Ciao da Lettonie!

[moro57]

Sorry for a long post. Feel free just to scroll through pictures

The car has a long story. It started when I've bought a 1.6 european car only to discover that body has been twisted around the gearbox tunnel and along right side sill in a weird accident and can't be easily straightened out. Soon I've acquired a 1994 1.8 Eunos from UK and in a few weeks in 2012 converted it to left hand drive using my first car as a donor. This is it the day it rolled off a trailer in Riga, in my office parking, in my office parking, before the conversion.




It looked scruffy, didn't have a soft top at all, but the body was very solid with no rust and it had a few goodies, namely a plated LSD, Cusco roll bar, OEM Mazda hardtop and Garage Vary bumper. By the time it came here I've already had got a set of Meister coilovers which were promptly fitted. Subframe and steering rack are being replaced with their LHD equivalents.

Modifications continued, I've fitted a Megasquirt and Racing Beat manifold and a friend fabricated a custom exhaust to up the power a bit. We made before and after runs and if I remember correctly, the car made 8bhp more with the manifold on and ECU mapped. A bucket seat along with a harness has been added and then I've put the car on a diet, removing and cutting off lots of stuff. The GV bumper has been badly damaged on track curbs previously and I've replaced it with original bumper and GV replica lip. New wheels, R888 tyres and the car was ready for track outings.







More track outings followed


But I enjoyed it on roads as much




The 2014 followed with a few more upgrades and somewhat ill-fated engine work, about this later. Suspension has been refreshed with SuperPro bushes




I've also experimented with composites a little and made my own headlight covers.





As for the engine, I've used a Mk2.5 10:1 bottom end, the head had been worked on by Blink and shaved 1mm, Maruha 264 degree 10 mm lift camshafts were fitted and HLAs blocked using Maruha's so called clearance collars. Suzuki GSXR 750 throttle bodies went on and some other parts were added for good measure.




The car made 160 bhp compared to 111 it made when it was standard. The Bosch dyno calculated a flywheel figure of 187 hp, useful for these pub banters. However the 2014 was spent constantly adding oil to the engine as it spit it in copious amounts in to the catch tank. Still, in between adding oil I went to tracks a few times, added brake cooling, part exchanged my original hardtop for a lightweight aftermarket one and fitted a very useful BGW





I've ended the 2014 thinking my engine is borked but added coil on plugs just before taking it out for the winter.



I couldn't find any reason why it would spill so much oil through breather but nevertheless the engine has been refreshed in the winter. And only when put back into car again it was discovered I've had my oil dipsticks mixed up. I've had 1.8, 1.8 VVT and 1.6 and at some point I've ended up with a wrong combination of the stick itself and its tube. I've never paid too much attention to how much oil has actually gone into the engine as I've used a 20L can of Mobil. Never felt such an idiot as when I've found the reason for my troubles. 2015 season started on a high note then and I've changed the direction I was going with the car. It was to become more of a fun road car (a touge warrior my internal jdm fanboi is suggesting). Something still quick but what I could take for a road trip to remote winding roads perhaps. Interior went back in, semi slicks has gone.







Another couple shots from last year's trip to UK










Exterior
Garage Vary replica front lip
Excess weight removed (no bumper beams, no baby teeth, etc)
Modified rear bumper
TRS tow straps
Quick release front bumper
Runabout M2 mirrors

Reinforcements
Cusco Safety 21 roll bar
P5 Sportdrive frame rails

Suspension
Meister R Zeta-S coilovers with F 9 kg/mm and R 6 kg/mm spring rates
SuperPro bushes
Wishbones sand blasted and powdercoated

Drivetrain
clutch-type LSD
4.778 final drive
SuperPro diff mount fillers
949 Racing SuperMiata 1.6 organic sprung clutch
949 Racing SuperMiata 1.6 3.5kg flywheel
949 Racing SuperMiata clutch flexi line

Engine
Standard Mk2.5 (NBFL) 10:1 block
'94 head, modified by Blink Motorsport (UK), no porting or polishing. 1 mm skim.
( includes re-cut three angle valve seats, valve de-shrouding, valve guide repair (if required), New Valve stem seals, Valve springs checked for straightness & poundage, valves polished & refaced, cylinder head skimmed & fully cleaned)
Maruha Motors racing cams (264 degree, 10mm lift)
Maruha Motors HLA collars
Toda Racing adjustable cam pulleys
Suzuki GSXR 750 K1 throttle bodies
danST Engineering ITB adapter
danST Engineering velocity stacks
RX8 injectors
Toyota ignition coil on plugs
Pipercross PX600 air filter
Fid vacuum manifold
Racing Beat 4-1 exhaust manifold
Custom decat + Cobalt exhaust
Tegiwa Honda Del Sol aluminium radiator on custom brackets
16 row oil cooler with braided lines and AN fittings and Trust Greddy thermostatic sandwich
MSPNPv2 ECU
Innovate MTX-L wideband
IL Motorsport engine mounts

Brakes
Carbotech XP8 pads
Motul RBF660 fluid

Wheels
Rota RKR 15x8 +10
Bridgestone Potenza RE002 195/50R15

Interior
Momo Prototipo steering wheel
Roadster chequered floor mats
Custom modified Cobra Historic FIA seat
Takata 6-point harness
Custom harness bar (Vagi Racing)