Would you get your spanners out?

It's not as much as they list it for me, as i say I got a deal if I act as reference for the kit in the future.

But yes I can see your point, but the MX5 is just my sort of car and I've always wanted a supercharged motor.

If all goes well I'm going to end up with something that reminds me of the good old days of tootling around in my mates old Spitfire but not so much of the tootling but still not stupidly powerful, overly so, for my preferred real world driving adventures with enough power to enjoy track days without spending half the day letting other cars through on the straights.
 
if it were me I'd do it... but you're asking whether you need a torque wrench... hmm... I'm not so sure it's a good idea if I'm honest. If what you want from us is a list of necessary tools then I'm afraid we won't be able to tell you 100% - there's bound to be a few specific items we've missed.

if you're planning on doing your own maintenance - because I don't have a clue what you'll need for that specific job - then you'll need:

  • torque wrenches (big and small)
  • screwdrivers - small/large flat/philips
  • open ended spanners
  • ring spanners - ratchet spanners can be a godsend too sometimes if you can afford them, though these aren't a replacement for ring spanners.
  • socket set and ratchet/s
  • pliers and snips - various
  • soft and hard mallets
  • hammer
  • adjustable wrench
  • blade
  • jack and stands
  • hose clamps
  • hose clip pliers
  • chain wrench
  • pry bars*
  • a g-clamp or 2*

you'll need some penetrative (oo-er) fluid as well like plusgas, though wd40 will do, and some copper slip

* you might be able to do without these for this particular job

good luck!

B@
 
Firestar_3x said:
Lot of money to spend supercharging a 5 imho.
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It is but some of the more common/cheaper 'easy' options are drying up, especially if you want new parts. The Eaton M45 chargers (from the BMW Mini) so often used on charged 5's are becoming harder to find in good condition and fetch more money than they used to. TR Lane have also stopped producing their supercharger bracket/adaptor setup. If you want new bits, supercharging became a lot harder.

Turbo MX5s have become a bit easier though (Sturovo on MX5Nutz making kits to suit whatever turbo you want with a range of flange/bolt configurations, decat downpipes, top or bottom mount turbos etc) and if I was wanting to add boost to a Mk1/Mk2 MX5 the turbo route is the way I'd be going!
 
wesimmo said:
It's not as much as they list it for me, as i say I got a deal if I act as reference for the kit in the future.

But yes I can see your point, but the MX5 is just my sort of car and I've always wanted a supercharged motor.

If all goes well I'm going to end up with something that reminds me of the good old days of tootling around in my mates old Spitfire but not so much of the tootling but still not stupidly powerful, overly so, for my preferred real world driving adventures with enough power to enjoy track days without spending half the day letting other cars through on the straights.
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Buy a secondhand JR kit, get the supercharger rebuilt, and live happy, knowing you get a good power upgrade without spending massive amounts of money.

Will said:
It is but some of the more common/cheaper 'easy' options are drying up, especially if you want new parts. The Eaton M45 chargers (from the BMW Mini) so often used on charged 5's are becoming harder to find in good condition and fetch more money than they used to. TR Lane have also stopped producing their supercharger bracket/adaptor setup. If you want new bits, supercharging became a lot harder.

Turbo MX5s have become a bit easier though (Sturovo on MX5Nutz making kits to suit whatever turbo you want with a range of flange/bolt configurations, decat downpipes, top or bottom mount turbos etc) and if I was wanting to add boost to a Mk1/Mk2 MX5 the turbo route is the way I'd be going!
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Sounds like everyman and his dog are doing it ourdays!

TBH if i was to build another FI 5 i'd go down the Turbo route, far more power for similar cash.

I was put off by the oil feed and drain routing, but tbh after modding a MK1 SC kit to fit a Mk2, it would have been easier to turbo.
 
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Bravo for supercharging! doing it properly it seems!

I'm fairly sure that would be a bit of a job to get on, wouldn't he have to look into fueling too?
 
Genuinely, thanks for all the feedback, even the more doubtful posts are constructive.

I accept that turbos are probably more bang for buck, but my target was always about 200bhp as I think that's the sweet spot for me, and I wanted the more linear delivery of the supercharger, though again I recognise that modern turbo set ups are less laggy than was the case.
 
Another worthwhile thinking about, is getting an up rated radiator if you are planning on doing trackdays. The extra power running through will need extra cooling, but upgraded radiators can be had for around 150-200, which isn't too much. Otherwise you will find the car will overheat quicker, especially on warmer days.
 
Yep, the engine has 118k on it and I'd read that although the stock radiator will do fine at those miles under normal conditions, charging it would soon highlight any degradation in performance so I've budgeted for that too.
 
acemastr said:
That's a fair few miles to be adding 50% of power to, I'd have thought.
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If the engine's been looked after it'll be fine. He can do a compression test for peace of mind if he wants.

I'd be far more worried about the rust situation.


Good luck with the project - supercharging MX5s is great fun. I'm curious as to the level of discount you got, though. It cost me ~£1500 to have mine done (that did include fitting, though) and it was well worth it - it was like a different car.
 
acemastr said:
That's a fair few miles to be adding 50% of power to, I'd have thought.
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Should be fine. My Mk1 was on 145k when I added the supercharger to it, nothing driveline or engine related broke, just overheated on warm trackdays, as it was still on standard radiator
 
Bunka said:
Sounds like an awesome project and kudos to you for taking it on yourself.
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Re: the awesomeness of it, thanks. :)

As for taking it on myself, to be honest as I said above I was expecting more people to poo poo the idea and end up getting it installed by someone else, but if even here I get mostly positive comments and constructive criticism then I am getting quite excited about giving it a go!

I'll be seeing my mechanic friend next week to do the clutch upgrade, so I'll see how much he laughs at me before finally deciding, but if you've never failed it probably means you've never tried and part of the reason for not just blowing my fun car budget on something more expensive was I like tinkering with things, just never on this scale before.
 
Howard said:
If the engine's been looked after it'll be fine. He can do a compression test for peace of mind if he wants.

I'd be far more worried about the rust situation.


Good luck with the project - supercharging MX5s is great fun. I'm curious as to the level of discount you got, though. It cost me ~£1500 to have mine done (that did include fitting, though) and it was well worth it - it was like a different car.
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That's a good price, did you buy second hand bits? I'm looking at going for a SC but can't find d anything for vaguely sensible money.
 
Glad you said that, although I got a very good discount on the list price for any UK supplier with a UK warranty support, I paid a bit more than 1.5k just for the kit!
 
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