MINT MK1 MX 5 Turbo FINALLY Finished

[VR6VR6]

Well my minor cosmetic refurb of the MK1 MX5 that I found (more of an underground garage find than a barn find) turned in to an epic 20 month complete rebuild culminating in a 250bhp classic stunner!

The spec list is as long as my arm but I will let the pics do the talking!

Edited by VR6VR6 on Friday 5th May 09:03

Edited by VR6VR6 on Friday 5th May 09:04

[VR6VR6]

[VR6VR6]

[VR6VR6]

[Mattlan]

Absolutely lovely, but 250 BHP through 14" tyres, bet that's lively!!

[PixelpeepS3]

beautiful - 250bhp with the weight of an anorexic goldfish and the ground clearance of a worms shoelace. must feel next level quick

[VR6VR6]

She wears 185/60/14 Nankang NS2R track day tyres to keep the "standard" looks but with lots of grip!

I was adamant that she MUST look standard!

[VR6VR6]

A bit of an improvement on this:



Was planned to be a quick refurb on what was actually a very solid car but (as ever) we went a bit MAD!

EXTERIOR
Full body rebuild,
New rear qtrs.,
New wings,
New sills (seam welded),
Full Waxoil underneath and injected in to all cavities,
Complete respray in original colour

CHASSIS
Rebuilt std suspension,
Rebuilt std brakes,
Under floor bracing,
Powder coated std wheels,

INTERIOR
Re-connolised seats,
Fully steam cleaned carpets,
New MX5 Parts mats,
New (Tan Mohair) hood yet to be fitted,

MECHANICALS
Low mile (original engine) 1.6L JDM spec lump,
Cylinder head cooling re-route kit (now cools from the rear),
Huge Fast 5 ally radiator,
Large intercooler (painted stealth black) soft mounted on custom made cradle,
19 row thermostatically controlled Mocal oil cooler (painted stealth black),
Black Cat Developments tubular SS manifold (Ceramic coated inside and out),
Brand new TD04 turbo charger with new SS lines,
Black Cat Developments tubular SS downpipe (Ceramic coated inside and out),
Fast 5 SS high flow exhaust system with sensible tail pipe (not a drain pipe!),
High flow Foam air filter on black Silicone elbow,
RX8 yellow fuel injectors,
ME221 stand alone ECU with TPS,
Wide bank lamba guage (mounted in glove box),
Competition Clutches lightweight Steel Flywheel,
Competition Clutches Stage 2 clutch kit (very light),
All intercooler piping is custom made (mandrel bent) and black crackle coated,
Rocker cover black crackle coated,

+ Loads and loads of other small parts / mods!

Now that she is finished, I am not sure what I will do with her as she is part of a fleet of 7 cars and I can;t drive them all!

[kuro]

You could sell it to me.

[VR6VR6]

The car may be up for sale shortly as it is unlikely to get much use.

[kuro]

VR6VR6 said:

The car may be up for sale shortly as it is unlikely to get much use.

I would seriously be interested in this as I'm currenty looking for a pristine mk1. However I suspect this may be above my budget. I can't seem to send you a pm, can you contact me with more details?

[patmahe]

Don't suppose there's a massive restoration thread anywhere with photos of all the work done? I have a tatty Mx-5 I'm hoping to do a bit of a restoration on, not to the same extent as yours but just to make it a tidy example.

[VR6VR6]

Kuro

I have messaged you.

[skinny]

A lot of work in that. Std 1.6 brakes tho...?

[Cambs_Stuart]

What a fantastic car. I'd love to see and read more about the build if you've got time to share?

[fatjon]

No problems with spark blow out with those standard coil packs? My Mk2 wouldn't take more than 10PSI until I switched to Toyota COPs.

Nice job BTW, quality install and a lovely looking car.

[VR6VR6]

A few build images here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[VR6VR6]

What sort of £ would my MX5 be worth in this condition?

I have been contacted by 4 people wanting to buy her and I hadn't realised that she was a V-Spec edition which is apparently very rare!

[AmiableChimp]

VR6VR6 said:

What sort of £ would my MX5 be worth in this condition?

I have been contacted by 4 people wanting to buy her and I hadn't realised that she was a V-Spec edition which is apparently very rare!

V-Special isn't that rare bud, there were quite a few imported (including mine which came in 2 years ago from Japan).

Most of them are green with tan, although some are black & tan and very few are white with tan.

I wouldn't say it adds much, if anything to the price of your particular car, but the fact that yours is in such good, and well modified condition is probably the overriding contributor to value.

Pricing is always difficult as you'll find it hard to find a comparable one to gauge price from.

[yellowstreak]

The car looks fantastic. I bet its a hoot.

Is there any reason you started with the 1.6 rather than the 1.8? I see that a lot of the turbo cars on the net are 1.6s.