Hi all,
Have been lurking for some time, posted a few things, but decided it's time to actually create a thread to cover our little Mighty Boy.
He's an '85 model, factory stock, in reasonable condition, and we picked him up with 137,000kms on the clock. My brother Tom and I got him with the intention of doing motorkhana and khanacross events as a Mighty Boy just squeezes into class A in the national series. FDW, nice and small, light weight; we figured it would be a decent amount of fun for not a whole lot of money. Current plan is to flog hell out of the F5A until it dies or we get bored, then go chasing power. Personally I'm leaning towards the F8 or G10 swap, but many others are encouraging the turbo route. Beyond that, stupid wheels and tyres, some suspension work, and as much weight saving as is practical/within the rules is the overall theory. On with what's actually happened though!
We drove down to the south coast of NSW one Saturday morning in early August to meet Colin and came back with this little beast.
The trip home was somewhat of an eye opener. It was slow. And by that, I mean it was impressively slow. We came back via Nerriga/Tarago and there were multiple hills where I couldn't maintain 60km/h... It's really not *that* bad around town, you just have to think about what you're doing that little bit more, but it's not my favourite car on the highway.
First step was to remove the canopy. A few days later we picked up a set of Ford Laser wheels with Formula Ford tyres from Brayden.
And then had our first crack at a motorkhana with the MG club of Canberra.
We dual entered for what was our first ever khana in something that wasn't an MX5 and it was a little different. FWD and no power will take some getting used to, but even just my lines were way off. End result was 12th for me and 13th for Tom, a touch under two second between us, 24 seconds behind outright 1st, and 18 seconds behind our only other in class competitor that day, a Cappuccino.
Nothing much changed for a while. I want overseas on a holiday and Tom managed to be interstate for the next khanacross. Then just last weekend I tagged along with the Clubman Owners Group for a day and managed to have a play on a set of corner scales.
Fuel tank was roughly 3/4 full. Spare wheel was under the tray.
559kg
65/35 front/rear balance
52/48 left/right balance
LF RF
LR RR
196 170
94 99
The next day I had another motorkhana to attend, although Tom was again interstate so I was on my own.
This time went a little better. I'm starting to get the hang of driving it but still really need to learn that the car isn't as wide as I think it is. Every time I made a left hand turn I was at least a foot from the flag. More practice required!
Results this time had me 7th outright and 1st in class. I was 15 seconds off 1st outright, but only 4 seconds off 3rd. A significant improvement from the first event.
And that's where we're at so far. It still needs more power but I'm really enjoying learning to drive something so different to my old MX5. Maybe power can wait until we get better at driving, or maybe the right donor vehicle turns up tomorrow and we swap in another engine over Christmas. I'm really not fussed at this stage.
Joe/Tom's Mighty Boy
Thanks for sharing, and I look forward to more updates in the future.
I'll have to keep my eye out for local khana events to enter. Might give you an opportunity to see how a modded/turbo MB handles.
I'll have to keep my eye out for local khana events to enter. Might give you an opportunity to see how a modded/turbo MB handles.
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
Brilliant.
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
Excellent. If you need help with the conversion give me a yell.
F8B EFI turbo - Three pots and a snail.
More motorkhana on the weekend. Still with just the F5A though. I finally got some time to work on the car a few weekends ago but made the call not to start on the conversion until after this event. We probably could have got it done in time, particularly with a hard deadline to aim for, but decided to play it safe instead.
Khana was good. Results aren't out yet but just off comparing times with some of the other guys, I think we we're way closer to the front than we had any right to be. I'm definitely getting better at driving the car as I get more used to the style required, but there's still plenty of time left in it even as it is. I was particularly disappointed with some of my slaloms - I'm still turning way too much and leaving far too much room on the passenger side. Even when I tell myself that the car isn't as wide as I think it is right before a run, I still run wide. Got to have things to work on though, right?
Still three wheels like a boss though...
Will also have to have a look at the handbrake soon too. Presumably just an adjustment thing but it really didn't want to lock up for us.
Khana was good. Results aren't out yet but just off comparing times with some of the other guys, I think we we're way closer to the front than we had any right to be. I'm definitely getting better at driving the car as I get more used to the style required, but there's still plenty of time left in it even as it is. I was particularly disappointed with some of my slaloms - I'm still turning way too much and leaving far too much room on the passenger side. Even when I tell myself that the car isn't as wide as I think it is right before a run, I still run wide. Got to have things to work on though, right?
Still three wheels like a boss though...
Will also have to have a look at the handbrake soon too. Presumably just an adjustment thing but it really didn't want to lock up for us.
very cool story joe + tom,
khana is grass roots for killer car control - all kids should do something
like this before getting there P plates. best to learn with minimal HP like
you guys have.
loving the rear wheel in the air - I got my car with the same canopy as yours.
I pulled it off in jan and it is now with another m/boy member on here.
you + I will be changing engs about the same time - not sure what my new eng
is like - F8B with man 4 spd - I hope it is not shagged.
the yellow rocket should hammer with the big block 1000cc in it. my mate over
here got an inj auto 1000cc - goes like stink.....
at least you got the m/boy king over there to help you out.
I got the m/boy king of WA to help me out....
khana is grass roots for killer car control - all kids should do something
like this before getting there P plates. best to learn with minimal HP like
you guys have.
loving the rear wheel in the air - I got my car with the same canopy as yours.
I pulled it off in jan and it is now with another m/boy member on here.
you + I will be changing engs about the same time - not sure what my new eng
is like - F8B with man 4 spd - I hope it is not shagged.
the yellow rocket should hammer with the big block 1000cc in it. my mate over
here got an inj auto 1000cc - goes like stink.....
at least you got the m/boy king over there to help you out.
I got the m/boy king of WA to help me out....
Thanks g man. Couldn't agree more on how useful it is for car control.
In other news, results are in from the weekend. I came away with 1st in class (barely beating an old housemate of mine in a Cappucino), and 6th outright. Only 6.3 seconds off outright 1st too! Another significant improvement from the last event.
Tom didn't have a great start to the day and took a little getting used to the car again, but ended up 3rd in class and 12th outright.
Very happy with the result but as I said the other day, still lots of time left in it. What's particularly motivating is just how close we were to the leader half way through the day. After the first three tests I was only 0.5 seconds behind. Dropped off the pace pretty savagely after that though, and I'll blame the lack of power on some of the straighter tests (lost 2.2, 1.8, and 4.4 over the last three tests). More big block needed!
In other news, results are in from the weekend. I came away with 1st in class (barely beating an old housemate of mine in a Cappucino), and 6th outright. Only 6.3 seconds off outright 1st too! Another significant improvement from the last event.
Tom didn't have a great start to the day and took a little getting used to the car again, but ended up 3rd in class and 12th outright.
Very happy with the result but as I said the other day, still lots of time left in it. What's particularly motivating is just how close we were to the leader half way through the day. After the first three tests I was only 0.5 seconds behind. Dropped off the pace pretty savagely after that though, and I'll blame the lack of power on some of the straighter tests (lost 2.2, 1.8, and 4.4 over the last three tests). More big block needed!
Jeo - it would be fun to build a khana car with a m/cycle
eng on board - far lighter than the heavy eng in the front.
no rear brakes, no tail gate or r/bumper, no spare wheel etc - really get
it light and she will fly....
could be a good brother bonding project....
keep on racing - you guys are doing great.
eng on board - far lighter than the heavy eng in the front.
no rear brakes, no tail gate or r/bumper, no spare wheel etc - really get
it light and she will fly....
could be a good brother bonding project....
keep on racing - you guys are doing great.
Kinda. Two trains of thought are currently driving the direction we're headed with the car; cheap and in class.
We're building to the regulations of the national championships as well as that of our local series. Most important things here are that it has to be road registered, pass a noise test, and retain at least 90% of the factory weight (including things like door trim, dash, working lights, etc). So while we will be able to get away with the G10A, any crazy engine swaps are well and truly out.
Other big thing is cost. I spent more than enough money on my last track car, an MX5, and wanted this to be far more of a budget build. Being competitive at the local level would be nice, but I don't expect to be playing at the front of the national series. Really I just want to drive the thing and spend as little as possible. The theory is that we'll manage to have ~95% of the fun for ~10% of the cost.
We're building to the regulations of the national championships as well as that of our local series. Most important things here are that it has to be road registered, pass a noise test, and retain at least 90% of the factory weight (including things like door trim, dash, working lights, etc). So while we will be able to get away with the G10A, any crazy engine swaps are well and truly out.
Other big thing is cost. I spent more than enough money on my last track car, an MX5, and wanted this to be far more of a budget build. Being competitive at the local level would be nice, but I don't expect to be playing at the front of the national series. Really I just want to drive the thing and spend as little as possible. The theory is that we'll manage to have ~95% of the fun for ~10% of the cost.