Roadrunners SE

[mx54nb]

Rims look great!

Courtesy of Promac Engineering (Cardiff) & B & R Keighran Custom Painting (Redhead)

[Roadrunner]

I was home sick with the flu late last week, coughing and wheezing so thought that while I can't breath, what perfect time to spray paint my brake callipers!

Came up great. Crazy amount of prep work though! washing, cleaning, scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, washing, sanding, cleaning, masking
The painting part was easy!






Next up on the cards is a new intercooler to replace the gawky stock one. I'v been keeping track of temps with the stock cooler and it sits about 10degrees warming than ambient most of the time which i'v read is pretty normal, so I don't think a larger cooler will do anything for me, but will look a lot better! (the only time iv been to the track it was about 6degrees at 10am and my post intercooler temps were 4degrees cooler than the intake )
What are peoples thoughts on coolers? Was thinking for simplicity going with MX5Mania's option and install myself, but open to ideas and suggestions.

And while the front bumper is off I think I'll get it resprayed due to the massive amount of stone chips and the poor repair spray job done when the car was in a small bingle from previous owner. (clearcoat separating/peeling, crazing in sections)

[Lokiel]

:
Came up great. Crazy amount of prep work though! washing, cleaning, scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, washing, sanding, cleaning, masking
The painting part was easy!
:

This is always the way with painting and it's pretty much a rule: "The better the preparation, the better the result." - it's always worth spending that time up front since you wont like the end result if you do it half-arsed and will probably redo it.

:
What are peoples thoughts on coolers? Was thinking for simplicity going with MX5Mania's option and install myself, but open to ideas and suggestions.
:

Much cheaper to buy an eBay CoolingPro intercooler, 2 x 2.5"->2" silicone hose reducers and matching clamps, and fabricate a couple of aluminium brackets to mount to the top of the intercooler.
Checkout mazda-speed.com for a plethora of installation threads to see what others have done and DON'T recommend (eg. I used a hacksaw and small hacksaw blade holder to cut the intercooler pipes while they were still mounted on the car - it took FOREVER and the cuts ended up not being straight so I spent even longer filing them straight).

[Roadrunner]

Thanks for the tip! Checked out the Mazda-speed forum for recommended sizes etc and mounting my own intercooler doesn't sound anywhere a difficult as I thought. Just got to make up a bracket.
Then I checked eBay lol I had no idea intercoolers were so cheap! The postage though
A few sites recommended JustJap for cooling pro and their price is the same as eBay with postage, and they will post anywhere in Aust for free, so probably go with them unless someone recommends someone else?

[Nevyn72]

Just for reference, I have the Mania kit fitted and they use the Cooling Pro radiator so what you get from Mania are the pre-cut intercooler pipes and a specific bracket that connects the new IC to the factory mounting points (top only), some silicone adaptors and some clamps. If you're confident about cutting the factory pipes yourself and fabricating the bracket then it's a bit of a no brainer which way to go!

[Roadrunner]

Oh really?? I didn't realise their kit included replacement hard pipes.
I though it was just the cooler with the bracket.
Hmm...

[Nevyn72]

Oh really?? I didn't realise their kit included replacement hard pipes.
I though it was just the cooler with the bracket.
Hmm...

Can't say for certain, I didn't buy directly from them, I bought second hand, but the pipes are the factory ones cut to the correct length.
Maybe they cut the pipes for you if you get them to fit it or maybe it's an exchange service for your old pipes? Give them a call and find out.......

[Roadrunner]

I'll shoot them an email

[Lokiel]

Pretty sure it WON'T come with pre-cut plumbing, the pipes are specific to the SE so would be hideously expensive.

I suspect Nevyn just received the PO's cut plumbing.

[Roadrunner]

So been doing some reading and think I'll go with the 550x140x65mm (27x5.5inch) with 2.5 Inch outlets from JustJap
After reading and reading, converting inches to mm and back again then realising some people talk total cooler length and others just the length of the core itself, my head is about to explode
I was thinking of looking for a cooler that is in total length 550mm (450mm core?), as it would clear the power steering lines better and I like seeing the end tanks etc, but doesn't seem to be much out there, so will go with tried and tested.

[Lokiel]

Sometimes it's best not to overthink things, especially when there's plenty of tried-and-proven solutions out there

[Roadrunner]

Sometimes it's best not to overthink things, especially when there's plenty of tried-and-proven solutions out there

Yep thats me.
Over-think -> over-research -> over-confuse myself -> start again

[Regie]

had a good look at this on the weekend

Loving the white wheels, suits very well!

[Roadrunner]

had a good look at this on the weekend

Loving the white wheels, suits very well!

Thanks I'm certainly very happy with them
There was quite a few SE's their later in the morning but the owners were all scattered so didn't get a chance to talk.
I bailed one nice guy up (whos name i can't remember ) just as everyone was leaving about his race seat and got his thoughts and opinion on it, but then had to run otherwise the wife was going to leave with out me

[Roadrunner]

So this arrived today
Weekends project sorted!