THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
> the clock Is ticking on our BID to get project mx5.7 to red centrenats
AS WE go to print, there are just three weeks until the Red Centrenats, and the list of things still to do on our MX-5 is longer than the things we’ve done. But the turning point is near, and with most of the heavy lifting already done by the crew at All Race Fabrications, we’re on track to have our twin-turbo Ls1-powered beast cruising the streets of Alice Springs from 1 September.
So why build a twin-turbo LS1 Mazda in the first place? Well, the main attraction of the Red Centrenats is they will give you a permit to drive just about anything on the street. So we wanted to build something so mental that it couldn’t be street-driven anywhere else – and this thing is going to be nuts. We’re talking close to 1000hp and a fighting weight of 1000kg!
Obviously we weren’t just going to drop 1000hp into a standard MX-5 shell, so Bubba and his crew at All Race Fabrications had some work to do, including fitting wheel tubs, adding additional chassis rails, fitting a custom four-link set-up with a 31-spline nine-inch and mounting our LS1 and Powerglide combo. The original plan was to also fit a basic rollbar, but after we sat down and thought about it, we decided that a full chrome-moly ’cage was a much better idea!
The LS1 is being built by Powerhouse Engines and it’s packing a bunch of cool parts like CP pistons, K1 rods, Cometic gaskets, Ferrea valves and a beautiful billet Plazmaman intake. Boost will be supplied by a pair of custom GT35 huffers from GCG Turbos, while the pipework and tuning will be done by the guys at MPW Performance. LS Xtreme will handle the conversion wiring.
The transmission is going to be a full-house Powerglide built by Allfast Converters in WA, and they’re doing the converter as well. With oils and fluids from Valvoline, filters by Ryco, wastegates and blow-off valves from Turbosmart and a whole fuel system full of gear from Raceworks, our Project MX5.7 is going to be a potent weapon. It’ll fry tyres with ease and fly down the quarter, delivering a massive smile to whoever is along for the ride.
You can check out episode two of the build on streetmachine.com.au, and stay tuned for our RCN experience in episode three, towards the end of September.