Monday, 2 May 2011
Norwich City FC promoted!
Nothing to do with cars but I'm over the moon with the result tonight! A 1-0 away win at Portsmouth along with Cardiff losing 3-0 at home to Middlesbrough means that Norwich are definitely promoted to the Premier League! That's back-to-back promotions following our promotion as champions from League 1 last year!
Well done to all the players, management team and back-room staff at the club, that's an outstanding achievement :-)
Friday, 29 April 2011
Ebsi as it was when I bought it in 2004
Ok, time to add some pictures of my MX5 back in 2004 when I bought it.
It was less than 3 years old and had only 10412 miles when I picked it up.
No aftermarket modifications at all other than the 17" OZ Racing Superturissmo wheels and custom light-grey leather seats with matching door-card inserts and gear-stick gaiter that were supplied by the dealer.
It was less than 3 years old and had only 10412 miles when I picked it up.
No aftermarket modifications at all other than the 17" OZ Racing Superturissmo wheels and custom light-grey leather seats with matching door-card inserts and gear-stick gaiter that were supplied by the dealer.
The 17" OZ Racing Superturissmo alloy wheels
Custom leather interior
Mazda double-din 6-disc in-dash modular stereo
Focus is ill...
My daily run-around is a '99 1.8 Focus Zetec. A few weeks ago the ABS & TC decided to stop working. I had it checked and the ecu reports that the OS front ABS sensor isn't working. I replaced it but it hasn't fixed it so it looks like it's an ABS unit fault. That's not going to be much fun to replace!
On Tuesday on the way to work I heard a thump under the car and it suddenly got noisier. Taking a look underneath yesterday I find that the mid-pipe has rusted and fallen apart at the point where it connects to the back-box. MOT is due next week. Bugger. I think the car is trying to die.
Today I will attempt a temporary exhaust repair using a soup can. If it gets through the MOT I'll treat it to a replacement mid-pipe from eBay.
On Tuesday on the way to work I heard a thump under the car and it suddenly got noisier. Taking a look underneath yesterday I find that the mid-pipe has rusted and fallen apart at the point where it connects to the back-box. MOT is due next week. Bugger. I think the car is trying to die.
Today I will attempt a temporary exhaust repair using a soup can. If it gets through the MOT I'll treat it to a replacement mid-pipe from eBay.
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
I don't get on here very often - LOL
Ok, I really ought to put an update on here as there has been plenty happening over the last 14 months or so!
For a start I'll tell you a little about my car as I haven't actually done that yet (well not really). It's a 2001 Mazda MX5 1.8iSport in "Eternal Red". It came with all the usual extras as well as air-conditioning, custom light-grey heated leather seats and matching door-card inserts & gear-stick gaiter and 17" OZ Racing Superturissmo wheels the wheels having been requested by the 1st owner from the dealer. It was less than 3 years old and with 10412 miles.
I bought this with the intention of adding (a lot of) extra power and to keep it for a long time so wanted the best spec and the lowest miles I could find. I have since added a supercharger, upgraded the suspension, swapped the seats (ongoing) and replaced the exhaust but I started where most people do - I fitted a SS rad Grille, clear/chrome side indicators and reflectors.
The next mod and the first major one was to fit a roll-bar and upgraded suspension. The roll-bar I chose was the Hard Dog Deuce. It's not the highest roll-bar so not the best for track use but it does look good :-)
The suspension I chose was KYB AGX shocks with FM springs and FM ARBs. This was a great setup that had reasonable ride quality and very good handling. The sprints however were lower than FM designed them to be (there was a batch of them like this at the time) so while it looked really good it was way too low and bottomed out on even small speed-bumps or sometimes even the crest of the road!!!
The next mod was the supercharger. I chose the BRP MP62 "R2" setup. This uses the Eaton MP62 supercharger with a TDR air to air intercooler and a Powercard to control the fuelling. Very soon after I had a J&S Ultrasafeguard fitted too as the powercard doesn't control timing and the J&S will keep the engine safe by pulling timing at the first signs of the onset of knock. Like this it made 214bhp on the dyno.
Since then I have been through a number of upgrades. Lets start with the suspension. First I got fed up with bottoming out everywhere so wanted height adjustable shocks. I chose the Performance 5 Puredrive shocks & springs. it certainly sorted the ride-height problem but I was never quite comfortable with them. When the front shocks both started leaking I decided to replace them again with GAZ Gold Pro with 400lb springs at the front and 300lb springs at the rear. it's now a very good handling car again and performs great on road and track and at a ride-height which keeps me clear of all speed-bumps (so far).
As for the supercharger, I first replaced the Powercard with an eManage Blue so I could better control the fuelling and also control the timing. At the same time I fitted 320cc injectors from a Toyota Supra. With the extra injector capacity I fitted a bigger crank pulley to up the boost from the SC and later swapped the 320cc injectors for 350cc injectors. Like this it made 226bhp at the dyno but was clearly limited by the injectors (and a bad timing map). Eventually I replaced the EMB, J&S and 340cc injectors for an Adaptronic ecu and 550cc RC injectors. I had this all tuned at Surrey Rolling Road and it now makes a conservative 242.9bhp and around 200lb/ft torque. Tuning of the idle and off-boost fuelling is an ongoing process...
Later I will post some pictures :-)
For a start I'll tell you a little about my car as I haven't actually done that yet (well not really). It's a 2001 Mazda MX5 1.8iSport in "Eternal Red". It came with all the usual extras as well as air-conditioning, custom light-grey heated leather seats and matching door-card inserts & gear-stick gaiter and 17" OZ Racing Superturissmo wheels the wheels having been requested by the 1st owner from the dealer. It was less than 3 years old and with 10412 miles.
I bought this with the intention of adding (a lot of) extra power and to keep it for a long time so wanted the best spec and the lowest miles I could find. I have since added a supercharger, upgraded the suspension, swapped the seats (ongoing) and replaced the exhaust but I started where most people do - I fitted a SS rad Grille, clear/chrome side indicators and reflectors.
The next mod and the first major one was to fit a roll-bar and upgraded suspension. The roll-bar I chose was the Hard Dog Deuce. It's not the highest roll-bar so not the best for track use but it does look good :-)
The suspension I chose was KYB AGX shocks with FM springs and FM ARBs. This was a great setup that had reasonable ride quality and very good handling. The sprints however were lower than FM designed them to be (there was a batch of them like this at the time) so while it looked really good it was way too low and bottomed out on even small speed-bumps or sometimes even the crest of the road!!!
The next mod was the supercharger. I chose the BRP MP62 "R2" setup. This uses the Eaton MP62 supercharger with a TDR air to air intercooler and a Powercard to control the fuelling. Very soon after I had a J&S Ultrasafeguard fitted too as the powercard doesn't control timing and the J&S will keep the engine safe by pulling timing at the first signs of the onset of knock. Like this it made 214bhp on the dyno.
Since then I have been through a number of upgrades. Lets start with the suspension. First I got fed up with bottoming out everywhere so wanted height adjustable shocks. I chose the Performance 5 Puredrive shocks & springs. it certainly sorted the ride-height problem but I was never quite comfortable with them. When the front shocks both started leaking I decided to replace them again with GAZ Gold Pro with 400lb springs at the front and 300lb springs at the rear. it's now a very good handling car again and performs great on road and track and at a ride-height which keeps me clear of all speed-bumps (so far).
As for the supercharger, I first replaced the Powercard with an eManage Blue so I could better control the fuelling and also control the timing. At the same time I fitted 320cc injectors from a Toyota Supra. With the extra injector capacity I fitted a bigger crank pulley to up the boost from the SC and later swapped the 320cc injectors for 350cc injectors. Like this it made 226bhp at the dyno but was clearly limited by the injectors (and a bad timing map). Eventually I replaced the EMB, J&S and 340cc injectors for an Adaptronic ecu and 550cc RC injectors. I had this all tuned at Surrey Rolling Road and it now makes a conservative 242.9bhp and around 200lb/ft torque. Tuning of the idle and off-boost fuelling is an ongoing process...
Later I will post some pictures :-)
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
1998 MX-5 1.8i Berkeley
A bit of history now.
Back in late '97/early '98 I decided it was time to upgrade from driving a family hatch (I have a wife but no kids - a Totota Carina II 2.0 Executive is bigger than I need) so went looking for a small sporty replacement. Having had a good experience with the Carina the obvious choice was the MR2 (that was the Rev 2). I test drove one and liked it, partly because of the performance & handling which was a step up from the Carina but also because it was easy to drive and very familiar being very similar inside to the Carina (even the engine was the same).
I also took a look at an MGF but couldn't even bring myself to sit in it let alone test drive it. It was a pretty enough car but just didn't look like it had any charisma, the seats looked too high in the car and the whole thing just looked like it tried too hard.
Driving home from the MG garage I passed a Mazda dealer. I hadn't really considered the MX5 before but thought I should take a look. I was actually more interested in the MX3 when I went in but after listening to my wish list the dealer told me I wouldn't be happy with the MX3 and convinced me to give the MX5 a try. Boy am I glad that he did! It was nothing like I had ever driven before - it was like a high-powered roller-skate! It felt like I was connected to the car in a way that I'd never experienced before! I decided there and then that I had to have one.
There were a few nice 2nd hand examples on their forecourt but the one that really caught my eye was a brand new 1.8i Berkeley sitting in the show room. I loved the combination of "sparkle green" paintwork and grey leather seats & door panels. It had PAS but no other toys at all so apart from the leather was a pretty basic model. I put a deposit down there and then but was told I'd have to wait until late March to pick it up as the only Berkeleys they had at the time were showroom models.
I managed to wait a couple of weeks but just couldn't hold myself back. I went back into the dealer and convinced him to give me the showroom car!!! So while I was far from the 1st person to buy a Berkeley I was in fact one of the very first people to actually own one :-)
I owned that car until 2004 covering around 80k faultless miles. Being my daily drive I used it for everything; commuting, fun driving, trips to the supermarket & garden centre (carried an 8 foot tall tree home in it!) and did 4 one week tours of Scotland along with some like-minded friends from The OC West London Region.
The only modifications I made to the car were to fit 15" OZ Superlegerra (after buckling 2 original wheels on an enormous pot-hole), a wooden handbrake handle, an Oris Windstop windblocker and a Jackson Racing Cold Air Induction kit (JRCAI).
The JRCAI claims to add some power but realistically it just sounds really good.
After 6 years I had a yearning for more power so the search for a replacement began. At first I was considering a Porsche Boxster but wasn't convinced it would feel "special" enough. I then looked seriously at the Nissan 350Z and had a very enjoyable test-drive. However, in the end I just couldn't face not having an MX5 so instead I sought a high-spec, low mileage Mk2.5 with the intention of adding power with a supercharger and ended up with the car I have now.
Back in late '97/early '98 I decided it was time to upgrade from driving a family hatch (I have a wife but no kids - a Totota Carina II 2.0 Executive is bigger than I need) so went looking for a small sporty replacement. Having had a good experience with the Carina the obvious choice was the MR2 (that was the Rev 2). I test drove one and liked it, partly because of the performance & handling which was a step up from the Carina but also because it was easy to drive and very familiar being very similar inside to the Carina (even the engine was the same).
I also took a look at an MGF but couldn't even bring myself to sit in it let alone test drive it. It was a pretty enough car but just didn't look like it had any charisma, the seats looked too high in the car and the whole thing just looked like it tried too hard.
Driving home from the MG garage I passed a Mazda dealer. I hadn't really considered the MX5 before but thought I should take a look. I was actually more interested in the MX3 when I went in but after listening to my wish list the dealer told me I wouldn't be happy with the MX3 and convinced me to give the MX5 a try. Boy am I glad that he did! It was nothing like I had ever driven before - it was like a high-powered roller-skate! It felt like I was connected to the car in a way that I'd never experienced before! I decided there and then that I had to have one.
There were a few nice 2nd hand examples on their forecourt but the one that really caught my eye was a brand new 1.8i Berkeley sitting in the show room. I loved the combination of "sparkle green" paintwork and grey leather seats & door panels. It had PAS but no other toys at all so apart from the leather was a pretty basic model. I put a deposit down there and then but was told I'd have to wait until late March to pick it up as the only Berkeleys they had at the time were showroom models.
I managed to wait a couple of weeks but just couldn't hold myself back. I went back into the dealer and convinced him to give me the showroom car!!! So while I was far from the 1st person to buy a Berkeley I was in fact one of the very first people to actually own one :-)
I owned that car until 2004 covering around 80k faultless miles. Being my daily drive I used it for everything; commuting, fun driving, trips to the supermarket & garden centre (carried an 8 foot tall tree home in it!) and did 4 one week tours of Scotland along with some like-minded friends from The OC West London Region.
The only modifications I made to the car were to fit 15" OZ Superlegerra (after buckling 2 original wheels on an enormous pot-hole), a wooden handbrake handle, an Oris Windstop windblocker and a Jackson Racing Cold Air Induction kit (JRCAI).
The JRCAI claims to add some power but realistically it just sounds really good.
After 6 years I had a yearning for more power so the search for a replacement began. At first I was considering a Porsche Boxster but wasn't convinced it would feel "special" enough. I then looked seriously at the Nissan 350Z and had a very enjoyable test-drive. However, in the end I just couldn't face not having an MX5 so instead I sought a high-spec, low mileage Mk2.5 with the intention of adding power with a supercharger and ended up with the car I have now.
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Initial Wish List
I think now is a good time to add a wish-list of jobs to do on the car.
I'll revisit this subject each time I complete a job...
I'll revisit this subject each time I complete a job...
- Fit & tune Adaptronic ecu & 550cc injectors.
- Get a new dyno result.
- Replace Elise S2 seats with some racing buckets. Sparco look good...
- Get the stone-chips repaired and the paintwork polished properly.
- Replace the stereo with an iPod ready one.
- Try a set of Toyo R888.
- Fit a 140mm crank pulley to up the boost.
- Replace the boost & oil-temp gauges with black-face electronic items.
- Fix the broken stud in the bottom brackets of the exhaust manifold.
- Get Larini to fit the correct exhaust bracket to the exhaust cat (they fitted a female bracket - should be male).
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Introduction
Well hi folks - it's about time I put something to read on here!
I'm going to use this to post updates about my car, a modified 2001 Mazda MX-5 1.8 Sport. Those updates will include normal day-to day maintenance & servicing, modifications and usage on club runs, track outings and general rubbish as and when it happens (and I remember to update the blog).
I don't have a lot of time or details to hand right now so I'll just give a few details about the car.
2001 Mazda MX-5 1.8i Sport
Eternal Red
MP62 supercharger with air-air intercooler
120mm crank pulley (i.e. more boost)
eManage piggy-back ecu
J&S Ultrasafeguard Knock Sensor & timing controller
AEM Uego O2 Sensor + Gauge
350cc injectors
GAZ Gold Pro suspension with 400lb front & 300lb rear springs
Larini Sport exhaust cat & mid-pipe
Racing Beat exhaust back-box
FM Twincooler combined oil & coolant aluminium radiator
Lotus Elise S2 leather seats
Hard Dog Deuce roll bar
15"x6.5" Rota Circuit 10 alloys in Gunmetal with polished lip & 195/50/15 Goodyear F1 GSD3 tyres
17"x7" OZ Racing Superturissmo alloys & 205/40/17 Goodyear F1 GSD3 tyres
At the last dyno run it made 226bhp and 199lb/ft so it's no slouch. It is however limited by the injecors so I have on order an Adaptronic ecu + 550cc injectors which will be fitted asap when they arrive (I'll have a lot of "fun" fitting & tuning it).
I've driven this car all over the country and on a number of tracks including:
Brands Hatch
Knockhill
Anglesey (the old layout)
Goodwood
Donnington
Bedford (GT)
Llandow
Curborough
Abingdon Airfield
Colerne Airfield
With that power and the handling mods along with the usual MX-5 handling ability it really does make for a good track car and can pretty much keep up with a mates Elise 111R on track (at least it could - he's gone and supercharged his car now!).
Right, I'll post back later when I can dig out some more details including a few pictures :)
I'm going to use this to post updates about my car, a modified 2001 Mazda MX-5 1.8 Sport. Those updates will include normal day-to day maintenance & servicing, modifications and usage on club runs, track outings and general rubbish as and when it happens (and I remember to update the blog).
I don't have a lot of time or details to hand right now so I'll just give a few details about the car.
2001 Mazda MX-5 1.8i Sport
Eternal Red
MP62 supercharger with air-air intercooler
120mm crank pulley (i.e. more boost)
eManage piggy-back ecu
J&S Ultrasafeguard Knock Sensor & timing controller
AEM Uego O2 Sensor + Gauge
350cc injectors
GAZ Gold Pro suspension with 400lb front & 300lb rear springs
Larini Sport exhaust cat & mid-pipe
Racing Beat exhaust back-box
FM Twincooler combined oil & coolant aluminium radiator
Lotus Elise S2 leather seats
Hard Dog Deuce roll bar
15"x6.5" Rota Circuit 10 alloys in Gunmetal with polished lip & 195/50/15 Goodyear F1 GSD3 tyres
17"x7" OZ Racing Superturissmo alloys & 205/40/17 Goodyear F1 GSD3 tyres
At the last dyno run it made 226bhp and 199lb/ft so it's no slouch. It is however limited by the injecors so I have on order an Adaptronic ecu + 550cc injectors which will be fitted asap when they arrive (I'll have a lot of "fun" fitting & tuning it).
I've driven this car all over the country and on a number of tracks including:
Brands Hatch
Knockhill
Anglesey (the old layout)
Goodwood
Donnington
Bedford (GT)
Llandow
Curborough
Abingdon Airfield
Colerne Airfield
With that power and the handling mods along with the usual MX-5 handling ability it really does make for a good track car and can pretty much keep up with a mates Elise 111R on track (at least it could - he's gone and supercharged his car now!).
Right, I'll post back later when I can dig out some more details including a few pictures :)
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