The Rebuild

As some may know, my engine is far from great shape, it’s old, has a fair few kms, and is starting to drink oil more than a rotary engine does. So soon, the time will come for a rebuild.

At this stage, this will be the plan of attack, I am going to get all the gaskets, and parts I desire for the bottom end. Strip the whole engine, machine desired parts, put back together, install Adaptronic and tune.

If budget permits, I’ll do everything I can in one go. If not, the next phase will involve some head work.

I do have a parts list in mind so far, but I’ll keep it a secret until I am certain on what parts I will run. I’ll need some quotes on machining costs to determine what parts I will end up using.

The plan is simple though, I want to keep the engine N/A, with an 8000rpm redline, driven by a 6 speed manual, what a bag of fun that would be!

In other news, I’m still waiting on my damn ECV, I emailed them last week asking if they have shipped it yet, their reply was that they made a silly mistake and it was forgotten about … GREAT! I am supposed to see it this week, but I have my doubts.

Stay tuned.

Roadster Of The Week – Joe’s NA6 V – Special

This weeks Roadster is from the Australian Capital Territory, The owner’s name is Joe, and he has owned it since February 08.

This particular model is a 1993 V- Special NA6, which was imported into Australia in the late 90’s. It started life as an automatic, but has had an engine and transmission upgrade to the 1.8 litre variants. This was done by the previous owners.

Soon after purchase, Joe had realised that the car was still using the NA6 ECU, and was running rather rich. So he decided to rectify the problem by installing an Autronic SM4 ECU. Tuning not only fixed the problems that the NA6 ECU caused, but it also have the MX-5 a power boost, 90.4 RWKW to be exact.

Since purchase, Joe has made a few changes to his NA6’s Exterior. A Garage Vary front lip and vented carbon fibre bonnet spruce up the front end, whilst there are little touches like the clear indicators and reflectors tie the clean look together.

A recent addition that has transformed the look of the Roadster are the new 14X7 inch Enkei RPF1’s in +19 offset. As some may know these are very desirable in this size, and as far as Joe knows he may have the only set in Australia. The RPF1’s happen to be wrapped in some 185/60/14 Bridgestone RE001 tyres.

Interior has had some attention, since the stock seats were showing their age, Joe decided to replace them with a pair of Mazdaspeed sports seats. The factory wood grain Nardi has been changed for a cool Nardi Gara sport steering wheel. The changes look great with the factory tan interior.

The factory Bilstien suspension still remains in the car, but Joe has upgraded the brakes, and now NA8 calipers and rotors rest on the hubs, all round.

Next on the cards for the NA6 are a set of coilovers, and some sort of roll bar/cage.

If your interested in updates, or what Joe’s car had started from, then check out the link below.

http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=34641

And remember guys, if you have a killer Roadster you would like to see on RoadsterGarage.net, then shoot us an email at roadstergarage@live.com.au

There you have it folks, Joe’s NA6 … The Roadster Of The Week!

Late Night Mischief

Last night Lionel and I felt like going for a “Spirited Drive” and there’s a certain place he has been wanting to show me for some time.

So out we went at, close to midnight for some fun!

The run itself is very short, it has 10 or so corners, but once you get to the top you are rewarded with an over watch of western Sydney. Then, down the hill you go, turn around and repeat. Very fun times.

The MX-5 is still going strong, but I have noticed that it is burning more oil each week. A rebuild is on the cards, but whether it be for N/A or F.I, I am still uncertain.

Basic Manipulation

Well I’ve noticed that the MX-5 is running a little hotter than it used to, so I thought I’d better put the under panel and cooling shroud back into place … but to do that, I needed to modify it to adapt the intake piping.

So out came the jack stands, and I began measuring where to cut, so I needed to detach the intake and piping to fit the shrouds back together.

Next was the radiator shroud, being a thicker plastic,  the scissors couldn’t cut it. So out came the side cutters. I did some more measuring and cutting and it ended up looking something like this.

Its been moved over to the right since this picture, nice and tucked away too.

So yeah, that’s what I did today, nothing exciting.

On another note, that Apexi ECV I ordered 3 weeks ago still hasn’t been shipped, not happy!

Currently trolling Yahoo Japan for some dope parts, but have come up short.

It’s been one of those weeks.

The Journey To National Park And Beyond

Words: Adam Zitka
Pics: Gian Cruz

Yesterday, a bunch of friends and I set out on a journey to revisit the Royal National Park. It has been a long while since any of us have actually been there, so we were all pretty keen to get out onto the exhilarating, winding pavement that RNP is renowned for.

The journey began at Top Secret Imports, where a small group of us met up before hand to get there. Seeing that I haven’t been there since they relocated to Blacktown, I took some time to have a look around. They had plenty of cool cars that are literally fresh off the boat! Top Secret have also started to import European exotics.

There were an abundance of those cool little Nissan Cubes hiding around the corner too.

Moments after, we all hear something angry had come to life, and slowly emerged out of the darkness. The Top Secret Nissan Skyline R34 GTR Vspec. With over 400KW at all four wheels, this thing is an absolute menace!

So at 11am, the group was ready, and we were on our on way to our favorite destination … The Royal National Park.

We went through Eastern creek, Onto Heathcote Rd and ended up on the princess highway. Unfortunately we overshot most of RNP and shortly after, we ended up at stanwell tops. The view is breathtaking, and never gets old no matter how many times you see it.

Speaking of which, anyone ever seen a biker with a dog on board? it was quite an interesting sight to say the least! Notice the “DOGGY” number plates on the bike beside it? The dog was prepared with some cool little goggles too.

Anyway, we decided its time to grab some lunch, as none of us had eaten anything on the day. We went through RNP back to Heathcote to grab some Maccas. Some of the group decided to go their separate ways.

So the rest of us had a discussion of where to go next, and it was quite simple, we all wanted to do it again! As Lionel said “I don’t want just an entre’, I want the main course!”. After the breakfast/lunch settled off, we went down to Loftus to do the complete run, And boy was Lionel happy!

We were so hooked on national park, that we did it again, and again, and again. We ended up doing one short run, and four long runs. It was sure great to catch up with everyone, and RNP.

I’m happy with how the MX-5 performed, it had a tonne of response, and the new-found height had my mind at ease, i no longer needed to worry about the banking in certain spots which used to cause grief to my oil pan. It held its own with cars that have twice the power too. I really missed driving the MX-5 like this again!

I offered Gian a ride in the 5 on the day so there wasn’t many pictures of my car in action but he did manage to get some snaps of it.

All in all I had a great time, and I’m sure most of the boys did too. Props go to Andrew C and Jason F for organising and everyone for turning up and creating a great day!

Till next time.

Roadster Of The Week – Quad Throttled Frenchie

Off to France we go to find the “Roadster Of The Week”!

I spotted this jem on … yep, Clubroadster.net. Club Roadster sure seem to be pumping out wild Roadsters from across the globe, and Lyderic’s NA sure does enforce this.

He has owned the car for two years. The car was originally “Classic Red”, and full of rust. So Lyderic and his friends got to work to create the work of art, that it is today.

While the gang sorted out the rust, Lyderic decided to re-spray the car (inside and out) Crystal white, they also attached a set of Autokonexion flares and a OEM front lip to the NA6.

Bringing the height down are a set of Zenki Racing SS adjustable coilovers, and filling those big arches are a set of Sportmax/XXR 002’s in 15×8, 0 offset. The 20-year-old chassis has been strengthened by front and rear lower braces, a Eunos Roadster front strut brace and a carbing 4 point roll bar.

The amount of work that has gone into Lyderic’s NA is exceptional, but the icing on the cake is a recent addition that made him drive to the U.K to fit and tune.

A set of Fuji-Racing IRTB’s have been bolted to the side of the 1.6 litre engine, and is managed by a MegaSquirt PNP computer. The rest of the engine has been modified too, there are Raceland 4-2-1 headers paired with a MX-5 Parts catback exhaust, 8mm spark plug leads, Exedy clutch, and XTD 4lb flywheel just to name a few.

Lyderic has kept the interior nice and simple. A Momo Prototipo steering wheel, HKS shift knob and Eunos Roadster stainless door plates are the only changes that have been made to the inside of the Roadster.

A 1.8 litre brake conversion has been applied, and paired with EBC green stuff brake pads and Goodridge brake fluid. This setup should keep the new-found power at bay quite easily.

To catch up on Lyderic’s build, check out the link below, and have a quick look at the restoration process.

http://clubroadster.net/vb_forum/showthread.php?t=24619

And remember guys, if you have a killer Roadster you would like to see on RoadsterGarage.net, then shoot us an email at roadstergarage@live.com.au

Congratulations Lyderic, you are this weeks Roadster.

True Cold Air

Ok, today I decided that I would revise my intake … again.

So off I went with the missus to Just Jap to get some more piping.

I went via Heathcote Rd to get there, and to be honest, the car felt like a complete nugget … it just didn’t want to move, there was no torque to be found what so ever.

Anyway I get home, and start ripping apart the current intake, and there was the problem. The tape I used to attach the 3 inch joiners on the AFM slipped off and blocked half of the intake up! This would explain the lack of acceleration the car had in the higher gears.

If you’re wondering where I am getting cold air from, look below.

The enclosed air filter is attached to that intake ducting shown above, and the air is grasped from the front bumper, see below.

Seeing I still don’t have an angle grinder, I found it fitting to give Adan a call to get this pipe cut to size!

A few minutes later, it was waiting to dry.

Check the clearances again, and piece it together!

And the end result is below!

And there you have it, a great CAI setup with no cutting/drilling. However, you would need to have no A/C or PS to run the same setup shown, this wouldn’t be a problem for some NA guys, but the NB’s may need to do a little more creative thinking if they wish to keep both A/C and PS.

When I get some time (or when I am bothered) I’ll need to modify the splash tray to fit the ducting through, but in the mean time it’s fine as is.

Hopefully this setup will stay for a while, I’ve been through enough already!

Royal National Park!

This weekend, I’ll be putting the RoadsterGarage MX-5 through its pace’s at one of my favorite places … The Royal National Park! I haven’t been to the RNP for quite some time, particularly in the MX-5. I’ve taken the micra down a few times, whilst the MX-5 was out of action, but it just wasn’t the same.

If anyone is keen to come for a drive on Sunday, then send me a message!

Stick around!