Vigoro's MX-5

IT'S ALIVE!!!!

Got everything through on Wednesday to fit the pipe to the block then filled the system with coolant. Luckily, this worked without any problem at all which was a relief!

Everything else (Supercharger, PAS Pump) got bolted back in tonight.

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So after doing all the work, I started the car up and went for a quick drive to see if it held together ok. Driving through the town, get about half a mile down the road, head a thud like something falling off. Look in the rear view mirror, and see a line running down the road that isn't straight.. Oh dear...

Pulled over, opened the bonnet. Nothing was leaking, nothing was missing. Looked back up the road, was just a line where the road had been laid with some sort of filler in it!

Anyway, back to the car I go again. Drive another half mile down the road, head a bit of a bang then see something sliding along the road in the rear view mirror...

Turned around and went back (easier than opening the bonnet to find out!) and I was greeted with this;

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The cat heatshield had rusted through, and decided it would like to leave my car. Luckily, not my coolant system, and something that I can do without.

So, car drives fine, adjusted the throttle bodies before setting off as the pre-charger body was out the car anyway and throttle response is much better now!
 
Bit more to post on this later, but the car is currently having it's new brain mapped. Got annoyed with the old piggyback being a but dumb, so full standalone has been installed!
 
I do like your '5. The wheels look bob on, although my last car had white wheels and they'd look great for a couple of days and they'd slowly turn grey :p

The oem lip makes a huge difference to the front, they just don't look complete without some form of lip. It will hold up against some serious knocks too, mine is a tad beaten but it hasn't broken yet.

I've probably missed it, but what piggyback did you have and what standalone have you opted for? Who's doing your mapping?
 
Full MoTeC system ECU overnighted from Japan? :D

Pros and Cons of piggyback vs standalone? Any extra power? :cool:
 
^JP^ said:
Full MoTeC system ECU overnighted from Japan? :D
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No, same day parts from Surrey, not quite the same :(


^JP^ said:
Pros and Cons of piggyback vs standalone? Any extra power? :cool:
Click to expand...

Below is sort of what I see as pro's and cons of each from what I have been using;

Piggyback
+ Cheaper
+ Easier to install
+ Easier to initially map
- No Monitoring of Intake Temps
- Single condition mapping
- Limited control on ignition, you can only retard


Standalone
+ Full control over fuel and ignition
+ Mapping for different intake temps
+ Monitoring and adjusting AFR's
- More Expensive
- Harder to install
- Harder to setup basemap.

With regards to power, it is a bit hard to say what it is, different dyno etc.

I only got the wheel power, and it measures wheel power in the same way as Powerstation using 2 rollers to take the measurement. Initial mapping gave me 134BHP at the wheels, then after a bit of tweaking this went up to 141BHP at the wheels.

Makes peak torque around 4500rpm, can't remember the figure exactly though, will have to wait for the graph to be emailed tomorrow.

Initial impressions on driving the car back though, seems much much smoother to drive, in and out of boost. So overall happy with it at the minute!
 
Sounds great, I bet it makes more power next RR day.

Hope you have some trouble-free motoring ahead :)
 
Dyno graph from Tuesdays mapping session!

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Note: The wheel power is measured with two rollers, similar to powerstation, so will be lower than the actual wheel power on the road.
 
The time has come to sell my car. It seems if I keep it, I will want to keep spebding out on it, which is a lot of money wasted for no real gains. Had the car almost 3 years now, but it seems like the right time to let itgo!
 
I've got an idea of what I am replacing it with, but don't want to say until something is on my drive!
 
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Vigoro said:
The time has come to sell my car. It seems if I keep it, I will want to keep spebding out on it, which is a lot of money wasted for no real gains. Had the car almost 3 years now, but it seems like the right time to let itgo!
Click to expand...

Pretty much exactly my reasoning for getting rid, then
 
The amount of people who fit FI then sell is amazing.

My reason for sale was i'd done everything without starting to spend really silly sums, and i didn't really have much left to mess around with.

Wouldn't mind a clean 2.5 VtSport and turbo it this time.
 
Firestar_3x said:
The amount of people who fit FI then sell is amazing.
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It's just one of those things. I had mine a couple of years before I FI'd it, and then kept it like that for over a year before I sold it. It wasn't down to any shortfalls with the car, the time just came for me to "economise" somewhat and I didn't want to have to start spending a further fortune on it.

The new owner emailed me back in April actually, almost exactly a year since I sold it, to tell me he's still very happy with it and it's all going strong, following a new clutch and windscreen. Nice to know it's gone to a good home, anyway.
 
I've been reluctant to do anything to mine as it's a 10AE – I wan't to keep it 'pure' if that makes sense.

Doesn't stop me thinking about getting another one (or replacing it) to play with though!
 
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