NC ITB Options - Build your own?

So I’ve now had the BBR Super 200 upgrade done which for the record i couldn’t be happier with and it genuinely feels like the car Mazda should have made in the first place, that said… I do love the idea of ITBS (mainly for the sound) but there very little risk of me parting with the best part of £3k for a set up. Now that i have a new daily on order it means i do have the option to Tinker with the NC a little / experiment - so i was wondering if there were any threads / info on building your own ITB set up for the NC as i know its something a lot of people have done with the NA / NB using Bike throttle bodies then having the inlet made up? I’ve had a search around online but couldn’t find a great deal. (2.0 2008 model)

a couple options i found online for DIY…
4 Cylinder Basic Universal Vehicle ITB System Set Up STD DCOE/DHLA Pattern - Racehead Engineering

Billet Trumpets Quality Precision One Piece Design - Racehead Engineering

I haven’t done it so limited knowledge. I know of 2 issues to DIY setup. First is that the engine in the MX5 is set quite far back and you cant use a straight out intake manifold like the Fords use as it doesn’t fit.

The second is the drive by wire throttle, the BBR kit still uses this and therefore you can use the standard ECU. If you do your own set up like DanST, then you need a new aftermarket ECU and that’s a big expense.

Sorry I cant be more help, but that’s a couple of things to think about.

Good luck with it.

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Oh that’s such a shame. I’m in the same boat and was looking into cams , itbs but did not realise about the ecu situation. Dan st ones look good but not a standalone ecu as well!
If only there was another way that did not cost as much as the car :joy:

ah i actually thought you could still run the standard ECU with the Dan St ITBS! if not that makes a huge dif as the ECU alone is around £1k :frowning: boooo… someone needs to make a more cost effective kit - the BBR one is so spenny!

I think this will come with time. If you look at the aftermarket support for the NA/NB, superchargers and turbo kits can be found in all corners of the internet and this is probably due to a more mature platform. I know the NC has been around for a while, but they are just swinging into that very affordable to rag pricing territory that NBs were in 8-10 years ago.

It also doesn’t help that BBR sorta dominates that area, I think their packages are an absolute rip off in pricing. You can get a turbo kit for a 1.8 NB for £3500 from bofi that will make 250bhp but the stage 1 turbo kit from BBR costs £5k, which doesn’t even come with an ECU.

agree - they are pricey but you are pretty limited for options. I paid just shy of £2k for the cams/mapping and fitting which is about the going rate, but for the ITBS its pretty extortionate! :unamused: I’ve seen so many people online making their own kits using Bikes throttle bodies for the NA’s but literally not a sniff of that with the NC - but like you said… maybe one day

As somone that wants to turbo their nc I’d love to see prices come down, but when the time comes and I’m ready to go they’ll be what they are at that time. The nc platform is getting on for 20 years old now and FM have only just developed a kit, albeit for lhd cars. You also have completelydriven who managed to get his own custom setup completed for less than £2500.

One of the reasons I opted for an nc is because it is very well supported by the aftermarket as its as much a hobby car as it is my bit of fun that I can jump in and use whenever it’s nice out.

If someone could bring the costs down for a slap on complete turn key kit I reckon they’d make up for the loss in profit per setup with the increased volume of kits sold, but that’s just my opinion.

Watch this space, maybe ? :thinking:

2.0 Version as well , still all in testing.

is this not the one for the 2.0 ?
NC MX-5 Billet Performance Intake Manifold - 1Goal (fab9tuning.com)

any idea what type of gains you’ll see - cant see much evidence on here?

Now that looks very interesting……

This page seems to give the best application for this intake, but still no figures

You’d think the stock intake must flow quite well as its in use up to and over 300bhp in turbo applications. On that website it recommends against fitting that on an n/a car.

yeh i mean…

  • Naturally Aspirated w/Bolt-on’s? - probably not for you either. Without the additional head work to support the flow, you’ll net similar results when compared to the stock guys.

So im not sure how much of a difference this will make with mine even with my BBR Cams…

Even on a turbo car there would be no point fitting that inlet unless you forge it to make the most of that extra power capacity safely as according to them it will make over 350. It seems like that manifold is for max headroom once you’ve reached the point of things becoming a restriction. I changed the intake on my Vauxhall ecotec engine years ago for a flow tech dbilas item and it made more power up top at quite the detriment to midrange power and torque.

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Oh that’s a shame

Blockquote is this not the one for the 2.0 ?
NC MX-5 Billet Performance Intake Manifold - 1Goal (fab9tuning.com)

Apologies, but No it isn’t that one.

Not sure on the rules of links to other sites so …

If you look in the power mods section of the NC Miata section on the MX-5 Miata Forum for

NEW PRODUCT - Fab9 Tuning Elite Intake Manifold!

you can find what there is to know. Bit of a read mind :laughing:

Another ITB dreamer here! My initial reaction to the BBR kit was similar (how much?) but the more research you do the more you realise that there isn’t such thing as a ‘budget’ option for the NC right now…

DanST Engineering
Jenvey
AT Power

All these are decent alternatives but require a standalone ECU. The fact that BBR are the only ones to make it work (and that the throttle body assembly fits without any other modification) means it’s the only true ‘plug and play’ option.

Here’s hoping some second hand kits come up!

Adapting bike throttle bodies with a custom inlet should work. Overall I like how it looks.

still need aftermarket ECU.

Yeah all of the other options require a stand alone ECU, however it doesn’t really stop there as the majority of other makes means that you need to run an accelerator cable which means modification to the pedal and routing the cable through the bulkhead. All extra expenses which then makes it about the same price as BBR version.
Only other way is if BBR were willing to do a group deal for a few people signing up together, but doubt that tbh as he never really seems to interested in doing deals.