Every story starts somewhere. In Aston’s case he had actually brought the now Asahi livery car as a parts car for his (at the time) black 1.8litre NC1. But unfortunately he crashed his black NC1 into wall at 50MPH! He tells me this was a sign to him to let the black NC1 car go. So his plans changed up and he ended up building the grey now “Asahi” livery NC1. You can see the initial states of both cars during this change era a bit below.
Aston being a mechanic at Porsche knew exactly what was involved in making the once donor chassis his daily. Just like 98% of us, Aston still claims the car is nearly complete. He uses this car for his daily work commute to Porsche. This said he still takes it on track days whenever he can with other fellow NC owners in his shared groups he’s part of.
Aston can be found on the internet under the handles of @astnns on Instagram.
Quick glance
Deep dive
Let’s dig deeper and find out what else Aston has done to his car. What parts he’s used and where he got them from. Starting inside and out.
Interior
(random design of interior photos here)
Starting with the inside of the car, Aston has decided to change up quite a few important parts. Such as removing the stock SRS steering-wheel and changing it to a more appropriate Nardi steering-wheel. Since Aston has also changed the SRS seats for some FIA spec Corbeau bucket seats equipped with Williams six point racing harnesses. Of course this wouldn’t be complete without changing the most useless stock roll-hoop-bar for a proper bit of kit from GCFab. Finally let’s not forget my favorite part, the G-Racing short-shifter from all the way from the man himself Keith Goldwin at G-Racing in Miami. I too also use the same 6spd short-shifter on my own personal car and cannot recommend it enough. Aston has great taste.
Interior parts list
- Nardi Steering-wheel 350mm – Buy here
- NRG MX-5 NC/RX-8 Boss – Buy here
- NRG Quick-release – Buy here
- Corbeau FIA bucket seats – Buy here
- Williams Six Point harness – Buy here
- GCFab soft-top NC rollbar – Buy here
- G-Racing short shifter NC1 6spd variant – Buy here
Moving onto the exterior of Aston’s vehicle. Things get quite interesting as you’ll see in just a moment.
Exterior
(random design of exterior photos here)
Let’s kick off with the suspension Aston runs. Again same as myself, using BC-Racing BR-series with a spring rate of X in the front and X in the rear. Very good value set of fully adjustable coilovers that money can buy. From here Aston decided he to equip the car with RX-8 yellow-dot anti-roll-bars to stiffen up body roll, especially on track. He then decided the stock wheels were no good and opted for some Sparco Tera wheels, totally transforming the car to something unique on the outside. Finishing up on the exterior with a NC3 front bumper swap and a MDA front-lip to go from the rather stoned looking NC1 front bumper to the high as a kite NC3 smile shape. Aston has since added some custom livery decals such as the Asahi Japanese beer company logo on the side. His reason? Simply he enjoys Asahi Super Dry beer. I’m a big fan of the aesthetic of this car.
Exterior parts list
- BC-Racing BR-series for NC MX-5/RX-8 – Buy here
- Mazda RX-8 yellow dot sway bars
- Sparco Tera 17x8J ET45 wheels – Buy here
- Tyres
- Mazda NC3 front bumper
- MDA NC3 front lip – Buy here
Now we can get into the meat and potatoes of this car. Wondering what Aston’s drivetrain is? Wait no longer.
Under-the-hood
(random design of drivetrain photos here)
Now for the spicy sauce. So as of early twenty-twenty-six Aston still retains the stock 2.0litre LF-VE with the intention of swapping a 2.5 Duratech engine in there in the future. He has swapped the heavy single-mass-flywheel out for a lighter weight option to improve rev-matching and engine response. Aston chose to use a RacingBeat decat 4-1 header to replace the heavily restrictive catted Mazda header. Not only improving the sound but letting his engine breath more efficiently and thus making more power.
Under-the-hood parts list
- CompetitionClutch lighter flywheel – Buy here
- RacingBeatEurope decat 4-1 header manifold – Buy here
- z
Additional comments by Aston
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If you’ve read this far then thank you for taking the time to read my article on Aston’s build. If you have an interesting build that you’d like to share with the world wide web then please get in contact with me. I’d be happy to share any build from simple to obscure. These articles will get updated periodically as owners upgrade their builds. Since you’ve gotten this far it tells me you’re a keen reader, how about checking out the rest of the blogsite?
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