The Roadster NA Journey Begins

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:00 pm

Well the journey of my 1992 NA has started with the recent swapping of the auto to a 5 speed manual (thanks MX5 plus).

Its next appointment with MX5 Plus is in late February to have the diff replaced with a 4.1 Torsen as well as a set of BC Racing ER Coilovers installed.

March should see a set of either RFP1's or 949Racing 6UL's in 15x7 as well as larger brakes fitted.

Between April and September other mods (seats, roll cage, Flyin' Miata butterfly brace etc) will be done so that it is ready for the engine transplant. The aim is to make the car suitable for the potential power that the transplant engine will produce as well as shed some of the weight but not compromise safety.

Then hopefully in October 2012 the 1.8ltr transplant (again by MX5 plus) should be done including a new ECU. Once the engine is taken out I will send it away to get the engine bay painted whilst MX5 plus finishes off building the motor. At the moment it is planned to put on Jenvey ITB but the decision of a turbo or supercharger still has not been made however the engine will be built with this in mind. I have a preference for a supercharger due to the power delivery (plus I also have an 800M). Another thought is to install a 6 speed gearbox, this will depend on what is left out of my budget.

Once all this is done it should be time to learn how to drive it on a track

However at the same time my budget also needs to cope with restoring a 1980 Fiat X1/9 (it will become a classic racer and an everyday ride) as well having to finish my Eunos 800M (interior, wheels and tyres). By the way the family car is a 2009 Kia Grand Carnival.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:39 pm

Sounds like fun.

personally i would save the coin on the butterfly brace, i've got one and i'm not sure you'll notice the difference with a cage in the car.

Will the car be a track only car or registered? If registered do you mean a full cage or just a roll bar? Be aware that when the NCOP (new cope of practice for light vehicles) comes in full roll cages will not be able to be engineered.

ITB's are pretty pimp (i've got a mazdaspeed set) but why go that route if your going to boost the car, particularly turbo?
"Because i want to" is a perfectly acceptable answer here, it just a lot of expense for extremely small gains in terms of power.

Nick

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:22 pm

Thanks for the feedback on the barce!

The car will be road registered. Roll bar sorry for the confusion.

The ITB's are in case I don't go the turbo path.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:33 pm

Cool!

If you were looking for additional stiffening people have said good things about the boss frog - frog arms.

You will notice the difference with just a roll bar and the butterfly brace, but the $$ decision is up to you. Happy to take you for a ride once my car is back on the road so you can see if you can spot the difference. May be more noticeable on your car being an NA-6 with less bracing then my na-8.

Have you got the ITB's yet? If so that will make you the 3rd i know of in the brisbane area with itb's.
What ecu are you planning on using to run the ITB's?

There is a regular first friday of the month run up mt glorious. Plohl and i generally do add-hoc runs on weekends too if your interested. Unfortunately both of our cars are currently 1 foot in the air

I'd also REALLY encourage you to do your re-search on the Supercharger before you do it. It's alot harder to get working well then a turbo set up, and likely to end up more costly. However, i know of atleast three people who would be somewhat jealous if you have itb's and a supercharger ;).

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:47 pm

Thanks again, I do not spend much time in Brisbane at the moment as I am fly in fly out of WA. But I will let you know when I am home, I should be able to make sure that I am home on the first Friday of each month in future.

ECU at the moment looking at a Haltech PS1000.

I'm inclined towards a supercharger as my 800M has one and the power delivery is just awesome (but expensive to replace). Bullet supercars in Beenleigh make a supercharger for the 1.8 ltr engine couple however I'm not sure that they have done one with ITB's and yes it would be a nice mix. The ITB's will be purchased later on this year however the phleum made by Jenvey will add a fair bit of cost to the setup as well.

Again it will be a budget thing what the final build will be, at the moment I'm more concerned with getting everything else up to a decent standard before looking at power options. Plus I need to hide the real cost from my other half.

Postby **NitroDann** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 1:18 am

why dont you just get MS2?

Dann

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 7:37 am

Yah, I think there are better options than the halted for the price.

I personally went the adaptronic which seemed to have equal or better features for much less.

Dann loves the mega.squirt stuff out of the states. Its a bit like LINUX for ecu. Alot of tuners don't like them as most of their experience is worn the early ones which were a dog. Depends how much diy you like.

Yes jenvy plenum is expensive. Was going to do that myself however I think I can get a custom ally one cheaper. I'll let you know how I go.

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Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:15 am

Again thanks for the thoughts and comments. As the engine and stuff is some months away and I haven't settled on what will be the final build will be I'm open to options. However DIY is not the smartest thing for me to do at the moment as I'm only home for 5 days a month.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sun Feb 26, 2012 9:32 am

Well the bills are in for February and the figures are:

MX5 NA - Purchase price X, purchase date X
Dec 11 - New radiator, oil leak repairs, and other small issues as well as manual gearbox install - $2,200
Jan 12 - Nil
Feb 12 - BR Racing ER Coilovers - $1,700, 6UL wheels - $650, Full detail - $240
Early Mar 12 - Have 4.1 Torsen dif, coilovers installed and wheel alignment
Late Mar 12 - possible bigger brakes purchase

Eunos 800M - Purchase price $2,500, purchase date X
Up to Feb 12 - Repaint, major service, all bushes replaced, all engine mounts replaced, suspension/springs, Cat back exhaust (2.5" stainless steel mandrel bent) custom made by CES Racing and other stuff - DON'T ASK for the $ (but if people really are interested I can post it). CES Racing did wonders for the car with the exhaust!
Feb 12 - $750 for full set factory manuals (Pitstop Book store in Perth) as Mazda no longer supports the 800M, $650 to partially fix an electrical problem.

Fiat X1/9- Purchase price $2,500, purchase date X
Up to Feb 12 - very little, actually none since purchase apart from an inspection.
Feb 12 - $5,500 starting price for rust removal and paint touch up($1,000 spent to date), $780 for a Passenger Door as the one on car is too damaged to repair.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:47 pm

Photos of before and after wheel change.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Thu Mar 08, 2012 10:17 pm

Well alignment part done (needs to have the rear camber bolts replaced as it can not be adjusted below - 2º 22').
Anyway it drives a hell of a lot better, I just need to find a nice setting for the coilovers as they are a bit harsh at the moment, I may play around with them during the Brisbane MX5 Club run this Sunday.

Height was set at 125mm, I can't go any lower or else it will bottom out on my driveway.

Front
Toe mm (L/R) Before -1.7, 0.0 - After +0.7, +0.7
Camber (L/R) Before -01º47', -00º30' - After -01º26', -01º10'
Caster (L/R) Before +03º14,+03º15' - After +03º30', +03º07'

Rear
Toe mm (L/R) Before +1.9, -1.4 After +0.7, +0.7
Camber (L/R) Before -03º19', -01º31' - After -02º22', -01º56'

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 10:59 pm

Well the bills are in for March and the figures are:

MX5 NA - Purchase price X, purchase date X
Dec 11 - New radiator, oil leak repairs, and other small issues as well as manual gearbox install - $2,200
Jan 12 - Nil
Feb 12 - BR Racing ER Coilovers - $1,700, 6UL wheels - $650, Full detail - $240
Mar 12 - 4.1 Torsen dif, coilovers installed and wheel alignment $1,721, Air con change gas $240, UH7760NB (UHF Radio) antenna and install $599
Apr 12 -planning for NB8B brakes, braided brake lines, roll bar, rear camber bolts and alignment (again)

May 12 - planning seat/harness install.

Plus need to decide on engine as well as trying to keep it as legal as possible so limited to a SE Turbo engine transplant or go for a stroked 1.8? However the stroked would not end up as being legal as would need an aftermarket ECU as well as ITB's where as the SE transplant could be mod plated with no issues, decisions? But I still have a few months to decide as still looking at the cost options, maybe I should go an Exige instead...

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:28 pm

You should be able to get it engineered, especially if you sot the brake issues.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Sat Mar 31, 2012 8:29 am

Any turbo would be ok. The requirement to engineer it is debatable advertising to mx5 plus.

I can't see what about the 1.8 needs engineering If na?

Fyi, stroking make the rod ratio worse, and it's already not ideal. So more power low, but less ability to rev. Think about what you need.

Keep the stock stroke, oversize 11:1 pistons, itbs, and a decent cam and port would be my avenue for an na motor. I like to give it revs though.

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