MX5 Owners in here....bring your curling tongs

Rich1988 · 21 May 2015 at 11:38

Frozennova said:
I wouldn't really say so, its a very slightly shorter ratio box, with 6th being a little longer than 5th in a 5 speed box. They are however quite a bit stronger if you we're to go silly power FI

having driven multiple and owned both mk2 5 speed and mk2.5 6 speed I wouldn't say there is a huge difference in feel between the two. The 6 speed does feel a bit more engaging to drive because of the shorter ratios but the trade off is that its known to be a little notchy compared to the 5 speed box. It wouldnt be a deal breaker but I went for the sport version anyway because of the leather seats and LSD

This is the one I currently own 2005 svt sport (at least until July when I have to sell it :'( )

Frozennova · 21 May 2015 at 11:46

chris182008 said:
Bought the turbo, manifold and downpipe from someone who never got round to fitting it. The lad said it was a Sturovo but can't be sure.

I went for an xtd stage 3 1.8 clutch getting a flywheel from junkyard dog and using OEM bearings. Not the best option but it's cheap and should hold the power and take some abuse. Been trying to keep costs down as its all been done diy so far. If my clutch wasn't about dead already I think I'd save for a FM happy meal kit.

Same setup as I'm planning more or less then.

Sturovo Manifold and Downpipe
Subaru Td04
Reverant MS2
RX8 Injectors
EBay intercooler

Should hopefully see somewhere in the region of 250bhp

chris182008 · 21 May 2015 at 11:56

Yeah pretty much the same. Just a different turbo I'm using a t25 off a gtir. Only running 5psi at the moment because of the clutch anymore and it just slips. I'm aiming for around the same basically sub rod bending territory.

Are you fitting it all yourself? Have to say it was one of the most enjoyable builds I've done would happily do it again. One thing I'll say about the rev kit is that he sent me a different iat sensor than advertised so I had to change the resistance on the settings in tuner studio to make it work properly so watch out for that.

Frozennova · 21 May 2015 at 12:07

Yea going to fit it myself. Going to do the mapping myself as well should be able to do the whole lot for £1500

Edit: Going for sub rod bending, 5 speed box killing power, but I'm going to book some dyno time when its done and road mapped to fine tune it . Depending how well I can get it to hold the boost in the upper rev range well over 250bhp is possible without killing things

chris182008 · 21 May 2015 at 12:33

Yeah I've got my fueling map pretty well sorted up to 5psi havnt really messed with timing yet just went a bit retard on the bottom row to get some crackle but took that out again after I fitted the turbo. Veal is a gift from heaven for us road tuners.

It's the torque that kills the engine I'll see when I get the clutch in what it feels like but 250whp should be pretty quick. I think mine came in at around that price. All the little bits soon mount up though I had my everything set up on my living room floor about a week before fitting to make sure I'm not missing anything. Luckily the missus was understanding.

I had the ms2, wideband and injectors fitted and set up then got everything else plummed into the car in a day and a half. would have got done sooner if my drill bit for the oil return wasn't 1mm too small.

Griffo · 21 May 2015 at 18:38

Forgive my ignorance, but what's this tuner studio, VEAL thing all about? Is this like the remaps for the VAG cars etc but done at home?

If I can get a "Danger to manifold" message on my laptop and have the floor pop off the passenger footwell I'll be the happiest soldier in all of toy land!

Frozennova · 21 May 2015 at 18:43

Griffo said:
Forgive my ignorance, but what's this tuner studio, VEAL thing all about? Is this like the remaps for the VAG cars etc but done at home?

If I can get a "Danger to manifold" message on my laptop and have the floor pop off the passenger footwell I'll be the happiest soldier in all of toy land!

Tuner Studio is the tuning software for the MegaSquirt ECUs commonly used when Turboing/Super charging an MX5.

VEAL I think is VE Auto Learning, or to putting it simply you tell it what Air/Fuel rations you desire in what areas of the map and it uses feedback from the lamba sensor to autp learn these.

Chris, how does it feel with 5psi?

Griffo · 21 May 2015 at 19:52

Rich1988 said:
having driven multiple and owned both mk2 5 speed and mk2.5 6 speed I wouldn't say there is a huge difference in feel between the two. The 6 speed does feel a bit more engaging to drive because of the shorter ratios but the trade off is that its known to be a little notchy compared to the 5 speed box. It wouldnt be a deal breaker but I went for the sport version anyway because of the leather seats and LSD

This is the one I currently own 2005 svt sport (at least until July when I have to sell it :'( )

That looks lovely Rich. I just rang a guy about one very much like that, maybe a bit darker colour. The tinker had sold it to "the first person that saw it" and then just presumably left it on autotrader so he could get more people calling him :/.

chris182008 · 21 May 2015 at 20:06

Frozennova said:
Tuner Studio is the tuning software for the MegaSquirt ECUs commonly used when Turboing/Super charging an MX5.

VEAL I think is VE Auto Learning, or to putting it simply you tell it what Air/Fuel rations you desire in what areas of the map and it uses feedback from the lamba sensor to autp learn these.

Chris, how does it feel with 5psi?

Feels a lot nicer to drive IMO it pushes you into the seat a bit in first and second now. I've had a few people in the car say its fast enough already but its always nice to have more. Are you planning on using a xtd clutch?

Frozennova · 21 May 2015 at 20:22

Depends how soon I need a clutch. If it starts slipping fairly soon then it'll be an XTD. If it lives long enough for me to buy something from Flying Miata/Comp/Exedy then I'll go with that option. Either way I'll just run wastegate boost (~7psi) for a while

chris182008 · 21 May 2015 at 20:33

If you do end up going xtd it's £60 cheaper getting it from the US seller as both UK and US listings come from LA and can both have import charges. I'm glad mines running an external wastegate as my clutch slips like mad at 7psi it was like reving in neutral as soon as it hit boost. I'm assuming my clutch was ready to go anyway as it should have held that with careful driving.

Rich1988 · 21 May 2015 at 21:23

Griffo said:
That looks lovely Rich. I just rang a guy about one very much like that, maybe a bit darker colour. The tinker had sold it to "the first person that saw it" and then just presumably left it on autotrader so he could get more people calling him :/.

It has a few faults but obviously reflected in the price, I did however get a reasonably good deal on it, you do have to be pretty quick off the draw however, I got pipped to the post quite a few times before this one and literally phoned and arranged to see it first thing the following morning, by which point he already had 2 people saying they had money waiting and others wanting to view.

Griffo · 21 May 2015 at 22:13

Rich1988 said:
It has a few faults but obviously reflected in the price, I did however get a reasonably good deal on it, you do have to be pretty quick off the draw however, I got pipped to the post quite a few times before this one and literally phoned and arranged to see it first thing the following morning, by which point he already had 2 people saying they had money waiting and others wanting to view.

Yeah I'm starting to realise this! I was doing the waiting until weekend approach but this is obviously unsuitable so I'll move to "I'll be a bit late in tomorrow" I think!

Frozennova · 21 May 2015 at 22:15

I had a similar situation when I bought mine.

I turned up at the dealer at 10am on Saturday morning as soon as they opened, while I was waiting for him to get the trade plates to test drive it two other people turned up to look at it

Skittles · 22 May 2015 at 10:58

Griffo said:
That looks lovely Rich. I just rang a guy about one very much like that, maybe a bit darker colour. The tinker had sold it to "the first person that saw it" and then just presumably left it on autotrader so he could get more people calling him :/.

Black 2000 mk2 with hardtop? may have been me

Griffo · 22 May 2015 at 18:47

Hehe Skittles nah it was a 2004

Spoke to a guy today about one but it has an undiagnosed rattle on idle which I'm a bit less than eager to take on investigating!

wesimmo · 22 May 2015 at 19:26

Griffo said:
Forgive my ignorance, but what's this tuner studio, VEAL thing all about? Is this like the remaps for the VAG cars etc but done at home?

If I can get a "Danger to manifold" message on my laptop and have the floor pop off the passenger footwell I'll be the happiest soldier in all of toy land!

Tuner Studio is kinda fun!

That on a laptop and MSDroid or similar apps for your phone can Bluetooth (with adaptor on ecu) or USB straight into what the ECU is reading and you can set up dashboards to show important stats.

As said above you set AFR tables and the software then takes all the readings to tune the fuelling to hit your AFR targets.

You can also mess about with ignition timing and all sorts of stuff that is way too scary for me! I just use the conservative AFR tables the guys who built mine entered until I get it properly tuned.

MrKnifey · 22 May 2015 at 23:03

Frozennova said:
Tuner Studio is the tuning software for the MegaSquirt ECUs commonly used when Turboing/Super charging an MX5.

VEAL I think is VE Auto Learning, or to putting it simply you tell it what Air/Fuel rations you desire in what areas of the map and it uses feedback from the lamba sensor to autp learn these.

Chris, how does it feel with 5psi?

I got tunerstudio with autotune - VERY good bit of kit for the price!

dirtychinchilla · 23 May 2015 at 09:03

Morning guys. I'm looking at buying an MX-5 and I'm likely to have a budget of about £1,700, so not a great deal.

I've got one major thing holding me back, which is a question of reliability. One I've spent the money on the car there's going to be no way that I can afford to do any repairs or work on it in the next six months or so as I'm buying a house. I know it may seem like now or never because once I move I'll have no spare cash.

So if I buy a car at that price, probably 80k on the clock, should I be anticipating work needing doing on the car? How reliable is it likely to be with that many miles on the clock?

Rich1988 · 23 May 2015 at 18:57

They are on the whole pretty reliable, with no major engine faults etc that I know of (could be wrong) I think its just the same basic stuff that would get with every car, cam belt, clutch etc. its impossible to say if a car will need anything without looking at that individual case, if it has full proper service history it shouldnt need anything major until 110k ish (cam belt).

But for 1700 you will be looking at one at least 10 years old so it really depends on the car!