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The following thread will be the documentation of my exploration of the world of boosted Miatas. It's going to be a journey, with multiple stops (and forms of boost), and no clear end point, but I think that is part of the fun. I apologize for the incoming wall of text. I’ll try to break it up into multiple posts to make it a bit more readable (and easier to reference specific posts in the future).
As it stands now, I have a 1999 Base Miata with forged internals in a rebuilt engine nearing the end of the break-in phase that is just begging to be boosted, but that's not how this journey started, so here's a little back story:
In Spring of this year, I was fortunate enough to find a house in the bay area that neatly ticked off all of my requirements for a home. At the very top of that list was a garage big enough for me to tinker on a fun project car, and my now-home fulfilled that perfectly. It’s not the biggest garage in the world, but coming from nothing, it was literally infinitely better. The only problem was the lack of sufficient lighting. A single 60-watt incandescent light bulb gloomily lit the garage. That wouldn’t do…not at all.
12 LED 3000 lumen light strips later, and we’re in business.
Then the great debate for what to have as a project car rose to the surface, and a great debate it was. For a long time I was set on doing a Factory Five 818c, but it has a rather steep initial buy in, and I’m not exactly rolling in the dough now with this mountain of debt that is a home loan. Given that I wanted something that could be a long project, without a crazy buy-in, and with lots of community support, I narrowed it down to a Miata or a Mini Cooper. After looking at the costs of rebuilds and the potential paths for improvement, the old adage rang true: Miata is always the answer.
And so the hunt began. I knew boost was in my future, and after doing a lot of preliminary research, I knew that no matter what, I needed to rebuild an engine with forged internals to future proof it from the boost I would eventually throw at it (or into it, rather). So I began hunting for miatas without an excessive amount of miles on the clock, straight bodies, and engines in need of a rebuild to keep initial buy in low.
A few weeks later, just for fun, I decided to post an ad in the “Wanted” section of craigslist, looking for a miata, 94-99 (I was initially planning on a CARB legal BEGi turbo kit, but have since become wiser), with fewer than 100k miles, a clean title and frame, running or not. 40 minutes later I had an email waiting for me with a 1999 Miata in highlight silver, 95k miles, some minor cosmetic damage, and a rod knock. Long story short, I was there with cash 2 hours later, and it was mine.
The next day I called in a free tow from AAA and got it into the operating room. I’d love to say I was patient and contemplative of the best way to proceed forward with the car as a whole, but I was a man on a mission. After a quick wash and vacuum, and some intense research for a few days, I began the process of pulling the engine.
Blood, sweat, and tears were promptly shed (!@#$ you, rusty California-spec forward cat!), but I hadn’t done something nearly as satisfying as getting the engine out of the car as a one man crew in weekend (with ample time dedicated to labeling every wire and bagging every bolt).
With the engine out and on a stand, I quickly set to disassembly and had to come to the decision of what I wanted to do for the engine build. I know I have the capability to do an entire engine build on my own aside from the machining, but that is something I like to do slowly and meticulously, and I knew I would likely rush something critical that would end up biting me once I finished the build. I only live about 15 minutes from Rebello Racing, and while they definitely lost some expertise a few years ago when Haag left, Dave still knows his stuff and was willing to work with me to sort out a build that fit exactly what I was looking for.
We finally ended up at a rebuild of the shortblock using Forged Honda long-rods (5.394”) and some custom JE pistons and rings. Resulting CR was 8.26:1, with the machining of the engine compensated for with a slightly thicker head gasket. The awesome part of this was name brand con-rods for Hondas are in such high demand that they’re cheap! The custom pistons, rings and rods totaled less than $1k, which made me a happy camper. Not a significant premium to pay over the standard Supertech/wiseco and ebay special, in exchange for smoother idle and revving, lower rotating mass, longer dwell time at TDC, and more.
While the engine was gone, I scored an insane deal most of the cosmetic parts for a MSM conversion of the body and swapped them over. I left the foglights out as I plan on using them as ducting for oil cooling and/or front brake ducting. During this time I also did some basic dent pulling and filling and some really terrible painting to keep rust at bay while I sort out all of the mechanical bits on the car.
Additionally, I ordered my ECU from DIYautotune. I knew I wanted map blending for flex fuel, which pushed me to the MS3, so I opted for an MS3x DIY kit along with a DIY-BOB (I didn’t know about Frank’s board at that time, but I at least got his alternator circuit). I’m not the best at soldering, and aside from a DOA MS3 daughterboard, everything came together fairly seamlessly. Now it waits patiently for smog to be passed.
Last edited by Djwade; 11-02-2016 at 12:38 PM.
Reason: Headlights -> Foglights for ducting
A short while later, I had the assembled short block and a rebuilt head back home, and it was time to put everything back together. All in all, things went together quite smoothly. I upgraded to ARP head studs while things were apart, as well as an oil filter relocation to save me some headache in the future.
The stock clutch had to go, and I needed to future-proof in that area as well, so I opted for a FM Stage 2 Happy meal with the 13# Flywheel, as well as a extended braided stainless steel clutch line (Another time where flying solo was not the most enjoyable thing).
A few days/nights of careful assembly later, I had the Oh-so-wonderful task of reinstalling the engine alone, but I fortunately got it in without too much headache. Fast forward a day of chasing final details, fluids and electrical gremlins, the miata lives again! Because I had purchased the car in a non-running state, it currently sat as a planned Non-Op, which needed to change. I basically skipped all the way to AAA to get some temporary moving permits so that I could do the break in procedure and get the car smogged. Things were going just fine and dandy, till halfway to work the next morning at roundabouts 5:30 am, I had the joy of seeing the check engine light turn on. Coolant and Oil both looked good in the level and temperature department, I had Oil Pressure, and the engine was purring along happily enough that I just continued on to work.
Because of the oh-so-logical nature of California Legislation and the fact that Auto Part stores are not allowed to run OBDII readings, I placed an order for an OBDII reader that was waiting for me when I got home (I love amazon prime and free same-day shipping). A quick reading showed the P0421 code indicating my forward cat was toast. I did some driving while monitoring both O2 sensors and confirmed my front cat was, indeed, toast. I needed to pass smog, and I’m not handy with a welder yet, so a quick relocation of the O2 sensors was out of the question. I was getting ready to have an out of state family member reship me a forward cat instead of paying the exorbitant CARB cost until I found a used one nearby for $60. An hour later the next day, the check engine light was gone and I went through the obscure and annoying drive cycle for the EGR system, then passed smog with flying colors.
Last edited by Djwade; 11-02-2016 at 12:41 PM.
Reason: spelling
The above wall of text and images basically brings us now to present day. I’m driving the car and loving it as it stands. Cosmetically it’s pretty hideous, but that will be sorted in the future. I’ve been able to drive a few of the good roads around here, but I’ve been eagerly awaiting driving Mines Road in Livermore, which I will be doing this weekend. It will serve as a litmus test for every change I make to the car, and so I need to drive it as the car stands now to get a nice stock baseline. (If anyone is local and is interested in potentially meeting up there on Sunday, let me know!)
Once I’ve run Mines road and I feel I’ve explored the handling characteristics of the stock car, I’ll start the changes by throwing on the Tein Flex Coilovers that are currently sitting in my living room that I scored a pretty solid deal on while I was waiting for the short block.
From there, changes will also start to occur to the driveline, most notably the addition of FI. Before anything, I’m planning on finding a dyno nearby and getting all power changes recorded every step of the way: Stock, Stock with MS3x, and then every time after with every form of FI that gets slapped onto this car.
Last edited by Djwade; 11-02-2016 at 12:47 PM.
Reason: missing word
Regarding Forced Induction: I wasn’t sure where I wanted to start initially, but I knew I wanted to experience both primary forms of FI, and not just for a short drive or two, but really living with both supercharging and turbo charging. I’m fairly confident I’ll end up with a EFR 6758 in the future and have all sorts of win in the form of Andrew’s TSE Turbo Kit, but this build is a journey, not a rush to the destination.
Because of that, I’m starting with a stuidch-….uh, I mean supercharger.
WAIT. Hold back the fury, scorn, and contempt for the n00b that’s about to ruin a perfectly good FI engine build with a stupidcharger.
Turbos are better. I know that. Everything my education in engineering has ever taught me makes this brutally obvious. I know that basically any turbo will outperform a supercharger setup. That is the exact reason why I’m fully expecting to end up with an EFR kit as my endpoint. I would much rather start with the not-so-good and end with the mind blowing awesomeness that is EFR’s turbos than work up the willpower to remove said EFR turbo, and replace it with a supercharger for the experience. I think we’ve all seen how long a similar situation lasted with 18psi and his long-lived experience with an FFS setup.
It is because of this and my insatiable curiosity that I’m going start by supercharging my miata. However, I’ve come to hate band-aids and am not a fan of High IATs, so I’m opting for a hotside MP62 kit with the TDR intercooler to start. A very well sorted setup should be heading my way shortly that will give me what will be very close to an ideal MP62 experience. More details to follow.
With that being said, I have plenty to start working on now. In the near future I’ll be looking to pick up some ID1000s to keep some headroom for future e85 and start tuning on the car N/A.
Thanks all of you who have contributed to the years of knowledge that I’ve already been able to use to great success in the planning and execution of this build so far.
-Dan
P.S. Apologies again about the wall of text, I probably should have started this thread a while ago, but it is what it is.
As someone who as decided to go the stupidcharger rout as well, look into dual throttle bodies if you havr not already. I just got my M45 onto my 1.6 (talk about wrong!), and even with the stock crossover pipe and no intercooler, the throttle responce and idle have suffered a lot. I am strongly looking forward to getting my intercooler abd dual throttle bodies in over the winter. IATs upwords of 200F and rev hang are no fun. But supercharger noises are.
Also, if you haven't done any tuning before, slap the MS3x in and play with it before changing anything else. The learning curve is like running face first into a brick wall.
Also, let me know when you are done with thr MP62, I foresee one for me in the future.....
Greatest start to a build thread in a while. Lots of momentum. Such a captivating story. 10/10 would read again. I hope Jim Dale does the audio book.
Haha, I'm actually a fairly slow writer, and I've had it happen countless times where I'm about 80% through a post and one of my oversized cats decides to pounce on the keyboard, precisely selecting all of the text and deleting it. I've since learned to type longer posts in a separate local window, and post them once it's actually written out. Saves me from unnecessary frustration.
Thanks for the compliments! I'm hoping to keep momentum up, but I want to make sure I keep things at a pace where I don't spend too much time with the car out of commission so I can make sure I'm enjoying it for what it is and not just constantly working on it.
As someone who as decided to go the stupidcharger rout as well, look into dual throttle bodies if you havr not already. I just got my M45 onto my 1.6 (talk about wrong!), and even with the stock crossover pipe and no intercooler, the throttle responce and idle have suffered a lot. I am strongly looking forward to getting my intercooler abd dual throttle bodies in over the winter. IATs upwords of 200F and rev hang are no fun. But supercharger noises are.
Also, if you haven't done any tuning before, slap the MS3x in and play with it before changing anything else. The learning curve is like running face first into a brick wall.
Also, let me know when you are done with the MP62, I foresee one for me in the future.....
Thanks! The set up I'm getting already has had a lot of work done to it, including dual throttle bodies. Like I said, once it's in my hands and payment sorted, I'll share some more details, but I want to wait till its here.
Regarding the tuning, I haven't done any yet, but I definitely plan on tuning the car with the new injectors prior to adding boost so I can limit the frustration initially by keeping the complexity (and risk) down. Once I've got that sorted, and I feel comfortable enough with tuning, then I'll add the supercharger into the mix. Because of this, I don't see boost happening till after the new year, but I have plenty of modifications to make in the mean time while I'm fiddling with the base tune.
Once I am done with the MP62, It'll show up on the classifieds here for sure. How long that will be I'm not sure. It could be months or years. Only time will tell.
Skip the supercharger, unless you enjoy throwing several thousand down the drain.
That would indeed be the wiser choice, and for 99% of people, they would be smart to follow your advice. For me personally, I just want to experience it and live with it for a few months to really appreciate the nuances between the two. It's not often that you have a platform with so many different options available for changing the characteristics of the car, and so I want to explore this while I have the chance. I'm sure I'll lose some money in the process, but for me it's about the journey and the process. If I just wanted something that's fun to drive and was already sorted, I would have just bought someone's already sorted turbo miata.
I really do appreciate the suggestion, honestly! If I just wanted to arrive at a car that was a blast to drive and never change it, I'd probably put myself on the MKTurbo waitlist today. And it may be that I make a pit-stop along my journey and slap an MKTurbo setup on the miata at some point. But for now I want to start with the "worst" and have the full experience, then move my way up. I know it's an absurd prospect for you since you've experienced a turbo miata, but I plan on having my miata for a long time and going through many changes along the way.
In all seriousness though, many of the supporting mods that I'll be doing for the stupid charger will retain their usefulness when I switch to a turbo. The fuel pump, injectors , and flex fuel sensor will retain their value and function, so I don't see it as a total waste. It will still be an improvement over the stock car, just not to the same amount a turbo setup will eventually .
I really do understand that this isn't a logical or financially sound path, and I'm going to get loads of crap from you all about it , but that's OK. Maybe I'm just a little bonkers, but I'm already learning a lot about both system types and I'm excited for this experience.
Last edited by Djwade; 11-02-2016 at 04:13 PM.
Reason: Phone likes to autocorrect incorrectly
Oh! Belt shedding, it makes a mess. Just to warn you. And the bypass on my M45 sticks open sometimes on fast gear changes, may need to make a stop or some adjustments for it.
Other than that, the supercharger stuff isn't all that different from turbo. I have gotten to play with both helping my friend build his turbo 91.
11-02-2016, 12:10 PM
Djwade's Boost Pilgrimage (1999 Miata Build)
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