As the sun was out I decided to drag the Sprint out of the garage and see if it's start... Which it did, promptly. Not bad seeing as the last time I had used it was October. Anyhoo, seemed rude not to take it out for a blast so off we went. Very pleasant bimblage was had, encompassing a nice cuppa at Foxes. It sort of blew the cobwebs away, IYKWIM. Bikes do rock mightily, although I think that the Sprint and I will be parting company soon. -- Dan L Too much time to think, too little to do. http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/ 2002 Triumph Sprint RS 955i (It's big, and it's black) 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr (Gone, but not forgotten) BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6/7/8) X-FOT#000 DIAABTCOD #26 BOMB#18 (slow) OMF#11
By a combination of bad planning and luck I couldn't get a bike out of the garage because GFR#2 is ensconced in the front of it on a paddock stand and trolley jack, with the fork legs dropped out. John at 'Revs' had to order seals from Uncle Bob Wright as he had no 40mm ones in stock with the correct O/D and depth, and so I couldn't get them back yesterday and finish the job. So I took the MX5 out and saw off a few chavved up small (not too) hot hatches instead. -- +----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" | +----------------------------------------------------------------+
Heh. I had a reverse baseball cap in a somewhat sheddy E36 crowd me for a little today when I took the MX5 down my local test route. I think it did take him a little while but I think he eventually did work out that the sound of the chav valve coming from the MX5 wasn't a cheap sound effect I had bought out of the back pages of Max Power. Mind ewe, it does feel a little underbraked...
I really like the seat of the pants, no power steering, no ESP, and it has to be said no turbo[1] lag aspects of the MX5. I would however, prefer that it had ABS. [1] An after market supercharger and setting up for E85 might be an interesting, if perhaps short lived, experiment. -- +----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest * 2 Yamaha WR250Z | | Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" | +----------------------------------------------------------------+
I can try... The current trackday shed MX5 has been turbo'd by the previous owner. Unfortunately he also elected to fit one of those somewhat annoying blow off valves that make me go 'Gesundheit' every time I lift off the throttle. It appears that it is quite popular with certain elements of the Max Power brigade to skip the expensive part of fitting a turbo and fit a gizmo that produces the sound of a blow-off valve instead. Obviously matey in the E36 was familiar with the latter 'tuning' measure and not the former...
Don't knock the power steering, it's definitely one of the better setups. I get your point about the ABS, so far I've managed without but sometimes it would be nice to have. TBH I wouldn't buy another turbo, but I'd go for a supercharged one instead as I prefer the power delivery of an SC one. Mine's quite mild but the additional power is quite usable. Still got a little lag but not as much as some of the more powerful ones I'm aware of. The best setups are those that preserve the character of the MX5 and just add some useful shove to it. This one is close, but SCs are better unless you need/want stupid power but unfortunately also a little more expensive to build up to the same power level. Nevertheless unless the insewerants in the US doesn't mind me buying something sporty with a honking big V8 in it, I'll probably get another MX5 over there and stick a supercharger on it.
Thanks for that information. But 'crowd' and 'test route'? You mean you were going as fast as you could on your favourite road and someone in an old BMW 3-series was behind you wanting to go faster?
D'oh. I think I might be changing it if possible. -- Dan L Too much time to think, too little to do. http://thebikeshed.spaces.live.com/ 2002 Triumph Sprint RS 955i (It's big, and it's black) 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr (Gone, but not forgotten) BOTAFOT #140 (KotL 2005/6/7/8) X-FOT#000 DIAABTCOD #26 BOMB#18 (slow) OMF#11
i knew a chap that put a v8 in his tr8. he had about 2cm ground clearance and you could only just see over the top of it from the driver's seat.
oh, i didn't realise the original engine was a v8 as well it was a replacement, i think it was a 4l engine, and had to be mounted from underneath with some of the other bits rerouted.
