siren676 Posted June 12, 2016 Share Posted June 12, 2016 Thought I might as well finally make a build for my car.I bought this MX5 as a rolling shell to replace my one which I wrote off at a drift day.Purchased as a rolling shell, the paintwork was pretty rough, had a cracked screen, no interior except a dash and steering column. First job was to get the windscreen removed so i could get a spare one installed.After removing the dash to get access i cut the screen out using a stanley knife then discovered why it had cracked.Found a small rust patch going up the entire side of the windscreen, so had to grind that out and prep it before getting AALAWS to install the new screen.Next thing was to swap all the rear panels, polybushed arms and the 7" torsen diff. Then was on to removing the engine and gearbox (Standard 1600 with 6 puk clutch and 5 speed) after cutting out the damaged section of chassis to make things easier. While the motor was out I took the opportunity to install the turbo drain.More to come, just trying to keep posts shortish 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted June 13, 2016 Author Share Posted June 13, 2016 After installing the oil return i went on to replacing some of the intake that got bent in the crash.Then got to wedging the drivetrain into the new shell.Got my old fenix radiator that got bent in the crash, shortened by 150mm to make intercooler piping far easier.Then welded up some mounts to suit.And plumbed up a power steering cooler.Swapped the black dashboard out of the other shell then made sure everything was hooked up correctly to be able to give it a test start. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted June 25, 2016 Author Share Posted June 25, 2016 After the big milestone of getting the car started i bled up the clutch system and took the car for a test drive up my driveway.Next job was to make start making it look like a car again. Fitted seats, rest of the interior trim, hardtop and doors off the other shell.(Apologies for all the cellphone pics, didn't want to dirty my good camera)The shell came with a green front bumper and bonnet so got the bumper painted black by a friend along with some red guards that I'd picked up, couldnt fit the bonnet in my starlet so ended up rattle canning it.Got some analogue wheel alignment tools and set to making it drive straight and have even camber all round.Swapped to a set of more road friendly wheels then took it to a wof place next to work, it passed with only a couple of lights needing replacing. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 Next I got to fitting some parts I'd been stockpiling since buying the shell.Frame rail protectors to help stiffen up the car and stop denting the floor stiffeners on speed bumps. Fitted a sparco sprint seat to get me more headroom as im 6'3".Swapped in my coilovers which i managed to save from the other shell after having the right front tested by autolign to make sure it was still usable.Then rolled the rear guards and got to fitting my SSR MKI's which I'd been collecting over a year.The fronts are 14x7.5 -6 which i bought new from SSR and the rears are 14x8.5 -7 which i got 2nd hand off a friend. Also test fit a rear bumper cover and ducktail spoiler.Have ordered an aftermarket front bumper which should be arriving next month in the Moonlight racing container Will be painting all the new panels and few green parts on the chassis once the bumper has arrived to make the whole car black 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxted Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 have you got this running with the turbo? or NA at the moment? looks cool on those ssr's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted June 27, 2016 Author Share Posted June 27, 2016 Not running with the turbo yet, needed it to be able to pass a wof for daily use while my other car is off the road for a gearbox rebuild.Will be putting in my Link ecu (G1V5) at some point to make sure it'll run on the off boost part of the map (had a tune for a t28 turbo) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxted Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 cool man will be watching this then, I'm putting a b6ze in my ute pretty neat little engines! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted September 4, 2016 Author Share Posted September 4, 2016 Small updateGot a Nardi deep corn wheel through Moonlight racing to help with leg room. Then fitted the rear bumper and some friends talked me into doing a livery on the car instead of painting it all black.Took it on gumboot rally the next day so dont have any pics of it without the sponsor stickers on it. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted November 14, 2016 Author Share Posted November 14, 2016 Haven't done too much over the last few months, just been driving the car to & from work also bought some reground cams. And some pics without all the gumboot rally sponsor stickers 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted February 27, 2017 Author Share Posted February 27, 2017 Was tired of the torsen lsd starting to open wheel getting into works driveway so made a plan to build a bit of a Frankenstein diff. Bought a front diff out of a kia sportage to get the 7" ring and pinion out of it which is 4.778:1 ratio. Got a factory non-turbo FC clutch type lsd from USA which takes the 7" ring gear and has the same splines as the mx5 axles. All of this was bolted into a MX5 housing which allowed it to bolt straight in. Car accelerates a lot nicer now but the speedometer is 12% high even after changing to a different speedo drive. Got some Dunlop Direzza Zii's for the rear to match the fronts then went on a charity cruise up to Paihia. After the cruise we camped out at Matauri bay then I decided to take the scenic route back to Auckland starting from Cape Reinga. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 Keep forgetting to update this. Changed a few things over the last 6 months. Finally got around to having a rollbar made up for it by Chubb Racing. Will now be confident to get back out onto the track again. And made it stand out a lot by painting it yellow A friend needed some money so sold me his retro cluster cover made by KG Works Gave the car a proper wash as i was asked by NZPC if they could feature it in the daily driven article. Also bought and installed a 6 speed which has made the ratios super short with the 4.778 ratio diff. 3rd gear taps out at 100kph and sitting at 3900rpm at 100kph in 6th Have been watching too many itb/carb videos lately so might be doing an itb setup with 20v 4age throttles in the near future 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truenotch Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Close ratio and 4.778 sounds like a good combo! The Kia crownwheel trick is interesting too - it's the first I've heard of it. Do you use an NB housing or does it still fit the NA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 It's a 7" ring and pinion so fits in 1.8 na or nb diff housings. Considered going with an aftermarket kia gear set but 5.1 or 5.4 might have been a little bit too short haha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truenotch Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 4.778 is ideal for almost any track car with 15" wheels IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjrstar Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 ^^ unless you have over 350 hp. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 Or need a higher top speed than 196k's I think I've accidentally built a good n/a grip racing car instead of drift 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjrstar Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 This is true (maybe an issue on the old pukekohe back straight?) my 1800 civic will be limited to around 200kph top speed when i install the close ratio gear kit next week. I have not needed to use 5th at Hampton on the stock gearing Shouldn't be too much of a hindrance because not many horsepowers and could always run a 610 x 16 tyre to get a bit more legs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 Cant really run a taller tyre without major guard clearancing, current tyres barely clear the front and rear of the arch on lock. Also my entire wheel collection are 14's Ratios on the new setup are pretty nice, really need to have a go on track and let it stretch its legs to see what it gets to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truenotch Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 The answer is more RPM. Got a link to that gear calculator? It looks good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siren676 Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 http://www.cargister.com/calculator-gear-ratio It's an interesting calculator to play with, my 3rd gear is now shorter than my 2nd gear with the old 5spd with 4.1 diff was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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