MX5 MK2.5 Exhaust install (Cobalt backbox, MX5parts

It's been a while since I've installed the exhaust, but I wanted to write this to help anyone else with a MK2.5 (which seems to be a minority vs people with MK1s) that might have been able to snag up a Cobalt backbox from Moss Europe but also needed to change the midpipe as well.
In my situation, the flanges between the original backbox and midpipe had severely rusted to the point where there was a large hole. This would have failed my MOT, so I started looking for possible fixes.
I managed to pick up the Cobalt single exit backbox for £123, and then I opted for the MX5Parts midpipe to complete the replacement. To Cobalt backbox came with an O crush ring gasket, while the MX5Parts midpipe came with 2 flat universal gaskets, as well as 4 bolts and 4 nuts to bolt the system together. The other stuff I bought to fit it was all purpose grease (I should have gotten copper slip but was too lazy), exhaust sealant, and a can of WD-40 Fast Release Penetrant (there probably isn't any difference compared to normal WD-40, but oh well). I also bought a full set of Powerflex mounts which apparently solves the problem of the aftermarket exhaust system knocking on the diff.

This was the first mod that I have ever done to a car, and it was surprisingly easy. With the massive help of the forum post on MX5Nutz, I was able to complete this in just over 3 hours. The post is comprehensive enough for me to follow, bar a few variations to how I completed my exhaust swap.

• We hired a bay in a self service garage. We used their air powered impact wrench (rattle gun), which made undoing the bolts from the cat and chassis brace super easy. Plenty of WD-40 beforehand probably helped.
• When it came to removing the exhaust, we used a flat head screwdriver to stick into the old rubber mounts and using a prying motion to force them off the car's mounting points. Again, plenty of WD-40.
• If possible, try to remove the Lambda sensor (O2 sensor) from the midpipe ASAP. We unbolted the whole system as shown in the above picture, and then realised that the sensor needed to be unbolted as well. WD-40 and a 22mm wrench with a good length was enough for us to unscrew it.
• The Cobalt backbox had no fitting issues with the MX5Parts midpipe. The backbox flange looks idential to the MX5Parts backbox, and there was no issues with compatibility.
• We didn't come across any issues with how the MX5parts hanger washer was positioned. the powerflex mounts are quite narrow in comparison to the stock ones. We pushed all the mounts as far right as possible to force the exhaust to sit away from the differential housing.
• We used plenty of exhaust sealant on the gaskets and flanges, test fitted, ran the engine to check for leaks, and then re-tightened the bolts.

And here's the system fitted before the O2 sensor secured and chassis brace reffitted.

Hopefully these few pointers can help people with their own installs!

I have since driven around 150 miles in London, as well as 400 miles on the motorway. The exhaust note drones a bit at 3,000rpm 5th gear 60mph, but anything below or above 3,000rpm and the sound is not very obtrusive. Normal city driving changing gears every 10mph, the exhaust is very discreet, but once the throttle opens up it adds a nice classic sports car sound. Deceleration and downshifts have a nice burble to it. Overall, I think the combination gives the car a more sporty characteristic to the sound without being very chavy. 

Struggling with my mediocrity......?

Sometimes, you come across something that practically dictates and directs your general train of thoughts for the upcoming weeks/months, and this is one of them... Exurb1a's video content never fails to make you feel insignificant.

Puncture, future upgrades

Welp, first car tire puncture. To be honest those front tires were pretty worn anyway, not sure if it's because of my driving?

Anyway, I've had to get a pair of Michelin Pilot Sport 3's for the front now, setting me back some funds that I had put aside to change the exhaust.

I have been looking into some backbox and centre pipe combinations to see if I can get the best combination of price and awshom shouwndddd.

Right now I have boiled it down to a stainless steel centre pipe from MX5 Parts, and its a throw up between the MX5 Parts back box, or the Cobalt backbox from Moss. I'll see in the coming weeks.

How to lose weight

I saw this a while back, great motivation to just get out there and own it.



An update on the MX5 will come soon.

I bought a car.

Welp, here it is. a 2003 Mazda MX5 1.8L. The engine is supposed to push out 143hp as stock (which it probably lost a few over the years). Other than that, there's some rust on the sills, all for wheels are running different brand tires, and the electronics on the left door are a bit haywire.

After buying the car, the first thing we did was drain the old oil, bolted on a new oil filter, and swapped out the spark plugs with new ones. Our mate had some stuff bolted onto his Yaris as well: LED headlights, strut brace, a faux short shifter mod and some window shields.

The suspension is a bit soft to what I expect, but that may be from worn dampers and/or springs. It doesn't seem to deter it from gluing itself on the road when it comes to handling the corners. We put our cars through their paces in Wales, and my word this thing is a beast. It feels like it could drop most road cars in the corners!

It's a bit lame, but I've always dreamt about owning my own car.... It's finally happened, and bloody hell what a car.

Watching this gave me the fuzzies.

A change of view..

It's weird how we grow up thinking the war on drugs is a good thing, is actually one of the parasites that feed on the world's economy and communities. My generation has grown up being taught in school and by the media of how the war on drugs is necessary, but has always overlooked the actual problems that such a war creates.
 As the years go by and people are better understanding what goes on behind human's addiction to drugs, it's great how more people are grasping the real consequences of an outdated justice system that more often than not, punishes the victims rather than the offenders.

Another issue remains in how little emphasis modern society places on mental health, and psychological help as a whole. The average person is so quick to immediately shun someone if it means causing the him/herself pain or discomfort, without realising that the person that they reject are in even worse condition. It would be nice if psychological and mental health support is more available to communities. The world would be a better place if people learned to just discuss about differences, rather than just reject them.

Insomniaaaaa, self help?

Welp... I don't think this is the first time I've posted in the middle of the night complaining about insomnia, but yeah, I guess this shit sucks.
It seriously doesn't help that my cycling has drastically reduced, and therefore my lifestyle for the last month or two has become extremely sedate. I was somewhat reliant on having a good draining cardio sport to make me tired enough to sleep, but yeah.........

Perhaps I should go bouldering during the weekday evenings?

Anyhow, while I have like hours to burn. I might as well take this chance to quickly reflect on something I came across on Reddit that has helped me immensely.

View post on imgur.com

This was posted in response to a person losing the motivation to live life to it's fullest. It focuses on helping oneself by following the 4 rules outlined by the picture above:

1. No more zero days
2. Forgive oneself
3. The three you's (or me's!)
4. Exercise and books (doesn't flow as well as the other 3 points haha).

I now try to ensure that everyday, I update myself on a list of things I need to do, whether it is something like chores, or if it's for my health or something. Doing a tiny bit of something is better than nothing. With a list, I know that I will have to complete them if they are important, so with this, I try to ensure that I do something that will go towards shrinking the list everyday.

Forgiving myself is still something I sometimes have trouble with. It's quite easy to go "why didn't I do that earlier you idiot!", and my life seems to be full of these moments, but I need to carry on and forget about the mistakes I've made, and focus on The Three Me's.

The concept of the three me's (or you's) is probably one that should be taught to everyone from a younger age. Or maybe that's just a waste of time, I dunno. Basically, you forgive your past self for something that has happened, apply the first rule of no more zero days so that future you will be grateful!=D This has helped me have a more sustainable feel of motivation when it comes to fitness, as well as helping me juggle work/life commitments/play. I've not perfected it yet, but it'll take time I guess...

Exercise is something I'm getting plenty of now compared to maybe 4-5 years ago. Now with bouldering, I'm using and building all these upper body muscles that I never knew existed! Most noticeable gainz is my upper back/shoulder muscles are getting definedddd, and my forearms are getting huge as well (compared to the rest of my body anyway, I'm still a walking twig). I still have no gunz though, which I don't really care about. It's useable strength that matters!

I gotta read more books though. 

Welp, 2nd physiotherapy session complete, my back/hip area is feeling a bit better now, but my shoulder is still super crunchy.... to the point where its pretty annoying and kinda disgusting.

Anyway, I'll be getting back on the turbo bike tomorrow, and SLOWLY easing it in.

OHHH also, I might be joint buying a Mazda MX5 MK1, so if that happens I might start blogging a bit on here as well. No promises though!

Yearning for #spring to come... #nature #natureporn #countryside #kent #London #cycling

A photo posted by Jihin Ip (@jipip) on Feb 17, 2016 at 4:17am PST

Blog revival?

Welp. It has been years since I've looked at this, but it feels like a good time to start it up again.
What's been gwanin'? Finished uni (don't know when), worked in a chippy, worked in a Japanese restaurant, currently working in a small accountancy firm.

A lot of things changed since back then. Things I have realised. I think I've just started to learn to compromise. Especially when I've been going down a path where I just wasn't happy about where I was.
Cycling as a sport has helped me in a lot of ways in learning and developing myself. But I have realised that it has also reinforced that non-compromising behaviour, where everything on the bicycle can be upgraded, improved, made lighter. Compromise, and the competition around you will leave you to dust.

Or so I thought. I've started to try and compromise recently and trying to made do with what I have instead (which is way more than enough). Instead of finding excuses in my equipment, I've found that just baring with it has allowed me to succeed in ways I would have never imagined a few years ago. I did a few months of track cycling on my fixie bike with just trainers and pedal straps, and somehow progressed to a point where I'm keeping up with some of the fastest guys from Kings and UCL that are supposed to be far superior in the discipline than me (on paper).

This new found gung ho attitude has kinda been my downfall for this year though. I pulled my left gluteus medius over the Christmas holidays, which is a key stabilising muscle in cycling. Without it, a cyclist can't really put out any power. A few weeks later, I went to a house party and met some guys that invited me to bouldering. I had already done a few sessions around a year ago, so I thought "why not". Since then, I have probably done a month and a half of it and I intend to keep it up in the long term to build up dem gunz.

Bouldering is pretty liberating compared to cycling. There's no need to for crazy amounts of equipment. No need to spend 30 minutes of kitting up and stocking up on food, prepping drinks etc.
Instead, I turn up at Bermondsey, pay, change my jeans to some shorts or trackies and climbing shoes, chalk up and climb!

Even though I have found a new sport to fill in the forced cycling hiatus, it still feels like a fill in.

I still miss the masochistic nature of cycling... =(

Working on off season upper body/core training, especially when I pulled a leg msucle... But now I've managed to pull something in my hand instead.. #useless #fishoutofwater #bouldering #fitness #thebiscuitfactory #thearchclimbingwall

A photo posted by Jihin Ip (@jipip) on Jan 30, 2016 at 9:29am PST

Shit..

No. 123

These days feels like weeks, weeks feel like months.
Isn't this what I wanted?

No. 122

Sometimes it feels like everything I do is the wrong move in life...
Is a decision I make, the right decision? Justifiable?

No. 121?

WELL. I haven't posted on this thing for AGES! Same old, exams coming up, and at the height of procrastination, this is the result.
 Oh well. Anyway, recent updates? Cycling has taken up a lot of my time now, especially with this month joining the 30 Days of Biking. Its just a casual event where the aim is to cycle everyday for the month of April regardless of distance, meaning that anyone can join and just do spins around the porch. It still counts!

For me, it was a chance for me to see if I am mentally ready to take it up as a hobby, and with only 3 days of riding left to do, I'd say that this hobby should be sticking with me for quite some time.
It's also taught me to make the most out of the sun as well, especially with the horrific weather for the past week or so!

Probably the thing that I'm happy about the most is how much I have accomplished since I started cycling around 9 months ago. I managed to do a London to Brighton ride with Homing and Aaron last year, and while it took us 8 hours to complete it, the trip was probably the biggest things I have done in my life.

Fast forward to this month, I managed to go on a club run on an extremely wet Sunday, and while it was wet (obviously), cold, and having the rider's wheel in front spraying mud in my face, it was extremely satisfying.
That ride was 50 odd miles, and I was absolutely knackered in the end.



These pictures are all from the London to Brighton ride I did with Calvin and Tahir a week or so after that club ride.

Its great to be able to measure the progress that I have made with a hobby like this, we managed to get to Brighton in just over 3 hours!

And this is what I did it on this time round. If it wasn't for this bike, hanging in my room for months, taunting me that I made what felt like the most unjustified purchase in my life, I wouldn't have made the effort in my commutes to be a stronger rider.

A stronger individual.
I can safely say that its justified now.

GT5: FT-86 Concept @ Trial Mountain

SO. Holiday's are here!!!! And that means stuffing myself with roast! The four assignments I had were not too bad, although the IT one was ridiculous.... They expected us to do the coursework using a program that we didn't get any practice on until two weeks before the deadline...
Anyway, exams are coming up, since I am doing five modules this semester, I only need to do three modules next semester. YES. So, better work hard through this holiday.......

Anyway, game wise, I've started to play (and started to spend way too much time) playing League of legends, but there really isn't much to say about that game... Especially when there isn't much to screenshot in the first place.

GT5 wise, I started experimenting with drifting cars again, I realised that I should switch to comfort-hard tires, as they are used for competitions as well as being generally easier to gain points in for the drift trials. The FT-86 was the first one I experimented with, and to be honest with you, its pretty nuts. Tuned to 300BHP and stripped out to an absurd weight of 850kg, this car flies around corners sideways at a neck-break speed. I chose this because the new FT-86 production model has been receiving a load of publicity, and I thought it was a good idea to try it out. I don't think I'm good enough to use this car yet, and if I do, probably downgrade the power a bit......

SO STOKED FOR THE NEXT DLC, I WANT THAT FT-86!!!!!

Game search attempt

Brian tried to find a childhood PC game, it had those chinese pandas, and it was a clone of lemmings. He googled panda lemmings.

GT5: SPOON CRZ @ SSR5

Getting a bit busy with university work now, so this is definitely going to start slowing down in terms of the regularity of posts.

Anyway, I hope this style of photo enhancing is going the right direction, it certainly has more contrasts between the lights and darks which was what I was aiming for, since the play on shadows is a lot more interesting for me rather than trying to have a rather flat (colour wise) but detailed picture...

GT5: INTEGRA TYPE R (DC5) @ NORDSCHLEIFE

The first endurance race that we had entered, we used this car. Its probably why I used the Championship White colour on the Gallardo. Anyway, the race was on Grand Valley Speedway, and since it was our first endurance race, we overtuned the car. Not only this car was competitive, it absolutely tore apart the other cars we were racing, which were mostly stock japanese cars. Oh well, at least it meant it didn't take so long to finish!

GT5: Lamborghini Gallardo @ San Galgano

"Why Jihin, I thought you don't like non Japanese cars?"

Well yea... I guess this is an exception. This particular Gallardo is probably one of the first cars that I had properly developed for grip racing, and rightly so, as this was the car that me, Brian and Aaron took on the 4 Hour Nurburgring endurance race around the Type V layout.

Since we decided to do this race, we needed a car that would be able to handle predictably, so that Brian and Aaron would be able to do the 20-30 minute sessions that was required. We knew we were up against an Amuse S2000 GT1 and a HPA tuned Audi TT, so I went off to look for an AWD car. First obvious choice was a Nissan R35 spec V, but it became apparent that there was not enough downforce compared to the rivals. This Gallardo was actually a joint choice between me and Aaron, and so I went to buy it to see what it had.

The first thing that was quite obvious was the amount of downforce that the new bodykit generated. It still wasn't enough, but the fact that it looked so mean after the transformation that we decided to stick with it. Coupled with a set of power upgrades that didn't max out the power output, but to ensure that it exceeds the opposing cars to make up for the deficit of downforce, I was sure that this would be a competitive race machine.

Of course, with this much power, I actually spent a good amount of time adjusting the suspension settings to make the power more manageable. Taking advantage of the AWD system, the power was set to a 50/50 ratio for the front and rear, so that there would be no sudden oversteer. Spring strength, camber and toe were also adjusted, but I left the damper settings because I had no idea what they did. Still no idea what they do, but leaving them seemed like a good decision. A spray of Championship White was applied as a seal of approval, and the car was ready to race....

And so, this was the ridiculous part. I cycled to Aaron's house with the PS3 on my back, since the save file was on my PS3. From there, we cycled to Brian's. We did around 2 hours of the race and then had a pizza break, then went on to finish off the last two hours of the race. It was actually a pretty close race. On the last lap, with the car's tires almost worn down to the canvas, the HUD flickered, and suddenly we were in last place. I was driving the last few laps, and when I saw that I was thinking "....WHAT???" Thankfully when I passed the finish line, the HUD flickered back to 1st.

Man if we didn't come first in that..... We would have had to go through all of that again....xD

GT5: LFA @ KYOTO