this weekend made some backward progress:

yanked the tranny back out, cleaned it up and painted it.
yanked the motor back out :facepalm:
took off all the crap in the way of the oil pump and installed a set of billet oil pump gears. 8500 rpm better be worth it! Planning to have the motor back in the car by next weekend.

I was in the zone, so I forgot to take pics. Here are a couple:

I scored a low mileage TII tranny, so since I was pulling it anyways, I decided to go ahead and swap it in and use my current one for a spare. I swapped bellhousings between transmissions because I had to modify it so much to fit with the adapter plate
Attachment 203244

cleaned, and painted:
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and the reason why I ripped everything out of the car- new billet oil pump gears to go in (stock ones are on the white pad):
Attachment 203246

got the motor back together and in the car, I'll post up the pictures later.

Got tired of gathering friends and dead-lifting the motor in and out, so I picked up a new 2 ton engine hoist. Great decision.

Attachment 203063

Loaded the motor up on it and started putting it all back together:
Attachment 203064

I finally broke down and stripped and painted the water and crank pulleys too. I used that hand hammered paint
Attachment 203065

tidied up the injector wiring and fuel lines
Attachment 203066

motor back together and ready to go in!
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and back in the car:
Attachment 203068

I had some questions too...

what does this hardline go to (I think this was for the charcoal canister), and what does the hose connected to the subframe go to? Can they be looped together??
Attachment 203069

Yes they can be looped, It's what most people do when deleting the charcoal canister. The sub-frame hose just dumps to atmosphere behind the sub-frame, uh, frame.

Nice that's kind of what I thought it was...a vent, but wanted to be sure.

This is great! awesome work but why not do a nice v-mount while you got everything out of the way?

I'm tired of fab work! I just want to drive it at this point.

This weekends work...

transmission is back in the car, hopefully for the last time now! I also topped off the fluid in the shifter turret and installed my shortshifter:

Attachment 202981

cleaned up the wires, put in the rubber boot and bolted down the center console:

Attachment 202982

bolted in the new driveshaft:

Attachment 202983

Then I plugged the wiring harness back into all the engine crap, finished up a few loose ends with the harness, and installed the front fenders, front bumper, and also the rear bumper.

Attachment 202984

Attachment 202985

It's finally starting to look like a car! I know I'm getting close because my hardware stash is getting less and less.

couple more wiring questions:

what do these 3 connectors go to? I'm hoping they are AC or emissions crap that way I don't have to worry about them. They come out of the harness that the CAS is in.

Attachment 202980

Kudos to all the work you're getting done, I would never be able to work around that filth. What's the plan for the interior and exterior. Paint? Color? Carpet? Seats?

What filth?

interior is painted black (not planning on using a carpet), exterior will be painted audi tt dolomite grey, seats are in the car already.

I'm pretty sure that the middle connector is for your single wire o2. Mine was yellow on the inside if that helps any.

Pretty sure one is for your NB o2, as someone already stated, another looks to be for your temp sensor (the spade connector one on the back of the head)

ah o2 sensor, right that's one of them, and the temp sensor I prob forgot to connect too, I'll check that out. Thanks!

I think the third one connects to the master cylinder resivoir, to a sensor that tells you when you're low on fluid. Actually it just turns on the ebrake light, but you get the point.

no I have that one connected, and these are all on the passenger side of the car.

Whew, that looks like a lot of work to put the tranny in.

Good luck on progress.

dope.

it's really not that bad. I may just be getting used to it...heh

just wondering how long have you been working on this build and what is your eta on finished?

I'm kinda disapointed on this build lately. I stated awesome and lately it just looks like you've been rushing to finish it. I hope you don't make the same mistake I did, I rushed mine And now I'm going back and fixing all the cut corners.

far connector on right could very well be the oil pressure sensor wire

going on 2.5 years, hoping to have it started sometime this winter.

What exactly looks rushed? If you're referring to the wire tuck, I'm not going to splice into the main wires for the engine until i've verified that it can be started/run, so that will be done after the car is running at some point. I don't see why you think I'm rushing anything...


Nah I already have that hooked up, thanks though!

did a little bit today, spent more time running around than actually working on the car.

Installed my beatrush untertray. I had to get creative as from my understanding, these are supposed to be installed with out the r-package lip. Here's what I did. I got some 1/4" threaded rod, cut to fit, and sandwiched the undertray with bolts and washers, as well as the original mounting spot on the bumper. For the rear mounting, it wants you to use the space in the lower control arm bracket that my underbrace bolts to. The tray and the racing beat brace overlapped, so I just bolted the brace over the tray to hold it down in place.

Attachment 202459

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Now it sits level with the bottom of the lip, and the brake duct holes can still be used

Attachment 202461

Most likely going to pack the car up tomorrow and get it ready to take to the exhaust shop hopefully this week, but we'll see.

installed all the new gauges, and also put in a 13 hour day with 3 of my good buddies to finish all the bodywork, and we got a coat of laquer primer on the car, and installed the rear flares. I will be calling my painter in a little bit, and if all goes well, it's off to paint friday! Pics to follow....

Many of the parts you have painted look as if they still have pounds of rust in them, and also many areas on the car chassis, engine, fenders etc. Just because you spray like crazy and coat it with paint does not mean the rust will go away.

I went through your thread and can spot many rusted parts, you have cut a lot of corners on NOT sandblasting suspension, engine parts. The last you did, I think it was the water pump pulley, looks horrible, if I recall well the alternator looks nasty.

We dont have to tell you, that car is a rust bucket, I would have chosen a much cleaner platform for such a project.

So some parts of your project look awesome but then you kill it with a spray can.

Welding A+

Painter F-

You asked!

It is what it is I guess. I'm doing the best I can with the materials/tools I have available. I wirewheeled the crap out of everything I've painted, hit it with metal primer, and then 2 coats of paint. If the rust comes back, it comes back and I'll deal with it then. The water and crank pullies I used that hand-hammered paint, which is why they look the way they do. I'm well aware that this isn't a show car, but hey that's not why I'm building it. I appreciate the feedback regardless.

teaser pic:
Attachment 202080

This was after all the bodywork/primer was finished. I measured the ride height, and it's currently at 11.25" from hub center to fender. Def have to raise it up some, I can't even get a screwdriver in between the tire and the fender. I'm also going to trim the lip on the flares for some more clearance too. That's me standing next to it.

Yeah, I'm also definitely using your car as inspiration for a future wire tuck. One day I'll get around to it!

there's plenty of better examples than mine, I didn't do any of the major wires as I want to start the car first. Once I know it starts and runs then I'll do it all completely.

bled the brakes and the clutch today, however I believe the slave is bad as the system doesn't seem to be building pressure. I bled all the air out of the lines. It sat for about a year w/o any fluid in the system.

Any updates Mighty Mouse?

I need my fix on this build, where are you MM?

I heard he sold it and bought a smartcar, or maybe it was prius.

I seriously hope you're joking. If not imma have to go kill someone. :vash:

It hasn't been sold, don't worry. I've been traveling a lot with work lately, and been doing projects around the house, so it's been on the backburner.


Question though- what does this do? I know it hooks back into the intake piping, but I'm wondering if it's necessary and if I can get rid of it? I'll be running megasquirt pnp for those who don't feel like reading all the old stuff.

Attachment 199824

Been trying to set up an appointment with the exhaust shop, his and my schedule's haven't aligned just yet, hopefully it will get there soon.

IAC valve aka Idle Air Control valve, some people say with megasquirt you can run a filter on it instead of routing it to the intake piping but i play the safe way and just routed it to the intake piping.

That's what I thought it was, just wanted to confirm my guess.

I have a filter on mine, I run a AEM EMS never has given me problems.

Seriously? i would have anticipated it to leak boost in the upper rpms. So it completely closes when its not being used?

Like i said some people say it does some people say it doesnt. If you want to play it safe route it to your intercooler piping, less headaches later on.

Is this unique to the 1.6? I didn't see that pipe on my 1.8.

Yeah I will most likely be routing it back in, I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of other bugs to work out

Ah i have no idea, never seen a 1.8L in person, mines a 1.6 neighbours is a 1.6 and neighbours best friend is a 1.6 lol and im the only dam person in this city that has a turbo miata...next closest is probably one of the guys from toronto.

slight update- miata is off to the exhaust shop tomorrow for 8am, I'm going to load it up tonight. Should have it back in the garage thursday if all goes well

So what's the latest ETA for completion?

Once it's back from exhaust I should have everything I need to get it running. I still have to figure out my clutch issue, it's not building enough pressure it seems (the pedal has very little resistance), throw the rest of the parts at it I've been stockpiling, and hope for the best. I'm trying to get it running for the good weather

Just got off the phone with the exhaust shop, the downpipe is complete, he'll be moving on to the rest of the exhaust tomorrow.

You should be the exhaust shop ;)

ha! I have no way to mandrel bend pipe, nor do I want to weld a million different pieces together. Better to let the professionals take care of this one.

My 99 has it; I've put a one-way valve and a filter on it.

Exhaust is now complete ! I'm having him do my intercooler piping as well. I should be picking the car up at the end of the week.

Scooping the car up tomorrow, can't wait!

I broke my camera, so I'll have to use crappy iphone pics :(.

Turbo to downpipe flange ETD racing recommended putting the EGT probe here on the downpipe vs on the manifold itself as they've had problems with them cracking in the past. The temperature difference between the 2 locations should be negligible:
Attachment 199299

routed the wastegate dumptube back into the exhaust:
Attachment 199300

I would have liked a shallower "entry" but space was very limited. The downpipe is 2.5" (couldn't get 3" to clear the TII bellhousing), then it expands to 3" all the way back, all 409 stainless steel. There are very minimal bends, and it's tucked up fairly high for ground clearance. This thing is going to sound mean!
Attachment 199301

Slight bend at the rear for a left exit:
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couple more of the exhaust with it still on the trailer:
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I also had him make my intercooler pipes out of 2.5" mild steel. I'm going to go back and fab up the BOV flange (didn't like how my last one turned out) as well as the IAT bung and the IAC tube.

Hotside:
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Coldside:
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2 more of the engine bay: I stood on top of the truck to take the first shot.
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It's coming down to the final stretch!

No room for a radiator fan on the right side eh? Or is that a optical illusion?

Also, I don't know what the delta_T across a turbine is, but I doubt it fit my definition of negligible. But better that then a cracked mani I guess.

Doesnt look like there will be enough space for a second (stock) fan. Some spal low pro fans will probably be fine.

Iphone pictures aren't very bad at all, 3GS? my 3Gs pix are not very good at all.

There's room for a fan if the IC pipe is going behind the sway. Curious to see the bellhousing clearance - or lack of you mention for the down the pipe. I've never heard that being an issue with other TII installs.

There's enough room for a fan. I have a thin 12" spal one already, just haven't got around to building a shroud/mounting system for it. If I need more cooling believe it or not there is room on the pass side for a smaller fan. I'm hoping this will do OK, but there's only 1 way to find out. As for the probe, I thought the same thing, but they said this is what they've been doing on their racecars for years. Again, only 1 way to find out I guess.


When I get the car up I'll take some better pictures of the clearance. The clearance issue for 3" downpipe vs 2.5" also arises from the ETD manifold- it left the turbo and wastegate in an awkward position. The smaller pipe allowed for a more direct path. It expands to 3" right after the bellhousing; the 2.5" section is very short.