billybunters - from a bmw z4 to a mx5 se

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 1:54 pm

smy0003 wrote:Where is the rad on an mgf?
I assume it's somewhere ridiculous like in the wheel well or in one of the cup holders.

Up front just like an MX5.

But then there's about 8 feet of coolant lines running under the car to the engine.
And since the engine is higher than the radiator bleeding it sucks.
Which is also why many of them often have head gasket issues.

The MGF was a great idea, with some great design ideas.
But made too expensive by un-necessary oddities like the mid mount engine and fluid bag suspension that needs to be pumped up every so often.
That and the early ones suffered from extremely cheap looking interiors (think Kia style plastics)

I really do think the car could have been a far bigger seller if they just went with normal coils springs from day one, simplified the drivetrain, and used the spare cash from that to make the interior nicer.
If they did that it could have possibly put up a decent fight with the MX5 in sales.

billybunter · Postby **billybunter** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 2:08 pm

all good I reversed it earlier. here's a photo of the old radiator tubes. mgf are mid engine and the radiator is located right at the front. are these cars any good - to look at yes but after that it's all downhill :lol:

you'd be very disappointed compared to a mx5.
this car was originally black and I rubbed it back and painted it yellow about 8 or 9 years ago. still looks good and gets far more attention that other cars I've owned.
they run the same engine as the early model lotus elise to around 05. the elise then went to a Toyota motor and a very wise move. so if not careful they will overheat in mgf's/elises and it's an expensive fix.
this one cost $47k new and I bought it at about 3 years old with just 26,000klm. the original owner cooked the motor just out of warranty and it cost him $8000 to have the motor rebuilt by a Sydney mgf specialist. I have the receipts to prove.
overall they really are a very poor sample of a car compared to a mx5 and actually cost more than a SE new :lol:

why is it still here? because when I drive it or the bmw z3 I get out of either and know how good a car they mx5 really is :lol:

so just that alone stops me from looking at other cars :MOCHA_LES:

billybunter · Postby **billybunter** » Fri Apr 22, 2016 6:18 pm

I've been in contact with a paint shop which once carried the correct base color when I painted the SE about 5 years back. it will hit nitro danns shortly so if I can get onto the correct paint I might be able to do the front end re-spray prior to the booking date.
although white the colour is way off so if anything it's annoying to say the least

billybunter · Postby **billybunter** » Tue May 03, 2016 1:28 pm

bridgestone Potenza 003's on today

smy0003 · Postby **smy0003** » Tue May 03, 2016 1:32 pm

Nice one. You'll love them

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

billybunter · Postby **billybunter** » Tue May 03, 2016 2:38 pm

newcastle early next week and the target is set or hopefully is :lol:

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Sun May 08, 2016 7:30 pm

So I saw this little beastie today, cruising down the Blue Mountains though Lawson, while I was heading out to my folks place for Mother's Day.
On the long drive North to Dann's for some of the good stuff? :wink:

By the way Billy, unless there's something you haven't been telling us, I assume that was your Daughter driving...... :shock:

billybunter · Postby **billybunter** » Sun May 08, 2016 8:41 pm

very observant! as usual that red side stripe must have given it away :lol:

I let the eldest daughter take the drive to Newcastle proving she kept it 5 kph under the legal speed limit. reason for the 5kph I read since I jumped up to the 55 series tyres instead of the 50 series it's possible my speedometer is reading slow by about that much.
anyway the job is done and she got it to danns workshop in good order then did a bit of shopping afterwards so all good and now the fun begins

billybunter · Postby **billybunter** » Mon May 09, 2016 2:55 pm

Work will soon begin on my car at Nitro Dann's workshop. After some time thinking about it here is roughly what I have decided to get Dann to do on the car.

Garrett GTX 2563 turbo.
Nitro Dann Twistmount manifold and down pipe.
Nitro Dann 3" stainless exhaust with a Verex volume control muffler.
Adaptronic ecu
725 injectors
Nitro Dann's special clutch :wink:

Motor to be pulled for new Eagle rods and a high pressure oil pump and hopefully no surprises :roll:

plus a few other minor things and that's about it.

Prior to this work my last dyno 3 or 4 years back was 191 rwhp so with the above add ons and a good tune and not putting pressure on Dann I hope to hit at least the 195 to 200 rwhp mark :lol:

and all on 98 too!

Plus I will ask Dann if he will be kind enough to add the odd photo to this garage thread :wink:

ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Mon May 09, 2016 3:48 pm

billybunter wrote:Prior to this work my last dyno 3 or 4 years back was 191 rwhp so with the above add ons and a good tune and not putting pressure on Dann I hope to hit at least the 195 to 200 rwhp mark and all on 98 too!

I hope you mean 285 to 300 rwhp. That'd be a lot of money to spend for just 4 HP :mrgreen: