Mazda MX-5e Tesla Powered
Discussion
Busy day today! We have completely stripped out the interior now, including the 2.2kg of sound deadening material on the front bulkhead. Every little bit counts :-)
We then started the rebuild, with a new black carpet and new black interior trim. We have also stripped the rear end to look for any rust but found none, which is nice.
Rob
We then started the rebuild, with a new black carpet and new black interior trim. We have also stripped the rear end to look for any rust but found none, which is nice.
Rob
She is now ready for her MOT tomorrow. I've never bought a non-runner before and put so much time, effort and money into a car I've yet to drive :-) Paid £1450 for the car but we have spent another £2500 already. Mostly on a new braking system and Meister R coilovers. The seats have now been stained black and I have refurbished this Momo wooden rimmed steering wheel with a hand-stitched leather cover.
Edited by robcollingridge on Monday 29th May 11:48
J4CKO said:
It will be 300 ish bhp per ton, its rwd and will have a fair chunk of torque from standstill, it will be a bit lairy ?I expect but nothing a bit of careful acclimatization, respect, practice and taking it somewhere with nothing to hit and letting rip wont mitigate.
Plenty of similarly and more powerful MX5's out there, people plonk LS engines in them, and by the sound of it you can adjust the power delivery to make it less prone to swapping ends.
I suppose it will be at least predictably unpredictable, where a turbo delivery can be a bit more hit and miss depending on gear, air temp and god knows what, suspect this will just deliver all 330 NM in one hit if you ask it, and its not that much torque in the scheme of things.
My Yamaha R1 engined Fisher Fury R1 had 400bhp/ton but it only weighed 450kg. That was good for 0 to 100mph in sub 10 seconds. This will be quicker off the line due to the extra torque but won't have the same top end acceleration of be able to hit 130mph either. The Fury R1 was a bit louder too :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNiIzyqP0N0Plenty of similarly and more powerful MX5's out there, people plonk LS engines in them, and by the sound of it you can adjust the power delivery to make it less prone to swapping ends.
I suppose it will be at least predictably unpredictable, where a turbo delivery can be a bit more hit and miss depending on gear, air temp and god knows what, suspect this will just deliver all 330 NM in one hit if you ask it, and its not that much torque in the scheme of things.
Rob
So, I got to drive the MX-5e for the first time to her MOT (still with ICE power, whilst we complete the basic restoration, testing and some upgrades.
Kaminari (my son has named the car) failed her MOT. Ironically, the main stumbling point was on emissions :-) We haven't touched the exhaust system as it will be completely removed but, the previosu owner put it together with the wrong bolts and no gaskets, so it has too many leaks. We have bought a complete set of gaskets to fix it for the MOT re-test.
The other thing it failed on was the left rear sill. We knew this had been patched up up and we were planning to get it done properly by a specialist later. The MOT tester had other ideas though :-(
It is now booked in to have the welding done by an MX-5 specialist.
Kaminari (my son has named the car) failed her MOT. Ironically, the main stumbling point was on emissions :-) We haven't touched the exhaust system as it will be completely removed but, the previosu owner put it together with the wrong bolts and no gaskets, so it has too many leaks. We have bought a complete set of gaskets to fix it for the MOT re-test.
The other thing it failed on was the left rear sill. We knew this had been patched up up and we were planning to get it done properly by a specialist later. The MOT tester had other ideas though :-(
It is now booked in to have the welding done by an MX-5 specialist.
Having got to drive the car for the first time on the road, I was really happy with the way it drives and the feedback coming through the wheel. Wit the bit of bedding in the new braking system is impressive and provide plenty of confidence. On thing I could hear though, was the anti-roll bars clunking over bumps, so a complete set of polybushes has been purchased and is currently being fitted.
Whilst we are delayed by the MOT failure, we have been working on the interior. We have fitted a completely new black interior and have re-fitted the speakers and head unit. It sounds really good! But, just to make sure, we are fitting this sub-woofer too. As much as I hate to add unecessary weight, I do like like quality sounds in my cars :-)
The 10" Apple CarPlay display goes in next week too.
The 10" Apple CarPlay display goes in next week too.
Flying Phil said:
Thanks for the other updates, but what is happening to the Tesla swap?
This black 1992 Eunos Roadster is going to be our MX-5e (called Kaminari by my son, Japanese for lightning). We are doing a ground up restoration first to make sure we have a solid basis for the conversion. We've put about £4000 into it so far, just to make sure it is worthy of spending another £15,000 on. Having it road legal and with an MOT, makes it much easier to test stuff like the suspension, steering, braking, etc. so we are putting it through an MOT as an ICE car (it is also an automatic). The white 1990 Eunos Roadster (called Yoko) is my son's first car and I bought it as a project for him (when he was 16), whilst he was learning to be a mechanic. We did a full restoration on it and it is now valued at around £9000.
Moderator edit: no social media links please
Good progress today 
The MX-5e passed her MOT at the second attempt. This means we can properly test the ride, handling, suspension, brakes, steering, new seats, etc. This is the first time we have properly driven the car, since buying it as a non-runner back in March.
The initial signs are good! The car is already a lot of fun to drive, albeit a bit slow. The automatic gearbox is lazy at best and totally chilled with overdrive enabled. The old track day tyres we currently have fitted are shockingly bad. The ride generally is very good with new MeisterR coilover fitted. The braking system has been totally rebuilt with all new parts and it inspires confidence. The feedback and feel through the new Momo steering wheel is good. The car is amazingly quiet with none of the rattles you would expect from a 1992 car. That might be because we have stripped the interior out of anything superfluous though
The EV conversion part can now begin properly. My son is booked on an EV conversion course too.
The MX-5e passed her MOT at the second attempt. This means we can properly test the ride, handling, suspension, brakes, steering, new seats, etc. This is the first time we have properly driven the car, since buying it as a non-runner back in March.The initial signs are good! The car is already a lot of fun to drive, albeit a bit slow. The automatic gearbox is lazy at best and totally chilled with overdrive enabled. The old track day tyres we currently have fitted are shockingly bad. The ride generally is very good with new MeisterR coilover fitted. The braking system has been totally rebuilt with all new parts and it inspires confidence. The feedback and feel through the new Momo steering wheel is good. The car is amazingly quiet with none of the rattles you would expect from a 1992 car. That might be because we have stripped the interior out of anything superfluous though
The EV conversion part can now begin properly. My son is booked on an EV conversion course too.
With ICE power still in place we have been doing soem testing to see how the car behaves dynamically. The 1992 automatic gearbox is ssslllloooowww !
The car handles and rides pretty well and the braking system is impressive. We have now ordered some new wheels and Yokohama Advan AD08RS tyres and these will be fitted with a CAN bus compatible TPMS in July.
We have a long list of jobs to be getting on with.
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