Mazda MX-5e Tesla Powered

[robcollingridge]

It is a simple job to fit these but, it's taking a while as we are doing a full restoration inside the wheel arches first. Treating any rust and undersealing them.

[Flying Phil]

Following this with great interest as I suggested a similar concept a year or two ago. Having started with a Frogeye Sprite many years ago I know the virtues of a light weight sports car!
We also have a Mk2 and a Mk2.5 S - VT MX5.

[J4CKO]

TheLoraxxZeus said:

J4CKO said:

295 bhp in an MX5 will be fun, just a different kind of fun than the usual shagged out 1.6 twincam.

Fun for 0.01% of drivers. Will be completely unusable for most people because they are used to a lead foot and every electronic safety system known to man spec'd to the vehicle.


Cool project, but 295bhp in an MX5 is actually pretty scared, especially if it's from a turbo. Perhaps it being electric the linear powerband is less likely to turn your pants brown.

It will be 300 ish bhp per ton, its rwd and will have a fair chunk of torque from standstill, it will be a bit lairy ​I expect but nothing a bit of careful acclimatization, respect, practice and taking it somewhere with nothing to hit and letting rip wont mitigate.

Plenty of similarly and more powerful MX5's out there, people plonk LS engines in them, and by the sound of it you can adjust the power delivery to make it less prone to swapping ends.

I suppose it will be at least predictably unpredictable, where a turbo delivery can be a bit more hit and miss depending on gear, air temp and god knows what, suspect this will just deliver all 330 NM in one hit if you ask it, and its not that much torque in the scheme of things.

[V 02]

Wow, progress is going very quickly compared to most build threads! Excited to see the future.


Tell us more about Yoko!

[robcollingridge]

She is now ready for her MOT tomorrow. I've never bought a non-runner before and put so much time, effort and money into a car I've yet to drive :-) Paid £1450 for the car but we have spent another £2500 already. Mostly on a new braking system and Meister R coilovers. The seats have now been stained black and I have refurbished this Momo wooden rimmed steering wheel with a hand-stitched leather cover.

Edited by robcollingridge on Monday 29th May 11:48

[robcollingridge]

J4CKO said:

It will be 300 ish bhp per ton, its rwd and will have a fair chunk of torque from standstill, it will be a bit lairy ?I expect but nothing a bit of careful acclimatization, respect, practice and taking it somewhere with nothing to hit and letting rip wont mitigate.

Plenty of similarly and more powerful MX5's out there, people plonk LS engines in them, and by the sound of it you can adjust the power delivery to make it less prone to swapping ends.

I suppose it will be at least predictably unpredictable, where a turbo delivery can be a bit more hit and miss depending on gear, air temp and god knows what, suspect this will just deliver all 330 NM in one hit if you ask it, and its not that much torque in the scheme of things.

My Yamaha R1 engined Fisher Fury R1 had 400bhp/ton but it only weighed 450kg. That was good for 0 to 100mph in sub 10 seconds. This will be quicker off the line due to the extra torque but won't have the same top end acceleration of be able to hit 130mph either. The Fury R1 was a bit louder too :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNiIzyqP0N0

Rob

[Flying Phil]

Thanks for the other updates, but what is happening to the Tesla swap?

[TeaNoSugar]

Flying Phil said:

Thanks for the other updates, but what is happening to the Tesla swap?

That’s what I was wondering.

Isn’t the black car the one that is meant to have the Tesla power unit? The white car is his sons MX-5 which is staying with a petrol engine.
So why is the black car being MOT’d (presumably with a petrol engine)?

It’s not that it doesn’t look good, it does, but it’s not an EV. Or does that come later, once it has an MOT certificate?

[shalmaneser]

TeaNoSugar said:

Flying Phil said:

Thanks for the other updates, but what is happening to the Tesla swap?

That’s what I was wondering.

Isn’t the black car the one that is meant to have the Tesla power unit? The white car is his sons MX-5 which is staying with a petrol engine.
So why is the black car being MOT’d (presumably with a petrol engine)?

It’s not that it doesn’t look good, it does, but it’s not an EV. Or does that come later, once it has an MOT certificate?

Much easier to do a swap on an MOT'd car - allows for legal(ish) test drives until the next check at which point you have had a year to get familiar with the paperwork I assume.

[Craikeybaby]

Great stuff! I enjoyed reading your kit car builds back in the day, so looking forward to seeing how this goes.

[MrBig]

Excellent, will be following for updates. We really need some sensibly priced options for converting existing cars to EV!

[robcollingridge]

So, I got to drive the MX-5e for the first time to her MOT (still with ICE power, whilst we complete the basic restoration, testing and some upgrades.



Kaminari (my son has named the car) failed her MOT. Ironically, the main stumbling point was on emissions :-) We haven't touched the exhaust system as it will be completely removed but, the previosu owner put it together with the wrong bolts and no gaskets, so it has too many leaks. We have bought a complete set of gaskets to fix it for the MOT re-test.



The other thing it failed on was the left rear sill. We knew this had been patched up up and we were planning to get it done properly by a specialist later. The MOT tester had other ideas though :-(



It is now booked in to have the welding done by an MX-5 specialist.

[robcollingridge]

Having got to drive the car for the first time on the road, I was really happy with the way it drives and the feedback coming through the wheel. Wit the bit of bedding in the new braking system is impressive and provide plenty of confidence. On thing I could hear though, was the anti-roll bars clunking over bumps, so a complete set of polybushes has been purchased and is currently being fitted.

[robcollingridge]

Whilst we are delayed by the MOT failure, we have been working on the interior. We have fitted a completely new black interior and have re-fitted the speakers and head unit. It sounds really good! But, just to make sure, we are fitting this sub-woofer too. As much as I hate to add unecessary weight, I do like like quality sounds in my cars :-)





The 10" Apple CarPlay display goes in next week too.

[robcollingridge]

We have been looking at where best to fit a high power charging socket and it looks like we can fit a CCS socket inside the existing petrol cap :-)

[robcollingridge]

Flying Phil said:

Thanks for the other updates, but what is happening to the Tesla swap?

This black 1992 Eunos Roadster is going to be our MX-5e (called Kaminari by my son, Japanese for lightning). We are doing a ground up restoration first to make sure we have a solid basis for the conversion. We've put about £4000 into it so far, just to make sure it is worthy of spending another £15,000 on. Having it road legal and with an MOT, makes it much easier to test stuff like the suspension, steering, braking, etc. so we are putting it through an MOT as an ICE car (it is also an automatic).

The white 1990 Eunos Roadster (called Yoko) is my son's first car and I bought it as a project for him (when he was 16), whilst he was learning to be a mechanic. We did a full restoration on it and it is now valued at around £9000.

Moderator edit: no social media links please

[Flying Phil]

Thanks for the updates Rob.
Looking forward to seeing how the electric install goes. I think that keeping it light and not going for mega power will give a very nice modern M (E) X 5. The reduced range will not worry most users - who want the dynamics of grip and lightweight which give delightful handling.

[robcollingridge]

Good progress today The MX-5e passed her MOT at the second attempt. This means we can properly test the ride, handling, suspension, brakes, steering, new seats, etc. This is the first time we have properly driven the car, since buying it as a non-runner back in March.

The initial signs are good! The car is already a lot of fun to drive, albeit a bit slow. The automatic gearbox is lazy at best and totally chilled with overdrive enabled. The old track day tyres we currently have fitted are shockingly bad. The ride generally is very good with new MeisterR coilover fitted. The braking system has been totally rebuilt with all new parts and it inspires confidence. The feedback and feel through the new Momo steering wheel is good. The car is amazingly quiet with none of the rattles you would expect from a 1992 car. That might be because we have stripped the interior out of anything superfluous though



The EV conversion part can now begin properly. My son is booked on an EV conversion course too.

[Flying Phil]

Wow....does this mean that your son is going to be EV as well?.....oh sorry I missed the "course" bit

[Register1]

So is it not going to have a Tesla power train ?