DD track duty something or other money pit
 

I Feel like its time to have some sort of document of what will become of my car, so here goes. Currently I have a 93 miata with 150k on the clock. I used to run a greddy kit with a 2.5" DP, FMIC MS1, Ect. But I have decided that is not the route I want to go. For the meantime the car is NA while I do a few track events and learn how to drive.

My big issue is where to start. Firstly, this is my DD car, so avoiding longterm downtimes is preferable. This build will be all things budget at the beginning. Being an unemployed full time student, I do not have much money and therefore this build will take a long time. That being said, I did manage to find a 94 1.8L unassembled block for relatively cheap, but I need opinions on what to do with it. My goal is to have around 230 - 240 hp that is reliable enough for the track.

With budget in mind, I plan to build the 1.8 and throw it in the car for some Na fun, But I want to build it to be able to handle the HP down the road. (I'm thinking by the time I get the turbo I can afford turbotims stuff, I know I said budget then turned around and said turbotim, But Its what I would really like to have in the long run.

Currently what I have in terms of 1.8 are the needed motor mounts, block with crank still attached, all four stock pistons, and oil pan, stock oil pump, Head in good shape needs machine work though, 94 IM and TB. Everything I have was running at one point, But I have no clue when that was, or any issues that may have been. I also have a 99 TB that I intend to use in this build.

What do you guys think I would need to meet my goals?
Im thinking:
Rods (maybe?)
Pistons (maybe?)
or will stock suffice?
Head gasket
head studs
all new bearings and rubber
Should I replace the crank bearings as well?
Keep the IM and block off EGR? meanwhile look for a 99 im?
Leave the head alone aside from small machine work and valve stem seals
Billet OP
new fuel rail (since I lack one)
Wiring harness? (also lacking)

Keep in mind I do already have MS1 and 460cc injectors, which will probably need to be replaced.

What do you guys think?
Pics probably to come soon.

And now for some pictures, Ignore the quality, theyre all cellphone pics

First got the car with a jackson racing supercharger and related bandaids.
Shortly after I swapped to a Greddy Kit off of a user here. Just recently I have taken that kit off and sold most of it, The car is currently NA and I am working on suspension, handling, as well as the nut behind the wheel.

Currently the car has KYB AGX coilovers with Ground control springs, 375 front 250 rear.

Stock 1.6 brakes with carbotech xp8's in the front and porterfield somethings in the back.

Full 949 energy suspension bushings, excluding diff bushings.

stock swaybars

As for the engine, its a stock 1.6 with a diy coolant reroute, no heater core, 460cc rx-7 injectors being run by :brain: MS-1 standalone.
LC-1 wideband.

Current tire of choice are potenza Re-11

Soon to come, COPS in wasted spark, and redoing my TPS cause it keeps breaking :facepalm:

Ok, I'm not getting parts together yet but I'm in the planning stages.

I'm thinking:
M-tuned rods
billet OP
Supertech pistons, thoughts? different brand? what compression ratio? 9.5:1 seems to be the most common choice
FM rebuild kit (this is the only thing ive seen for an overall rebuild. What can you guys recommend instead? or should I stick with the rebuild kit and be done with it.)
coolant reroute and needed parts

note, im ok with buying individual parts, bearings ect, so long as i end up ahead from the fm kit

Everything else is rather self explanatory. What am I forgetting? :noob:

Coolant reroute if you want it track reliable.

^ Already had that in the works, forgot to add it to the list. lol

Working on a COPS setup now! just need to wire the 12V supply, a capacitor, and find a dead ignitor to keep this pnp.

Attachment 190074

Harness as it stands now
Attachment 190075

Attachment 190076

The halfway finished, redone TPS
Attachment 190077

Talking to myself here... but, Found a suspension noise while driving today. Its coming from the drivers front. Car makes a loud pop while under light braking, or just after finishing light braking. Any thoughts on what to look for while ive got the car on jacks? Anyone else run into this noise before?

Whoo suspension noises and TPS noises!
 

Update time!

Not too much is new here, getting ready for exams among other things.
I finally finished the cop harness! pnp and ready to go.

Still figuring out my connection issues between the lappy and the MS,
https://www.miataturbo.net/megasquirt-18/weird-ms1-issue-pics-56727/
for those of you interested. The result is that my laptop and the gigawire seem to be the issue. we used my friends ibm laptop with not a single issue whatsoever whilst using my gigawire. immediately after buring the firmware on his computer, hooking mine back up showed a firmware mismatch on TS, even though we knew it was correct. Looks like its time to search for a cheapo laptop. :facepalm:

After three different tries on three different days, I still cannot find this damn suspension pop. It feels less severe now than it did, as well as less frequent, but it is still there.

Would ES bushing have anything to do with this problem?

Anyways,
Also decided to mess with my afr targets a little bit more, got a target table that I think I am happy with, it feels about right for cruising as well as for accelerating.

I would be putting the variable tps back on, but this msq kinda concerns me. With no tps plugged in, during my msq the tps value slowly creeps upwards. I dont understand where this would be coming from, there is no path for electricity to travel And even if that were the case, the value shouldnt be creeping upwards. :vash:

Edit: the msq keeps failing to upload, ill try again later

Depends on the conditions leading to the pop... More than likely sway bar. But only really if using aftermarket end links and oversized sway which would then need some grease on the bushings.
Another reason could be control arm bushings. Mine would do it on initial take off at slow speed any time there was a camber change such as a driveway or such.

^ hmmmm, its under medium braking. usually after a couple seconds of braking. I've got full ES everywhere except the diff. stock sway and stock endlinks. Everything was greased when they went in, which was around November last year.

I can feel it in the brake pedal when it pops, and i have put the front on jacks and tried every bolt, everything is nice and tight.

By loud - if it sounds like this... then it is control arms. This was what mine ended up being. Either a stripped cam bolt or bushing.


If it's on stands, put a bar and wedge to see if you get the slightest of movement at the cam bolt and bushing area.

Its nowhere near that loud.. So I kinda doubt its that.

Whoo hoo! Schools almost out! which means time to finally start making some money so I can do stuff with this!

Ive got a couple issues before I continue elsewhere though.
First and foremost, my fuel table. The AFR targets haven't changed much since my last update, but I'm having issues with it. My tune will be fine after a nice run with VEAnalyze (obviously) But the next time I drive the car everything will change, numbers on TS dont physically change, but my previous 15.5 afr cruising will become around 14.4-14.6, and any uphill area becomes 12-13 afr, despite trying not to put anymore throttle than needed.

I feel like this has to do with the temperature of the air entering the engine. The issue with this is that I cannot find the mat table to try to fix my issue, if that even is the issue.

Any Ideas guys?

Once this issue is solved, I plan to install the cops, as well as my tps and have the car running the way it should be running once again.

As for the susp noise, I had a couple friends ride around with me, it seems to be coming from the brakes knocking forward because of a small clearance in the caliper, were going to put some brake lube on the back of the pads and see if the noise changes

wewt! bp engine came home a few days ago!

40 bux for it too!

all it is missing is a few bolts here and their like the oil pan bolts. nothing i cant find in a junkyard somewhere. I plan to save up a little more before I start work on the engine, but it should be fun! :drool:

In other news, susp issues are almost fixed, just need some input on something. I know that the car will probably understeer a little bit still once everything is running properly. I was looking at getting a front sway and leaving the rear stock. Any recommendations on what size works well?

Fwiw I plan to run something similar to 949's setup on alignment as a starting point, and move from there.

Car looks good Gryff - good luck with the engine build. My vote goes for mostly stock internals, ~12 psi and ~230-240hp. That seems to be a real sweet spot for these cars as far as the performance/cost tradeoff. Hope to see you at CMP again in the fall!

Thats my goal, but im going with forged internals for a good safety buffer.

I'll be at cmp in the fall one way or another, biggest question will be whether this engine is in or not. we will see though!

DD track duty something or other money pit
 

Well. Kinda ditched the plan of a cheap rebuild.

So currently the block, crank, pistons and rods are at the machine shop being cleaned, bored, honed, ect, ect.

I'm going with 84mm 9.0:1 supertechs with m-tuned rods to back them up. I have also refreshed the head, and ordered a set of billet op gears. Everything else is going to remain stock for the time being.

This motor is going to be backed up by ms3x built by yours truly. I'm excited to start putting things together, its certainly going to be a one of a kind experience.

Pics are ms3, obviously. OP gears, Box o stuff off the block, bucket o stuff including 99 tb motor mount brackets, random shit, and random bolts, hopefully the bucket has most of what I need as far as bolts go. One way to find out.