jch13

I picked up my 1991 turbo Miata from a GRM Challenge racer in November 2009. Since then I've gotten it home and road legal. I've replaced the frankestein junkyard turbo with a T3/T4 50trim .48AR no-name china charger (been working well so far), upgraded the radiator and changed many of the cooling lines, added real catch tanks, worked on the MS1 Hi-Res tune a bit, replaced intake and exhaust gaskets, and have been futzing with the exhaust system quite a bit. The car already had a 6-puck clutch, MS1 ecu, KYB-AGX shocks, ebay springs, 550cc rx7 injectors, rx7 clutch-type LSD, mazdaspeed competition diff mounts, hard-top, and hard dog roll bar installed (and probably a few other things I'm forgetting). I've just been upgrading and replacing things as they've failed so far because I like the mods that have been done to it and how the car performs. The body is a little rough, but that's okay because it's just a toy/project car for me, not a show car. My hope is to auto-x it a few times a season and maybe the drag strip, but it's mostly to wrench on and go for drives when the weather is nice.

I have a bit of experience with the MS ecu family, I've used MS1s, MS2s, and Microsquirts on FSAE cars in the past. I have a respectable level of understanding of many automotive systems in race-type appluications because of my FSAE background, but I'm still getting used to the nuances, tricks, and good practices of a turbo Miata. I'm pretty good at building parts with many machine tools (again, FSAE experience) and I can TIG weld very well (or, at least I could before I got this desk job ). My education is in mechanical engineering with a large focus on automotive engineering and solid mechanics/structural design.

I'm already a huge fan of turbo Miatas (clearly) and I'm looking forward to contributing to and learning from the miataturbo.net forums. I'd be particularly interested in collaborating on a custom project, large or small.

My Miata with two friends' MR2s


Latest (but not greatest) engine bay pic.

pusha

iTrader: (5)

Do you have the time?

jch13

Do you have the energy?

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

^^^ I like this guy.

pusha

iTrader: (5)

I like the ****.

jch13

I guess I might fit in around here.

samnavy

iTrader: (7)

Looks pretty clean from 2 stories up... I love the Protege valve cover.
What manifold is that? Looks kinda TacoTaco...

Joe Perez

iTrader: (8)

Indeed- for something that was a GRM challenge car especially, that one looks very clean.

Definitely looks like the ILTacoTaco manifold to me. Funny, as much as we've talked about those, I think this is the first picture I've seen of one actually installed on a Miata.

A word of advice- you might want to wrap some aluminized heat-shield material around the whole brake master cylinder / proportioning valve assembly. It's kind of hard to tell due to the perspective, but the downpipe seems kind of close to me. I have seen those fluid reservoirs melt.

jch13

Thanks guys!

I think the valve cover is from a Ford? Not sure, previous owner did that. He also did the exhaust manifold, which was an ebay special of some sort. It's taken a bit of abuse and has held up well, so no complaints in terms of structure. It is evident from the spark plugs, however, that cyl 4 doesn't get as much exhaust flow as 1-3.

Good point on the brakes, I will wrap up the brake stuff tomorrow before I hit the auto-x track on Sunday, the DP is pretty close. I have a bunch of the heat wrap kicking around anyway, so no big deal.

93BP-T

Ah so very nice!

jch13

Just ran an auto-x, co-drove my car with my buddy JLee (not on these forums). Made a little video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSHx0yMjDuA

bayside blue

iTrader: (1)

this car looks awfully familiar...

where abouts in NH are you? im also a fellow sccnh member ill be up at nhms for the autox on 8/27-8/28

jch13

I live in Enfield, NH. Last year I did two SCCNH atuox events with a blue Miata. I was also at the earlier school this year with this red Miata, and of course the 7/10 autox.

bayside blue

iTrader: (1)

maybe i saw you in pictures from the autox school.

dave just posted up the results from this past event, looks like there were a lot of different miatas this time last time i was up there there was 3

jch13

Quite possibly.

I think I drove well for how the car was setup (no alignment, utqg 300 S.Drive tires) and didn't leave much time on the track. Having said that, I could have done way better with real tires... I'm glad I have RS3s on the way. I'll get an alignment too.

Do you know how I can submit a video link? Or send it to any of the Daves?