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I have owned a silver 1999 NB MX5 for two years. I have gone for some track days with my friends and I think I might be hooked into this stuff.
My car is pretty much stock, I threw in a Torsen, bucket seat and a six point harness to make it more trackable. I also have a DIY splitter in the front (up to firewall) but it is not doing much more than looks nice and catches the oil that is leaking from somewhere. I am running R888Rs currently.
I have some plans for forced induction, Turbo or SC not sure (I had a fixation for a Supercharger because of the sound(my friend has a red NA with JR and ethanol)), but right now I don't think I have enough money or time for any of that yet. I'd rather focus first fixing all the rust issues etc. and make the car reliable before going crazy and spending all my savings.
I made my profile to lurk the forums and maybe ask something in the future.
Welcome to the forum. If you’re planning on the track (as you should), learn from my mistakes (and many others) and use the following order:
- maintenance baseline and cooling. Replace timing belt and water pump, cam and crank seals, and everything in the engine bay that’s made out of rubber. If it’s the original radiator, replace that too. An OEM replacement Koyo off of Amazon is cheap and effective until you get to big power and small lap times. Do a coolant reroute.
- Safety. Install a 4 point roll bar, Hard Dog Hardcore or Blackbird. Read the HPDE safety thread in the racing section; tons of good info in there. In short, you’re currently in no-man’s land from a safety standpoint. Either stay 100% OEM, or go all the way with the racing stuff- FIA seat or aluminum seat with back brace, properly installed 6 point harness, HANS device, possibly aftermarket steering wheel and quick release. This is an expensive rabbit hole, if you’re new to the track I would just keep everything stock for a season or two.
- Wheels and suspension. Biggest improvement you can make for your lap times. 15x8 wheels and 200 treadwear 205 tires are a great all-round solution. With this level of grip you can get away with Bilstein HD shocks and reasonable spring rates, like FM springs.
- After all this, power. I went straight for an M45 supercharger; it was fun for a while, not particularly reliable, worked with the stock clutch, but only because it didn’t add much power. Within a year I sold it off and went turbo. If I could do it over again, I would just use the money and do lots of track days on stock power before going FI. To do all the stuff to get it sorted for the track, it will take a few grand and an entire winter.
My best friends are from Helsinki, and are moving back this summer. It’s a beautiful city.
Welcome to the forum. If you’re planning on the track (as you should), learn from my mistakes (and many others) and use the following order:
- maintenance baseline and cooling. Replace timing belt and water pump, cam and crank seals, and everything in the engine bay that’s made out of rubber. If it’s the original radiator, replace that too. An OEM replacement Koyo off of Amazon is cheap and effective until you get to big power and small lap times. Do a coolant reroute.
- Safety. Install a 4 point roll bar, Hard Dog Hardcore or Blackbird. Read the HPDE safety thread in the racing section; tons of good info in there. In short, you’re currently in no-man’s land from a safety standpoint. Either stay 100% OEM, or go all the way with the racing stuff- FIA seat or aluminum seat with back brace, properly installed 6 point harness, HANS device, possibly aftermarket steering wheel and quick release. This is an expensive rabbit hole, if you’re new to the track I would just keep everything stock for a season or two.
- Wheels and suspension. Biggest improvement you can make for your lap times. 15x8 wheels and 200 treadwear 205 tires are a great all-round solution. With this level of grip you can get away with Bilstein HD shocks and reasonable spring rates, like FM springs.
- After all this, power. I went straight for an M45 supercharger; it was fun for a while, not particularly reliable, worked with the stock clutch, but only because it didn’t add much power. Within a year I sold it off and went turbo. If I could do it over again, I would just use the money and do lots of track days on stock power before going FI. To do all the stuff to get it sorted for the track, it will take a few grand and an entire winter.
My best friends are from Helsinki, and are moving back this summer. It’s a beautiful city.
Hi!
Thanks, all of this is actually very helpful!
I am already planning to maintenance the engine more thoroughly this spring as I have some problems with an odd squeaky noise coming from the engine that started last fall. I took both belts off to see if I have a problem with a pump or belts but no luck. I suspect that my timing belt tensioner etc. might be at the end of its journey. I have driven 2400km (from Switzerland to Finland) in 26 hours with the squeak so I am pretty sure it is not anything lethal that makes the noise. Weirdly enough I have been to the track about 5 to 10 times and I have not yet had any problems with overheating. Even pushing 160km/h average on the autobahn for 1-2hours straight did not show any sings of overheat. Also pushing up and down the Alps had no impact on heat. I am not sure if the previous owners of the car have done something for the radiator, but still a coolant reroute nevertheless sounds like a good idea to keep the engine in good shape. Thankfully I do have a garage with my friends so it is easy to work and maintenance this stuff easily.
You do have a very good point about the safety, cage and a removable steering wheel should probably be the next things to do. But then again cage adds weight
For wheels I have the basic ROTA Grid V 15x8 (or 9 I don't remember) ET25 with 205/50/15 R888R on them. Strangely I have been very comfortable with the stock suspension but I think that soon I should do something about it. At latest when one shock or spring breaks I will upgrade.
I am also originally from Helsinki, but I don't understand why anyone would want to go back to live there if they have managed to escape
02-10-2018, 03:48 AM
De-noobing myself (if it is even possible)
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