~Slideways~

Annnd wof. Passed first time which is awesome. Needs some surface rust underneath taking care of and the exhaust is getting rusty. So I guess I’m going to have to make an exhaust then. Going to try the foamectomy mx5 thing on the drivers seat and see how much extra room it makes.

On the Dyno and on the driveway because photos:

Speeduino seems to be more supported, will have a look though. Removed all the stickers and hammered out the dent in the guard: Looks much tidier now. Just don’t look at the cracked paint and missing top coat were the car thieves had hastily tried to remove the stickers. Fitted hard top too. Took a bit of stuffing around because the b pillar mounts had never been fitted. But working now. Replaced the ign barrel and boot lock too. Had to cut slots into the bolts to remove them: New barrel:

Had a few issues come up when I went back to the dyno, which took a bit of diagnosing (thanks to Custom Works Automotive). Mainly the fuel pressure not being controlled by the standard FPR. Wasn't worth trying to tune around it, but it was now driveable. Apparently driveable isn't a word. Ordered and fitted a Turbosmart FPR800 as well as refitting a standard fuel damper to see if that helped. Took the DW400 pump out to see if there was anything wrong, the hose clamps could be tighten a bit but I wouldn't say they were loose enough to be an issue. Back to the dyno yesterday and the FPR is good but the boost to going to 16 psi when it should be around 10psi wastegate pressure. Found that the silicon hose had split due to heat, I was worried about this before so had searched everywhere (a year ago) for a longer fitting but no-one had the right size. I had wrapped it in fibreglass heat shield but I guess it didn't survive (had same pipes on with original ECU for maybe 500km). Put on a new hose and now its controlling boost. Left it on 10psi until I could find a solution to stop that hose failing again. Tried ENZED and they couldn't get anything, I asked about brazing it and they estimated $100. So I noped out of there. Thankfully Grotty's knows a guy and got it sorted. So once I go get that and plumb the solenoid back in I can go back and put more boost in it. At wastegate pressure its making 200kw peaking at 6300rpm I think it was, not bad for 10psi. It's got great torque and very responsive, the sound it makes is intoxicating. Can't wait to put some more boost into it. The transmission tunnel gets bloody hot. It progressively gets to the point that the floor (no carpet) is almost too hot to touch. And even the shifter gets hot. I have heat wrapped the exhaust in that area and put in some shielding but it doesn't seem to have made a difference. I reckon its engine bay heat and lack of airflow. So I need to try get some air flow to the transmission tunnel, maybe from the bumper back towards the tunnel or just some ducts scooping air upwards?

I've emailed the Aus Speeduino site to ask about availability. Quite keen to solder one myself to keep it cheaper and just use a donor mx5 ecu case and plug. I don't even have a working battery and I'm researching ecu's...wtf is wrong with me?

Yep can't be that many Greg's with mx5 bits.

Looks like pretty much everything on that speeduino site is out of stock unfortunately.

$240 USD assembled and it looks like it has an inbuilt MAP. EDIT: yes it has an inbuilt sensor for 1bar of boost. Not a lot as you'd normally need a bit of head room for boost spikes, but it can run external. Bloody tempting.

20 buck is 20 bucks

Honestly the Speeduino PNP sounds too good to be true.

I've driven a couple and even the standard ones with soft suspension are heaps of fun, gear change is great. My dad has had a couple, one supercharged and one turbocharged both with a Link ECU probably a G3 I'd guess. So the temptation to turbo charge it is definitely there. But then a need a run around for the run around project. I am also now in a pretty decent driveway shuffle situation.

Very little I've found so far, in weird places though like that window pillar. But the rest of the door and assembly has no rust at all. The drain holes are all totally rust free. In the boot there is no carpet and the only rust I could find is a little surface rust under the plastic battery tray. Possibly from battery acid, these have those weird vented ones. If you need tail lights the guy near me parts them out a lot. He could have some? Good prices so far.

I've come across these too, super cheap stuff. Without doing much research the general consensus I'd found was that the speeduino lacked a lot of functions. At first I was very surprised how cheap they sounded and was super keen. I'll have a read through those links and make a more informed decision.

The engine is totally standard, it even has a basic paper air filter and the restrictive looking intake pipe with multiple resonance box things:

I tried to find a replacement front guard but just ended up hammer and dollying out the dents for now and put the guard back on. There were some rusted bolts where it joins to the bumper which I had to cut off. I suppose it is 30 years old. So with the window fixed I am now waiting on a replacement lock and key set and a bumper light, which should hopefully be enough to get a wof. It'll be a fun little run around. If I like it enough maybe I'll do some modifications and use it at some events. I'd like to learn how to tune ecu's, I've had a decent play with the Link G4+ in my other car, I understand it but wouldn't want to use it to practice tuning on. If I can find a second hand plug in Link or Megasquirt, it'd be fun to get a little more out of this engine like removing the AFM etc. A megasquirt 1 plug in is $750 but super old. Does anyone know if the diy kits are any less reliable if soldered well? Are the pre-built ones also done by hand?

Oh and the missing rear number plate was just sitting in the car. They must simply not check? I've now replaced the broken quarter window, which requires removal of basically everything from the door. Including the main glass and the centre support. Turned out the support/window guide/pillar jobby was super rusty at the bottom. So the bolt just ripped it to pieces and spun around. Found a local guy who had a spare (got the glass and some other bits from him too). Put it all back together in the dark because it was going to rain last night.

Tempted to get a Megasquirt diy solder kit and try my hand at doing that. Can't justify the $1100 for an MS2 plug in.

Some didn't have it, there is only a fuel cap latch where it should be. Its fucking weird. Seems like it was an option. People retro fit them or put in electric ones. Weird.

The previous owner said he still had some parts, so he emailed through a list. Including a hard top which is sweet. He wanted me to take the lot and offered a very good deal so I measured the back of the Safari to see if it would fit both a hard top and some bolt in cage bits. Met up with him and his wife in the CBD, great guy. Ended up buying: - Half worn R888's on later MX5 15x6's - Hard top which needs paint. - MX5 manual and performance hand book. - Roll cage bits - spare carpets and some trim - Monza belts (expire this year but I'll make use of them in something) - and some other stuff Also the Koni's are adjustable, he gave me the adjuster knob bits. Looks like standard ride height but took it around the block and it handles great, performance wise its...nippy? He said it had an LSD put in and the later brakes. Although I think it might just be the bigger rotors. Not sure if they went to different calipers?

Pulled out the alarm and de-soldered the spliced wires ect. Traced some wires to the back to figure out what they did. Cool install: Nicely soldered and heat wrapped back to factory. Went to start it and its got no fuel lol Traced another wire which I thought wasn't part of it and it was joined half way down the sill for what must be the fuel pump power. Fixed that and it starts fine. Found this which I've never come across, a mercury switch. Assume some kind of roll over shut off? It was wired into the alarm. Also you can see that the roll bar is tied into the boot which is sweet.

Pretty cheap, although if it was stuffed, not so cheap. I know a local guy who wrecks them and sounds like he gets them even cheaper. Mostly damaged though. Welded roll bar, bolt in front bars.

There were a few people bidding down south but they stopped and I got it. I guess it was a risky buy and they'd have to transport it.

Got it home and checked the oil: golden Checked the water: green and watery Checked inside, found a key, guess Turners didn't look. It works on the doors, cool. Tried to open boot, right...these don't have a boot opener latch. Why Mazda? Found a way to open the boot which is a bit invasive but no other choice. Battery dead flat, but there are some jumper leads in the back. Connect a spare battery, we have dash lights! Turn key to try start and nothing, but there is a flashing LED on the steering column surround. Oh right, the alarm. Pulled off the trim to trace wires and found the alarm. Managed to get it started by just pulling a fuse (wtf!). It sounds very healthy, but quite rich. Also barely any fuel in the tank and probably really old since Turners have had the car since last November according to the writing on the car. - Mirror is taped up for some reason Big thing I then noticed was mounting brackets at the bottom of the A pillars....brain says...wait...wait....homologation....maybe it had more bars? Check the roll bar and under some foam is another set of mounting points! Cool! .....but I don't have them. Then found an authority card inside. Then found a receipt in the glove box with a phone number, think about it for a bit and decide to send a text. I assumed they would have been paid out by insurance since it was with Turners. Didn't get a reply for a few hours so decided to call. Had a great conversation with the guy, I apologised for being a bit cheeky calling him but he said he was thinking about selling the car anyway. He'd used it for years all around the country doing the RS Cup and Surgery Sprints, all standard engine wise to keep it simple. And he still has the bars!!

Picked up this not-an-mx5-eunos-roaster as a daily driver for a new job, I didn't want to leave my Safari parked all day out of my sight. Had a look around and found this mx5, I'm just going to call it an mx5 now. Thought it'd work well since it should be cheap to run and less likely to be stolen, problem was it was a 'stolen and recovered' Turners auction. Kept my eye on it, the auction finished the day before Level 2 lockdown so I couldn't go have a look. Decided to just go for it and set myself a limit. The description was the basic Turners type of only really interested in listing the scratches and dents etc. No real detail of the car. They couldn't even confirm if the engine ran since the ign barrel was smashed and so was the boot lock. So they couldn't get to the battery in the boot, plus it had an alarm (good thing too, else it might get stolen). So it was fork lifted around. The photos were bad, but it had race stickers for the RS Cup (real slow cup) on the windscreen. The rear screen was dirty but I thought I could see an aftermarket roll bar, cool but not too exciting since there are plenty of basic bolt in jobbies available. Anyway, I got into a bidding war but still got it cheap. Yay, I hope it runs... Went to go get it, paid and changed ownership before even being able to check it out. I figure worst case I have to swap the engine or just part it out. Lady said there were no keys, they can't start it, the rear plate is missing etc etc. Cool...great buy, me. Walk over to the car, see a fckn homologation stick on the roll bar? Lady says "huh...why does this car have a roll cage?" Zero mention of this in the auction. Bonus! But is it wrecked? There are also names on the side from the people that must have used it in the RS Cup. Initial thoughts on pick up before being able to properly look it over: The bad - - Unknown engine and gearbox - is probably wet inside due to broken glass - front guard has a couple of big dents. - big scratch down the side - smashed out rear garnish/boot trim - smashed ignition barrel and trim - smashed bumper light - smashed passenger quarter glass - stickers ripped off removing top coat - soft top is duct taped onto the top of the windscreen for some reason. Maybe its broken or leaks? - rear window plastic is hazy and has two rips. - overall body looks rough but is straight. The good - - Homologated roll bar (why would it need homologation) - New looking but budget supercat tyres - looks to have some decent aftermarket shocks and has a Koni sticker on the boot.

It looks very close, I think there can be a difference in how much the pulley sticks out between versions. I don’t know if that is due to the pulley itself or the mounting face for the pulley. Will need to confirm. Guess I’ll just give them the number plate to match it lol.