The MX5

Off Topic My Ride
1

Ok, so I figure its about time to post some stuff about my car.

Its a 1994 MX5, bought it about 2 years ago now I think it would be and loved it straight away, its still very much a work in progress, but I still loves it :slight_smile:

Did a few little mods, exhaust, intake, extractors etc, but never really had enough power

A little while after I bought it, I took it out for its first track day, which was great fun, but near the end of the day, it started making a death rattle from the bottom end, which turned out to be a very screwed rod bearing…

And thus, into the garage we went for a DIY rebuild, unfortunatly a few things didn’t quite go right with that either, but it was an interesting learning experience, and having had an engine apart is helping me model engine bits!

So finally to get it right, i went to my favorite mechanic (carco.com.au - Great bloke) for a proper engine to be built for me, and this is what we ended up with the following.

Rebored.
Good Quality Cast Pistons & new rings. (compression left at 9:1 for turbo)
Tighe 805C Cams
SPOOL Forged Conrods
Head Porting and Valve Unshrouding
Internals Balanced
Extractors, 2 1/2" Exhaust, Dual Tip “RoadsterSport” Muffler
DIY Intake Snorkel (now broken…)
Adaptronic ECU.
Ceramic Puck Clutch

The dyno says it makes about 101kw at the wheels @ 7500 rpm, as compared to about 75kw @ 6000rpm for a stock one.

Sounds angry, and loves to hit the 8krpm limiter too, great fun!

It is however a bit touchy to drive with the grabby clutch and interesting power delivery.

Since then ive been to the track with it a few times and had a lot of fun in it

Its currently at my mechanics place in Canberra and im now living in Melbourne, He is starting it on cold mornings now and then to fix some tuning issues and I will pick the car up and bring it down here next time im in Canberra (I really miss the thing now!)

Needs a new soft top too, as the old ones rear window split in half…

Anyway, here is a big pile of pics and video of it! (click for larger)

youtube.com/watch?v=ThMUThUJO9M
youtube.com/watch?v=Y4bgqoXwN5o

i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn97/daffyflyer/th_n1071162091_223074_1627-1.jpg

i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn97/daffyflyer/th_1.jpg

i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn97/daffyflyer/th_06032009_003-1.jpg

i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn97/daffyflyer/th_100B2150.jpg

Me chasing down (and beating :stuck_out_tongue:) housemate’s MR2 Turbo

i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn97/daffyflyer/th_100B2010.jpg

And Below, my uncle coming into a corner a bit quick :slight_smile:

i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn97/daffyflyer/th_100B1940.jpg
i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn97/daffyflyer/th_100B1941.jpg
i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn97/daffyflyer/th_100B1942.jpg

i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn97/daffyflyer/th_100B1950.jpg

2

DIY rebuild didn’t quite go right? Nonsense! It was awesome -
“Yes. It does have spark.”
Also the “quirk” whereby somethingorother under the car needed to be held in place while starting it - I don’t remember what it was anymore, but I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what it was meant to do :smiley:

3

Looks real nice there Daffy, sounds pretty good too!

Would love to get onto a track one day. i used to live pretty much next door to Calder Park raceway but never really got down there with my car except as a spectator for the street legal drags.

4

Cheers das, i still need to spend a lot of money on fixing the paint and panels, but it sure does go well, and sound mean :smiley:

5

For those interested in more detail about my car, and also who’d like to see what I’m doing to as I go along (some new stuff coming), take a look at - mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=49744

6

Looks like a super fun car!

7

Now has a new soft top, a roll bar, decent brake pads and some paint fixing (ghetto) on the front bar. Pics to come when I have time :stuck_out_tongue:

8

It’ll catch fire?