I'd be impressed if someone could steal my car without a flatbed and winch. there are easily 10 ways off the top of my head I could immobilize it.

I'm happy they stole it. I know how to work on my car now.
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Also made my decision on what turbo setup I'm going with. After bouncing through several different ideas and pouring over way too much information I simply wasn't happy with the interim 2560 solution. Those who have read the thread have probably come to find that I like buying something once. I don't like wasting my money on something I won't be truly happy with; a problem I've always had is trying to by quality, and not save my money on something I know is inferior.

This brought me into an issue though, since I wasn't ready to drop over $4k on a new manifold, downpipe, and turbo.

Luckily, Bryan, At Fab9tuning approached me about a solution I may be interested in that he had been developing with Gleasman Manufacturing and Boostedsmurf. They were in the process of making a tubular side mount V-band manifold that would clear the AC and power steering while still providing a good flow all while not being ludicrously expensive.

• Full Stainless Construction
• Sch10 Thick Wall 304 Stainless
• 0.500” CNC’d Flange
• Oval to Round Port Transitions
• Fully Back Purged Tig Welded Fabrication
• High Flow Merge Collector

Since I've bought a lot of stuff from Bryan, this seemed like a good solution, while still getting the quality I wanted, but not breaking the bank.

So for those who haven't seen his product announcement page(linky), check it out, it is a really well made unit. All 4 manifolds and downpipes have sold already, but he is currently in production on the second batch. He told me he is trying to have at least 5 in inventory at all times to avoid those pesky waiting periods one has when waiting for an alternate custom solution.

I'm going to be pairing it with an EFR 6258. I was contemplating the 6758, due to it not spooling much slower than the 6258, and the possibility of having EGTs being a little high on the track, but after a ton of research, it seems like it won't be an issue.

Shooting for a nice smooth 300hp to start out with, and playing around with lower or higher boost depending on how smoothly I can dial in the EBC.

Plan I getting the car professionally tuned by a dyno shop down in Vegas after my ATI damper is installed and 12-1 trigger wheel, by a guy that mainly works with Megasquirt and tunerstudio.

I'll potentially have this either by the end of this week or the following depending on how busy he is.

Here are some of his photos in the mean time.

(sorry didn't mean to rant, just a little excited about getting a good solution)

Exhaust Flange


Collector v-mount flange



manifold


Nice lookin' welds


Position in the engine bay


unfinished downpipe(final piece will be a mandrel bent curve for better flow)

 

The timing of this new manifold and dp was just too perfect to pass up huh.

 

If he wasn't on the east coast I would've had a hard time believe Bryan didn't break into my garage and sabotage my turbo.

Unbelievably perfect timing.

 

Its such a great price too. Can't wait to see it come together. Any ceramic coating planned?

 

After seeing how long EO2K waited, no. I have a great venting and cooling setup though so I'm not too worried about it. May possibly wrap the downpipe to help keep the heat out of the cabin better, and of course a heat shield, but the money isn't necessary, even more so the downtime.

 

Makes sense. Can't wait to see how this turns out!

 

You *****

 

 

hahahahha I saw that thread and KNEW it was only a matter of time

 

Man that looks great. Can't wait to see it on.

 

The willpower is weak

 

I like feel bad for going for more of a budget setup when something like this exists.

 

Most important thing to remember is not to go outside of your financial means. You start hating the car if you get yourself in the danger zone monetarily speaking.

 

Well I'm definitely going to live within my means. And improvements can always be made. I'll be going with Lars' kit, mated with one of the Fab9 intercoolers, and I'm still up in the air with piping. But hey, it's going to do everything I want it to do.

 

Well I wasn't wrong!

I'm a little jealous that you'll have the hotside installed on your car and actually running before me though haha

This is so true. When building your car stresses you out financially you'll be stressed out with everything else going on and just hate the entire project. Speaking from experience of course, working 70+ hour weeks just to build a car

 

Yup you called it...it's like you build cars as I do! All at once.

I feel a little guilty that it'll be running before your beast is, but it helps I only have to bolt the the Mani, DP, and turbo on and run new stainless lines to get mine running again. You still have a few more baby steps to go.

I am so excited to see that 7163 in action though. You and Bryan are nuts.

 

That's okay though, I figure it'll be worth the wait and stress lol. It'll be exciting to see how the setup works on your car though

 

Anyone know the size of the oil filter sandwich plate nut? Biggest I have is a 24mm socket and I don't want to chance damaging the threads using vice grips.

Man that lower left intake manifold nut is a bitch when the motor is in the car.

 

It's a 25 or 26. I'd measure it except that Curly has my motor right now.

Edit. How can you work on a miata engine without a 25mm?

 

I really haven't touched the motor at all hence the lack of a 25/26. I guess I'll need one soon as I'm putting an ATI damper and 12-1 trigger on soon.

Good time to change the timing belt with a nice blue Gates as well even though it only has 20k on it?

Thinking I may tap the Mocal sandwich plate in 2 more places for turbo oil feed and oil temp gauge.

Also, the Mocal plate doesn't seem to have the 2 coolant ports as the OEM one does. Are people just running a coolant line from the front of the motor to the rear? Doesn't seem necessary to cool the plate any more with the 25 row setrab.