Typhoon!

The MX-5 is a lovely little sports car, but by default the 1.6 engine sounds a bit, well, understated. I decided to make a simple modification that improves the engine noise. It also adds a couple of BHP - nothing to write home about, but welcome nonetheless.

I've installed a K&N Typhoon induction filter kit. The box is pretty big!

Inside, is everything that you need to fit the kit. The red pipe is also available in shiny silver, but I think that red should look much better on my car. If I fitted shiny silver, I'd feel like I had to shine up my cam-cover and everything else to match...!

Most of the kit can be put together in your living room ready to take out to the car.



So here is the stock engine bay. We're going to strip out the black piping at the front, the large air box and the weirdly curved ram pipe on the right. We'll be keeping all the smaller pipe work, such as the crank case pressure release and the air temperature sensor. The mass air sensor will also be staying (it the box at the end of the large black pipe.



Here the kit is half fitted. I opted to leave in some brackets that are no strictly necessary anymore as the fixing bolts were quite rusty and I wasn't sure whether the Typhoon was going to be ok - you never know - so I didn't want to do any damage prematurely.

(Update, some weeks later: I am going to remove these brackets now.)



The kit is finished and all the jubilee clips have been tightened. The result: a significantly emptier engine bay and an awesome howling noise as the revs build. It starts at around 3000 revs and really screams at 5500. If you drive the car sedately, the improved airflow should reap rewards in terms of fuel economy as the fuel will be burning more efficiently, but this remains to be seen.



I will try to record a video with the noise.

Pre-Midlife Crisis

In December 2011, I found that my old faithful Peugeot 307 had some serious issues with the diesel system. I'd had the car for nearly seven years and it had been a solid and reliable workhorse. However, it was needing work done to the common rail fuel system, a new cam belt, some shocks and a sniff of electrical problem.. time to sell her on.

So in early January, on a cold and very wet day, I bought her replacement. It was a bit of a whim purchase, if I'm perfectly honest. I bought a 2001 MX-5 Isola from a local garage. I'm separated from my kids mother, so I really don't need a five seater car full time. (I do need a bigger car every other weekend of course, so I bought a cheap 306.. more about that on another blog.)

Here she is one the day I bought her. Remember I said it was raining? Well.... we stopped off for the five minutes where it stopped all day and took a couple of photos.

My Dad has had a couple of MX-5's over the years. He had a special edition Mk1 (99 of 250) BRG with tan interior a few years back and now owns a 2005 silver MK2.5. I have admit that I was pretty impressed with the old Mk1 he had - it drove like a dream. I don't really know why he ever got rid of it, but, hey... He seems pretty happy with his new one. 

All of this definitely affected my choice of two seater sports car. That and the seriously low cost. You get a lot of car for the money, whether you buy a Mk1 or Mk2. I'm not convinced about the MK3, but I'll no doubt wax lyrical about that in the future.

So far, I'm loving my purchase. I can't wait to get out there and get the lid down!