Which MX5 should I buy?

[adam1001]

First post... and the start of my project.

I'm currently looking for a donor MX-5, but having read through the forum I'm still not very clear which is the best donor car to go for. I have a budget of up to 2K but if it makes more sense to spend £500 on a Mk1 then I'm very happy to save myself £1,000 odd (assuming I might make £500 extra on spares from a more expensive car).

Considerations:

• Mk1, 2, or 2.5?
  
• 1.6 or 1.8?
  
• PAS or no PAS. As I understand, the Exocet doesn't need it. Some MX5s (Mk1s only?) come without PAS - is this the ideal choice or is a car with a PAS rack just as good?
  
• What extras should I go for? Is an LSD essential? Would an Anniversary be a good choice as it's 6-speed? Should I go for coilovers if possible?
  
• I guess condition-wise it's better to go for a reasonably good car, as although it's more expensive, there will be less work involved in restoring it for the kit?
  
• Anything else I've completely overlooked?

Final question - if a car's been written off, does this remain on record post-IVA or is the car given a clean bill of health? Should write-offs be avoided or not necessarily?

I'd be extremely grateful for any answers to these questions based on your experience.

Adam

[lad]

Hi Adam.

I can put the 6 speed question to bed straight away. We looked into it and found those cars are slower 0-60 plus the box is heavier. They're great for top speed and economy - neither of which you'd be bothered about on the Exocet.

I bet if you bought an anniversary you'd make a pretty penny selling the bits then just buy a cheap 5 speed box afterwards.

Lad

[rharris19]

Oct 7, 2011 10:21:02 GMT adam1001 said:

First post... and the start of my project.

I'm currently looking for a donor MX-5, but having read through the forum I'm still not very clear which is the best donor car to go for. I have a budget of up to 2K but if it makes more sense to spend £500 on a Mk1 then I'm very happy to save myself £1,000 odd (assuming I might make £500 extra on spares from a more expensive car).

Considerations:

• Mk1, 2, or 2.5?
  
• 1.6 or 1.8?
  
• PAS or no PAS. As I understand, the Exocet doesn't need it. Some MX5s (Mk1s only?) come without PAS - is this the ideal choice or is a car with a PAS rack just as good?
  
• What extras should I go for? Is an LSD essential? Would an Anniversary be a good choice as it's 6-speed? Should I go for coilovers if possible?
  
• I guess condition-wise it's better to go for a reasonably good car, as although it's more expensive, there will be less work involved in restoring it for the kit?
  
• Anything else I've completely overlooked?

Final question - if a car's been written off, does this remain on record post-IVA or is the car given a clean bill of health? Should write-offs be avoided or not necessarily?

I'd be extremely grateful for any answers to these questions based on your experience.

Adam

Which model to get depends on how much you are looking to spend and what you plan on doing to the car later. if you are staying N/A, then I would look to get a MK2.5 if it is within the budget as it has a significant amount more power than the MK1 1.6l. The VVT motors tend to give you a much flatter and all around better torgue line.

If you want to turbo the car, then it is better to get an earlier 1.6 or 1.8 as aftermarket turbo manifolds/downpipes and ecus are more readily available. At that point you can get away with a less powerful base and make up for it with the solution to all life's problems which is "More Boost".

it doesn't matter if you get a car with power steering or not unless you want to have it. By that I mean you can simply depower the oem rack and you will actually be left with a quicker ratio rack than the manual steering one. They sell kits to be able to plug all the holes in the rack by removing the power steering lines.

Others may feel differently, but I wouldn't build one of these cars without having a LSD. That being said, if you do want a LSD, understand that the 90-93 models come with a Viscous LSD, which is inferior to the later Torsen LSD found in the 94-05 cars.

For the transmission, in my opinion, the 5 speed from these cars feels 10 times better that the 6 speed does. The 5 speed goes through the gears like butter and the 6speed feel like it has very narrow gates. The 6speed can handle more power, but the 5 speed can handle up to 225hp if you don't beat the tar out of it. In a car significantly lighter, I would think it would take even more. The way most people look at the 6speed in the miata world is that if you don't need it, then don't put one in.

If you don't go with some sort of coil over system, then your exocet will sit very high. I see a lot of people on here using Raceland Coilovers, but another I would suggest is V-Maxx from Flyinmiata.com. A complete drop in kit is $695 for one with the newer style top hats, which you will want for increased travel. If you are looking for the best coilover look at 949racing.com and look into the various XIDA systems made by AST. I will be putting eith V-Maxx or Xida Club Sports on my car when I build it.

I would spend a little more on a car that is in great mechanical shape and won't need much to be refurbished as it will save you time and headaches down the road. Plus it will very well likely be cheaper once everything is fixed that was wrong with the cheaper one to begin with.


Hope this helps. I have been around these cars a lot and have torn down more than I know. I also build and race track miatas, so I have seen and driven pretty much every combination of suspension/engine combination out there.

[adam1001]

Fantastic advice, many thanks. Impatience got the better of me and I ended up with this car.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260867025262?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_1035wt_1163

It has quite a few goodies on it, the engine bay is very clean (unlike the rest of the car) and I won't have a bad conscience for breaking a nice car! It's actually the first MX-5 I've driven and I was blown away by how good it is. It had its last drive last night (the MOT ran out this weekend conveniently) and stripping will begin as soon as I'm back from the half term break in two weeks.

Further to what you said about turbocharging I think I'll build the car as is, then consider the option of adding a turbo later on. I assume this wouldn't be prohibitively difficult when compared to adding the turbo during the build?

Thanks again for the advice - it's a completely new field for me, and although I haven't ended up following all of it things are becoming rapidly clearer as I progress, and I don't think I've gone too far wrong!