Tony's wife's NB8A

[luzinit]

Finally putting a garage thread together after several years of lurking on these forums.

My name's Tony, I'm based in Sydney and I've been a closet MX5 owner for 5 years.

The story starts about 5 years ago when I "convinced" my girlfriend at the time to buy a manual MX5 for her first car.
After taking a look at a few NAs, we decided that the NAs were a bit to outdated and lacked some of the safety features that the NBs had, so we settled on a Silver NB8A with about 85000kms on the clock. It was well serviced, immaculate inside and out and came with a full set of log books and 2 sets of keys, the perfect used car in my books.

It was a great daily for my girlfriend, who later became my fiance and finally my wife - I think finding a cool chick who could drive manual and actually liked cars had something to do with this, although it did take me about 8 years to finally put a ring on it!

During the first 5 years of ownership, I didn't care too much for the silver snag, as our friends had dubbed it. I had a 98 Honda Civic VTI-R which I cherished and the MX5 was simply the girlfriend's car. It wasn't until we downsized to city apartment living, that we decided to take the MX5 with us, leaving the Civic back at my parent's place. This was about the same time I started to develop a fond relationship with the MX5 as I really started to appreciate it's character and started to understand what roadster life was all about.

Over the past 5 years, it was over serviced and under utilised. My wife barely averaged 10000kms/year, usually commuting to and from work with the occasional trip up and down the coast. That being said, we serviced it religiously. In fact I just noticed the other day when going through receipts that the previous owner had completed the timing belt and major service prior to our purchase and we did it AGAIN at 100000kms at MX5 Mania, who we've entrusted with the car over the last 5 years.

It wasn't until I trawled through receipts did I realise how much preventative maintenance we performed on the vehicle. This made it a fairly reliable and fun car to drive, except one major bug bear, which was the extremely worn out stock shocks, which were matched to some sort of lowered springs by the previous owner. We ended up ditching these for a set of Yellowspeed coilovers from MX5 Mania late 2013. This transformed the driving experience immediately as the car suddenly felt 10 years younger.

The refreshed suspension inspired me to take it out to scenic roads and out for cruises with some old friends. Suddenly I enjoyed driving again!
Having said that, coming from FF ownership for the last decade, I'm finding the MX5 a lot more challenging to drive. With a front wheel drive car you literally just point and shoot and power your way out of corners, the MX5 on the other hand I feel teaches you to respect the vehicle a little more. I'm looking forward to more seat time with the car at Wakefield to improve my driver skills, I see it as a learning platform until I acquire my dream car one day, a 911 of some sort.

Anyways, this has been a long enough first post, I will continue the thread with some pictures and some other updates later on, as we're about 4 months behind the current state of the car.

Cheers,
TT

[Lokiel]

Finally putting a garage thread together after several years of lurking on these forums.

My name's Tony, I'm based in Sydney and I've been a closet MX5 owner for 5 years.
:TT

Good to see you're now "out of the closet", say it loud and say it proud, there's nothing wrong with owning a "Hairdresser's Car"!

Now, pictures DAMNIT!

[ED_MX5]

Welcome fellow hairdresser!
People who pay these cars out have NO IDEA what they are missing! Keep enjoying it!

[Apu]

Good to see you here Tony!

[luzinit]

I've been super slack with updates. Here are the cliffnotes of what's happened with my wife's car in the last few months.

1. Impulse bought a semi complete turbo kit which had a brand new garrett GT2560 and manifold fabricated by Pure Fab.
2. Impulse ordered Enkei RPF1 in 15x8 +28
3. Serviced car per usual and replaced the tired leads with new NGK leads and spark plugs
4. Installed QFM A1RM pads front and rear with DOT4 fluid
5. Went to Wakefield and did a super slow time but thoroughly enjoyed my first experience on the track with the MX5. Also didn't break anything which was a huge bonus
6. Decided that power was not required for now and driver mods were more important
7. Sold turbo kit parts to save some cash for the time being
8. Enkei RPF1 arrived, I have the first set in Australia, woohoo!!!
9. Impulse bought Torsen diff centre from a 10AE

This weekend I'll try and get the new wheels on with some Hankook RS3s and will install the diff centre in at some stage.

Cheers,
Tony

[ManiacLachy]

Remember, this is the internet: Pics, or it didn't happen

[luzinit]

Pics to come this weekend.

Oh, I also ordered an RS Factory Stage front lip

[speed]

I'm about to do the same but with pics. Problem is I'm about 12 months behind!
Look forward to seeing your progress


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[luzinit]

With my other car, a 1998 Honda Civic VTIR. Have owned it since 2002!



On a recent cruise through RNP, stopping by Stanwell Tops.



Hanging with some mates at the halfway house through Putty Road, before all the MX5s came through! Apparently it was a club event that day.



New wheels! ENKEI RPF01-RS (15x8 +28)





Parked out the front of the Westin Hotel in Sydney



Frame rail braces installed by Suli aka rxmx. We were both a little concerned about how close one of the bolts are to the existing fuel lines.
Suli ended up implementing a workaround, I wonder if other owners experienced a similar issue when installing theirs?



Front lip is coming this week and hopefully I'll get a chance to visit JDMYard on Saturday to mount the wheels with some RS3s.

cheers,
Tony

[luzinit]

Wrapped in 225/45/15 RS3s courtesy of JDMyard and fitted at Jax Tyres.

[Regie]

i have a soft spot for teh RPF1's :d im running 17x9 myself

[The Green Goblin]

they look tough yet clean at the same time..

[luzinit]

Torsen diff centre was installed over the weekend, along with the RS Factory Stage front lip and a fire extinguisher + bracket from the MX5 club of Victoria. Thanks to Suli from Pure Fab who went above and beyond in getting it sorted for me during the busy holiday season.

Haven't had a chance to drive the car to provide feedback on initial impressions on the diff, so I'm itching for a drive in the coming week or so.

Lip fitment is great and is a good alternative to the Garage Vary lip. Doesn't sit as low, looks similar to the stock NA lip. I will post a pic later tonight. Car certainly has extra points now...

Fire extinguisher bracket is a thin piece of aluminium that was hacked together, not the best quality but for $30 shipped, it's certainly better than me running around bunnings on the weekend and doing it myself.

[luzinit]

With said lip!

Have noticed that I only got 390km out of the last full tank and have noticed a strange petrol smell from the exhaust. Suspect it might be the 02 sensor. Anyone experienced anything similar? Mania open next week, car's due for a service so might just take it in to them and get David and the boys to take a look.

[green_comet]

Nice, car look great dude!

Would you mind sharing who you ordered the Enkei's from? I'm looking to get a set for my SP.