SlowTeg

So before delving into the BMM stuff, I need to get the fuel stuff sorted first. Makes sense to just install the fuel pump and injectors first rather than running the stock injectors and changing things later. So first thing is the fuel pump. Installed a DW200 pump. Install was straightforward. You need to trim the pipe about an inch as the DW pump is longer.



For injectors I'm running FF640's. I've been told to clock them to 9 and 3 o clock. The NB won't allow the connector to go straight up and apparently they shouldn't be installed connector down. Again, pretty straightforward install.


Now, for the rats nest on the passenger frame rail and around it, all the stuff is no longer needed there (evap solenoid, and there's a vacuum line to a solenoid that goes to a map sensor). They can all be removed. I want a fuel pressure sensor (transducer) so I am mounting one inline where the stock fuel pulse dampener is and I'm removing it. I am making some -6 an line and fitting to mount it. The sensor is a Honeywell. I used a cheap pipe bender to bend down the oem fuel line so it comes forward parallel with the frame rail. This moves it a bit out of the way. Here is my first quick mockup. I made a simple bracket that will mount to some existing 6mm threaded holes on the frame rail. Also, this gives plenty of space for the radiator hose now and I will need to make a bracket for it.





Here are a couple shots making some AN line and the new line in place. I got a 180 degree fitting but I actually need a 150degree fitting to connect to the stock hard fuel line. To connect the fuel rail I used a 5/16" SAE fitting to AN line fitting. These fittings are nice as you don't need to use an SAE to AN adapter fitting. It cleans up the passenger frame rail quite a bit.





Once I get the 150degree fitting from summit I can reassemble stuff and start messing with the new ECU. I have been slacking working on the Miata. I've still got about 3 yards of mulch to spread for the yard and been doing a bunch of yardwork. Beautiful time of year now.

Z_WAAAAAZ

Fuel line project's looking good man! Are you gonna wire the EV14 connectors straight into your engine harness or run the supplied jumpers? On my car, the jumpers added too much length to be tucked away neatly and made the harness kinda rat nest-y.

SimBa

Excited to see how the fuel lines end up. I've always hated that mess of pipes/hoses.

What's the reasoning for rotating the injectors that way? Is that supposed to help with leaks or something? I'm running the same ones so I'm curious, I just threw mine in and ran.

SlowTeg

I thought about it but with the injectors rotated 90 degrees the oem plugs look like they'll be a bit short, so I'm just going to run these jumper harnesses for the time being. I don't want to take the time to mess with it now but down the road I will definitely think about it. With everything back on you won't see the rats nest as it's tucked underneath the rail.

A couple folks on the BMM discord said for the NB's they should be rotated 90 degrees. I'm deferring to them. Jesse said he checked it with a scope at 90 degrees and the spray pattern was good. Apparently with the FF640's they spray at a downward angle (opposite the connector). They obviously won't go in with the connector facing up on the NB's because of the head in the way. Ya it's really nice to clean that area up. It drove me nuts too with the radiator hose pressing against it. I can now make a proper mount for the radiator hose and not just have it wedged between things on the frame rail. Ideally at some point it'd be nice to make a hard pipe for that radiator hose but that'll be down the road.

SlowTeg

I got the 150 degree fitting from summit and was able to finish the fuel line. On checking the Honeywell sensors from Sager electronics they sent me two gauge pressure transducers rather than one gauge and one absolute. An absolute pressure sensor should be used for fuel pressure and gauge pressure sensor will be used for oil pressure. So, I simply installed a 1/8" npt plug into the fitting for the time being. The absolute sensor should read AAAX vs. SAAAX.




Now onto the BMM stuff. I opted for the BMM over the Megasquirt as it seems to be a few bucks cheaper, have some additional features (it has a built in wideband controller, built in map sensor, and supports DBW TBs, as well as some others), and have good support (there's a discord for BMM). It also has the option of adding sensors that can be read by the ecu and read on the CAN bus. The sensor I will be adding now is a fuel pressure sensor (transducer). You need a Bosch LSU sensor (part #17025) and you need to run a vacuum line to the ECU. The ECU comes with an aux harness for adding inputs to the ECU and a nice plug for the LSU sensor which makes it easy.

I've opted to mount the fuel pressure sensor in place of the pulse dampener on the passenger frame rail. It was nice to remove the rats nets of lines on my NB1 and clean up things on the passenger frame rail. I used a cheap tubing bender I had to bend the OEM 5/16" fuel line down parallelish to the frame rail. For a fuel pressure sensor, there are cheaper ones available on amazon, but it seems like a no brainer to pay a few more bucks and get a brand name like Honeywell. You want an absolute pressure sensor (not gauge) the one I went with was (Honeywell MIPAN2XX100PAAAX). This cost $55 from sager electronics. The corresponding harness for this sensor is CONN-75732 from ballenger motorsports. It has a standard 1/8" npt port and has 3 wires, +5V, sensor ground, and signal wire. Make sure to use sensor ground at the ECU not just a chassis ground on the car. The BMM ECU has the ability to add fuel to keep the car from leaning out should fuel pressure drop which is nice. Also, it's nice to be able to monitor fuel pressure.

Another thing that is highly recommende is a 36-1 crank trigger wheel. OEM Mazda part: part # ZM0111408. It cost me $26. Also a license for Tunerstudio software.

One thing not mentioned in the install guide for the BMM ECU is that you should install a microsd card at time of installation as you have to open up the ECU to install it. It'd be a pita to have to remove the ECU to install it as you have to open up the case. You just open up the case, slide the mechanism to unlock it, and pop the card in. I used an old 32GB microsd card I had which I've been told should be plenty big. By default the ECU will log to the SD card if the ECU is powered up via +12V (with the key). If it's connected to the laptop first via USB, it doesn't log to the SD card.




Here's the orientation of the BMM ECU. It uses the OEM brackets which is nice and the USB port and vacuum line point up so they don't interfere with the pedals. I also repurposed a vacuum joiner from the Evap solenoid or somewhere which allowed me to use a slightly larger vacuum line than he specified (it's what I had on hand). The vacuum hose was run through the hole where I believe the cruise control something ran through. I just needed to open up the hole a bit. The vacuum line goes to a barb I installed on the back of the intake manifold.







The wideband harness I fed in through the main/big grommet by the brake MC. Used a coat hanger and like running an amp wire for a stereo. Of course the O2 sensor had to be a little b**ch and didn't wanna come out but no big deal I don't plan on using it again so mutilated it removing it.





The crank trigger wheel it's recommended to install AFTER the first start not before. In hindsight you probably could just do it before. After this everything should be installed and ready for the first start.

Z_WAAAAAZ

Solid progress, man! Seems like you’ve thought everything through really well before pulling the trigger. Interested to hear about your experiences with the BMM ECU. The integrated wideband controller is a really cool feature.

Again, the fuel line setup looks super clean

SlowTeg

So regarding the first start. I'd say it's probably covered well in a bunch of other places so I'll try to summarize it very briefly for anyone new and not put anyone to sleep. Load a base map and try to start the car. Once the care runs/idles, set the base map to use static timing (this allows you to set the base timing so the computer and mechanical readings are synced). Use a timing light to verify the timing is correct. Then reset the timing back to dynamic. Then calibrate all your sensors (mainly TPS or any others). Then it's all tuning. I'm not at all familiar w/ Tunerstudio so have been looking up videos on it. OGPedXing has some great info and a series using Megasquirt. A lot of the same stuff applies to the BMM ecu. I won't delve into tuning as there's plenty of info out there it looks like and OGPedXing does a great job explaining everything.

With all that said, the car started up fine on the first start. I set the timing and surprisingly didn't have to change the offset timing angle at all. Apparently NB's are usually pretty spot on whereas NA's usually need it offset/changed. After that I installed the crank trigger wheel. Car starts up OEMish or faster now. I drove it around and tuned it a bit. It needs some more tuning but it's not terrible. I will mess with tuning it over the next week and then probably get to installing the turbo. One thing I'm thinking/debating about is turning the IAC valve duty cycle down and mechanically opening the throttle plate more on the junk2 TB to hopefully avoid the TB sticking but I'm not sure.



I realize I forgot to comment more on the BMM ECU. It seems like a solid solution and is basically plug and plug for an NB. For the NA's you have to do some minor wiring changes but for the NB it's basically plug and play. You don't need to wire up an external wideband and wire it into the ECU which is nice, and Jesse shipped out the ECU configured fully for my NB1 (like the sensor settings/etc) so I just plug it in and it's ready to go. There are some minor things like updating the firmware with the latest firmware (FOME software) but it was pretty straightforward. For those that don't know the BMM ECU is based off of the FOME open source software. It stands for Free Open Motorsports ECU. I guess it originally started as RUSefi or some other previous name but has branched or changed since then. It is still getting software updates and is supported which is nice.

SimBa

Garage sandals are the GOAT. I'm running around the garage in flip flops way more often than I'd like to admit.

I'm surprised the car is starting up like OEM. That's been one of the most difficult things for me so far with tuning. Warm/Hot starts are dialed in fine, but I usually spend some time cranking on cold starts. The BMM unit looks cool. I'll be interested to see how your experience with it continues to go.

Roda

Congrats on the first start!

I'm really hoping to fire my K swap for the first time this week... still not quite finished with wiring.

SlowTeg

I'm pleasantly surprised as well. I know cold starts are usually a problem w/ standalones but this thing has better cold starts than warm starts. Warm starts it blips higher (which is normal I've read) and hunts ~1500rpm for a few seconds then settles down. I drove it around a bit yesterday tuning the fuel which is decent now and I used some existing timing maps out there to set the timing map and it drives well. I will probably tune it a bit more but I'm pretty happy with it and will probably get to installing the turbo pretty soon. I don't drive it much on the street so having a perfect warm start doesn't bother me as I'll fix it eventually but no rush. Being a long time honda guy I'm definitely missing the vtec up top but the turbo should help.

SlowTeg

Thx. You are definitely doing a whoooole lot of stuff. I've been watching your thread and it's coming along nicely! Hopefully my turbo setup can be reliable on track. I'm going to keep the boost down and just drive it and have fun.

SlowTeg

Not too much to update on. I was out of town the last week but I've been meaning to create a quick video to show the nice cold start with the BMM ECU and 36-1 crank trigger wheel and finally did it yesterday. Just been tuning the car a bit and it definitely feels a little more peppy over the stock ecu (not sure if the butt dyno is accurate). I'm guessing that probably has to do with a more aggressive timing map and 93 octane whereas the stock ecu was tuned for 87. I've been enjoying driving the car periodically to run some errands so honestly I'm sorta hesitant to rush and rip it apart to start the turbo install.. It's a fun car and feels good. The BC coilover shocks are definitely not great as the dampening over bumps is quite harsh (on good shox fast dampening (like bumps) can still be compliant while slower dampening is stiff) but they're ok for putzing around and a little bumpy/bouncy. At some point down the road I'll look into some nice suspension. Here's a clip of the cold start:

As summer approaches here I will probably start getting to work on the turbo install as the car doesn't have a/c and it becomes a little less fun to putz around. As with everything I TRY to plan ahead which is where I have a few questions for you guys.. I'm going to install the Kraken top mount manifold and a garrett 2560 turbo. Is there plenty of clearance for the water pipe that runs underneath the exhaust manifold and to the heater core? Do people bend it? Also, I've seen some folks replace the "mixing manifold" where the radiator hose goes from the water neck to the radiator. I'm not running a/c or PS so now I have tons of space and always prefer making things a bit neater and keeping things away from the turbo/etc but maybe it's completely unnecessary. If anyone wants to steer me straight I'd appreciate it. I've seen a Kraken install video or two but for a track car I want to make sure things have proper clearances of rubber parts to hot parts. My mantra is always trying to do things "oem-like."

With that said.. for the water lines to the turbo I'm looking at running hard pipes to soft lines. Something like these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155357133228 or maybe these and use a cheap pipe bender: https://www.ebay.com/itm/314460103138 Ideally I would like to run a flanged pipe for the oil drain to goto a soft line to the pan but I will need to poke around and try to find one. I know many people use a flange with AN fitting and braided line (that's what I have on my other car because I couldn't find a flanged pipe to fit a Garrett G series a few years ago and it's on my todo list to redo one day), but I like the oem design of using a hard pipe close to hot parts then they switch to rubber lines, so that's what I'm going to try to do. The center section doesn't get super hot itself, but when you wrap things in heatshielding/etc there will be more localized heat. For the oil feed a -3 or -4 braided line is what I'll run since a hard line would be hard to fabricate.

If anyone has thoughts or suggestions for the turbo install/etc I would appreciate it. I have stage 8 locking hardware for the turbo->manifold and turbo->kraken downpipe but I'm not sure about the manifold studs.. The OEM studs are inconel I believe so no need to change them out? Also I was contemplating some locking hardware or even safety wiring the manifold nuts with tangential drilled nuts (this is not something I've done before but sure seems like a best practice) so if anyone has suggestions I'm all ears and open to suggestions.

Z_WAAAAAZ

Congrats on the first start with the BMM! I feel you, sometimes when my car is feeling good, I just want to enjoy it instead of messing with stuff. That's not often, so it makes those times all that much more special haha.

I'm running the same setup as you will be. Top mount 2560, no AC/PS. I bent the end of my mixing manifold to heater core pipe a little straighter for clearance and to keep it a little further away from the manifold. Using the stock mixing manifold no problem. I'm running rubber coolant supply and return hoses to the turbo that I told myself I was going to replace every year (I've never replaced them and it's been 18 months and 15 track days. Thanks for the reminder). I'm running a DIY heatshield between the turbo and firewall made out of 22ga steel and a layer of aluminum/fiberglass heat shielding facing the turbo. This stuff:




Stage 8 hardware is almost absolutely necessary. I had to tighten my stock manifold and elbow nuts after almost every track session and that got old real quick. There was another recent thread where a user recommended cross-drilled titanium nuts with safety wire. That seems even cooler. Haven't had any firsthand experience with it, though.

Did you buy the complete Kraken kit with oil and water lines? Mine came with a -4 kit for the oil supply line and adapters for an NA or NB setup.

OptionXIII

You may be able to improve reliability here by giving the turbo some support that isn't tied to the exhaust manifold studs.

OGK - Page 5 - Miata Turbo Forum - Boost cars, acquire cats.

As Emilio notes, lots of OEM cars are out there pushing boost without such exotic hardware backing out, and they usually involve a support system designed to hold the weight of a turbo from the start.

SlowTeg

Thanks I appreciate that link and good info. A turbo brace is something I hadn't planned on but seems like a good idea. I've certainly wondered how many OEM cars seem to stand up fine to repeated heat cycling/etc w/o issues of fasteners backing out and it certainly would make sense that excess harmonics/vibrations/movement is the culprit. I'd swear my brother's old 4g63 didn't have an oem turbo brace, but I'm sure they had a bracket supporting the cast downpipe piece. I will definitely look into adding a brace for this setup and with a/c and p/s out it shouldn't be too difficult. At a minimum a brace for the downpipe seems like a must as there is just way too much floating mass away from the exhaust manifold.

SlowTeg

Thanks that's good to know the stock water pipe will clear fine, I'll try to bend it a bit also. I think rubber coolant lines are fine and should last a good number of years. I'm going to run a short section of metal pipe to rubber hose that way the rubber hose isn't exposed to extreme temps. This is how oem's do it and it should be fine. Regarding heatshielding yes I will figure that out after it's all installed. I will use a combination of the sheetmetal and that embossed metal stuff. Hopefully it won't be too bad but it came out very nice on my honda. I just took my time with the CAD (cardboard aided design) and I had a Korean neighbor who's a whizz with sheetmetal and a brake (he does lots of exterior capping with trim coil) make me the sheetmetal pieces once I had the cardboard mock ups done.

I didn't buy the Kraken hw kit, I'll just buy the stuff separately. I'm ---- and prefer doing it how I like so figured no point. I will seriously look into OptionXII's point about manifold bracing. Also, I'm not sure if the Kraken downpipe has an actual brace on it, if it doesn't I'll definitely add one.

Z_WAAAAAZ

Ooh, good point. Another bit that's fallen to the wayside on my build. Thanks for posting the link.

I haven't had any issues with hardware backing out since the Stage 8 nuts were installed but I gotta imagine a brace probably would've prevented the crack in my manifold that formed earlier this year. 17psi on 91 octane and late timing for track use probably created suboptimal EGTs too, though. Once I swap to an EFR turbo I think I'll copy their turnbuckle-style brace.

The downpipe doesn't come with any bracing. Another good point there.

SlowTeg

Are you using locking nuts for the nuts that secure the manifold to the head? I think a brace for the downpipe is definitely a good idea regardless being so far away from the engine. It's interesting I was looking into turbo bracing some more and while it is more common these days on OEM cars, it's not ALWAYS done.

I asked an old friend about manifold bracing (he worked as an engineer for garrett). He was saying the Evo 8/9 didn't use a manifold brace (but the oem manifold did develop cracks sometimes) and later the Evo X added a brace to the turbine housing. I'd swear on my brother's old 95 GSX eclipse (my memory is foggy as it was >20yrs ago, 4g63 similar to EVOs) it did not have a brace. The OEM log style manifolds usually are not cantilevered far off the engine though and are quite thick, so clearly they are designed to hold the weight. Also softer mounts likely decrease vibrations over hard rubber/poly/solid mounts used more in the aftermarket. Apparently the 992 Carrera doesn't not use manifold bracing but has beefy cast log manifolds, whereas many other porsches do use braces. So.. where does that leave us on the Miata? Hard to say.. I guess I'll install the Kraken kit and go from there. From pictures the top mount manifold looks to hang the turbo farther off the block (which increases weight/force on the manifold studs) so perhaps a brace is in order. I'm sure OEMs do tests on resonant frequencies and vibrations that isn't really feasible for low volume aftermarket stuff.

Z_WAAAAAZ

I have locking nuts on my manifold to turbo connection and my turbo to elbow connection. Stock nuts and studs on the head to manifold connection and haven't ever had an issue with them backing out or breaking.

Funny enough, I haven't seen a lot of buzz on here regarding turbo and downpipe bracing aside from Emilio's post, although maybe I just haven't delved deep into enough build threads. Obviously, running a brace is a good idea regardless.

On the same train of thought as above, most current 4-cylinder turbo Fords currently run downpipe braces, even with tiny turbos and integrated exhaust manifolds that hold the turbo close to the head. Guess the market for braces on our cars is too small for anyone to make a profitable bolt on solution for...

SlowTeg

Thanks man that's good to know. I'd swear I read a couple incidents of the nuts on the head to manifold coming loose a bit (I thought Beavis mentioned it) as well as a couple other people, but it doesn't seem like as nearly a common occurrence, like maybe check every several track weekends vs every day sort of thing. I'm running some nordlock washers on my Honda and haven't had the manifold->head nuts come loose either but these days it doesn't see the stress of track days so it's not a good comparison. A track car with the extreme heat/vibration sees a lot more stress.

I think the reason is it really depends on the application and honestly a brace isn't "necessary" for many applications, at least for the turbo. Some OEMs don't use braces on the turbo, and aftermarket stuff usually fulfills the minimum requirements (things barely fit sometimes). I do think downpipe bracing is a must and I've never seen an oem downpipe (after the turbo) that doesn't have a bracket to mount it/brace it. The lack of a bracket to secure the downpipe is just laziness/cost savings on the part of fabricators. On the note of OEMs, I think many current OEM turbo setups have the cat close to the turbo as well which adds a bunch of weight so that's one thing that might necessitate bracing. Going back to aftermarket turbo setups.. the reality is that most people don't track their cars, especially with aftermarket turbo setups. It's usually more straight line fun/etc which puts much less stress on the components so that's why most kits don't bother with a brace or even heatshielding. Most of these cars are weekend cars. Most aftermarket forced induction setups don't even include a simple heatshield much less a brace, downpipe brace, etc.

Some of the Japanese mfrs like greddy/hks make some nicer stuff, but even then their stuff isn't perfect. Regarding the market for braces.. for sure the market is simply too damn small. If you find someone who really cares about a brace, they probably have the means/desire to make one. With so many different combination of manifolds/turbos/other accessories it really isn't feasible to make an off the shelf solution that fits a wide variety of applications, imo. Maybe I'll have to borrow my friend's mig welder to make some brackets. That's something I have very little skill in, metal fabrication. I've welded some metal brackets before but it takes a whole lot of time. Good thing is this is something that wouldn't be too hard to add later on.