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Post by lowender on Nov 27, 2017 19:31:15 GMT
Well I’ve had my car for over 5 years now, and thought it was time for a retrospective. Here's the current spec: Blink Motorsport stage 1 cylinder head and Piper cams Megasquirt 2 diy pnp ecu AEM x-series wideband GM IAT sensor Maf delete EGR delete Jackson Racing cold air intake Racing Beat exhaust manifold Racing Beat 200 cell cat Racing Beat cat back exhaust IL Motorsport lightweight flywheel 6kg IL Motorsport engine mounts Fast5 alloy radiator Braided short clutch line Moss 3-point engine bay brace Torsen 4.1 diff Superpro diff void fillers Ohlins DFV coilovers (8kg/6kg) Jackson Racing ARBs IL Motorsport suspension bushes IL Motorsport arb droplinks P5 frame rails De-powered steering rack (FM) Superpro steering rack bushes Garage Star steering rack risers Enkei RPF1 15x7 et35 wheels Rodders brake pads Jass brake stopper braided brake lines Vindi roll bar Nardi 370mm steering wheel Runabout M2 mirrors Zoom filler cap Jass lo pro headlights Here's what it looks like at the moment:  A brief history of how it got to this: As a 60th birthday present to myself, I decided I wanted a basic, light as possible Mk1 1.8, and went looking in 2012. I broke all the rules, and bought the first one I saw. BRG, multiple owners, 108k miles, patchy history, less than a grand, not too far away in deepest Somerset. Having done my homework, I knew what to look for, and it passed inspection. It was a bog standard UK car, with wind up windows and manual steering - just what I was looking for:  fDidn't like the mirrors, they're in the wrong place, I like to see them out of the quarter lights, so I plugged the holes with some Jass covers, and botched some old skool race mirrors on. It had heavy ROH wheels, so within a couple of weeks I picked up a nice set of Wats RS8s from Painter Dave and stuck some Rainexperts on:  Since the original Showas were knackered, rather than dive straight in and get decent coilovers, I thought it best to see how it handled with good standard suspension, to find out how it might be improved. So I bought these Sachs shocks and some of Autolink’s standard springs:  I did a Nutz Mission Motorsport track day at Llandow in 2013:  It was great fun, was super in the wet with the Rainexperts:  By this time, I had also got a Cobalt cat-back (since removed - too boomy) and a nice bit of bling in the form of a Zoom filler. One thing that really hacked me off was, having done a radical foamectomy and sitting quite low, I found the pop-ups really ruining the visibility, so I got myself a set of these lo-pros from Jass. Job done, plus a much better beam pattern:  To be continued…… |
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Post by lowender on Nov 27, 2017 20:49:24 GMT
Having hooned around in it for a bit, I did a lot of reading on suspension, and was particularly interested in what Phil (P5) and Stressed Dave had come up with as a replacement to the highly thought of P5 Puredrives, and decided to try and find the money for a set of the new Sportdrives. As luck would have it, a set came up used in classifieds, with mk2 top mounts, and I pounced on them for a good price:  The first thing was to send them off to Phil for a service, in the course of which he upgraded them to his latest (turned out to be the last) spec, with the damping optimised for road and track without user adjustment being needed. Just keep them on ‘full hard’ Phil said, and away you go. Moderate spring rates (350/250) and very carefully worked out damping. Very effective on track, and fab for the great British B-road - the car doesn’t want to chuck itself into the nearest hedge at high speed on bumpy surfaces, and it’s actually very comfortable. Very similar in behaviour to the Prodrive Bilstein set up I had on my old Impreza, and Prodrive certainly know their stuff. Shortly after fitting them, I did another Nutz Mission Motorsport track day, this time at Goodwood. Fabulous track, was on my bucket list. Here’s a shot of me being hunted down by Nick (skuzzle) in a particularly mental mk2:  I made a cheap diy cowl intake using the standard airbox, with a K&N panel filter, and fitted a fancy RS Aizawa engine bay brace I picked up from Alan McG. This has since gone to a new home, and replaced with a Cobalt one. And fitted a Fast5 radiator.  By this time, I had also found the hard top I was looking for on eBay, a Mazdaspeed light weight with a roof vent. Drove all the way to Southport to pick it up, and found it was very rough, not as advertised. Needed a lot of repairs, rear screen sorting, and a decent paint job. Costly, but hey, it’s got a roof vent, just like a racing car…..nice and light too. Here it is along with another set of wats, this time et25:  Also added about this time was a Vindi batchelor bar. I drove up to Russell’s on a nice evening to pick it up, chatted 5s for a while, fitted it the next day. Still have it.  Got a 4.1 Torsen from JYD, and fitted it along with Superpro void fillers. Did a few auto solos and sprints, with limited success (loads of fun though)   Due to coming last all the time, I decided it needed to be faster. Of course, it was really my driving that needed improving, but I’m still working on that. Meanwhile, more power! Having had a procession of turbo Subarus as dailies, I wanted to stay naturally aspirated, and decided on a Blink stage 1 set up. As luck would have it, a complete Blink’ed engine from a Westfield came up for a very reasonable price, and again, I pounced on it:  35D22DFB-A44D-48BB-8546-The original plan was to swap the whole thing into my car, but having lifted my old head and finding the bottom end in good nick, I thought again. As I had recently fitted a new clutch, lightweight flywheel, new rear seal etc I decided to just swap the head over. I just needed a Megasquirt, wideband, and an iat sensor. Blink supplied the MS2 pnp, and helpfully stuck the Westfield map on it. No issues with the swap, and fitting the ’squirt was straightforward enough. Well, sort of. Mines a '95.5 car, which is a bit different wiring loom wise than a '95 or '96. When I had it all together again, it fired up straight away, and ran pretty much perfectly. I’m currently waiting for a Racing Beat exhaust manifold to be delivered (waiting since september), and will take the car to Skuzzle when it finally arrives for a proper mapping session. Meanwhile, the Westfield map works very well. Car is much faster! Here’s the finished engine bay, complete with my version 2.1 diy cowl intake using a Pipercross enclosed filter and beefed-up heat shield:  Other work done in the last couple of years includes a full set of refurbed wishbones with IL motorsport bushes (again from classifieds), braided brake lines, Jass brake stopper, new calipers, drop links, thorough underseal, and realisation that the rear sills and arches will need to be done soon. Replaced the gash cheap mirrors with some used Runabout M2s. Got a custom cat back exhaust made up at Infinity Exhausts. Also, I finally found a used set of my favourite wheels, 14" RPF1. Stupid light at 3.8kg, decent price as they were as new and unmarked.  To be continued…. |
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Post by wannabe on Nov 28, 2017 12:30:55 GMT
Nice work - some choice mods there!  On the (unlikely) chance I get to any sort of trackday or meet this year, bagsy a ride to experience those P5 shocks! |
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Post by lowender on Nov 28, 2017 18:24:07 GMT
Cheers. I'm hoping to make 5fest this summer......
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Post by lowender on Nov 30, 2017 22:23:32 GMT
After doing the engine work and getting the hang of tunerstudio, I did a full day’s tuition at Bedford last January, and decided to fit the depowered rack I had sitting around at the garage for a few months. Although very happy with the standard manual rack, I wanted to try the slightly faster ratio of the depowered one. It’s had the centre piston removed and the pinion welded. Here they are together - pretty much the same:  Once fitted, I ran it for a bit to get used to the different feel. Straight away I liked the faster ratio, although I found it amplified the effects of the bump steer I was getting due to the steering geometry being out because of the lowered suspension. Solution was to try a set of rack risers, from Moss. They’ve pretty much eliminated bump steer and significantly lightened the steering feel -it doesn’t weight-up so suddenly on turn in.  Other work recently done includes taking the front end apart to check it for corrosion and get it all painted. I was aware that the car had had a front end prang at some point, due to various clues, but I didn’t expect to find this when I took it apart:  At least the bumper mount crumple bracket had done it’s job - the right hand chassis rail was undamaged. The insides of the chassis rails were completely rust free, and had cobwebs in them. Squirted them with cavity wax. Treated the odd spot of surface rust, and slapped on the POR15 and underseal:    Also repainted the front wings and bumper, which had serious lacquer peel and looked really tatty. Did it with rattle cans - single pack. Lot of work with prep and finishing, but it’ll do for a while. I did the lower half of the front bumper in stone chip:  |
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Post by scottydugg on Dec 1, 2017 8:50:59 GMT
Car looks great, low pros and the wheels especially.
In the middle of trying something similar re. the intake.
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tsp
Chats A Lot
Posts: 439
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Post by tsp on Dec 2, 2017 19:57:49 GMT
This is a really stunning car. Well done mate |
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Post by lowender on Dec 5, 2017 0:21:06 GMT
Thanks!
I dropped it off at the bodyworks today - it's having the rear arches and sills done. I do most things myself, but this I'll leave to the experts. I'm still waiting for the RB manifold to arrive, along with a few other bits. Then I need to sort out the seating.
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Post by lowender on Dec 28, 2017 21:20:07 GMT
I got the car back from the body man, he’s done a great job on the rear arches, outer rear sills (inners were done a few years ago and are still good), plug the aerial hole, rebadge rear panel, and paint both rear wings, rear panel and bumper. Looks lush.    I spent today fitting my Racing Beat manifold. Old one came out easily, everything undid as it should. The RB is a perfect precision fit, and is very well made. Quality item. Seems a shame to cover it up, but I’ve fitted a Track Dog manifold blanket to keep the under bonnet temps down. This covers really well, and fits between the heater hoses and the manifold, which is a good thing. I stuck a piece of zircotech heat shield around the hose for good measure. I haven’t driven the car yet, too much prarrie canoe on the roads, but it sounded very nice when I started it up. Less vibration in the cabin too.   Whilst I was at it, I fitted a low oil pressure warning light in place of the dummy gauge. Skid Nation are doing them, a nice little kit that works as it should, and fits neatly in place of the gauge. |
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tsp
Chats A Lot
Posts: 439
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Post by tsp on Dec 29, 2017 17:16:29 GMT
Such a stunning car. If I could put on paper my idea of the ideal fast road MX5 it’d be something like this.
Well done mate!
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Post by lowender on Dec 29, 2017 19:43:01 GMT
Cheers. For me, it's been a project to remove the hairdresser-ness from it, and reveal the sports car within  - as it is now, it won't embarrass itself on the track (that's my job), ditto the odd hillclimb, sprint, and auto solo. But equally importantly for me, it's great for road use, and Mrs Ender likes nothing more than a drive around Cornwall topless..... |
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Post by lowender on Dec 30, 2017 20:14:52 GMT
I changed my steering wheel from a 350mm Momo Race to a 370mm oem Momo today. A bit more leverage at very low speed, and I like the thinner rim. I added a 50mm spacer to bring it nearer, so a much better driving position. The interior is a bit rough and ready, but I like it like that. No radio, an oil pressure gauge, Aem wideband gauge, oil temperature gauge, and an analogue clock from a motorbike. The instrument cowl and tombstone are covered with leather. Diy centre console delete with Jass blanking plate (I'll cover this in leather too). The empty cig lighter socket is crying out for a red start button.....  f |
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tsp
Chats A Lot
Posts: 439
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Post by tsp on Jan 2, 2018 13:24:53 GMT
Cheers. For me, it's been a project to remove the hairdresser-ness from it, and reveal the sports car within - as it is now, it won't embarrass itself on the track (that's my job), ditto the odd hillclimb, sprint, and auto solo. But equally importantly for me, it's great for road use, and Mrs Ender likes nothing more than a drive around Cornwall topless..... Basically my idea with mine... I'm not looking to go the FI route. ITBs don't look like an ideal solution for me either. I'll go for Skuzzle cams and management when funds allow. How do you find the manifold heat shield works? |
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Post by lowender on May 10, 2019 21:33:55 GMT
Haven't done much to the car recently, until today. It passed the mot last month with a clean sheet, and is running beautifully now after a visit to Dai at Valley 5s to sort out a rubbish idle and a few other MS related issues. Highly recommended. On the way back from Dai, I realised that my P5 Sportdrive suspension was finally knackered. Hardly surprising really since I fitted it 6 years ago. The shocks should have been serviced a couple of times in that period, but since P5 has been defunct for a few years now, and I've been unable to find anyone willing to take the job on, I decided to bite the bullet and get a new setup. After frying my brain with all the options out there, I gave in and decided on Ohlins DFV. As luck would have it, I found a new unused set, still in it's boxes and packing, for a very substantial saving compared to the full price. They arrived yesterday, so I spent today up at the garage building and installing. So much easier on a lift. It's a very nicely made bit of kit, and there's a fair chance the makers will still be around for servicing when needed. Spring rates are 80/60 Nm/mm, which is 456/352 lbs/inch in old money. I won't be able to drive it until Monday which is rather frustrating, as I'm trailering one of our Bucklers to Prescott for an old car event this weekend. I'll drive it for a 100 miles or so and then take it to Lee at FCM for alignment. Ride height is very similar to the Sportdrives. If the Ohlins are anything like as good as the P5s were when I first had them, I'll be a very happy chap. What a mess. Untidy garage = tidy mind:  The dear old Sportdrives:  Swedish niceness:   Buckler Backbone strapped on ready to go to Prescott, sporting a newly built (finished it 2 days ago) screamer 100E 1172cc side valve. The whole car weighs about 325kg:  |
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Post by Zed. on May 10, 2019 23:48:23 GMT
What settings are you using on the dampers? Think mine are 20 rear & 18 front (back from fully hard) Ohlins are nice and well worth the money  Rich. |
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- as it is now, it won't embarrass itself on the track (that's my job), ditto the odd hillclimb, sprint, and auto solo. But equally importantly for me, it's great for road use, and Mrs Ender likes nothing more than a drive around Cornwall topless.....
le sigh