Great time at Lyneham yesterday, first time doing an airfield trackday rather than a real track and was actually pretty good. Car was faultless all day bar the tyres which overheated a bit, not unsurprisingly being road tyres.
MX5 Owners in here....bring your curling tongs
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Man of Honour
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Get a set of AD08Rs on there. Bloody fantastic tyre and not horrifically priced in MX5 sizes (£75 a corner for 195/50/15)
Second this, even at 16” they are under £100 a corner.
Man of Honour
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I've been using them for two years now and they still continue to amaze me.
I can drive like a total buffoon with LOLpower and still struggle to unstick them, unless I go doing daft things like clutch kicks
I can drive like a total buffoon with LOLpower and still struggle to unstick them, unless I go doing daft things like clutch kicks
Caporegime
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Right everyone is going MX5 crazy around me at the moment and the temptation is too much so after Christmas I am going to be on the lookout for something. Going to be NB but not sure what is best? Icon and 10th look like great buys as they have 6 speed and 3.9 diff or is it worth going for the 2.5 engine with the 3.6 diff. What is the cutoff for Torsens on NB2's as i do not want to be stuck with a fuji. Car will be turbocharged so not really sure what is best NB1 is stronger? but NB2 has vvt so should be better for spool. Will not be chasing big bower just a simple TD04 job so 200-250 will be plenty.
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Torsen cut off is 2001 IIRC easiest way to gurantee not getting a Fuji is buy an NB1
NB2 rods are reported to be slightly weaker than NB1 most tuners will stop at 230bhp and whatever torque that equates to.
5 Speed and 4.10 diff is the best combo of ratios IMHO
VVT makes a few hundred RPM difference in spool and tbh I'm not sat here thinking to myself 200ft/lbs @ 3100rpm and 250ft/lbs @ 4000rpm is not enough
Caporegime
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What models come with the 4.1 diff and 5 speed? Boggo 1.8i s?
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NB1 1.8 sports
NB1 Special editions with a 6 speed came with a 3.9 (10AE, RS etc)
Early NB2s are a 3.6 torsen and later NB2s are a 3.6 Fuji
There isn't a huge difference between 5 speed/4.10 and 6 speed/3.63 but the 5 speed combo 1-3 are slighly longer
I'm seriously considering doing an Exocet to mine....
Last year's MOT had the chassis rails down as an advisory and the arches are going.
Given I've got a 2.5 Sport, so big brakes and LSD, Meister Rs and 220bhp from the supercharger, taking the entire rusty body off, keeping the toys and doubling the power to weight ratio seems a pretty tempting option.
Can't see it being much more expensive than getting a proper job done restoring it and repainting.
Last year's MOT had the chassis rails down as an advisory and the arches are going.
Given I've got a 2.5 Sport, so big brakes and LSD, Meister Rs and 220bhp from the supercharger, taking the entire rusty body off, keeping the toys and doubling the power to weight ratio seems a pretty tempting option.
Can't see it being much more expensive than getting a proper job done restoring it and repainting.
Would you be doing this? If so, have you costed it yet? Curious as the probable costs.
I'm a member of a very active Facebook group for MX5 owners and people seem keen to help build it.
Cost wise, the basic kit is around £3k Inc VAT, but I'd probably want a couple of options like harness bars, so £4k all in for the kit maybe.
In terms of additional costs, I'm kinda expecting to make enough selling what I don't need off the original car to cover all the "dammit I need a xxxxxx" costs.
Cost wise, the basic kit is around £3k Inc VAT, but I'd probably want a couple of options like harness bars, so £4k all in for the kit maybe.
In terms of additional costs, I'm kinda expecting to make enough selling what I don't need off the original car to cover all the "dammit I need a xxxxxx" costs.
Soldato
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Just out of curiosity, what's the going rate for a neatly set-up turbocharged MX-5? Seems the smarter move, rather than picking one up and paying for all the nice bits.
Quite like the look of this, for example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-mx5-turbo/263249808974
(NB Not looked at the above hugely in detail, but it did grab my attention)
Quite like the look of this, for example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-mx5-turbo/263249808974
(NB Not looked at the above hugely in detail, but it did grab my attention)
Man of Honour
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Depending on rust that one is worth between the 3.5k its currently at and and maybe 5-6k top dollar.
Mines cost me about 4k so far including both rear arch/sills replaced and front chassis rails, add another 1k on top of that to fit an LSD and the coilovers and you aren't really saving any money at all by buying one already converted
The thing that I often notice is just how common it is for people to do a turbo conversion and then sell it a few months later. That advert for example reads to me like it was completed this year so a summer of fun and then shift it on? Seems like a great way of losing a decent wedge of cash in a short time on a 'cheap' car.
Caporegime
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A lot of people do things just for the fun of it.
You could turbo charge for a grand easy if you did everything yourself on the mechanical side of things. Then most likely another £500 for ecu and tuning. Considering you can buy a very good MX5 for £2000 it makes much more sense to build one. Especially as when buying anything modded. You have no idea of the quality of the install.
You could turbo charge for a grand easy if you did everything yourself on the mechanical side of things. Then most likely another £500 for ecu and tuning. Considering you can buy a very good MX5 for £2000 it makes much more sense to build one. Especially as when buying anything modded. You have no idea of the quality of the install.
Man of Honour
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A rough breakdown of costs:
Manifold and downpipe: £500
Turbo: £80
Dipstick return to save drilling sum: £90
Injectors (New 650cc bosch) £250
ECU: £550
Intercooler and pipework: £300
Alloy rad + Rad hoses: £200
Wideband Kit: £150
Tuning: £300
Boost control solenoid : £50
So just over £2000
Then add £300 for a clutch, £300 for tuning.
So many of the turbo installs are thrown a absolute sheds or simply of unknown quality
Associate
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agree completely - as I read the advert I was wondering why the sudden sale if it was only mapped last week and has a 12 month MOT (so that's just been done)? To me it suggests Skuzzle found all kinda problems with it that will probably make it fail the MOT next year (or problems with the engine or build)? It just doesn't read like a good/safe buy
Soldato
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Doesn't trouble me in the slightest. You have, as with any purchase, to go in with your eyes open. Like a lot of people, they may have finished the project and realised it wasn't suitable for them, or it wasn't what they expected. Similarly, the fun for them may have been in the build/messing around with it phase, not the actual driving it.
Likewise, RE the clutch replacement - well, it clearly failed, and the car's not going to sell for much as a spares or repairs jobby. Presumably the seller looked at it and decided it would be far better to have it as a going concern, hence getting it fixed to sell - which is what most of us would do.
You mustn't be scared by things like this, as there's usually a valid reason - but you must view it with your eyes wide open, just in case they are attempting to mask any inherent issue with the build (or car itself).
As an aside, buying a complete turn-key car is always cheaper than building it yourself, in my experience. You may put down parts prices on paper and see it stack up as less, but the reality is usually very different. All those little bits of extra pipe you need, the tools, the mapping time, all stack up very, very quickly - and that's without finding out there's a problem along the way...
Man of Honour
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My cost breakdown was fairly generous based off what I've spent rounding a lot of the costs up the odd £20-30
The one you linked will have had a clutch replacement because the stock clutch just doesn't hold up to much over 160ft/lbs or so
The one you linked will have had a clutch replacement because the stock clutch just doesn't hold up to much over 160ft/lbs or so
I have just had to change the clutch on my MX5 after it broke into many many pieces! Few slightly worrying things I found whilst taking the gearbox off, such as 2 of the bolts missing from the bell housing.
Decided it would be a good idea to replace both the front and rear seals on the gearbox along with the rear engine seal as well. Still need to order a rear engine temp sensor, as I found out the one that was on there had almost snapped.
Clutch seems a lot lighter now than before, and I think i have managed to get rid of most of the gear lash noises when lifting off after adjusting the PPF
This is the remains of the clutch, I still think i am missing a few pieces of it over the driveway as it all fell out and went everywhere!
Not really sure at the minute whether to keep the MX5, or move it on for something else, it is getting a bit old now and seems to need more spending on keeping it running than before
Decided it would be a good idea to replace both the front and rear seals on the gearbox along with the rear engine seal as well. Still need to order a rear engine temp sensor, as I found out the one that was on there had almost snapped.
Clutch seems a lot lighter now than before, and I think i have managed to get rid of most of the gear lash noises when lifting off after adjusting the PPF
This is the remains of the clutch, I still think i am missing a few pieces of it over the driveway as it all fell out and went everywhere!
Not really sure at the minute whether to keep the MX5, or move it on for something else, it is getting a bit old now and seems to need more spending on keeping it running than before