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Jay's S-Charged S-Special

4K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  Jay. 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I've had this for a few months now and it's probably about time I get a thread going.



It was bought by my old man and used a few times on the track, but he eventually upgraded to an insane turbo '5 and the opportunity to purchase this was taken!

I'm going to continue on by doing all the work myself - mainly as I began buying an MX-5 in order to improve my knowledge on cars.

The engine itself is pretty much where I want it to be, just a bit of tidying up and that is it
Interior has some work to be done on it though, and I guess that's where I will start.

The Set Up

It's running an MP45 S'charger at around 170-175BHP at the moment - I'm currently capped to 179BHP from insurance otherwise it's probably capable of upward 200+ (and 220 with a smaller pulley!).



It's intercooled and running 415cc injectors, all managed by Megasquirt PnP that has been mapped by Skuzzle

Unfortunately it does not look as clean as it did when Roadsterchinsk first built it, but I'm hoping with a bit of elbow grease it'll look a lot better than it does now (may put a picture depending how disgraceful I'm feeling..)

Below is a list of the stuff it's got on.. I've probably forgotten a load but here you go:

Engine

MP45 S'charger
Megasquirt 1 PnP
Intercooler
415cc Supra Injectors
Mazdaspeed Manifold
Racing Beat decat exhaust
Twin throttle bodies
Spec 1 Clutch

Wheels & Suspension

[background=rgb(242, 242, 242)]M2 Hanabi DT-05R's[/background] - 15x7 - Wrapped in T1R's
Sportmaxx/XXR 501's - 15x8 - Wrapped in T1R's
BBS off an RS - 15x6 - Wrapped in Yoko Parada S2
Dakar LE wheels - 15x7 - Wrapped in T1R's
P5 Sport Drive Coilovers (w/ Mk2 top mounts)

Exterior

Mazdaspeed Sideskirts
OEM Front Splitter
Unknown Low Profile Spoiler (Any ideas?)
Vented Headlight
Skuzzle TSI's
Front/Rear Carbing Style Tow Hooks

Interior

Custom Dials
Chrome Rings & Needle Caps
JVC CD Player (Needs changing...)
RX8 5 Speed Gear Knob
Momo Airbag Steering Wheel
Mazdaspeed Roll Bar (Style Bar)

I'll also post any pictures here, whether from track days or vain excursions.
 
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#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
RAF Odiham - 29/11/12



This was the first time I ever got to drive the car. It had been remapped and a full service so finally good to go!

Turned up at around 8am to get everything ready, by 10:30 the day was cancelled. Unfortunately a car span off the track, proceeded to travel~50m on the grass and crash into a landing light; with it being an operational airfield, the day was canned.

Managed to get out twice in total, leaving very early and very disappointed!

Queuing up for the 'slow lap'


Coming in after Session 1 (09:45)


Hairpin 'action shot'


Coming in after Session 2, approximately 1 minute before the car pictured span off and finished the day (10:30)


Day end (11:00) - myself and the old man heading home


Massive shame as the weather was amazing, the track was quite fun (lots of turns!) and lots of lovely people.
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
Keevil Airfield - 20/10/12

Another great day out; weather held out well for us, although it was a little chilly! Top remained down for the duration and had a fantastic time.

I personally preferred the track layout at RAF Odiham, simply for all the twists and chicanes, but this was still a good track and certainly had the potential to go fast!

Anyway, the pictures:



There were some pretty quick cars there, a few ridiculously quick radicals and a lovely charged Z4, as well as:




The other half had a good go too, and happy to say she loved it!




New tyres on, using the RS BBS on Parada Spec 2 - the conditions were perfect for them!


End of the day, big smile on my face

 
#7 ·
That could well be a raceing beat spoiler mate.
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
That could well be a raceing beat spoiler mate.
One day I'll actually have a proper look!

It's really grown on me and I'm not sure how I feel about taking it off.. Maybe something to consider later, but it would have to be replaced with a ducktail or a BGW (depending how brave I feel..)

I haven't updated this thread in ages - I've been pretty busy over the summer and that means progress on the car has been very slow :(

Replacing Rollbar

The car was using a Mazdaspeed 'rollbar' which I wasn't 100% happy with - although it was a lot more sturdy than a standard style bar, it lacked the deep mountings of a proper roll bar

Taking out old rollbar

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Fitting the rollbar in place

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Decided to take the soft top out as it was in the way and making the job a lot trickier. The extra space really helped and well worth doing

Lining up the legs

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Unfortunately for some reason, the holes weren't very well lined up which required some pulling and moving to get them in place - not easy when the roll bar is designed to be stiff..

You can see in the above picture that the leg is about 10mm away from the bulkhead - so the bottom bolts were not aligned.. Eventually everything fitted together with some fettling

Soft top back on

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After bolting down the roll bar and replacing some of the metal trim - the next job was to get the soft top back on.

Just the carpets left to put on after this stage

Replacing the Soft Top

During the roll bar change, decided that it was a good time to swap the soft top over too. Decided to put this under a different header to keep things simpler.

Old soft top, inside

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The soft top was a little dirty inside - I'm sure a good clean would have made it fine, but it's a good reason to tell myself that it needs replacing

Old soft top, outside

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The old soft top was a plastic rear screen which was a pain when putting it down - you'd have to be outside the car and push the screen down to make sure it didnt fold/crease itself.

This was the main reason for wanting to change it

New soft top, going in

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Fairly easy job really - albeit a little time consuming. Luckily didn't run into any problems, and the guide I was following (Dandycars) was really well written.

New soft top fitted and down

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Not a great shot, but figured everyone knows what a soft top looks like..

New hood folds down a lot flatter than the previous one and has heated elements in it for the the winter time.

I can now unlatch it from the drivers seat and throw it backwards without the worry of damaging the hood itself - it seals lovely and doesn't catch on the roll bar either. Success!

This also gave me the opportunity to give everything a good clean - having the seats and carpets out and some of the harder-to-clean areas exposed.
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
Outdated as always, but a few shots of Donnington Park

Had two days there, unfortunately mainly in the rain - but it was by far the best track to date and had a great time

Donnington Park Weekend

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Didn't take long to spin it:

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A few shots of myself against the old man

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Somehow was tricked into letting the girlfriend have a few laps

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And I even took out the monster for a lap

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Overall I was extremely happy with the car, it handled wonderfully and certainly had enough power to keep me in with the fast cars running around the track

Donnington was amazing - it's such a step up from an airfield, and I honestly can't wait to be able to go again
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
Is this Roadsterchinsk's (Jonathon) old S-Special?

Scrap that, I've just read that it is indeed Jon's old car.

Good to see it's still being used and still being improved and not pulled apart like so many other good cars.
 
#13 ·
Is this Roadsterchinsk's (Jonathon) old S-Special?

Scrap that, I've just read that it is indeed Jon's old car.

Good to see it's still being used and still being improved and not pulled apart like so many other good cars.
It is indeed!

Unfortunately I'm terrible at updating the threads, but it's certainly had some good use :)

Have been to 3 more track days - which I hope to get photo's up at some point soon.

Just did a full top end rebuild as I thought the HLA's were tapping, but after getting them out and having a good look they appear to be fine. Getting the car back together and doing some more diagnosis, it appears the exhaust manifold is leaking which is causing the tapping sound!

On the look out for a new manifold now!
 
#14 ·
WOW.... your kidding your crap at thread updates, 9 months to reply, that's some going :thumb-up:

Good to see it's still going and by the sound of it your still enjoying the car.
 
#15 ·
Wow, great to see it being enjoyed.

You have no idea how much i regretted selling it!

That colour combo and skirts was something i wanted for years, the heroes wheels and 90's esq skirts and spoiler were just perfect for me.

Does it still have custom dials - or was that a different car i did?

Cheers

Jonathan
 
#16 ·
Wow, great to see it being enjoyed.

You have no idea how much i regretted selling it!

That colour combo and skirts was something i wanted for years, the heroes wheels and 90's esq skirts and spoiler were just perfect for me.

Does it still have custom dials - or was that a different car i did?

Cheers

Jonathan
It didn't come with them, but I did get round to installing one of Cerb's custom dashes with Revlimiter's dials :) I'll get a picture up.. 'soon'

WOW.... your kidding your crap at thread updates, 9 months to reply, that's some going :thumb-up:

Good to see it's still going and by the sound of it your still enjoying the car.
Ha no kidding! This time, Only 6 months :clap: .. Home now for Christmas leave so I'll try and get myself updating this thread a little.
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
You are as bad as your dad for updates
Probably worse! .. Somehow :whistle:

So where to start..

The Donnington ictures seem to have disappeared, so I'll try and get those uploaded again at some point.

Bucket Seats

Installed some of my old bucket seats as the previous standard ones were just not supportive enough:

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I love these seats as they're surprisingly comfortable, ridiculously supportive and pretty affordable! Would recommend to anyone who's after a set.

Santa Pod

Headed over to Santa Pod with the MX5Nutz guys back in early 2014. Had never really tried drifting before, and it's definitely an amazing introduction to it. There was tonnes of space to play and everyone was really friendly.

Had loads of fun, although my supercharger belt slipped off after a few sessions in the play pen :whistle: Tightened up the tensioner and it hasn't given me any trouble since! I was pretty impressed with the seats - they kept me in place even without harnesses

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Goodwood

Went to the Mission Motorsport event at Goodwood. I wasn't actually a massive fan of the day, the circuit staff did a pretty terrible job at keeping the day going - there were long queue's all day and the staff were pretty rude at times!

Apologies for the cringe pictures.

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Will edit this in a bit and update a bit more :thumb-up:
 
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