MX5 for Road and Track!

[Porscha!]

As you all know I have just bought a Mk. 1 MX5 and am loving it

For a while will be running it as my only car, for both commuting, fun driving and track days so I'm thinking of turning my MX into a little project and keeping it when I get another Porsche for something totally different and a little track car!

Problem is there is just so much choice to buy accessories and modifications on MX5s I'm lost, have mainly looked at www.performance5.com and www.mx5mad.com

I need advice on:

What suspension set up?

What brakes?

N/A or Forced Induction (turbo / Supercharger)

Also love the lightweight seats on performance5, rota wheels on mx5mad and some JDM stuff (little black front lip spoilers, slightly different side repeaters etc.) I've seen on various other websites.

[skinny]

there's loads of different suspensions you can go for and few people have tried enough to definitely know what's best, tho most are fairly happy with theirs which means that are are some OK packages out there.

FM springs (or Eibach) / KYB AGX dampers / FM ARB's

or

Puredrive coilovers / stock ARB's

or

TEIN Flex / stock front ARB no rear

all seem to be fairly popular. if possible, get a set that increase rear damper travel as it's a weakness on a lowered car. and upgrade bumpstops for soft foam items as you will be on them a fair bit.

brakes, is your car a 1.6 or 1.8? either way, you want the brakes from teh 1.8, best pads are Mintex M1144, Axxis ultimates are also very good, stock genuine mazda discs are up to the job. if you have a 1.6 you need the caliper brackets from teh 1.8 which space the calipers out further, and then the 1.8 discs / pads. if you want to go bigger, the brakes from the mk2.5 sport are the biggest and best '5 set-up you can get. if you want more, brembo or AP racing do a 4-pot front conversion but i don't think it's really necessary.

loads of different FI options, no right answer. i prefer turbo, think it suits the small car better, but loads happy with SC too.

wheels - loads of options depends on taste, just go for light weight rims, offset between 25 and 40, and wrap them in decent track tyres like toyo R888's (i really like the hankook RS2 too)

chassis will benefit from stiffening with roll bars / cage, under-chassis brace bars, suspension struts etc

oh yeah, check out mx5nutz.com/forum - lots of modified 5's on there and people happy to help out.

Edited by skinny on Saturday 12th April 23:27

[franv8]

Painful topic, it's making me want to mod my mostly standard 5!

[Combover]

I'm sure others will be along shortly to give you better info than me, but here goes:

Brakes:

As your car is an early one, it will be a 1.6 (presumably). As Skinny has said, the 1.8 disc setup will be more than up to the job. Just fit some more agressive pads with those discs and you'll be fine. Bear in mind the modification works needed to allow it all though.

Suspension:

I've been reliably informed that Performance 5s Puredrive kit is the way to go. It's what i'll be doing to mine when I get the funds.

Flyin Miata also do some tatsy suspension parts so check them out too. They're in the US but with the current exchange rate it might be the way to go.

Wheels:

Rota Circuit 10s are what i've been looking at, but keep in mind that a lot of aftermarket wheels are actually heavier than Mazda's own wheels.

BBS wheels as fitted to the RS are the lightest ones that Mazda supplied so would be worth a look. They look brilliant too.

Forced Induction:

Lazza is usually your man for this, however, I can add a bit of information;

Supercharger - Swells the torque so that the car feels more muscular lower down than they used too. Will get you less pwer per £ spent (typically) but you don't have the lag of the turbo. Sounds better too and there are lots of kits available.

Turbo - Gives you some lag, which means that it actually matches (loosely) the N/A characeristic of getting to 3500 - 4000 rpm for it all to kick off. Again, lots of kits available.

Bear in mind that you will also need an intercooler, different ECU and bigger injectors to properly breach 200bhp, a turbo or s/c conversion alone won't do this.

You could also go a different route and fit throttle bodies. They are exensive and don't give a huge amount of power but the noise is incredible! I'd love a throttle body kit for mine.

Seats:

Lotus Elise seats can be made to fit, (like Lazza's). If you budget about £200, you should be able to find a decent set of S2 Elise seats for your car if you shop around.

Hope this helps.