Hey everybody,

Thought it was about time I posted on here as I seem to spend more time here looking at build threads than I do over at MX5Nutz recently.

The first part of this build thread will be copied over from MX5Nutz and then I will post all the recent updates which I have not added to the MX5Nutz thread just because it seemed like I was talking to my self half the time.

So here it goes!

I passed my driving test around Febuary last year and I didn't really know what car to get as insurance kinda limited me with most cars being atleast £2,000+ to insure.

We have had a MX5 in the family that at the time was my mothers car however she stopped using it due to it being so low and getting in and out was becoming a pain, so it simply sat outside after we moved house basically rotting away.

Now I didnt really consider the MX5 at all at first however my I was offered the car for £1000 which was what my Mother paid for back when she bought it plus I knew the history and the car quiet well also.

So I bought the car and bit the bullet on £2750 insurance £3100 when you add interest and ended up with this...











At this point the car had:

• Stainless Egay exhaust system
• Black show bar
• Black TSI and matching side repeaters
• Lots of expensive chrome goodies (Minus the crappy ****)
• Filter
• Recovered stock seats in black vinyl (If I remember correctly this cost around £300-£400)
• Bluetooth headunit
• Upgraded speakers (nothing special only vibe units)
• Black hardtop (paint chipping on the front)
• Stainless sill plates

Still either way the car was fairly nice and I really rather enjoyed driving it, although getting adjusted to a RWD was even more fun and that ended up with me in a car park with the car trying to drift with a open 1.6 diff failing and ending up doing two continious donuts by accident... it was a moment of ow **** and then just really loud laughter from both me and my friend haha.


Eventually I got bored and changes had to be made so I ordered my self a set of Borbet A 15x7's lovely wheels and not a mark on them for £400 delivered (no tyres) they are genuine wheels which is hard to find in this size now as they only do 16+ now.



Following this I then ordered a set of Falken tyres, cant remember what model but they certainly do grip for £200 a set tyres.





Excuse the missing wheel covers in this picture, I had to cut down the excess on the wheel nuts in order to fit them.

Not long after putting about 5,000 miles on the engine and really just abusing the car the engine decided to drink oil and really lack power, I wasn't surprised however we still had a show to go to and a club drive to go along to...

So of course I went since the engine was a gonner and there was no more damage I could really do, I took the car down to the garage to get prepared for the local autosport show and got a friend who is a professional valletor to give her the once over.

While I was there I removed the tacky chrome number plate surrounds, the stainless grill and swapped the rear lights for some miles better looking standard units.

















After this show I also attended Japfest 2014 with the engine still burning oil but she kept going minus the high fuel/oil usage, I would find my entrace picture for Japfest but its just not worth the time.

Finally as you can guess the engine gave up well not quite she just kinda started making some fairly angry bottom end shell banging noises with a nasty burning smell not bad for 175,000 miles on the engine.

So it was time for a new engine, so I went on the hunt and found a MK1 1.6 long nose import engine with less that 100K miles for £100!

However while I was waiting for ramp time in the garage I also sold my Suzuki Bandit 600 which I used for communting to college for 2 years and now I didn't need it due to the car and it was a shame to see it sat there so got rid and in return £1150 which was going to go into savings...









So I was sat there with £1150 and a car with a dead engine and a standard engine outside... So I did the obvious thing and blew the money on turbo parts of course ha!

It took a while as I was planning on buying all the parts seperately over time, however a full came up for grabs and it certainly was not a bad kit however the £1600 price tag put me off... after some talking we decided on £1300 originally without the engine but then he said I could take that as well because it will just sit there else which was awesome.

So me and a friend made the trip to collect the array of parts I purchased plus some free goodies!




I feel for the suspension in this photo... woops!





So just to run over exactly what I purchased here is a list:

• 1.6 Long nose engine 120k miles
• Blue manecore HT leads
• Corksport USA cast exhaust manifold (no cracks or welds)
• Garret T25/T28 hybrid turbo (rebuild 8k miles ago had slight play)
• Bosch EV14 550cc injectors
• ACT XT clutch (rated to 277 ft-lb of torque)
• FMIC with all associated piping
• Megasquirt 1 ECU + MAF delete
• Two AEM wideband sensors + AEM gauge
• Backyard custom exhaust (many uglies, much skill, very crap)
• VTPS (from the auto mx5)
• 1.8 front calipers
• New plugs
• MX5 Mazda sill covers (Free item thrown in really wanted these)
• Receipts for everything (I was surprised at some of the prices :0)
• New fuel filter
• Nomad boost gauge
• Windscreen pillar gauge holder
• Billet handbrake and gear ****
• Lower front brace
• Offset number plate bracket
• Serial to USB for MS1
• Two fuel pumps
• Tonneau cover
• Spare wheel cover (Mine didn't have one...)
• And other various parts

So now I was stuck with all these parts and simply a date for garage space... it took me 1 weekend mostly on my own to get this fitted and driving but it was so worth it...

Excuse the dirty engine bay, I had limited time with the ramp so had to get it done.















I didn't have many issues with the install apart from it took a while to get the IAT sensor working properly and the ECU map was horrible and auto tune was hard to use due to the AFR targets being in volts so half the time I was unsure what I was doing...

Over time I managed to improve the car with slight hickups here and there but mainly okay, I eventually got around to fitting the pillar gauge holder and moving the gauges.



The fittament is not perfect but for now it will do untill I replace it with a better 3 gauge molding that is availible via ebay for £100.

Even took it on a drive with some other club members, and man I loved every second of it!



So I was using the car as it was trying to improve the map and smooth out the AFRs while feeling like I was fighting against the ECU at the same time, had a awesome summer because of the car however come winter time things went bad... quick...

 

I was on my way back from the girlfriends house with her just ahead of me as I got stuck in traffic on the slip road, so I pulled out and put my foot down... I wasn't really bothered by my speed but I glanced down and I was doing 140mph and basically off the clock so I let off back to 100mhp and carried on home nothing wrong with that just shocked the car did 140mhp thats all.

As I pull up to my house I start to hear the car make a funny noise like a rod knock noise, not very loud but its certaintly a rods so I kill the car and lift the bonnet to find this:



Long storie short when I did 140mph the car must of been lean and burnt the rings, allowing the crankcase the pressurise and blowing the weakest seal this being the front main in this case followed by most of my oil... Not good!

I did try and replace the seal and the oil to see if I could band aid the problem for the mean while but it just blew it again however it still ran! Props to the engine!

So at this point I had a dead engine and no car... and no spare engine because I sold it weeks before to free up space how unlucky is that!

I ordered another MK1 1.6 long nose engine out of a running car and even got him to compression check it, the results came back awesome 200psi and a bit on every cyclinder so I exchanged £175 and waited for my newly found engine.

I also ordered some other parts as I wont be doing the engine swap in a garage this time and instead will be doing it outside my house on my own with my girlfriend supply a constant stream a tea, god I do love her!









I also ordered 4 450mm axle stands and I have a friend who will allow me to use his trolley jack.

The engine crane is only a cheap chinese one as I wont be using it much any way so I have no real need to invest anymore money into what will be most of the time just a dust collector.

While all this was going on I was in contact with Phil at ExtraEFI.co.uk | Home about upgrading my Megasquirt 1 to a Megasquirt 2 with Boost control, Launch control/Flatshift, Rev limit led circuit, Switchable maps, sequential fuel and in the end we came to a deal that benifited us both so I shall be sending my ECU off tomorrow and I now have to start work on updating his current website into something more new and fresh looking!

Thats all for the moment I suppose guys, I would love to hear your input!

Just some notes to leave you with:

1. The broken engine is the basis for my forged build and next upgrade step.
2. I am searching for a shop that will machine the manifold and turbo flanges.
3.I will be cleaning the engine bay this time around.

 

Building 1.6 is a waste of time, save up and buy a 1.8 to build.

 

Whats so good about the 1.8 anyways?

Also does anyone have any experience with Corksport turbo manifold as I have never seen another MX5 use them apart from mine?

 

Literally everything.

 

More torque.

Didn't know corksport made a turbo manifold. Do you have a link with info?

 

From some brief research the Corksport manifold looks to be an HKS Cast manifold. Cast manifolds are known to hold up well and are cheap.

 

Well either way I go it would be the same amount of work regardless if I choose 1.6 or 1.8 so I suppose a 1.8 wouldn't be a bad idea.

If I did go with a 1.8 what sort of turbo could I go to reasonable without to much lag? Atm on the 1.6 I have the T25/T28 which is perfect but I ideally on the forged engine want to be in the 300-350hp range to make it seem worth while.

Ahh okay, didn't the HKS cast manifolds crack a lot though? I was more interested in others opinions who may have more experience because I just didn't know if it was that good of a manifold and since it was imported from the states seemed like I should ask.

Hopefully my axle stands & Dremel arrive today so I can make a start on the engine swap, while I am waiting I am going to run down to the shop and post the ECU to Phil!

EDIT: Seems the corksport manifold is a HKS unit.

 

The ECU has now been posted to Phil in Norwich he should be recieving it on Tuesday due to "Good Friday", I didn't take no chances and had it insured for £500 + Tracking.

No word on the Axle stand just yet so I suppose ill leave you with a picture of my rather tatty looking Megasquirt 1 which is very much due this needed upgrade!

 

Wow. You really don't see those 1.6 HKS manifolds very often. Yes, CorkSport sold them under their name.

 

Yeah they seem fairly rare and also stand the test of time very well since this manifold has been abused since 2001 when it was imported over here by MX5Dan over at MX5Nutz.

It has no cracks or welds, although I did think it was cracked but seemed to just be surface and me being paranoid.

What are they worth, as it was insured for $500 when shipped but no reciept?







Also the turbo is a T25/T28 apparently had mild porting and was also imported from USA and was originally fitted to a Eagle Talon?

 

Picked up some Toyota COPS tonight from a friends 1.8 Celica he was scrapping due to a dead engine only cost me £10 and I even got to cut the loom off!

Is there anything else I should get off that celica before it goes for scrap that could be usefull?

 

Small update, got almost everything removed so the engine can come out just the starter and some bellhousing bolts to do, leaving the gearbox in place since I dont have a ramp and I have to do this outside.

Should have the old engine removed and then its a matter of swapping the sump replacing some seals and giving the engine a good degrease along with the engine bay, since its about inch thick with grime... NICE!

As for problems go I have found a issue with the turbo lines that I want to correct before running, as it stands the oil feel is a AN-10 stainless steel line where as the other 3 for oil and water are rubber fuel line, as you can imagine with a year of a abuse they basically snapped when I took them off so I am looking into replacing everything with stainless steel and AN-10 fittings.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Turbo-Oil-...item339eb63f9e

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AN-10-10AN...item27e71b2bad

As for water I really don't really know because I dont know how I would make them lines all AN-10 ideas?

 

Sorry for not updating in a little while been busy with easter holidays ect, however I have progress and hopefully more tomorrow as well!

Well we got the engine out without the gearbox so thats a success, however we found I had also blown the rear main seal and there was a glass full of oil in the gearbox housing that started to leak when we parted the two... Not good for the clutch.



Turns out the clutch did not get contaminated however its near its end of life, this being a ACT clutch that was fitted to the engine back in 2003 and has been used on a boosted car from the get go so its done VERY well.

But there is a problem I am in the UK and there are no UK suppliers of ACT clutches anymore and I am certainly not ordered a cheap *** XTD clutch, after adding all the numbers together things started to look seriously expensive.



Flyin miata clutch about £600 shipped to me in the UK all in all, as for a ACT clutch from american about the same.

So I did a little more digging and came up with COMP Clutch they have a UK distributer and from what I have found they actually make the Flying miata clutch but just without the Comp clutch branding.

Brilliant news its £330 and takes up to 350ft/lb of torque AWESOME! however its a 6 puck clutch but I suppose if it saves me £300 I can deal with that.

I couldn't find a direct retailer however BCD racing sell their clutches over Ebay heres a link:COMPETITION CLUTCH 6 PADDLE CERAMIC STAGE 4 Mazda MX5 1.8 94-05 MX-5 10045-1620 | eBay

Its a 1.8 clutch so I will have to source a 1.8 flywheel but that should not be a problem plus if I ever got down the 1.8 route I don't lose any money!


As for the 1.8 forged build situation, I am really unsure if I am going to do a 1.8 over a 1.6 still as I find it kind of wrong swapping in the 1.8 for some reason don't know what it is but I suppose I'll deal with that later on when I full decide.

As for the ECU Phil is waiting on some parts to be delivered before he can start anything and more progress will be made tomorrow on the engines with the help of a few friends so I can move the engine around and swap over all the parts like the sump and remove anything I dont need like Air con...


Also it turns out my car is more popular than me where I live as people seem to meet me or come up to me like ow you have that Turbo MX5 don't you... Gotta love having something no-one else really has since the closest to my car around here is a BBR turbo running 5psi.

 

So its a been a while since I have posted a update but I have a good reason, I now have my shed cleared and I can actually use it to build my engine, especially since I have bought a engine stand and a new 3 ton jack.

No more will the weather debate when and when I cant make progress, clearing the shed took 2 days spread a week apart due to my only day off being mondays to do it but here is after the first day:



After the second day we got the other side cleared:


Then I moved some more stuff and relocated the engines to there new home:

If your wonder what the bike parts are its various parts from my Old RS50 in parts and my GSXR400 which is also another project that is almost complete now just needs a refresh as I took the engine out to clean the frame and replace the carbs due to not being able to remove them without cutting the clamps off... Annoying.

I also recieved my ECU back from Phil over at Extra EFI:



I have had it upgraded from MS1 to MS2 with Launch/flatshift, boost control, switchable maps, fully sequential fueling and rev limiter light circuit.

On the old engine that decided to start knocking I checked the shells which I though was the cause and it turns out it was not, so must just be piston slap in the stop end due to toasted rings:



I will tear down that engine once I have finished with the new engine and its back in the car, however right now I cant do anything as I am waiting on some new parts:

ORDERED:

• Gunk degreaser 5L
• Stainless steel multilayer exhaust gasket
• VHT flameproof paint
• Blue VHT wrinkle x2
• Black engine enamel
• Assorted wiring, heat shrink and wire braid
• Shell helix ulta 5w-40 full synthectic
• K&N Oil filter

STILL NEED TO ORDER:

• Alloy Radiator from FAST5
• Stage 4 Comp Clutch
• Switches for Launch, Switchable maps, rev limiter light
• Turbo hoses (need some advice)
• And more I can't think of...

PARTS I HAVE ALREADY:

• Silicone hoses
• New gear selector rubber cover
• New CAS Seal, Rear and Front main seals & sump seals
• DDM works gauge/radio cluster
• Toyota COPS from a 1.8 celica
• Upgraded ECU

Okay so I have held of buying new hoses for the Turbo because I dont want to make a mistake by the looks of it I want PTFE braided hoses but that means they need the fittings as they wont work with barbed connections and will just leak.

I dont need to replace the Oil feel so thats fine but the oil drain I do so thats fairly easy just means replacing the connections on the turbo and sump and getting a new hose and fittings to make up a line.

As for the water feed I have just seen there is a water feed next to the oil feed so I could do the same process with the oil drain, new fittings and hose.

However I am stuck when it comes to the water return I can change the connection on the turbo but I dont have any threaded ports to return it to making it impossible to use PTFE hose and connections any ideas?

 

Some stuff arrived today:

K&N Oil Filter
Shell helix ultra 5w-40
Exhaust gasket
and paint!

Cant do much with the engine till the degreaser arrives so I painted what I could and cleaned it before using a wire wheel ect...

I tried the fuel rail first it looked good at first but in the end I wasnt happy with it:


But I dont think I applied enough heat and the wrinkles are to big and look bad I think:

I moved onto the rocker cover once I finally finished up the cut for exposing the cam gears:



This attempt came out flawlessly and I couldn't of asked for a better result:





Since I couldn't do the engine yet since It needs degreasing I tried the engine enamel on the pulleys and also the water pipe under the exhaust and the front thermostat housing however I only got a picture of the pulleys:



I think today was a success and hopefully more the come over the weekend since things are really moving along now!

 

So I went back into the shed today to carry on painting and cleaning everything and I am happy with the results so far:





I gave everything a deep clean and even sprayed the water inlet neck and the front of the cam gears black just to bring them back to life a little and ended up with this:






Still have to paint the manifold, other side of the block and degrease a load more parts but its coming together finally

 

So just to update the build I have painted some more parts as leaving anything unpainted now seems like a shame and is only going to draw away from the other nicely painted parts I have spent time on however I found a problem with my T25/T28 turbo... a common one as well...



Yes it has cracked on the wastegate port, I'm not to bothered honestly as it boosted fine before and held boost and since I am only going to be running 10PSI like before maybe 15PSI max on this stock block I will leave it as is.

It won't be a issue on the forged engine as I'll be looking at something like a HX35 but with a T2 hot side which is often called a HX/HY32 this is still just a maybe at the moment however I am sure I want to stay with the T2 footprint.

So on to the painting, last time I had done part of the block, rocker cover and various other small bits and peices when I had the idea to match the turbo cold side:



I didn't have big enough C-Clip pliers to seperate the cold side so I simply masked everything nicely and it turned out very good apart from one run which I can fix once fully cured.



While the turbo was also disconnected from the manifold I painted the manifold and elbow with VHT flameproof, I don't care if the manifold flakes eventually its a test to see how well it works.



I also decided to mock up my COP install for placement, I will be drilling into the rocker cover to secure these however Ill be testing placement first on a spare cover I have before anything final is decided.



Just as a added extra these are the Brake pads I removed when renewing the girlfriends brakes... goes to show just because the brakes are working does not mean they are ideal, age and the elements certaintly take their toll...




Lastly I decided to spray the inlet manifold with it really being the final piece to the puzzle regarding anything blue on the engine, I was worried I would mess this up but actually It came out very good if not less wrinkles than the rest but still good enough:



And here is a complete shot of the engine as it is currently just mock fitting to see what it all looks like while I wait for the post man to deliver some more goodies!




You may be thinking that is a lot of blue however the engine is not completed yet and I still have a lot of black painted parts to fit which should break up the mass of blue a fair bit.

I am also considering selling the blue hoses and going for white instead as I think it may work a little better, the only reason I didn't go white on the engine is because it stains very easily.

I am currently waiting on a few gaskets for the cold side of the engine, I have decided to try out some PTFE gaskets not really because of the reduced heat transfer but more because you can reuse the gaskets which I find very nice.

I would love some input guys please!

 

You will use the stock 1.6 now or did i overread something ?!
Imo the 1.6 isn't as bad as many People say it is.....
If you only swap a Na8 Engine you still have a "bad" Head
I know a Na Head can make some serious numbers but it isn't optimal .

A 1.8 Na or Nb 01-05 Block with a 99 Head is the best Choice imo but that means spending some Money IF YOU WANT TO DO IT RIGHT (rebuild ,new parts ect.)

 

Well recently I have seen a exocet build using a 1.6 lump and he is going for 500hp and has done some serious overhauling but yeah it can be done.

So I havnt updated in a while cause I thought no one was really giving a **** so I didn't bother but I have a few updates!

I ordered bucket seats and at this current point in time they are fitted:



they are only cobra club mans but they are so comfy and hold me really well atleast.

I decided to pick up these as they don't come up for sale very often:




And these:




I then decided I would finally order my clutch and associated parts so I could get some real progress:

























































































And that is where I am now!

Still left on the list is buying a Ally rad, fitting oil and water hoses, buying a few more clamps, wiring up the new injector drivers, setting base timing and other very minor things really.