SafetyFast

Howdy from Arizona! This is my first time on these forums. My Miata (Cerebus the Miatarrdvark) is currently in Grand Junction undergoing a de-Uberfication. In its place there will be a FMII installed. Since the motor is a FM Stroker we decided on a GT3071R. Reckon I'll have to relearn how to drive it.

SWMBO & I fly up to GJ Thursday a week to pick it up & drive down to Miatas in Moab. I'll post more pics after we get back.

miatamania

iTrader: (9)

lol...yet another convert.

What are you expecting power wise?

Pitlab77

iTrader: (3)

why de uber?

SafetyFast

Jeremy asked how far I wanted them to tune it. I told him if they could get it to around 350rwhp, that should be quantity sufficient. That'd be ~3x the original N/A rwhp. I was thinking of selling the car and buying a MSM. I've become quite accustomed to a fair amount of power. I just couldn't bear the thought of selling the car, so when Bill C. suggested the turbo, I went for it.

It's a bit of voodoo to see if I can break the jinx I put on the car. I started with a Uber 2 Voodoo, but the fella doing the install inadvertently crossed the oil lines to the Thompson OFRK, resulting in a schmucked bottom end. A different group rebuilt it, but the mechanic (great w/ old Jags) didn't know you couldn't eyeball the #4 thrust bearing and I drove it just long enough that I had to buy a replacement engine.
A year later, I ended up with a FM Stroker that was putting down 302rwhp, but after a month of playing with it, the blower decided it really didn't like being spun to ~17k on a regular basis and had a SMEF*. A replacement blower & a larger pulley got me to ~256rwhp and it was adaquete.
The final occurance that I'd jinxed the car was this spring when I took the car in to a local shop to get some body work done. In the process, they ran the battery down, reversed the cables when they jumped it and burned up ~$6k worth of repair.
We'll see if this will reverse what I think I caused.

*SMEF: Sudden Massive Existence Failure

chuckerants

iTrader: (1)

Geoff, ya kinda left out the parts where FM built you a motor that only burned a quart of oil every 500 miles.

As a matter of fact, it seems you gave FM a pass on a lot of stuff. Like declaring the Ubercharger unreliable.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showpost.p...5&postcount=79

chuckerants

iTrader: (1)

I really hope you have better luck with a turbo.

BTW, how many engines and how many Uberchargers did you go through?

Pitlab77

iTrader: (3)

If I think you are who you are I also recall FM saying that they told you to get a Hydra and because you did not and use another engine management thats why you messed up your engines. I wouldn't trust a company that tell you only their choice will make you safe.

chuckerants

iTrader: (1)

I hear Geoff is a really nice guy, but he sounds like he's too trusting to me.

Like I said Geoff, I really wish you better luck this time around. Now how time does this make that you've been to Colorado for your car?

cueball1

iTrader: (13)

Selling off the ubercharger parts or are they taking them in trade?

SafetyFast

I've got to read that thread. By the time FM was really going with the Uber, Whipple committed a perceived sin against Lysholm, got themselves sued and the supply of (relatively) inexpensive blowers dried up. I don't believe I would have bought a $6k Uber. Since the Uber was going to be to expensive to sell, what was the point of continuing the R&D? FM did not stop the support.

The Stroker that guzzled oil was something that Bill did not expect at all. It took them a while to even figure out what had happened and they went far beyond what I might have expected when they fixed everything.

I likened the experience to a top notch surgeon that takes his patient in to surgery, has an unexpected bleed during the post op period and has to take the patient back to fix the problem. There are always untoward complications. Did I mention FM went far beyond my expectations with that episode?
The first engine problem was entirely my muck-up. I'd put on an OFRK and didn't mark the hoses. During the many trial fittings of the manifold and oil lines, they got crossed. The guy doing the install didn't realize what he'd done and that was that. The second engine was traded in to FM for the Stroker. So it's just the third engine.
When the first blower puked, I sent it to PSE Superchargers, where Ed Martinez pointed out the error of my ways in living in the 17krpm range. According to him the 1200AX should be kept ~14k. Not quite how Whipple had quoted its capabilities. Ed even postulated that the 1200AX wasn't enough for the task, particularly with the Stroker. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. It did turn out that the SC scream was really saying: "Stop! You're huuuurting me!" It was irreparable and Bill sold me a blower that had been on one of their cars.

The decision to swap out the FI device was entirely mine. I'd thought about taking it to BEGi, but there's no telling how long it would be sitting there. I wanted it back in time for Miatas in Moab. I considered a FFS SC, but with the Stroker I wasn't sure if it would be up to the capabilities of the Stroker (It's all about the Stroker!).

Like I said earlier, I think I jinxed the car (Mike Paar told me I was going to turn it into a ballerina!) and caused/created many of the earlier problems. Maybe this time it will be tapped with the magic stick.

SafetyFast

If you're talking to me, I don't think you're talking to whom you think you're talking to.
When Bill couldn't make the original Voodoo work quite right with my '01, I bought into the Hydra. That was in the summer of '05. I think you're referring to a fella that had a system with a 5th injector & blew his 2nd engine.

SafetyFast

While I wish FM was here in Tucson or up in Phoenix, I don't mind the drive to Grand Junction. Overall, I believe it's only been three trips for business & three additional trips for the FM Open House. Not unlike driving up to Phoenix to get work done at Mikes' Place.

One of these times I get up to your side of the state, we're gonna have to get together. I want to see Elphaba's louvered hood, too.

Once they check it out, it'll be sold as a "Used Uber." At the moment I have no idea on the price or if the existing Hydra will stay with me. I believe the Hydra is in CA being bench checked at the moment. The sale will offset my latest expenditure. OTOH, ain't got no kids that'll need an inheritance, so I'm helping the economy in a small way.

Markp

The FFS would have come up a little light on the HP goals but the blower is more than capable of keeping up with the Stroker. Hopefully FM will get it together for you quickly with the GT3071. By the way they now have a GT3076 in the T25 exhaust footprint I believe (at least I believe ATP Turbo carries this.) might be worth considering given the larger motor.

Mark

PAT!

iTrader: (1)

Still have to read "The Last Day".

chuckerants

iTrader: (1)

You could always come up to Tom's house for the Memorial Day weekend get-together.

http://www.fastforwardsuperchargers....=5331#post5331

Was Elphaba's hood louvered? Damn, I just saw the stripes and didn't see that it was louvered.

jwarriner

Some different thoughts come to mind.

1) Although some mistakes were made, pushing a car/engine to the limits is not an exact science. There aren't too many reliable 300hp Miatas on the road, it's not a "been there, done that" process. Trial and error may be involved depending on desires and needs. It seems like, despite the mistakes, FM did try to take care of their customer. That's a lot more than a lot of shops will do when they're looking at backing up expensive work. Some places are all, "lifetime warranty, you know we'll take care of you," to get a sale but then when you need them it's never their fault and you "need to read the fine print."

2) Relying on others sucks. I never want a car where when it breaks I'm not fixing it myself. This means I may have to lower my sights a little to match my abilities but that doesn't mean that in the future I can't increase one, and then the other.

3) Building a truly fast car is one thing. Keeping it healthy is another. When I had a DSM I dreamed of having 500hp. Then I saw what it actually took to maintain a car like that by watching others. One mistake, ONE mistake and you're fucked. And it's easy to make a mistake at those power levels. Even at 300hp there was a lot of **** to go over everytime I drove it. It was a lot of work ensuring that the car was and would stay running tip-top. As power increases the amount of effort to keep a running car increases exponentially. People will say that it's no big deal and their 500hp car is dead reliable. But I always find that these people are those meticulous types and being ---- comes naturally to them.

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

good words jwarriner
If FM were jerks they wouldn't have stayed in biz so long. I've only spent a little bit of dough with them, yet they're service has far exceeded the sale by looking at datalogs, tuning advice, and so on. IMO if you've made a mistake, admit it, fix it and move on.

Philip

allow myself to introduce...myself.

Atlanta93LE

iTrader: (5)

I like your tag. Did you mean to use the old MG slogan?

m2cupcar

iTrader: (5)

educated in the same county as magna... or arizona accent