Power upgrade 1.8 nb

[Sheetmaself]

So my MX5 has passed its mot yesterday with no advisories for the second time in a row with no sign of rust!

Is now the time to fettle with it a little and lift the power?

My first port of call i think would be to rolling road it and see what power level we are currently at as it definitely doesn’t feel the full 140hp. I am used to low power low weight cars as have had a few base elises and this car is nowhere near.

I don’t really want to go down the supercharger or turbo route and would prefer to spend less than around £1k on the engine. The car already has an uprated air filter and cobalt exhaust.

Brakes are already sorted and the chassis will be worked on as well to accommodate the extra power.

Not looking for anything crazy jut a car i feel comfortable overtaking in.

Oh i am Derbyshire based if that helps for recommendations.

[Belle427]

Being honest there isnt much you can do really, forced induction is the way to go for anything worthwhile but that starts to get expensive as i wouldnt personally just bolt on a Turbo without some strengthening of the bottom end.
Just try to get it running as best you can and enjoy it.

[Sheetmaself]

Thanks, considering the £415 road tax i may take a look at the engine swop route!

[PushedDover]

Sheetmaself said:

Thanks, considering the £415 road tax i may take a look at the engine swop route!

Swap to what?

[Sheetmaself]

Absolutely no idea is the honest answer right now.

But if i can do it for say £3-4k and get tax down to £200 or less then man maths says good idea!

[Belle427]

Rocketeer conversion maybe but your talking silly money for that. A sympathetic Turbo build would be best really, around 200 Bhp should be easily achieved without too much drama, just check what sort of power the standard rods can take.

[GravelBen]

I'd love to KL-ZE V6 swap mine if the engine ever expires!

[pewe]

You may want to consider throttle bodies as they seem to provide decent extra power for not a lot of money.
Have a look at MX5Nutz for more info.
BTW the bottom end on these engines is pretty bomb-proof having been designed originally for 323 Turbo use.
AFAIK later models were similar to the earlier ones

[Sheetmaself]

Ooh thanks i will take a look

[iguana]

Belle427 said:

Being honest there isnt much you can do really, forced induction is the way to go for anything worthwhile but that starts to get expensive as i wouldnt personally just bolt on a Turbo without some strengthening of the bottom end.
Just try to get it running as best you can and enjoy it.

I'm 6 yrs in a stock block 240bhp NB that gets trackday use & a lot of abuse on road & no probs.

Don't boost them to the moon & keep the power low ish & they are fine, I've had 2x SC & 1x other NAs too

[Sheetmaself]

Going to get it serviced and a proper once over by mx5 city who are reasonably close so we have a solid start point. I will the. Use their expertise to get a plan together of whatvi am after. I don’t want/need a rocket ship just something base elise type speed.