Zed's supercharged BRG 97

[Zed CZ]

Finally I'm starting my build thread here...

As for the introduction:
I'm from Czech and it all started in Germany where I've found my beauty. It's been three years now and each year was quite an evolution. Mia is not my daily, I bought her for driving, enjoying and trackdaying mostly.. and because of salty roads in the winter she's only a "part of the year" car.

Now something about her:
She's 1997 1,8l BRG NA with tan roof and seats.
When I bought her, it was pretty stock except set of TA Technix coilovers (if they can be called coilovers...) and 16in BBS wheels.

01.jpg

02.jpg

021.jpg


For the first year my plan was get to know each other, drive around, enjoy our countryside with shitty roads and do a few minor changes..

03.jpg

031.jpg

04.jpg

05.jpg


I knew that these BBS wheels were too big for my miata taste, so I went for a set of OEM 14in 7-spokes. I didn't want the green stripe, but I'm lazy as hell and the stripe is still there

08.jpg

06.jpg


Also the steering wheel wasn't my taste, too big, no room for knees, so the choice was this nice simple OMP. It's closer to me and I'm able to do heel'n'toe as a monkey.

07.jpg


And that's quite all for the first season.. We did well, around 7k kilometers of happiness.

Will try to type the rest asap, so more to come soon

[Zed CZ]

So here comes the second season..

I've started with a plan to visit at least few trackdays this year, with this in mind I had to do some upgrades and classical maintanance.
For oils I prefer Valvoline, so all from this brand and for the engine 10W-60 specification and it did it's job with lifters, from this change they went to the quite mode.

First was LSD, Mia had open dif so I bought almost new one from Japan, nice little package with Torsen T2 from NB. How noticable change!

10-0.JPG

10-1.jpg

10-3.jpg

10-2.jpg


Then there were brakes, nothing big for the start, just the brake pads from EBC, the Yellow stuffs and again pretty satisfied with them.
New ignition cables from IL and when I was under the bonnet I took out the charcoal can.

11-0.jpg

11-1.jpg


And there was a well prized group buy for XXR wheels where I fell in love with 513's and in case of rubber I chose Yoko AD08.

12-0.jpg

12-1.jpg

12-2.jpg

[Zed CZ]

I met one friend with a camera and made these

13-1.jpg

13-2.jpg

13-3.jpg

13-4.jpg


But I like this one the most, it's by me with a phone camera lol

13-5.jpg

[—tsingson—]

Car looks great. Love the wheel choice!

[Zed CZ]

...and then there was our first trackday, on Easter at one kart track called Vysoke Myto and it was the Day where I totally fell in love with the car and tracking as well. I did about hundred laps that day and she was able to do more, much more, but I was pretty done after all

14-0.jpg

14-1.jpg

14-2.jpg

14-3.jpg


Some onboards for better imagination of the track and how we did:






and this was just the beginning...

[WASABI]

Nice pictures, and video. Looks like you had a perfect day out there on the track. It's a small track.

[Zed CZ]

Wasabi: thx for the edit of YT, now I know how to do it ;)
And about the track, yes it's small indeed, but here in Czech we don't have many choices for driving on tracks. There is this little track and another two about the same size used mostly for kart racing, so they are much cheaper to rent for a group than two classic big circuits here. But it's different story, which will come here shortly.

[Zed CZ]

In this season I didn't drive that much as in the first one, but it was more about enjoying each road and using as much trackday opportunities as I was able to do.

These two pictures are good contrast for the following...
15-0.jpg

15-1.jpg


...because the next step was to try local Miatacup series, where are only MX5s sorted in classes by displacement and it's good starting point for comparing yourself with another drivers. There are some good drivers to learn from and as are newbies like me to have a chance to drive and get better. This cup is the cheapest way here of trackday driving, actually it's not the real racing, because of the small kart tracks, trainings are all together, but the "race" is kept closed for only one car so it's more like a time attack for three laps total.

On mine first Miatacup (3rd out of 4 in the season) participation I was 10th out of 18 MX5s and it was again at Vysoke Myto.

15-2.jpg


In my second event (4th of 4) also at Myto I was running some old, near death, 14in slicks, but it didn't help much, at least I had a chance to try slicks for my first time. I was again 10th from 23, so not that bad between those much experienced, better prepared guys and with better cars (supercharged, lightweight etc).
Here is footage of the race (one warm up lap, standing start and three laps) with cold slicks in the first lap:




and some photos from that day...it was on my birthday and it was great day at all, pretty good atmosphere which makes it even cooler

16-0.jpg

16-1.jpg

and one from highway on the way back, where I was thinking about "what to do better and what next..."
16-2.jpg

[Zed CZ]

Everytime when I was thinking about increasing power output, my thoughts went for the N/A way. Mainly because of the response, linear characteristic which suits miata the best and because I like it the most. But if it would be F/I, supercharger was working for me too... and there it was, right with the first day of fall one local guy was selling his used M45 kit from Moss right for my 1,8 NA with Powercard and luckily I did manage to get it, it really was a bargain!

From that time everything has changed for me, mostly because this stuff is pretty rare here and even rarely for sale, it's like winning in a lottery.

So, as preparation before installing the kit I wanted to know more about my engine condition, which seemed ok, but just for sure. Compression test was around 149psi for all valves and dyno showed 125hp, I was pretty happy with that and could continue.

Firstly before putting in my little blower I had to solve broken SC bracket, which was cracked..common problem as I've found.

17-00.jpg

17-0.jpg


Then I've started with the installation and finally used my little garage for something more complicated than for just parking and common easy jobs as an oil change is. With the manual it was pretty straighforward job and after few hours the job was done, as on the picture.

17-1.jpg


Woohoo, everything was ok and running perfectly and WHAT A CHANGE was that! First thoughts were that miata had to have this right from the factory..I know, mostly all of you knew that years ago, but I was like a kid with a new toy, smiling even more from now on, the whine noise is pretty addictive

I made one video from that time, driving through the Czech countryside on our destroyed roads and just "whinning around" for fun..




Sadly, the second season came to its end, winter was behind the doors and I had to say something like "not bad, but I want more, so see you in 2013!". In numbers it was around 7k kilometers, 3 trackdays with miata and thousands of smiles 8)
There is the last shot from 2012, alongside my daily.

18-0.jpg


Season 2013 will follow soon.. when good gets better.

[Zed CZ]

First thing for another season was cooling, I was boiling even without the supercharger in the summer and had to solve it so bought an alu radiator from IL and cooler thermostat.
Leaking valve cover needed new sealing and when the cover was down I made some work on it to have it closer my taste.

19-0.jpg


and all inside, the radiator and valve cover

19-1.jpg

19-2.jpg


Next thing was longly awaited by me, I suppose you know Garage5, local Czech MX5 enthusiasts, they've made finally first few pieces of their rollbar and I couldn't resist from buying one because I heavily wanted a rollbar.. First trip of the year was right at George's and we've done the job, I was really happy with the result, not just because of the visual but mainly because of the newly added stiffness.

George is really living in a nice place...

20-0.jpg

20-1.jpg

20-2.jpg

20-3.jpg

20-4.jpg


And then in some free time I put on rspeed oem lip, finally, I love it

21-0.jpg

21-1.jpg

[BoBo]

What a fun run at the track. Nice roll bar, it looks like an m1 hardcore w/2 diagonals, I'm looking to buy one as well. I have a 2 dimensional basic hoop bar, but the 6 point should further stiffen the car.

[Zed CZ]

Also I was on dyno at that time. I wanted to know the difference between N/A and SC so I was there actually just before installing SC and after.

N/A: 125hp and 138NM

SC: 162hp and 167Nm

Both runs in one graph, thin red lines are N/A and thick red lines are SC

22-0.jpg


and video from dyno with SC

[Zed CZ]

BoBo: yeah, it's quite similiar to the Harddog bar, but shipping of HD to the Czech is more expensive than the rollbar itself so I'm glad for this one custom made by Garage5. I think it's closer to the M2 bar and right after installing I was thinking about better front sway bar because of the new rear stiffness, it really is noticable.

[Zed CZ]

First trackday in 2013 was at Sosnova, quite the same sized track as Vysoke Myto but with pretty rough tarmac, with this in mind I didn't want to destroy my new slicks so I went there on 14" Falkens. Mostly I wanted to test the car and just have fun..and it was

my style of carrying the wheels, at least no shotgun weight possible
23-0.jpg

23-1.jpg

23-2.jpg

23-3.jpg

and this is the result of rough tarmac...
23-4.jpg


There is a video from some runs



(this trackday was just before the lip..)

[Zed CZ]

My main aim for season 2013 was to do all local Miatacup races for which I've bought a set of like-new slicks from Dunlop on 15" oem NB wheels. I wasn't expecting any big succes, my category is called "unlimited", where are all kinds of MX5's, from very lightweight track only ones to supercharged/turbocharged and mostly all on slicks.

First race was at Sosnova and I have to say it was a real difference on those slicks, they were absolutely great and compared to my few weeks ago visit on Falkens the grip and overall behaviour was just amazing.
With this in mind I felt quite competitive and hoped for a good result.
Finally it was a first place for me and first 4 drivers were in 0,29s, what a start .

Few pictures
24-0.jpg

24-1.jpg


and onboard from the race itself