mx5cartalk.com

Hi all,

(Warning: long, pic heavy post ahead)

Long time lurker, occasional poster, finally getting around to turning my little NA6 into the machine it always dreamed it could be (or, you know, getting in that general vicinity) and thought I should document the transformation. OK, it's not going to be a rotary (I'm as disappointed as the as-yet-unnamed car).

Some background: I've owned the MX5 for 5 years, it's my first car, it's currently got 280,000 on the clock, and mostly, it's stock. At some point in its life it had a (bad) respray. It's not immaculate, or I would have passed it on to an owner who wanted an perfect original, rather than embarking on the journey that is to follow.

I've taken it to the track (Sandown, and yeah, I know) a few times, some driver training and just regular track days on some secondhand rims and RE002s:

Me not losing control


I'm slow, and it's been a great car to learn in. If something goes wrong (like, you know, running out of talent ) it's not going to happen at any great speed. I've always had my dad's track car as an inspiration (except the paint-job ). To be fair to dad, the paint-job was an apprentice's final assessment piece and not his choosing, and it's definitely unique. 1.8l 4-cyl, turbo, lightweight and generally reliable:

Bubbles are less cliche than flames


Stock it stayed, however in December (happily not during winter) my soft top gave up:

"Oops"


Replacement took me a weekend in Feb to fit, but happily it's all waterproof(-ish) again. Between then it was heavily taped up

I always envisioned a slow build, accumulating and upgrading step by step. However, with 300,000 looming, and an oil leak from the 1.6, I was faced with the choice of (a) spending more money than the car was worth to fix it up or (b) spending more money than the car was worth to accelerate my plans.

No, selling it never really crossed my mind. I've dríven a 2014/5 W310 SS Commodore, a 1997 WRX and a 2018 M140i, among other things, and, well, it's just too much fun.

That said, my engineering/mechanical knowledge only really extends slightly past this stage:

At least I know the dipstick goes in the oil, not the radiator


Given that I don't need it day to day, I started by pulling the dash:

Erm, you know how to put this all back later, right?


I was greeted by some wonderful wiring, an attempt by a previous owner to install a central locking system, and I think alarm and immobiliser. None of the above worked, and the central locking had required some hacking of the internal door skin which I filed smooth when I discovered it:

"More exposed wire is always the right choice


"It's also important to tangle everything thoroughly. Wires that could run together should split both sides of the steering column"


"This white wire... no... that one!


"I just don't even know any more"


So I pulled all of it out and patched up the harness as best I could just in the car:

Temporary patching


It starts, (I checked)


6m of electrical tape and 300km of pointless wire later...


Genuinely amazed my car actually started at all


I also started stripping useless wires out of the dash harness (foglight switches, radio which is no longer in the car)

Little did I know what was to come. With Greenmachine's ecu and dash kit sitting there in the "parts for sale" section begging the geek in me to say yes, along with the brakes to stop the car from speeds hopefully higher than than the 160km/hr Vmax I'd been achieving so far, I had taken the first steps to something I'd been planning to do for years:

"Mine are bigger than yours" (old shagged discs I don't know why we have - not just off the car!)


New calipers with dust seals for ADR compliance - Because red goes (stops?) faster


Shortly after, picked up a 3.6 diff, with complimentary NB subframe, which I don't intend to use. The NA subframe in the car looks pretty good and unless there are really good reasons to swap, I'm not planning to.

"How in the seven levels of hell do you get the axles out of the hubs?"


PS1000 and harness arrived, and I set to following all the wiring, tidying up where I could or thought it might be helpful:

"I've bitten off more than I can chew"


Pretty happy with this


Then just this weekend, everything happened all at once:

SE motor, 6 speed gearbox and HD clutch


New springy things


Out with the old


Unfortunately I have 4 coilovers, 8 top hat studs and only 6 flanged nuts for the top hats. The stock nuts seem to have a different thread pitch and don't want to tighten down. I've reached out to MCA and suspect it won't be an issue. I got the rears in with dad's help this afternoon and the fronts will happen whenever the new nuts arrive. The car looks pretty funny with massive reverse rake courtesy of the front stock suspension and low rears.

While I was there, we cleaned up the rear control arms and the gritty wheel arch with liberal use of degreaser.

Next steps:

More wiring: strip the stock harness, pull the ECU and basically just have lights and HVAC from the stock harness left over, for the PS1000 to control everything else clean up the SE motor, get the 1.6 motor, GB and diff in the car, out, and the SE gearbox, motor and diif outside the car, in.

Dann tells me pulling the motor apart and putting new rods in is child's play. The accuracy of this statement? TBA.

End game:

Deliver to Dann to breathe on and make magic. Learn to drive a car with more than 50-60rwkw. Modplates. Laugh maniacally.

Awesome

This will be a good thread. Keep it up mate.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Awesome stuff.

I do recall something about the NB subframe being different/better than the NA, but the exact reason escapes me right now. It might be worth re-considering using it. If it comes to me I'll report back.

I've never dealt with it, but I hear those hubs can be a real problem, good luck!

Awesome - this is going to be one happy little Mx5

ManiacLachy wrote:I do recall something about the NB subframe being different/better than the NA, but the exact reason escapes me right now. It might be worth re-considering using it. If it comes to me I'll report back.

I've never dealt with it, but I hear those hubs can be a real problem, good luck!

They are maybe braced better/differently?

I've also read that the suspension geometry could be improved.

It's definitely a possibility still.

I only have the rear so I wasn't sure about swapping it in without the matching nb front.

The hubs... Yeah, it doesn't look fun. I understand they can bolt straight in to the the NA control arms so it might be worth keeping them attached to the axles. We'll see...

I think the only difference with the rear subframe was the ability to bolt a brace to it but happy to stand corrected.

That could be the case too! Currently, leaving everything as it's seems the straightforward approach. Given it all works, I should avoid breaking it!

Okibi could have it right. For simplicity, I'd just drop the NA rear and push up the NB, with everything attached as is. Rear control arms are identical between NA and NB.

Just on principle, I would go for the later subframe(s). In practical terms, the bracing will be a plus, the NA is pretty bendy in comparison to an NB8B (in this vein, a weld-in half cage would be better than the bolt-ins if that is what you were planning). At the front, the NB is different, relocated rack mount (IIRC) and ability to generate more camber. ELBJs will fix the camber issue, but I think the revised rack mount improves bump steer issues.

I would try and separate the hubs, again mainly a principle thing, but also having come apart once, the second time will be easier - and there will be a second time, bet on it. It might take a big press to do it, but that is what I would do.

Is that an SE diff? If so, be aware that the SE diff/axles (at the diff end) are different (bigger), if you are looking at changing ratios.

All good points


I may just do that. Might make it easier to freshen the bushes up at the rear while the car sits around on the na subframe. Would love to do the full nb8b>na6 swap but there's a point at the moment where I have to say "it'll still be great without that". Won't need -3° camber on the street anyway.

Doing as much as possible at home and don't have all the right tools for the more specialised jobs.

I've got an agi bolt in half cage that's been in for years (and is engineered). If this becomes a full-bore track car in the future it'll get a full weld-in but it's not on the cards currently.

It's just a regular nb 3.6 diff, axles and driveshaft. SE box and motor only.

Jumping straight into the deep in! Good luck with it all, keep us posted.

Looking good.

And I love the Celica. The first car I bought was a TA22. My brother had a RA23 and Jap imported TA22. His imported TA22 had a 2TG, but the car was in such a bad state.

I would be keen on you NA rear sub frame when you no longer need it.

legume wrote:Looking good.

And I love the Celica. The first car I bought was a TA22. My brother had a RA23 and Jap imported TA22. His imported TA22 had a 2TG, but the car was in such a bad state.

I would be keen on you NA rear sub frame when you no longer need it.

Yeah it's a pretty awesome car. Beautiful lines and lights too. Makes a great noise with the 3t-gte (I think) that's been transplanted, along with a supra gearbox. Pushes 20psi and makes about 160kw at the wheels.

Don't suppose you would want an engine, gearbox and diff too?

Props to MCA customer service.

On Sunday I emailed them saying I was missing the two flanged nuts, that it wasn't urgent or a disaster, and could they post a pair down to me really whenever they got around to it.

On Sunday night (11.45pm!) I had a reply apologising and saying they would send some down.

Today, not two, but four overnight expressed nuts turned up on the doorstep.

So, one problem solved, another appears. What do I do with the two extra bolts?