Would you get your spanners out?

Makhaira said:
snip/ but I tinker with a lot of things and the advice I'd give since you're learning a new set of skills is in line with the comments above of take it slow - make sure you have a way to put tools down, cover it up, and leave it.

The reason I say that is if you get yourself into a mess you can't resolve, you want to be able to just put the stops on it, and leave it until you can get advice from your mates. To that end, invest in a good full car cover, and get stuck in :).
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I think the above is great advice.
I was going to ask if this is your daily driver but you've posted saying its 10 minutes on the bus... therefore; go for it but take your time and don't rush.
I would also suggest that if you are unsure about anything that you stop and ask. It's much better 'wasting' a bit of time checking than it is to replace/repair broken stuff with the benefit of hindsight!
 
Given all the feedback. I think my plan is this.....

Get the installation manual, I had asked for the e-version so i could read up but i got the shipping note today, so things just got real and i'll have the lot within a week, but anyway, if it's like their old 5psi kit then it's really very good and gives you a list of tools you'll need at the start.

If that's scary just reading it I might reconsider, especially if the tools are weird and wonderful, but surely if it's just a list of some spanners and common tools, there's going to be nothing that time, well documented procedures and YouTube won't help me get through.

The clutch will be done next Wednesday which gives me time to order brake pads, new radiator, new tyres and get the pads and tyres on.

While the clutch is being fitted get a proper mechanic i trust chance to go over anything that could be dangerous to other people, i.e. making sure the suspension, and brakes are 100%.

I can then go about learning something new, expecting to be off the road for a while, working on my new project safe in the knowledge that if i do something wrong it's only the engine that'll suffer and not someone else or me! ;)
 
As the Kraftwerks kit is American, expect some imperial sized bolts and fittings, I'd see if you can get the kit contents to see what size sockets/spanners you might need, if (like me) most of your tools are metric :p
 
Will said:
As the Kraftwerks kit is American, expect some imperial sized bolts and fittings, I'd see if you can get the kit contents to see what size sockets/spanners you might need, if (like me) most of your tools are metric :p
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This is the list for their old 5psi kit that had no intercooler, i can't find the new kit at the moment, but i have asked for it.

For tools you will need:
o A full set of metric wrenches from 8mm to 21mm
o A full set of metric sockets from 8mm to 21mm
o A screwdriver set
o A set of metric allen wrenches
o Wire Crimping Pliers
o Heat Gun or Butane Lighter
o Electrical Tape
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nice one.

now remember lots of pics and a build thread on here for us all to ooh and aah over.


hats off to you OP
 
Just had a horrible thought, I'm about 2/3 weeks into an insurance policy....going to have to check the T&Cs tomorrow, because I'm pretty sure whoever I'm with isn't a modification friendly insurer...
 
wesimmo said:
This is the list for their old 5psi kit that had no intercooler, i can't find the new kit at the moment, but i have asked for it.
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That sounds like you'll be using metric with this kit then. List of minimum tools required is handy :)

Are you registered on the MX5Nutz website yet? Thats probably the best place to ask for advice and tips, plenty of folk with experience of charging these cars, and expect they'd like a build thread on this new Rotrex kit, seeing as its new :)
 
Will said:
That sounds like you'll be using metric with this kit then. List of minimum tools required is handy :)

Are you registered on the MX5Nutz website yet? Thats probably the best place to ask for advice and tips, plenty of folk with experience of charging these cars, and expect they'd like a build thread on this new Rotrex kit, seeing as its new :)
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Done.

Though I have perhaps put myself under some pressure now. If the photos go from well documented to "and here's one I made earlier" you can assume I cheated and sent it away. ;)
 
Howard said:
It was a second hand JRSC kit :)
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And it was also quite a few years ago now :p

Prices seem to have gone up, probably due to the kits no longer being available new. Most kits seem to be around 1200 from what I have seen recently, and that will just be for the basics, without proper standalone management
 
I'd suggest (if you haven't already) looking up details of fitting your kit on forums - in lot of cases although kits appear to come with all the right parts there's still things which they either don't explain well or just fail to mention.

Never hurts to have a decent torque wrench in your set of tools, often helps to have a large one for wheel nuts, big chassis parts etc and a smaller one for other jobs a larger wrench on it's own won't go down to lower torques and can be hard to use in places of limited access. Course if the instructions for your kit don't specify any torques you'd just have to go off anything that's covered in the workshop manual etc.

In lot of cases the tools sold at Halfords are actually pretty good and reasonably priced. It's pretty difficult to expect to know at this point what other more specialised/specific tools you may need but if you are short of something then go out and buy one - that way you'll gradually fill in any gaps in your tool kit and never be stuck for that particular tool again :)
 
The mx5 is a great car to learn to tinker on.

However, I prefer a turbo for the mx5 - but I'm biased (had a 234bhp turbo'ed mx5!).

I managed to do a lot of the work myself, but had to get all the tuning/ecu stuff by someone else.
 
Go for it - especially as it seems you don't need the car. The MX5 is like lego to work on from the jobs i've done so far. Plenty of room at the front - the rad is a simple job too - I removed it when doing the cambelt on my mk2.5.

Any reason why you went with the Kraftwerks over fast forward superchargers aside from cost?

I've heard a bit of whinging about Kraftwerks, so just go in with your eyes open.
 
Oh, what whinges? Parts missing or not as bolt on as they claim?

But I'll admit cost was a consideration.

The apparent bolt on nature appealed too, such as the completely self contained oil system on the supercharger and lack of maintenance, apparently every 50,000 miles for a fluid change.

That plus the company importing it for me are giving me their warranty so I don't have to faff on with shipping backwards and forwards myself if things do go awry.
 
So.......this hasn't quite gone to plan.

I've now been without the car for 1.5 weeks and counting, but not due to my amateur spannering.

Due to changing jobs and getting a bit of consultancy work on the side I just couldn't find the time to be messing around and at the same time found a garage 30 mins away that race a couple of MX5s (including a 450bhp turbo one) and prepare other people's cars for them.

So off it went on Monday morning with the supercharger kit crammed into the boot and passenger seat, a set of Meister R coilovers and some uprated brake pads (EBC Yellow stuff) waiting at the garage and a 4 day wait for them to fit all that and do a full fast road alignment set up on their specialist equipment before i picked it up while i was in the area and had an afternoon off work to go for an interview on the Thursday.

End of day 2 i get the call..."Yeah well, this is proving more tricky than we thought, the kit isn't bolt on for the UK car, don't worry it should all be done for Thursday still, but just letting you know."

End of day 3 i get the call...."Well the good news is the kit is on, we got there and it looks really good, but it's not working." Turns out the engine is getting so little fuel it can't even idle despite a new fuel pump and 350cc injectors. They've been over everything they can think of so they suspect it comes down to the sealed box of magic tricks to adjust the fueling sent with the kit.

The guys in America say they want some photos of the install to see if they can diagnose it....i point out that the install is completely different to what they would recognise from a few photos as they have failed to inform me at any point that the differences in the UK and US cars is such that the kit doesn't fit my car, despite me telling them several times it was a UK car and them shipping it to the UK.

I've asked my importer to sort out my sending back any electronics and refunding some cash as I'm going full ECU now. That is now an ongoing saga i will update as and when it's resolved.

Given the the fact that Kraftwerks wanted me to wait 5 days until they even thought about dispatching a new fuel card as they were "stocktaking" and then 5 days for it to arrive and then it may still not work with the UK car, plus the additional install costs due to the differences, i think that's a more than reasonable request.

So Friday is spent trying to get my head around the ECU situation. Eventually i get put in touch with a guy from Greece who builds Megasquirt ECUs for MX5s, after a little persuasion he agrees to build one up for me with all the bits and sensors i need for the application and a half reasonable base map loaded within 2 days and get it shipped across. That should arrive tomorrow (Tuesday) at the garage along with a wideband sensor i'd ordered independently.

They have a classic mini booked in for a lot of work on Wednesday and normally UPS, who have the ECU, don't deliver to them until last thing so it looks like they're going to have to try and get my stuff fitted and tweak the map on the road on Thursday before i finish my (3rd and hopefully final) interview at about 3pm. Then it'll be time to book a dyno and get the final set up done.

This had better be worth it...
 
Ouch :(

I've read that many of the Kraftwerks kits are not a great fit on RHD cars, I know Andrew Moore (where has he gone?) had their kit for the K20/Civic SI which they reckoned would also fit the Civic Type R (FN2 shape) over here. Lots of fettling required...and not much help from the manufacture. They are proving unpopular on miata.net as well for messing folk around who had pre-ordered their Mk3 MX5 Rotrex based it, broken promises aplenty. After reading that thread I'm not sure I'd be rushing to give them my money unless backed up by a UK tuner who would back the product properly!

Which garage are you dealing with? AK Automotive? And is it Reverant, the greek guy you are getting your megasquirt built buy? His work is very well rated :) you'll end up with a much better setup using a standalone ECU like this than a powercard device or similar, assuming the mapping is decent.
 
Yep AK Automotive and Reverant are making it all work I hope....

As for dealing with Kraftwerks, I found it hard to swallow when they wanted to wait 5 days to send me a part to test if the original was faulty just because of a stock take, but hopefully they are now out of the loop, I'll be chasing up the refund / compensation with the importer as that's the reason i went with them.

At the end of the day the kit was essentially decent quality, but there's no way on earth i'd have managed to fit it myself and the ECU solution was always going to be the long term plan. So if the importer come good on doing something then I'll have almost certainly over paid on the components, but not by too much, but got a decent, reliable supercharged set up.
 
Well. Its a shame its not gone to plan, But if you think about it you actually gain as you have pro's installing it and a pro making an ECU for you.

I cant wait to see the results :)
 
Diagro said:
Well. Its a shame its not gone to plan, But if you think about it you actually gain as you have pro's installing it and a pro making an ECU for you.

I cant wait to see the results :)
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You can't? I was like a kid who found out Santa hadn't been when I found out it wasn't ready last week!

But yeah look for the positives, another one is getting it mapped means I'll have graphs and all sorts to show off in the pub.... ;)

edit: Oh and I found an old feature where Auto Express (I think) did a very similar conversion, the resulting MX5 was quicker to 60 than a brand new Boxster S and did a 1.16 lap versus the 1.13 the Boxster managed, mainly due to the braking power of the ceramic equipped Porsche.
 
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