BBR Super 200 cams...a review
Discussion
I collected my Mk3 from BBR today, thought I would post a review of the work I have had done, namely the 'Super 200' cams they have recently released for the 2.0 NC and NC2/3 MX-5s, for anyone else who is considering having the work done.
My car went into them with some modifications already done, the spec of the car is nothing that unusual, plenty of Mk3 owners are running similar now, to outline what it went in with, here is a list, my build thread on MX5nutz details everything I have had done but for those who haven't read it, my car already had the following engine mods:
Racing Beat 4-1 Inlet manifold
Milltek cat back exhaust with 200 cell sports cat welded into the mid pipe
Pipercross panel filter in standard airbox
EcuTek remap by Autotronix
This made for a nice improvement over a standard NC (approx 175bhp), but the draw for more power was there.. BBR would supply and fit their camshafts, and then use EcuTek software to custom remap the car on their dyno.
Upon arrival at BBR I was greeted by Neil and Ruben. It was agreed that they would do a dyno run beforehand, just to check the car was performing as it should, and also to provide a baseline to see what power gains I would get. Now this threw up a problem straight away, the power curve was not right, there was a big dip in power and torque from 4k rpm that stopped and went back to normal at 6.5k rpm, previously I had assumed any flat spots were just down to the mapping in particular areas but they felt it was out of the ordinary. They tried their own base map (for a car with similar mods) on the car and it still showed the same problem, although it made more power...so it was a hardware issue rather than a software one. I left the car with them and they were able to provide me with a loan car whilst they diagnosed the fault and fitted the cams. The problem was eventually fixed - a faulty actuator mechanism for the variable length inlet manifold runners. Bit of a head scratcher to find it, as it did not throw up any fault codes or a check engine light.
Anyway, the numbers...after fixing the fault and cracking on with the mods. The graph here compares the car as it went in to the workshop with how it left.
The blue lines have a clear dip due to the inlet manifold fault mentioned above, however peak power was not effected. Fixing the fault, fitting the cams and remapping has showed gains of 25bhp or so and 16lb ft torque in peak figures.
One of my concerns over fitting uprated cams was drivability. I have previously had a Fiesta ST with uprated cams, this had a 2.0 Duratec engine that is very similar to the MZR in the NC MX5, and Mountune cams. That car felt pretty gutless below 4k rpm to be honest, although it flew once you got the revs up. Happily you can see the gains here are substantial throughout the mid range, peak torque is higher and reached much earlier, and there is more power and torque over the whole rev range from 3krpm upwards to the limiter.
Driving back from Brackley to Wolverhampton I got stuck in the usual stop start traffic from J2 on the M5 onwards, the car performs the same as the stock car in traffic, it will happily roll along with no throttle in 1st or 2nd gear, and pull from low rpm at small or wide throttle openings without any kangarooing or hesitation. The only clue that the car is cammed is the idle - its raised slightly from stock (idling at around 900-1000rpm) and the exhaust note takes on a slightly angrier note at idle - it just sounds more tuned, rather than broken. There is perhaps a tiny discernible increase in engine vibration felt in the cabin at idle but its not immediately apparent, just something I noticed after an hour - if you got into my car for the first time you'd just think it was normal. They spent a lot of time on the custom mapping, with me having a different exhaust manifold and system from what they used to develop the cams with, but the end result is the car is smooth and responsive throughout the rev range.
Performance...it feels a lot quicker, I won't claim any numbers but its fair to say it goes *a lot* better now, performing much more how you'd expect of a sports car. 200bhp and 1085 odd kg (soft top NC1) makes for pretty rapid progress, certainly a step up from the standard car where the engine is (in my view) the weak point of the package. It pulls much harder through the gears, and is also more relaxing to drive with the improvements in torque. With an uprated exhaust you get a nice pop on upshift but its still fairly civilised when you want it to be.
Neil thinks more power could be had with the BBR manifold (it has longer exhaust primaries), and a later car than my NC1 (the facelifted NC2/3 has stronger crank and better valve springs so can be safely revved higher, and the head flows slightly better, so you can eke out a bit more at the top end). The car is really good to drive now, so revvy and feels much more powerful, and I can't fault BBR for the way they dealt with the unexpected fault on my car.
Overall....very happy
My car went into them with some modifications already done, the spec of the car is nothing that unusual, plenty of Mk3 owners are running similar now, to outline what it went in with, here is a list, my build thread on MX5nutz details everything I have had done but for those who haven't read it, my car already had the following engine mods:
Racing Beat 4-1 Inlet manifold
Milltek cat back exhaust with 200 cell sports cat welded into the mid pipe
Pipercross panel filter in standard airbox
EcuTek remap by Autotronix
This made for a nice improvement over a standard NC (approx 175bhp), but the draw for more power was there.. BBR would supply and fit their camshafts, and then use EcuTek software to custom remap the car on their dyno.
Upon arrival at BBR I was greeted by Neil and Ruben. It was agreed that they would do a dyno run beforehand, just to check the car was performing as it should, and also to provide a baseline to see what power gains I would get. Now this threw up a problem straight away, the power curve was not right, there was a big dip in power and torque from 4k rpm that stopped and went back to normal at 6.5k rpm, previously I had assumed any flat spots were just down to the mapping in particular areas but they felt it was out of the ordinary. They tried their own base map (for a car with similar mods) on the car and it still showed the same problem, although it made more power...so it was a hardware issue rather than a software one. I left the car with them and they were able to provide me with a loan car whilst they diagnosed the fault and fitted the cams. The problem was eventually fixed - a faulty actuator mechanism for the variable length inlet manifold runners. Bit of a head scratcher to find it, as it did not throw up any fault codes or a check engine light.
Anyway, the numbers...after fixing the fault and cracking on with the mods. The graph here compares the car as it went in to the workshop with how it left.
The blue lines have a clear dip due to the inlet manifold fault mentioned above, however peak power was not effected. Fixing the fault, fitting the cams and remapping has showed gains of 25bhp or so and 16lb ft torque in peak figures.
One of my concerns over fitting uprated cams was drivability. I have previously had a Fiesta ST with uprated cams, this had a 2.0 Duratec engine that is very similar to the MZR in the NC MX5, and Mountune cams. That car felt pretty gutless below 4k rpm to be honest, although it flew once you got the revs up. Happily you can see the gains here are substantial throughout the mid range, peak torque is higher and reached much earlier, and there is more power and torque over the whole rev range from 3krpm upwards to the limiter.
Driving back from Brackley to Wolverhampton I got stuck in the usual stop start traffic from J2 on the M5 onwards, the car performs the same as the stock car in traffic, it will happily roll along with no throttle in 1st or 2nd gear, and pull from low rpm at small or wide throttle openings without any kangarooing or hesitation. The only clue that the car is cammed is the idle - its raised slightly from stock (idling at around 900-1000rpm) and the exhaust note takes on a slightly angrier note at idle - it just sounds more tuned, rather than broken. There is perhaps a tiny discernible increase in engine vibration felt in the cabin at idle but its not immediately apparent, just something I noticed after an hour - if you got into my car for the first time you'd just think it was normal. They spent a lot of time on the custom mapping, with me having a different exhaust manifold and system from what they used to develop the cams with, but the end result is the car is smooth and responsive throughout the rev range.
Performance...it feels a lot quicker, I won't claim any numbers but its fair to say it goes *a lot* better now, performing much more how you'd expect of a sports car. 200bhp and 1085 odd kg (soft top NC1) makes for pretty rapid progress, certainly a step up from the standard car where the engine is (in my view) the weak point of the package. It pulls much harder through the gears, and is also more relaxing to drive with the improvements in torque. With an uprated exhaust you get a nice pop on upshift but its still fairly civilised when you want it to be.
Neil thinks more power could be had with the BBR manifold (it has longer exhaust primaries), and a later car than my NC1 (the facelifted NC2/3 has stronger crank and better valve springs so can be safely revved higher, and the head flows slightly better, so you can eke out a bit more at the top end). The car is really good to drive now, so revvy and feels much more powerful, and I can't fault BBR for the way they dealt with the unexpected fault on my car.
Overall....very happy
I dont think you'd gain anything from using these cams in a forced induction setup to be honest, a typical cam setup for naturally aspirated engines uses overlap to ensure air/charge abd exhaust gases keep moving, but add boost and you end up blowing your fuel/air mix out of the exhaust valves before its used.
A set of cams with a revised profile developed for a boosted application (different profile) is likely to bring about gains, but for the mx5 turbo bbr build you are more likely to destroy a standard bottom end before the stock cams restrict you. The exhaust and strength of engine are restrictions long before the stock cams.
If you might add boost later then buy the full bbr exhaust system...but a good cam profile for n/a is rarely optimal for forced induction.
A set of cams with a revised profile developed for a boosted application (different profile) is likely to bring about gains, but for the mx5 turbo bbr build you are more likely to destroy a standard bottom end before the stock cams restrict you. The exhaust and strength of engine are restrictions long before the stock cams.
If you might add boost later then buy the full bbr exhaust system...but a good cam profile for n/a is rarely optimal for forced induction.
Great review and thank you for the detail.
I am umming and areing about getting BBR to install the Super 200 conversion or sell my 3.5 and get the new mk4 next year. Maybe I should wait until I have driven the new model first. A big minus is they are not launching with true red as a colour option. That's the only colour I like MX5's in!
I absolutely love my MX5 and despite owning several far more powerful machines, the MX5 is the one that gives me the most smiles. It's also the only car I have kept for more than 2 years, that's saying something.
Any advice (bar getting over true red!) would be appreciated but looking at my current MX5 which is worth £10k (it's totally mint) and having to more than double the cost to buy the new car, it may take my appreciation away slightly of course waiting for BBR to do something with the mk4.
I am umming and areing about getting BBR to install the Super 200 conversion or sell my 3.5 and get the new mk4 next year. Maybe I should wait until I have driven the new model first. A big minus is they are not launching with true red as a colour option. That's the only colour I like MX5's in!
I absolutely love my MX5 and despite owning several far more powerful machines, the MX5 is the one that gives me the most smiles. It's also the only car I have kept for more than 2 years, that's saying something.
Any advice (bar getting over true red!) would be appreciated but looking at my current MX5 which is worth £10k (it's totally mint) and having to more than double the cost to buy the new car, it may take my appreciation away slightly of course waiting for BBR to do something with the mk4.
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