PaulF's Red NA6

[Gmi]

Loving the pics!! ~

[PaulF]

My new Magnaflow muffler came in on Monday so Dann and I (mainly Dann...) fitted it on Tuesday, replacing the rear hot dog. I'm very happy with the result. The sound is much less obnoxiously loud now, especially between 3k and 4k rpm where it was really loud before, but it's quieter at cruise as well. I can also hear my intake much more now on heavy throttle which is a big thumbs up from me. Dann wrote it up in his garage thread here.

We took some videos of the old setup and the new one, plus one with just the midpipe hotdog and nothing behind it.

Old setup (18" midpipe hotdog + 15" rear hotdog):


Just the 18" midpipe hotdog:


And now, with the 18" midpipe hotdog and Magnaflow 14"x6" straight through muffler:



Oh yeah, and the other day I was changing my gear shifter boots and managed to stab myself in the arm while trying to cut the lower boot off. Not one of my brightest moments. Turns out that forearms bleed quite a lot. After I went to the hospital and got a few stitches, Dann saved the day again by helping me finish the job as I had been warned to avoid getting my wound dirty. It was a significantly more stressful and painful job than I had expected, but the result is positive. There is much less noise coming through into the cabin from the engine and gearbox and I suspect that it will make a significant difference in heat insulation as well.

Oh, and the coilovers are going really well. I've covered a fair few km on them now and I really like them. The car feels planted and stable in corners and I find the ride to be comfortable. I don't remember getting any complaints from passengers either.

[PaulF]

A couple of weeks ago I went on my first club run in this car, meeting the Breakfast Club halfway up the Putty Road. Ended up joining a group after breakfast at Wollombi that went down to the Old Pac and had "second breakfast" (hobbit style) at PITS. Was a really fun day and the car did pretty well for itself, though I managed to get a bit of tyre scrub in some nasty dips on the OPH. I will adjust the coilovers up a bit I think. I would like to get it cornerweighted and then get a good alignment.

There don't seem to be many photos floating around of the Putty run and very few with my car - I guess nobody really wants to take photos of a dirty, peeling NA6. That's probably fair enough, haha. I took a couple of shots while I was waiting for the Sydney folks though:




I have a few things in the mail at the moment (my bank balance can testify to that) so there should be some fun updates soon.

[PaulF]

Also took Dad's MGA to get a rego check and snapped a quick photo. Like father, like son?


I love the simplicity of this car; it's just about driving and nothing else. The closest thing you'll find to a "creature comfort" is a map light.


After driving an MX-5 daily for a few months, a lot of cars which I used to think were nice to drive have now been significantly tarnished. The MGA is an exception. It still puts a big silly grin on my face whenever I get behind the wheel and it continues to inspire me as I work on the MX.

[PaulF]

Just got sent this photo from a Mighty Car Mods meet a few months back. This was before I changed over the rego to NSW and installed the coilovers.



The coilovers have really changed the look of the car in my opinion. It looks so much more purposeful now. Compare this old photo to the truck stop ones above to see what I mean. Having said that, the car is booked in to get corner weighted and aligned on Monday and I'm getting it raised a bit while I'm at it. It might not look quite as tough when that's done but it's just too low for the speed bumps around my work. Function wins over form on this car.

[gslender]

Super nice photo. Tops!

G

[Black_Penguin]

NA's look so good with NB8A wheels.

[NitroDann]

Absolutely, I just sold mine to a guy with another NA.

Dann

[PaulF]

Yep. They look good, they're light, they fit big brakes and they're the perfect size to get a big range of performance tyres - and they're cheap as a bonus. Plus I'll never be worried about anyone stealing them. I think my next set of wheels (not in the immediate future) will actually be another set of NB8A wheels to put cheap tyres on and have some fun at motorkhanas.

[PaulF]

So the car has stayed pretty much the same for the last couple of months. I got the car corner weighted and aligned though, and it feels nice. Unfortunately the engine has seen better days so there's another one waiting to go into it when Dann and I get the parts and time to do so. Will be chucking a lightened flywheel in and swapping the Xtreme clutch over to the new engine. In the meantime, I'm still driving the MX daily and still enjoying it, despite nursing the engine a lot.

I've got a brand new soft top sitting around, just waiting until the engine is sorted before I drop the money paying someone to install the top. Looking forward to having a good long drive with a newly revived engine and the top down.

I've started uni now so I don't have as much spare time or spare money to go into the car, but any I do get is going straight into the MX haha. Keen to get to some hillclimbs and eventually some Wakefield days.

This also happened last week:

Quarter Million

[PaulF]

Uni is over for the semester and I've managed to save up a bit of dosh from my casual job so I'm keen to get stuck into a few tasks which have been waiting for months. First up is installing the Robbins soft top which I bought ages ago from the States. I had initially been thinking about installing it myself but now I've chickened out and booked it in with a local trimmer. A word of advice: If you're looking for someone to do this for you, shop around! I had quotes ranging from $400 to over $1200 just for the labour.

The engine work should also be happening soon, once the final parts arrive and I'm able to organise a time with NitroDann.

[NitroDann]

So, and I didnt really take an photos of the build process but we had 3 tubs with assorted bits of engine. a block and a head that I rebuilt and ported/shaved.

Here is the remainder of mx5 engine bits tubs.








So then we built this. (the head bolts and gaskets and some other bits showed up at 1pm)









Yep, its the rare factory option nitrodann edition engine
So we built this from a block up including new water pump seals timing kit etc etc etc in an arvo.

Then this happened.... I laid in that for a good half hour at 2am..



Then this happened.


So at 2am it was in and running. It had serious lifter noise (I had disassembled and cleaned the filters). 10 minutes of skids later lifter noise had stopped and the thing goes very very hard for a basic build with an intake and exhaust. The bottom end and ecu are 100% stock and stock cams for now and its pretty damned quick

Dann

[PaulF]

^What he said. Super happy to have a car that goes vroom vroom without going knock knock.

I also forgot to post an update on the soft top. It is now installed as of a few weeks ago. I was quite happy with the job that the bloke at Cardiff Auto Trimming did with the car - he was friendly, quick, no stuffing around, did it for the agreed price, no worries and I was out of there a few hours later with a soft top. Fantastic to have such a trouble-free transaction in contrast to the huge saga getting my engine parts. The biggest highlight, however, was looking into the workshop and coming across this:

[Dweezle]

Awesome Paul.
Nice new engine.

Whats the plan for your car lng term?
Cho cho or NA?



Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk HD

[PaulF]

I keep changing my mind. I was pretty impressed by that $2k turbo setup though...

Realistically there are a few other fairly pricey things that I want to do before I chase any more power. This was more of an opportunist mod as we had the engine sitting there.