Mx5 Rocketeer V6 Conversion Project
Discussion
PushedDover said:
Nice job.
Getting v close to pulling the V6 trigger with Bruce for a full conversion. Anything I need to know / factor ?
Are you looking to get Basset Down to do the conversion for you, or to do a self build?Getting v close to pulling the V6 trigger with Bruce for a full conversion. Anything I need to know / factor ?
I would say the biggest thing with my version is now heat management under the bonnet. If I was to build it again, I'd look at coating the exhaust manifolds and any other method to keep heat down. Not for overheating purposes, as it cools well but to save power being sapped.
Also, my clutch can be a bit juddery due to heat after a long run (another facet of the above). I'm not sure if this has been solved, but I'd check that.
MrBig said:
That looks great! Can I ask where you sourced the quilted material from please? I have a couple of interior jobs to do and that looks ideal. How easy was it stick round the edges of the door card?
Cheers for that. I think I bought it from 'I love fabric'.It glued surprisingly well with spray adhesive, although I took the time to cut the padding material away from the surface so I glued directly to the faux leather when sticking the edges down on the rear face of the door card.
Lewis's Friend said:
PushedDover said:
Nice job.
Getting v close to pulling the V6 trigger with Bruce for a full conversion. Anything I need to know / factor ?
Are you looking to get Basset Down to do the conversion for you, or to do a self build?Getting v close to pulling the V6 trigger with Bruce for a full conversion. Anything I need to know / factor ?
I would say the biggest thing with my version is now heat management under the bonnet. If I was to build it again, I'd look at coating the exhaust manifolds and any other method to keep heat down. Not for overheating purposes, as it cools well but to save power being sapped.
Also, my clutch can be a bit juddery due to heat after a long run (another facet of the above). I'm not sure if this has been solved, but I'd check that.
A little windfall has made it reachable.
I have the car under the knife at AutoBarn who have been doing an amazing resto (discovery!) and running gear upgrades (replacement in earnest as the car is 25yrs old). Itching to get it back and run it around, but am very likely to drop it off next winter for Basset Down / Rocketeer to do the turnkey conversion.
SO with that in mind - wont things like the heat management be included in the install?
PushedDover said:
Ah I am not brave enough, talented enough - or patient enough to do it myself - so a full turnkey installation having driven their demo last summer.
A little windfall has made it reachable.
I have the car under the knife at AutoBarn who have been doing an amazing resto (discovery!) and running gear upgrades (replacement in earnest as the car is 25yrs old). Itching to get it back and run it around, but am very likely to drop it off next winter for Basset Down / Rocketeer to do the turnkey conversion.
SO with that in mind - wont things like the heat management be included in the install?
That sounds like it'll be a lovely car when it's done. I only bought an mx5 so I could do the conversion t it, so have limited experience with the standard 1.8, but I found the engine to be disappointing - it didn't like to rev and felt weak (though mine was not a good example I think!). I feel the engine swap is perfect for the chassis though. No overwhelming torque, wants to rev but fast (though not exactly supercar fast).A little windfall has made it reachable.
I have the car under the knife at AutoBarn who have been doing an amazing resto (discovery!) and running gear upgrades (replacement in earnest as the car is 25yrs old). Itching to get it back and run it around, but am very likely to drop it off next winter for Basset Down / Rocketeer to do the turnkey conversion.
SO with that in mind - wont things like the heat management be included in the install?
In terms of the heat management, I would have that conversation with Rocketeer. I don't think they offer coated/wrapped exhausts as standard (though I may be wrong), but would be something I would consider. If I pull my engine for some reason in the future, I'll look to have this done.
The clutch I believe has been changed from my iteration to address the judder with heat build up, but again I would have a conversation about it.
There is a closed facebook group for Rocketeer builds which would be worth trying to join if you are looking to buy a car.
Lewis's Friend said:
That sounds like it'll be a lovely car when it's done. I only bought an mx5 so I could do the conversion t it, so have limited experience with the standard 1.8, but I found the engine to be disappointing - it didn't like to rev and felt weak (though mine was not a good example I think!). I feel the engine swap is perfect for the chassis though. No overwhelming torque, wants to rev but fast (though not exactly supercar fast).
In terms of the heat management, I would have that conversation with Rocketeer. I don't think they offer coated/wrapped exhausts as standard (though I may be wrong), but would be something I would consider. If I pull my engine for some reason in the future, I'll look to have this done.
The clutch I believe has been changed from my iteration to address the judder with heat build up, but again I would have a conversation about it.
There is a closed facebook group for Rocketeer builds which would be worth trying to join if you are looking to buy a car.
Thanks - the demo was just a laugh a minute and the car a dream. Understated. Swift. Placeable - and most importantly in this world of restrictions and speed limitations. A hoot at all speeds, not needing triple digits to be alive.In terms of the heat management, I would have that conversation with Rocketeer. I don't think they offer coated/wrapped exhausts as standard (though I may be wrong), but would be something I would consider. If I pull my engine for some reason in the future, I'll look to have this done.
The clutch I believe has been changed from my iteration to address the judder with heat build up, but again I would have a conversation about it.
There is a closed facebook group for Rocketeer builds which would be worth trying to join if you are looking to buy a car.
I am on the Facebook group and see your posts
and a good sink of knowledge. My car I have owned since 1998 so its rather special to me - versus buying someone elses.
I am at the cross roads of waiting for the car to come back and roar around in it (relugated to third car duties these days / summer / high days, or knowing what I know after trying the Rocketeer, always wanting that little bit more of thrust.
As you say a wonderful, free revving thrust.
A small update on my Mx5 - nothing too exciting, but a couple of little improvements...
For Christmas, I received a DaveFab jacking bar (this replaces the rear towing irons, and puts a bar between them that slightly protrudes under the rear bumper for jacking purposes - hence the name! While working in the area, I ended up replacing the rear exhaust heat shield too.
The heat shield I made was still in one piece, but I decided to buy the actual heat shield that I had blatantly copied before. This is because it's a bit more robust being of thicker aluminium, and I felt bad about my previous plagarism...
So - a new heat shield installed:
20220209_111157 by Jon Fellows, on Flickr
I then installed the jacking bar - this is very easy if the original bolts come out. If they don't, it's a pain! After much soaking in penetrating fluid, all the bolts got chugged out with my rattle gun which was a result. I cleaned the threads up on the bolts and captive nuts and could install the jacking bar.
20220212_110220 by Jon Fellows, on Flickr
20220212_110234 by Jon Fellows, on Flickr
Again, no massive changes but a little something to make getting the car in the air a little easier...
For Christmas, I received a DaveFab jacking bar (this replaces the rear towing irons, and puts a bar between them that slightly protrudes under the rear bumper for jacking purposes - hence the name! While working in the area, I ended up replacing the rear exhaust heat shield too.
The heat shield I made was still in one piece, but I decided to buy the actual heat shield that I had blatantly copied before. This is because it's a bit more robust being of thicker aluminium, and I felt bad about my previous plagarism...
So - a new heat shield installed:
20220209_111157 by Jon Fellows, on FlickrI then installed the jacking bar - this is very easy if the original bolts come out. If they don't, it's a pain! After much soaking in penetrating fluid, all the bolts got chugged out with my rattle gun which was a result. I cleaned the threads up on the bolts and captive nuts and could install the jacking bar.
20220212_110220 by Jon Fellows, on Flickr20220212_110234 by Jon Fellows, on FlickrAgain, no massive changes but a little something to make getting the car in the air a little easier...
Great build thread, I remember reading it before I bought my Rocketeer and staying up 'til 2:00am to read all of it :-) I finished my Rocketeer in November and have put about 750 miles on it so far with lots of 'improvements' and developments to try and make the car worthy of the engine! A quick question on wheels, I have a soft spot for the minilite replicas but my car is an '05 with factory sport brakes. They are a vast improvement on the old standard 1.8 brakes but do mean my wheel choice is limited. I'm currently running 16' mk4 wheels but would like the Rota RB's you have in 7". Do you run Sport brakes or normal 1.8? Lot's of conflicting information on Miata.net as the US Rotas seem to come in ET 35 and the UK ones ET30. I guess the only way for me to check is to try and bolt one on which is an expensive test!
PushedDover said:
Nice mod. Like that.
(I may have just paid the instalment for a blueprint AJ30 engine this morning.....)
Very nice! My engine is a breakers special - my idea was to get it built properly if it went pop at any point. But so far no issues so a standard breakers special it remains!(I may have just paid the instalment for a blueprint AJ30 engine this morning.....)
shalmaneser said:
The more I think about these V6 MX5's the more I think they're the perfect petrolhead car. You're doing a really nice job here, great to see.
Just over a ton in weight is a great achievement too, and it's hardly a stripped out build! It must get a proper move on.
I think it's a really nice combination of lightweight and power, but with nice linear delivery so it's like an Mx5+. I've never driven a turbo'd Mx5, so can't really comment on what they feel like, but I've always enjoyed the larger NA engines.Just over a ton in weight is a great achievement too, and it's hardly a stripped out build! It must get a proper move on.
carl4x4 said:
Great build thread, I remember reading it before I bought my Rocketeer and staying up 'til 2:00am to read all of it :-) I finished my Rocketeer in November and have put about 750 miles on it so far with lots of 'improvements' and developments to try and make the car worthy of the engine! A quick question on wheels, I have a soft spot for the minilite replicas but my car is an '05 with factory sport brakes. They are a vast improvement on the old standard 1.8 brakes but do mean my wheel choice is limited. I'm currently running 16' mk4 wheels but would like the Rota RB's you have in 7". Do you run Sport brakes or normal 1.8? Lot's of conflicting information on Miata.net as the US Rotas seem to come in ET 35 and the UK ones ET30. I guess the only way for me to check is to try and bolt one on which is an expensive test!
I have normal 1.8, just with a fresh rebuild and EBC pads and discs. I don't know what they'd be like on track, but for road they've been fine so far - in terms of brake feel, the best mod I did was the DaveFab brake stopped. That helped a lot.Not a very helpful post for you though I fear!
No problem, it's always good to hear what a fellow Rocketeer owner has tried out on their car. I would definitely agree on some sort of coating on the exhaust to keep temps down. I experienced too much heat from the right downpipe cooking the clutch slave cylinder and making it hard to change gear after sitting in slow traffic for more than a few minutes. Sorted that with a small aluminium heat shield. I have seem some people extending the air filters with flexi-hose to pick up air from behind the headlights which apparently drops inlet air temp considerably.
The biggest two changes to mine after the conversion that made a real difference have been the addition of frame rail stiffeners and changing to a 3.6 diff with the 5 speed. Without the frame rails you could feel the car wasn't happy with all the extra torque. The gearstick bucked around, the diff axle-tramped on hard acceleration, and the whole chassis seemed a lot more wobbly than with the old 1.6 ! I fitted the diff with void fillers for the bushes which helped a lot and tightened everything up along with the rails. Also with my old 4.1 diff gearchanges were over too quickly so the car sounded good but just seemed to be a faster louder version of it's old self. With much taller gear ratios it's transformed the drive into much more more of a GT where I can take advantage of the torque in all gears and not worry about frantic wheelspin in 1st & 2nd!
I know Mazda never made a MX5 with a 3.6 diff with 5speed as the gearing is slightly longer than even a 6speed with the same diff, but in the Rocketeer I'd recommend it to anyone doing the conversion.
The biggest two changes to mine after the conversion that made a real difference have been the addition of frame rail stiffeners and changing to a 3.6 diff with the 5 speed. Without the frame rails you could feel the car wasn't happy with all the extra torque. The gearstick bucked around, the diff axle-tramped on hard acceleration, and the whole chassis seemed a lot more wobbly than with the old 1.6 ! I fitted the diff with void fillers for the bushes which helped a lot and tightened everything up along with the rails. Also with my old 4.1 diff gearchanges were over too quickly so the car sounded good but just seemed to be a faster louder version of it's old self. With much taller gear ratios it's transformed the drive into much more more of a GT where I can take advantage of the torque in all gears and not worry about frantic wheelspin in 1st & 2nd!
I know Mazda never made a MX5 with a 3.6 diff with 5speed as the gearing is slightly longer than even a 6speed with the same diff, but in the Rocketeer I'd recommend it to anyone doing the conversion.
carl4x4 said:
No problem, it's always good to hear what a fellow Rocketeer owner has tried out on their car. I would definitely agree on some sort of coating on the exhaust to keep temps down. I experienced too much heat from the right downpipe cooking the clutch slave cylinder and making it hard to change gear after sitting in slow traffic for more than a few minutes. Sorted that with a small aluminium heat shield. I have seem some people extending the air filters with flexi-hose to pick up air from behind the headlights which apparently drops inlet air temp considerably.
The biggest two changes to mine after the conversion that made a real difference have been the addition of frame rail stiffeners and changing to a 3.6 diff with the 5 speed. Without the frame rails you could feel the car wasn't happy with all the extra torque. The gearstick bucked around, the diff axle-tramped on hard acceleration, and the whole chassis seemed a lot more wobbly than with the old 1.6 ! I fitted the diff with void fillers for the bushes which helped a lot and tightened everything up along with the rails. Also with my old 4.1 diff gearchanges were over too quickly so the car sounded good but just seemed to be a faster louder version of it's old self. With much taller gear ratios it's transformed the drive into much more more of a GT where I can take advantage of the torque in all gears and not worry about frantic wheelspin in 1st & 2nd!
I know Mazda never made a MX5 with a 3.6 diff with 5speed as the gearing is slightly longer than even a 6speed with the same diff, but in the Rocketeer I'd recommend it to anyone doing the conversion.
I've just fitted void fillers as it happens, but not driven with them yet but am keen to see if they make much difference. I had no pictures, and it's not the most photogenic change anyway, so I didn't update the thread.The biggest two changes to mine after the conversion that made a real difference have been the addition of frame rail stiffeners and changing to a 3.6 diff with the 5 speed. Without the frame rails you could feel the car wasn't happy with all the extra torque. The gearstick bucked around, the diff axle-tramped on hard acceleration, and the whole chassis seemed a lot more wobbly than with the old 1.6 ! I fitted the diff with void fillers for the bushes which helped a lot and tightened everything up along with the rails. Also with my old 4.1 diff gearchanges were over too quickly so the car sounded good but just seemed to be a faster louder version of it's old self. With much taller gear ratios it's transformed the drive into much more more of a GT where I can take advantage of the torque in all gears and not worry about frantic wheelspin in 1st & 2nd!
I know Mazda never made a MX5 with a 3.6 diff with 5speed as the gearing is slightly longer than even a 6speed with the same diff, but in the Rocketeer I'd recommend it to anyone doing the conversion.
I'm also keen to fit chassis rails too, but that will probably be for the next winter period as I don't want to start that now as (hopefully) we move towards some better weather.
The 3.6 diff has been good, but 1st gear is over very quickly so I think shorter ratios would be a pain! I'm glad I fitted mine when I first had the car apart pre conversion.
PushedDover said:
They still aren’t for sale unless you’re a member of the private group linked to. AlmostUseful said:
PushedDover said:
They still aren’t for sale unless you’re a member of the private group linked to. 
I have zero affiliation with it btw. but watch the group with interest (Rocketeer Group) and obviously a member of the MX5 group it is for sale in .
PushedDover said:
£11,800So roughly £3k car and £9k conversion - seems a bit steep to me - usually you're lucky to get 50% of the modification value
mackie1 said:
Yeah, £8-9K seems about right unless it's a proper nut and bolt restoration as-new type build or something like Phil. My local MX5 guy is chocker with people wanting as-new MK1s and they're paying loads.
When I was in Hungerford on the test, they had in a Silver Mk2, with only 3,000 miles on it - I think the car was sourced at £15k, and in for a full turnkey resto-mod job / V6 factory installation. They showed other examples in a scrap book of a nuts and bolts restoration with a bill at the end of circa £30k iirc, for a Dutch client.
Seems to be a mad niche these restomods...
It's interesting to see what these sell for. I would say they're very difficult to price, given the base car can vary massively in quality.
I also think the days of a good £3k mk1 mx5 are over or almost over. Too much rust!
£12k for a converted car is both pretty pricey for an mx5, but cheap for a Rocketeer mx5 (if you were to do a new one for yourself).
I also think the days of a good £3k mk1 mx5 are over or almost over. Too much rust!
£12k for a converted car is both pretty pricey for an mx5, but cheap for a Rocketeer mx5 (if you were to do a new one for yourself).
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