Faelflora breaks his promise, time to part out car. GIT THE SAWZALL!
 

Let's get to the details. I have a 2003 LS Miata with a 6 speed and a Torson. I bought it in 2004 after driving RX8s and WRXs and other sporty cars. This Miata though called to me. I'll tell you all the special story since you are all cat loving ------s as well. Simply- I walked into the dealership and this Miata had just been detailed, but there were fresh cat paw prints all over the car, walking up the hood, over the convertible top, and over the trunk. When I saw that, I knew that was the car for me. And it was. Here's the blingiest pics that I can dig up of it from the good old days, before I whored it out doriftoing and finally turboing.

Attachment 241642

Attachment 241643

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Attachment 241645

When I bought it, it had been very tastefully modded by the PO with that Racing Beat Wing, a stupid style bar, a spiffy radio and mediocre sound system, and the Enkei RS5 which is in my opinion, a much better looking wheel than the 6UL but one RS5 is about as heavy as 2x 6ULs...

I looked at turboeing since day one but I had never turned a wrench on a car before in my life so the intimidation factor made me wait until warranty ran out. What a waste. I burned out the factory clutch a bunch of times and Mazda happily paid for the replacement but I shoulda gotten a ACT.

Driving stock was fun but I remember the moment oh so clearly when while attempting to merge onto a state highway, I couldn't pass an accellerating Toyota Prius. That was such bullshit and plus, almost every single day some dipshit in a much faster car would try to race me. Ugh.

In 2006, I bought and installed a bunch of stuff:

BEGI S5 GT3071 and I'll need your help to figure out the damn trim
Hydra w/ 750cc RC's
KYB AGX w/ FM springs, sways
Enthuza 3" catless midpipe + a catted midpipe that has just sat in the garage doing nothing
6UL's all around
Dual sensor EGT gauge (fuck yah IMO)
FM EXTREEEEME Clutch Happy Meal (ACT extreme PP, extreme organic disc, 9lb flywheel)

Couple notes on that stuff:

The BEGI S5 install brought me many tears and despair. After notable injury to my car's frame after sawzalling the fucker with too much zest to get the turbine in, I experienced two busted SS oil lines, dead boost gauges, swapping out wastegate/BOV springs and other etc crappy issues. After several more parts mismatches and hapless neophyte wrenching though , I finally got the kit on the car securely and it's been very good to me for the past 30K miles. The turbo is still spooling, the couplers haven't popped off despite my intake piping being sodden with oil, and the SS lines have proved their sturdiness by sawing through my power steering pump (nothing JB weld couldn't fix :jerkit:). BEGI has also provided very good and devoted customer service which has been much appreciated. Looking at the kit with some of my current knowledge, I can see that the entire thing was pretty much a custom kit and they did a good job on it.

Hydra is hydra and it's the only EMS I've fucked with and it's neato but the UI is fucktarded. I've seen some other interfaces and they like, work like they weren't coded for some high school project. Whatever. Jeremy in his curt glory is always helpful despite making me feel like I am sounding very stupid. For newb "tuners" like me support with this stuff is very important. One important thing to note-- I'm not sure how powerful the Hydra CPU is. When I last dyno'd I ran out of fuel over 6500 and leaned out. The Hydra caught detonation and retarded. The thing is though, on the street, it never retarded on me in that RPM range. I'm not sure that the CPU has enough hertz available to react quickly enough before engine damage. That closed loop knock detect functionality is good but I am getting a secondary system just for that. Just in case. Knocklite.

The KYB AGXs are OK. For DD they are OK. For performance driving they are meh. I really expected a lot more from them. I would have sold them but resale on them is crap. Shame on you FM for selling such a mediocre shock and spring.

The Enthuza is loud as an Apollo rocket and just about as unpleasant to spend extended periods of time with (likely). Everyone for 5 miles around can hear me coming and this exhaust is probably why only built STIs and Z06's race me nowdays (they win. Not for long though). I have to wear earplugs every single time I drive it and long trips with my GF suck because we have to yell the whole trip to hear each other. Decent work by Jason@Enthuza but I really have to put a resonator in the midpipe. The WOT roar and idle is mean as hell though.

6ULs are this shiznit but brake dust destroys the finish. If there's any metal plating specialists out there please shoot me a PM because I'm trying to figure out how I can get a coat of copper plated onto these wheels. DIY style plez so i don't have to pay $200/wheel at a shop. Tarnished copper would look awesome with my paint color.

Yes I love the Dual EGT gauge. It gives me real and useful tuning information and when I WI my car it will be so useful. I have a sensor on #1 and #4. The temperature variance between the two cylinders is never more than 100 degrees. I've only run 12 pounds of boost so maybe with more fuel the whole single feed fuel rail issues would start to show but for now my data indicates no problemo. Of course, I do have a log mani and more accurate numbers would be obtained on a S4 style manifold with individual runners.

The ACT EXXXTREEEEMMEEE clutch and organic disk is the shiznit. I have launched my car way too many times and launched it way too hard and callously each time. This clutch just grabs and grabs and it makes me happy. I've driven it in shitty motherfucking dieinfuckinghell DC traffic (stopgostopgostopgo) for years now and it's about as lovely as a clutch with this torque rating could get. It's never slipped and it's the never gonna give you up never gonna let you down of clutches. Despite the love it will not be able to handle the new torque powah (according to JayL research labs) and I'll be swapping it for a ACT sprung 6 puck.

-----

Sooooo

on to the rest.

I got sick of losing to WRXs and vettes and want more powah. So it's time for a built motor. I've always googleyeyed over Eliminator, MikeE85, JayLs, MarkPs etc cars and I want my Miata to be that fast! Or something approaching that. I did a shitty rushed job on my turbo install (don't make your first install on your DD!) and wanted to redo a lot of things-- install lines properly, clean up leaks, make my engine bay look good vs. the sooty oil covered disgrace it is now. Also, my motor seeps out a good amount of oil from the RMS, valve cover, oil return bung etc and blah that just sucks. ANNND my oil is blacker than <something racist> after only a few hundred miles and I've really run this motor hard so there's all my justification for a new engine.

As is pretty obvious, from day one of buying my kit I had plans to get a motor. It just took a lot of time to get the money to do so. For a while I was thinking that I would assemble the motor myself but the reality is that I would probably fuck it up. Even people that know what they are doing sometimes end up with piles for all sorts of reasons. That sucks and so my plan is to put this built motor in, and then take my time over the next few years and build up this motor I am pulling. I'll go realllll slow.

So here's what's in the longblock:

Head:
FM ported and polished '01 VVT head
Port matched lower intake manifold
+1 exhaust valves
FM adjustable cam gear (you can't see it cus I gotta cut the cover. will do. Later.)
FM Springs
Stock deck

Bottom:
FM Weisco 9:1 (can I have a sponsorship yet please??? it feels more like I am sponsoring FM :facepalm:)
Weisco rings
Belfab H beam rods
Billet Oil Pump Gear
Stock bearings
ARP studs
ATI Dampener --- this thing is a fucking lot of money and it had better do all sorts of amazing things
Stock deck


The motor was assembled by Ed York @ York Automotive. He builds Sealed Spec Miata motors and he knew all the right answers to any motor building trivia questions I could throw at him including Miata specific questions. He is a top Spec Miata driver in the area and also used to race corvettes, was a top driver on the vettes etc. His shop is in Mt Airy MD and he has a dyno dynamics. Prices for motor assembly were very reasonable and he patiently answered all my ignorant questions. He also does race alignments. I may be organizing a dyno day up there in springtime.


Yup I think that's it.

So I'm pulling the stock motor and putting this one in. And I'm doing a few other projects at the same time. Here we go. Here's the list:

----

-Mazdaspeed motor mounts
-Mazdaspeed/comp whatever diff mounts
-3.6 rear w/ rx7 clutch lsd - if I can't get this together it might go in later
-Hydramist with super uber tank location. 2 nozzles- one on intercooler, one a few inches away
-Replace all coolant hoses
-Do BEGIs new "street" reroute
-Fix a stupid PPF mounting nut that stripped (one of the foot long bolt nuts)
-Clean the engine bay till it shines damnit
-Fix sawzall fucked frame rail
-Wire up hydramist to have relay from EBC so I can run "low boost dry" and "high boost wet"

This time, Daddy has loaned me his spare car so I will take my time and not rushfuck the install. When I put in the kit the first time, I had to rent a car for a few weeks towards the end :( Many tears.

Last of all I forgot to mention the most important stuff!

Here's my goals:


Stage 2: (I'm at Stage 1 now right???)

Built engine + Hydramist = Close to 400whp as I can get before I run out of spark



Stage 3:

Intake manifold + moar spark = better fucking be over 400whp






The road to stage 3 is unclear. I will probably go with MSDs because they are awesome and red and WHEN THE FUCK WILL SOMEONE COME OUT WITH A GOOD LAB AND REAL WORLD PROVEN INTAKE MANIFOLD FOR THE MIATA?!?!??? COME FUCKING ON. If nobody does that then I may just end up sticking with the factory one and leave it unmolested.

Very nocturnal.

Any pics with 6ul's? When is the overhaul?

Final post of the night:

Here's where I am as of today:

This is how the engine bay looked before we started making it better ;) The car is dirty bleh.

Attachment 241630

Here's a close up of the engine bay. The shame. I've been uneasy about going to any car meets because I've been embarrassed about the condition of it.

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The turbo side is filthy. This is from bolts backing out and sooty exhaust flying all over, the oil lines rupturing and plurging oil everywhere etc whine whine.

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Now to the good stuff. THIS IS WHY YOU NEED A CATCH CAN. The intake is full of oil from routing the breather to the intake.

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Well this is the turbine and it actually looks pretty cool with all that oil.

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S5 outlet.

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The only real hangup was a bolt that had stripped on the factory cross brace. I had to drill the bastard out.

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The bolt. Fuck you and die.

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A shitty picture of the car.

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The engine bay with shit gone.

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This is a crankshaft that some member sold me which is at the upper limit of factory tolerances. .040 or something clearance. It was plastigauged. If you are building an all out drag only or race only miata this is for you I guess.

Attachment 241640

What it's all about. The built motor. Yayyyyy! I bought my own engine lift and it was amazing. I will do pullups from it every day from now on; it's so sturdy. It's 2 tons capable. Next week I will try using it to get my entire car off the ground :giggle:

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Round 2 should be coming tomorrow.

Awesome parts list, but not keen on the car styling. Keep us all updated :)

Nice project.

Stock cams?
Will take some boost for 400whp on a 3071.

2 bars and gunnin

Might as well improve spark now. I suggest/use LS2 truck coils because they're hella cheap and hella good.

Do you mean these:

Part# 12558693 - coil
Part# 12569188 - bracket
Part# 89017477 - Harness

Are the coils seriously priced around forty bucks?

Yes, stock cams. And yes, it will take some boost to get there :) To make it easier, I might be looking to part ways with my S5, GT3071, and downpipe if I can find a buyer. AND also if I can find a good GT35 setup for a decent price. :vash:

pink and teal = Bronski Beat

Even better... The ones I got were # 19005218 used from a 2006 Tahoe. These are rumoured to be the hottest variant of the LSx coils. Came from Tompkinsville Auto Salvage 888-482-0016. Paid less than $40 for a set of 4 shipped, including the harness which I used for the connectors. They had lots in stock.

These are supposed to be more powerful than the MSD coils, but do not offer the multiple spark. They are what all the big power / FI vette people are using.

Looking great

Why did you do +1 on the exhaust valves only? Driveability issues with +1 on the intake side?

I assume you're using the Hydra to control the VVT. Please keep us updated on how that works out - I'm interested to see how big an effect the VVT adjustment has at higher boost levels (18psi+).

Also, call Emilio at 949 for a clutch. After owning and driving both, his twin-disc is easier to live with than a 6-puck ACT is. I think he offers a heavier flywheel as well (normally his clutch weighs as much as a stock setup without a flywheel).

If your a chick, awesome build.

I'm not a chick. :facepalm: Is my build still awesome?

Pink and teal?...I like your turbo and stuff...haha

Lose the wing and it will look better. Definitely a unique color.

Or just become a girl.

lol fuck you all.

I think its nice. The car def. isnt my color, but who cares. The car is gonna be hella fast. Oh and also, if you're looking for 400whp I hope you buy some internals for your tranny. Its gonna break......but then again now that I think about it, the 6speeds are supposedly stronger :dunno:

I considered quaife for a minute then i realized I could buy about five 6 speeds for that much money. There's also other interesting options for much leass money.

faeflora = vegan

He's almost there! :giggle:

Hey are these pictures too big? Would it be better if I uploaded them to the forum instead of hosting and embedding?

Now that we're on page two it's fine, but that first page was more than my old computer could handle.

Wait for the next rounds of pics Jason. Page 2 will have twice as many. :bowrofl:

How the fuck do we upload shit to the picture gallery? That automatic folder creation shit aint' working.

This site automatically re-sizes all pictures, so I don't see what the problem is.

OK more pics time...


So much for chronological happiness. Here's the beginning:


This is the BEGI S5 kit, all layed out on my old roommates fucked up tartan table.

And more pictures of my lovely purple pipes.

Some pictures of the Enthuza exhaust AND A 6UL wheel. Not like you haven't seen any of those ever before.

One problem I found while taking apart my car is that the Enthuza midpipe flange does not mate up properly with the BEGI downpipe flange. There's a big exhaust leak there as evidenced by soot. And the horrible uncatted exhaust that used to always choke my cabin. I initially thought that I had a crack in the turboe turbine or the mani or something but i'm pretty sure it's from the flange connection now. I'll take pictures of the flanges and turbine and mani. I guess I'll have to get them both machined down. I know I had them bolted way the fuck down to each other so blah sigh.


BTW I think my exhaust is hanging lower now by almost an inch than in these pictures. When I installed the exhaust I used poly hangers. Did they stretch???? wtf?

Exhaust looks great. 6uls I've never seen before:D

Those taillight "eye lids" are horrendous though IMO

And those pipes are way more pink than purple. Its ok sweetie, we understand:giggle: ;)

yummy! I prefer having you upload them from another site. Saves me the trouble of having to click every picture.

Here is my awesome gauge setup. It doesn't get any better than this. Two lovers once separated, now reunited. BEGI and FM making sweet turbo tuning love.

The only gauges I know I'm adding at this point is the hydramist WI gauge and the Knocklite (if you can call it a gauge). I might install an oil pressure and water temperature warning light if I can figure out how to do that. I don't think I need to keep an eye on pressure/temp; a binary "you're about to be fucked badly" alert would do the job.

I know I don't want megagauges all over the place.

What the hell is that second gauge? The white one? Probably a stupid question, but I've never seen a gauge like that before.

Here's some pics of my spiffy built head. I bought this back in '06 and it sat so long that the cams rusted :(. I should have installed it but back then I was too scared. Seriously..

Savington--- I actually have +1 valves on intake and exhaust both. When dynoing if there's time I'll do a pull for full advance, full retard, and Y8s special VVT blend.

This. In white. And it says "Flyin' Miata". Dual EGT gauge up to 1600. If I tracked I would need something that went to 1800 or 2000. I only approach 1600 degrees on pulls that head up into 6th gear. This dual gauge setup was pretty expensive. With the thermocouple senders, extensions, and gauge I think it cost something like $400. There might be other cheaper solutions out there.

And last pic of the night, for the fuck of it



Fleabag AKA Fluffbutt . Some kitten I rescued outside of a thai restaurant.

haha, wondered what happened to the rest of his family^^^^^^^

Some more details---

This is my turbo:

TurboByGarrett.com - Catalog

700382-3

----edit----

No, that isn't my turbo. I have a T3 flanged

http://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbob...30/GT3071R.htm

With this turbine housing: 740902-8

Per the Garret website: "* This unit is outline interchangeable on turbine side with GT3076R and GT3582R units"

GT3582R might be in the future..

how much do you want for the GT30 and downpipe?

^^ PM'd you.



-----

OK so I did some more work last weekend.


Got the engine out! It wasn't that difficult. Installing the roll bar was more painful.

http://www.mekalummezar.com/carpics/ul2.jpg

I thought I drained all the coolant but nope. You can also see my melted AC compressor. Gotta get a shield for my next one.

http://www.mekalummezar.com/carpics/ul4.jpg

The horrible dirty hole left by my engine. This is why you don't install your valve cover gasket poorly, why you don't let your SS lines saw through your PS pump, why you try not to get busted DOA oil feed lines that spray oil all over your engine bay, why you use that hi temp threadlocker shit on your studs etc etc...

http://www.mekalummezar.com/carpics/ul5.jpg

Annd a new clutch disc. After being sold a disc that was ground down into the studs and then a FAKE act clutch by two separate forum members, I smarted up and just bought one new. I'd like the 949 racing clutch but it's over $1000. This disc cost me $140 with bearings and the tool. If I really hate driving with it, it won't be a big loss.

http://www.mekalummezar.com/carpics/ul7.jpg

the horror
 

Also, your engine bay will be cleaner if you leave in the factory splash pan:| It's not worth the .1lbs saved.


OK time for the most embarrassing part of my initial turbo install.

http://www.mekalummezar.com/carpics/ul6.jpg

That is the frame rail. I "notched it" to install the GT3071. It was like, 2am, I had been installing my kit for about 3 weeks and i wanted the fucking thing to go in. I couldn't get the assembled manifold/turbo to fit onto the cylinder head studs. So I went out and got a sawzall and hacked until it fit in nice and easy. Then I got a hammer and beat on it. If I had known anything I would have just got a huge ass pry bar and pushed the engine a bit or taken the studs out or assmebled the turbo/mani once in the car etc etc etc.

So now this shit has to be fixed. I'd like to do something to try to restore the structural integrity of my car. The rail hasn't bent or anything in the past 30K miles (judging by tire wear) so I guess it's ok, but I am worried about the damage. I don't have a welder so I'm thinking about craigslisting someone's help (unless a superkind forum member wants to help). Or, jb welding a plate on. Or filling the entire crevasse with jb weld. This is why i haven't gone to any car meets since turboing. it just looks so bad.

Update--

Cleaned up the engine bay some while painting parts. Girlfriend helped a lot :) Got most of the soot and oil residue off and now it looks pretty ok. Am painting the intake manifold, the heatshields, and a few ugly parts black. I got POR15 and their manifold paint. Neither dries very smoothly at all.

Took the transmission off the old engine today to put on the new clutch and found this:

http://mekalummezar.com/carpics2/dirty.jpg

And this:

http://mekalummezar.com/carpics2/dirty1.jpg

Which was probably caused by this and this:

http://mekalummezar.com/carpics2/dirty2.jpg

http://mekalummezar.com/carpics2/dirty4.jpg


I will probably also have to get the flywheel and pressure plate resurfaced because they look like this:

http://mekalummezar.com/carpics2/spots2.jpg



Currently waiting for this stuff to arrive in the mail:

1. BEGI coolant reroute
2. new injector seals
3. one of those orange injector clip booties. I lost one :(
4. some reflective foil
5. flywheel bolts
6. exhaust flange crush gasket
7. FM fuel rail, some plugs etc

Todo:

1. clutch assembly, tranny seals
2. hydramist everything tubing install-- gonna run it from trunk along fuel lines up tranny tunnel mebbe
3. catch can - getting this one: Peterson Fluid Systems : Breather Cans and will fit SS line to bottom to return to oil pan
4. Install plx gauge, sensors, and senders
5. get bung for second hydramist valve on intake
6. fix the fucking frame rail
7. "fab up" some heat shields for my AC compressor
8. install turboxs MBC
9. install knocklite

I hope you're cleaning everything spotless and replacing every accessible seal/gasket that could cause that mess again.

Yup, the new motor is properly sealed up. I didn't do it. ;)

Easy question: Any recommendations on cleaning the bellhousing interior? I can scrape a lot of that off but I want it to be seriously clean. If I hose it out, will water find it's way inside the gearbox?

Probably not, but it probably could. Just use tons of disposable rags and a bottle of simple green. I always hate that part cause of all the nooks and crannys that are hard to reach. Damn transmission.

That spot that you hacked up is kind of structually important, don't you think? All the suspension points are right there. Weld it up, or find a friend who knows how to weld and box it back up! I did the same thing on my car, I have a lot of pictures of what I did in my build thread.

Yah, I am either copying your fix or will do a piece diagonally. I just need to find someone that can weld locally..

Would the GT3071 sit in place without cutting the frame, or did you do that to squeeze it in for the install? I'm sure you could DIY weld that.

No, it needs to be cut. The minimum amount that needs to be cut is only about an inch and a half by 4 inches. You will need to either remove the head studs and install them after you get the turbo and manifold in place or rock the engine out of the way with a pry bar.

thank god i didnt have to notch my frame rail haha, looks like a pain to clean up

Any updates? I'm dying to see this thing move along.

Allright, update time.

So I had my fucked up frame rail welded by some craigslist savior for $60. Nice guy who had a mobile welding truck with MIG/TIG etc. Said he can do exhaust repairs to etc. Normally works on bridges, wrought iron and non car stuff but also maintains the fleet at the place he works. Pictures are forthcoming. It kinda looks like crap but there's now a piece of 1/4" steel where the torn up stuff was.

Onto the motor install--

I had to order a big pile of parts- seals, bushings, nuts, hoses etc. That set me back a while. When I got started wrenching again, I was installing the oil return fitting into the pan. It was going in nice and snug and I was like, f yah this will be so tight it won't leak. Then I heard a loud pop. I had tapped the pan to small for the fitting and I cracked the pan :( I had York automotive pull and repair the pan ($65). I would have DIY but after reading about more experienced mechanics having pan leaks I decided to play it safe and have the shop do it.

Today, I busted a nut (in the bad sense) while trying to install my reroute water neck. I decided fuck it and threw both engines, all my parts, and my tranny into my forester, and got my car towed by AAA to York Automotive. Ed is going to install my engine proper like for an extremely reasonable price. As previously stated, I've never pulled apart a car before so I have no clue wtf I am doing. I just don't want to make some stupid noob mistake and ruin my brand new $5000 engine because of my ignorance. In the future, I think I'll attempt a whole engine removal/install with a cheap stock engine.

In some ways, I view this as a failure but overall, I think I'm mitigating my inexperience.

New post for a new topic:

I want to upgrade to:

Dual feed rail
AFPR for higher rail pressure
ID Bosch 1000CC injectors
LS Coils

My thoughts are that I break the engine in with my existing 750CC RC injectors, stock coils, stock rail, and then install the stuff in that list. I was thinking that I would stick with the stock FM GT30 map running @ 9lbs of boost, then install the crap, and dial in my timing, WI, fiddly spark settings etc.

Does that sound sensible?

Final update--

York is also going to put together my rx7 clutch diff, rx7 um transfer case (the thing that the diff mounts go in), r&p.

You proably dont care at this point, but brake cleaner works pretty well for cleaning out a bell housing. A proper bell housing/trans will NOT allow water into the gearbox itself when you clean it. The inside of the bell housing does get a decent amount of moisture through vents during normal use. If they did not seal around the input shaft well then there would be tons of failures (not to mention oil leaks).

So I just spry the crap out of it with brake cleaner or even WD40. Its going to get pretty dusted-up by clutch break in too.

siiiic, awd miata ftw braap! :giggle:



diff carrier/housing

Sounds really good so far. I can't wait for pics.

looks good man.

i also use brake cleaner to clean everything.... works so well

OKie so here's pics of the lovely WELDED frame rail

http://mekalummezar.com/carpics2/kitty.jpg

argh i mean

http://mekalummezar.com/carpics2/rail.jpg

glorious

http://mekalummezar.com/carpics2/rail3.jpg

Your rail is now inferior to mine.