1990 mx5 turbo

ok I bought the car around September 2009, its a 1990 1.6 import heres some pics of when i first got it , it was stolen/recovered and the owner was only getting around �1000 from the insurance for it. I got it for �1000 because he wanted it to go to someone that had an interest in them and would make good use of it, it had cusco coilovers, new alloys/tyres,full performance exhaust inc manifold, HKS filter and a few other bits plus it was one of the cleanest id seen, all that was wrong with it was a damaged lock and ignition wiring(fixed myself) and a damaged wing, , in the first year ive had it i fitted 1800 brakes with greenstuff pads and braided lines, a stage 2 cerametalic 6 puck 1800 clutch with lightweight JUN flywheel (a 1.8 flywheel has to be fitted if your fitting a 1.8 clutch to a 1.6 so went for a lightweight one), fitted a 1.8 LSD, some underchassis bracing and carbing rear brace, an alloy rad and chrome rocker cover, a cobra imola bucket seat,bride steering wheel, a lightweight hardtop with perspex window, I removed the carbon canister (not needed and an ugly yolk in the engine bay), I removed all the air con, i bought a carbon bonnet and a garage vary splitter, il also fit low profile lights when i get the chance(their on a black car i have for parts),

Some pics of the carbon vented garage vary bonnet fitted, one of the last owners that had it unfortunately sprayed it black (you can see the carbon underneath some paint chips) might try and sand if carefully someday and re lacquer it to bring back the carbon, I also have a plain carbon bonnet too

Sell me the carbon one??

Ordered this from the states around dec 2010, a 3" separated gases stainless downpipe with T25 flange

Kenny cynos wrote:Sell me the carbon one??

I might, sure text me an offer for it and il think about it

ordered these in January 2011

Bought this, an oil cooler and filter relocation kit second hand cheap, bought a new mocal oil cooler for it and might change the oil lines too before I fit it.

Here's a few bits I swapped a 1.8 LSD for, a GReddy manifold, downpipe and Saab injectors (since swapped for 340cc Beams ones)

Bought 2 second hand turbos, a greddy emanage blue ecu with proper harness for a 1990 mx5 and a front mount intercooler then around February 2011, had nearly everything then to turbo it but had a road trip/holiday booked in May 2011 so decided to wait till I came back to get everything fitted, about 8 or 9 people from the mx5ireland club drove down through France and into Spain and then back again in about 8 days, some fun, best holiday I ever had, top down for the whole trip since we got off the ferry

Came back after the holiday delighted with the car, was perfect for the whole trip, we were hitting constant pretty high speeds on the motorways for long periods but the car was great, I gave it to a garage around May or June 2011 then to fit all my turbo bits and a carbing rollbar, the garage wasn't that close to me but he built a lot of nice race winning track cars and thought I could trust him to fit a turbo to my mx5 plus didn't have much time with work and stuff to do it myself, was in no rush at the time as I had my rs to keep me occupied and was really happy with the work he was doing for the first few weeks but it dragged on for one reason or another for a few weeks, which then turned into months which turned into nearly a year! . The car was more or less finished FINALLY! It's running and sounds good he said but then he wanted me to email him a map of a GReddy e-manage blue turboed 1990 1.6 mx5 so he can fine tune it from that, I was so sick of it dragging on so long I just decided to collect it with a car transporter and finish it myself , i couldnt get a transporter the day i was supposed to collect it but wasnt going to leave it there any longer, asked him was it ok to drive it home and he said it was if i took it easy, I was shocked and disappointed when I went to collect it, everything that was fitted looked pretty tidy at first but my wiring was totally messed up (had to start it by crossing wires! Was perfect when I gave it to him), there was parts everywhere, my wideband, boost controller and other gauges weren't fitted, my oil cooler wasn't fitted, the ecu was running the car in safe mode cause it wasn't mapped or tuned, my instruction manuals for the GReddy emanage blue and disk for it went missing (he told me it was in his laptop and he would post it down) a friend collected it for me, probably useless now cause its so scratched. He wanted €1300 for all his work! I gave him around 11 or 1200 so I could take it away, which I shouldn't I know but I just wanted to get the car home and not have him mess it up for another few months. Got it home around May 2012

They were all pictures and updates from the first garage I gave it to, didn't look too bad did they? Boy can they be misleading, since I got it home, myself and a few friends tidied up the wiring and fitted some of the gauges, the wideband o2 system and GReddy boost controller, also fitted a zoom engineering center console I had and the garage vary splitter

The passenger seat when I got it back;


And the engine;

Tiding up the wiring;





The garage vary splitter;

Fitting the sensor for the wideband (their was a little lip inside the downpipe where the old sensor was) this had to be sanded to fit the wideband sensor which was abit awkward but got it fitted ok;

Had the car parked up in my own garage for a month or two and there wasn't much else being done to it with work and stuff so decided to give it to another garage that had a few good recommendations, wanted them to double check over everything, make sure it's finished and running right, fit the oil cooler, finish the gauges and stuff and map and tune it, was told it would cost around 6/700 euro to do that (300 to map it and roughly a days labour aswell) while he had it I asked him about changing the exhaust as the one that was on it was very restrictive, my brother said he would do it as he could get the materials cheap from work, got a 3" stainless pipe, a bend and universal backbox, got the garage to take off the old exhaust so the brother could use it for measurements etc, collected it and the brother started on it but didn't want to finish it without having the car with him incase there was problems with fitment and stuff so gave the old exhaust and new exhaust parts back to the garage so they could make it up easier with the car there, they told me it wasn't going to work cause it was too big, is there any garage in the country that can do a good job and do what you want! I got them to put back on the old exhaust and they mapped and tuned it, they didn't finish the gauges or didn't fit the oil cooler, they charged me €1300 for basically mapping it, fitting a new oil line for the turbo and taking off an exhaust and putting back on the same one! I gave them €1150, they also had the car about 6 months!

O ya I nearly forgot, on the way up to this second garage a few miles from his place the engine went up in flames I went into a petrol station to top up with petrol before I gave it to him, came out of the shop went to start the car but nothing was happening, checked the battery connections and one of them had come loose, re connected it and started driving out of the petrol station, as I was driving it out I saw smoke coming out of the engine bay, switched it off, popped the bonnet, got out of the car with a fire extinquiser in my hand (thank god I had one in the car) there was flames all over the turbo and the back of the engine! I got it quinced fairly quick and towed it the rest of the way to the second garage

We had a quick look over it there to see what happened, the problem was that the first garage had cut a small notch in the back of the heat shield for the turbo oil line to go through, the vibrations from driving the car had cut the oil line and when I restarted it the oil spilt onto the hot turbo and it went up in flames

The car has my heart broke and it's after costing me some money but since I've had it back and got a taste of the turbo power in a early light mx5 it's all been worth it, it's very quick up through the gears and savage fun on the road, il get it finished properly hopefully sooner rather then later as i love the car and won't let any more problems or jokes of garages break my balls anymore

Speaking of problems, it's currently in my garage with a suspected leaking oil cooler coolent hose underneath the inlet manifold, I've it half stripped at the moment (the inlet manifold has to come off to get access) so while I've that off I'm going to get it polished along with the rocker cover and turbo, get samco hoses fitted all round, new earths and generally tidy the engine bay. When I started taking everything apart in the engine bay, the cam angle sensor and coil pack were already very loose, were only barely held on, some amount of bolts missing and some very loose there! I don't know much about engines myself but I'd have a go at stuff if I had help, I don't know how garages here can do work like this, charge so much and still have a conscience, noticed my sump has a few small cracks in it too from the welding and drilling (the oil return is also in the wrong spot) and there's some chemical metal around the welds! I've a new sump on the way and I'm going to get a sump guard made up for it too

nice car man and plans are good. some jokers around .
i ove mx5s get dishy wheels tho

toyota mad wrote:nice car man and plans are good. some jokers around .
i ove mx5s get dishy wheels tho

Thanks, ya that was the plan to get some wider wheels, was thinking about a set nice work meisters but at €1300 I don't think I can justify paying that kind of money on wheels after what it's costing me already, might go for these instead, not to everyones taste but abit different and a nice wheel on mx5s

Only looked at the pics, will read it all another time but the car is quality, its a credit to you

Bandit32 wrote:Only looked at the pics, will read it all another time but the car is quality, its a credit to you

Haha, ya theres alot of reading there alright, thanks