E85 Turbo MX5 Build
 

Well now that i have made the decision to go down the turbo route i thought i would start my own thread and detail my journey.

Prior going down the turbo route i was into the #hellaswag stance scene and complete destroyed the way the car handled and how it should be driven.

Xforce Headers
2.5inch piping all the way back to RS*R exmag gt2
Project g skirts
xxr 527
Garage vary front lip
Sparco Sprint V
yellow speed premium comps


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1370911577
Mx5 by Full Motion Photography, on Flickr


I drove it around like this for a year before getting bored of it and with friends starting to attend more track events i thought only logical thing would be to go down the turbo route and get the car back to glory !

First step was to find a setup, i was looking for something that is stealth in the engine bay due to strict laws in Australia, i found a kit for sale on a local forum for :

Log mani
t2554 turbo
3" dump
Intercooler + piping

For the price i paid for the bolt in kit i was laughing until the time came to actually install it into the car and i started have all sorts of issues with nothing fitting properly, everything had to be custom fitted as the intercooler piping was all incorrect, dump with hitting the gearbox and other bit and pieces missing. While this was in-progress i also had a 3" turbo back exhaust made up from stainless.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1370911465
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1370911465
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1370911465

Turbo bolted on

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1370911465

With the intention of going to the ever so popular E85 based fuel i purchased a DW200 fuel pump and some 850cc Five0motorsports injectors

Also managed to find a set of 6uls for sale locally 15x9 with 225/45 Toyo R888

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1370911465

This is how the car looks with the current wheels

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...53917259_n.jpg

Interior

Din : Racetech oil,water temp, oil pressure
right vent : innovate MTX-L
Left - Turbosmart boost gauge

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.n...99491708_n.jpg

After having several issues with trying to get my megasquirt to work properly i finally gave up and sold it off and purchased a Haltech PS1000 and haven't looked back, car was then booked into Micks Motrosports for a single map E85 tune.

Car managed to make 217 hp @ 12 psi.

I have been told dyno reads lower than normal but none the less i was externally happy and when i first took it for a drive i was amazed at how much pull it actually had, highly recommend e85 you cannot look past that mid range torque increase.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1369182252

Here is a short video of how the car sounds



Sorry about the long first post :)

I like it, all except for the hipster mustache. Why?!?!

Otherwise loving the car, get some wot vids for us. I want to see how it compares to mine with a 99 motor/t25.

Very clean NB! Are you still running the factory clutch?

thanks.

@fireindc will try get some videos this weekend.

@southernmx5 i installed a f1 racing stage 1 clutch a few years back and at the moment it is holding up

Great start.
I'm a bit puzzled at the dyno plot.
1) why start the pull so late
2) spool still seems kinda slow for a 2554. is this an ebay unit?

BECAUSE AUSTRALIA!

Good to see you finally got it sorted. Good figures for 12psi.

Its a Nissan S13 turbo.

Dann

Oh so its journal bearing then?

looks pretty sound overall! Welcome! well... all is welcome except the mustache... hahaha jk
what problems were you having with the megasquirt???

Yep not BB, the megasquirt just didnt want to run without fuel setting that were WAY out by factors of 5-10, I had a spare hour the day I was up that way with the white na6 at the drags, I could barely get it to move under its own power, no idea what the issue was.

Dann

Yeah it's a Journal bearing turbo off and s13 with a .86 rear housing

I believe 1 and 2 are related. I know on my wrx with the tiny turbo that the difference between starting at 2k rpm and 2.5k rpm was like 10ftlbs at the 3krpm peak torque, because the turbo just hadn't finished spooling yet. :giggle:

*Wait, wait wait. Australian, turbo'ed, couldnt make MS work so went haltech. You arent the guy from that there Utube series?

Nah that's me.

Pretty sure the main reasons are that its journal bearing and has an .86 rear housing on it

took the car for its first proper drive last weekend, was so happy how well it drove and how good it felt going through the mountains.

Once the r888 got heat into them the car just stuck to the ground boosting through corners was no issue.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1371600757

Picked up a new turbo over the weekend, GT28R 60 Rear housing, should see a big difference in power spool and torque over my current T25 0.86

Will also be getting turbo ceramic coated and picking up some inconel studs then off to drags in august and hopefully some track time.

Car is all back together with new turbo with inconel studs and s15 retainers + intake setup custom box and shield. full brake upgrade and new turbosmart bov, hoping to get the car in for a tune in the coming weeks.

The 28r i purchased ended up being blown so i had to settle for a china 2870 that my mechanic had so only time will tell how it goes on the dyno.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382588416
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382588416

Seriously, what's with Australians and Megasquirts?

It's like all Megasquirts imported into the country go through Haltech's shop and get hacked and fuxored up...

"Oh, you're having problems with your Megasquirt? Oh man, that sucks, we've heard they aren't very good. Welp, we have a Haltech sitting around not being used if you want to buy that instead..."

The maps are upside down.



Sincerely,

Dude who may or may not run a Haltech on his turbo Miata. *shifty eyes*

comes down to the fact that no tuners actually tune megasquirt in Australia, Haltech is much bigger and alot of tuners use it

Oh, I totally understand that, I just found it ironic that you and the Youtube dudes had similar problems with a tuning solution that has worked so well for most US gehs.

I don't know about the specific Haltech you are using, but the one that the Youtube guy used looked like a huge PITA to install. Much more difficult than just fixing the Megasquirt they had.

That said, it looked like the Haltech they used had very good capability, and having it tuned on Haltechs steady state dyno by a Haltech engineer...it probably worked out alright for them.

He's using a Platinum Sport 1000.

My Platinum Sport 1000 used a PNP harness.

THAT SAID: The PNP harness for the 04-05 MSM is not 100% correct. Ludwig Motorsports was able to fix it and the changes necessary were relayed back to Haltech.

So i guess... in a way, there's a PNP Haltech available.

Even if you were to build your own harness "from scratch," the install is pretty damn easy. Buy the "long" flying lead with the unit, and it's as simple as just running the wires to the sensors you need. Easy 1 day install.

As easy as my Enhanced MS2 PnP from Reverant? Because that is pretty friggen easy.

You're comparing building a new harness from a flying lead to a PNP? That seems... silly.


I'd say that the PNP Haltech is as easy as a Megasquirt PNP. (In fact, it's easier to mount because the box is about half the size. ;) )

And i'd say that building a flying lead Haltech is as easy as building a Megasquirt flying lead.

Apples to apples, you end up with apples.


Is the Megasquirt cheaper and overall better supported on this particular forum? Yep.

Well that was a monster MS3 that was twice the size of your haltech, I think the others are more reasonably sized.

Actually... the MS3 was about 3x the size. The MS2 is about twice the size. :giggle:

You should come hang out this weekend. Trying to finish the black car so i can frantically build the red car real quick.

Yeah as above i have a Sport 1000 mine came with a PNP harness so was extremely easy to install and car was able to run on the provided base map unlike the ms

There was a problem with your ms. It wasnt a pnp was it? It was home built by someone? I have done a dozen or so pnp ms this year and only had a hastle once and it was fixed in about 5minutes after the log was sent to diyautotune.

Dann

My ms was brand new and was also a pnp so unless I was sent a dud ...

Was it built as a PnP or was it a factory standard PnP?

For example if I take a haltech and build a harness and load a map onto it it's still 'PnP' but that isnt the same as calling haltech and having THEM send me one of THEIR PnP ecu's.

If it was a genuine DIYautotune built factory PnP for your model of car, then yeh, a dud I guess.

Dann

new setup has been tunned in time for some track activities this weekend, china 2870.

Mario is off the dyno ahead of the weekend for powerplay, new power figures below.

We stopped the tune at 186kw @13 psi as we didnt want to start destroying the engine clutch etc/

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385676482

Awesome. Good results.

By the way, I have now been sent 2 Megasquirts which had unstable, experimental firmware on them, and DIYautotune didn't seem to care that it cost me a day trying to figure it out.

So, that was an issue. Dumb as hell, I don't know what they were thinking putting the wrong firmware on a few and not giving a fuck.

Wonder if that was the issue with yours.

Dann