First part of the post is more story then tech detail but hey.
Some background -
un mx-5 related part, so skip past if you feel like it
I had no intention of getting a mx-5 when the bug bit.
My first car was a Holden Gemini which i still own. This car started being rebuilt for me to learn in / have a a first car. Along the way it ended up with full urthane suspension, Koni's front and rear, intake, exhaust, engine and gearbox upgrade, new carpets and stereo, and a 3/4 respray. :-O. Anyway as my first car i thought this was the ducks nuts.....handled like a dream ect ect.
Happily kept this as a daily for the next 5 years during a gap year and uni, did a few skid pan days, spirited driving and some "creative merging" ect. By 4th year of uni a Gemini's worse enemy was starting to appear (rust) along with valve guides being a bit worn. Knowing it needed attention that would keep it off the road i started looking for another car to drive for a while till it was back on form.
Having always wanted a HQ ute as a kid (dad's old work horse) i started looking at these again....after months of looking and not finding anything i was happy with (didn't want a project - gemini was that
). I had the opportunity to buy a V8 HZ ute for less then $500 with some decent add-ons. Only problem-? Rust...sigh... anyway got this fixed along with rebuilding most of the car and started using this as my daily. Sent the gemini back to dad for some lovin.Then i got a job that came with a company car...the ute got parked except weekends (it really did have horrible fuel economy). One thing lead to another and i decided to sell the ute on hopefully making some cash in the process as i was once again wanting something that handled as the work vehicle was a whale
.Told myself i would do nothing about the new car till the ute was gone.......but started looking around at RWD sub 10k options. Ie 86 sprinters, didn't really give the mx-5 much of a thought.
The mx5 part
Then i drove a mates "new" mx-5 (1989 roadster). Got out of the car, turned to him and said....damn it.......now i want one. As tired as the suspension was it was still so much fun and so engaging to drive. Still i wanted the screamishness and go of a Toyota 20v.......
Found a sprinter in the price range......but it had rust.....so was a no go. That was my big thing....NO RUST!.
Started looking at mx-5's, showed up to the MX-5 Parts / Plus open day and Plohl pointed out 1red5s car which was nominally for sale / EOI.
Seemed like a nice car, could come with a hardtop (a requirement / desire at that stage) and mazdaspeed IRTB intake based on toyota 20v tb's.
:-) . But was a bit out of my desired price range (sub 10).So i went back to looking at NA6's (wasn't really a fan of the NB for a number of (mainly styling) reasons and they were out of the price range)
My problem was, i found most of the NA6's i drove disappointed for in gear punch. (i've since attributed this to plohls 4.3 diff whispering in my ear and not driving them like i stole it enough
)So back to NA8's i went. In no rush...the ute was still months from being finished....but i want my research done so when the time came i was sure. This all lead to the "well if you get that, you may as well spend X extra and get Y" which lead to me looking at (from firefox) Patricks Supercharged NA. It had all the kit, but was originally a early na6 ....which concerned me at the time, i didn't want any rusty surprises!
Anyway, 3 days before i was going to meet patrick in coffs harbour with "cash in hand", he decided to keep it. Bit bummed, but that was ok, ute wasn't finished yet!
Test drove 2 more 5's over the next 2 months. One being 1red5's that i had seen at the plus open day, the other being a turbo'd imported mazdaspeed NA6. This resulted in the opposite to what i would have thought.....i liked the NA more then the turbo! having always been concerned about the acceleration of a mx-5 i was pretty puzzled.
Then i figured it out....i loved the power of the turbo....but got disappointed with the top part of the rev range....the character had gone. :-(
Right, so this meant i was looking for a NA8, naturally aspirated in black, red, blue or yellow. Still plenty of time... ute wasn't finished yet.
Then 1red5 sent me a message saying the car was now 99% certain for sale and offering me first option on it. And......so with the ute still far away from completion....i bought it
.Car Details.
1994 Classic Red NA8. 153 k km at purchase
The next part is copied from 1red5's old build thread along with some photos from his ownership.
Engine:
- MegaSquirt PNP MM9495, with Innovate Motorsports LC-1 Wideband Lambda sensor
- Apexi 4-1 extractors with spiral collector and flexi joint just before cat
- 2.25\", mandrel bends, from cat to stainless muffler
- Monza PCV filter
- MSD Ignition SuperConductor 8.5mm
- Stebel Compact Nautilus air horn
- MX5-Plus stainless steel radiator air re-direction plate.
- exhaust/high-temp wrap on headers.
- BEGi coolant re-route kit
- thicker core radiator from an automatic NA
- Green Cotton Twister air filter
- Aero Turbine muffler
- Mazdaspeed IRTB
Drivetrain:
- Torsen type-1 LSD (4.1 ratio)
Suspension & wheels:
- Whiteline rear anti-sway bar, 16mm solid (adjustable)
- Koni Sport dampers &
- Eibach springs
- Beatrush rear strut tower brace
- Racing Beat front anti-sway bar, 24mm solid.
- Watanabe RS8 15x6 +26 Offset (with AVS centre-caps)
- Kumho Ecsta XS (KU36) 205/50 R15
- Carbing3-point strut-tower brace with BMC brace
Interior:
- Vent rings
- Skunk2 gear-knob
- Mazdaspeed pedals
- Mazdaspeed quick-shifter
- Mazda brushed aluminium gear-boot surround
- Mazda brushed aluminium hand-brake handle & button
- MX-5Plus Torque Box, twin-hoop rollbar
Exterior:
- Turn signal intakes
- carbon fibre NACA headlight duct
- MX-5Plus offset license plate frame
- Custom Automotive Restyling Speed-Racer Decklid
- Mazda OEM front lip spoiler
Brakes:
- Hawk HPS pads F&R
- PBR drilled & slotted rotors
- Goodridge stainless steel braided brake lines
The car came to me minus the rims, the headlight duct, the front carbing 3 point shock tower brace and the hardtop.
Whats been done so far
First was to fit some rims to the car so it was useable......I loved the Watanabe look, but knew the 6UL's were hard to beat on price and weight. 6UL's also came in my desired width... 8 inch. After searching yahoo japan, pricing new watanabe's
and considering 6UL's i bit the bullet on these: Watanabe R8 - 15" x 7". +21 and +15 with Federal 959 RSR tires.
Trial Fitting
Turns out the front and rears had interference! The rear rims touched the guards under hard cornering (expected) and the fronts, the center boss rubbed on the leading edge of the brake caliper!
The rears were expected, as the last owner had rolled guards and run a decent amount of camber. The fronts were not! The previous car/owner of the rims has NB8B brakes....which cleared fine. Anyway a light file/chamfer of the rim boss had the clearance fixed. Now for the rears
More purchases! This time one from bunnings and one from another forum member leading to this:
With patience and the heat gun i did my first DIY guard rolling, managed to roll the lips out of the way and not crack the paint. Awesome.
This all took place about a fortnight after the purchase and concluded with the use of the last item i had purchased at that time.
A week or two later curiosity got the better of me. I had to open that plenum chamber up and have a look! This proved to be more difficult then anticipated as the rivnuts were spinning in their holes. Eventually Plohl and i got it off and saw...
after thinking of various ways of fixing the rivnuts, the plenum ended up coming off. The old riv nuts drilled out and new ones put in with some two part araldite/epoxy used to help retain them. So far so good. Picture of the quads without the plenum, for those who have been waiting
.
Not sure if i could have got the stacks on and off with out the stubby ratchet spanners, well worth the $35 for the set!
While the plenum was out i decided to remove the inlet manifold brace and do an oil change while the filter was easy to get too!
Last weekend i also replaced the antenna mast with a new one, not entirely happy with the fitment of the motor assembly in the guard. i suspect there may be a piece missing as the mast is loose in the hole in the guard. The top nut tightens down to keep it located OK, but not as good as factory should in my opinion. Will probably make a trip to Plus tomorrow to see if there is a missing bit and if i can get one.
aaaannnndddd......that pretty much brings it up to date.
Immediate plans (this weekend) hopefully include:
Remove soft top / rear window for repair. Doing the removal will save me around $250...so as a motivator i told myself i could get adjustable cam gears if i did it myself AND saved money. I was / am a bit afraid of doing this encase i introduce a leak during re fitment and it lead to damp smells and mechanical cancer....which i hate.
Still all the online how tos insist it's easy enough and Slug Dub confirmed this also as well as offering to help if need be, so i may call on that during the re - install.
Fit this
.One from the group buy that was surplus to requirements once landed.
and Replace the head unit
The existing unit refuses to pick up high frequency...
103.something and down is ok. Not much good in Brisbane where my standard listening station is 107 :-D . So i've pulled the eclipse unit out of the gemini to put in. Seeing as it has bluetooth, aux and and usb....seemed a waste to leave it unused.Future Plans (This year)
1. Replace the Mega squirt PNP with a Adaptronic 440 and Remove MAF. This will allow me to use a hybrid alpha N tune which hopefully will result in some improved low end. give me a better resolution map, the ability (planned) to go sequential injection and direct fire ignition. the switch to the adaptronic will also mean more dyno tuning support.
This will also involve fitting a new wide-band (the innovate MTXL with integrated gauge) and wiring up the IAT sensor and probably putting in a vacuum block before the MAP sensor.
2. Toyota COP conversion
3. Install the bigger injectors i got with the car (maybe not needed, but have them now)
4. Adjustable cam gears
5. Quieten the exhaust a touch / remove the resonant frequency from high cruise RPM range. hopefully without loosing the character of it.
6. Tune and enjoy! Hopefully do a couple of weekend sprints and / or skid pan days
Long term plans (Next year)
These are a bit more nebulous...some may not happen...will depend on $$
1. Cams, head shave, maybe mild port work - re-tune
2. Timing belt and water pump with above.
3. Remove HLA and switch to solid lifters with number 1
4. Find / Fit Frog arms and front shock tower brace
5. coil overs? not real convinced on this one just yet for 98% street dríven....will wait and see how plohl does
6. Lightened flywheel and new clutch. Thinking about going the 1.6 versions as they are cheaper and should still stand up to the torque available. I think?
7. Change out the seat. I find the standard seat to be reasonably uncomfortable on long drives. Haven't really figured this one out yet, Maybe a Sparco sprint V with the additional lumbar padding.
8. Almost forgot it. Proper CAI, probably down near the front of the rad.
9. Drive and Enjoy.
At this stage my plan is to have everything done by the end of next year and stop the spending except on maintenance items and just drive it. If i get a couple more years down the track I'll probably open modification can of worms again. That's the theory anyway. :-P
Anyway i think i shall end the novel there and see if I've managed to get my photo's to work first time!
