The Bogan

I also hit up MX5 MANIA for some quotes on some parts, hopefully they give me some happy prices.

After making up 11ty7 templates I fabbed up a tin protype to see how it sits, I rattle caned it black because I had some paint, all I need to do now is get some alloy and beat this one flat to use as a template, also need to get to Clarkes Rubber to get some vinyl edging. It will get the compulsory black VHT Wrinkle Plus paint job once finished. All in all it will be held together by 3 pop rivets and fixed by slotting it under the front guard.

Went out to MX5 MANIA today for a look, do want some stuff, cool guy too, and very helpful. Also went to UNIGROUP to talk about timing, no can do as it runs a trigger, they say it should run at optimum with 98 as the knock sensor will give it more timing if its not knocking, so should be fine, they gave me some options but said for the couple of killerwasps and the slight move in torque it wouldn't be worth the dollars or time on a stock motor. On a side note: After going to MX5 MANIA and looking at a rather large amount of cool stuff I need everyone to give me their cash so I can buy everything that I dribbled on, thankyou for your support.

After I find and fit a cage mate, still probably a couple of months away though.

LOL Matty, always thinking, if I was gonna spend a bucket on it I would do a 13B, but I'm not spending a bucket, just cheap stuff and fun. Finished most of my Bourbons the exhaust finally, what a bitch it was to wrap (I'm as itchy as a MOFO), all torqued up and run to dry and shrink the wrap, just need to re torque it after a long run tomorrow. I'm very happy with it,, the heat in the engine bay is noticeably less and looks better than the POS shroud that was previously there.

I was bored and removed the exhaust to prep it and paint it, and then the post man arrived with the wrap, sweet. Part 1, cleaned and painted, should be wrapped and in later tonight, I don't know if it will benefit with the powahs but it will be a vast aesthetic improvement.

Not the SVT motor mate. The strut brace arrived today, its all cleaned up and fitted now. Still waiting for the exhaust wrap to turn up though, bloody post man, hurry up and get here. Roll bar it is then, it makes sense. I might get UNIGROUP to do my timing and then put it on the rollers for the LOLS. I also need more cardboard, I used 1 square meter of it already but only worked out what I don't like for a shroud so far, the recycling bin is half full of templates and gaffa tape.

I love BOBBYr34's strut brace.

Mate you can have it for free, I will have to find where I put it, its at work somewhere. I am not back at work till the 20th. I will PM you when I find it.

Also I would ask the scrutineers at the drags what you will need when you get into the 10's, if I remember right you will need to fit a tail shaft loop, I got one but never fitted it. You can have the one I got if you want it, it will need some mods to fit but its new and to spec and has all the nuts and bolts needed, you would just need some plate for the interior side, my new project is a MX5 that I will set up for the track and it will never need it (it doesn't have the torque to pull the skin of custard).

I would get different shock and spring package for the drags, I did a bit of research on this when I had the boat, the rear shocks need to be able to drop but they don't come back up as quick or something, the front need to raise and stay up to help transfer the weight to the rear, the spring rates? I have no idea. I would ask around at the drags, watch whose cars lift the front and drop the rear and hook up well, then ask them what they are using, from my experience most guys are quite willing to share the knowledge. Remember that you will need some positive camber wound into the rear due to IRS and the inevitable negative camber that will come when it squats, I ran 0.5 positive for the drags from memory.

sime1, swap out the suspension, if the bilstiens and kings are still in it that is, they worked OK on the track but they are rubbish on the strip, way to stiff. You may need to get the rear springs custom made though, I ended up getting the black springs that I sold with the car made up, standard height but a bit stiffer to stop it squatting and hitting the outside edge of the tyres, that is if you are still running the 32 rims and 255 50 16 M/T's. It was a quick fix at the time, but I never did get around to getting a drag type suspension set up before I sold it. I think that different suspension alone will get you into the 10's.

sime1, It use to do 132 mph at 380 killerwasps on 98. best I got was 11.080, The box in it now has standard ratios and the diff is 411. When are you shifting, I would have a look at your torque curve and base your shifts around that, I found my best mph came from shifting at 7200 if I recall correctly, I cannot exactly recall but the iShift was set so that when I changed gears it would have the rev drop right if the fat zone of the torque curve.. Also what are your 60' times like, I think my best was 1.7. I am eagerly awaiting some good results, they shouldn't be far away, you just need to sort out the basics and it should give you the results you are looking for. Plus with a good box the reliability issue of the std box at that power and grip level should be sorted.

Removed the window tint today, the door windows and quarters took about 5 minutes total, the rear glass took 3 hours, it just didn't want to come off, the top tint layer came straight off but the plastic layer under the tint would come off with it, no matter how much heat or steam I threw at it, I ended up peeling it off at of a rate of 1 square cm at a time and it left all the bloody glue behind, metho made short work of the glue though. Its done now and looks like new, much cleaner really, I think I prefer it without tint. Also my rims will not accept spacers, I was going to get some 25mm ones to push out the track but luckily removed a wheel to check after taking the measurements, STUPID ROH RIMS..... Also I hate waiting for the mail man.

Chris, did you advance your timing, if so how much, it was recommended to me to advance my timing to 15 deg to take advantage of PULP only fuel.

Fitted the new fuel filter today, STUPID clip design, the old hose and clamp style was a breeze to do, the clips are APITA, I went to stick a golf tee in the hose but it didn't fit properly and leaked fuel, STUPID NEW STUFF. Fitted a better quality pod and mounted the IAT sensor in the top of it, also rerouted the hot side breather to a more stealthy place out of site. I was talking to a guy (65 yr old dude) who was at Just Jap the other day, he had a sorted white NA6 there which he races in the MX cup thingies and MRA, after bending his ear and bleeding him for info I got some good tips of him. I got the OEM strut brace that he recommended off fleabay for $110 delivered, the OEM item is a solid item whereas most aftermarket ones have got a hinge thingy where the brace connects to the mounting point, which he rates as rubbish as they twist and flex at the hinge and do next to nothing. Exhaust wrap is on the way, 50' x 2" in black with stainless ties shipped for $35, I just need to get a new manifold gasket and lower gasket from PEPS, I will wire brush the thing, remove the standard cover fixtures and give it a coat of high temp paint prior to wrapping. The brake, clutch and power steering fluids are next on the list, all it will take is plying my neighbour with alcohol and some time as he has already supplied the fluids at mates rates. I am tossing (LOL tossing) up wether to get a roll bar or a set of coil overs next, roll bar may win as if I do decide to track it sooner rather than later it will need one to pass scrutineering (I don't have a hard top for it yet). Work donated some nice stiff (LOL stiff) cardboard and I am attempting to fab up a template I am happy with for a cover for the pod, when I am happy I will knock it up out of ally at work and give it a coat of paint in the silver body cover to keep things neat. That's it for now, and with all this talk about tossing and stiff, I have things to see and people to do. Rock and Roll

R002's fitted. I have had a few attempts over today to fad up a CAI. Version 1 was all the std intake but with a larger feed for the CAI, I didn't like it. Version 2 was a totally different intake, I got the idea (stole the idea) from some Jap company (and Chubbs) that had made up a short intake which drew air from the cold side behind the headlight, all that was needed was a 90 deg elbow reducer 2.5" to 2.75" and a filter. It has really cleaned up the engine bay and after a quick test blast I am very happy, power increase? but the induction sound is pretty cool now. It is only a start for now, the filter was a $5 cheapy form Just Jap and only for fitting purposes, I am going to have a shop around tomorrow for a quality (LOL) pod filter and then fab up a enclosure. I will also get some wrap for the exhaust manifold as the stock heat shield is a POS (I didn't like the way it looked at me), some new gaskets a wire brush and then wrap is most likely take at least 6 beers. And that hectic cam cover breather will not be around for long either, it looks crap, a catch can will be plumbed to it at some stage, and by the look of that POS the sooner the better. Another fun day with more fun on the way. And that is one sturdy looking bar Andy.

I was thinking that but then whilst googling I seen a pic of a modified standard CAI pipe, the inlet at the bottom of the std airbox is appox 3" diameter but the std CAI has a 2" inlet, I am going to have a look around at some wreckers and attempt to find some OEM style 3" plastic pipe which will adapt (heat gun) to fit the std air box, I need something with 90 deg bend at a length of around 250mm. The smallest part of my intake will then be the throttle body. This should only cost a couple of bucks at the most and will increase the CAI volume by almost 100%, and look stock. It will get air from the spot behind the headlight you mentioned, just like the std one only better (bigger is always better, or so I have been told, lol) Well that's the theory, LOL.

Productive day in the garage today. 2.25 Cat back fitted, better flow and not hectic noisy, and about 1/2 the weight of the stock system, the stock headers will stay as they are a good looking system from the factory . Changed: Engine oil and filter Gearbox oil Diff oil Tyres ordered, 2 x Bridgestone Potenza RE002, a pair of the RE001's that are on it ATM are at about 50% so they will stay for a few more months before I need to replace them, the others are on the markers, tyres should arrive tomorrow. No wonder Chris wants a oil cooler and relocator, the filter is a bitch to get to and the muppet who last put one on did it up stupid tight, it took about 30 minutes or more to get off, I ended up needing a hand from a mate to hold a worklight while I punched a screwdriver through it all the while trying not to hit the positive terminal on the alternator, PITA but its done now with only minimal blood loss.

You are what you eat MrC

They are the Yellow speed ones mate. On a lighter note: I did a load test on my battery today, it seems if I go swimming for two hours and leave the lights on the battery goes flat, all in all the test proceeded as I you would have expected.

Thanks guys. If you need your hair done matty I could use some Wiss snips for the cut and a oxy torch for the dry if you are in the neighbourhood. Minor update: Yesterday I flushed the cooling system and added distilled water and coolant, also cleaned the MAF sensor, not really exciting but its a start. I am getting some massive tyres (205/45 16, either Kumho KU36 or Federal EVO) for it on Tuesday and I have been looking at some new coil overs from MX5 Mania that fit my budget but they are not back till the 13 of Jan. The oils will get done on Wednesday and hopefully flush out the brake and clutch fluid. I have been interwebbing the MX5 motorsport nets and forum inters working out what bars and bracing is needed, i.e. actually does something, but that is proving confusing due to the amount of contradiction out there. I may need to pick Chris's brain and go out to watch some MX5's racing around and have a look at what the guys are using, or not using. Its good to have a toy again. I must remember to keep it to the budget though, LOL....... Life is good.

I have finally found a car that I can play with on the weekends. A 1999 NB MX5. I was after something that I can have some fun with at the track but still drive around to the shops or get a burger at Austinmer beach, it needed to be a light, 4 cyl, manual and RWD, plenty of aftermarket support and parts, finally after looking at 1 bazillion different brands and models I decided on the Mazda. I also wanted a car that wouldn't draw to much FnF style attention on the street so the majority of the other makes and models didn't float my boat It is as stock as a rock at this stage apart from some crap 16" rims which will be replaced at some stage. I will update this thread as I proceed with the modifications I do. At this stage there is no problems at all with the car so my first step is to do a service of all oils and fluids to start fresh. I went to PEPS auto this morning and got a basic service kit to start the ball rolling, it had some NULON fuel system cleaner when I filled it up last night so I will not install a new fuel filter till that has gone through the tank. I will post a list now what I want for the thing in no particular order, there will be certain things that I feel that will need to be done prior to throwing it around in anger but I feel that in around 6 months it should see its first attempt at a light super sprint. Service it Better tyres Good brake pads Shocks and springs Oil cooler and filter relocate Roll bar Sway bar Maybe some bracing LSD And then Exhaust Maybe new CAI Maybe advance the timing a bit And then Hard top Rims I may also look around for another 1.8 motor to freshen up but this may or may not eventuate, though from past experience having a spare stocker laying around may be prudent. Day 1 Wash, polish, glaze, wax Spark plugs Air filter The beastie and some stuff to do >>>

SOLD

$10,250