Luke's Nb Build

I'm starting my own build thread since my project build has recently started up again.

I bought my MX5 4 years ago. I bought the car as a daily driver but also to do track days in. Over the first year I did basic mods before going on track days.

GCF Roll Bar

Meister R Coilovers

Sparco Sprint Bucket seats

Sparco steering wheel

Hel Braided lines

Mintex pads





I did my first track day and loved it. Did my second and hated it. I was at Donnington. The track was over booked, loads of red flags, people over taking both sides. Just not a good day with hardly any track time. It was also at this time I found the chassis rail rust. So I fell a bit out of love with the MX5 and the idea of doing more mods.

I also did a Caterham experience day at Silverstone, so for a while all I wanted was a kit car.



After that I just continued using my MX5 as it was for the next 2 years.

Last year I got a new daily driver and did another track day at Donnington and loved it. The level of driving was excellent and got loads of track time. Even at the start of the day I knew I wanted to make my car more track focused and wanted more power. As with many MX5 drivers have experienced, I would catch many cars through the corners but come the straights cars would pull away, then i'd catch them again in the corners.

So with my love for the MX5 back I started ordering bits for a turbo build.

First off was a new radiator from Tegiwa









This was a great job, really fun and great to be working on the car again.

Then more parts started coming in.



Coolant re-route kit



Intercooler and pipework





Then a friend of a friend works at a RX8 breakers so I got some yellow injectors at a good price and cleaned them up.





I also got an ME221 ECU installed.





After this I decided to start stripping parts ready to fit the AEM wideband and continue with turbo specific upgrades.











However when I jacked the car up to take out the O2 sensor, the exhaust was so rusty it either might not come out without the exhaust falling apart or I wouldn't get the new one in. Either way id be without a driveable car. So at this point I decided that if the car is not going to be driven I should get all the underside sorted before anything else. If I carried on and got it turbo'd it would be very hard to then park it for a month or 2 to sort rust and bushes etc.

So off with the suspension it was.







Then stripped down, sand blasted and powder coated.







I've ordered all new ball joints, drop links and rod ends. As well as a set of polybushes.

Next up Im taking the cleaning even further and I'm going to take off the front subframe. This will allow me to get the whole front sorted. There may be a few rust patches that need welding on the inner arches. I have a friend who can weld but at the moment I'm thinking I want to buy a cheap welder and learn myself. This will also allow me to do the rear sills and arches too later in the year.

So that's where I'm at today, due to shift work I won't be able to do much over the next week or so but i'll update when I make more process.

Thanks

Luke