At the beginning of 2012 I was looking to buy a new car. More specifically a rear wheel drive convertible. Only a few cars fit the bill and I was tossing between a s2000 and the NB MX5. As much as I love Hondas unfortunately the S2000's initial cost was abit high in comparison to the MX5 which left me with less money for modifying. So the hunt for a NB MX5 began!
Luckily it didn't take me long to find the right MX5. After a few days of going through carsales and forums, a nice 1999 'Hackett Gold'(the seller mixed the colour name with the Holden gold :S) MX5 down at Moorabbin popped up.
I contacted the dealer and went to see the car a few days later. It only had 94000kms on the odometer. Previous owner was a lady from Brighton. Optioned hardtop. Full service history. It ticked all the right boxes. Took it for a test drive, everything checked out. Signed the papers and picked up the car a week later.
Here's the MX the day I got it.
Let the modding begin
First thing was moving the wheels from my old Clio 172 to the MX..
Coming from the Clio, the MX's brakes never felt as strong when it came to stopping power. Not suprising considering the MX only had 255mm front and 250mm rear brakes. Not only that but the pads were some cheap generic brand that had weak initial bite and prone to fading.
So instead of buying better pads and rotors I decided to track down and installed a 2nd hand set of brakes from a NB8B.
I was lucky that the set came with TRW brake pads
. Although they are very dusty. I have to clean my wheels at least once or twice a week. I think once these pads are finished I'll give QFM pads a go.Next on the agenda was a set of coilovers. The MX had quite abit of body roll with the OEM spec Pedders suspension. So I got in contact with MX5Mania and a week later a set of Yellow Speed Racing coilovers arrived at my door step. The installation was quite straight forward apart from a rounded strut top nut so I had to wait until the next morning to go out and purchase some new ones.
Before the installation of the coilovers I also managed to acquire a set of new 15x7+20 Rota Grids with fresh Bridgestone RE11s. The wheels were bronze originally but I preferred them in Gunmetal so decided to give DIY wheel painting a go.
They came up surprisingly well although the colour was more close to Titanium. I wanted a darker shade so before the paint was fully cured I sprayed a few coats of different colour on top.
Took it for a test drive the next day. With 10kg front and 6kg rear, the coilovers did feel quite stiff especially on some of the rough roads in my area but the body roll was reduced significantly.
Now most of the handling mods are done the car is coming together quite nicely.
Took the car out to a meet for the first time.
@GSS Import Monster meet last year.
I enjoyed the MX the way it was for a couple of months. Then an early Christmas present arrived!
Installation did take a few nights due to broken drill bits and the need to drill through 3 layers of metal on the bulkhead. Finished it finally 4am in the morning on the last day and the result was well worth it.
The car feels a lot more solid now. You can definitely feel the decrease in chassis flex.
I've always liked the look of the factory bodykit for NB8As but they are hard to come by especially the front lip. It took me months to track down a full set(front lip, side skirt and rear mudguard). This kit was coming from Japan and it came from a black MX(exactly the colour I was looking for
).I installed the front lip and the rear mudguard easily. But to install the sideskirts I needed to drill into the sides of the body and I wasn't too keen to do that so I decided to leave them off. I'm thinking of getting a set of Project G sideskirts instead. At least with them you'll only need to drill into the bottom of the body.
Took it for a nice drive to Kinglake on a beautiful sunny day towards the end of summer this year.
Also did some interior add ons such as chrome air vent rings, NB8B gauge cluster(with the old odometer swapped over so the KMs of the car stays true), a set of I.L Motorsport aluminium pedals and a Mazdaspeed B-Spec seat.
That's what I've done so far. Can't wait to take it to the track for the first time.
