Eunos Roadster 1993, Supercharged
Discussion
My other car.
I'm sure there are plenty of MX-5s on the forum, but I thought I might as well talk about this one as well as the Audi I've just found. This car is mostly for highdays and holidays, with a little bit of track time (nothing serious).
Bought back in April 2014, it's been a slow rolling resto and tweak/fettle ever since. I bought it for £1,000, having trained somewhere up north and hoped it would be ok to drive back.
Turned out to be pretty solid. It's a JDM import Mx-5 (Eunos Roadster) which arrived here from Japan in October 2006 and was immediately Rustmastered throughout, most of which was still intact. Mileage was limited. The car a 1.8 16v, though it had to be a very early one as these officially didn't arrive until 1994, and the car was a 1993 model year. All the additional 1.8 bits were there, strut brace, under body struts and door reinforcement. The car also had electric windows and aircon - which still worked.
In the receipts for £500 were the ghastly 17" (what were they thinking?) alloys that came with the car. The drive back was pretty horrible as a result, tramlining and aquaplaning all over the shop. They were going to be amongst the first things to sort.
The only rust I found was in the rear around the battery where an incorrect battery had been fitted. I replaced it with the proper 'gel' variety.
Electrics were a bit flakey though, the stereo was the original JDM oddity, but it didn't work and the reason became obvious on removal. Wiring butchered all over the shop. Lots of remedial work to sort that out!
With the car almost (IMHO) almost undriveable on the 17s, I decided on a set of Rota RBs in 15" guise. Bigger than the standard 14s... but I had plans for a bit more power in the long term.
The car was transformed, now quiet and composed, all tramlining gone. Managed to sell the old wheels for £100 too! They were a bugger to get off though, as there was a locking wheel nut with no matching key...
All brakes, pads, shocks and springs were replaced with Mazda OEMs - which transformed the car again. Now it was taut and stopped properly. There's a lot said about uprated suspension on Mx-5s, but it does make me wonder whether folks have tried the car on refreshed standard gear as per the manufacturers recommendations. Cosmetically it's perhaps a little too high, but it drives beautifully like this, bumpy roads are catered for with more than adequate damping.
A bit of work on the paint followed. Unsurprisingly it was as flat as a pancake.
But she came up gleaming and I took the opportunity to 'de-tango' the front and sides, add some LEDs and better headlamps/lights.
I had a few extra gauges to slot in, but the interior illumination was patchy with some bulbs brighter than others. Whilst I had most of the trim unpicked I decided to update it a bit and replace the 120 mph speedo with a 140 one.
Blue LEDs swapped in.
Then it was the turn of the hood. This was a tatter vinyl affair, with a zipped rear window that was a pain to undo every time you put the roof down. Found a good condition mohair roof from a mk2 (which just goes up and down) and replaced it. Much more civilised!
Mx5 parts had a sale on exhausts, so I nabbed a twin exit one from them to give the rear a bit of a lift.
Then the ignition barrel and the door locks began to play up and seize. Cue dismantling everything again!
Major service carried out to ensure engine was healthy before planned mods - water pump, cambelt, uprated sparks, cam cover gasket, clutch, all filters...
I'd also been building up a collection of bits for the engine. Eventually I had them all ready...
- MegaSquirt 2 ECU
- Intercooler
- Uprated Injectors
- Twin slimline fans
- Uprated HT leads
- And an MP62 Supercharger with mounting kit
A trip to Skuzzle motorsport resulted in this
And this...
Just short of 180 bhp at the rear wheels is not the highest state of tune by any stretch of the imagination, but it's enough for a car with no ABS, no airbags and only about 1 ton in weight. I can also go for a small pulley in the future if I need it. It does 0-60 in 6 and a bit seconds in this tune - feels faster though!
Final tweaks were a set of new seats as the old ones were ripped and torn.
Then my son pinched it and went for a hoon.
(Curborough track day)
It's sort of my 'antidote' to modern motoring - fast, but you have to work at it. No driver aides at all other than the stock LSD (which is a the viscous type, so as much use as a chocolate teapot). Not much grip, slightly too much power (particularly in the wet) and a sort of old skool 60s vibe with modern reliability.
Total cost for everything is under £5k. Currented SORN'd for the winter, but it will come out to play again in the spring.
Cheers,
Drew.
I'm sure there are plenty of MX-5s on the forum, but I thought I might as well talk about this one as well as the Audi I've just found. This car is mostly for highdays and holidays, with a little bit of track time (nothing serious).
Bought back in April 2014, it's been a slow rolling resto and tweak/fettle ever since. I bought it for £1,000, having trained somewhere up north and hoped it would be ok to drive back.
Turned out to be pretty solid. It's a JDM import Mx-5 (Eunos Roadster) which arrived here from Japan in October 2006 and was immediately Rustmastered throughout, most of which was still intact. Mileage was limited. The car a 1.8 16v, though it had to be a very early one as these officially didn't arrive until 1994, and the car was a 1993 model year. All the additional 1.8 bits were there, strut brace, under body struts and door reinforcement. The car also had electric windows and aircon - which still worked.
In the receipts for £500 were the ghastly 17" (what were they thinking?) alloys that came with the car. The drive back was pretty horrible as a result, tramlining and aquaplaning all over the shop. They were going to be amongst the first things to sort.
The only rust I found was in the rear around the battery where an incorrect battery had been fitted. I replaced it with the proper 'gel' variety.
Electrics were a bit flakey though, the stereo was the original JDM oddity, but it didn't work and the reason became obvious on removal. Wiring butchered all over the shop. Lots of remedial work to sort that out!
With the car almost (IMHO) almost undriveable on the 17s, I decided on a set of Rota RBs in 15" guise. Bigger than the standard 14s... but I had plans for a bit more power in the long term.
The car was transformed, now quiet and composed, all tramlining gone. Managed to sell the old wheels for £100 too! They were a bugger to get off though, as there was a locking wheel nut with no matching key...
All brakes, pads, shocks and springs were replaced with Mazda OEMs - which transformed the car again. Now it was taut and stopped properly. There's a lot said about uprated suspension on Mx-5s, but it does make me wonder whether folks have tried the car on refreshed standard gear as per the manufacturers recommendations. Cosmetically it's perhaps a little too high, but it drives beautifully like this, bumpy roads are catered for with more than adequate damping.
A bit of work on the paint followed. Unsurprisingly it was as flat as a pancake.
But she came up gleaming and I took the opportunity to 'de-tango' the front and sides, add some LEDs and better headlamps/lights.
I had a few extra gauges to slot in, but the interior illumination was patchy with some bulbs brighter than others. Whilst I had most of the trim unpicked I decided to update it a bit and replace the 120 mph speedo with a 140 one.
Blue LEDs swapped in.
Then it was the turn of the hood. This was a tatter vinyl affair, with a zipped rear window that was a pain to undo every time you put the roof down. Found a good condition mohair roof from a mk2 (which just goes up and down) and replaced it. Much more civilised!
Mx5 parts had a sale on exhausts, so I nabbed a twin exit one from them to give the rear a bit of a lift.
Then the ignition barrel and the door locks began to play up and seize. Cue dismantling everything again!
Major service carried out to ensure engine was healthy before planned mods - water pump, cambelt, uprated sparks, cam cover gasket, clutch, all filters...
I'd also been building up a collection of bits for the engine. Eventually I had them all ready...
- MegaSquirt 2 ECU
- Intercooler
- Uprated Injectors
- Twin slimline fans
- Uprated HT leads
- And an MP62 Supercharger with mounting kit
A trip to Skuzzle motorsport resulted in this
And this...
Just short of 180 bhp at the rear wheels is not the highest state of tune by any stretch of the imagination, but it's enough for a car with no ABS, no airbags and only about 1 ton in weight. I can also go for a small pulley in the future if I need it. It does 0-60 in 6 and a bit seconds in this tune - feels faster though!
Final tweaks were a set of new seats as the old ones were ripped and torn.
Then my son pinched it and went for a hoon.
(Curborough track day)It's sort of my 'antidote' to modern motoring - fast, but you have to work at it. No driver aides at all other than the stock LSD (which is a the viscous type, so as much use as a chocolate teapot). Not much grip, slightly too much power (particularly in the wet) and a sort of old skool 60s vibe with modern reliability.
Total cost for everything is under £5k. Currented SORN'd for the winter, but it will come out to play again in the spring.
Cheers,
Drew.
Edited by drewwa on Friday 8th February 14:00
Edited by drewwa on Friday 8th February 14:17
NDNDNDND said:
I'm liking this very much! Makes me feel a bit guilty about how little I've done to mine recently.
What supercharger mounting kit did you use?
I'm not sure exactly, but I think it's a Moss imported set up from circa 2009 or thereabouts. No marks on it, but it looks similar to their stuff on google. The tensioner is a bit agricultural (just a 13mm socket which tensions one pulley and then is locked into place by another nut) but it's worked fine for the last few years. I budget on a supercharger belt every year though. Only a 4 rib pulley.What supercharger mounting kit did you use?
Cheers,
Drew.
Butter Face said:
Very cool, I am a fan of putting a supercharger on anything!
I had to say I found the bog standard 1.8 16v (130bhp at the flywheel) rather 'flat'. It did get it dyno tuned at it was pushing out 100 bhp at the wheels before the supercharger went on, so it was running fine, just not a very characterful engine in stock trim IMHO.With the charger it is a bit of a beast, as you have great dollops of torque at all times (very flat torque curve as you can see in the pictures). Revs all the way to 7k and feels like it could keep going.
Cheers,
Drew.
BRR said:
Really like what you've done with that
The idea was to keep it as a low profile as possible, make everything work and then turn up the engine to 11. I've always preferred the sleeper approach. It does freak out the owners of quick-ish cars when you stroll away from them on the bypass. Cheers,
Drew.
drewwa said:
I'm not sure exactly, but I think it's a Moss imported set up from circa 2009 or thereabouts. No marks on it, but it looks similar to their stuff on google. The tensioner is a bit agricultural (just a 13mm socket which tensions one pulley and then is locked into place by another nut) but it's worked fine for the last few years. I budget on a supercharger belt every year though. Only a 4 rib pulley.
Cheers,
Drew.
It looks identical to the original BRP MP62 kit with the improved supercharger outlet from Moss. You'll likely find that as you go down nose pulley sizes belt slip will start to become an issue. IIRC anything smaller than 67.5mm nose pulley on mine and you started to eat belts. It's not a matter of adding more tension either unfortunately.Cheers,
Drew.
You can relatively easily convert the kit to use it's own 6 rib belt with an auto-tensioner.
Richyvrlimited said:
It looks identical to the original BRP MP62 kit with the improved supercharger outlet from Moss. You'll likely find that as you go down nose pulley sizes belt slip will start to become an issue. IIRC anything smaller than 67.5mm nose pulley on mine and you started to eat belts. It's not a matter of adding more tension either unfortunately.
You can relatively easily convert the kit to use it's own 6 rib belt with an auto-tensioner.
I'd be interested if you can tell me a little more about how to do the 6 rib conversion. I've lunched a few belts in the last two years on the standard setup!You can relatively easily convert the kit to use it's own 6 rib belt with an auto-tensioner.
Cheers,
Drew.
Started down the road of getting my supercharged 5 back on the road again.
It's been languishing under a cover all winter, but the sun was out and the list of jobs wasn't getting any shorter.
Seems to have survived ok.
Problems to fix.
1. MOT advisory of oil leak on the back of the engine. Difficult to see with supercharger in the way, but definitely there. Hoping it's the Cam Sensor (CAS) o-ring, which is a known problem on the 5.
2. Supercharger alignment is moving and causing the belt to get eaten. Something of a mystery, but a bolt was found to be missing from the front mounting point, so that's a big clue - thus tensioning the charger was bending it out of alignment. Where did the bolt go?
3. Coolant link. Looks like the top hose is buggered.
Can't see the back in this pic unfortunately, but the area behind the CAS is slick with oil.
Where did this bolt go?
First things first. Off with the supercharger. It's mounted just above the exhaust manifold, with 2 (supposed to be 3!) bolt on top, with another bracket underneath. Pretty straightforward. A few hoses and the throttle cable too. All marked and placed out of the way.
Quite a heavy little beast. This is the MP62 version.
Underneath looked reasonably clean other than the area around the CAS itself. A bit of degreasing ensued. I'll give it a proper clean before reassembly.
CAS area with the supercharger out of the way...
The front mounting bolt for the supercharger is a problem. It has sheered off at the head (!) and what remains is flush with the head. I'm going to try to cut into it and see if I can screw it out, otherwise I may have to drill and retap.
CAS itself was easy to remove though. Definitely a lot of oil leaking from here, so confident this is the source of the oil leak. Top hose is also dripping, so that needs replacing. Have new silicone hose ready to go.
Here's the little blighter (I did mark its position before I took it off.). Slick with oil on the underside. New O-Ring has arrived and is ready to go on.
That's it for now! Cup of tea required.
Cheers,
Drew.
It's been languishing under a cover all winter, but the sun was out and the list of jobs wasn't getting any shorter.
Seems to have survived ok.
Problems to fix.
1. MOT advisory of oil leak on the back of the engine. Difficult to see with supercharger in the way, but definitely there. Hoping it's the Cam Sensor (CAS) o-ring, which is a known problem on the 5.
2. Supercharger alignment is moving and causing the belt to get eaten. Something of a mystery, but a bolt was found to be missing from the front mounting point, so that's a big clue - thus tensioning the charger was bending it out of alignment. Where did the bolt go?
3. Coolant link. Looks like the top hose is buggered.
Can't see the back in this pic unfortunately, but the area behind the CAS is slick with oil.
Where did this bolt go?
First things first. Off with the supercharger. It's mounted just above the exhaust manifold, with 2 (supposed to be 3!) bolt on top, with another bracket underneath. Pretty straightforward. A few hoses and the throttle cable too. All marked and placed out of the way.
Quite a heavy little beast. This is the MP62 version.
Underneath looked reasonably clean other than the area around the CAS itself. A bit of degreasing ensued. I'll give it a proper clean before reassembly.
CAS area with the supercharger out of the way...
The front mounting bolt for the supercharger is a problem. It has sheered off at the head (!) and what remains is flush with the head. I'm going to try to cut into it and see if I can screw it out, otherwise I may have to drill and retap.
CAS itself was easy to remove though. Definitely a lot of oil leaking from here, so confident this is the source of the oil leak. Top hose is also dripping, so that needs replacing. Have new silicone hose ready to go.
Here's the little blighter (I did mark its position before I took it off.). Slick with oil on the underside. New O-Ring has arrived and is ready to go on.
That's it for now! Cup of tea required.
Cheers,
Drew.
Edited by drewwa on Thursday 7th March 14:47
Edited by drewwa on Thursday 7th March 16:55
Edited by drewwa on Thursday 7th March 16:59
Well, the sheered bolt wasn't having any of it. So out with the nuclear option.
Drilled and tapped it.
New bolt goes in fine. Should be good to support the front charger mount when it goes back on.
Hopefully we can crack on tomorrow. Probably start with the top hose in the morning.
Cheers,
Drew.
Drilled and tapped it.
New bolt goes in fine. Should be good to support the front charger mount when it goes back on.
Hopefully we can crack on tomorrow. Probably start with the top hose in the morning.
Cheers,
Drew.
Edited by drewwa on Thursday 7th March 17:01
Edited by drewwa on Thursday 7th March 17:03
Yay. It's back together - and even better. It works.
Reason for the oil leak down the back of the head was found. The o-ring had actually cracked and was totally brittle. Disintegrated when I removed it.
Putting the CAS back on was fiddly. It only goes in one way fortunately, but it's a hard to see as its wedged up against the bulkhead. A small mirror with LED lights is a top tip here.
Top hose was an easy job with a minimal loss of coolant.
Then the 'charger could go back on. I have to admit, I always wanted a supercharged car after seeing Mad Max 2 - I know the portrayal in the film is wrong (with the 'charger cutting in and out with a lever in the car) but it kind of inspired me. Hence this silly shot. Not planning on cutting a hole in the bonnet!
Pulley alignment is the achilles heel of these setups. I think I've got it right, seems to be tracking true.
And all back together - no oil leak, no coolant leak... and the sheered bolt fixed too. Runs up to temperature ok and the fans are kicking in as necessary. So far so good.
Cheers,
Drew.
Reason for the oil leak down the back of the head was found. The o-ring had actually cracked and was totally brittle. Disintegrated when I removed it.
Putting the CAS back on was fiddly. It only goes in one way fortunately, but it's a hard to see as its wedged up against the bulkhead. A small mirror with LED lights is a top tip here.
Top hose was an easy job with a minimal loss of coolant.
Then the 'charger could go back on. I have to admit, I always wanted a supercharged car after seeing Mad Max 2 - I know the portrayal in the film is wrong (with the 'charger cutting in and out with a lever in the car) but it kind of inspired me. Hence this silly shot.
Not planning on cutting a hole in the bonnet!Pulley alignment is the achilles heel of these setups. I think I've got it right, seems to be tracking true.
And all back together - no oil leak, no coolant leak... and the sheered bolt fixed too. Runs up to temperature ok and the fans are kicking in as necessary. So far so good.
Cheers,
Drew.
Edited by drewwa on Friday 8th March 16:30
The supercharger really does transform the car to be honest. The Mx-5 is rather limp-wristed as stock, but the handling is sublime. With a bit of a boost it becomes quite the tool.
The bonus being that the engine is derived from a previously turbo-charged install in the Mazda 323, so it responds to boost very well, and has toughened internals as stock (with oil squirters underneath the pistons too). With the rest of the chassis able to cope with way more than stock power you can chuck all your £££s at the engine without having to upgrade much else, as long as the rest of the car is in good shape.
Cheers,
Drew.
The bonus being that the engine is derived from a previously turbo-charged install in the Mazda 323, so it responds to boost very well, and has toughened internals as stock (with oil squirters underneath the pistons too). With the rest of the chassis able to cope with way more than stock power you can chuck all your £££s at the engine without having to upgrade much else, as long as the rest of the car is in good shape.
Cheers,
Drew.
Must be fun with a sniff over 200hp.
I’m sure I’ve read that Mazda initially planned on F.I from the get-go hence the mild CR & extra oil squirters etc. Certainly it lends itself well to some boost as the N/A motors are pretty dull & characterless if truth be told.
A proper diff would make the power very usable & improve matters no end at Curby or similar I suspect
I’m sure I’ve read that Mazda initially planned on F.I from the get-go hence the mild CR & extra oil squirters etc. Certainly it lends itself well to some boost as the N/A motors are pretty dull & characterless if truth be told.
A proper diff would make the power very usable & improve matters no end at Curby or similar I suspect
Great stuff OP.
My first two MX5s were Eunos V-Specs in this green/tan combo, both H-regs with 1.6s in.
The first one was the cheapest I could find on the bay of thieves back in '03. It had some awful yellow JDM aftermarket alloys on and various other offensive bits. Within days it had locked us in on the drivers side so we took it up to a place in a dodgy bit of Birmingham to get it looked at.
We loved the mint standard one on BBS cross-spokes they had in stock and they'd taken a shine to all the offensive bits on ours so we ended up putting a bit of money their way and driving home in the much nicer example.
Near the end of its time with us I threw the hood back one sunny October morning and tore the screen. So good idea upgrading.
My first two MX5s were Eunos V-Specs in this green/tan combo, both H-regs with 1.6s in.
The first one was the cheapest I could find on the bay of thieves back in '03. It had some awful yellow JDM aftermarket alloys on and various other offensive bits. Within days it had locked us in on the drivers side so we took it up to a place in a dodgy bit of Birmingham to get it looked at.
We loved the mint standard one on BBS cross-spokes they had in stock and they'd taken a shine to all the offensive bits on ours so we ended up putting a bit of money their way and driving home in the much nicer example.
Near the end of its time with us I threw the hood back one sunny October morning and tore the screen. So good idea upgrading.
Yes - will definitely keep my eye open for a Torsen diff.
Last little bit of work today to put her back together. A cover for the radiators and intercooler. Helps with the airflow a bit apparently, and also stops some of the crud from getting in. This car has aircon as well as the supercharger, so the air routes past the intercooler first, then the aircon rad and then the main rad. Two chunky fans on the inside help keep it cool!
Probably look at getting her back on the road for April or May (May most likely!)
Cheers,
Drew.
Last little bit of work today to put her back together. A cover for the radiators and intercooler. Helps with the airflow a bit apparently, and also stops some of the crud from getting in. This car has aircon as well as the supercharger, so the air routes past the intercooler first, then the aircon rad and then the main rad. Two chunky fans on the inside help keep it cool!
Probably look at getting her back on the road for April or May (May most likely!)
Cheers,
Drew.
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