Project Greenmeanie.

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It was summer 2002 and I was looking for a new project - having modded just about every car I'd ever owned I wanted something different to the usual Ford, Vauxhall, V.W. etc. I had always fancied a  rag top sports car but which one? I had a vision of what I wanted to achieve - a modern car with all the technology and electronic management gizmo's but with the looks and styling of a bygone era of the classic British sports car. It had to be the classic layout - in line engine, rear wheel drive, independent wishbone suspension and a curvaceous body. I knew the 5 had a good reputation and after some research found there was an abundance of after market options and upgrades available, not to mention the extensive web community devoted to the marque. After trying  out some of the contenders I finally test drove what was to become the Greenmeanie - a completely stock 1.8 1997 MX5 in British racing green with only 35K on the clock. I was immediately impressed with the feel of the car, the cockpit layout and driving position were perfect and the handling was crisp and precise - despite a mishmash of rubber in various stages of legality. The only thing that disappointed was the acceleration - having owned some seriously quick cars in the past I expected more from such a successful  sports car. This, however, did not deter me - I knew there was a solution to this shortcoming and I had found the perfect starting point for my next project.

 After acquiring the car I set about drawing up a wish list of what was necessary  to achieve my vision, and as with any project of this nature I knew that as time went on and I became more knowledgeable about the car, my wish list would change and mistakes would be made along the way.

The next move was to check out all the specialist MX5 suppliers and see exactly what was commercially available. I was impressed with the range, although some of the prices seemed high when compared to main stream products, this meant I had to cut my cloth to suit the need and prioritise exactly what I wanted to do.

From the onset I wanted to explore, in the words of the MX5 community,' the dark side' in other words some sort of F.I. (forced induction) this was the obvious solution to the lack of acceleration. The choice was Turbocharging or Supercharging  - I have always been a fan of the turbo option as there is plenty of opportunity to upgrade. The choice of turbo, at that point in time came down to a couple of options - Flying Miata, Greddy or HKS. This was my first mistake, I opted for the HKS bolt on kit, offering a 40% hike in delivered power and everything in one box for less than £2000.00. While this represents good value for money there were some serious shortcomings which soon became apparent. The kit comes without an intercooler and only a rudimentary piggyback ecu that only alters the injector signal width (the injectors stay open longer to maintain the correct fuel air ratio while running under boost), and although the first impressions were positive I soon wanted to start tweaking to get just a little bit more. This was when I realised that to run any more than 1 -1.5 psi over the design 6psi I would need an intercooler and some serious engine management to cope with all the processing required. This was where the FMII scored highly over the HKS version as it comes with everything to run at 12psi. out of the box including the Link II ecu, 550cc injectors, boost control valve, dump valve etc, but at around 5K was out of my budget at that time.

In parallel with this I was busy with other mods, some performance based, some purely cosmetic and some a bit of both.
The absolutely first thing that had to be done where the wheels, tyres and suspension - there was too much tyre - too little wheel and too much gap between the wheel arch and tyre - I must explain at this point that I am not a purest - I have an idea of what I want to achieve and use the vehicle as a means to an end so I have never had a problem deviating from the original specification. Wheels tyres and suspension were changed with 16" x 8"  rims chosen as the optimum size for handling and looks. If, in my opinion, there is one thing that can make or break the look of a car, it's the wheels. I knew I wanted a multi spoke, the E-Type Jaguar chrome wire spokes would have been my ultimate choice but at around £300 a piece was again out of my league - besides which they are a nightmare to keep clean so I opted for a modern multi spoke with a gunmetal finish and I think they work really well. The suspension was uprated and lowered with a set of APEX springs which served as a temporary stopgap until the funding was available for some proper coilover fully adjustable legs - these were fitted spring 2005 (Koni Ride Height Kit).

I also wanted to replace the stock paint with a metallic version and as I had done some extensive body mods the finishing touch would be a total respray.

This project is very much a work in progress and the current list of mods can be seen on the Mods page - if you want any info on anything you see here please feel free to contact me here.