limitations apply:

NA6 vehicles are allowed no more than four items from the list below.

Allowable modifications list for Clubman class:

• intake (prior to throttle body)
• engine management system (available to NA models only)
• aerodynamics/bodywork
• anti-sway bars
• cat-back exhaust
• extractors and cat-converter (note: a full exhaust system counts as two modifications)
• After market springs outside height / spring rate specs. of standard Mazda OEM replacement part
• shock absorbers (including Clubman and 10AE) (note: coilovers with matching springs count as two modifications)
• limited slip differential – selecting this modification entitles the vehicle to also be fitted with a differential of a non-standard ratio for the vehicle provided it is from a NA or NB.

‘Clubman Class’ vehicles:

• Must use ‘road tyres’ – refer to section 7.2.
• Maximum 205 width tyres.
• May use brakes (rotors, callipers, pads, ABS, etc.) interchanged between any NA or NB OEM specification.
• Cars must compete with the drive train (engine, gearbox and differential) that matches
• the specific model and series; i.e.
  [INDENT]
• NA6A runs NA series 1600cc engine, 5-speed gearbox and 4.3 diff.[/INDENT]

Now i was originally thinking that the four mods would be coilovers (2 mods), brakes, and swaybars. But reading through it again, it appears that i can run NB8B brakes as a 'free' mod from that last section. If that is the case then it would probably make more sense to grab something else as the fourth mod.

But this is presuming that the MX5 responds similarly to the AE86 in terms of go fast bits: make it stop and handle and things go far better than just more power.

Am i going down the right track here?

Are you allowed to use say, nb8b extractors on an na8 without incurring mod points?

Dann

NitroDann wrote:Are you allowed to use say, nb8b extractors on an na8 without incurring mod points?

Dann

I dont believe so. But i didnt think BP extractors fit on B6s?

edit: derp, NA8, not NA6.

I have a NA6.

dammit,

I have coilovers (2 points), headers (1 point), exhaust (1 point) and cowl intake (1 point) so a total of 5 points.

Does this mean I can't play in clubman, or do I just get a penalty?

Asking as I am intending to go play on the track eventually (when I finish tafe and a few other things).

Cheers

Greg

answering my own question, guess I would be in the NA & NB Modified class?

Purecaboos wrote:dammit,

I have coilovers (2 points), headers (1 point), exhaust (1 point) and cowl intake (1 point) so a total of 5 points.

Does this mean I can't play in clubman, or do I just get a penalty?

Asking as I am intending to go play on the track eventually (when I finish tafe and a few other things).

Cheers

Greg

answering my own question, guess I would be in the NA & NB Modified class?

You are correct. Having the five points of mods listed above would put you in NA/NB Modified.

If you have an NA6, then you would need to leave the intake std to fit into Clubman class, as only allowed 4 mods.
If you have NA8,NB8A, or NB8B then you would need to remove more mods to fit into Clubman.

NitroDann wrote:Are you allowed to use say, nb8b extractors on an na8 without incurring mod points?

Dann

No.

You don't need to change sway bars if you get the spring rates right. 7/5 and 10/7 are both good natural combinations with the standard bars.

Just go into modified, you can have a car that's much more fun to drive, and do respectable times. Or compete in restricted open with me. I will do a couple of MX5 rounds during the year that suits my schedule. The fact I can do track days with other clubs that are way cheaper than AROCA 's entry fees, and I have the Commodore to race, Vic Supersprint to compete in, Endurance races, etc means that the MX5 championship is a low priority.
A lot of clubs run some kind of competition to keep it interesting. Have a look at the numbers competing in each class as well. Not much point in going to the effort of building your car to suit a class and there are only a couple of guys to compete against, or worse, nobody.

Today was the first chance i have had to turn a spanner on the car since buying it, and i had to pull the stock suspension out to return it, and popped the Teins in


Of course found that the other rear LCA also had a spinning captive nut and a cross threaded bolt:


Whoever had put the old coilovers in had rattle gunned in some M12x1.75 coarse thread bolts, that were the wrong length to boot. They really didnt like life. Had to pull the entire LCA out with the strut in it, and eventually get the MIG onto the nut to hold it in place while the uggadugga pulled the bolt out.

Now to go get another LCA and put that in too.

Still, i had to get it back down on its wheels, so i popped in some spare M10 bolts to hold it off the ground, and it looks like this lowered:




Parts for it are slowly trickling in, and by the time that the AE86 goes in early April there should be enough to get some movement on the car done.

While i was doing the LCAs yesterday i went and had a look at the ECU, as another MX5 owner in Melbs said that there was a silver NA going around FS with a butchered ECU loom. It has definitely been played with, as one of the bolts is missing from the ECU cover.

Now the ECU plugs look anything but butchered, except for two points:


This is one of them, the other just below.

Now i didnt have a chance to figure out what pins they are tapping, but the crimp job on the join makes it look quite factory, although im guessing it is an alarm.

Anyone able to confirm?

Hm, sometimes I think i will need one of those little poles with an orange flag on the end: