Chris' NBFL

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It’s certainly been awhile since I’ve been in the driver’s seat of an MX5.

Some may remember my supercharged NA, named The Purple Monster. I stripped this for parts in 2018 to fund my R34 GTT (which I still own).

I did own an NC1 Sport back in 2022/2023 but sold it to buy a ‘sensible diesel car’.

The current daily driver project is a 1996 Mazda 323F V6 which I purchased in January 2024. I’ve been doing Youtube for about 3 years and unfortunately there just isn’t enough content left in it. So I’ve made the decision to sell it and buy another car.

A platform that I’m familiar with, a chassis I’ve not yet done before (well, kinda…to a degree) and something that will help my Youtube channel.

Welcome to my MX5 NBFL project

The car is a 2004 NBFL Arctic Edition with a 1.8 VVT, 5 speed manual with an open diff. Currently on 119k miles.

The chrome fuel filler cap has been badly painted along with the chrome door mirror covers. These will be replaced in the future.

The softtop is in really good condition, the glass window is an added bonus

The car is on stock shock absorbers and lowering springs. These will be the first to get changed, the ride is too bouncy and it could really do with an alignment.

The first thing I checked when viewing the car was checking the condition of the sills. They’re solid and look to have been replaced at some point. The rear arches feel solid but I’ve noticed some minor bubbling. There’s also evidence of sanding marks so unsure if they’ve been replaced/repaired, the inner arch doesn’t look new.

The interior is stock with the exception of the gear shifter and stereo. The heated leather seats will come in handy during the winter months. I wasn’t sure about the blue leather but it’s slowly growing on me.

Under the bonnet (or hood) is a very dirty engine bay. A little bit of corrosion below the coolant bottle and around the PAS reservoir (I think thats common?)

I’m looking forward to getting stuck in with this project. I’ll also be documenting the build on Youtube. I’d really appreciate any subscribers, likes,comments and shares

https://www.youtube.com/hoodedreeper

https://youtu.be/PkHV8Vd49Oc?si=sx6vpSNi9Op5r1Q1

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I remember the Purple Monster and other projects. It’ll probably be "Project welding " on the NBFL but with an excellent final result.

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Some good previous projects there…be good to see what you have in store for the NB.

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Hey Chris
Out of curiosity did you prefer your turbo or SC mx5’s?

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The first NA was Turbo’d but was only road tuned to 185bhp. The second NA (purple monster) was 204bhp.

I liked the linear power of the SC, but eventually I would have craved more. Unfortunately that would mean re-doing the whole setup to fit a Mercedes unit.

I do miss the noise though.

Turbo seems more popular, it’s a better daily driver and more power can be achieved.

Saying this… I still couldn’t pick haha. If the turbo’d car was about on par power wise it’d be easier to make a decision

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Lol well that doesn’t help!! Am on the fence myself which way to go on an NB! :rofl:

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If you want linear power, instant boost but will be happy with a set power level…go S/C

If you want better daily driving and scope for more power…go turbo

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Was looking at the kraken kit to be fair but they bump a gt2680 in the kit which everyone seems to think take too long to come on boost…am hearing 5k rpm…if thats the case it would be painful to drive unless flooring it round a track?

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I’m guessing that’s full boost at 5k? It’s not ideal especially if the chosen track is twisty.

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Thats my thoughts hence the SC thoughts…would a boost controller help bring that down or a different Wastegate spring?

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Waste gate spring would certainly help. You’re more than welcome to drop me a message

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Firstly I apologise for the lack of updates, which is very unlike me. I’ve managed to achieve alot ‘behind the scenes’, so I’m now playing catch up with photo/video editing and updating here.

Although I had a reasonably good test drive, the drive home was going to be the eye opener especially when it comes to any potential problems.

The main thing I noticed was the car would pull to the side under braking. Getting the car jacked up and on axle stands was a job in itself.

So it seems the caliper slider pins had next to no grease rolls eyes

I also noticed the driver side calipers have been painted red, but not the passenger side? Someone must have ran out of time I guess.

With the slider pins receiving a smothering of red rubber grease, I went for a test drive and it’s much better. The pulling to the side is still there under heavy braking but the discs and pads do need replacing, so it could be from un-even wear.

While the front was off the ground I had a poke around the bottom of the front wings…

The double skinned jacking lip along the sill have certainly seen better days. Luckily they’re still solid despite looking quite the opposite.

I’ll get the front wings replaced and painted and I’ll straighten that lip and repaint the black stone chip along the bottom of the car.

The Youtube Video can be found here:

The driver side headlamp had started to oxidize. In the past I had some good results with the ArmourAll restoration wipes, so I gave them another go. If it comes back I’ll attempt a ‘proper’ resto.

Much better :slight_smile: Time will tell though

On the subject of lighting, I wanted to see what was hiding beneath the duct tape on the bootlid

Ah yes, it wouldn’t be an NB without rust lol

It seems these suffered badly with bootlid corrosion and finding a good used item seems to be difficult. I remember doing a repair on the NC1 (luckily that was aluminium and quite light corrison). It looks like the light units have been glued in too, lovely job! I’ll leave these be for now and will revisit later on.

The Youtube video can be found here:

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