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Another turbo NB2 - Powered by "I don't know what I'm doing"
Hey all,
I want a place where I can keep track of what I do to my car, and where I can post pictures/writeups of miata related projects. Im editing/deleting everything in the thread to better match what I want this thread to be about.
I bought my car with with about 84,000 miles on the odometer. Its a 2001 LS NB2 Miata and when I bought it it had the following:
Tokico Illumina shocks w/ Racing Beat springs
Braided steel brake lines
Racing Beat duel outlet muffler
Racing beat front/rear sway bars
FM Frame rails
A disgusting tan interior
and lastly, a torn soft top
I had never driven stick before, nor did I know a lot about cars. The only mechanical experience I had was what I gained from working in a machine shop for 3 years. The first thing I did was swap in a new soft top and swap the interior from tan to black.
I'll insert a picture here later.
At first this car was only supposed to be my daily driver and something I toss around in the mountains. I had thought about boosting the car but never really did anything about. A couple of months back, I tried buying front fender liners from a fellow Mt.net member, MiataMan00 (he actually sold me rear fender liners ). His car convinced me to boost mine. (If you haven't seen his build: https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...-thread-90239/)
I've pieced together a kit that consists of an old 1.6 Begi IC kit, 1.8 TacoTaco cast manifold, a Garrett gt2560 turbo with a 7psi spring, TSE Inconel studs, Flying Miata Stage 1 clutch, MS3 Basic w/ can module, and AEM Uego wideband (thanks thumpetto007).
Last edited by cowlover556; 11-25-2017 at 10:53 PM.
I had just picked up a engine leveler at Harbour Freight when this genius decided to reverse into me at a stop sign. He said he wanted to drive around traffic and that he didn't see my "tiny car". The plan was to pull the engine and transmission so we could install the FM stage 1 and drill the oil pan. My insurance company didn't want me to touting the car until all damage had been fixed so plans were postponed. The guy ended up taking full responsibility (thank god) and his insurance paid 2400$ to fix my bumper, hood and rad support. Bay area body shops must make ridiculously good money with all these amazing drivers.
Last edited by cowlover556; 07-20-2020 at 09:53 PM.
When I start my car in the morning, or when its cold in general, it breaks up while cranking right before firing up. Did a datalog this morning and noticed cylinder 4 is getting much more knock then the others:
I also picked up a parts car:
2 x Corbeau Forza Sports seats on sliders
2 x Corbeau 5 point tagged January 2017
Hard dog Duece
Advanti Storm S1 15x8 on brand new Yokohama S-Drives
Megan Coilovers
NRG Wheel + Hub
Adjustable Upper Control Arms
I've also decided to track my car unboosted a couple of times before I boost it. I want to learn how drive without power mods, or any ridiculous suspension/brake mods.
Not sure where this build is going now...
Last edited by cowlover556; 11-25-2017 at 11:05 PM.
Reason: bad picture link
Still trying to figure out what the next step is for this car.
Parting out the NA has been slow. Im keeping the wheels, and coilovers. The wheel/Quick release/hub, and HardDog Duece have been sold. Im trading the seats for a Skunk2 Intake + cash. The Harnesses, and UCA are still for sale.
The NA has been returned to stock and will be sold soon.
At some point during the summer I picked up a warhorse fastback from a SF Miata shop.
First order of business was getting rid of the rally scoop someone installed on the top and pealing off all that plastidip:
The fastback needs a ton of finishing work. The edges are chipped, one of the lexan windows is cracked and I need to either paint or vinyl wrap it so it looks good. Heres a sneak peak:
Originally I started this to keep track of what I was doing to my car. When my car was backed into I lost interest in the whole turbo shenanigans and stopped posting since I figured no one wanted to see someone install headers for the 100th time. With COVID19 forcing my school to close, and consequently my research lab to close, I have had a ton of free time. I was browsing FB Marketplace for a project to keep me busy and found this:
The car was experiencing a noncrank issue and the seller had lost interest in fixing it. I called a friend and we drove to the car the next day.
The car had a full FM kit with a Garrett 2860, full 3 inch exhaust and ran on E85. Allegedly this car made 300whp before it stopped running. I talked with the owner extensively and found out that he had sold the car a few months back to a Hollywood kid. At some point the noncrank issue must have started, and the buyer couldn't figure out what to do with it because the car was ditched in the parking lot of a 7-11. The buyer did not register the car in his name, thus when it was eventually towed, the seller was contacted and made responsible for all fees associated with tow and storage. The seller tried contacting the buyer extensively before giving up and retaking possession of the car. Kinda a Vinwikiesque story but all the paperwork checked out and I happily bought the car for roughly the same amount of money I would have paid for a heavily used FM kit. Basically I bought a turbo with a car attached to it
So far this is pretty win.
The noncrank was caused by a shitty aftermarket alarm that decided to stop working. After removing everything alarm related, changing the sparkplugs and plugging everything back in, I turned the key and the car fired right up. Car sounded like it was running good (I had headphones on) so like true retard that I am I decided the best course of action would be to shoot as many fireballs from the exhaust in a 30 second period as humanly possible.
Still pretty win.
After sending a couple of friends the video of my epic turbo fireballs someone reminded my it would probably be a good idea to change the oil before taking it out. Probably not a terrible idea so I checked it. No oil.
Less win.
Turned the car on the next day and was greeted by sound of my motor knocking.
Not win.
So now I have a turbo NA with a blown motor!
I know that installing a FM kit has been done before, and that its nothing new, but I couldn't find anyone that has put a NA kit onto a NB, so I'll be using that as my excuse to restart this thread. And by restart this thread I mean beg for help when I inevitably run into some sort of road block. Also, if my campus/lab reopens I'll likely lose all my free time so this will be somewhere where I can track progress/create todo lists. Heres some pictures of turbo goodies (removed basically everything turbo related):
Have you tried peeing on it? That usually helps some.
Thats the worst thing i have heard since someone tried developing aero for a car trailer to save on fuel mileage while towing at 80mph instead of just slowing down.
Not going to be able to get a ton done since I had exams coming up + waiting on parts + trying to source parts locally.
I pulled the 3'' exhaust off the NA:
Clearly a something custom from a local exhaust shop. Need to start thinking about what I'm going to use on the NB... I see myself having 3 options:
1. Buy the FM full 3'' exhaust
-Sounds good
-Reliable/good fitment
-Much expensive
2. Buy a Harbor Freight welder and weld new hangers on this exhaust
-Fitment will probably suck
-I dont know how to weld
-Will probably set my garage on fire
-Without a muffler my ears will probably bleed after an hour of driving
-Cheap
3. Build a s1ck Kustom exhaust
-Takes a long time
-Still dont know how to weld
-Probably pretty expensive if I take it to a shop
I couldnt find a ton of information on 3'' exhausts that people have built for the FM kit. Might make George come to SD for a while with his welder and force him to build me something. dunno yet
I'm also looking for a full stock exhaust, a stock 95 ECU and a motor so I can get the Teal Mobile running and out of the garage. If anyone has a lead on any of this stuff pls lmk. Im local to SD
No update on swapping everything over to the NB yet. Emailed FM and they confirmed that everything except the upper section of the DP should swap over from the NA to the NB Ill probably buy the right DP from FM or take it to an exhaust shop to have it modified as needed.
Lucked out on the exhaust as someone was selling a 3 inch exhaust that came of a car with an identical setup as what ill have. Its not the prettiest and I have no idea how it sounds but for 130$ itll work until I please MT.net gods with a magnaflow
advertised as "Self clearanced"
Spent the weekend pulling the dead motor out of the Teal Mobile. This gets so much easier the more I do it.
Taking 4 classes over summer has slowed progress to a crawl.
Wired up all my gauges/sensors in preparation for the actual install. Car runs/idles fine on MS. Trying to install one thing at a time so when the turbo goes on and something is wrong I can problem solve faster.
Some pictures or something:
Ran power from the battery (fused) to a 30 amp relay that closes when the ignition is turned on. relay is connected to fuse block that supplies power to the AFR gauge, the electronic boost controller, the oil pressure gauge and the continental flex fuel sensor.
Images have been censored to prevent a George-like roasting.
My 3 inch downpipe should be here soon, and I've paid my deposit with AED. Hopefully this will motivate me to stop caring about school and waste time on this instead.
:
Images have been censored to prevent a George-like roasting.
:.
Don't do that, you may cop some flak but you will likely get good advice too on how to do it properly/better if you've done something "dodgy", like George did - just look at the "Before and After" attempts based on the forum comments.
Don't do that, you may cop some flak but you will likely get good advice too on how to do it properly/better if you've done something "dodgy", like George did - just look at the "Before and After" attempts based on the forum comments.
It was more a jab at George then anything else. Apart from the absolute mess left by an after market alarm install most of my wiring is more like the after. I do intend on going back and running a thicker gauge wire from the battery to the relay/fuse block
10-21-2017, 12:12 AM
Another turbo NB2 - Powered by "I don't know what I'm doing"
). His car convinced me to boost mine. (If you haven't seen his build: https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...-thread-90239/)
1
Ill probably buy the right DP from FM or take it to an exhaust shop to have it modified as needed. 
