Bryan at Fab9 has earned my business, 3 days to ship it all the way to Utah and great prices to boot. Gotta say thanks for PM'ing with me several times to make sure we were both on the same page with everything. Great communication.

The intercooler looks even better in person. The analog gauges are perfect too. Excited to wire it all up. I think I'm going to scavenge some connectors off the 90' wiring harness and use them so I can quick disconnect the gauges if needed.

I'll get some better non-phone photos when I get back down to St. George tomorrow.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394532987

Am I the only one here who finds it mildly disturbing that more than half of your posts are propped?

[pedantry]

Almost certainly not true. Comparing his props to his post count only gives you a ratio; it doesn't tell you how many of those posts are propped, because the best posts will have more than one prop each. Granted, a higher than 1:2 prop:post ratio is impressive, but that's not the same as having more than half of your posts propped.

[/pedantry]

^this.

And just wait til' he gets it on the road. I predict a higher than 1:1 prop-to-post ratio.

Props might not really mean anything in most cases, but I think his P2P ratio illustrates how ridiculously awesome this is.

I just view the props as encouragement that I am doing a good job. Which helps me. Sometimes I don't think my work is that good so it helps getting a little bit of a boost to keep going at the pace I do.

As Mark said, I didn't even get a single props until about 9-10 pages in.

Oh well, props are just a "fun thing" in my head. I just hope that people don't think because I have a lot of props, that I actually know very much. That is just not true!

*Considers propping this ^^ post for the lulz*

Since I wish I could prop some of your posts more than once I will often hit the prop button on a "regular" post to make up for it :giggle:

Anyway... In for vroom!

Double post!

Little done last night

Decided I wanted to give myself another inch of room at the bottom of the radiator. So I moved the radiator bracket off the stock lower bracket and moved it forward a couple inches. Drilled and tapped a M8x1.25 hole, put 2 washers between the brackets so the radiator would clear the captive nut on the bracket, and slotted the bolt in. super easy and gives you a ton more space.

Yes I am going to touch up the bracket paint a little. ;)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394632861

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394632861

Also mounted up the new intercooler from Fab9. Talk about easy peasy. Took me longer to find the other grade 10 bolt for the drivers side then it did to install it. Absolutely perfect fit. No jiggling it or torquing it in a certain direction, just pops right on. Gotta hand it to Bryan at Fab9, he makes a quality product, the whole fit and finish/welds are perfect and the packaging was great too. Small box that fits the intercooler perfectly, with lots of padding to ensure the mailman who likes to throw things onto my bakery floor in a rush can't break it.

Correct me if I am wrong, just want to double check; but the AIT sensor bung for the boost gauge goes right before the cold side on the intercooler correct?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394632861

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394632861

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394632861

Thanks for the recommendation to purchase this guys. Way happier with this than I was with that old FM piece of crap lead weight.

Also what is everyones opinion of clocking the turbo down more? Not sure what I was thinking when I decided to clock the turbo like this; probably thought, "well that is how the original owner had it, better not screw with it!"

The intercooler piping clears the coolant lines, but only by about 1/8". If I clock it down another 2-3" it would make it much easier to make a custom pipe at an exhaust shop(if I can make myself make accurate enough measurements that is).

I also want to turn the coolant bracket for the coolant return/feed lines counter-clockwise 90 degrees to make it a little more "cleaner". Or at least make a new bracket that is longer so the lines aren't as high by the V.C.. They are stretched pretty taught as is right now. You can see I had to bend it down a little since I was worried.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394636779

Clock it downward - then use a 90 degree long leg elbow from Vibrant. Should get you off to an easy start when fabricating the pipes and it will give you just enough flex to not require a hump hose coupler.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394638986
This is how I am with Jeff's posts.

Huh?

AIT measures the temperature of the air going into the engine so that the MS can calculate the mass of the air for proper fueling. So, you need to make sure the air temperature is measured on the cold side. Recommendation is cold side of intercooler to avoid heat soak. Was that your question?

As for boost gauge and also the boost/vacuum source for the MS, you should go to the intake manifold post-throttle for that. That's the other half of the air mass measurement.

Woops sorry, a bung was included with the AEM boost gauge that looked exactly like the the AIT bung in the intercooler, so my sleep deprived brain confused the two. Thanks!

Man, that IC does look good.

such fitment. much temptation. wow.

So good it makes you go shiba EO2k!:giggle:

Also mounted the gauges up. Yup, happy as a clam with how this turned out. Also found the non-ac fan speed switch from the CO car, no chance of accidentally hitting the button now.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394641953

Plus they came with nifty mounting brackets that made it a cinch, thank goodness, my attempts were less than stellar to make brackets.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394641953

I'm not understanding how those brackets work...

What are they attached to?

That's a standard gauge bracket. They're just a big U. The two feet push on the panel, pulling the lip against the other side of the panel.

OK in regards to piping for the intercooler what do you guys recommend? What I'm thinking is ordering a couple 90 degree bends and then welding straight pipe sections to them and using only 2 silicone couplers for the turbo and intercooler.

Is it unrealistic to make it a one piece pipe? Just sitting here making several drawing of the easiest way to straight shot it from the turbo to the intercooler with the least amount of bends.

Also, will the 15% reduction of tubing diameter with non-mandrel bent metal really affect much? I'd love to just go to a local muffler shop and have it done but no one in the state of Utah has a mandrel bender.

Oh that makes sense. So the feet aren't actually attached. They're just pulled in. Neat. Now i wish i hadn't thrown all those fuckers out. Derp.


After all this... you want crush bent intercooler piping? I swear i should give you negative props for that. :fawk::party:

No crush! I'm tempted to send you my intercooler pipes for a test fitment just to make you a set for this car. I'd hate to see such top notch work with crush bent pipes.

FM one piece silicone pipes FTW. Ask 18psi about fitment with the Fab9/Vibrant 350 core, I believe that's the setup he was running before partout.

Also, make sure you have those brackets oriented in such a way that the strain relief built into the bracket is supporting the wire, the put a hefty zip tie around it to secure it. If you do not, the wires will eventually work their way loose out of the back of the gauge... ask me how I know :facepalm:

I still think that your gauges are too low to have any informative value.
But maybe it's just me.

Its a compromise. If you put the gauges up where you can see them (A-pillar, dash) so can everyone else. You can stick them in the HVAC vents, but then you lose a vent. You can stick them in the console, but then they are out of direct line of sight.

If this was becauseracecar, there would be no question as to mounting. For becausestreetcar, I personally think its good to have the data available, even if the location is a compromise.

I'm starting to think needle gauges rotated to "nominal" is a good idea for this type of mounting.

Let he with no negative props cast the first stone!:fawk:

I'd welcome it, if you need to charge me for shipping or anything else let me know, I ain't scared of being a test dummy!

Awesome, props! I totally wouldn't have even considered that,

If they do turn out to be too low I think an alternate solution wouldn't be too hard to make. For now, it is tolerable.

--------

Ok I wasn't really considering crushed pipes, just flights of errant laziness that kick in from time to time.:crx:

Rotated the turbo down.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394647126

But this damn bracket is right in the way of a 45/90 degree bend. I can not for the life of me recall what it is for. Power steering bracket?

Can I cut it off?

*edit* I guess I could use a straight silicone coupler and add the 90 bend to the aluminum pipe farther down...

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394647126

DO IT!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394647429



I love how a Google Image Search for "faeflora" returns all kinds of sawzall images.

And...... elves. o_O

You don't need it to be 90 degrees. Just rotate the 90 elbow you put on the turbo (towards the driver side). I personally would cut it though.

It's the mounting bracket for the OEM lower radiator hose hardpipe, NAs have two hose sections, one running from the radiator to the hardpipe and from the hardpipe to the mixing manifold. If you've moved to a single lower radiator hose (NB hose or FM hose) or another solution, you do not need that bracket any more. Cut or bend as needed, just not as much as faeflora. lol

Thanks Rotor

Slight segue, but I remember the paint shop telling me they get busy this time of the year so I stripped everything off the hardtop and am going to take it to a window shop to remove the glass. Vlad said you can do it yourself, but I don't want to risk breaking very very expensive hardtop glass(seriously have you looked at the price of it???)

Only bad thing I found was that the plastic trim along the bottom is missing about a foot of trim. Not sure if it is really necessary, but I'll be looking at replacing it.

I even managed not to break any clips! That is a first for me. Paint is in good shape but I think I'm going to lay some bondo down in a couple of deep scratches. Paint shop didn't do a very good job with my car on slight chips/dents so I'm going to do all the prep work myself this time.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394653578

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394653578

When I had my hardtop repainted I was going to replace that trim as well. After some consideration I decided not to, IMO it looks better without it, at least on a black car. If you decide to replace your trim though, I have the little "protectors" brand new in the bag just wasting away on my shelf. You're welcome to them, would save you $30 or so for just those two pieces.

They look like:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394657178

They just provide retention for the leading edges of the trim and mostly keep it from getting pulled off.

See I thought maybe I was weird that it looked better without the trim. It seems like the "flow" of the hardtop gets interrupted, or shall I say the hard edge is more pronounced with the trim.

If the trim is pricy I'll just day screw it. It's going g to be permanent anyways. I'm just glad all the latch screws came off easy. I have the Rennenmetal hardtop brackets sitting in a box waiting to be put on.

holler at me if you want an FM silicone lower rad hose. to get rid of that ugly bracket and failsauce 2 piece rad hose

as for trim: I re-installed mine on current HT because I didn't run it on previous and there was slight chipping on the edges without it or something.

agreed that it looks way better without though

My brother cut his bracket off (using a hacksaw) just to where the surface overhanging above it would allow. Not sure if you have enough room at this point in your bay to get something in there and shave the whole thing off. It DOES free up a lot of space once that bracket is out of the way.

Question to anyone about the hardtop trim around the window: when I painted my hardtop, I removed my exterior trim around the window because it had paint on it from PO. Was wondering if anyone was able to fit on a new one without taking the window out. The two times I've seen someone try to put it on without taking out the window, it wrinkles at the bottom corners where the window bends.

Am I just overthinking this?

AEM instructions call for a 12v power source with a 5A fuse in between the source.

I know you can just tap into a line under the dash, but am I crazy for doing it "the right way" and running some 16g wire back to the battery and putting a 30A 12v inline fuse before the battery?
(30A 12/24VDC Mini Blade In-Line Fuse Holder : Fuse Holders | RadioShack.com)

I know it is overkill, but it is what the instructions call for...Where do most people like to tap into?

I'm so excited to get rid of the rats nest of butt connectors from the previous gauges.

Just drill the spot welds and rip it off with a pair of vise grips. Buy FM lower hose. Win.


-Zach

Jeff - Use the wires off of the ignition harness.

BLUE is a switched 12v supply on the harness going to your Ignition Key harness.
WHITE is a 12v constant (battery) wire.

Thanks! Vlad already pushed it on me so we are good to go...that crafty russian, always selling everything he owns.

I've said it too often but...I love you Bryan
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394666633

These work well:



I'd rather do this and not tap-into/molest a factory wiring harness.

Drat! I think I may need one o'dem hoes too.

Now to figure out whether I want to stuff the box with gay pr0n or draw penises on it.

Or both

*edit: I wonder if the local sex shop will give me a spare dildo box hmm

Stuff it! It is my business address so try not to go too crazy on the outside lol.

Also I can't find anywhere on Flyin' Miata's site to buy the intercooler hoses separate from the intercooler kit.

Is this something you need to call them about?

I can never successfuly browse to them on the FM site. Punch the word "intercooler” into their search box and they should be on page 2.

it will never come up with searching/browsing. I tried it. you have to have the link, or just call or just email them.
I had the link but erased it, or I'd give it to you

the begi and fm sites were probably put together when the internet was invented, and not a single time updated since then. its truly sad.

but they are great over the phone, very helpful

Try this: https://www.flyinmiata.com/index.php...2&parentid=112

G for the win.

yup that's the one

The TB inlet 90° that FM sells is also a nice custom piece. I had someone confirm in another thread that the aluminum section where FM intends you to stick the IAT and has the BOV bung is 2.5" ID and about 7" L. If you feel like trying to fab one you can get a 12" stick of 2.5" pretty easily from somewhere like siliconeintakes, or I'm sure FM would be happy to sell you one and save you the hassle.

I got both those pieces from siliconeintakes, as well as turbo inlet.

IMO mine turned out much cleaner and cheaper than FM's ;)

You, I like you.

I like you currently, but depending on the box of dicks mounted on bronies I receive, I may change my opinion:rofl:

I had a lazy streak this afternoon so I haven't done...well...anything. I did get my boost source tapped for the boost gauge though. I T'd off the FPR where the MS3 board T's off of as well.

I have a ton of firewall grommets laying around so I just drilled a hole through one and popped it through. May change it but I just wanted to see how it looked.

I was going to tap the middle vacuum line(old charcoal canister tap) but I didn't want to clutter up the engine bay anymore than necessary. It is already a rats nest on that side of the engine.

Interior line, quite the massive brass connector, seems unnecessarily big.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394688504

Routing will be cleaned up later but here it is T'd off the FPR.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394688504

Can anyone tell me where the VICS vacuum lines go to on the I.M.? Not sure if the lower line is correct and haven't spent the time researching the unconnected line.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394688504

Here is a thread about rerouting it from Abe, might be handy for you...

https://www.miataturbo.net/general-m...uestion-15626/

That. Is. Exactly. What. I. Needed.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394693401

You saying you were lazy...

God at the end of the 7th day "I've been really lazy guys, I didn't do ANYTHING today.". Uh, didn't you just create the world and humanity in 6 days? "Yeah but I've been lazy".

It's called TAKING A BREAK.

I quite literally have to force myself to relax. I've been multitasking for so many years I get fidgety doing nothing.

But yes...I was taking a break, wrong word choice.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1394694336

Tomorrow: Jeff hand scrubs every wire and butt connector :dealwithit::bowrofl:

I'll be honest... I'm shocked those bundles of greasy wire made it back into the car.

I've been in wiring mode more so that cleaning mode lately. Once I solve the huge amount of wiring issues the car has, then I'll spit shine it all pretty.