Ben’s 2006 MX5 (Bunzthemx5)

[bunzthemx5]

Hi all,

I wanted to document my story with my 2006 mx5 (Bunz). So here goes:

Starting in February 2018. Pretty fresh out of uni and into my first job, I found myself wanting to upgrade from my 2007 corolla. At that time, I had zero clue about cars or had any passion for it either. However, having had been in my mates convertible beemer, I knew what type of car I wanted. So I found myself with a black 2006 mx5 that had 88,XXX km on it. The condition was immaculate and I found myself paying $14 grand for it (in retrospect, I think that amount of money could have gotten me a bit more). Nevertheless, you get what you pay for. The car was bone stock apart from a GV style lip and a queenstcustoms sticker.

Picked up the car on a Friday night, friend and I drove the car from the sellers place to a quiet Bunnings car park. Did some sensible driving of the car and some less sensible donuts. Unfortunately, some cops were having some Maccas and heard our mischief. We were pulled over. My mate was slapped with a $500 fine. Oops.

At least we figured out a name for the car. Bunz. Named after the Bunnings we did donuts at. More to come.




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[bunzthemx5]

First mod for me was Coilovers and I got myself a set of MCA blues. The set up was 9kg at the front and 4kg at the rear. Felt very stiff initially. As an amateur who had only ever sat in over dampened coils, it was bloody uncomfortable.



Not too long after had a problem with the coils. Josh at MCA said that it was a nut on the internal end of the shaft that came loose. Scary because I had been told by another MCA rep that it was safe to drive on. Obviously not. By the way, my friend posted all this in another post on this forum. Long story short, a replacement was sent to me.




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[bunzthemx5]

Really enjoyed the car and was always surprised at how I could fit in the smallest of places. This was at Birkenhead shopping mall and I could not find any space for me to park.



When there’s a will there’s a way.


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[bunzthemx5]

Wheels were next on the agenda. Found myself with a great set of Enkei rpf1 17x8 et45 that came off a s15 and before that a mx5 as well!!

Slapped on some Pilot sport 4 and it was a dream for street driving. Very grippy and cannot seem to wear them down.

Centre cap from the US. (Flat our graphics)




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[bunzthemx5]

Fast forward half a year. Drove up to Chris at mx5parts to install my headers and reflash my ecu. To be honest, I didn’t really feel much of a change initially. That was until I realise I was driving it wrong. Chris said to drive it above 4000 rpm and see how it feels. And WOW. Love the feeling.

Only weeks after, I saw a Gwr muffler q. Had some troubles with the gasket - must get that o ring. Nevertheless no leak till this day.




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[ManiacLachy]

Hi Ben, welcome.

The car looks great, and it's awesome to have a new build thread to follow. And an NC one too, which is getting more common it seems. It'll be cool to see where you take it.

I was waiting for you to finish your initial post dump to bring us up to speed, but it looks like you're going to drip feed us

[bunzthemx5]

Hi Ben, welcome.

The car looks great, and it's awesome to have a new build thread to follow. And an NC one too, which is getting more common it seems. It'll be cool to see where you take it.

I was waiting for you to finish your initial post dump to bring us up to speed, but it looks like you're going to drip feed us

Hey Mate! Sorry I am doing this intermittently at work.. oops at least the boss drives a merc so most likely won’t be on these forums. I’ve only gotten to half way in my updates. More to come!


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[ManiacLachy]

All good, I'm enjoying them.

And all MX-5s need to be revved to get the most of them. People used to euro cars that make power at 1500-2000 have a hard time adjusting.

[bunzthemx5]

A few photos that helped close off December 2018 and leap Bunz and I into 2019.










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[KevGoat]

Welcome! ... nice build so far, looks great.

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[Custardtart]

Nice. I remember the MCA issues, glad all sorted now.

[bunzthemx5]

Thanks guys!

Also, is it me or does driving a mx5 always “feel” faster???

Ive dríven a s15, m4, a45. Those don’t really give you that tingling feeling in your pants until you hit above 160k. The mx5 gives you that feeling at 60 all the way through. Maybe it’s the lack of roof above my head..?




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[Snowmotion]

Nice to see the NC build. Looking good.
They always feel faster than a tin top.
I hope you have removed that baffle from your muffler. That will really reduce the power are the top end.

[bunzthemx5]

Some of you have been wondering where the set of barchetta tail lights (1 of 5 in the world) had gone. Did Reggie break them, is he keeping them so that he can earn ridiculous amounts of money in 50 years, did he burn them so that no one else could have it??? Wonder no more. I scored these off him for a fair price. I was actually going to go with Lamin-x tint (bought one and it’s lying around.. selling it for $50, hit me up). Although there’s some small wear and tear. Absolutely love looking at this ass now..

Also, I keep asking myself whether or not to do a bumper cut.






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[bunzthemx5]

With my shiny new toy, I took it for my first track day at Luddenham raceway. Beautiful day after a stormy night. This meant that there were only 8 cars the whole day. Open track is a luxury!



Didn’t know where to start with my alignment. Ended up with the following after reading others alignment on these forums:

Front
Caster 6 degrees both side
Camber -2 degrees
Toe out 1mm

Rear
Camber -2.5 degrees
Toe in 1mm

The car felt grippy and stuck to the corners well. Ended up the day under 1 minute. For my very first track day, I was dazed and dizzy all the way to bed.






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