Post by JoeyD on Mar 28, 2017 14:54:24 GMT
Not quite sure how I've not seen this forum before, but hello everyone!
I've been on another MX5 related forum for a while now, but lets start from the beginning.
This is my 6th MX5, first MK3 and probably my favourite. Although I do have a special soft spot for my last ITB'd MK1
(anyone know where it is?)
Anyway, I've owned this MK3 for little over a year now. I bought it from a Ford/Mazda dealer in Eastleigh with around 6,000 miles on the clock. It started life as a Roadster/coupe Sport-tech Recaro from 2014 (I personally think it was destined to become a Jota car, but they hardly sold any!) and I've slowly turned it into what is an absolute riot to drive.
The main motivation for buying it was that I was kind of fed up with old car problems, I'd spent a lot of money on my MK1 and after it was all 'finished' and ready to use on track it suddenly started chugging blue smoke out the back on its first trackday outing. So I spat my dummy out and got rid at a considerable loss. I'd driven a friends MK4 MX5 and it was a revelation; essentially better in every way than the earlier cars, so that was that!
I drove it around like this for quite a while and it was very good. I put a good few thousand miles on it and really did enjoy it as a standard car! I added HID's for night time driving (I know, chav!) various LED bulbs and didn't really do a whole lot else.
The first proper 'mod' I did was add a Cobra back-box from Rodders.
This on its own sounded great! Gave nice little pops and burbles and added a whole new dimension to the drive.
The next major mod was a set of Tein MonoSport coilovers. Again, a huge improvement over the standard Bilsteins. They're a little odd in the way that they're priced though (between Meisters and Ohlins I guess). Don't get me wrong, they feel like a quality item and they ride okay (maybe a bit stiff for daily use) but I kind of wish I'd spent the extra couple of hundred quid and gone for Ohlins instead. I think when I finally get it on a track I'll find out just how good they are. They're proving to be properly good now it's all been set up though!
I drove it around like this, unaligned for quite a long time looking back. Was kinda too low there really. It stayed like this for a few months before I had a major wobble and almost sold it. Fortunately it fell through and I decided to stop being a fanny and just make it awesome.
So I bought a set of 595RSR's (Awesome tyre for anyone interested - really highly recommend!) and I got the steering wheel re-trimmed by Royal steering wheels who I would also highly recommend. Great service and it didn't take long at all to complete.
The steering wheel is something that I feel really lets the NC down, it's just way too thin!
I then started to get really brave and ordered some parts from CarbonMiata. I fitted the ducktail straight away, but the lip proved a little more tricky to fit and I'm still not 100% happy with it if I'm honest.
Another thing I had been quite unhappy with was the standard brakes. Now I know you can happily track an NC on the stock brakes, but I think this car had been sitting a while before I'd bought it, so the pads and discs were all pretty crap. I don't think the front discs were warped, but they must've had a lot of pad deposit on them because the steering wheel shake was simply horrific! I decided to take care of them for good with a pair of Wilwood 4-pots for the front with DS2500's and oem Brembo discs. The rear I've just used OEM spec Brembo pads and discs. I had wilwoods on my MK1 but they were nothing like these! The braking performance is now frankly scary. Despite having ABS I've managed to lock the front wheels momentarily at around 50-60mph (although I was kind of being a Canoe and trying to provoke it). These added with the RSR's are an awesome combination and it's never been so fun to slow down!
Unfortunately, I quickly realised these wouldn't fit behind the standard wheels. Okay, perhaps a 3mm spacer would have sufficed but why skimp now?!
I spotted these on eBay having never even heard of them before!
They're O.Z. Leggera's in 17x8 et45 and they had a set of very worn AD08-R's in a size too small. These were quickly swapped to the RSR's
As you can see, the tyres looked tiny!
vs with the RSR's (and wilwoods)
Was becoming really pleased with the car by this point. It looked, in my eyes, the absolute nuts (lol)!
Thing is, it was beginning to feel a little asthmatic at the top end. I didn't want to go mad with power mods, you quickly become used to more power, so I decided to just stick with an IL-motorsports manifold for now. It really is a nice little improvement, but the volume of the exhaust quickly becomes anti-social!
I will probably choose something a little quieter in the future...
So fast forward to this month, and it's due for its first MOT! With the manifold fitted, the EML was lit up so I really needed it re-mapping. So I spoke to Blink who were great! There was a lot of "while I'm here can I have this done" going on. So I ended up with a trackday alignment, they fitted my RX8 anti-roll bars, engine, gearbox and diff oil change along with my remap. And honestly, the car is transformed! I have driven like a complete c**t the past few days and it just laps it up. Never have I driven such a confidence inspiring car, just throw it in and hang on! The only time it's gotten a little hairy is under hard braking on a properly uneven road it kind of darts around with the camber. But it'll be brilliant on track!
Here's the alignment:
and the map:
That's 140hp at the hubs= ~180 at the fly. More than enough for now!
And here's some recent pictures! (Note the more functional ride height!)
Now to decide whether to do Anglesey or Oulton first....
Thanks for reading!
I've been on another MX5 related forum for a while now, but lets start from the beginning.
This is my 6th MX5, first MK3 and probably my favourite. Although I do have a special soft spot for my last ITB'd MK1
(anyone know where it is?)
Anyway, I've owned this MK3 for little over a year now. I bought it from a Ford/Mazda dealer in Eastleigh with around 6,000 miles on the clock. It started life as a Roadster/coupe Sport-tech Recaro from 2014 (I personally think it was destined to become a Jota car, but they hardly sold any!) and I've slowly turned it into what is an absolute riot to drive.
The main motivation for buying it was that I was kind of fed up with old car problems, I'd spent a lot of money on my MK1 and after it was all 'finished' and ready to use on track it suddenly started chugging blue smoke out the back on its first trackday outing. So I spat my dummy out and got rid at a considerable loss. I'd driven a friends MK4 MX5 and it was a revelation; essentially better in every way than the earlier cars, so that was that!
I drove it around like this for quite a while and it was very good. I put a good few thousand miles on it and really did enjoy it as a standard car! I added HID's for night time driving (I know, chav!) various LED bulbs and didn't really do a whole lot else.
The first proper 'mod' I did was add a Cobra back-box from Rodders.
This on its own sounded great! Gave nice little pops and burbles and added a whole new dimension to the drive.
The next major mod was a set of Tein MonoSport coilovers. Again, a huge improvement over the standard Bilsteins. They're a little odd in the way that they're priced though (between Meisters and Ohlins I guess). Don't get me wrong, they feel like a quality item and they ride okay (maybe a bit stiff for daily use) but I kind of wish I'd spent the extra couple of hundred quid and gone for Ohlins instead. I think when I finally get it on a track I'll find out just how good they are. They're proving to be properly good now it's all been set up though!
I drove it around like this, unaligned for quite a long time looking back. Was kinda too low there really. It stayed like this for a few months before I had a major wobble and almost sold it. Fortunately it fell through and I decided to stop being a fanny and just make it awesome.
So I bought a set of 595RSR's (Awesome tyre for anyone interested - really highly recommend!) and I got the steering wheel re-trimmed by Royal steering wheels who I would also highly recommend. Great service and it didn't take long at all to complete.
The steering wheel is something that I feel really lets the NC down, it's just way too thin!
I then started to get really brave and ordered some parts from CarbonMiata. I fitted the ducktail straight away, but the lip proved a little more tricky to fit and I'm still not 100% happy with it if I'm honest.
Another thing I had been quite unhappy with was the standard brakes. Now I know you can happily track an NC on the stock brakes, but I think this car had been sitting a while before I'd bought it, so the pads and discs were all pretty crap. I don't think the front discs were warped, but they must've had a lot of pad deposit on them because the steering wheel shake was simply horrific! I decided to take care of them for good with a pair of Wilwood 4-pots for the front with DS2500's and oem Brembo discs. The rear I've just used OEM spec Brembo pads and discs. I had wilwoods on my MK1 but they were nothing like these! The braking performance is now frankly scary. Despite having ABS I've managed to lock the front wheels momentarily at around 50-60mph (although I was kind of being a Canoe and trying to provoke it). These added with the RSR's are an awesome combination and it's never been so fun to slow down!
Unfortunately, I quickly realised these wouldn't fit behind the standard wheels. Okay, perhaps a 3mm spacer would have sufficed but why skimp now?!
I spotted these on eBay having never even heard of them before!
They're O.Z. Leggera's in 17x8 et45 and they had a set of very worn AD08-R's in a size too small. These were quickly swapped to the RSR's
As you can see, the tyres looked tiny!
vs with the RSR's (and wilwoods)
Was becoming really pleased with the car by this point. It looked, in my eyes, the absolute nuts (lol)!
Thing is, it was beginning to feel a little asthmatic at the top end. I didn't want to go mad with power mods, you quickly become used to more power, so I decided to just stick with an IL-motorsports manifold for now. It really is a nice little improvement, but the volume of the exhaust quickly becomes anti-social!
I will probably choose something a little quieter in the future...
So fast forward to this month, and it's due for its first MOT! With the manifold fitted, the EML was lit up so I really needed it re-mapping. So I spoke to Blink who were great! There was a lot of "while I'm here can I have this done" going on. So I ended up with a trackday alignment, they fitted my RX8 anti-roll bars, engine, gearbox and diff oil change along with my remap. And honestly, the car is transformed! I have driven like a complete c**t the past few days and it just laps it up. Never have I driven such a confidence inspiring car, just throw it in and hang on! The only time it's gotten a little hairy is under hard braking on a properly uneven road it kind of darts around with the camber. But it'll be brilliant on track!
Here's the alignment:
and the map:
That's 140hp at the hubs= ~180 at the fly. More than enough for now!
And here's some recent pictures! (Note the more functional ride height!)
Now to decide whether to do Anglesey or Oulton first....
Thanks for reading!
le sigh