91BRG's 91 BRG "91BRG"

[91BRG]

Driving 10 hours to the fan fest in my little NA6 was a bit of challenge. But she didn't miss a beat coming here or going home. Only had one slight problem with the top windscreen rubber seal being crushed by years of the hardtop squishing it, and going down I ran into torrential rain and had a few water droplets leak through this gap. Other than that it was just one damn uncomfortable trip that I'd never like to do again... (a few hours is ok but 10+ was just too much really). Nevertheless I was really proud of my roadster and bonded with it even more after that trip.





The Boxster and NC MX-5 came down with me and had a much more comfortable ride than me lol. We drove down stayed the night and up early the next morning for the event, and drove back the next day. It was a quickie but goodie.

[91BRG]

Interior hasn't changed much. I think the only thing I've added over the period of time is the Jaguar XJ speaker grills and Nardi Tokyo horn button (also removed the hub ring around the horn because of rattling). The interior is just a rabbit hole I don't want to jump into right now so I will save it for later.



To be cont...

[BRGNA8]

About bloody time you updated man! hahaha!

[ScratchNSniff]

Very nice!!!

[— Phatmiata —]

How many mx5 showed up for mx5 fan fest to see all the mx5 at the fan fest ??

[oldgrayleather]

At least if you're only going to post once a year you've made it a good one! Great to see you back.

[Greasemonkey2000]

Great pics, Daniel! Glad to see you are still around!

[91BRG]

How many mx5 showed up for mx5 fan fest to see all the mx5 at the fan fest ??

http://www.motoring.com.au/mazda-mx-...ecords-105585/

Hey Phat, according to this article, 477 MX5's turned up for the event. If you play the video clip, my car can be seen right at the start hehe.

I uploaded some more photos my friend and I took of the MX5 fan fest over in this album:

http://imgur.com/a/x5dBf

[PatrickT]

Love your car, and have to admit that I've been actively searching for a set of BBS Mahles since I saw it

Any update?

[Greasemonkey2000]

Been missing you, Daniel.....

[91BRG]

^Old pics I found when car was stock



I know, I've been really slack with my updates...

The truth is I've barely driven the car over the last 18 months. I did about ~3000kms (around 1900 miles) on it and 60% of that I spent going to the fan fest last year and back.

It was really sitting outside under a car cover being neglected. I let the battery die, engine hadn't been started for months, tires went flat, had to pretty much limp it to the gas station. Boy that was depressing, the car and I were in a sorry state.

Why did I let it get to that point? Many reasons... There must be things wrong in a mans life when he can't even maintain and enjoy his most proudest possession.

I came close to selling it even. Someone offered me a price I was close to accepting. Surprisingly, I thought about it for a long time -

'should I sell it now because I'm not enjoying it?'
'will I regret this like I did the first time?'
'do i really want to leave the british racing green gentlemans club?'

Just some thoughts I entertained in my head...

I already found the car I was going to replace it with. In my head I was thinking, 'yeah I'm going to sell it and buy that'.

In the end it didn't happen of course. I woke up out of a daze and thought 'wow I was actually close to doing something unthinkable'

My friends helped me a lot during this time, and they would not allow the sale of 91BRG either..

....Which brings me to today, sorry for the long and winded story but that's the truth and why I haven't updated for a long time.

Anyway, to reaffirm my commitment to the car, I put on ITBs and an LSD (this month) - and that will be my major update of 2018.

[91BRG]

Ever since the beginning, one of my goals was to always get an ITB setup. I knew this before I bought the car.

I knew this was going to be a long term goal and I broke it down to smaller steps to accumulate parts slowly over time.

Can't tell you how many hours I've spent researching this topic, how many nights I've spent in bed with headphones listening to ITB pulls on youtube before I sleep thinking 'yeah one day my car is gonna sound like that'

Slowly I started accumulating parts whenever they became available on the used market, or when they were for sale new. It started with the AE101 throttle bodies. The manifold for the B6 was harder to find. I would say I collected parts over 2 years as it wasn't a major priority for me. Then a few months ago I looked at ITB parts box and thought, holy shit I'm close I just need a few more inexpensive parts and I'm done.

I was under a lot of peer pressure to just get it fitted and yeah it's true, I was so close already why not just go through with it, yes let's do it.

I gave the box of parts to MX5 Mania to fit and tune, and 8 weeks later it was ready (due to having to wait for a B6T cam cover gasket to become available - the one thing I forgot to order, of course it was).

I did have a few small issues with the cam cover when i picked up the car, the back vent was just dumping so much oil into the catch can, which being an ebay special, leaked. We blocked off the back port for now. The Fab9 cops kit also doesn't seal well and popped out a couple times since. I had this cover lying around for 2 years at least and spent a long time sanding it back by hand, and I was determined to have it on - has to expose the Toda cam gears. It did give me a bit of headache but that's the price you gotta pay to look cool.





Ok so how does it sound?

Because there is no video I'll try to describe it in words, it's like open pod filter noise times by a thousand... ok maybe not that loud. It's like your intake just sucked in cocaine instead of air... it's hard to describe. I have a very quiet exhaust and all I can hear now is the intake sound greatly amplified with different tunes at varying rpms and different songs in each gear. It makes the car sound unique and old... I love it. Not sure if it's the throttle bodies or what, but sometimes it sounds like birds are chirping when its only partially opened, and yes you can drive it very quietly around town if you choose to... but's very difficult not to open up those butterflies and hear them sing.

Ok so how does it drive and perform?

It revs cleaner than before throughout the whole rpm range, mainly the top you can feel slightly more power but it's not a great deal different power wise to my old setup... it's more the response has become super sharp and the engine reacts to the slightest of throttle inputs. I was not expecting much power gain on my old setup and this was true. I'll have to upload my dyno graph but I don't have a before and after ITB to compare it to, but it was roughly 86kw/115hp at the wheels on this dyno. Yes that might seem a bit low but it's pretty much right from what I can compare to (a built B6 engine will get about 95-99rwkw/125-130rwhp on these dynos). My guess my old setup was around +-80rwkw??

Driveability is much easier than before, I think due to a combination of the variable TPS and COPS just make it so much smoother than previously. It's like it has return to stock levels of driveability instead of my old setup which I felt was not as easy to drive at low rpm, on and off throttle, and taking off at lights. The ITB setup actually made my car much easier to live with. This surprised me. I think people could daily this setup easily if they wanted to.

The engine idles between 1050-1100rpm. When you start it cold, you have to jab the gas and hold it for a while otherwise it drops rpm and stalls, its like an old car now hehehehe (love it). My aircon still works but it doesnt change the rpm of the engine because there is no IACV, no issues with it. Fuel economy maybe slightly worse but not by much. I get about 350-400kms (220-250miles) a tank depending on driving conditions.

I plan to change to pod filters once I find the right velocity stack, can anyone help me?

Overall impressions...

Driving Enjoyment AAA+
Power gain C
Driveability, ease of use B
Value for money D-
Face on WOT - PRICELESS

Yes I do recommend to anyone on the fence about it, JUST DO IT


Parts list in next post

[91BRG]

UPDATED MODS LIST 17/9/18


INTAKE / EXHAUST

Toyota AE101 40mm quad throttle bodies
Techno Toy Tuning intake manifold
Techno Toy Tuning 45mm velocity stacks
Unifilters ITB socks
Thermatec heatshield intake gasket
Mazdaspeed 4-1 exhaust manifold w/ heatshield (s/s)
Mazdaspeed 2” sports muffler (s/s)
Magnaflow 2” high flow cat (s/s)
Custom 2” straight midpipe (mild)

ENGINE / ECU

Adaptronic E420C ecu
Toyota variable throttle position sensor
Innovate MTX-L wideband sensor
Delco MAP sensor
Fab9 COPS kit
Mazda B6T cam cover
Toda adjustable cam gears
Mazdaspeed competition engine mounts
NGK iridium spark plugs
OBX fuel rail
Tomei adjustable fuel pressure regulator
Toyota 3SGE fuel injectors
Vacuum block (6 port)
Oil catch can
40mm aluminium radiator
Beatrush radiator cooling panel
Mazdaspeed high pressure radiator cap (1.3bar)
MX5 Mania silicone radiator & heater hoses
Suzuki Capuccino slim washer bottle retrofitted
Retromodern billet oil cap

GEARBOX / DIFFERENTIAL / BRAKES

NB8A 5sp gearbox
Exedy 1.6L clutch
JUN lightweight flywheel (4.6kg)
Nielex short shifter
Goodridge s/s braided clutch line
Goodridge s/s braided brake lines
Brembo oem discs (front+rear)
Brembo brake pads (front+rear)
NA6 Differential w/ 4.3 Final drive
Kaaz 1.5 way LSD

CHASSIS / SUSPENSION

Beatrush front tower brace
Beatrush mid tower brace
Beatrush rear tower brace
Carbing 4pt roll bar 40mm steel
Garagestar delrin door bushes
Jass Performance hardtop brackets (top & side)
Racing Beat adjustable swaybar endlinks
TEIN Monosport coilovers (F:10kg/R:8kg)

WHEEL / TIRE

BBS Mahle wheels 14x6.0 +13 (custom silver)
BBS Black centre caps
BBS Black wheel nuts
BBS Mazda OEM valve stems
Yokohama C.Drive 2 tires 185/60/14

EXTERIOR

Robbins light tan cloth soft top w/ demister lines
Hardtop (non demister/lining type)
2-piece rear mudguards
Replica OEM front lip
Zoom Engineering classic fuel lid
Zoom Engineering classic side indicators
Runabout M2 style side mirrors
Classic style chrome washer jets
Eunos fog lights
Raybrig crystal headlights
EUDM style indicators in reflectors mod
Centre license plate bracket

INTERIOR

Nardi Tokyo horn button
Polished steering wheel hub bolts
V-Special Nardi classic wood steering wheel 350mm
V-Special Nardi wood handbrake handle
Eunos storage compartment
Eunos sports pedal set
Eunos fog light switch
Eunos 180km cluster
Mazda 5sp shift pattern sticker
Mazda chrome handbrake button
Mazda 'MX5' stainless scuff plates
Mazda gauge hood (matte type)
Top Gaiters leather gearboot
Top Gaiters leather handbrake boot
Joyfast super short shift knob (330g)
Custom made leather/suede door strap pulls
Zoom Engineering door pocket (passenger side)
KG Works vintage rear vision mirror
Nakamae cup holder
Nakamae seat belt pads
Nakamae storage bag
Revlimiter vent rings
Knobmeister visor plugs
Cocomats sisal floormats
VDO analogue clock
VDO volt gauge
Omori vacuum gauge
DDM Works radio & triple gauge panel
Innovate A/FR gauge (in glovebox)
Woodgrain plastidipped cigarette lighter
OEM Jaguar XJ chrome speaker grille covers retrofitted

AUDIO

Nakamichi CD45Z headunit
Morel Virtus 602 6” component speakers
Polk Audio DB351 3.5” headrest speakers
Foam speaker baffles
Sound deadening in doors

MISC

No power steering
No ABS
Power windows
Airconditioning
Mazda fitted central locking + immobiliser

[oldgrayleather]

Welcome back Daniel! So glad you and your friends talked you out of parting with your BRG and to combine that news with ITB's is perfect!!

[91BRG]

A couple years ago my friend and I got this NA6 from auction, it had been written off due to a slashed soft top and water leaking inside.

It had very low mileage about 120k kms (75k miles) and was stock std. In my eyes it was worth saving to pass to a new owner who would enjoy it, so we decided to buy it and fix it up in our spare time.

It was in a pitiful state, but using a lot of oem spare parts that were taken off my car, we managed to fix her up good.

The car got The Works. Replaced all fluids, filters, belts, spark plugs and leads, replaced the brakes, brand new pirelli tires with dialled in alignment, brand new side mirrors, stainless scuff plates, new speakers and headunit, new idle control valve, new shifter insulation, full interior and exterior detail, you name it. Whatever we could fix for the next owner we did it.

I took off the old frame (which now lives in my car) and broken soft top, gave it my pristine black soft top and frame that I wasn't using and was already removed from my car. I accidently broke the dipstick on the red one so I took out my good one and swapped it over. The broken one now lives in my engine bay. It was missing the spare wheel and toolkit so I put my ones in there.

I drove it around for some time while my car was off the road having the rear end repainted due to someone hitting me from behind, it was very rewarding seeing the hard work pay off, the car drove immensely well.

It didn't take long to sell either. Check out what it was like after:






















We did sell it to a good owner though, he did some mods of his own and took it to the track, he was a real driver and it went to a good home.

I think he ended up selling it on again for a higher price than what he paid for it NA6 prices are rising these days. The end.