Eunos RS Ltd Turbo
Discussion
So I thought I'd share some of the ups and downs I've had since buying this RS Ltd back in August of 2009, the original plan was to buy a good solid Mk1 and carry out suspension, brake, roll-bar mods to make a fairly cheap weekend/trackday car but once I'd started to price up the cost it was not making sense to build a car when there were so many well modded mx5/Eunos's knocking about for sensible money.
Due to the fact my wife had owned 2 mx5's before we were married I knew that although a reasonably well handling fun car it would feel grossly underpowered after my previous cars so my search would be for a car with some sort of FI.
After a very short search I booked a one way train ticket to Sheffield to "have a look" at a well modded supercharged mk1 RS Ltd all be it without any of the RS cosmetic accessoriesries, Reccaro Kevlar seats, 15" BBS wheels and interior trinkets had all long since been removed but the RS mechanical parts remained in the form of lightened flywheel and shorter final drive (4.3:1)the car was totally rot free with a huge amount of receipts for £0000's, So the deal was done and I was on my way home.
Sitting on my drive after the 300 mile drive home.
I drove it around like this for a couple of weeks but I knew serial tinkerer in me would'nt leave it alone for long and sure enough the tinkering began.
First of was a Garage Vary front lip for a slighty more aggressive front end.
Then the crappy Jackson racing foam filter was swapped as it was definatly restricting air flow in the upper rev range this was replaced with the obligatory K&N.
Next on the list was to move the boost gauge from the drivers side air vent, it was impossible to read where it was and I like a nice flow of air when I drive. As I couldn't find anything suitable I decided to make my own, using a ebay binnicle and a cheap 52mm gauge pod, some filler and hours of sanding the end result was quite pleasing.
The raspy Mongoose exhaust was next for the chop, As I'd had HKS exhausts on all my Japaneese cars this one was going to be no different.
So this.
Was replaced by this.
And looked like this.
Although I hated the wheels it came with I just could not justify the cost of importing the only wheels I wanted, that was until a company in the UK became a importer and I jumped on the first shipment of wheels they bought over.
Bye bye 100+'s, Helloooo 949 racing 6ul's in a very modest (by todays standards) 15" x 8".
Some of the eagle eyed may of noticed I also binned the stock rather shabby and heavy seats for series 1 Elise cloth seats on custom Mazda runners.
So this is how the car looked for much of '10 until the urge for more power had me hatching plans to swap from supercharged to turbocharged, a box of parts was ordered from Flyin Miata in the states, a new turbo from TurboTechnics, and other bit sourced from here there and everywhere.
Over the winter of '10 I began to remove the SC and and install the turbo, mocking things up making brakets to move the rad, more mocking, more ordering of parts and lots and lots of freezing my ass off untill it looked like this.
I knew I was pushing my luck on a standard bottom end and sure enought after 5-600 miles the number 4 con rod made a break for freedom taking the piston and valves with it.
The plans for a forged bottom end was bought forward the parts were sourced and the build was started. You'll be glad to hear I have no photo's of the new internals but I guess you know what they look like.
Wossner pistons
ZRP forged rods
ACL race bearings
New OE oil pump
New Gaskets
Etc
I've just finished breaking the clutch in and the car is booked in for this coming weekend to have the mapping finished, I guess that will be it for this year as the best of the weather is behind us and I'll SORN once the road tax runs out in October.
How my little RS looks today.
I'll try and update the thread as and when changes are made.
Due to the fact my wife had owned 2 mx5's before we were married I knew that although a reasonably well handling fun car it would feel grossly underpowered after my previous cars so my search would be for a car with some sort of FI.
After a very short search I booked a one way train ticket to Sheffield to "have a look" at a well modded supercharged mk1 RS Ltd all be it without any of the RS cosmetic accessoriesries, Reccaro Kevlar seats, 15" BBS wheels and interior trinkets had all long since been removed but the RS mechanical parts remained in the form of lightened flywheel and shorter final drive (4.3:1)the car was totally rot free with a huge amount of receipts for £0000's, So the deal was done and I was on my way home.
Sitting on my drive after the 300 mile drive home.
I drove it around like this for a couple of weeks but I knew serial tinkerer in me would'nt leave it alone for long and sure enough the tinkering began.
First of was a Garage Vary front lip for a slighty more aggressive front end.
Then the crappy Jackson racing foam filter was swapped as it was definatly restricting air flow in the upper rev range this was replaced with the obligatory K&N.
Next on the list was to move the boost gauge from the drivers side air vent, it was impossible to read where it was and I like a nice flow of air when I drive. As I couldn't find anything suitable I decided to make my own, using a ebay binnicle and a cheap 52mm gauge pod, some filler and hours of sanding the end result was quite pleasing.
The raspy Mongoose exhaust was next for the chop, As I'd had HKS exhausts on all my Japaneese cars this one was going to be no different.
So this.
Was replaced by this.
And looked like this.
Although I hated the wheels it came with I just could not justify the cost of importing the only wheels I wanted, that was until a company in the UK became a importer and I jumped on the first shipment of wheels they bought over.
Bye bye 100+'s, Helloooo 949 racing 6ul's in a very modest (by todays standards) 15" x 8".
Some of the eagle eyed may of noticed I also binned the stock rather shabby and heavy seats for series 1 Elise cloth seats on custom Mazda runners.
So this is how the car looked for much of '10 until the urge for more power had me hatching plans to swap from supercharged to turbocharged, a box of parts was ordered from Flyin Miata in the states, a new turbo from TurboTechnics, and other bit sourced from here there and everywhere.
Over the winter of '10 I began to remove the SC and and install the turbo, mocking things up making brakets to move the rad, more mocking, more ordering of parts and lots and lots of freezing my ass off untill it looked like this.
I knew I was pushing my luck on a standard bottom end and sure enought after 5-600 miles the number 4 con rod made a break for freedom taking the piston and valves with it.
The plans for a forged bottom end was bought forward the parts were sourced and the build was started. You'll be glad to hear I have no photo's of the new internals but I guess you know what they look like.
Wossner pistons
ZRP forged rods
ACL race bearings
New OE oil pump
New Gaskets
Etc
I've just finished breaking the clutch in and the car is booked in for this coming weekend to have the mapping finished, I guess that will be it for this year as the best of the weather is behind us and I'll SORN once the road tax runs out in October.
How my little RS looks today.
I'll try and update the thread as and when changes are made.
Edited by Drew986 on Sunday 27th January 19:00
TAHodgson said:
I REALLY like that. I want my next '5 to look like that one! How do the elise seats fair in comfort vs the standard ones? Or were they fitted purely because you're another one of these lanky gits that wants more room 
More short and round than long and thin 
I found the standard seat unsupportive and my side bolster was a little thread-bear, the S1 seat came up on ebay with the Mazda runners for a good price so it was a no-brainer for me. They are more comfortable than they look, you just need to be careful when getting in and lower yourself in rather than "flopping" as theres very little in the way of base padding, once in I can do 3 hours without any dis-comfort.
And just wondering aswell, not just you, but any other MK1 owners reading this. WHY are they so bad on fuel for what they are, I mean I realise they're not ideally suited for motorway use because of the gearing in 5th, but I was struggling to get anything more than high 20's out of mine when I had it (MK1 1.6 manual) Is the 6 speed mk2(.5) 'sport' box fit able? 
TAHodgson said:
And just wondering aswell, not just you, but any other MK1 owners reading this. WHY are they so bad on fuel for what they are, I mean I realise they're not ideally suited for motorway use because of the gearing in 5th, but I was struggling to get anything more than high 20's out of mine when I had it (MK1 1.6 manual) Is the 6 speed mk2(.5) 'sport' box fit able?
Very low compression ratio and quite rich AFR answers this question, but then those are the main reasons why they take FI conversions so well. Having said that, my 1.8 VR-ltd with a 4.3fd is quite good on fuel and I've seen 36mpg on a long distance motorway hack! Very, very nice '5 you have there and I bet it can be scary
Lovely car, but your post highlights my issues with modding.
Mod it, drive it, break it, fix it, mod it, drive it, break it, fix it etc etc....
Seems like an endless cycle. A friend of mine has an R32 GT-R, an AE86 with two turbos and an MR-S Roadster which he has collectively spent iro.£50,000 on.
I know it was over time, but he could have had a proper car with that money, not the pile of modded Jap he has now.
Sorry to hijack, just felt the need for a rant!
Mod it, drive it, break it, fix it, mod it, drive it, break it, fix it etc etc....
Seems like an endless cycle. A friend of mine has an R32 GT-R, an AE86 with two turbos and an MR-S Roadster which he has collectively spent iro.£50,000 on.
I know it was over time, but he could have had a proper car with that money, not the pile of modded Jap he has now.
Sorry to hijack, just felt the need for a rant!
Beefmeister said:
Lovely car, but your post highlights my issues with modding.
Mod it, drive it, break it, fix it, mod it, drive it, break it, fix it etc etc....
Seems like an endless cycle. A friend of mine has an R32 GT-R, an AE86 with two turbos and an MR-S Roadster which he has collectively spent iro.£50,000 on.
I know it was over time, but he could have had a proper car with that money, not the pile of modded Jap he has now.
Sorry to hijack, just felt the need for a rant!
I feel your missing the point, for me that's the fun, it's almost hobby and I'm sure many on here and countless other forums across the world would agree.Mod it, drive it, break it, fix it, mod it, drive it, break it, fix it etc etc....
Seems like an endless cycle. A friend of mine has an R32 GT-R, an AE86 with two turbos and an MR-S Roadster which he has collectively spent iro.£50,000 on.
I know it was over time, but he could have had a proper car with that money, not the pile of modded Jap he has now.
Sorry to hijack, just felt the need for a rant!
Some spend thousands on watching football, playing golf or whatever... personally I like to tinker with cars and you cannot beat Japanese cars for the endless options and possibilities of tuning IMO.
I've had BMW M cars, and Porsche's I guess what you call "proper cars" sure the e46 M3 is a superb all rounder and the 986 S would out handle the 5 but at least my RS is unique, and dare I say it a lot more fun than either of the above.
Drew986 said:
I feel your missing the point, for me that's the fun, it's almost hobby and I'm sure many on here and countless other forums across the world would agree.
Some spend thousands on watching football, playing golf or whatever... personally I like to tinker with cars and you cannot beat Japanese cars for the endless options and possibilities of tuning IMO.
I've had BMW M cars, and Porsche's I guess what you call "proper cars" sure the e46 M3 is a superb all rounder and the 986 S would out handle the 5 but at least my RS is unique, and dare I say it a lot more fun than either of the above.
Sorry, i guess i worded my post badly. I used to have an FD3 RX-7 which was modded to about 340bhp, and i went through the cycle i mentioned in my first post. I left out that the point of my post was that i think i've grown out of it/bored of it by now and i just want something that works all the time.Some spend thousands on watching football, playing golf or whatever... personally I like to tinker with cars and you cannot beat Japanese cars for the endless options and possibilities of tuning IMO.
I've had BMW M cars, and Porsche's I guess what you call "proper cars" sure the e46 M3 is a superb all rounder and the 986 S would out handle the 5 but at least my RS is unique, and dare I say it a lot more fun than either of the above.
Having said that, i've just bought a 1970 Hindustan Ambassador and will be fitting a Rover V8 to it, so i don't think i've learnt my lesson!
mk1salami said:
Very nice mate. Sure I've seen this on MX5Nutz. Looks great
Any more plans for it? Also if you don't mind me asking, do you have the exact model of the K&N you're using now? Looks like it fits very nicely in there.
I'd like to look in to some chassis stiffening in the shape of Performance5 chassis rails and some frog arms, also I'd like to change the wing mirrors as I feel they are out proportion with the rest of the car and theres a couple of other cosmetic tweaks here and there to do nothing major though.Any more plans for it? Also if you don't mind me asking, do you have the exact model of the K&N you're using now? Looks like it fits very nicely in there.
I don't know the part number of the K&N but I can take some measurements if you'd like? I'm sure if you had those and spoke to K&N they would be able to sort you out.
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