NZPC #263 Preview

MX-5 ENGINE SWAPS!

8000RPM 1UZ-FE 86

HOW TO

KILLING THE S-CHASSIS GAME IN ONE FELL SWOOP

$10.99 INCL. GST

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NOV. 2018

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416803 800821

ISSUE

WIDEBODY FC RX-7 BOOSTED AND STROKED S2000 STREET FIGHTERS INSIDER — A KIWI SPINNING SPANNERS IN FORMULA D

MUSCLE GARAGE

STARTS S E PTE MBE R 30 O N

18 SIT DOWN, STAY HUMBLE

AN S14 THAT PERFECTLY MARRIES FORM AND FUNCTION

DOING IT FOR THE BRO

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A ROLLING TRIBUTE TO A FALLEN BROTHER

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LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM AN INTERVIEW WITH A KIWI FD MECHANIC

SUCKER PUNCH

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46 SUPER 86

UNDERCOVER 1UZ-FE TOYOTA 86 BUILD

STROKED AND BOOSTED 2.4 S2000

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006 EDITORIAL 008 ED. TEAM CHATTER 010 NEWS 014 GIG GUIDE 016 DRIFT SHIFTERS 035 SUBSCRIBE AND RECEIVE 086 WEEKEND WARRIOR 088 PRODUCTS 090 POWER PLANT 092 SOCIAL SLAM 098 CRUISE MODE 100 UNDER CONSTRUCTION 102 LOCAL SPECIALISTS 104 DRAG TIMES

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036 1900CC OF FURY 052 OPEN-HEART SURGERY 064 THAT’S A WRAP 080 FASTEN UP BUILDING A 9A-GTE RACE ENGINE

MX-5 ENGINE-CONVERSION GUIDE

IS PAINT DEAD?

AUTOMOTIVE FASTENERS 101

THE BATTLE RAGES ON 2018 STREET FIGHTERS

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SIT DOWN, STAY HUMBLE 1996 NISSAN SILVIA (S14)

WITH MORE CREAM THAN HIS FAVOURITE JOHN PAN BAKERY DOUGHNUTS AND A SERIOUS AMOUNT OF MUSCLE THAT IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE RESULT OF A RUSSIAN OLYMPIC TRAINING PROGRAMME, CHRIS SAHOTA HAD ONE SIMPLE GOAL WITH THIS INCH-PERFECT S14, AND IT WASN’T TO IMPRESS ANYBODY BUT HIMSELF

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WORDS: JADEN MARTIN PHOTOS: RICHARD OPIE

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here’s no denying that the growth of social media has changed the way that many play the car game. Builds that were only ever spotted outside of the shed on the rarest occasions to attend the biggest shows on the calendar are now bombarding your eyeballs on a daily basis. Information that was once unlocked through delivering the right 15-step secret handshake to a sketchy-looking dude at 3am in your local park can now be sourced through a few quick messages online. This change has brought about cars that are built well beyond what we would have even thought possible just a decade ago. But it has also become all too easy to get caught in the hype of the next big thing and build a car based on how many likes, comments, and online

followers it can generate instead of the ways of old, when those killing the game were those who delivered the most innovative package on the scene or the fastest time through downtown.

So it’s refreshing to be in the presence of a car like Chris Sahota’s 96-spec Nissan S14, which, despite being presented at a level so damn high it would rip shreds off those bouncing around your news feed, was never about flexing on anybody but itself. Hell, you’ll even struggle to get the full story out of Chris. Humble to the core, he simply tells us that the car was built with one thought in mind — a thought that he admits controlled the outcome of every single decision made on each step of the journey: “How can I make this better than the last one?”

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FOLLOWING THE PASSING OF HIS GOOD MATE SAMUEL HARRISON, DAVE MATEHAERE HAS TURNED SAM’S UNCOMPLETED FC PROJECT INTO A ROLLING TRIBUTE OF THE HIGHEST ORDER

1986 MAZDA RX-7 (FC3S)

WORDS: MARCUS GIBSON PHOTOS: ADAM CROY

WITH EIGHT CYLINDERS OF FURY, ALL THE MOD CONS, AND AN EXHAUST NOTE TO WAKE THE DEAD, THIS IS ONE ULTIMATE WEEKEND TRACK HACK

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WORDS: MARCUS GIBSON PHOTOS: ROD DUNN

This is certainly no show car; it has been built to hammer laps or carve some Central Otago back roads, so the exterior has been kept simple with a set of Tom’s tail lights, a TRD rear lip, and a Velox bonnet-vent kit the only modifications

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hen the Toyota 86 first landed in the market here, we weren’t the only ones hyped to see if it could fill the boots of its iconic namesake, the AE86. The ’80s sports coupe icon is a tough act to follow, and not because it’s over complicated, sophisticated, or ground breaking, but because it is such a balanced chassis, with just the right amount of power to make for one hell of a driving machine for those with the balls and skills to drive it on the limit. So, when Toyota launched its successor, promising that the Toyota 86 “does away with unusable horsepower [and] needless electronic interfaces, and replaces them with a sports car designed to put the driver back in control”, our hopes were high for a true driver’s car — one that bucked trends for machines half controlled by a clever ECU and with no real soul.

Toyota certainly delivered, but, like the old chassis, the stock power plant in the 86 is somewhat lacking in the ‘go’ department, and the real secret to a great-driving 86, new or old, comes through modifications. So, when Mike Saegers, a regular member’s day attendee at Highlands Motorsport Park, landed his own GT86, it wasn’t long before he, too, wanted to spice things up under the bonnet. This is where Simon Urquhart of Surfab comes into the picture, having worked on Mike’s previous Beams-powered AE86, which we featured back in NZPC Issue No. 249. In the quest for the few extra creature comforts that you just don’t get in a car from the ’80s, Mike decided to sell the old AE86 to Simon and focus on the new 86.

Having been in Mike’s possession for some time, the chassis is on its fourth power-plant combination. The first was the popular

2013 TOYOTA 86

OPEN-HEAR

SURGERY AN ENGINE CONVERSION MAD SCIENTIST’S WET DREAM GUIDE TO SHOEHORNING WILD POWER PLANTS INTO THE BAY OF A MAZDA MX-5!

WORDS: JADEN MARTIN PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

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truly underrated chassis, the humble ‘hairdresser’s car’ is undoubtedly a driver’s car and has been credited as being the spiritual successor to the great British roadster examples of the ’50s and ’60s. The Mazda MX-5 is a car that many still sleep on, often dismissed for its small stature and capacity. Despite those unaware of the chassis’ potential, it has managed to amass a rather hefty cult following on our shores. These pocket rockets are regularly used as streeters and circuit cars, drifters and gravel warriors, which should really be no surprise to anyone who has actually looked into them. Weighing in at only a bag of feathers and making use of a

go-kart-like wheelbase, they offer solid bang-for-buck driving and, with a few extra ponies pumped into them, can be a proper handful.

While the factory-offered 1600cc and 1800cc can be tickled up with the likes of turbos, superchargers, or even a wild naturally aspirated (NA) set-up, one of the more popular options nowadays is to rip the factory offering out in favour of a bigger-power option. To help you make the right choice, we’ve pooled all the information you need to consider about the chassis itself and the challenges you might face and got the inside word from those who have completed a few of the more popular swaps.

By far the most popular generation of MX-5, the ‘NA’ chassis is recognizable for its pop-up headlights and widesmiling front bumper. In total, 400,000 units were sold during its production run, which offered up both a 1.6-litre and 1.8-litre power plant, so there are plenty of them around in various trim levels. Despite the body being an allsteel affair with the use of an aluminium bonnet, the car’s small stature, measuring in at just 3970mm long and 1675mm wide, means that it tips the scales at just 980kg wet! It also has the benefit of a 0.38 drag coefficient, which puts it on par with the Toyota Supra, and makes it better than all generations of Nissan Skyline.

Factory-fitted independent double wishbone and disc brakes at all corners, along with sway bars front and rear, make for solid handling out of the gate and allow easy upgrading for the more serious of uses.

Solely a front-engined, rear-wheel drive platform, the original B6ZE(RS) 1598cc was ported over from the Familia range, and offered dual-overhead cams, electronic fuel injection with vane-type air flowmeter, and an electronic ignition system with a camshaft angle sensor instead of a distributor. It promised 86kW of fury at the motor, weighed 127kg full trim, and ran power through a five-speed manual box that was derived from those used on the Mazda 929/Luce. Designers were given strict instructions to “make it shift in as small a gear pattern as possible and with minimal effort”, to ensure it felt like a serious sports car contender.

From 1994 onward, the NA offered a more powerful 1839cc BP-ZE engine option that saw the introduction of factory-fitted LSD down back. The chassis was also braced to pass new side-impact standards — this can be identified by a track bar between the seat belt towers inside the car and between the front and rear subframes. Various trim options offered differences in suspension, such as Bilstein shocks, stiffer sway bars, and front and rear underbody spoilers, while a Torsen LSD was also offered. This new 1.8-litre ramped power figures up to 96kW and, despite increasing the base weight to 990kg — with the motor weighing in at 145kg — the extra power offset the increase and then some.

MAZDA MX-5 NB YEARS: 1998–2005 WHEELBASE: 2270mm WEIGHT: 1065kg CONFIGURATION: Front-engined, rear-wheel drive ENGINE OPTIONS: BP 1839cc POWER: 96–133kW

MAZDA MX-5 NA

YEARS: 1989–1997 WHEELBASE: 2265mm WEIGHT: 940kg CONFIGURATION: Front-engined, rear-wheel drive ENGINE OPTIONS: B6ZE(RS) 1598cc, BP 1839cc POWER: 86kW, 136Nm (B6ZE); 96kW, 149Nm (BP)

A redesigned MX-5, the ‘NB’, was released in 1998 for the 1999 model year. It’s recognizable by the addition of fixed headlights, as the first generation’s pop-ups no longer passed pedestrian safety tests. Other exterior styling cues were borrowed from Mazda’s FD RX-7 platform, with the width increasing to 1680mm and the length decreasing to 3940mm, making it slightly more aerodynamic than the first model, with a drag coefficient of 0.36.

It carried over the BP engine model, with power bumped up over several minor updates. The first of these saw 104kW with a reconfigured, higher compression version, and increases reached as high as 133kW with the addition of a factory turbo option. All options saw the intake cam changed to a solid-lifter design with a stronger cam, and Mazda’s Variable Intake Control System (VICS) was introduced.

The NB continued to make use of the four-wheel independent suspension with bigger sway bars front and rear, while the brakes were upgraded to an anti-lock system.

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