FWD sucks, so here’s a RWD project (MX-5 NC)

[Waitey]

As you know after the Westfield’s I didn’t get in at all with Cubs Supercharged 172.

So while the Clio was up for sale, I started looking at other options.

Having had a Mk1 MX-5 turbo many years a go I started looking at those. Sadly they are all either rusted or other bell ends have got to them. The good standard ones are £4K now too.

So onto MK2’s, 1.8 sport models have the good VVT engine, 6 speed box and LSD, but again these are rust, a bit dated but not in a cool way and one in good nick is £2k+.

Then I looked at MK3’s. 2.0 sports, they have the good MZR/Duratec engine, better 6 speed box, and LSD. As well as a decent cabin, electric everything. I had no idea how much these were, so I went on to the worst place to buy things, Facebook marketplace.

And I bought the cheapest one (sub £2k).... Bought in the dark without even starting it, just winched it on the trailer...

Here she is.

So because it’s the UK, I woke up the next morning to snow...

Gave it a wash, pumped the tyres up to over 12psi and took it for a drive....

Surprise surprise! It’s broken. Other than that it drove ok.

Needs a new O2 sensor. No biggie.

Overall it’s not in bad nick. Some surface rust, the interior smells. All the brakes are new, wheels are hella curbed, the roof is water tight.

Plans are:

Bolt this to it and blow it up...

Full Cosworth designed supercharger kit, these killed loads of engines back in the day, so much so, Cosworth stopped selling the kit. Lately it was found that it was a oversight in the mapping which caused all the issues!

Then it needs:
Coilovers
Manifold and Exhaust
DS2500 pads
Stickier rubber.

Should be a laught with 280bhp.

Wish me luck....

 

[Darren61]

You’ll be the fastest hairdresser on track!

 

[bashracing]

Annnnddd off to eBay I go,

 

[Euan94]

Bet that’ll be fun, I’ve been looking at the 2.0L lately but the fact they also rust has put me off, really can’t be bothered with that anymore.

 

[bashracing]

Caterham CSR260 engine complete including management,
on Faceache £7000

 

[Waitey]

Caterham CSR260 engine complete including management,
on Faceache £7000

View attachment 1404684

The CSR unit was pretty flawed. Still on the older and weaker ford crank.

I paid the same for my 300bhp all steel Duratec with ECU and dash set up.

 

[bashracing]

That one's fully forged he reckons it cost £20k to build

 

[Waitey]

That one's fully forged he reckons it cost £20k to build

Yeah mine came with £26k worth of bills... big power N/A is mega dolla....

 

[Waitey]

Bought some ex display B14 PSS coil overs for £500 this eve.

And the modding starts.

As a side note, I drove it to the supermarket this aft, it’s actually a good car!

Gearbox and diff need some fresh oil but other than that it’s pretty good.

 

[Cookie]

Nice. My wife has one (2.0 roadster with the folding hard top). Needs less wallowy suspension but fine aside from that. It goes sideways well

 

[JB21]

Looks good. Dibs when you build it to track spec and sell a week later ?

 

[Waitey]

Looks good. Dibs when you build it to track spec and sell a week later ?

That is the plan.

Turns out I like the building more than the driving....

 

[R3k1355]

Nice. My wife has one (2.0 roadster with the folding hard top). Needs less wallowy suspension but fine aside from that. It goes sideways well

Could spec them with Billys IIRC, people often moan those are too stiff, lol!

 

[Hixle]

Could spec them with Billys IIRC, people often moan those are too stiff, lol!

Yeah, mine has Bilsteins, iirc the folding hard tops are more wallowy that the (far cooler) soft tops.

Good work @Waitey

 

[mr bognor]

That's my title at the moment

You’ll be the fastest hairdresser on track!

 

[leeds_182]

My pals got one which he’s put a stainless on and some springs. I quite like the look of them if not a little slow as standard.

 

[R3k1355]

I quite like the look of them if not a little slow as standard.

Never been a fast car though, I kinda respect Mazda for sticking to a simple recipe, not going overboard and f**king it up.

 

[Sir_Dave]

I've always thought these look great after being lowered a good foot or so.

They come as standard with the kind of arch gap that only @gally could love.

 

[Waitey]

My pals got one which he’s put a stainless on and some springs. I quite like the look of them if not a little slow as standard.

View attachment 1404769

The facelifts look a lot better. Tempted to put that front on this. If you get lucky finding a bumper its only a £250 swap.

 

[Mr Burns]

I didn't keep mine long although I might regret selling it. Despite what the MX-5 community say I think it was a much better car than the Mk1, although I do agree that it lacks the charm of the old one. They go well on track in the right hands, but I decided mine wasn't a keeper. Worst thing for me was the vague steering and how heavy it felt, but mine had the electric roof. I've driven cloth-tops though and they feel equally overweight imo.
I'm sure that with the extra ponies it'll be great fun... I've driven my mate's turbo Mk3 and it does put a big grin on my face to be fair!

 

[Waitey]

I didn't keep mine long although I might regret selling it. Despite what the MX-5 community say I think it was a much better car than the Mk1, although I do agree that it lacks the charm of the old one. They go well on track in the right hands, but I decided mine wasn't a keeper. Worst thing for me was the vague steering and how heavy it felt, but mine had the electric roof. I've driven cloth-tops though and they feel equally overweight imo.
I'm sure that with the extra ponies it'll be great fun... I've driven my mate's turbo Mk3 and it does put a big grin on my face to be fair!

View attachment 1404774

I'd have had your Ohlins.. haha.

They feel totally different to a MK1 yes.

I was going to convert this to an electric pump before I found the charger. Now it makes more sense to keep the pump since it's on the belt routing I'll be using.

 

[Waitey]

Bargain B14’s are here. Glad to see they are the newer version with the helper spring.

 

[R3k1355]

Where did you buy the coilovers from that cheap?

 

[Waitey]

Where did you buy the coilovers from that cheap?

Tweaks clearance site. The box had damage...

 

[Waitey]

Charger is here!

I’m missing a lot of bits haha.

 

[Coops Mk1]

My Pa has a 2.0 sport, used it daily for last 8 years ish, it's a nice thing and I've always had soft spot for any mx-5 tbh.

Looking forward to rods all across the track

 

[Waitey]

My Pa has a 2.0 sport, used it daily for last 8 years ish, it's a nice thing and I've always had soft spot for any mx-5 tbh.

Looking forward to rods all across the track

I've already ordered a 3" pulley to replace the 3.3" one.

Rods exit stage right...

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

Great choice I had a mk3 as a daily and for track use. They’re bargains for sub 2k. Check the drain holes aren’t blocked for the soft top gutter, and get a trombone brush if they need cleaning (eBay)

Want any pads for it get in touch

 

[Waitey]

Great choice I had a mk3 as a daily and for track use. They’re bargains for sub 2k. Check the drain holes aren’t blocked for the soft top gutter, and get a trombone brush if they need cleaning (eBay)

Want any pads for it get in touch

Thanks G.

I’ve got some M1166’s already, to see how they go.

 

[Cookson]

Tweaks clearance site. The box had damage...

Tweeks have a clearance section? Linky?

 

[Waitey]

Tweeks have a clearance section? Linky?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/demontweeksoutlet?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754

I just check the eBay store.

 

[Rojer]

Awesome, i haven't seen the Cosworth kit before. How come you decided on charger over turbo? Pure cost or fitting etc?

 

[Waitey]

Awesome, i haven't seen the Cosworth kit before. How come you decided on charger over turbo? Pure cost or fitting etc?

I’ve had a turbo MK1. So I fancied something different.

If I was going all out, I’d have just put a 2.5 Duratec in it and an GT30 on the side. 400bhp and 400lbft all day long. But I’d be £5k just for the engine and turbo set up.

I hope this car will come to about £5k all in.

 

[Waitey]

So I took it out yesterday, like you would an actual normal car.

It’s not half bad, DSC off means you can do burnouts which is a laugh. It doesn’t have enough power to side in the dry really.

On that front, f**k me is it slow! Deffo needs another 130bhp!

 

[Waitey]

Just ordered a tiny pulley for the supercharger. Its going to be operating right at the limit of its operational window...

Need to come up with a good heat management technique. May go down the water injection route so I can actually use it on track....

 

[alistairolsen]

Or just get it installed and running first before you worry about screwing the last few hp out of an inadequately sized charger and melting things.

 

[Waitey]

Or just get it installed and running first before you worry about screwing the last few hp out of an inadequately sized charger and melting things.

Well that’s just dull...

 

[alistairolsen]

I can totally understand wanting more power in an MX5, but it seems like youve decided to buy a small pulley to squeeze another 20-30bhp out of a setup youve not even installed yet, which is an admission that the charger isnt big enough for what you want and in the meantime you still have no power.

No chance I'd ever be resorting to band aids like water injection on a road car simply because of a compromised setup

 

[Waitey]

I can totally understand wanting more power in an MX5, but it seems like youve decided to buy a small pulley to squeeze another 20-30bhp out of a setup youve not even installed yet, which is an admission that the charger isnt big enough for what you want and in the meantime you still have no power.

No chance I'd ever be resorting to band aids like water injection on a road car simply because of a compromised setup

Its more the limitations with the current set up, doing it in stages just isn't cost effective.

These 2.0 units can happily take nearly 1 bar before going bang, so thats what I'm going to feed it. Then I have to deal with the fact 1 bar out of an M62 on a 2.0 will give me an outlet temp of 120deg C. There is a laminova heat exchanger after that, but assuming 40deg water in on the twin loop system, I'll only be getting the charge down to 87deg C. Which is fine, but not great.

A 250cc flow of water through the rota's when above 6psi, will take around 36deg C off the initial charge temp, giving me mid 50's after the cooler, which is the range a normal turbo car would operate in.

The car is track only, and a toy/build project at that. If I could get it to run 290bhp/250lb/ft at the fly it'll be pretty impressive.

The peak RPM on this version of a M62 is 16200rpm, on the pulley I've bought I'll be seeing 14900 rpm at redline. So still a little headroom for a smaller pulley again, not one sells it though, so I'd have to have mine machined down...

It'll deffo go bang, or the clutch will give. Which comes first will be a surprise.

In the USA someone is running 310bhp at the wheels on a smaller pulley, head work, and a built bottom end. So there's room for more out of it. In real terms the M62 could run 330bhp at the fly in a 2.0 or 350bhp at the fly on a 2.5. Getting it to not just be a dyno queen will be fun!

 

[alistairolsen]

Yeah but all that means is that the M62 is simply the wrong blower IMHO.