- Edited
History is that a mate bought this to turn into a rally car, but got divorced instead. He bought some MCA Red coil overs, replaced all of the suspension bushes, and did a few tidy ups, but basically didn't use it.
Eventually he got sick of looking at it and offered it to me for the price of the coil overs.
At first I declined, but then El Wifeo drove another mate's NB MX5 on the same day as the NA was offered again. And then we owned an MX5...
It is not a great example, but it is a solid base - leaky valve stem seals make it smoky on cold start up, the steering rack was buggered, and a few other niggles.
The real problem is that we had no idea what to do with it... I fixed the broken ignition lock and drove it around town, but it was sort of looking like a white elephant.
Then El Wifeo spectated at the Rallycross. She then announced that we should turn it into a RX car.
That's a dumb idea, because... um... shit - that's a really good idea, and it should be very competitive in the 1600cc class.
So then began another race car build.
First step was to swap the steering rack. I ended up swapping the entire power steering system because there were some weird things done to the old pump, and it had a shitty aftermarket reservoir.
Also removed the AC stuff from the engine bay.
Next was to strip the interior.
Had to drill out the rear mounting points for the seat;
Then I discovered that the matching pair of Velo seats aren't quite the same - one is about 20mm wider than the other, and that matters in an MX5.
The cheap seat mounts I had weren't helping things either, so I made a new one for the left hand side, that allows the seat to be moved leftward by about 20mm.
The actual bending of the 5mm aluminium was a challenge. The big sheet metal bender barely even touched it.
So I got creative with the hydraulic press. No actual photos but this explains how I did it:
Pretty happy with how it worked out, TBH.
Also wanted to move the steering wheel forward. Had an old boss floating around, so it met Mr Lathe for a bit.
Eventually he got sick of looking at it and offered it to me for the price of the coil overs.
At first I declined, but then El Wifeo drove another mate's NB MX5 on the same day as the NA was offered again. And then we owned an MX5...
It is not a great example, but it is a solid base - leaky valve stem seals make it smoky on cold start up, the steering rack was buggered, and a few other niggles.
The real problem is that we had no idea what to do with it... I fixed the broken ignition lock and drove it around town, but it was sort of looking like a white elephant.
Then El Wifeo spectated at the Rallycross. She then announced that we should turn it into a RX car.
That's a dumb idea, because... um... shit - that's a really good idea, and it should be very competitive in the 1600cc class.
So then began another race car build.
First step was to swap the steering rack. I ended up swapping the entire power steering system because there were some weird things done to the old pump, and it had a shitty aftermarket reservoir.
Also removed the AC stuff from the engine bay.
Next was to strip the interior.
Had to drill out the rear mounting points for the seat;
Then I discovered that the matching pair of Velo seats aren't quite the same - one is about 20mm wider than the other, and that matters in an MX5.
The cheap seat mounts I had weren't helping things either, so I made a new one for the left hand side, that allows the seat to be moved leftward by about 20mm.
The actual bending of the 5mm aluminium was a challenge. The big sheet metal bender barely even touched it.
So I got creative with the hydraulic press. No actual photos but this explains how I did it:
Pretty happy with how it worked out, TBH.
Also wanted to move the steering wheel forward. Had an old boss floating around, so it met Mr Lathe for a bit.
