TarkMalbot

Clamps onto the intake pipe and sits just behind the grille and lower splitter hopefully sucking in all the cold are as i'm zoomig along (as well as conducting heat from the engine bay through the metal pipes but lets not go into that!!) Fitted the bumper back on (after installing the fog lights) and job was done. Took about 2 hours in total to fit. Went for a spin yesterday evening and the extra midrange pull is good but the top end power increase of 6bhp doesn't really come into play as its between 6.5K and 7K rpm which to be honest I never really use. I did take it all the way to over 7 last night to see what happened and the car was still pullig strong and seemed to rev much easier. The noise increase was minimal and couldn't be noticed ove rhte exaust tone. When I stuck my head behind at the front of the grille I could hear it a little though but this was only on tick over. Made me smile anyway. LOL. Only problem I can think of is water getting in the intake if I go through deep puddles or something. Also it look s alittle difficult to get the filter off when it needs cleaning or replacing. I will be able to get at it by removing the grille but I haven't looked into how to do this. I think I will be able to get access by removing the lower fixings of the bumper and getting my hand in there. I think when it starts looking a bit contaminated with flys and leaves and stuff I will turn it round 180 degrees first. And it shouldn't be too bad as it doesn't require oil and only needs washing every 50,000 miles. Or maybe thats km but either way I dont need to worry about it for a while. And i'm not going to be removing it for the service either! If I need a warrenty claim on the engine then the original might go back on!

I got my Fujita intake a few days ago. Less than a weeks delivery from US. Got it for a total of £160 including UPS shipping and £30 import tax. I was happy enough with that seeming as the AEM (Mazdaspeed) intake is £255 from Mx5parts.co.uk or £225 from mx5mad.com. Very impressed with the quality of the tubing, hoses, machined fittings etc etc. For more information visit: http://www.f5air.com/features.html And the free Nos enegry drink helped me along too! lol After reading through the installation notes I found instruction one rather amusing. 1. Take off bumper. Good job I was installing the fog lights at the same time and these has instructions of how to remove the bumper. Was much easier than I first thought. If anyone is thinking of doing it then drop me a PM and I will be more than happy to guide you through it. Hardest part is getting your had and tool inside the wheel arche to get two nuts off. You could take the wheel off and the arche liner but I couldn't be bothered with that. I would have had the wheels off anyway to fit my new ones but thats a different story! After removing the bumper it looked like this: Then I removed the original air intake hose, air box and intake pipe. The MAF and Crank case breather has to be disconnected too and left n the engine bay for now. After the original parts are removed a plastic sill has to be removed from under where the original intake pipe lies. To do this you need to remove the headlights from both sides. I didn't remove them completely. I held it in my hand whilst still connected to the electrics and just removed the pop off fastener that was under the headlight. The headlights can then be loosely secured back on. After the sill is removed you need to cut away the passenger side section to allow access for the new intake to go behind the grill. The sill was then replaced, fastereners put back on and the headlights secured. The new intake pipes were loosly fitted, Breather and MAF connected back up. After it was all lined up I tightened all the clamps. Lastly was the fit the Filter on the end. This is an impressie looking thing! ts about the size of my head! lol

Few pictures of the finished installation:

Well I got the Momo Corse wheels and they weigh 18.1Kg with 215 tyres on a 17" rim. The originals weigh 16.1Kg with 205 on a 16" rim. GUess that means I have added 8Kg to the car but I don't care cos it looks the dog b*llocks and has less tyre roll and more grip.

Is that 12-14Kg for just the rim or the rim and tyre?

I have just ordered a set of MOMO Corse. These are said to be light weight at 8Kg each but that doesn't mean much to me when I have no idea of how much a normal wheel weights? They will come fitted with Toyo Proxes TS-1. Will this set up be lighter than the Mazda wheels with Yoko tyres?

FFS. I didn't spend £300 to let someone else do it just so I have to go through and do most of the job again. LOL Is all this covered in what you do to set up the Geo?

Does this also apply to the rear suspension too?

Well knowing my Mazda Dealer they WILL have done that error! I will give them a looking at when I get home. Jack the car up slacken the A frame off a little, drop the car back down and then tighten them back up??

I heard something else about the NC spring change too. In a reply to someone else asking if their NC didn't look as low as it should: "Did you tighten the front A-arms with the car on the ground, or in the air? If you did it in the air, then the front will be too high. To fix, you need to loosen the A-arm bolts, put the car on the ground, drive a few feet to let things settle, crank the wheel to one side, tighten the bolts you can reach, crank the wheel to the other side and tighten the remaining bolts. I bet this will fix your problem and I bet your mechanic tightened things up in the air." Does this mean anything to you? PS. I have only driven a mile or so with the new springs before coming back offshore so I will give it a good blast next time home and still trying to fix a few days when I can get down to your area.

Well we now know the answer to that... THe Exhaust is on though! Looks and sounds great! Very impressed with it! Only been to the shop and back in it though but now I am away working for 2 weeks! Looking forward to giving it a blast and taking a few pictures and sound clips.

Well thanks for trying. Looks like I will have to put up with it or pay someone to "Finish" the job off. Won't be taking it back to Mazda though! And i'm even more glad I didn't put any fuel back in the loan car now. lol. Thanks again. Tark.

Well I have just got back from the Mazda garage... Firstly they don't know how to spell Geometry never mind what it is or how to set it.. I did ask before dropping the car off if the service included set-up and they ensured it would all be fine. They told me it would be ready in 3 to 4 hours. I took it in at 8:30 so at 13:00 I called to see if it was ready (wanted it back to fit my exhaust). It wasn't ready and had to wait till 4pm before they called to say I could come and pick it up.. So 7 1/2 hours after dropping it off and the car had 4 mor emiles on the clock. I know they needed to test it but do they really need to do 4 miles? When I asked about the geometry the guy at the desk didn't have a clue so asked for the mechanic to speak to me. He says that was a simple job of taking the shocks off, swapping springs and that there was no need to set anything up as it was not adjusted during the change.. I tried to explain but I think his mind was on Bannanas or something. Are you still willing to phone them up and exaplain so maybe they will pay to get it looked at? I didn't have the knowledge to argure too much. I wasn't best pleased but handed over the £300 anyway. I measured up and it went from 67cm to 63.5cm from the floor to highest point on the wheel arch. So at least it is 35mm lower. I had to ask for the original springs back too! I don't need them but that wasn't the point. I might want it back one day or at least have the option too when I come to sell. The only other point was the car had been washed. Not sure if I was happy about this or not. I paid over £80 in cleaning products to polish the swirl marks out left by them when I picked it up from new and to protect and wax my car properly and then they will probably have just washed it with "Wash N Wax" with a dirty sponge.. I will have to inspect in day light. On the plus side the car does look clean. I was impressed by the road holding on the way home but its only about a mile of motorway so couldn't tell much. The noise and ride were the main things worrying me before but I havn't noticed any difference between before and after so that's good news. There is less body roll and the car looks much better! £300 well spent? Not sure but don't really care. Its done now and I have a Mazda stamp on the Invoice so there can't be any grumbles regarding warranty in the future. I might have a go at fitting my exhaust later on the drive in the dark. Or might leave it till Wednesday as I'm away tomorrow.

Fitting it this afternoon when the car comes back from Mazda 30mm lower....

Ordered it now! I got the Twin box with the Y piece splitter. Just to be different and cos I could.

Dont know. It just looks like the Y piece would offer better flow and at the end of the day even the single box option still has to have some way of splitting the gas into two just is contained within the single silencer so more likely to be a tighter angle. IL Motorsport dont offer a Mid Pipe or CAT for my car. The only seem to advertise the Headers and Back box.

Both exhausts are simply plug and play with the original mid pipe so its just to decide what looks best, sounds best, weighs less with best power gains. As far as direction changes; you cant see what happens inside the single box. It could just bge a T piece inside the silencer but the twin box has a nice Y piece which is why I guess they call that the "race tested" option. Just on looks alone I like the end tips of the IL and the sound clip online sounds pretty good. Don't know how light it is over stock but not that bothered anyway and the Roadster sport is only 3Kg lighter than stock and I dont like the end tips on it. So I am going for the Twin exit IL Motorsport back box and now all I need to decide is if the Twin box gives better flow and power and worth the extra £50??

So that and its £50 notes more means go for the single box then. So should I go for the Good-win-Racing or the IL motorsport? I hate having to make a choice! lol

Well that wont fit the Mk3 though. That exhaust on the pic look like the same end tips as the roadster sport II by Good Win Racing: I see what your saying about the twin box being restricted but that's meant to be the racing version?

I have been looking for a while and can only go off reviews and pictures as sound clips online vary soo much and I haven't been able to see any in person. I have kind of decided one of these two. Which do you think would be best? for £360 or for 410 Second is classed as the "Race" version so not sure if it will be louder, lighter, more power or not. Is it worth the extra £50??

No they didn't tell me that. I will do though and I think I read that on MX-5.com in a post I started a few days back. In fact it was someone quoting you. lol. I am pretty sure they will just swap the springs and not do anything with geometry but I can only wait and see.

Just spoke to Mazda and... My Car is booked in for the lowering kit on Monday 14th Jan the day after I come home from Ski-ing. Cost is £300 and it takes about 3-4 hours according to their system. When asked if that included after fitting set-up of the chassis and geometry and the guy on the phone said "Sorry I dont understand what you mean. We have never fitted one of these kits before". I was a little worried at this point so explained why it is needed after changing suspension compartments and he said he is sure that will be included. To make sure it is I said I would want the results to show it had been done. Also getting a courtesy car for the day included in the price. A few more pennies than I originally wanted to spend but at least if they mess up I can complain, the warranty is still valid and I will have a Mazda invoice for future ref when I come to sell on. I will take some before and after pics and measurements and the setup results. If you think they are not right I will be requesting they get it done properly. And hopefully there will be no scuffs on the wheels, rounded bolts, scratched paintwork etc etc....

Sounds good to me. Thanks.

I have the 16" 5 spokes on my car but Mazda wanted £800+ to upgrade to the 17"s so I didn't bother. I would rather keep the standard wheels as spares and treat myself to an aftermarket set of 17"s. I have seen a lot of wheels for about the £500 mark. I know these are crap tyres so I would upgrade these to better ones but as far as the wheels go what should I get? I have seen some Wolfrace and BSA wheels that I like the look of. What is the weight difference going to be between the Mazda 17"s and these aftermarket ones? Also does anyone know what manufactures make wheels that are available for my car. 5 stud, 114 Pitch and ET 55 (I think). How much can I change the ET withouth changing the handling or geometry too much? Thanks, Mark.

I have a few T4 RK plates. T4 RKO on the Van. T4 RKD on the car (when I get the V5 back) and looking at T4 RKV on the Bike. Obviously nicknameis TARK. M4RK was a little more expensive (about £75,000 more!!) I was looking at MY06 RSV (06 RSVR) but its £750!!