2006 MX-5 2.0 Option Pack
Discussion
Outstanding work with the welder. It's one area that I've always wanted to get into, with so many ideas whilst working on previous cars ended with "Damn, I'd need to weld that". It's such a useful skill to have.
The car looks fantastic, the wheels have made a big difference. Seeming that you've got the suspension, brakes and tyres done, are you looking into other areas for power at all?
The car looks fantastic, the wheels have made a big difference. Seeming that you've got the suspension, brakes and tyres done, are you looking into other areas for power at all?
Paw said:
I hate this thread :-). It has had me looking at a NC for a play thing, I have read lots on rust and the prices are all over the shop... the bit question at the mo is soft or hard top and colour.
You're right about prices. I think a lot of original NC owners were older people wanting a 'sports' car for weekends (I feel like the MX5 is in some ways the British equivalent of the Corvette), there are plenty of minty pampered extremely low mileage dubiously-'special edition' examples around so anything with some miles and wear really suffers value-wise. Fears about corrosion probably play into this too. Which is great news if you want something cheap to have some fun with. I think it's one of few cars I've owned where I've had little interest in owning a newer or better spec'd model, I like it because it's cheap and I can abuse and fix it.B'stard Child said:
I'm going to steal that - thank you
cedrichn said:
Accelebrate is definitely really good at advertising the car: he should buy and sale some to make extra money 
Don't give me ideas! I nearly did something similar with a MK3 MR2 recently. It was £800, local, and unusually tidy for a car of that price (nice hood, tidy bodywork, clean MOT history) although laid up during lockdown and lacking an MOT. Sadly, I was a couple of hours too slow and it sold before I could get to it. It would have been a fun project and comparison to the Mazda.cedrichn said:
I did similar to Accelebrate (I think): mine is a 2.0 Sport from 2006 with 95k miles on it. Paint is definitely from 2006: lot of small marks, scratches, but fine from far 
(I park it in the street and I am ham-fisted, so perfect for me). Un-complete service history, almost regular oil service, few upgrades. Car drives fine, with things to be done (diff and gearbox oil change, thermostat blocked, bit of surface rust in the arches,....). Paid £2.5k, did the work myself, and first trackday booked for next Monday 
Sounds perfect! (I park it in the street and I am ham-fisted, so perfect for me). Un-complete service history, almost regular oil service, few upgrades. Car drives fine, with things to be done (diff and gearbox oil change, thermostat blocked, bit of surface rust in the arches,....). Paid £2.5k, did the work myself, and first trackday booked for next Monday 
alex98uk said:
Also does quality work on Fiestas!
I'm still a little impressed that you trusted me to take a holesaw to your strut towers!geraintthomas said:
Outstanding work with the welder. It's one area that I've always wanted to get into, with so many ideas whilst working on previous cars ended with "Damn, I'd need to weld that". It's such a useful skill to have.
The car looks fantastic, the wheels have made a big difference. Seeming that you've got the suspension, brakes and tyres done, are you looking into other areas for power at all?
Thanks, it certainly opens up a lot of options. It's quite easy to cover your costs in terms of the initial outlay on equipment too if you've got some car repairs to do and maybe a few favours for neighbours and friends.The car looks fantastic, the wheels have made a big difference. Seeming that you've got the suspension, brakes and tyres done, are you looking into other areas for power at all?
My car had a bit of a boost in power last year when I changed the manifold and had it remapped by Blink Motorsport. I think it ended up just short of 190bhp. Not a huge increase but it's really changed the way the car responds. The increase in torque is the most noticeable change, it bogs down a lot less coming out of corners and just generally feels a lot more eager.
From there the options are all quite expensive. I could fit cams, but I'm not sure they provide much of a 'lift' on their own to justify the cost. Cams combined with an ITB kit would be great but I think I'd rather put the money towards other toys, it's a similar story with super or turbo charging. Like you, I've lusted after an S2 Elise or Exige for a while now.
Hi
I was doing some reading about the 2.0 engine, and I randomly found that the Europe version has "butterfly valves" in the intake manifold (VTCS - tumble / swirl flaps) which US doesn't have on the manual gearbox (maybe why they have few more BHP ?).
There is a lot of information, but I didn't find anything really "straight forward" and really "scientific" about removing them.
I do remember that you went through some modifications and went onto RR (I plan on doing roughly the same :P): did you investigate the VTCS removal?
Hope you don't mind, and hopefully starting an interesting discussion.... If not, sorry
I was doing some reading about the 2.0 engine, and I randomly found that the Europe version has "butterfly valves" in the intake manifold (VTCS - tumble / swirl flaps) which US doesn't have on the manual gearbox (maybe why they have few more BHP ?).
There is a lot of information, but I didn't find anything really "straight forward" and really "scientific" about removing them.
I do remember that you went through some modifications and went onto RR (I plan on doing roughly the same :P): did you investigate the VTCS removal?
Hope you don't mind, and hopefully starting an interesting discussion.... If not, sorry
I just assumed everything was bigger in the US, including horsepower 
It's a good question, and one that I'm not in any way qualified to answer. I'd probably defer to DuratecNC, it looks like he's already chimed in on this topic... https://forum.mx5oc.co.uk/t/anyone-done-the-swirl-...
I would assume that if there were gains to be had through a simple swirl/tumble flap removal the likes of BBR and other tuners would be including it as part of their packages, short of going over to ITBs I've never seen any really tangible gains on the intake side of the NC.
It's a good question, and one that I'm not in any way qualified to answer. I'd probably defer to DuratecNC, it looks like he's already chimed in on this topic... https://forum.mx5oc.co.uk/t/anyone-done-the-swirl-...
I would assume that if there were gains to be had through a simple swirl/tumble flap removal the likes of BBR and other tuners would be including it as part of their packages, short of going over to ITBs I've never seen any really tangible gains on the intake side of the NC.
Not too much to report in the world of the NC. The rollbar is proving useful as a lumber rack...
...and I commuted to an actual office last week in it for the first time this year. The exhaust is still too loud, but from the drivers seat this car is such a hoot to bang and pop through the countryside.
I popped up to Gilks' Garage Cafe on Saturday morning. It's a similar concept to Caffeine & Machine but a lot smaller and not yet a victim of its own success.
On Sunday I fitted a new set of Koni Yellows to Roshan's 350z, along with a used Milltek cat-back system. The Konis are the same dampers that I've been using on my NC for a while now, it'll be interesting to see how he finds them compared to the OE suspension.
This car usually fights me, it's a similar age and mileage to mine and everything I need to touch is usually crusty. On this occasion that happily wasn't the case.
The Koni kit came with a set of H&R lowering springs, but Roshan chose to keep the OE springs. Fair enough, unlike the NC the 350z sits quite nicely from the factory.
The rear of the 350z has the spring separate from the shock, which made replacing the shock as simple as undoing two small nuts inside the wheelarch and a single bolt through the bottom of the shock.
I was pleased to see the back of his OE exhaust. When he first purchased the car it would appear that the dealer had used silicone to repair a hole that had appeared where the backbox met the midpipe to get it through an MOT. The two flanges were so badly corroded that I ended up chopping them out when I had to separate the exhaust to fit a thicker rear ARB. I repaired it with a sleeve and some clamps which lasted surprisingly well, but always looked like a bodge to my eyes.
I've also been having a bit of a clear out. I've kept far too many of the parts that I've removed from my car over the years, including the very large original bonnet with dodgy paint that I replaced a couple of years ago. I'd pondered attempting a DIY respray on it, or maybe adding some vents and bonnet pins for trackdays, but none of these things have happened and my NA car doesn't seem to have any issues with cooling. I listed it for free on a FB group and 'MX5Gaz' from YouTube collected it this weekend (and kindly turned up with a box of beer). I think he's planning to add some vents and make a video out of it, so I'll look forward to seeing it being put to good use.
...and I commuted to an actual office last week in it for the first time this year. The exhaust is still too loud, but from the drivers seat this car is such a hoot to bang and pop through the countryside.
I popped up to Gilks' Garage Cafe on Saturday morning. It's a similar concept to Caffeine & Machine but a lot smaller and not yet a victim of its own success.
On Sunday I fitted a new set of Koni Yellows to Roshan's 350z, along with a used Milltek cat-back system. The Konis are the same dampers that I've been using on my NC for a while now, it'll be interesting to see how he finds them compared to the OE suspension.
This car usually fights me, it's a similar age and mileage to mine and everything I need to touch is usually crusty. On this occasion that happily wasn't the case.
The Koni kit came with a set of H&R lowering springs, but Roshan chose to keep the OE springs. Fair enough, unlike the NC the 350z sits quite nicely from the factory.
The rear of the 350z has the spring separate from the shock, which made replacing the shock as simple as undoing two small nuts inside the wheelarch and a single bolt through the bottom of the shock.
I was pleased to see the back of his OE exhaust. When he first purchased the car it would appear that the dealer had used silicone to repair a hole that had appeared where the backbox met the midpipe to get it through an MOT. The two flanges were so badly corroded that I ended up chopping them out when I had to separate the exhaust to fit a thicker rear ARB. I repaired it with a sleeve and some clamps which lasted surprisingly well, but always looked like a bodge to my eyes.
I've also been having a bit of a clear out. I've kept far too many of the parts that I've removed from my car over the years, including the very large original bonnet with dodgy paint that I replaced a couple of years ago. I'd pondered attempting a DIY respray on it, or maybe adding some vents and bonnet pins for trackdays, but none of these things have happened and my NA car doesn't seem to have any issues with cooling. I listed it for free on a FB group and 'MX5Gaz' from YouTube collected it this weekend (and kindly turned up with a box of beer). I think he's planning to add some vents and make a video out of it, so I'll look forward to seeing it being put to good use.
Great stuff, always loved the 350z. The interior put me off though.
As you're good with the welder (and are considering exhaust options), I was wondering if you fancied an experiment. There's a thing with Boxsters to perform an exhaust 'bypass', where you weld two pipes going from the pipe going into the back box, and pipe them straight out of the tailpipes. This 'bypasses' the backbox slightly, not enough to fail the MOT, but enough to let out some sound. It was the same way that Porsche used to pipe their PSE exhausts.
This is a rough diagram of the pipes:
Exactly the same concept as the Boxster. If you had your old backbox, you could always give it a try? I've always wondered what it would sound like. Mazda original part with extra sound.
As you're good with the welder (and are considering exhaust options), I was wondering if you fancied an experiment. There's a thing with Boxsters to perform an exhaust 'bypass', where you weld two pipes going from the pipe going into the back box, and pipe them straight out of the tailpipes. This 'bypasses' the backbox slightly, not enough to fail the MOT, but enough to let out some sound. It was the same way that Porsche used to pipe their PSE exhausts.
This is a rough diagram of the pipes:
Exactly the same concept as the Boxster. If you had your old backbox, you could always give it a try? I've always wondered what it would sound like. Mazda original part with extra sound.
The car is looking fantastic! Really like the look with the roll-bars.
Picked up a 2006 2.0 Option Pack in Galaxy Grey around March this year and loving every second with it. Definitely a bit scabby in places but as a driving experience, it's great. Need to get the centre silencer sorted as it's blowing pretty bad and the whole pipe is in bad shape. Seen a kit on eBay to delete it. Betting on the bracket to the rear-silencer being a nightmare though. Planning some AutoSolo days when I can navigate through the local club websites!
Picked up a 2006 2.0 Option Pack in Galaxy Grey around March this year and loving every second with it. Definitely a bit scabby in places but as a driving experience, it's great. Need to get the centre silencer sorted as it's blowing pretty bad and the whole pipe is in bad shape. Seen a kit on eBay to delete it. Betting on the bracket to the rear-silencer being a nightmare though. Planning some AutoSolo days when I can navigate through the local club websites!
Accelebrate said:
I’d forgotten about it, but yes, being a hoarder I do still have my OE backbox.
That’s an interesting idea, I wonder what percentage of flow would take the original route vs. what’s effectively a backbox delete, and if that would vary with rpm.
All depends on the size of the bypass pipes, I think we had 1" pipes on the Boxster backboxes, except you could start small. I'm hoping the sound would be similar to that of a modern sporty 4-pot, with the likes of Fiat 500 Abarth's and Alfa's 4C.That’s an interesting idea, I wonder what percentage of flow would take the original route vs. what’s effectively a backbox delete, and if that would vary with rpm.
shalmaneser said:
You could even if you were feeling keen fit some exhaust valves there and have a switchable system. Might be a fun project.
The problem is heat, and finding valves that small. Exhaust valves that work off vacuum are usually much larger, electrics would melt, etc. Quite a difficult issue to solve, so I never bothered. You could go the ghetto route and fit hand-valves to them, but yeah...Edited by geraintthomas on Thursday 29th April 11:50
cedrichn said:
Hi
I was doing some reading about the 2.0 engine, and I randomly found that the Europe version has "butterfly valves" in the intake manifold (VTCS - tumble / swirl flaps) which US doesn't have on the manual gearbox (maybe why they have few more BHP ?).
There is a lot of information, but I didn't find anything really straight forward or really scientific about removing them.
I do remember that you went through some modifications and went onto RR (I plan on doing roughly the same :P): did you investigate the VTCS removal?
Hope you don't mind, and hopefully starting an interesting discussion.... If not, sorry
They are tumble flaps and are to help with idle emissions by increasing mixture motion at very low rpm.I was doing some reading about the 2.0 engine, and I randomly found that the Europe version has "butterfly valves" in the intake manifold (VTCS - tumble / swirl flaps) which US doesn't have on the manual gearbox (maybe why they have few more BHP ?).
There is a lot of information, but I didn't find anything really straight forward or really scientific about removing them.
I do remember that you went through some modifications and went onto RR (I plan on doing roughly the same :P): did you investigate the VTCS removal?
Hope you don't mind, and hopefully starting an interesting discussion.... If not, sorry
They will give a minor power increase, say about 4bhp. I wouldn't take an intake manifold off to do it as it's just not worth it, but if the engine is in pieces anyhow and every bit of power is important then I remove them.
As per the link, they are 100% reliable so don't take them out for that reason.
Great stuff, always loved the 350z. The interior put me off though.
Same here! I went once in one, and walk straight away because of that... I am not that fussy in general (i had a lot of Citroen), but I just didn't feel right in it... Same as the first Qasqhai...No offence to anyone I hope!
Thanks Accelerbate and Evoluzione for that! After some digging, I did found too that they are not the same design as on the Ford's - surprisingly, which is really good for us.
I did read that it helps emission, but also cold starts... Which makes less sense to me, as it is not present on manual US cars, and US is not only Florida and California :P But still, it made me wonder if the ECU is slightly different in order to manage cold start differently, depending if the valves are present or not. Those 10BHP difference should come from somewhere, no?
There are good posts on Mazda3 forums on "how to" remove them, and a post on Miata.net on "how to" cheat the ECU after you removed them: as you said, I would give it a try if the occasion turns up Roll bar, some rust protection and bushes are more important on mine at the moment
Same here! I went once in one, and walk straight away because of that... I am not that fussy in general (i had a lot of Citroen
), but I just didn't feel right in it... Same as the first Qasqhai...No offence to anyone I hope! Thanks Accelerbate and Evoluzione for that! After some digging, I did found too that they are not the same design as on the Ford's - surprisingly, which is really good for us.
I did read that it helps emission, but also cold starts... Which makes less sense to me, as it is not present on manual US cars, and US is not only Florida and California :P But still, it made me wonder if the ECU is slightly different in order to manage cold start differently, depending if the valves are present or not. Those 10BHP difference should come from somewhere, no?
There are good posts on Mazda3 forums on "how to" remove them, and a post on Miata.net on "how to" cheat the ECU after you removed them: as you said, I would give it a try if the occasion turns up
Roll bar, some rust protection and bushes are more important on mine at the moment Mazda claims (if they are to be believed):
UK version: 160
US version 168
US Auto: 165
Japan: 170
Japan auto: 166
The Jap version I can believe as they have a higher Ron rating fuel readily available, ours is rarer, but still widely available and our cars were set up to run on 95, maybe theirs are mapped on the higher rated fuel.
If you have your car remapped here on 99 then you'll be in range of 170bhp.
Given the US Auto with flaps is putting out 165 versus their manual with 168 gives you a theoretical increase of 3bhp without flaps. This is in line with my +4 guesstimate.
Why, or indeed if theirs are 8bhp up on ours has always been a mystery.
EFA
UK version: 160
US version 168
US Auto: 165
Japan: 170
Japan auto: 166
The Jap version I can believe as they have a higher Ron rating fuel readily available, ours is rarer, but still widely available and our cars were set up to run on 95, maybe theirs are mapped on the higher rated fuel.
If you have your car remapped here on 99 then you'll be in range of 170bhp.
Given the US Auto with flaps is putting out 165 versus their manual with 168 gives you a theoretical increase of 3bhp without flaps. This is in line with my +4 guesstimate.
Why, or indeed if theirs are 8bhp up on ours has always been a mystery.
EFA
Edited by Evoluzione on Sunday 2nd May 09:07
Evoluzione said:
Why, or indeed if theirs are 8bhp up on ours has always been a mystery, it's further confounded by the fact that their fuel has a lesser octane rating than ours.
US fuel is the same as the UK. They use a different means of measurement though, which results in different, but similar numbers... hence the confusion.
alex98uk said:
Evoluzione said:
Why, or indeed if theirs are 8bhp up on ours has always been a mystery, it's further confounded by the fact that their fuel has a lesser octane rating than ours.
US fuel is the same as the UK. They use a different means of measurement though, which results in different, but similar numbers... hence the confusion.
Evoluzione said:
You're right. I know they use a different method, there is no confusion there. I don't know why i'd got to thinking over time it was weaker though.
I forget which car it was being reviewed, but Top Gear incorrectly made reference to it. I think from there, a lot of people assumed US fuel was weaker than what's offered in Europe.Accelebrate said:
As previously mentioned I purchased some Nankang NS2Rs from Demon Tweeks last year, I'm interested to find out how they work as a budget semi-slick. I wanted to get them mounted on the first additional set of wheels that I bought for this car, that currently had my now-bald set of R888Rs on. They looked presentable enough from the front...
But on the rear they were heavily corroded, like most OE Mazda wheels of this age...
Getting tyre fitters to fit internet tyres always seems to be a bit of a lottery. I've paid between £5-20 a tyre locally, often at the same garages. It seemed to make more sense to pay City Wheel Refurbishment another visit. They're the infamous £20/wheel powder coaters, or £30/wheel in this instance with tyre fitting included.
A V90 swallows up 8 wheels and tyres easily, I wish I had this load capacity on track days.
Whilst I waited for the wheels to be ready I sprayed the centre caps black. You can buy non-genuine black centre caps for not a lot, but the quality isn't great and they seem to fall out under trackday temps.
They came out nicely, the chrome logos just clip in and out.
CWR quote 'approx 1 week' turnaround, I think last time it was 5 days, this time it was 10. I opted for a glossy gunmetal grey, it was one of the 'cheap' colours but also seemed like an interesting change.
Last time there were a few lumps left in the finish, but it seemed acceptable for the price and for track wheels. This time they've done an almost flawless job...
As with last time they've coated the hub faces and bolt holes, I'll remove this like I did with the bronze set for peace of mind.
This leaves me with two sets of semi-slicks, the AD08Rs and the NS2Rs. I'll do what I did last time and take both sets to local track days once the oldest set are no longer road legal.
The NS2Rs seem to come up quite narrow, the difference is quite obvious when you see a set of four piled up. These are both 205s, they seem to be sized like regular road tyres rather than most semi-slicks that typically come up quite wide. They also seem quite heavy, but they do come with nearly 7mm of tread.
Did you try the NS2R on track yet or rack up many road miles?But on the rear they were heavily corroded, like most OE Mazda wheels of this age...
Getting tyre fitters to fit internet tyres always seems to be a bit of a lottery. I've paid between £5-20 a tyre locally, often at the same garages. It seemed to make more sense to pay City Wheel Refurbishment another visit. They're the infamous £20/wheel powder coaters, or £30/wheel in this instance with tyre fitting included.
A V90 swallows up 8 wheels and tyres easily, I wish I had this load capacity on track days.
Whilst I waited for the wheels to be ready I sprayed the centre caps black. You can buy non-genuine black centre caps for not a lot, but the quality isn't great and they seem to fall out under trackday temps.
They came out nicely, the chrome logos just clip in and out.
CWR quote 'approx 1 week' turnaround, I think last time it was 5 days, this time it was 10. I opted for a glossy gunmetal grey, it was one of the 'cheap' colours but also seemed like an interesting change.
Last time there were a few lumps left in the finish, but it seemed acceptable for the price and for track wheels. This time they've done an almost flawless job...
As with last time they've coated the hub faces and bolt holes, I'll remove this like I did with the bronze set for peace of mind.
This leaves me with two sets of semi-slicks, the AD08Rs and the NS2Rs. I'll do what I did last time and take both sets to local track days once the oldest set are no longer road legal.
The NS2Rs seem to come up quite narrow, the difference is quite obvious when you see a set of four piled up. These are both 205s, they seem to be sized like regular road tyres rather than most semi-slicks that typically come up quite wide. They also seem quite heavy, but they do come with nearly 7mm of tread.
Evoluzione said:
Did you try the NS2R on track yet or rack up many road miles?
Road miles only so far, sadly. They took a few miles to scrub in, but they seem promising. Grip levels appear to be similar to the AD08R, and like the Yokohama the relatively high tread-depth means they're not completely awful through standing water. You can tell the sidewalls are very stiff, although I think this was exaggerated by dropping from a 50 to a 45 profile.I ordered some parts from Bofi recently, hopefully they'll arrive at some point . Whilst I was browsing I noticed they stock a RHD version of Cybul's NC strut brace which incorporates a master cylinder brace...
https://bofiracing.co.uk/body-styling/chassis-brac...
I've always liked the idea of adding a master cylinder brace, you can see the bulkhead flexing a little if you pump the brakes with the bonnet open. I assumed they might make a noticeable difference to pedal feel, arguably more tangible than the rest of the strut brace.
There are some standalone master cylinder braces for the NC:
http://laile.co.jp/en/item/s35084db/?cartype=roads...
https://rev9autosport.com/autoexe-master-cylinder-...
I was mulling this over with Alex, who suggested I should make my own. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't think of that, a good excuse to use my new welder.
For reference, here's the stock NC strut brace and the master cylinder:
I mocked up something with some plumbing supplies, from my scribbles you can see I decided to extend the pipe a little to lose the end in the dimple that adds a little strength to the brace, and maybe add a little gusset.
For the stopper I bought an adjustable foot intended for furniture. It's rated to 100kg, which should be plenty for this application, and the adjustable angle means I won't need to match the angle of the end of the master cylinder which slopes upwards.
To receive the stopper, I originally planned to weld a nut to a washer, and then weld that to the end of some 25mm tubing. I only had stainless M10 nuts in stock and getting a strong and neat weld proved tricky (you can see my failed attempt at that back of this photo). I had a change of plan and drilled and tapped a hole in some nice old 6mm thick equal angle, then cut and ground it down to be roughly circular.
I then welded that to the end of the tubing and ground it flush...
I cut the tubing down using my plastic mockup as a guide. It's slit down the middle so that it slots over the original brace and could be welded on both sides.
Like so...
For the gusset I thought it might be nice to add a speed hole, even nicer would be a pressed dimple. A set of dimple dies in a range of sizes is a bit spendy for the occasional home fabricator. I spotted a cheaper set on ebay made from a form of plastic, which led me to search Thingiverse to see if anyone had tried 3D printing something similar. They had, there was already a design for a 1.5" die. I resized it to 25mm and did a test print...
For the curious, I used regular old PLA, 40% infill with a 3mm wall thickness. I attempted a test press in 1.5mm sheet, thicker than I'd probably end up using but I was curious to see how far I could push it.
Not bad, the press showed some wear but just about survived...
For the actual gusset on my brace I ended up scaling the die down to fit a 20mm hole, and used 1.2mm sheet.
Pretty pleased with that, I think the pressed hole adds a nice little feature and makes the whole thing look slightly less home-brew.
After a lick of gloss black...
I haven't had chance to drive the car since I made the brace, but from some pedal-pumping whilst sat in the garage with and without the stopper wound up I could definitely notice a change in pedal feel. I'm pleased with how it turned out, it was nice to make something useful for the car rather than just patch up rust!
. Whilst I was browsing I noticed they stock a RHD version of Cybul's NC strut brace which incorporates a master cylinder brace...https://bofiracing.co.uk/body-styling/chassis-brac...
I've always liked the idea of adding a master cylinder brace, you can see the bulkhead flexing a little if you pump the brakes with the bonnet open. I assumed they might make a noticeable difference to pedal feel, arguably more tangible than the rest of the strut brace.
There are some standalone master cylinder braces for the NC:
http://laile.co.jp/en/item/s35084db/?cartype=roads...
https://rev9autosport.com/autoexe-master-cylinder-...
I was mulling this over with Alex, who suggested I should make my own. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't think of that, a good excuse to use my new welder.
For reference, here's the stock NC strut brace and the master cylinder:
I mocked up something with some plumbing supplies, from my scribbles you can see I decided to extend the pipe a little to lose the end in the dimple that adds a little strength to the brace, and maybe add a little gusset.
For the stopper I bought an adjustable foot intended for furniture. It's rated to 100kg, which should be plenty for this application, and the adjustable angle means I won't need to match the angle of the end of the master cylinder which slopes upwards.
To receive the stopper, I originally planned to weld a nut to a washer, and then weld that to the end of some 25mm tubing. I only had stainless M10 nuts in stock and getting a strong and neat weld proved tricky (you can see my failed attempt at that back of this photo). I had a change of plan and drilled and tapped a hole in some nice old 6mm thick equal angle, then cut and ground it down to be roughly circular.
I then welded that to the end of the tubing and ground it flush...
I cut the tubing down using my plastic mockup as a guide. It's slit down the middle so that it slots over the original brace and could be welded on both sides.
Like so...
For the gusset I thought it might be nice to add a speed hole, even nicer would be a pressed dimple. A set of dimple dies in a range of sizes is a bit spendy for the occasional home fabricator. I spotted a cheaper set on ebay made from a form of plastic, which led me to search Thingiverse to see if anyone had tried 3D printing something similar. They had, there was already a design for a 1.5" die. I resized it to 25mm and did a test print...
For the curious, I used regular old PLA, 40% infill with a 3mm wall thickness. I attempted a test press in 1.5mm sheet, thicker than I'd probably end up using but I was curious to see how far I could push it.
Not bad, the press showed some wear but just about survived...
For the actual gusset on my brace I ended up scaling the die down to fit a 20mm hole, and used 1.2mm sheet.
Pretty pleased with that, I think the pressed hole adds a nice little feature and makes the whole thing look slightly less home-brew.
After a lick of gloss black...
I haven't had chance to drive the car since I made the brace, but from some pedal-pumping whilst sat in the garage with and without the stopper wound up I could definitely notice a change in pedal feel. I'm pleased with how it turned out, it was nice to make something useful for the car rather than just patch up rust!
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