Sheepish's NB8B

[Sheepish]

Well after a few months of ownership and half a lifetime of wanting an MX-5 I guess it's finally time to introduce myself and my car to these great forums.

(Warning: Story ahead, scroll down to the first pics of the MX-5 to skip most of it )

First, introductions, the name's Callan, I'm 20 and currently live in Tamworth, country NSW, originally from Leeton, VERY country NSW. The name Sheepish I guess comes from my shy and quiet nature around people I don't know, though once you do get to know me I become a completely different animal

Now the cars, I've been interested in them since I was about 10 with dreams of becoming a mechanic and a passion for most things with wheels (although now I'm a network administrator, funny how plans change ). My first car was this 1995 Suzuki Swift GTi:



After owning it for a year, and securing a better job with decent cash flow in the mean time, I decided it was time to look for an upgrade and the next logical step was obviously to sell the Swift and buy an even smaller, less practical, though every bit a drivers car

So I trolled all the usual online car sites and come up with a winner, a classic red 2000 model NB8B for only $12,500! All be it with 180,000 km's... I started e-mailing the guy who owned it and arranged a day to go down to see the car and take it for a test drive (the car was in Newcastle). It looked like it had been perfectly kept and after finding out the guy that owned it was an avionics technician for the RAAF it made sense why it still felt so good after so many years and so many km's.

Here's how she looked before I brought her home (stock like a rock basically ):






(Story ends here, the madness begins )

My friend also had an MX-5 (Twinlol on these forums) and as we all know your addiction is always better when you've got someone to share it with:



So with my pride and joy finally home my attention turned to what I wanted to do with it, performance and style wise.

So far the list of mods completed stands at:

CF SMB CAI (courtesy of honki3rider on these forums) which made the best ever intake noise
SMB extractor back system (currently only the muffler is fitted due to Twinlol and I having trouble fitting them by ourselves )
Rays Engineering Volk Racing CE28N's (bronze) in 15x7 (only 4.1kgs each) covered in Bridgestone Adrenalin Potenza RE001 in 205/55R15 held on with Rays duralumin lock & nut set in black
Carbing Competition shifter
Changed the dash lights from red to blue
Changed the interior light to a 9 LED blue one
Installed a new stereo (Clarion FZ409A)
Installed a one DIN pocket (Soooooo handy)
Restyled plates to silver on black to match the car better the the ugly RTA yellow

Piccys of how the car looks now:



She's got my mum's approval







Plans for the future include (funds allowing ):

FM Butterfly brace
BD or MX5 Plus rollbar
Blitz ZZ-R coilovers

I will try to update this thread as the car progresses and when I get some better pictures with the car actually clean.

Thoughts?

[NMX516]

Looks good mate, and at a great price too. Red looks great for NB8B's

[Lokiel]

Looks great so far.

Consider adding chrome gauge rings look too, they look awesome with the blue dash IMHO.

Of your next upgrades, I can't recommend the MX5 Plus twin hoop roll bar enough, it incorporates a torque box and really stiffens up the chassis a lot, you'll notice it immediately.

[Gordo]

Looks great so far.

Consider adding chrome gauge rings look too, they look awesome with the blue dash IMHO.

Of your next upgrades, I can't recommend the MX5 Plus twin hoop roll bar enough, it incorporates a torque box and really stiffens up the chassis a lot, you'll notice it immediately.

just to add my 2c I have a BD roll bar and it changes the car alot. Plus it also comes with CAMS paper work so if you ever do some track days it comes in handy. Just a tip for your needles I see there pink in the pic. What I did to make them red was to sand away the paint and buy red needle paint from ebay. (Makes it look better IMO)

[honki3rider]

I think we want to see the sexy intake in your engine bay.

In my opinion, a bit of low And a roll bar will set it off!

[track_addict]

Looks good mate. I have a soft spot for CE28N's and I have to say they look awesome on the red. Sounds like it came from good hands, even if those Avionics people are a bit strange . Aircraft Engineers are super anal so I bet she was in tip top shape.

I'm gonna second the low and roll bar notion . Keep it up dude, keen too see how she turns out.

[sliq]

sweet ce28's and gear knob

[Sheepish]

Thanks for all the comments guys, will try to get some nice photos after work tomorrow (inculding the engine bay honki3rider ) as I washed the car today so hopefully she should look tip-top

Red looks great for NB8B's

I have a soft spot for CE28N's and I have to say they look awesome on the red. Sounds like it came from good hands, even if those Avionics people are a bit strange . Aircraft Engineers are super anal so I bet she was in tip top shape.

The colour was one of the first things that drew me to the car, even in the ads it stood out alot compared to all the other silver 8B at the price point. I was amazed at the condition she was in for the km's, I was expecting to be let down and have to look else where, but it looked better then some of the other 8B's I'd seen with half the km's!

Of your next upgrades, I can't recommend the MX5 Plus twin hoop roll bar enough, it incorporates a torque box and really stiffens up the chassis a lot, you'll notice it immediately.

I have a BD roll bar and it changes the car alot. Plus it also comes with CAMS paper work so if you ever do some track days it comes in handy. Just a tip for your needles I see there pink in the pic. What I did to make them red was to sand away the paint and buy red needle paint from ebay. (Makes it look better IMO)

I am actually thinking about the MX5 Plus CAMS spec single hoop at the moment as it doesn't use the seat belt mounting points (illegal for road use I think) like the BD, but would still be good CAMS-wise for track days.

Also thanks for the tip about the needles, been thinking about replacing the guage window as it has stains on it so may do both of these at once

In my opinion, a bit of low And a roll bar will set it off!

I'm gonna second the low and roll bar notion .

Roll bar and coilovers will hopefully get done by the end of the year, FM brace first as it should of already been on the car but there's been delays (e-mailed Mania today for an update, will ring tomorrow if I can find time).

sweet ce28's and gear knob

Thanks Sliq, big thanks to Jesse Streeter for finding them for me

[sliq]

i would have loved to hear that SMB intake alone (without the exhaust).

[twinlol]

i would have loved to hear that SMB intake alone (without the exhaust).

It sounded like a combination of Jesus and Fergie.

[Sheepish]

i would have loved to hear that SMB intake alone (without the exhaust).

I do actually have a sound clip of the intake from inside the car doing an run up to about 160 kp/h I think (on private property of course ) I will try to get it up when I get home this afternoon.

[Sheepish]

Finally had time yesterday to get out and get some pics, just in time too because it's been raining all today





Engine bay for honki3rider



And my personal favourite:

[slug_dub]

Great looking car Sheepish (as is Twinlol's ;) ), the wheels suit the NB very well!

Its awesome you guys being pals to work on your cars... twice the building fun and twice the hands.

[twinlol]

Great looking car Sheepish (as is Twinlol's ;) ), the wheels suit the NB very well!

Its awesome you guys being pals to work on your cars... twice the building fun and twice the hands.

And twice the money to spend on tools

One of these days a job we do will be without complication I swear.

[slug_dub]

I think running into complications on anything you do to the car is par for the course... I can get a good idea of how long we'll be at some job if I estimate the time it'll take and then triple it!

Now if only I could convince my pal to buy a 5...