A look back at the past 10 years of Lachstock and Four Turbo-charged Cylinders
Big post warning 
I always knew I wanted a sports car. My Dad had an MG-B when I was a boy, I used to sit in it and play "car". At first, I wanted a Porsche, a Boxster or a 911 would do just fine. Then a BMW Z4M Roadster, but reality and finances forced me to look elsewhere. I started to look at MX-5s, but wanted more power, then I learned about the SE and read these forums. Lokiel's epic build and others convinced me the MX-5 SE was the car for me, and inspired my imagination, so began my hunt, and my various PMs with helpful members to guide me
I already had mod plans even before I bought the car, the details have changed a little over the years but the goal remained true. It was always about building a track-cable
street car. I'd never even changed a flat tyre before I got my SE, but I was eager to learn!
I've gone back and skimmed through the thread looking for notable mods and moments, here's a summary broken into years, and a few choice pictures (forgive me the Photobucket watermarks).
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2014 June: Purchased in Melbourne. Nearly completely stock, 95km, it had an aftermarket style-bar (OEM windblocker in the boot) and muffler. Drove home to Brisbane over 3 days, stopping at Pie In the Sky to meet Nevyn.
2014 July: Not even a month later and the mods started! A few cosmetics, clear side indicators and corner reflectors, a shorty antena and chrome fuel filler lid. And the beginning of the NitroDann kit, with a throttle body elbow replacement
2014 August: Installed the ND exhaust with the help of a friend and a hoist in Bundaberg. Then the intake a few weeks later. Limitations of the stock ECU being felt.
2014 Sept: First "track" event, skid pan at Gympie - popped the intercooler hosing, scared the crap out of me.
2014 Oct: MR SSK installed, I was unprepared and had to walk to Supercheap to buy grease!
2014 Dec: HSD coilovers installed at Magpie's infamous Dodgey Day
2015 Jan: Twin Hoop roll bar installed by Automotive Plus, I wasn't ready to do such a job then. Had the Speed Deck torneau I'd bought before I got the car(!) painted to colour match the car
2015 Feb: Intercooler install at one of Magpie's Dodgy Days. 1st track day at QR, bent suspension arms & subframe, expensive lessons learned
2015 Jun: Clutch was slipping with the increased power and replaced by Automotive Plus.
2015 Jul: Started experiencing the "Bog", installed a MAC solenoid to replace the OEM.
2015 Nov: Thompson oil-filter relocation and FM oil cooler by A+. Installed "Bear" hooks at the front and rear of the car. What happened to Bear and his beautiful "Snowy"?
2016 Jan: Reversed into at the lights by a Pajero! Minor cosmetic damage, repaired under insurance.
2016 Jun: Xidas installed to replace the horrible HSD coilovers, more suspension learnings.
2016 Sep: MegaSquirt isntalled, now running the full suite of SE upgrades on 98. And installed the Racing Beat front sway bar
2016 Nov: Took car to NitroDann in Newcastle for tune of the Megasquirt. Initial street-tuned power 143whp, dyno tuned to 225whp with Flow Force 640cc Injectors, and electronic boost control. Dann also installed his airbox around the air filter
2017 April: Removed the stock seats and installed the Elise Seats on flipside custom brackets for a much improved seating position
2017 June: 3 Years of ownership - 160km, 65k put on in my time! Not fully happy with the tune. KG Works cluster surround & Rev Limiter Gauge faces installed, still love the look!
2017 July: Dropped the car back to NitroDann for re-tune and flex-fuel setup.
2017 Sept: Picked up the car from Dann, now running 251whp on E85, needed another stronger clutch.
2017 Oct: Shorty centre console installed, more room in the cabin
2017 Dec: Rear-ended at a junction, minor damage, the bumper was knocked out of place, repaired under insurance.
2018 Jan: Began control arm bushing pull from new arms for SADFabs. Sanded and painted wiper arms - they need doing again, properly this time.
2018 Feb: Diff poly bushing install - this was a big job, removing and re-installing a diff on my own. I did damage an axle seal though.
2018 April: Finally got 15x8 Enkei RPF-1s to replace the OEM boat anchors.
2018 May: SADFab bushings equipped control arms installed. Upped Xida spring rates to 700/400.
2018 July: Changed brake pads and rotors myself.
2018 August: Installed frame rail braces, drilling into the car!
2018 Oct: Original soft-top ripped finally ripped around the rear window. Thankfully Lokiel let me borrow his hard-top.
2018 Nov: Attempt at noise damping by intalling CLD tiles on various panels around the car. Fitter a new soft-top to the old frame and installed.
2018 Dec: Small OEM side-skirts painted to match and installed by a body shop
2019 Jan: Interesting observation between stock NB, my SE and 2060RS
https://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=64088&start=570#p9408122019 Feb: 194km - 100k in my ownership < 5 years! 2019 does not feel like 5 years ago!
2019 Apr: Installed StilIC's custom Lotus mounts - with modifications to fit. And steering wheel spacer to bring the wheel away from my knees and closer to my chest, love this mod!
2019 May: New muffler from Rob Bliss, meant to quiet the car a little, but I don't think it made much difference.
2019 Jun: 200k - 5 years.
2019 Jul: Xidas leaking, off for service. Xidas have a high service rate, not helped by the fact they were naked to the elements at this time.
2019 Aug: Xidas back from service.
2019 Sep: Xidas leaking again, back to service. Bought the Subaru Liberty daily driver! From here the milage on the SE slowed dramatically.
2019 Oct: Timing belt service at home now I could take my time, and ATI damper w/ 36-2 trigger wheel install began. Another big job, and lot of learning in this one.
2019 Nov: AWR swaybar bar brackets installed with difficulty, not one I'd do again, back to stock damper/wheel after install damage to the key and keyway.
2019 Dec: Xidas back from 2nd service, installed with co-axial top mounts and sleeves to cover the assembly, together these should help the shocks to last longer between services.
2020 Jan: A massive oil leak appeared, tried many things to find and fix, but no luck. Removed oil cooler & filter relocation in effort to hunt it down.
2020 April: Reinstalled the ATI Damper as part of my oil leak hunting. Also installed FM hood struts.
2020 Jun: I broke up with my partner of 7 years at the start of the year, bought a house in June and moved to Northgate, just me and Hobbes.
2020 August: Received my Guardian Designs 330 steering wheel, this is another great mod for the car for any tall driver. Small steering wheel, but keep the airbag!
2020 Sept: The SE was grounded while leaking, Covid was rampant, so I bought an NA8! I won't detail the work on this car here.
2020 Oct: Upholstered and installed Primer3D Flat door cards, and replaced the speakers in SE. With these door cards, I've maximised the interior space, short of floor mounted seats and a drop floor. Small wheel, wheel spacer, shorty console, Elise seats and now flat door cards. If only it could drive it!
2020 Dec: Installed a Flyin Miata Cross-flow Radiator, and FlowForce LS coils. Then took the car down to the Gold Coast for Daffy's wizard mechanic, Darren to install the EFR6258 turbo and Kraken manifold and exhaust!
2021 March: Sold the NA8 - left in much better condition than it arrived, only 6 months of ownership, but I got to experience an NA, about even money given the work put in and the Covid pricing surge.
2021 June: Collected the SE from Darren. EFR6258 on Kracken high mount manifold, full 3" exhaust, Fab9 Stage 1 IC, square top intake manifold, skunk2 TB, IDx1050 injectors, polished headlights, FM coolant re-route. And I snapped up a matching silver hard-top from the Sunshine coast for a (relatively) good price.
2021 July: Having overboost issues due to the wastegate actuator binding, lots of experimentation to find the issue.
2021 Sept: Installed JOYING Android head unit, lets me connect to the Megasquirt and use Apple Carplay. Attended a khanakross w/ Paul, received a dent in the bonnet thanks to a flying marque. Discovered the AC bracket to the engine block had come loose. And also the trigger wheel was loose from backed out screws.
2021 Nov: Got a tune from Autoworks in Sailsbury, to the sum of 183whp! This is obviously not what I expected. Apparently they deal in imperial horsepower and metric torque. I'd specified 210 wheel torque thinking ft-lbs, expecting ~260whp ... they delivered 210nm and 183hp! Argh.
2022 April: I built hard-top stand out of PVC following a YouTube video, still pretty happy with this piece of work!
2022 May: Installed an IWG-75 2 port actuator with a ball jointed arm to prevent binding.
2022 June: Attended a Morgan Park track day, but experienced misfires due to a sparkplug issue. And the exhaust is hitting the diff under high load corners - I thought it was something way worse!
2022 Sept: Street tuning I upped boost from Autoworks tune of about 9/10psi to ~12psi. Better power, but should still be safe, needs a proper dyno though.
2022 Nov: Finally did the 95MSM boot gauge mod with the help of some Lokiel 3D printed parts. This replaces the stock (dummy) oil pressure gauge with a Speed Hut boost gauge.
2023 Feb: Skid pan day with friends at Mt Cotton, no issues with the car! Had a great time.
2023 April: Took the car back to Autoworks to have the AC canister relocated away from the turbo and re-gassed, exhaust adjustment to prevent contact under turns, and finally a corner weight and alignment to SuperMiata specs.
2024 - I haven't done much of anything this year. A few drives, a few meets.
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Somewhere along the line I had at least one more track day at Morgan Park, and picked up the Lokiel Gauge - still in development - sometime around 2018 I think.
Looking back, I was struck by how much more active the forum used to be, I saw a lot of names I hadn't for a long time. I don't know how we get back to that beyond deliberately engaging with each other more, having conversations, adding support, etc. The car has come a long way, stayed mostly true to my initial purpose of a track-cable STREET car, although the amount of track time it's seen hasn't been great. The car has evolved from fully stock to almost completely custom, but it's still an MX-5. It's evolved slowly, I think I've done each step one-by-one, just to experience each change, rather than skipping to an end point. I've learned a lot, made a lot of mistakes, I think I have to do everything at least twice to get it right(ish).
I'd say almost every area of the car is at 85-90% of where I'd ideally want it. Nothing perfect, but all of it pretty darn good and a lot of fun.
What's to come? First and foremost is more fun drives, trips and track events. This car spent a lot of time as a daily driver doing highway miles, and the past 4 years it's sat in the garage a lot. The usage isn't helped by the tandem garage under the house, limiting access compared to a side-by-side double layout, and the lack of reliable AC for the summer (well, the not-winter) to keep the car comfortable.
I guess I should put getting the AC fixed to the top of the list, it's still not working despite the Autoworks adjustments. I need to replace the windshield, it's has a lot of pitting, no big cracks but it's past time. Followed by getting my headlights re-sealed as they're letting in some moisture. Other cosmetic items would be to have the paint touched up, and the Elise seats re-upholsterd.
I'd like to tune the car again, and get a real power figure from the EFR on the stock block, the power is currently unknown and there's definitely power left on the table. Really, I should attempt to tune the closed-loop boost control, then maybe see if I can visit Nitro Dann for a weekend. Though I have been considering jumping ship from the MegaSquirt to Link for the ability to find better tuners locally...
The new 15x9 6ULs are looking tempting, as is the SuperMiata BBK ... but money doesn't flow as freely as it used to, so big ticket items such as these will likely wait.
Then one day, I've always planned to have engine built! I already have pistons, rods, and other miscellaneous parts on the shelf. I'll just need to find another $10-15k to complete
I took a little joy in noticing I've had at least 5, probably 6 shift knobs over this time-span! Pretty happy with the current one.
... and the confidence that you can use it all without worry about bent rods. Oh wait, the gearbox ... 
