Ben Sale's white 1990 NA6

[bensale]

Thread update,

The MX-5 is running well. Last weekend I took it to it's first track day with the MX-5 club of Victoria at Phillip Island. The weather was terrible, the track was soaked all day but it was an awesome experience regardless. Phillip Island is an amazing track, quite frightening when wet though... With the way the weather was my 4x4 Alfa potentially would have been a better choice! I'm going to try and make track days a more regular thing for me, I'll be doing another one at Winton with the club in about a months time. For those of you in the MX-5 club of Vic check out my article i wrote on the day coming out in MX-TRA this week.

In preparation for the track day I didn't really have to do too much, just fresh fluids, changed over to the 14' wheels and fitted the hardtop. I also took a bit of time to cut out the number and circle. Bonus points to anyone who can figure out where i got my inspiration for the number.

[bensale]

On the 8th of August I took part in a track day at Winton with the MX-5 club and AROCA. I think there were over 30 MX-5's running which was fantastic to see. Cheyne Toomey came up with me which was great as it's a long drive to Winton and he was also kind enough to take some nice photos of the car on track too.
Winton was a bit cold but thankfully dry which was good as i got to get a better feeling for the car and driving on the track. I was very happy with my times, I managed a 1.48.9 which was very competitive and I was faster than a lot of people i wasn't expecting to be quicker than. Every session i began to feel more and more confident pushing harder and harder and felt more at one with the car. I have a series of photos below.

I managed to wear out the rear pads at Winton... a good excuse to fit the 1.8 brakes i've had under my bed for a while. The actual process of changing over the callipers and disks is very simple, the only complication relates to the rear brake dust shields. They're too hard to take off and swap for the 1.8 shields as you have to remove the hub... So I tried to bend them into a shape allowing the fitment of the larger disks. This didn't quite work, I couldn't stop it from rubbing slightly under cornering load. In the end today I trimmed off the offending edges and it all works perfectly now. I just need to decide if i fit the front ones now too. The na6 brakes have plenty of pad left and didn't fade slightly despite being crucified at Winton so it seems like a bit of a waste to change them before the pads wear out. The only reason i would change them is because it looks a bit funny to have larger disks on the rear as opposed to the front.






(All photos by Cheyne Toomey expect the last two passing the NC which are by John Todd)

[Jeo]

Did your inspiration come from something starting with mach?

[CheyneX5]

Cheers for the credit mate

[bensale]

Did your inspiration come from something starting with mach?

Got it in one! Bonus points to you! I also realised afterwards that my car is Japanese racing white so the red circle is fitting too

No problem Cheyne!

[lightyear]

Just to let you know, the back brakes are bigger than the front ones on the nb8b. And i was watching you go thru the turns at winton and it looks like you had good pace compared to others. Good to see you pushing it and enjoying it.

[bensale]

Thanks Dave!
I just had a look at some photos of NB8Bs and i'm really surprised! I never noticed that. I guess based on that I won't worry about swapping the fronts over until the pads are dead.

[bensale]

I recently purchased a set of front and rear whiteline adjustable sway bars off kent from the forum at a decent price and got around to fitting both the front and rear bar today. Fitting them wasn't too hard a job with the right tool and access, it took a few minutes to figure out the puzzle that is fitting the front bar through all the a/c piping and the like but otherwise it's a pretty straight forward job.
I've currently got the front bar set on the hard setting and the rear on the soft setting, the balance feels really good, although hard to judge as the rear tyres are a dead and need replacing. Although up to the point they let go it feels quite neutral. I'll have to do a track day with my other wheels tyres on before I can make a proper judgment but I'm pretty happy. The most astonishing thing is how much less body roll the car has now and the improvement in how it changes direction which was already really good before the upgraded bars. I flicked it through a couple of corners near my house today which I know well and used to cause the car to scrape the inside guards a bit when pushing and today there was no scraping so I'm quite impressed.

The next job is to make a grill for the car, de Bounce on the forum was kind enough to give me some mesh to make a nice subtle grill to protect the radiator, with everyone freaking out in Vic about locusts I think it will be a good thing to have for summer runs through the country. Thanks mate!

I also grabbed a new tight ar$e rear brace off MPH after the incident a while ago with the "gentleman" at the tyre shop who decided it would be nice to use my brace to jack the car up... I'm not sure if I should keep this one black or paint it white with some paint I have which could work well. Hmm

I thought the car looked quite interesting on stands...

[-alex]

Comment. . .

[-alex]

and now in seriousness. . .

The car is looking great, I am a big fan of your mods.
White NAs are best. =)
More trackdays..!

See you soon perhaps =D

[bensale]

Thanks Alex! A roll bar, a slightly louder exhaust and that'll be about it for me I'm really happy with it, all it needs are, yes, more track days! The next one is in December...
Your Melb trip sounds great, you should make a thread and try and get more melbourne people along on your GOR run!

Just to add on from my last post, after driving the car some more the sway bars fitted I have to say they are a phenomenal modification, highly recommended! I think they did more for the car than the springs and shocks! It just doesn't roll any more, is more composed through corners and generally just feels awesome to drive! Very happy!

[-alex]

I thought my comment was more that satisfactory..!
BD bar is my favourite and will be the first mod I undertake when I get a car.

I should make a thread, maybe when I have more of an idea of whats happening. If you are worried about being rolled for your car bring Cheyne along.!


"Of course, it’s very easy to be witty tomorrow, after you get a chance to do some research and rehearse your ad libs"

[bensale]

Small update and a couple of pics. I'm loving the car, it's feeling so, so tight and together. It is on it's way to being the package I've always wanted it to be. Recent small additions are a nb roof suitable black roll bar and a intake filter Cheyne gave me (it only took him about 1.5 years to convince me to put one on...) I've also fitted a pair of Kuhmo ku31's to the front, they're great road tyres. I've been lucky enough to go on a lot of great drives recently and create a lot of amazing memories
Soon to be fitted is the nb roof! I have two people's generosity to thank for that, Fattima who was kind enough to give me his NB roof and frame with a broken rear window for free (thank you so much mate) and BigDog who sent me down a glass rear window (although due to never being home I haven't been around for it to be delivered yet..) Once I have the window I just need to get the two sewed together. I'm also looking at getting a set of 15x7 wheels and fitting them with either DZ11's, KU36's or R1R's for track days although that depends on a couple of factors. With a bit of luck I also may be getting an LSD soon too. Also need to fit some kind of cat back exhaust too! All good fun.

Pics

[Bauer]

The car is looking great Ben. You are clearly enjoying it.


Am I the only one who every time I see this thread pop up I thinks there is a white NA6 for sale? I must speed read thread titles

[slug_dub]

This thread is a great read Ben!

The NB wheels really work well on an NA, car looks damn hot.