RE: PH Fleet: Mazda Eunos Roadster
Discussion
Winter jobs on a sport car, does it not mean more power?
But on the MX5NA, what do you do? There are a few forced induction bolt on kits but what do you do if you don't want a supercharged or turbo engine???
The Mx5Na is over 20 yrs ago and it is only recently piper start to sell hotter camshafts. On the good old Rover and Ford engines, the classic head porting, bigger valves, camshafts swap appear to be done by many tuners.
Why aren't there more mx5 with this type on "light" tuning?
But on the MX5NA, what do you do? There are a few forced induction bolt on kits but what do you do if you don't want a supercharged or turbo engine???
The Mx5Na is over 20 yrs ago and it is only recently piper start to sell hotter camshafts. On the good old Rover and Ford engines, the classic head porting, bigger valves, camshafts swap appear to be done by many tuners.
Why aren't there more mx5 with this type on "light" tuning?
fentuz said:
Why aren't there more mx5 with this type on "light" tuning?
There are plenty of people do do that kind of tuning - its just that if people have a long term plan for high power, it is SO SO easy to boost the engines that you just save up then strap a supercharger on. Remember that the engine in the MX-5 is designed around Forced induction, with very strong crank and rods, low compression, piston skirt oil squirters/cooling etc. It came out of the 323 GTX Turbo rally car from the 80's. The engine is quite agricultural, strong as an ox, well built and reliable but not especially tuneful or 'sweet'. Thats why they make such good race cars I guess.
So £/bhp its a no brainer. But you can still 'toy' with the engines, lots of people do including me.
The biggest strangle on the standard engine is possibly the standard ECU which is very basic, with low resolution but importantly really basic operation that means over about 4k rpm the car goes basically 'open loop' and simply lobs loads of fuel in and hopes for the best. Theres also practically nothing you can do to 'remap' the Mazda ECU, its very difficult - which means that to get any real gains you need to get aftermarket engine management.
Mk2 cylinder head (flows better), skim for increase in compression, cleaned up and rebuilt, decent exhaust, induction, set the timing up properly, then maybe a megasquirt or such like. Picking up 2nd hand parts and doing the work yourself you could do that for £500 maybe, taking a 1.8 Mk1 from 125-30 bhp, upto maybe 150 if your lucky. Doesnt sound a lot but would be very noticeable. Its never gonna have a lot of torque though.
RE cams and suchlike - people have been making bits for them for years, in the States and Japan theres all sorts of stuff to be fitted. Although, with regards to cams in particular, I guess unlike the old Ford Kents and Rover V8's, the factory fit cams are very well designed and judged, so theres simply less of a 'bolt on a lumpy cam and go' benefit.
I've still got all the parts in my garage, even though I dont have the Mazda anymore. I'm tempted to build an engine over winter. Because then i'll be forced into buying a car to drop it into!
fentuz said:
Winter jobs on a sport car, does it not mean more power?
But on the MX5NA, what do you do? There are a few forced induction bolt on kits but what do you do if you don't want a supercharged or turbo engine???
The Mx5Na is over 20 yrs ago and it is only recently piper start to sell hotter camshafts. On the good old Rover and Ford engines, the classic head porting, bigger valves, camshafts swap appear to be done by many tuners.
Why aren't there more mx5 with this type on "light" tuning?
From my records (15-20 year old Miata magazines from the US), hotter camshafts didn't help much. There have been intake/exhaust kits around for decades giving ~15bhp.But on the MX5NA, what do you do? There are a few forced induction bolt on kits but what do you do if you don't want a supercharged or turbo engine???
The Mx5Na is over 20 yrs ago and it is only recently piper start to sell hotter camshafts. On the good old Rover and Ford engines, the classic head porting, bigger valves, camshafts swap appear to be done by many tuners.
Why aren't there more mx5 with this type on "light" tuning?
Standalone ECUs can help, especially if you need to control one of the later heads.
Bored out and stroked engines are available from the US but very expensive. Forced induction for any reasonable power increase is just so much cheaper.
I eventually got fed up with forced induction after running it for 15+ years on mine and put in a rotary so get around 200rwhp
Mines been out for the last few winters come rain, snow or shine.
All you need for the winter months is a good service with some select oil, normal antifreeze check and your good to go... also a spare set of pants in the glove box for when your boot overtakes you!
Mine is my daily, only the thickest of snow stops me driving it, but living in Essex we don't ever get it too bad.
All you need for the winter months is a good service with some select oil, normal antifreeze check and your good to go... also a spare set of pants in the glove box for when your boot overtakes you!
Mine is my daily, only the thickest of snow stops me driving it, but living in Essex we don't ever get it too bad.
This made me laugh, two posts within minutes of each other:
Dan - regarding battery jumping - You shouldn't be able to jump a 'proper' (read: gel type) battery in an MX-5, due to the way it holds it's charge. If you've got a 'normal' (wet cell) battery in there, then that's probably why it's having issues. It will also be rusting your boot from the inside out if you haven't got it venting to the atmosphere using the vent pipes.
Get a proper Gel battery - I got mine from MX5parts.co.uk, and if it ever needs a top up the only charger you can use with them is the trickle chargers, which are used on motorbikes.
Presto - no more battery problems.
Garlick - glad to see you got a car in a decent colour, BRG suits the mk1 well. I miss my white one though
drchris said:
Failed the MOT today :-(
Rusty brake disks and binding calipers. Most likely both due to the lovely dry summer we've had and only covering about 100miles since start of August.
Better be ready for Bedford on 27th...
Rusty brake disks and binding calipers. Most likely both due to the lovely dry summer we've had and only covering about 100miles since start of August.
Better be ready for Bedford on 27th...
Itsallicanafford said:
Not so sure about this laying up for the winter lark. IMO, cars need to regularly driven, especially older ones, otherwise things start to go wrong ...i try to get use my 5 at least once a week, winter or summer.
Nail. Head. Not using cars doesn't do them any good!Dan - regarding battery jumping - You shouldn't be able to jump a 'proper' (read: gel type) battery in an MX-5, due to the way it holds it's charge. If you've got a 'normal' (wet cell) battery in there, then that's probably why it's having issues. It will also be rusting your boot from the inside out if you haven't got it venting to the atmosphere using the vent pipes.
Get a proper Gel battery - I got mine from MX5parts.co.uk, and if it ever needs a top up the only charger you can use with them is the trickle chargers, which are used on motorbikes.
Presto - no more battery problems.
Garlick - glad to see you got a car in a decent colour, BRG suits the mk1 well. I miss my white one though
All this talk of laying up for the winter is heresy. In 1978 having persuaded the police officer to let me risk my own life i drove from Torquay onto a "closed" A38 back home to Cornwall in my little beauty. Staying off the brakes and allowing the boat shape front to snowplough the drifts I made Plymouth in good time and didn't see anyone else, only a fox. Across the Tamar into cornwall was a breeze and I made Perranporth in average time. Let's hope the young uns on here have the same fortitude. Oh and i took the roof off after Plymouth-what a gas!
Edited by pagani1 on Friday 19th October 11:07
Last year I took the TVR off the road for winter (which never arrived) and ended up not using it for about 10-12 weeks. When we started using it again a few little niggles arose that hadn't happened before and once they were sorted, and the car was used regularly, they never happened again.
For that reason, my cars will always be used once a week when possible but I will avoid filthy, salt covered roads for obvvious reasons. That said crisp, dry winter mornings are hard to resist
For that reason, my cars will always be used once a week when possible but I will avoid filthy, salt covered roads for obvvious reasons. That said crisp, dry winter mornings are hard to resist
I don't remember, but my parents have told me that when I was born (approx 32 years ago!) their only car was an MGB Roadster (which they still have). When they were out in the car, they used to put me in a Moses basket on the little back shelf area behind the seats where the batteries go. When I grew too big for it, they bought a baby seat which my dad then 'bolted' onto the shelf. I guess child safety measures in cars have moved on a bit now!
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