yeah this intake only really needs to work for me in a very high rev range between 5,500 to 8,500 rpm... I'm not really interested on anything below that. The stock manifolds are designed for more torque down low and to suit a smaller airflow target at higher revs. My engine has much higher requirements to get air into the engine, with very big cams and oversized valves so I suspect the stock manifold is the main restriction in the engine. This manifold has a small plenum with very nice bell mouths on the runners and it the runner cross sectional area would be 40% more than stock. Plus it fits which was my main concern.
I think the stock throttle body would be fine, however given this 70mm one came with the manifold I figured it was worth it. There is an issue with high reving engines where the shaft in the stock throttle body breaks due to harmonic vibrations. If this happens the motor ingests the shaft and it's not pretty. One solution is to use the MX5 specific Skunk2 64mm throttle body but this costs more than the Honda manifold and throttle body together. I'll report back if it affects throttle sensitivity etc.
Machining it on the mill... mounting the runner piece was a bit fun. I took it nice and easy so it didn't pop out of my hack clamps.
A quick sand with a flat board and it came up pretty good. Not quite machine shop level but smooth and flat.
Next task is to clean up the inside of the runners. I purposely undercut the flange so I could match the angle into the head so it needs a fair amount of grinding. Dyno is booked for Tuesday next week so I have a bit of work to do this week!
NA8: N/A 200whp | Haltech | Skunk2 Intake | S90 TB | RCP | 5 speed c/r dogbox | 4.78 diff | AST Shocks
Barbs L: 64.12 | S: 58.62 | Collie: 49.72