Hello all,
After a lot of toing and froing, I finally took the plunge and decided to get my Mk1 turbocharged. I had been speaking with Adam @ M-Tech Automotive on and off for a long time (literally years!) and this time around, I decided to pull the trigger and get ‘Monique’ booked in.
From the get-go, Adam was very helpful and patient whilst I fired what seemed to be every question under the sun at him. I also had some concerns but Adam was able to address them quickly and calmly. The conversion was booked for last month (November) and whilst it seemed silly to have the conversion done as winter is amongst us, I thought if I don’t get it done now I probably never will!
I decided to have M-Tech source the turbo (a TD04, of course) and also the RX-8 Injectors as well. You can supply these yourself, but I wanted to save myself the time (and potential faff) of sourcing them. As well as this, I also opted for the following parts as part of the conversion:
- Uprated Radiator
- Oil Cooler (for track days)
- Uprated Clutch
- CAN Check Gauge
- Sports Cat (didn’t want a Decat as I wanted to make life easier for MOTs)
- ME442 ECU in place of ME221
- Boost Control
- I also had underbody protection carried out at the same time
I dropped ‘Monique’ off on Saturday the 5th of November in the worst rain I’ve seen for some time, but that did little to dampen my spirits. Adam was welcoming and listened politely whilst I went through various bits of build as well as known ‘character features’ of the car.
Adam kept me updated and throughout the whole process he was extremely helpful, and continues to be with continued queries I have. The build did take a little longer than anticipated because there was a small barrier to overcome towards the end thanks to a Slave Cylinder that decided it wanted to join the choir invisible (brownie points to anyone who understands that reference), but this was a simple fix.
Although the wait was a bit longer, it made picking Monique that little bit sweeter and any apprehensive feelings I had toward converting her to turbo were quickly dashed when Adam started her up and blipped the throttle a few times. The handover was informative and Adam did a great job talking through everything. Even better, the M-Tech Team were able to retain the air con, which is something that was rather important to me. Adam said this presented its own ‘engineering challenges’ but they were able to overcome it.
The first drive, which can be viewed on my YouTube channel here: Turbo MX-5 First Drive was very satisfying, and I don’t think my grin could have been much bigger if I had tried, even though it was on wet motorways/dual carriageways. The build has a great finish, which has received a positive reception from everyone that has had a peak under her bonnet.
Because I had opted for boost control, I’m able to enjoy 202hp on low boost, and 235.8hp on high boost - plenty for a small car like this! The fact that some people want more power than this seems somewhat absurd if you ask me! The M-Tech Team have done a great job making the power linear, and even on wet roads, the low boost was usable without continuously lighting up the rear wheels. The same cannot be said for the high boost, though of course!
Monique has already been tracked on a rather foggy Snetterton and she performed with no issues, providing plenty of fun in the process. I look forward to more track days in 2023!
Overall, I genuinely don’t think I could be happier with the build - she sounds awesome, has a turbo flutter that never gets old and has the performance to justify being called a sportscar. A big thank you to the team at M-Tech Automotive for transforming Monique in to a tasty track weapon!
Full walkthrough of the build can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/IaPpg3-pLl8
