add lightness

Hi guys, I'm Sam, and I'm a 17 year old college student, at UMBC in Baltimore, MD. I love cars and racing with a passion, and have been into Miatas since long before I could drive. I have a 91 in Mariner Blue, which was my first car (paid for myself). I've had it for just over a year now, I got it with 48k miles in fantastic condition, rustless, owned by the typical older gentleman for the last 15 years, always garaged, etc. Bone stock except for an ugly-*** 'Best Buy special' aftermarket radio and 15 year old tires . I haven't done too much to it yet, major mods include: FM V-Maxxes, 15x7 Kosei K1's with some decent but oversized 205/55 hi-perf all-seasons (ZII's are next), and a Roadstersport 3 catback. I've also done a bunch of small stuff like an R lip, OEM mud guards, period correct Nakamichi stereo, red hard top plastidipped white, etc.

I've recently gotten into autocross, and that's why I'm here. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about tuning because an aftermarket ECU will probably be my next major mod. I'm running STS so I'm most likely going with the AEM F/IC-6 piggyback. I'm a total gearhead and really know a lot about cars, but this tuning thing is not my specialty and definitely going to take a LOT of reading. Right now I'm just wondering, will I be able to tune this setup on the street, or is going to a pro on a dyno really the only reasonable choice? Any feedback is welcome!

Enough talk, here are some pics of my baby.

Day one:

IMG_2955 by add_lightness, on Flickr

Now:

IMG_5568 by add_lightness, on Flickr


Untitled by add_lightness, on Flickr


IMG_5166 by add_lightness, on Flickr


IMG_4342 by add_lightness, on Flickr


IMG_4334 by add_lightness, on Flickr


IMG_3911 by add_lightness, on Flickr


IMG_3913 by add_lightness, on Flickr

My first autocross on the floppy stock suspension. I haven't gotten to try the new coils at an event yet (I worked every weekend ALL summer), but if school doesn't overload me, I will be at the Philly Region's event at Dover Speedway on Sept. 15!!!! Really pumped!


IMG_3957 by add_lightness, on Flickr

My other automotive adventures... I picked up a 93 back in may, supposedly with a blown head gasket because of overheating issues. Turned out being a crank nose failure (bolt was finger tight!), but the damage wasn't very bad, so a quick Loctite fix and she was back on the road!! 165k and rusty, but ran and drove great! About 1000 miles after the fix the water pump started puking coolant, so I got to take the TB off a second time (lesson learned, do them together!!). A few other small fixes and I sold her to a good buddy of mine! Awesome.
(That's a faded Maaco paint job, I polished it up really nicely before I got rid of it)

IMG_4681 by add_lightness, on Flickr

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

looks clean!

tincan

iTrader: (1)

So jealous of this car. Nice mods also, I did way dumber stuff when I was 17.

soviet

iTrader: (10)

So jealous of your clean car.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

also, props for not posting disgustingly shitty pictures.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Clean car, gives me a bulging broner and makes me want to paint mine. PM me for pics.

thenuge26

iTrader: (2)

Re: tuning. If you want to learn, this is the place to do it. Megasquirt is the ECU of choice here, however. You won't be able to get much help with the FIC.

viperormiata

iTrader: (24)

good god my car looks like ***

Welcome

Nagase

iTrader: (6)

Great name! Pretty blue.

add lightness

Thanks for the welcome and compliments, everyone. I'm keeping it simple and clean mod-wise, but I was fortunate to start off with such a nice base.

I know the MS is the way to go but STS class rules only allow a piggyback setup or a standalone in the stock ecu box, using only stock sensors. So no MAP for a MS. First I need to learn the basics tho.

Nagase

iTrader: (6)

I'm pretty sure there are much better options that go in the stock box.

Please don't go to that old junk, you can get something modern, really.

Batmans

Gorgeous car with low miles!

Sean

iTrader: (12)

Beautiful clean car looks awesome. Welcome to the maryland area. I will give you some advice as far as tuning. I have an AEM FIC-6 and it works for my needs witch are way way different than yours trust me on that. Do yourself a big favor and build a megasquirt. If you can use a soldering iron and you can read you can build it. There is a thread here that is step by step with pictures makes it so easy. The FIC is cool and works but if I still had a miata engine in my car I would 100% be using megasquirt. I still may go that route next year.

add lightness

Well I've been thinking thru the options again and the DIYPNP is starting to look pretty good, since it will run off of the stock AFM, and can possibly be built to fit into the stock box (does anyone have any insight on how difficult it is to make this fit? Most important factor here). Plus it's actually cheaper than the fic, once you add a boomslang harness.

A couple more questions - once tuned, can you run the MS off of the stock O2 sensor and no wideband? Is the current diypnp capable of retaining reliable AC function? And am I going to be able to get a decent tune on the street, or should I expect to make a trip to a dyno? Because I've heard that autotune is pretty good.

Thanks for any input!

Nagase

iTrader: (6)

To tune, wideband.

Narrowband will only tell you if your car is above or below 14.7.

So, useless.

sixshooter

iTrader: (12)

It controls A/C just fine. Autotune is the only tune most people have.