Fanging it 80s style

WesternPacific · Postby **WesternPacific** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:15 am

Hi everyone, I am one day into MX5 ownership and thought that I would start up a thread on its development and progress. My aim is to participate in MX5 club events here in WA, do some track days and various other hoonery. I guess the car will end up highly modified but I am going to take things slow and make improvements to the car when I am reaching the limits of each component (as much for cost effectiveness as for humility - I dont want to be that douchebag with the awesome car who cant steer for sh1t).

ABout the car: I got a car that i am pretty happy with. Its a stock 89 NA6with 152 on the clock. Its in great nick with EVERY receipt from its history. It belonged to an MX5 club member before some young guy (Import fanboy type) bought it, owned it for 3 weeks, didnt like it and sold it to me. It drives really nicely with nice tight steering and general feel. It doesnt have power steering and does have air con (exactly as I would have chosen it). Owner before me put 16s on it with some decent rubber (KU31s 205/45) on it. No idea what the wheels are like. Not a fan of the 16s so will probably get a smaller set. Only obvious aftermarket items are a wooden Momo wheel and shift knob.

mx5.jpg

About me: I am a beginner to nimble rear wheel drive cars and to motorsport but am a car enthusiast and a Heavy Duty Serviceman by profession, so I aim to do most if not all of the work myself.

Initial Plans: First step is for some 14s or 15s and some R spec rubber. Second is a race seat, harness and roll bar. Those are the immediate plans. After that, more stiffening and suspension and maybe a pipe/intake to increase that rorty sound.

Any and all suggestions are welcome, for those in WA, see you on the track soon! :beer:

Postby **Okibi** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 2:24 am

Welcome to the obsession. :mrgreen:

Look forward to seeing you involved in club activities www.mx5club.com.au

M1474 · Postby **M1474** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 9:17 am

15s are much easier to find r comps for than 14s.
You can join the other 10 guys with red NAs trying to get into each other's cars before every run!

WesternPacific · Postby **WesternPacific** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:57 pm

M1474 wrote:15s are much easier to find r comps for than 14s.
You can join the other 10 guys with red NAs trying to get into each other's cars before every run!

Yeah I was desperate not to buy a red one, then I told myself to stop being a girl and worrying about colour (HTFU) and the best one I saw by far was red.

As for the wheels I like the look of 14s with a higher profile tyre but I will be going with whatever is the best option, performance wise.

Postby **NitroDann** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 1:59 pm

15's.

Just because of the market and the necessity to fit the NB brakes that will inevitably end up on any serious club racer.

Dann

Postby **Okibi** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 2:56 pm

I know a set of brand new 15x8 Bronze 6ULs for sale in Perth $1k (I think)

WesternPacific · Postby **WesternPacific** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 3:29 pm

Okibi wrote:I know a set of brand new 15x8 Bronze 6ULs for sale in Perth $1k (I think)

Are 8s the best option for my car?

Postby **NitroDann** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 3:50 pm

Yes. Unless you want to pull the guards and run a 9, but then tyres for a 9 are kind of difficult on the street, in terms of acquiring them.

Dann

DaveWA · Postby **DaveWA** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 4:07 pm

Hi mate
If you are going to do the wa mx5 club track days
Before you buy rubber check with Warwick the motorsports manager
I seem to remember that there are some possible changes with regard to which class you will be put into
Dependant on tyre choice, could be wrong but doesn't hurt to check
Cheers and welcome

WesternPacific · Postby **WesternPacific** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 6:07 pm

NitroDann wrote:Yes. Unless you want to pull the guards and run a 9, but then tyres for a 9 are kind of difficult on the street, in terms of acquiring them.

Dann

Thanks Dan, My thoughts were to use what I have on the street (starcorp 16x8 with 205/45 KU31s), then run a 6UL 15x8 with TOyo R888 205/50 s or something like that. Do those sizes make sense together?

To be honest I hate the wheels that are on the car and might just give them the flick altogether, rubber seems decent enough tho for daily duties.

WesternPacific · Postby **WesternPacific** » Sat Oct 19, 2013 6:08 pm

DaveWA wrote:Hi mate
If you are going to do the wa mx5 club track days
Before you buy rubber check with Warwick the motorsports manager
I seem to remember that there are some possible changes with regard to which class you will be put into
Dependant on tyre choice, could be wrong but doesn't hurt to check
Cheers and welcome

Cheers Dave and thanks for the heads up, I have shot Warwick and email, it will be interesting to see what he says.

WesternPacific · Postby **WesternPacific** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:21 am

OK, I got a reply from Don Messenger

"Yes there are restrictions around tyres
Go to the event page for a motor sport event (Coming event over to the right) on the club website and download the Supplementary Regulations and have a good read.
I suggest that you would probably want to be buying tyres in the 180 to 220 wear rating range and be running in class A."

Now I have something to work with! My question is about wear ratings, is that something that is stamped on the tyre? Where would i find that info?

16bit · Postby **16bit** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 9:32 am

wear ratings will be very obvious when you look at the measurements of any tire generally on any site.

if you would like to check a particular tyre i suggest www.tirerack.com

they have a massive range of tyres and have that information readily available.

its called a utqg rating. its a manufacturer rating they put on to let people know how soft or sticky the tyre is. the lower the number the softer.

street tyres generally go down to around 140. though there are some street legal drag tyres that are around 40 or so (pointless unless you race all the time on the strip).