Lightyear Carbon fibre fastback street/track car
10-13-2017, 04:47 AM
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Lightyear Carbon fibre fastback street/track car
Hi, I thought I might start doing a build thread on my Black 2001 MX5. I bought it pretty much stock a few months ago. It was cheap, very cheap. It did have issues, like it hardly ran, and it had a very loud clunk noise from underneath. Body is a little rough, but overall not a bad car.
First thing I did was find the clunk sound, turns out it was the front Uni joint. So I replaced the whole tailshaft, and no more clunk. The next job was to see why it would hardly run. I cleaned all the leads and coil packs as they had a lot of oxidation, installed new plugs, and it ran perfect. Sometimes you get lucky.
I only had it for a few days when I was invited to a track day, so I quickly prepped the car with new brake pads, discs, braided lines, wheels and tyres, steering wheel and seat. I also had a carbon fibre hardtop lying around that I made a few weeks earlier. So I threw that on and removed the soft top.
It had some old coilovers already in it, but still had the open 3.6 diff. So with "new" 7 year old R specs and an open diff, I had little hope of a quick lap time. But it managed to do a sub 2:00 minute lap time at Phillip Island. I was happy enough with that. My best is a 1:50 with Oem N/A 1.8 motor aero, weight loss, etc, etc.
I just dropped it off to get a half cage welded in, and should get it back early next week. Seeing as it is going to be a permanent Lightyear fastback MX5, I had to take the car with the roof on so he can build the cage to suit. These fastbacks should be available to buy in a couple of months. New moulds are being made at the end of the month. But I won't be here as I am going to Sema. When I get back I will continue with them.
I will be making carbon fibre doors, hood, roof, trunk, etc for this car. And use it for car shows, track days, etc. It will get a little IHI mazdaspeed turbo kit. I have it lying around, so may as well use it. Along with an MS3.
Here is a video of a pre production fastback.
and another..
First thing I did was find the clunk sound, turns out it was the front Uni joint. So I replaced the whole tailshaft, and no more clunk. The next job was to see why it would hardly run. I cleaned all the leads and coil packs as they had a lot of oxidation, installed new plugs, and it ran perfect. Sometimes you get lucky.
I only had it for a few days when I was invited to a track day, so I quickly prepped the car with new brake pads, discs, braided lines, wheels and tyres, steering wheel and seat. I also had a carbon fibre hardtop lying around that I made a few weeks earlier. So I threw that on and removed the soft top.
It had some old coilovers already in it, but still had the open 3.6 diff. So with "new" 7 year old R specs and an open diff, I had little hope of a quick lap time. But it managed to do a sub 2:00 minute lap time at Phillip Island. I was happy enough with that. My best is a 1:50 with Oem N/A 1.8 motor aero, weight loss, etc, etc.
I just dropped it off to get a half cage welded in, and should get it back early next week. Seeing as it is going to be a permanent Lightyear fastback MX5, I had to take the car with the roof on so he can build the cage to suit. These fastbacks should be available to buy in a couple of months. New moulds are being made at the end of the month. But I won't be here as I am going to Sema. When I get back I will continue with them.
I will be making carbon fibre doors, hood, roof, trunk, etc for this car. And use it for car shows, track days, etc. It will get a little IHI mazdaspeed turbo kit. I have it lying around, so may as well use it. Along with an MS3.
Here is a video of a pre production fastback.
Last edited by lightyear; 10-13-2017 at 03:56 PM.
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10-15-2017, 04:34 PM
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The sump is getting drilled and tapped for the oil return line today. ��
I have everything here to turbo it. And would expect to have it done in half a day drive in NA, drive out with double the HP.
I have everything here to turbo it. And would expect to have it done in half a day drive in NA, drive out with double the HP.
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10-16-2017, 06:56 AM
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I will be keeping the price as low as I possibly can. Seeing as it's a roof, trunk, hinges, brackets, Windows, rubbers, etc,etc. it all adds up unfortunately. It should still come in under $2000. When I get back from California, the new moulds will be made, and a fastback will be waiting for me to pick up.
Today my 7 year old helped me remove the Mazdaspeed gear I had on another car. So when it gets back from the shop that's doing the half cage, I will get stuck into swapping all the turbo gear in. Should only take a couple of nights.
Today my 7 year old helped me remove the Mazdaspeed gear I had on another car. So when it gets back from the shop that's doing the half cage, I will get stuck into swapping all the turbo gear in. Should only take a couple of nights.
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10-22-2017, 07:17 AM
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I am working with a large fibreglass manufacturing shop so I can make more than I could if it was just me. When I get back from the states the guys will have the moulds made. It will still take a couple of weeks to do final checks and pieces made. So it will all be made local, and I have had custom shipping boxes made so I can ship worldwide.
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12-06-2017, 09:25 PM
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I have taken this car to the track a couple of times. It won't be going again without a turbo. It's so slooooowwww. There has been a big delay with the fastbacks, but the guys said I should have one this year. I need to get the A/C re-gassed, it's hot inside a black car now that summer is here.
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12-20-2017, 05:01 AM
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I got a start on doing the Mazdaspeed turbo conversion. It took me a couple of hours just to take off the original exhaust. Next time I will use penetrating spray on the exhaust nuts and bolts..
Thanks to the Beavis at Beavis Motorsport, I now have a supply of all the bits to replace the timing belt, water pump and seals.
I managed to strip the motor, replace the water pump, crank seal, cam seals, etc. And lucky I decided to do the engine mount as it has completely failed. Cleaned the motor as it was grubby as, washed and painted the rocker cover in wrinkle red to give it an Oem SE look. Still need to reassemble the front of the engine, instal the timing belt, set the timing, etc. Then work out what to do with the water inlet housing.. And after all that, get back to what I was originally doing - throw the turbo on it. :/
should have the turbo and exhaust on with another 3-4 hours work. And hopefully have it running on the MS3.
Factory look wrinkle red rocker cover.
RX8 injectors
Thanks to the Beavis at Beavis Motorsport, I now have a supply of all the bits to replace the timing belt, water pump and seals.
I managed to strip the motor, replace the water pump, crank seal, cam seals, etc. And lucky I decided to do the engine mount as it has completely failed. Cleaned the motor as it was grubby as, washed and painted the rocker cover in wrinkle red to give it an Oem SE look. Still need to reassemble the front of the engine, instal the timing belt, set the timing, etc. Then work out what to do with the water inlet housing.. And after all that, get back to what I was originally doing - throw the turbo on it. :/
should have the turbo and exhaust on with another 3-4 hours work. And hopefully have it running on the MS3.
Factory look wrinkle red rocker cover.
RX8 injectors
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