Hey all, been lurking here for quite some time but only just created an account to post my current build. It's nice to see the forum still going, Facepage seems to have killed a lot of them off!
So, in 2016 I bought a Mk1 1.8 MX5. I didn't really want it, but I needed something cheap, RWD and Japanese. I've always had JDM cars, a few MR2 turbos, a few S14's, Celica GT4 etc and I can't seem to stay away from them.
The MX5 was ROUGH, but not rusty! I set about doing the basics, tidy it up, wheels, coilovers, buckets etc but then became bored with how slow it was compared to my previous cars. The logical step was a turbo conversion.
A track session at Castle Combe sorta killed the original engine, but it kept driving for months, just rattling about a bit. A mate of mine had a spare JDM lump which I liberated from his garage and set about buying the turbo bits. Got them all fitted up and enjoyed it for a bit, I still couldn't really love the car though. It was still an MX5 and they're just not that cool are they? Pull up against something bigger and I always felt like, "damn, I'd much rather be driving that Skyline or that 200SX".
A while later, in the autumn of 2018 and my mate bought his old D21 Navara back, which he had been searching for ever since he sold it. This meant, his B2000 had to go. I couldn't let him sell it to someone out of our circle of friends, I had to have it. A chat was had, and idea was formed and a deal was agreed.
First job, get the MX5 down the workshop and cue the music!
It was a sorry sight, but for the greater good, (greater good).
The MX5 lump and gearbox go into a B2000 really easily, well, everything kinda does. We had some custom engine mounts made up, but essentially all these are, are some solid resin hockey pucks (but much taller), custom gearbox mount and a custom prop to go to the stock B2000 diff. And that was all it was really.
We fully, stripped the MX5 of it's loom and my mate and mechanic set about stripping the B2000 loom. Basically, EVERYTHING is MX5, so if something goes wrong, it's easy to sort and replace if needs be. The only thing that is B2000 is the body and the front suspension. The rear is all space-framed and runs MX5 coilovers, the MX5 fuel tank would go, but it already had a nice ally fuel cell. The rear brake set up is made up of S14 fronts (on the back) and full new lines all around.
So yeah, here's a bit of MX5 to B2000 surgery going on...
The dash fits in between the cage (sort of) and mounts up to the same mounts the B2000 one did, it needs some fettling to clear the shifter though. The seats are bolted to the floor but we still need to get a harness bar in there.
We found that the now huge rear brakes don't work so well. Think this is down to the master being busted, so will be replacing that with the S14 unit. The fuel gauge doesn't read correctly so that will need to be addressed, probably just a case of messing with the sender.
Once the brakes work, I need to move on to the biggest job. The bed. As you can see, it's sort of non-existent which is a bit of a pain as it's really hard to find replacement beds for these things, or in fact any sort of similarly sized pickup. It was cut out due to rust I think, I'm not totally sure as it was done prior to me taking it on.
So yeah, need to either build a bed floor or source a new bed. I'd prefer to find another one but it's a nightmare.
The paint needed something doing, I've decided to go black with it. I never liked matt black but it sorta seems to work on this. It might not stay forever but I'm liking it so far. Using UPOL so it's decent stuff and goes on well. I've decided I'm gonna go down the classic NASCAR truck route with big tyres and some sort of simple graphics, (think big door numbers and Goodyear-style decals).
That's kinda where we are at the moment. I'm hoping to have it ready for 2019 track and show season, and maybe even the RRG!
I'll try to keep this thing updated as and when.
Cheers!
