Friday 8th August 2014

BBR Super 200 kit for MX-5

200hp kit for Mk3 MX-5s offers affordable zoom-zoom upgrade without going turbo

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Those MX-5 purists among us who fancy the idea of a bit more poke but see turbocharging as going against the whole Jinba Ittai ideal have had few options thus far. Short of muttering into our beards we had the choice of the throttle-bodied Jota MX-5 GT for a burly £30K, 205hp your lot against the more tempting 270hp offered by BBR with its turbocharged GT270 kit for a similar price.

BBR also offers normally aspirated Super 175 and Super 180 kits for Mk3/NC MX-5s, pushing power from the standard 2.0's 160hp to 175hp and 180hp for £995 and £1,795 respectively. The former uses BBR's four-into-one exhaust manifold and Starchip ECU remap, the latter adding a 2.5-inch centre section and high-flow cat and BBR back box.

Useful extra zoom-zoom for your Mazda

Building on this BBR has just announced a new Super 200 package for all 2.0-litre MX-5s and costing £2,195 or £1,695 if you're handy with the spanners and want to go DIY. It uses the manifold and panel air filter, a further updated ECU remap and - most significantly - new cams for both exhaust and intake. If you've already got the Super 175 or 180 kit you can upgrade to 200 spec for £1,395, the added bonus being the BBR exhaust kit you've already got liberates another 7hp or so. As it stands BBR claims a substantial 40hp increase to a base 201hp and a 19lb ft torque increase to 166lb ft. The latter arrives at 4,000rpm, 1,100rpm lower than the stock car claims BBR.

A lot of numbers to digest there. What exactly do they add up to? A whole lot of fun with a price that's more digestible to those who want an MX-5 with a bit more zoom-zoom but without the perceived complexity of a turbo kit. This is good old-fashioned tuning in keeping with the Mazda's traditional image and, of course, can be fitted to used NC MX-5s as well as new ones. With 2.0-litre cars available for a little over £5K upwards in the PH classifieds there's the basis for an affordable and fun little project car in the making there. Especially paired with the impressive Koni-based suspension kit fitted to the turbocharged GT270 we drove last year.

We'll be badgering BBR for a go with the Super 200 as soon as this story is filed. Watch this space...

 

 

 

[PistonBroker]

Ooh, first in.

Surely an MX5 thread on PH would have lots more people on it a lot quicker than this?!

I like the sound of this. I'll never get round to modding my NC I'm sure, but I think this would be just the trick if I did.

Apologies in advance for saying this, but 270 seems a bit too much. Oh, and I also like having 2 N/A cars on the fleet having had to replace a turbo on a Mazda before. So, looks like this would be ideal.

[dlockhart]

I wouldn't mind this : http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m... with the pack.

So all in 8k for something with 200 bhp and plenty of fun, this makes other track toys seem very expensive

[smilo996]

At last it looks and will perform like a sports car and not a hair dressers shopping trolley. Look forward to the review.

[Scottie - NW]

I have tried to contact BBR a few times using the contact information on the website, however have never had a response.

This concerns me a little as to how good after sales would be.

EDIT : To add that Neil is now looking into this as others have also reported the problem and it appears there may be an issue somewhere.

Edited by Scottie - NW on Friday 8th August 14:37

[350Matt]

what mapping tool are they using for this ?

[G5 BBR]

Scottie - NW said:

I wouldn't purchase anything from BBR.

I have tried on and off for 6 months contacting them to purchase upgrades and they are useless.

If any company are this bad when you are trying to give them your money I can only guess what the after sales service is like.

One to avoid.

Perhaps you have our phone number wrong it is clearly indicated on our website?? Phone [phone] answered a minimum 5.5 days a week for immediate answers or contact us by https://www.facebook.com/bbrgti facebook or https://twitter.com/BBRGTi1 Twitter or http://www.bbrgti.com/contact.php, feel free to call me direct just ask for Neil.

Edited by G5 BBR on Friday 8th August 12:23

Edited by G5 BBR on Friday 8th August 12:33

[HorneyMX5]

Interesting.

I believe Nick at Skuzzle Motorsport is close to getting a 2.0 NC up to 200bhp with just breathing mods and a remap.

[Howard-]

G5 BBR said:

Perhaps you have our phone number wrong it is clearly indicated on our website??

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

it's really not that hard

With an attitude like that, I can see his point.

[Spanna]

G5 BBR said:

Scottie - NW said:

I wouldn't purchase anything from BBR.

I have tried on and off for 6 months contacting them to purchase upgrades and they are useless.

If any company are this bad when you are trying to give them your money I can only guess what the after sales service is like.

One to avoid.

Perhaps you have our phone number wrong it is clearly indicated on our website?? Phone [phone] answered a minimum 5.5 days a week for immediate answers or contact us by https://www.facebook.com/bbrgti facebook or https://twitter.com/BBRGTi1 Twitter or http://www.bbrgti.com/contact.php, it's really not that hard, feel free to call me direct just ask for Neil.

Edited by G5 BBR on Friday 8th August 12:23

Slightly snappy reply that you're more than entitled to given the bashing you've been given for no apparent reason. Let's see how this unfolds.

[G5 BBR]

HorneyMX5 said:

Interesting.

I believe Nick at Skuzzle Motorsport is close to getting a 2.0 NC up to 200bhp with just breathing mods and a remap.

Unfortunately, not possible without an intake manifold change!!

[WolvesWill]

I reckon I'll go for this at some point - got the parts for around 180bhp on my car already (racing beat manifold, milltek exhaust with sports cat, aem intake and remap) but a nice round 200 would be fantastic.

These cars are mapped using EcuTek software, for the person who asked earlier.

[wilksy61]

Well Neil has just fitted the Super Sport 180 to my MX5 and I never had a problem in contacting - well I did for a day when I kept phoning the fax line by mistake!

The car goess like stink now and sounds really nice plus I got 187 BHP

[G5 BBR]

Spanna said:

Slightly snappy reply that you're more than entitled to given the bashing you've been given for no apparent reason. Let's see how this unfolds.

Not intended to come across like that at all, we are always happy to discuss our conversions or possible projects, we have not been hiding, just call!

[HorneyMX5]

G5 BBR said:

HorneyMX5 said:

Interesting.

I believe Nick at Skuzzle Motorsport is close to getting a 2.0 NC up to 200bhp with just breathing mods and a remap.

Unfortunately, not possible without an intake manifold change!!

I think he might disagree with that but it's all good stuff. Two different approaches and I bet they'd drive quite differently. It's good to see people really tinkering with these newer ones. I'll be interesting to see what happens withteh final specs of the ND and what can be doen to those as people begin to tune them.

[G5 BBR]

wilksy61 said:

Well Neil has just fitted the Super Sport 180 to my MX5 and I never had a problem in contacting - well I did for a day when I kept phoning the fax line by mistake!

The car goess like stink now and sounds really nice plus I got 187 BHP

Glad that your enjoying it! It is the highest power we've seen from our 180 conversion (and from a MK3), such a strong engine you have! With our 'super 200' editions on your car 215BHP is on the cars!! .

[G5 BBR]

HorneyMX5 said:

I think he might disagree with that but it's all good stuff. Two different approaches and I bet they'd drive quite differently. It's good to see people really tinkering with these newer ones. I'll be interesting to see what happens withteh final specs of the ND and what can be doen to those as people begin to tune them.

I'm really looking forward to a head to head road test with timing gear on converted MX-5's, it would make a very interesting feature I'm sure

[wilksy61]

I fully intend to have the cams done in the new year Neil

[scz4]

Neil,

Any plans for a full independent throttle body conversion? The induction noise and throttle response would be fantastic and around 220bhp as per caterham r400 duratec spec, including cams.

[Scottie - NW]

G5 BBR said:

Scottie - NW said:

I wouldn't purchase anything from BBR.

I have tried on and off for 6 months contacting them to purchase upgrades and they are useless.

If any company are this bad when you are trying to give them your money I can only guess what the after sales service is like.

One to avoid.

Perhaps you have our phone number wrong it is clearly indicated on our website?? Phone [phone] answered a minimum 5.5 days a week for immediate answers or contact us by https://www.facebook.com/bbrgti facebook or https://twitter.com/BBRGTi1 Twitter or http://www.bbrgti.com/contact.php, feel free to call me direct just ask for Neil.

Edited by G5 BBR on Friday 8th August 12:23

Edited by G5 BBR on Friday 8th August 12:33

Hi, I have filled out the contact form on the website as you list above on at least three occassions now, and had the request also copied to my email address. Last one was 14:29 on 16/7/2014.

After three attempts to purchase from you and not a single response back I have now gone to a competitor. Very dissapointing as I wanted to use BBR and was passing Northampton last week with the car in question.

If you are not going to respond to the contact email address listed above perhaps it is better to remove it? Would you purchase from a company who acted the same?

Thanks,
Scott.

[scz4]

Also, whilst on the mx5 topic, has anyone retrofitted the recaro seats from the Jota car? I also found a used mx5 with the sports plus recaro pack. Never heard of it, but definitely had them fitted.