MX5Ireland

Right I want to start to build an outline plan for an mx5 I want to begin building when I finish School or even before then.
The base car will be a mk1 1.6. I want it for fun road use and the occasional drift day etc.
What is the most reliable and best parts to get 160bhp out of one of these engines.
Ideally I'd like to supercharge it because of the linear power band etc and of course the sound
How much is this likely to cost me for everything i need to bring a completely stock 1.6 to 160+bhp reliably.

EDIT: Priced should include labour but i can do some things but bare in mind i am what you would call idiot mechanically speaking of course

Good choice, perfect car for learning on.

I'd start with some reading :
Performance build for MX5s - Keith Tanner

Turbo charging - Corky Bell

Have you room for tinkering like a shed/someone elses shed? Getting a blown engine (they pop up here now and again) and disassembling/reassembling would be a good project, its handy to know where bits go if you do go the forced induction route

Well i already have a golf but there's no fun rebuilding a 1.4 8v is there haha
We have 5 sheds so ill find somewhere to do it

Ill have a read of them tonight so

Would there be too much work or would it be cost effective to reassemble/rebuild a blown engine? eg. make it work again?

depends on why its dead... if theres a hole in the block or if the cylinders are damaged, prob not, but you'd learn a fair bit.

Heres a good example of a "complete" supercharger kit for sale.

I suppose one with the head gone or something would be ideal.. as i rebuild i can uprate also maybe or is the 1.6 perfectly capable of running up to 200bhp on standard internals?

Yup, 200 is fine

220 is fine as well

it would probably be cheaper to turbocharge than supercharge , you can pick up turbokits on ebay from time to time , either way you're lookin at injectors an intercooler all the pipework and an ecu to run it properly without you blowin it up . a good turbo that's spec'd right and mapped properly should spool up easily . good luck with the build , i'd turbocharge myself if the sheckles were available

no power increase is cheap and especially on a car that isn't turbo'd or supercharged as standard , i know i used to work for a tuning company

Yeah im expecting big bills for it but parts will be collected over time etc etc.
I want to supercharge it because of firstly, the linear power band and the noise

Yeah im expecting big bills for it but parts will be collected over time etc etc.
I want to supercharge it because of firstly, the linear power band and the noise

There's really good gains in power just by installing an after market ECU.

LINK ECU's turn up from time to time on FleBay but are becoming very rare and the power gains after installing them alone can reach around +40BHP in some standard cars (and they can be used on supercharged/turbo'd cars as well)

IC kits can be got depending on what setup your aiming for, there's a guy in the UK making Mx5 IC kits that are plug in, Dan is his name and he's on the Nutz forum.

No need to change engine internals unless your planning on going over the 220BHP (safety) mark.


(edit) Depending on what type of turbo you install you won't get that 'BANG' of power in the rev band, it's nice to drive a Greddy Turbo'd car just like a normal Mx5 most of the time