I am currently spending a lovely weekend away with my wife in the Cotswolds and enjoying our first proper trip in our 95 Eunos.
What a great experience.
Getting a low pitched noise indicating a slight blow from the exhaust and am keen to replace with a Stainless steel one. Is it best to buy the part first e.g. From MX5 parts and go somewhere to have it fitted or is it better to get the exhaust fitter to source one And any good general recommendations for fitters or places to avoid. I would like a more roarty noise from the exhaust but not too intrusive when cruising. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated
I have an Mx5 parts system and its a nice thing. Well made, reasonably priced. Makes a nice noise without being silly and was simple to fit. There are probably better, but I,m sure you could do worse.
Yes fitted it myself on axle stands. Use a new gasket onto the cat and check the existing hanging rubbers are serviceable. If the 2 bolts that connect it too the cat are not seized it’s a 30 minute job.
I fitted my own Cobalt cat back system from Moss, a while ago and was easy enough. I reversed mine up some ramps and gave me enough room to do everything quite easily. The one thing i would suggest however is buying an exhaust hanger remover. Only cheap but makes life soooooo much easier and worth every penny.
Sure there are various cheat methods, but its not fun when your lying on your back with limited space, especially the middle hanger. As mentioned above too, the bolt might be seized so ideally soak the 2x bolts with plusgas or similar the day before, just to be sure and copper slip them when refitting so they you dont have difficulty next time you take them off.
Mongoose makes a good system, with lifetime warranty. I brought mine in 1999, and the warranty has been needed a few times along the way. Racing Beat systems are extremely well made systems, and one of the few that are actually dyno-proved. I had the pleasure to visit Racing Beat’s Anaheim outfit in 2000. They pretty much do everything in house, and are Mazda North America’s tuner of choice.
1995 was a cross-over year; part way, Roadster exhausts changed, by deletion of a hanger by the catalytic converter. I’ve heard of cars failing MOTs when the tester sees an unattached hanger bracket on the exhaust. Mongoose makes this bracket detachable. On other exhausts, its probably worth getting the fitter to cut off the bracket. The later exhausts were fitted to Phase 2 NA8C cars; these can be spitted by having a green Roadster badge on the rear, and VIN NA8C-4******.
The danger of getting a fitter to source and fit the exhaust, is that he might attempt to fit an exhaust intended for a later UK Mk1, which is a different system. You need the same system as fitted to any 89-93 1.6, but mechanics can be pigheaded in this respect, when told to fit parts that the “book” tells them are wrong.
The old school exhaust of choice for BHP gains was the Borla exhaust; these systems made the most power by eliminating the mid-pipe silencer.
I fitted a cobalt system and 421 manifold to my 91 took me about an hour to swap both and thanks to eBay I paid less than 100 quid there’s a little video below to give you an idea of what it sounds like
I fitted a cobalt system and 421 manifold to my 91 took me about an hour to swap both and thanks to eBay I paid less than 100 quid there’s a little video below to give you an idea of what it sounds like
Thanks for that and forgive my ignorance but I struggled to upload this video - If I create an account with Photo Bucket will it automatically go to the link and upload?
The system has moved between cars. A 1.8 takes a little longer than a 1.6, because you have to feed the exhaust parts around the subframe braces. You can remove the braces, but I’d be a bit wary of the longitudinal braces; they have been known to be so seized, the captive nut is broken. The cat studs will likely snap off, so you need to make sure you have the facilities to drill out the stud if necessary, or have a new cat to hand. The rubber hangers can be a bit stiff to prise off the original exhaust; soapy water helps, but you may need to cut some hangers off. So have to fresh Mazda rubber hangers; forget about aftermarket generic hangers, none of them are any good. Use high temperature silicone as a jointing compound, not exhaust paste. Some small fuel hose clips are handy to adjust the exhaust on the hangers, so it sits right. 30 minutes on/off is extremely optimistic, unless you have a lift. And if you have a lift, you would not be asking these questions.
Its not a hard job, but there is enough things to wrong first time, that you wished you threw £50 at your local garage to fit it.
Its debateable whether any of these exhaust any performance benefit; the Borla, because it has no mid pipe, has fewer bends.
Thanks and apologies for delay in responding - the website repeatedly failed to load yesterday and I gave up near midnight when I lost wifi completely
The Mongoose sounds really good although it would be helpful to know if it is doesn’t drone too much when cruising at speed. Interestingly I looked on the Mongoose website and the only listing for an MX5 is a decat. There are listings online for decat back systems via other companies (presumably old stock). I rang Mongoose who tell me they no longer make systems for MX5s (not enough demand apparently).
Your advice re the potential pitfalls of trying to fit an exhaust myself makes a lot of sense. I remember having an exhaust fitted to my first car a 1962 straight 6 rover P4 about 30 yrs ago. The garage qoted £10 for the fitting and due to some complications it took them over 4 hrs and a lot of swearing but they honoured the price and I was very glad not to have attempted this myself. The mention above of a potential 30 minute job made it sound very straightforward and tempting but may be discretion is the better part of valour Particularly as the cost of getting one fitted might not be that great!
The MX5parts systems tend to drone, as do the Cobalt. Both are ok, but are at the lower end of the spectrum for a stainless steel system. Racing Beat are top notch, though you have to pay a bit more for them. The slight problem with Racing Beat is that they are designed for the US market, so have an additional downstream fitting for a second O2 sensor. Not a huge problem, as a bung is supplied.
Its academic now, but Mongoose systems don’t drone, and were a control exhaust a few years back on one of the MX5 Race Series.
Reasons why you would want a long warranty on a stainless steel exhaust:
You’ll never have to buy another exhaust again.
Some systems have hangers welded to the sides of silencer boxes. Stainless welds can be brittle; if they crack, the entire weld comes away leaving a huge, non-reparable hole.
Most systems use silencer parts that are pressed, not welded. After about 10 years, the joints start to loosen up and leak. Again, not repairable.
If you are just into car ownership for the short term, then a cheapie from MX5parts or Cobalt makes sense.
