Hoodedreeper's Mk1 MX5

[hoodedreeper]

Ordered some billet stalks from Freaky Roadster and they came here extremely fast! phantastic communication and received a lot of help with fitting! Would definately recommend getting some!









I also took delivery of a set of Carbon Fibre door cups and Polished Door Handles from Carbon Miata. Marc asked me to write a review on the Stainless Door Handles.



I had the postman knock on the door bright and early on Wednesday morning,spotting the chinese writing on the postage label,i knew exactly what this was,something i was extremely looking forward to receiving! Upon opening the package,i was expecting the handles to be quite heavy,infact they were quite the opposite!

These handles are EXTREMELY light,you can barely tell your holding them until you look down. I popped them on some kitchen scales and they weighed approx 70g (without the fixing screws). The finish is superb and at an incredibly high standard! The shape is simply and comfortable to grab while still looking classy with a hint of retro.



The laser cutting of the M emblem is top notch work,it looks like it was stamped out of a sheet of aluminium! There are zero sharp edges,wobbly cut lines,everthing is cut perfectly.

Installation took less than 2minutes per side. With the old leather door pulls removed,the new bolts fixed on quick and easy with a 7mm hex key,and sit perfect in the counter sunk holes of the polished handles.



I also fitted some Carbon Fibre door cups supplied by Marc at Carbon Miata. Again,the quality of these is extremely high,there's not a single piece of weave out of shape/line. I think they compliment the KG Works handles extremely well and helps bring in some Carbon Fibre to the interior of the car.





Another purchase i've recently made is a set of Runabout M2 Mirrors





I removed the door mirrors on my lunch break at work and the holes on the M2 bases don't line up with the original holes in the door. The mirrors were supplied with the rubber gaskets and a plastic block with two threaded holes.



With the M2 mirror base on the door,they do just about cover the original holes,but the mirror mounting holes are further in,central to the mirror.



Someone has suggested drilling two new holes and riv-nut them on. I'm taking a visit to the body shop tomorrow to see what they say :)

[Skinny]

You should paint those door cups.

[hoodedreeper]

Why's that? I bought them for the CF weave to go with the exterior CF :)

[Skinny]

Yeah, the exterior, they look out of place with the rest of your nice looking billet interior.

Carbon is only cool when its dry and serves a purpose, otherwise its rice and should be painted.

[Teejay187]

I like the door cups a whole lot

[Skinny]

You also wanted duel exhausts......

[hoodedreeper]

Each to their own :)

[phillyb™]

A photo from the MX5OC Norfolk Meet last Wednesday

omg dat rainbow!

[phillyb™]

are those the stalks from mx5nuts?
he's making them meow with headlight switches that work?
i need those.

[Derek]

If it were me, I'd just create an aluminum or SS bracket that made up the difference between those holes. With some time and care it could be made to look decent enough, but I'd align the front holes and put the adapter on the back.

[hoodedreeper]

are those the stalks from mx5nuts?
he's making them meow with headlight switches that work?
i need those.

Yup got them from Nutz :)

[hoodedreeper]

Jass Performance sell Mirror Plugs. I could use the 'outer' hole (nearest the front of the car) of the mirror and plug and bolt down as usual. Drill a new hole for the other mirror bolt. Then bolt down the other end of the plug as normal. So it would create a step,if that makes sense?

[hoodedreeper]

Won some P5 Frame Rails on eBay for a good price



After the Runabout M2 mirrors not bolting directly on,i sold them and purchased some Autoblaze mirrors from a friend that needed a refurb







Also fitted my Ron Tribute sticker



So payday was on Wednesday so bought (another) set of wheels! Spoke to Barry at Mazdabeat and he sorted me out an awesome deal and the new wheels were with me the following day! I booked the car in at my local STS Tyre Pros for a set of Pirelli P1 195/50/15 tyres to be fitted.

Rota RKR Front 15x8j ET0 and Rear 15x9j ET0





















The car is going into the body shop in the middle of June,gonna get the side stripes removed as they no longer go with the wheels. Also gonna lower the front abit more so its level with the back

[hoodedreeper]

So it seems i have a little scrubbing issue on the passenger rear tyre at the moment



Took the car to STS Tyre Pros last Wednesday to have the front coilovers lowered and also a full alignment. meow running 5* rear camber and 3* front camber. Also set the rear shocks to the hardest setting to try and stop it scrubbing.





Fitted some new wheel nuts



Today i noticed a collection of rubber on the arch,so its still scubbing. The only thing i can do is change the rear tyres to a 195/45 :( It seems this side wasnt flared enough when it was in the body shop last year



Yesterday i headed to Snetterton Circuit for Modified Live. It rained all day with the odd dry/sunny period. The show itself was very quiet,despite it being local to me,i dont think i'll be going again.

I entered the car into the Show & Shine sponsored by Kleers,managed to get a good spot too













Ended up winning Best JDM!



My photos from the Show can be seen here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 512c18b965

[Crazyblackman]

would love a set of those stainless steel switches man, thats HAWT!!, or black in silver/white etched in

[hoodedreeper]

This update will be abit of a photo overload,what can i say? I like taking photos :P

A week or so ago i got the P5 Frame Rails fitted and undersealed. We left the rear wheel arches as the cage will be coming out to be painted at some point









Finally got round to tiger sealing the Stainless Jass surrounds to the trims





Friday just gone me and a few friends took a coastal drive and managed to catch the sunset







I took another visit to the local Graffiti Wall this afternoon

[hoodedreeper]

I also took a visit back to the old car show room,where i took the first set of photos when i bought the car. Heres a little comparison of the transformation in the 10 months of ownership

[Highschool]

#nothingstock

[hoodedreeper]

I think i may have changed pretty much everything. I guess i'll have to start changing things i've already changed to update with new changes

Anyway...

Nothing to update,just some photos from the recent Mazdabeat Meet

[hoodedreeper]

So its been awhile since my last update,i'm used to updating this pretty much every couple of days.

First up,casting back to the end of July i caught a question on Facebook with regards to aftermarket bumpers,and a fella on there said he had one. So i sent him a cheeky message asking for photos. Payment was taken and me and the girlfriend embarked on a 400 mile round trip. Google Maps said it would take 3 1/2 hrs each way. But with how the London M25 is and local road works,it ended up being a nice 10hr round trip (and her BMW E36 323i only used 1/2 tank in total!)





As you can see its been repaired and just needs finishing. This will be booked into the Body Shop for winter time along with some other bits and pieces being painted.

After speaking to the original owner (Richard) of the Purple Monster and looking back on some old photos,coupled with watching some Initial D,i wanted to 'try' and go down a slightly different route. The car has a (what i think) a USDM look,but i wanted to go down the Import look. meow after doing some searching it seems the MX5s in Japan are either near stock looking,or they're all out with big body kits,spoilers etc etc

meow this is gonna be difficult as i've already got the body work how i wanted it. So i set to start making some small changes. The first one being some new Show Plates. The current show plates are some California plates with REAPER embossed. I thought it would be awesome to replicate the licence plate the Monster had while it was in Japan. So i came up with this:



I know its not exactly the same,but for a DIY job it didnt come out too bad (considering a pressed Import Plate to me made is £28.00! (nearly $47 each for those in the US))

Next up was Japfest 2 at Donington Park. MX5Nutz had an incredible club stand of 120+ MX5s on display ranging from stock,to modified,to drift,to race. There was certainly something for everyone. Sketchy (who did an amazing job organising the show and day) had kindly asked me to join the display cars at the front,which circled Ron's Damm'd MX5. It was an emotional day for most and i know Ron was looking down smiling and laughing. I really hope we done him proud :)





The following Weekend was the RPM Live Show at North Weald Airfield in Essex. This is a new Show for the calender and it a very good day out. A big selection and variation of cars on display,and it was good to see the local drifters putting on a display too.





On the way home from the show i stopped off at the Essex Fives' first Monthly meet,would have been rude not to say hi



This brings me to Yesterday (Wednesday 27th August). The car was in for it's MOT first thing in the morning,and she passed with flying colours! Thats a relief off my shoulders for another 12 months! Also that day i taxed her,it was quite an expensive day!

Just before the MOT the Monster hit a pretty phunny Mileage count



During the Bank Holiday Weekend MX5Parts had 10% off everything,so it would have been rude not to place an order :P In amongst the goodies was a set of I.L Motorsport Pedal Covers. I luckily found a how-to guide on MX5Nutz written by 2bfrank,it can be found here: http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/index.php? ... 8&hl=pedal



Awhile ago i was browing Club Roadster and came across a photo of a Mk2/NB dashboard with this strange looking air vents. So i did some reading into it and the vents were from a Mitsubishi Eclipse 00-05 (from memory). So i trawled through Ebay.com and managed to find a seller with them for a reasonable price. A 2 week wait later and they arrived on my door step. Fitting was straight forward and incredibly easy,and they finish the dash off nicely





Along with these i fitted a Mk2.5 centre arm rest as i prefered the cup holders on this one (small creature comforts like this makes things so much easier)



So it seems a lot has happened in the past month,and i apologize for the lengthy read. Lets see what the next installment brings :)

[hoodedreeper]

Small update :)

So it was that time of year again where the UK's finest Japanese vehicles would come together for one show,and that is JAE (Japanese Auto Extravaganza). Situated in the heart of Kettering at Wicksteed Park,the 4 day event is certainly one not to be missed!

It was great being back after the unfortunate loss of my previous MX5,i enjoyed the show a lot more having missed out. The event seemed quieter from my previous visit,but that didn't put a downer on the weekend. Plenty of cars to look at and drool over,and was great seeing so many familiar faces and having a well deserved catch up.

On the caturday evening,MX5Nutz had special agreements with the Pyrotechnics of the show and they set off a 60 shot firework with some of the ashes of the legend Ron 'Tattoo Ron' Morgan,who sadly lost the fight to cancer a couple of months ago. The entire park shared a minutes silence,until the remainder of the fireworks display had continued.

It was a very emotional weekend for most,but we're all glad that Ron had the greatest send off,and it was what he wanted :)



Photo Courtesy of Style Case



Here is a video taken by a GTOUK member who was next to the Nutz Stand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EV87Kex ... e=youtu.be





My photos from JAE can be seen here >> CLICK HERE <<

I recently won a Nardi Deep Corn steering wheel and boss on eBay,which was promptly fitted once I got home. I also received my Jass Performance Sport Gear Knob and Handbrake Lever too





It was exactly one year today that I took delivery of the Purple Monster,oh how this year has flown by!

[hoodedreeper]

[Crazyblackman]

Anything you would like to tell us?

[hoodedreeper]

All will be revealed :) Unfortunately nothing spectacular

[Crazyblackman]

Excited nonetheless

[hoodedreeper]

I recently sold the Carbon Headlight Covers and fitted a stock and vented cover which have been colour coded.



I also sold the Carbon bootlid and got my old Bootlid with KG Works Spoiler painted and fitted (the car is still covered in Dust from the bodyshop)





meow for the part you've been waiting for...

The car got dropped off at H&S Performance and the engine was pulled out. The car was then dropped off at AutoDoc Bodyshop for the main work to begin. While the car was in the bodyshop,the guys at H&S Performance did a full service of the engine while it was out.

Spark Plugs
Oil/Oil philter/Sump Plug
Cambelt & tensioners
Waterpump
Clutch
Thermostat & Coolant Sensor
Painted Upper and Lower Thermostat Housings
Painted Inlet Manifold with Throttle Body
Painted Rocker Cover
Painted Cambelt Cover
Engine Block Painted

The car was finished and dropped back off at H&S where more parts were fitted along side the re-fitting of the engine.

Clutch Slave Cylinder
Alloy Radiator
Eunos Racing Development Silicone Radiator Hoses
New Expansion Bottle
New Washer Bottle
Polished Oil Cap
Polished Plug Cover
Stainless Fusebox Cover
Painted Radiator Panel cover
Painted Scuttle Panel Cover
Countersunk Purple Washers and Bolts

Its far from finished,there's still a lot to fit/change but the main bulk of changes have been made :)

I was torn between painting the bay Purple or White. White was a big gamble but I think I've pulled it off well :)

[hoodedreeper]

I know there are still some parts dirty,but I was too excited to get it back together and take photos!

A MASSIVE thank you to AutoDoc and H&S Performance for their incredible work!

[hoodedreeper]

A small update :)

I wasn't too keen on the BMW Sparkling Graphite painted rocker cover,it looked too dark against the black Inlet Manifold and the front cross over pipe for the air box. So I sent the spare over to a local Powder Coaters. I got it back at the beginning of the week and fitted it today



I also fitted a Polished Plug Cover,both work really well :) I also took a visit back down to H&S Performance who helped me fit a Stoney Racing Ancillary Hose Kit. These guys have been incredible the past couple of months and I cant thank them enough.





I have absolutely no idea what the colour of the purple is. I originally asked for Candy Purple (but they only do basic Candy colours). He said he can do Cadbury's Purple,but this looks very pearlescent in direct light.

Noobie error,i forgot to clean the threads for the front oil breather hose and Coil Pack,so those aren't currently bolted down

[Highschool]

do work.

[hoodedreeper]

Heres a little video for you (PLEASE WATCH)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUHq21QhaNE





This has been extremely difficult to keep secret for the past 11 months!!

It all started back in January when i was at Autosport International. I was surrounded by Forced Induction on the MX5Nutz Club Stand,staring at the display of Turbo and Supercharged cars for 3 days started the urge.
At the time,the Interior was booked in to be done in March,and aesthetically the car was pretty much done which only left the engine bay. Having gone the Turbo route with the previous MX5,i thought i'd head down the other path and try out a Supercharger.

So it seems the Eaton M45 from a Mini Cooper S was the popular choice to fit,so the search for one began. Having just missed one on eBay that had covered 25k and being the later generation with teflon blades,it went for £450 delivered. At least i knew this was the kind of money region i was looking at for a unit.

Then i happened to stumble across a For Sale advert on Facebook for one. I dont think i could have sent a message to the seller quick enough! After a few messages back and forth,i had managed to secure myself a Charger that had only covered 19 delivery miles (yes,you did read that correct). It was removed due to a damaged pulley,which by looking at the photos was some-what repairable anyway. Included was a second throttle body with blanking plates and dual cable throttle wheel,all for the sum of £140.00 delivered!





Amongst the vast amount of research i found Aran and Taffylude's build threads on Nutz,who both kindly documentated everything including where to buy it and the costs. This was the perfect Guide for a novice like myself! Massive thanks to them both!

So i took the Charger to work to give it a good clean,removing the PTO and making a blanking plate. At this point i also cut the mounting lug off and blanked the breather port next to it.



RX8 420cc Injectors purchased,these worked great on the turbo build and will help give me some extra ponies. These were sent off to BLiNK Motorsport to be cleaned/flow tested/new seals. They did an incredible job and had a very fast turn around,highly recommend them!



AEM Wideband from Dan at Fast5



As the weather was good,i got some painting done. I wanted a pretty basic looking engine bay,almost OEM,so i went for the classic Wrinkle Black finish. I ended up painting the Inlet Manifold,both Throttle Bodies,Radiator Slam Panel,Wiper Scuttle Panel and Thermostat Housing. Sadly i've only got a photo of the Throttle Body at the time (the rest can be seen in the engine bay photos above)



TR Lane Kit ordered,this was one of the most expensive items and took approx 6 weeks to be made.



It didnt matter that the original pulley was damaged as it was being replaced with a smaller one. I went for a 15% reduction as i wanted it reliable and i had read smaller pulleys could lead to potential belt slip. I ordered one along with a modified By-Pass Valve from 1320.co.uk

I knew removing the pulley was going to be a major task,so i left that in the capable hands of an Engineering company around the corner from mine. It took them a few days to do,but it came off clean which is the main thing





I made some gaskets for the TR Lane inlet and outlet and bolted them together. The charger received a coat of Wrinkle Black paint too

[hoodedreeper]

In the mean time i was getting ready for the engine bay work to be done,which saw a lot of new gaskets and bits and pieces ordered,aswell as new nuts,bolts and washers for various things for the build. Luckily i got majority of the parts from MX5 Parts when they had their discount on!

This then brings me to last week,i had booked the week off so i could fit it. With the turbo build i had to get a lot of help from various people as i was pretty clueless with what to do and how to fit it.

I managed to fit the kit on my own! Doesn't sound a lot to most,but its pretty achievable on my part (yes,i admit i had to get a second opinion on a few bits,but i'd rather be 100% sure!)

Here are some various photos from the fitting stage:

Radiator Fan moved into the centre,brackets made and the fan wiring extended



Intercooler Pipework Mock Up (Driver's Side)



Manifold removed to fit the Wideband Sensor (its at a stupid place and was easier to remove the Manifold)



I got the Charger mounted in the Engine Bay (knowing it would need adjusting at a later date). Also got the Tensioner Bracket on and the Intercooler all plumbed in











Nice and Stealthy!

[hoodedreeper]

IAT and Idle Speed Valve hose fitted to the Intake hose



RX8 Injectors Fitted (after several issues with a crushed O-Ring!)



Belt fitted and tensioned. Air ducting and Pipercross Foam philter fitted too. Megasquirt 2 V3 had also arrived and was fitted



And there we have it! Supercharged in 7 days :)

[hoodedreeper]

BMW E36 Variable TPS and the adaptor plate from Cerberus



Fitted some Purple LEDs to the RevLimiter Stirling Gauges



I took the car to have a Power Run to see what she's producing











Here is a short video i put together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEg6vRTBcTs

181.7bhp
164.4lbft

Hoping to get some more mapping done early 2015 to smoothen out the AFR,hopefully should see a increase in power too :)

[Crazyblackman]

Wow, just wow, you sir have been busy... Loving it all glad the miata is just that much faster and looking great as well!!!!

[hoodedreeper]

Update!

Got the BMW VTPS fitted and calibrated,me and Law managed to squeeze in some quick road tuning too



Saw a photo on Facebook of a airbag turned into a Gauge Pod,so I started to make my own. I've never used filler/fiberglass so I don't have much hope this will turn out any good.





Since those photos,the pods have had two layers of fine surface filler and have been rubbed down. Shape is pretty much done,just some minor areas to finish :)

Ordered some Aerocatch Bonnet Pins,once the initial drilling into the Carbon Bonnet was over,i overcome the fear of cocking it up.





1.8 Dimpled & Grooved Discs,Ferodo Pads and HEL Stainless Hoses fitted (just need to get the rears fitted)



While shopping for some cleaning products,i saw these and couldn't resist ordering some!



Gave the 'ol Gal a clean (she hasn't been washed since September,oops!)





Managed to grab this photo of the Runabout Type II fuel lid covered in frost from the other morning

[GeorgeG5]

haha, you really shoud see an increase since I pulled 213bhp at 5500rpm with 1.6 NB and stock pulley

[hoodedreeper]

Small Update:

Finally got round to getting the hose take off and IAT bung welded onto the Intercooler pipe





Which resulted in the IAT wires breaking off at the plug,managed to get around it but potentially made it worse. It'll be fine for meow,but at 10:30pm in very cold conditions,i didn't want to be out there for much longer

Fitted the stainless Fuse Box cover that's been sitting about for a couple of months



Purchased an Alloy Washer bottle



And fitted :) Got the Alloy Scuttle Panel machined to allow access to the cap



With the original bottle removed,the air ducting was in a much better positioned and shortened



Gave the engine bay a good clean too,as it hadn't been cleaned since it was painted



The car scene in this area is pretty poor to be honest. Theres a lot of modified cars and only one or two big-ish groups.

Just before Christmas a very close friend of mine became very ill and was in and out of Hospital. Just before Christmas he was diagnosed with Lung Cancer,how long he will be with us,a month? two months? a lot longer I hope!

So the car community pulled together last night and organized a meet in honour of his friendship,his hard work as a Motorsport Photographer and for being THE most kind,caring and thoughtful man that will grace this earth.

These types of meets NEVER happen around here,and I think last night proved that the car community is still a huge family and we can work together to keep the passion alive.

The local Papers,local news,The Big C Charity and Adrian Flux were there to show support for Mark. We find out the total raised on Wednesday :)

(not my photo)

[Highschool]

Sorry to hear about your boy. Sucks.

This car is inspirational to say the least. The aluminum can idea was interesting. Baller on a budget.

The blower setup is way cool. Keep killin' it.

[Teejay187]

This car has come a long way, and it is nice to see someone doing things properly the first time! I love the SC setup!

[hoodedreeper]

Thanks for the kind words :) May aswell do it properly the first time,cos bodging/rushing it will only cause problems later on :)

Just booked my first track day in March,will keep you updated :)