I couldn't care less for seq. ignition. But as stated, a lot do. I think that's a good idea, or maybe even make it 2 separate harness options.

 

I've been toying with the idea of seq ignition, but the thought of taking that further step beyond the GM coils was terrifying (if you see my re-wiring attempts, you'd know why). Having a semi-PNP solution would help ease my transition to "Big Boy" ignition.

 

Small updates. I got a new pair of socks and shoes. Same wheels as I've had for the last 3 years, just an inch wider. Rubber is a 200tw Falken, and I'm really stoked on them already. It's a narrower sidewall (205/45/17 to 215/40/17), but surprisingly the tread width is actually narrower. That aside, it hugs the road really nicely and doesn't rub like the oversized monster truck tires did. I just booked a weekend at Laguna and I can't wait to see how they do.


Also, I'm getting ready to slap in the truck coils. The sadly fabbed bracket is lookin' so fine!


Two questions for you all:

1. Iridium plugs with truck coils. yay or nay? I'm thinking gapped to .040 for silky smooth idle.
2. I'm eyeing new suspension. Right now I'm running Vmaxx adjustable with FM sways front and back. Current ride height is 5.5", although it was 5.25" before I changed wheels. I'd like to drop it down a little purely for appearance/vanity, but I also want to have a decent street ride quality. I've narrowed it down to 3 choices: better Bilseins (I hear there is a thread about it), Xida race, or Xida GS. Ride height-wise, I'm right between race and GS, so what's a guy to do?

 

Yay on the iridium plugs but I just left mine gapped as they came, .035 or .032 IIRC. My car idled fine even with an .025 gap, honestly couldn't tell the difference.

I could tell when I had spark blow out though, I think it is a very bad thing at high boost.

 

"...and now for something completely different."

I stopped using Iridiums when I was experiencing spark blowout. I went back to "plain vanilla" plugs gapped down to .025 and swapped from MBC to EBC. I think that the better control of the EBC solved the blowout, but I never went back to Iridium plugs. The regular plugs work very well, thank you very much.

 

I agree that the regular BKR7E's seem just as good for 20% of the cost, but I left my iridium's in.

 

 

Got the coils all set up. I tried to tuck the harness under the SADFab bracket, but it's too damn perfect of a fit. The options then are to space it out with a couple washers, or deal with the wires hanging around.
Also, for anyone who, like me, think you can save a few bucks making your own plug wires, just don't. It took way longer than expected, and I had to hack away quite a bit of material to get the NGK plugs to fit my VVT valve cover. Terminating the ends was no big deal, but making the boots fit the valve cover was a major PITA. Thecarpassionchannel made it look so easy!





Problem now though - with the bracket covering the intake cam side, how is anyone supposed to know it's a Mazda?

 

Make a coil cover out of sheet metal with a mazda sticker on it. Or get it lazer etched. That would be cool

 

God dammit. Back to the drawing board....

 

Took it for a spin today with the truck coils, and just wow. Drivability and smoothness are vastly improved. I'll need to retune, and make some adjustments to my EBC to hit the right boost level. It's really shocking how much of a difference it makes. For the relatively low cost, I'd recommend the LS coils as one of the first upgrades.

My MS3 is running firmware 1.2.3 so I don't have the option to run a dwell table. To get the closest match, I set the dwell to 3.6 and copied Andrew's voltage correction, and then set my rev limited to 6800. After hearing all the challenges folks are having updating the firmware I'm going to leave it for now.

 

You need to upgrade to at least 1.4.3 firmware.

 

Fine.

 

So go ahead and do 1.5.whatever

 

Reverant said I should only go to 1.4... just ignore that and go for broke?

 

1.4.1 here. Clean, safe, proven.

 

Is this back to the entire thing about engine states etc that I walked into by mistake. I still think I should downgrade lol.

 

I think the present choices are 1.4.1 or 1.5.1. I'm with Six on this one. 1.4.1.

Reverant prefers FW that has had code released, so I think that is 1.4.0 as latest, but I've found 1.4.1 to be good everywhere except Limp Mode Rev Limit. I think I may be one of one people who have even tried to use it.

 

Yeah, setting up the 1.5.ish was a royal pain in the ***. Aidan helped a ton when I was getting off the ground. I still think I should switch back because of how complicated so much of it is for the end user, but I'm scared I'll muck everything up if I do that haha.

 

1.4.3 is where you what you want to upgrade to. It is the latest stable on the 1.4 branch. There is nothing in 1.5 specific for the miata or that will make it "better" in any way.