Zohxoco's NC1

[Zohxoco]

Well it's now 2 years since I've had my true red NC and the more I learn to drive it the more it gives back, and the more fun it is. So far, the mods I've chosen have also added immensely to the experience. As I ratchet up the changes I thought it might be time for a garage post. First couple of posts will be catching up with the story so far.

First up, a post from the ad:



Got the car from Paradise Motors in Adelaide. $500 to transport to Sydney was a bargain considering the difference in price between prices between NSW and SA. Definitely worth looking interstate. As I picked up the car from the car transport depo in Villawood, a couple of guys were picking up an old Escort from Qld. Judging from the looks they were exchanging I think they got more (or less) than they bargained for...

First impression was somewhat claustrophobic. Sure I had test dríven a couple of cars, but actually owning one, a few days in there was definitely that shock moment when you realise, not only is there no back seat, there isn't anything at all (in the cabin) behind the seat. Wow this really is small. After two years it doesn't phase me but it's definitely a shock at first.

I enjoyed the car; the looks, the general sportiness etc, but I couldn't help thinking for such a highly praised car the handling wasn't quite right. So off to the forums, where I learnt that the problem is the stock NC suspension. The story goes that the suspension is actually really good but it has a lot of body roll that "puts off" drivers who don't know better. Crap. Sorry but the stock shock were just ordinary, and the springs far too soft for a sports car.

Solutions: you can change the sways, springs and shocks, or else why not just get coilovers? Well for one thing you will hear people saying they're too extreme for daily dríven cars. Rubbish! I bought a set of BCs from justjap.com and had them installed at IS motorsport. The transformation was amazing. Now the car felt planted, tossable, controllable, communicative, alive. And the ride, just wow- far from bone shattering; firmish but very, very smooth. All on medium settings. Most importantly, they got rid of the 4x4 look of the NC1.

The result:

So hardly extreme, but I'm not into slammed extreme looks. And I don't want legal hassles! Gotta maintain that 100mm!

[Zohxoco]

Next up. Exhaust. I couldn't go past Brian Goodwin. Got the Q muffler first and fitted it myself. Well, I'm not a mechanical person guy, and instead of taking the quoted 20 minutes, it took me four hours, much to the amusement of my neighbours! It's those rubber hangers....

So what about the Q. Nice. Just nice. Not loud, but deeper sound. It got rid of the harshness at high revs, encouraging you to use the throttle more. No real extra power of course. Still, it was smooth. Too smooth. I wanted a burble, that runoff sound and something a bit more in your face. And more power.

So I got the midpipe and headers. Installed at Mania. The result? "Transformed the car" as they say. Not in every way better, but a big change. Firstly the sound goes from "nice" to "rice" very quickly as you open the throttle. To be honest, with the MX-5's limited sound deadening, it can be uncomfortably loud and droning. This also causes a the shelf behind the seats (under the top) to vibrate nastily through the rev range. One guy in the US solved this by putting foam under the shelf. But I can't work out how he got it out. So I put a towel in there, and it works OK. A bit ghetto- but then like I said, not a mechanical person guy.

What else, well those headers are magical. The runoff, the burble, the pops, that raspy, throaty sound as you move through the revs. Grin city. Plus a noticeable, but not huge, power boost. Even with the full GWR exhaust, I'm still no faster than a stock NC2 as far as I can tell (ie. at Wakefield on the straights, I can't close up the gap, not even by a meter, on a stock NC. I'm not losing ground either, just the same). But then others have measured quite tasty kw gains from the headers on the dyno. So either my old (120,000km) engine has lost a bit of power from stock, or those NC2s have a fair bit more grunt- or else there's something wrong with my headers.

All up, the result of the coilovers plus GWR full exhaust really make this car. The only slight downside is the boomy nature of the exhaust which has caused me to resort to wearing full in ear headphones for long drives. The good part of that is that there's no need to spend thousands on the stereo (like I have on previous cars). These earphones are some of the best you'll ever hear. Shure SE535.

[Zohxoco]

Next mod: Voodoo gear shift knob, again from Goodwin. Got the brushed aluminium. Wow again. Nice and cheap, but so fun to use! And looks great.

But if you get one: make sure you remove it before taking the car in to a shop etc. I took it to a hand car wash (yeah I know, stupid) and they guy obviously had a wedding ring or similar and managed to scratch up the finish



In the pic you can also some some accessories from Redline, namely a shift and ebrake boot complete with matching red stitching These were actually a pain to install. Remember; not a mechanical person guy. One part that is particularly tricky (but at least warned about on miata.net) is disconnecting the window wiring plug. There is a clip on the driver's side (but you are accessing the panel from the non-driver's side, so you are blind). I have shown that here:



Having replaced the boots, I faced a serious intelligence test getting it all back together:



I couldn't move it forwards or backwards, or rotate it! How to get it back on? I had already badly scratched the leather ebrake handle getting the console off. Anyway, after ranting on miata.net I gave it another go and got it on in 2 seconds. Duh.

I also have a few other bits from redline but the installs look daunting. Stay tuned!

[Zohxoco]

Almost back to the present. Got some semi custom plates. A bit try hard but at least the colour matches. Not too many encouraging comments on the choice but hey all the good plates are already taken!!

Now on to more interesting things. Wheels. So I like the OEM wheels quite a lot. On recent runs, since most NC owners seem to change their wheels I've even noticed that my car is the only one with stock wheels! Unique! So of course time to change. I've realised that motorsport (well, track days anyway) are a good excuse for mods, and since a lot of guys have R spec tyres for the track, I definitely need a second set of wheels yes?

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I said I like the stock wheels but after viewing over 300 pages of this thread on miata.net I just can't stand it any longer. I've got to do something about those wheels. Well some guys are just painting the stock wheels:



Which looks great, but then I tried to work out how I could actually do that. I've have to take all the wheels off my car (and leave it on blocks?) and then hire a car (well do that first!) to take the wheels around to someone to paint, who probably wants the tyres off first anyway and ... oh forget it.

So I'm caving in completely to new wheels. No really good reason though! But which ones? The problem is that you want light weight wheels, for many reasons, but the stock wheels are already reasonably light. That doesn't leave too many options. There are a couple of obvious choices, a couple of odd choices, and then the exotics. The obvious choices are the classic Enkei RPF1s, and the Oz Alleggerita. Both are lightweight and look good. To be honest I wasn't a fan of hte RPF1s at first, but they have grown on me a lot. But I'm looking for something a bit different. Now you can get them in SBC (bright chrome) from Goodwin, I very nearly pulled the trigger (that's different enough!) but that shipping cost is just astronomical. Alleggerita are nice, but the colour range is a problem. See the thing is with a bright red car there are certain "looks" you can go for. The jet black wheel look is cool but seems a bit cliche to me. I think it suits a darker colour car better (eg. the copper red NC). So you can go silver, like the standard RPFs, but then it's really just the same colour as the standard wheels. OK, but nothing amazing given the outlay. They do suit the silver/grey NCs PERFECTLY, I must say.

Other options are the gold on red look:

and that really looks great, but I'm not a huge gold colour fan in general. I do love the bling look of chrome:

but I do worry about attracting the wrong kind of attention. On the other hand, these dark bronze Volk RE30s

would be fantastic. But the price is eye watering. Sure, they're forged- or something. I hear a lot about forged wheels being stronger but never hear anyone saying they wish they got forged wheels.

Anyway, I decided on my wheels and they're on the way. Watch this space

[baz10]

Really enjoyed the write up Tim, looking forward to seeing the tyre choice.

[Kev05]

Really enjoyed the write up Tim, looking forward to seeing the tyre choice.

I agree with above comments.

Of the selection of wheels listed, I still prefer the look of the OEM painted black.

[Zohxoco]

Thanks guys,I got some Falken RT-615k tyres from Ozzy. 225/45-17. At $220 each delivered they seemed cheap so I went for it?!

225 should just be ok for the new wheels, which are 7.5". I probably should have looked further afield before pulling the trigger on those. Apparently the design is quite old? I do find that tyre reviews in particular are hard to reconcile. You'll have someone gushing about the same tyre that someone else is trashing and vowing never again... Of course usage varies greatly. Anyway, those Falken's look cool IMHO.

About the painted OEM wheels, yeah in gloss- and in that guy's pictures it does look good. Actually the recent LE variants of the MX-5 come with the LE wheels in black and I think they look even better (eg. on the white and bright green LE versions). Since they're from Mazda like that it would be great if you could just order a set from Mazda, but I suppose like all OEM parts, $$$$.


In any case I talked myself into new wheels for track/street. Although now that I've got the 615ks which are perhaps neither great on track or street (in the wet), maybe that's a set for dry/wet as opposed to track/street. Dunno yet.

[Sailor]

The design of the Falken is ageing, the tread compound is a new development.
The 'k' being a much quicker tyre when head to head with the original.

I nearly went with them..I'll be very interested to see how they go.

[neilhr]

I think gold or bronze wheels would look scweet on red
I almost went with SBC as well, def. not many NC's with those on!

[Zohxoco]

Well I ended up going conservative:


Advan RS 17x7.5 +48 gunmetal.

I really wanted to go 17x8 but I chickened out due to the +45 offset as I don't want to be rolling guards. Will be picking up the tyres and fitting them tomorrow.

[Gmi]

Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They look super nice!!!!

[Gmi]

17x8 +45 don't require rolling guards :p a lot of people run that spec on rpf1s ! Your running same specs as me now!! Wuhoo!! Seriously nice wheels though.

[neilhr]

Beautiful choice!
Where did you buy these may i ask?

[Zohxoco]

Paul at http://www.streettotrack.com. Awesome customer service and prices. Highly recommended!

Gmi, yep same size as yours but I'm not quite in same league as your Volks I'm not completely unhappy with 7.5".. they're good for up to 225's which I hope is enough for what I need, but also I still want a balance of grip- too much and I think you lose a lot of the fun?

The Advans are 14.74lb (6.7kg), they feel superlight in the hand. This is about the same weight as the OZ Alleggerita and just slightly less than the RPFs at 15.2lb. All about the same really: light!

[neilhr]

I am on 7.5" and use 215/45. They have plenty of grip on the track and very lightweight. Just get some good rubber.