JaguarJay

Update time!
I've been quite busy with school and stuff lately, so I haven't really done anything to my car apart from driving it, but here's what I have bought in the last week(s)

Can't seem to add any pictures at the moment, I'm sorry :(

The injectors came in the mail. I'm gonna need four of those rebuild/reseal kits to properly seal them as they were sold as "used" parts, but I'm pretty hyped to drop them in.. Guess I'll have to wait a bit more.

Also went to the wreckers to get myself a BMW TPS, the one I got was the only one out of 5 BMWs where the screws weren't rusted so much I couldn't get them loose. €5 though, you can't beat that!

I also designed a spacer/mount for the BMW TPS, which is being printed as I am typing this (if they didn't already stop the printing process :S) I'm getting excited to get the TPS on so that I can properly tune the Acceleration Enrichment and get the launch control & flat shift working! :P

Oh yeah and I also got a mate to weld up the manifold (and downpipe) in about 1 1/2 week so that's happening as well

That's really it. More pics soon if the picture adding thing works (again)

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Did I say the 19th? I meant today, lol.

JaguarJay

*blows dust off of thread*

I finally have some time on my hands the coming weeks so my goal is to have it turbo by the end of next month.. All I need is a downpipe and some surgery on my manifold.
Installed the RX8 injectors today (again massive thanks to sixshooter for supplying me with the rebuild kit!), after some messing around with the fuel tables in MS (MS didn't feel like changing the amount of injected fuel when I altered the required fuel cell) it runs kind of fine. It's a little rich now and then, but it's smooth. Until I was driving around for a couple of minutes, everything seemed fine so I did some small pulls, when I got off the highway it decided it needed something like AFR 9.0 or it ran on less than 4 cilinder. I put it in neutral and coasted to the nearest safe stop. After some more tries it fired right up how it was supposed to (some problems seem to fix themselves??) Didn't skip a beat for the rest of the way home.. Will find out tomorrow if it's still as reliable as it used to be. I'm going to further tune it whenever I find someone who feels like driving a slow miata. :P

Old injectors turned out to be in desperate need of some form of replacement.. Maybe this was why I couldn't get it to idle smoothly?

The injectors installed.. Looks a lot cleaner with the yellow body ones (and the fact that they're clean helps as well)

Also decided the A-pillar needed a paintjob (had some ugly spots) I went for some black because IMO it looks badass with a black A-pillar and a black hardtop

Finished product with the painted A-pillar, turned out allright in my opinion

Last but not least it was time to get rid of the black (electrical tape) ricing stripes. I went and ordered some red vinyl because I really liked the stripes on the front fender. Also tried to wrap the mirrors but that **** is hard :') I am going to plasti dip them Gloss Red because ATM it looks terrible from the inside.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

The black windshield pillar looks really good.

JaguarJay

So it's been a long time since I posted anything here, but I'm still alive, and so is my car!

Okay so the initial turbo build is finally done! The turbo is on and it works, it whistles, and fluids stay inside the turbo and engine. (pictures/videos will follow) Only problems are that the downpipe or exhaust is touching the chassis/engine at some points due to vibrations, which gives a rattling sound. I'll get that sorted out ASAP. Another problem I encountered is that the cooling fan doesn't turn on. The engine heats up past the in MS specified 87.8 Celcius and the fan doesn't turn on. I checked the connector that connects to the fan and there was 12V running through the connector, which means either the wires on the fan are toast, or the motor isn't as lively as it used to be.

Considering the bottom bolts on the cooling fan are stuck beyond saviour and a new radiator and cooling fan combo would set me back at least 300€ (excluding coolant and having to change the coolant AGAIN, I'm not at all looking forward to that), I would like to know if any of you wizards have an idea on how to resurrect my trusty old cooling fan? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

That's it for me for today, I'm gonna try and sleep and dream about turbo whoosh and turbo flutter

EDIT: Oh and I forgot to mention, my thought process went like: If the connector going to the fan (the one that connects to the fan) gets 12V when the ECU tells ALED to turn on, at least the relay and the fuse are intact and it rules out any problem with the ECU and wiring up to the connector.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

I could have brought a new motor.

JaguarJay

Is the motor replaceable with the fan mounted on the radiator? If so I might be able to find a motor somewhere and repair it untill I get one of these multi core aluminium radiators, (or whatever they're called) which is the next mod I'm going to do if the clutch holds. I can get a new fan along with that, that wouldn't be a problem.

Also, are there any mechanical ways to check if the motor works while the fan is on the car? I heard jumping the two connections on the plug that goes in the thermostat housing should turn the fan on but I doubt if that works with MS.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Put 12v to the fan motor connection right there by the radiator.

JaguarJay

Okay I have yet to figure out how, but the radiator fan started working all of a sudden and hasn't missed anything the last 6 days *knocks on wood*, that gives me a bit more time to get some money together for a new radiator and radiator fan. I might be getting a random scrapyard smaller fan and install it next to the primary fan for just that little bit more cooling. Also I noticed my clutch is on it's way out because I can't really shift from 1>2 and 2>3 quickly without the clutch slipping on full throttle, but it'll hold good enough for now, no slipping in 4th so just some gentle shifting is required.

I found out the wastegate on my Saab turbo is set to around 5 psi, most of you would probably argue if it was all worth it for such a 'low' boost pressure, but that's definitely good enough for me for now. (that would put me somewhere in the 140-150whp range wouldn't it? I know it depends on more factors than just boost pressure but yeah) The car, at least for me, sure feels like a rocketship now. The turbo spools surprisingly quick, it starts spooling at around 2500 rpm and it's on the full 5 psi at 3000 rpm, so for a stock gearing 1.6 there's almost no turbo lag

I found out at the inspection this week that my sills are in desperate need of some form of replacement, so I'm bringing my car to an MX-5 specialist next month for replacement of the sills. The dude is known for his good work and as far as I know you can almost be sure it won't rust as quickly anymore. It'll cost me quite some money, but it'll be worth it in the end. Next mods will be a new 'performance' radiator, a new fan, I might do a diy cheapo coolant reroute if I can find a good tutorial online (haven't really looked into it yet so be gentle :P), a new clutch (which should at least be enough for 190whp, which is my goal for this motor), I'm going to service the engine in the very near future (new cam-/crankshaft seals, new water pump, thermostat, timing belt, etc.) because there's some oil bleeding out of the engine. Apart from that I probably have more in mind but I can't recall :P

Now for the part you've all been waiting for...
..the picture(s) of the turbo installed!



Also please notice the super legit looking DIY cooling plate thing I have made with some sheet metal and an angle grinder. I'm going to get rid of the charcoal canister thing soon and I have the US (miata) washer fluid reservoir laying around because this thing can hold about a coffee cup worth of washer fluid, the rest drains out just as fast as you can pour it in.

So that's been it, I'm enjoying driving it even more now with the extra power and the noises the turbo makes. I didn't think the Miata was that slow stock, but now I'll admit that this is one of the best things to do to your Miata (when done properly at least, not the cringe-worthy 150$ miata turbo build by haggard garage.. I honestly feel bad for any car they get their hands on)

JaguarJay

Okay there's been some really bad news for me. The car needed new sills for the inspection, but while the old ones were cut out by the welder, it turned out most of the 'inside' of the car has been rusting to pieces. Let's put it this way; I thought I owned 1 MX5 while I actually owned about 0.75 MX5. Repairs for this chassis would cost in excess of €2500,- and that's only for the rear right part of the car. Say the left needs the same treatment and the front has some crappy rust spots as well and €7500 wouldn't be unrealistic.

Such a shame, I had just finished the turbo build and the repairs would've been the last amount of money I would have put into this car for a while. As it turns out the car wants more attention and it'll take a lot more money and time.

My plan is to completely strip this chassis of everything. Engine, driveline, suspension, interior, wiring, roof.. EVERYTHING will be pulled out of this. This chassis will either be saved to practice welding on or scrapped and I'm going to get a new chassis (with little to no rust :S)
While everything is out I'll be rebuilding the engine (no forged parts as I don't nearly have enough money for that), just a giant service, replacing all the seals and worn down parts. Also I'm replacing all the parts that are hard to replace when the car is in one piece. I'm going to sand(blast) all the subframes and suspension arms and paint them to prevent rust. All suspension parts will get new bushes and everything will be cleaned. The new chassis will be painted blue and all the parts that come off the current car will also be painted, I've always wanted a blue miata so this is my opportunity. Also I'm leaning towards a different colored engine bay.. I'm thinking white The bottom of the new chassis will be treated to prevent rust. As my car won't be moving for a while I've got time to restore and paint the wheels and the hardtop. I'm gonna do some custom work on the interior with suede and preferably new seats, also new door cards with pullstraps to close the doors, as that looks freakin' awesome in my opinion. While all the interior parts are out I want to apply some isolation to the interior. (yes, I know it'll weigh more but the car is loud as f*ck on the highway so I'd like a little more comfort)

All in all, the build continues. I'm thinking of documenting the entire process in either pictures or video. If it's gonna be video I'm going to start a youtube channel to publish it all on, because I've been wanting to do that for a while now and this will be the most interesting thing I do/have done. Either way this post will be updated, stay tuned. Next weekend will be the first time I get to see the car again this week and I'm going to start pulling it apart then.

ryansmoneypit

iTrader: (6)

Good luck man. Your choice to continue on instead of giving up, is inspiring. Good job.

JaguarJay

Thanks, it's always nice to hear something like that! I did consider to pull everything apart and sell the car in parts, but since there's not really an interesting other car I can buy on my budget (mostly because of running costs) It would probably come down to buying another miata. My only other consideration was a 6 cylinder BMW 3 Series but those things weigh a lot more (taxes are dependant on vehicle weight and fuel type over here) and cost more in insurance. But I figured that after all the work I put into this car, I have some kind of emotional bond to the car. It just feels wrong to get rid of it, even if it's just the parts.
The best part about my current plan is that I already have every part to build a miata, I just need to take it off the old one. :P And this way I can build a miata the way I have always wanted one, and I will know the condition of every part. On the plus side, a rust free miata is around €5k+ over here, sometimes even double that when the mileage is low. A stripped down chassis is a lot cheaper, even if there's little to no rust. (saw one for €500 the other day, pretty much no rust whatsoever, too bad it was already scrapped because the seller needed the space or something) Bottom line is I'll always be able to sell it after the rebuild for quite a profit, but I don't think I will

DaWaN

I would suggest to reshell the car and not try to fix the old chassis.

I am in the same boat as you are with my NB, it is completely rusty and every time I take something off with the angle grinder I find more rust.
I already replaced the two front chassis legs (from the subframe to the nose of the car, notorious spot for NBs to rust).
Arches and sills have already some work done to them and I am sure I will find more rust under there.
I basically have all the parts ready to put the car back together, but no motivation to do so. The car is in 1001 bits since 3 years now...
So unless you are planning working 2/3 evenings a week on the car, fixing all the rust will be a very lengthy project.

As for car choice: the MX-5 is indeed a very good choice for low-cost enthusiast motoring in The Netherlands.
There are no RWD substitutes
During my student years I have always run a Civic w/D16Y8 swap and while those can be faster than the MX-5 on the same budget, they do not drive as nice as the MX-5!

A driving car really helps with motivation for the project though: so I would suggest to keep the current shell MOT/APK worthy and try to find a nice shell while it is still running.

JaguarJay

I don't know if I didn't explain myself correctly, but I am essentially going to reshell the car yeah. As I said, I want to pull every part off of this one and put it on another one with less/no rust. I figured I might as well paint everything I want to paint and do some maintenance and upgrades while I'm at it/ everything is already apart.

Keeping this shell MOT/APK worthy is the entire problem. The MOT/APK expires tomorrow (30th of September) and fixing it requires a lot of welding on the chassis. (more than 2500€ worth of welding that is) I know how you feel with the angle grinder. Under the top layer of the car the rust has eaten most of the car over the years, which is mainly the fault of one of the previous owners' mentality towards repairs. The car, structurally, resembles swiss cheese, which is why I decided not to spend any more money on repairing it. I will most certainly cost more than a complete, assembled and rust free MX5. Also I'm sure if it would get repaired, new rust related issues will pop up within a year so I've already set my mind on reshelling/rebuilding it.
Since I'm a student I don't have that much money to spend on repairs while rebuilding it on another shell/base costs less money, only more time. Time I have, money not so much :P
I'm lucky enough I can use my mother's Toyota Aygo as means of transportation while my car is out of order, so I don't really have a problem with a big project like that.

As soon as I have everything to put the car together I am sure it will take a lot of time, but I am 100% sure I'll have the motivation to do it. Wrenching on a car is something I love to do so I guess that wouldn't be much of a problem for me

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

Sorry for your misfortune but I admire your determination. Good luck with your search for a solid chassis.

JaguarJay

Here's an update for anyone who is interested

I already started taking the car apart and I already got most of the interior out. It's just the heater core that's left (need to drain the coolant first to remove that) and the carpet, the A-pillar trim, the ECU, pedals, steering rack and wiring. After the interior is out I think I'm going to start taking the drivetrain out (diff, gearbox, engine, etc.) After that the Suspension and subframes and last but not least I'm going to take all the panels off, should be mostly stripped by then.

I contacted some people for a shell and I might have someone who might be able to sell me the stripped chassis for €300. That's a hell of a lot cheaper than a €2500 rust repair

I'm also looking into some replacements/upgrades when all the parts are off of the car. Polyurethane bushings (is that even a good idea? It's a street driven car and I've heard they're really stiff, roads aren't too bad over here), new flywheel and clutch, full engine service, etc. Now for the bushings there's not much of a choice in Europe as far as I can tell. I found the IL Motorsport ones which go for around €350 which isn't that much more expensive than stock replacement rubber ones.

For the clutch & flywheel I'm looking at a Stage 3 competition clutch, and a competition lightweight 1.8 flywheel. Are these any good? They say the stage 3 should hold around 200 wtq (which I assume is 200 lb ft or whatever it's called, which translates to 271 Nm) I'm guessing that should be enough for my 190-200whp goal. I can get that clutch and flywheel for around €600, so that's still somewhat reasonable for me. The FM Clutch happy meal isn't realistic for me because of import fees and bullshit because it's from 'Murica.

Apart from that there won't be any "big and expensive mods", apart from the color of the car. I'm thinking something along the lines of an R34 Skyline's Bayside Blue, but it doesn't have to be an exact replica of that color.
Some other things I want to do to the car while it's in pieces is some suede in the interior and mount the boost and AFR gauge on the a-pillar, so I can acutally see them while driving :')
I might get a 1.8 open diff (the torsen ones are way too expensive for me at the moment) so it can hold just that little bit more power. Just to be safe since I am going to shoot for the 200 whp now, I have heard 1.6 diffs don't really like that magical number

That's it! I'd really appreciate it if anyone has some tips or something for me regarding the parts I want

UPDATE: Just been looking at the stage 4 Competition clutch, which will probably be overkill for me, but since it's only €12 more expensive I might consider that, just in case I'm ever going to upgrade past 200 whp. :P But I've heard the 6-pad clutches are noisy when (dis)engaging, pedal feel and engagement I can get used to, but are they really that noisy? I do plan on getting some sound isolation in the car whenever it's apart. I don't mind a little sound but I'm not sure what kind of sound it is and if I can get used to that.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

I say always go a little stronger than you need for the clutch. You will always have power creeping up over time as you make improvements and clutches last a pretty long time.

Do you have to pay big taxes if the items (like bushings) are not boxed like retail sale items? Let's say you had a plastic bag full of nondescript bushings with no logos or any packaging?

JaguarJay

Stage 3 would already be overkill, but since the price of the stage 4 is not that much higher I might just go for the stage 4, because I can :P

I don't really know the laws regarding unmarked (boxed) stuff here. There's a rumor going round that if anything is sent in a box with no receipts as a 'gift' there's no taxes and import fees involved, as they don't know what the value of the goods is. Apart from that I have no idea how much it costs to ship something like bushings overseas.
Just FYI, the import fees and taxes are being calculated something like this: (the value of the goods + shipping) * import fees * taxes. The import fees for car parts are 3-4.5% and the taxes are 21%.
For example if I would like the flyin' miata happy meal clutch/flywheel kit (just an example, I already know it's too expensive for me), that's $600, say it's a rather optimistic 100$ shipping since it's probably quite a heavy/big package, that's $700. Delivered to my doorstep that would be $700 * 1.04 * 1.21 = $880 and some change. In euros that's approximately €789.
This is just to give you an indication on why I try not to order anything from overseas. The entire problem is, before the package is imported, you have no idea if they are even going to intercept it and check the contents or just leave it alone, let alone if they know what the value is, it's kind of a gamble.

On the other hand, if bushings from the US are much cheaper than over here I might give it a shot. The only requirement is that if they DO find out what it's worth, the price including taxes and import fees is not that much higher than the price over here. I'm not going to try and save €20 with the risk of having to pay €70 more if it gets checked.

EDIT: It's funny how it works.. Just checked out some bushings from flyin' miata and the rubber ones are $419, because (and this is the fun part) they are from IL Motorsport, a German company. Over here they're €355, which makes them around $20 cheaper over here! That's a first :')
I also found out you have to regrease polyurethane bushings every now and again, so I guess I will get the IL Motorsport rubber ones as they are still stiffer than stock.

DaWaN

The bushing kit is even cheaper from the UK:
Bush Set, 22 Piece, Front Rear Suspension Arms, Mk1 2 2.5
Ordering stuff from the UK is painless as long as you can pay through PayPal (do not do a bank/wire transfer as it is expensive as hell because of the currency conversion, PayPay is much better). Shipping from the UK to The Netherlands is also very reasonable priced.

I have mixed experience with ordering stuff from the US. Sometimes stuff can be stuck in customs for weeks and that is really annoying.
And I have never been lucky with stuff from the US w.r.t. customs (import tax) either. Stuff from China passes the customs without being taxed much more often for me.

I would strongly suggest to not go with cheap polyurethane bushings as they can bind, if they do they can break wishbones and make your car very unsafe.
I would rather have worn OEM rubber bushings than binding polyurethane bushings.

As for your flywheel: I have a spare 1.8 flywheel if you need one.
Also: in Europe all MX-5's starting from 1994 should have the bigger differential, also the 1.6's. So it does not have to be a 1.8 diff, just check if it is the big diff.

JaguarJay

Oh I didn't know about the diffs, thanks for the info, that makes the search a little easier.

Apart from that I already stepped away from the poly bushings idea, it's going to be too much of a hassle to maintain them. I'm just going to get a new set of rubber ones, since the car is mainly street driven anyway. Thanks for pointing out the bushings on Mx5parts though, I hadn't found them yet and they are indeed quite a lot cheaper.
About ordering the stuff from the UK, I know that's pretty convenient. I've already done that multiple times and it's never been a problem. Shipping is not expensive at all and it usually arrives within reasonable time.

About the flywheel, I'm not sure yet if I want a full sized, "heavyweight" flywheel since I love to heel-toe downshift :P I also read that the stronger clutches 'prefer' a lighter flywheel since it is easier on the clutch. I also like the idea of the revs dropping faster when the clutch is in, because the stock 1.6 flywheel had too much momentum for me to shift quickly without the tires chirping/clutch slipping. (mainly clutch slipping) On the other hand, I don't know how much you can lighten a 1.8 flywheel so if the price is right it might be a realistic option, but by no means have I decided yet :')