Starting a new job in two weeks and spent my last commission check on a 2007 MX5 Sport as an inexpensive commuter car and fun car for the weekends. I have been searching the boards for what mods to do to the NC cars to make them drive better. Who has an NC and what have you done to it? It looks like the first things are to upgrade are the shocks/springs/sway bars and an exhaust? Needs to be very streetable as it will be my primary car when I need to drive to a client's.
If you grab the issue with the ND MX-5 cover story, you can see the mods made to build the fastest C Street NC in the country. In theory the slightly later car has an advantage, but you can totally crib from their notes.
Thanks David, have the article in front of me right now, but those Penske shocks look a little too extreme for my use. Anyone have any experience with the Flying Miata packages or the Good-win Racing packages?
In that article, Chris notes that the Konis work well, too. He had to keep the stock springs to remain CS-legal, though.
Yes, if you plan on autocrossing it does make a marginally better CS car than STR car, although people do run them in STR at a nationally competitive level.
However, for a good regionally competitive CS build you're only looking at about $2000-$3000 including wheels and tires. For STR you'd need to double that to get in the ballpark.
Call Flyin Miata, obtain decent struts and sway bars, Call Tire rack, order RE-71's. Drive!
Unless OP is planning to autocross competitively getting RE-71's now would be a bad idea.
Personally I'd just make sure everything is maintained and up to speed and drive it as-is for the winter and get used to it. Then once you have identified the items YOU want to improve or change do it in the spring.
Stock shock valving is a known weak point on the NC. Get some decent replacements, Koni's, etc. No need to add bars or springs until you get further into getting used to the car. I'd also avoid the exhaust since you'll be commuting and driving to customer sites. Being more noisy may wear on you a bit. I'd also suggest looking for one of the factory hardtops for the winter drive, makes the car quieter and warmer.
My own plan would have been to swap in the 2.5L version of the 2.0L. More torque really helps the NC it seems. This is something you can work on acquiring parts for that swap and researching the work involved over the winter and then swap it in once you can plan a good long weekend/vacation or alternative transportation.
From there, depending on your desires you may want to lower it, add larger sway bars or even a supercharger and exhaust if you're so inclined.
Just my opinion though.
I have been reading about the 2.5 swap, that sounds like a great upgrade in the future. It is basically an almost bolt in affair, by reusing the RWD parts such as the oil pan, intake manifold and front crank pulley. More displacement is always a good thing.
I think for now, I will drive the car and get used to it and start putting together a list for the spring for a suspension upgrade, summer tires and save up for an engine upgrade.
Tires. Nothing will change how a car feels quicker, better, or easier then a fresh set of balonys.
Like a few people said, drive it more so you can understand what you like and don't like about it, and change those. Since it's your daily and weekend fun car, you may only need summer tires to reach your performance needs.
I test drove one recently, and I just happen to find that I require some good Corbeau racing or sport bucket seats, the factory ones are terrible.
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