imput's first turbo build
 

After owning the car for a little over a year now, I've finally got all the parts needed to turbo it, so decided to make a little build thread.

Little bit of a background, got the car last year after my rx8 got totaled. The miata was bone stock had about 55k miles on it

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1318298021

Got it on a sunday, I think, then ordered some BC coils from Chelsea @ Roadsterdrift, got a couple sets of XXR's, a harddog hardcore rollbar, a Bride Vios III, Nardi 330, upgraded the brakes; and pretty much left it like that for the rest of the year. Put all that in during the first week, then went to my first drift day in the miata that weekend.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1318298021

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...g?t=1280812777

I probably did about around 10 or so events last year, even got a small feature on Modified mag.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1318298021

Shortly after that Mishimoto hooked me up with a radiator/shrowds/hoses some other random shit for super cheap, I also ordered some Level7tune knuckles from Chelsea, that are awesome, but took forever to get here.

http://public.bay.livefilestore.com/...637.JPG?psid=1

Original plan was to go turbo in the beginning of this year, so I ended up buying a used AVO kit from a member on here, but since then the only parts that remain from the original kit is the manifold and the turbo. haha

decided to just keep it reliable, but since it was quiet as fuck, got a racing beat header back, raceland header, also changed my seat to a sparco corsa, and new wheel momo 320, and did more events:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1318298021

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...at100037PM.png

http://v1daxw.bay.livefilestore.com/...(1).jpg?psid=1

That brings us to today, Spec stage III + Flyin Miata 10lb flywheel are in. Adaptronic 420 EMS + Innovate LC1 are in.

Yesterday I cleaned the intake manifold out, installed Flyin Miata dual feed fuel rail & RC 440 injectors when I found out that I'm missing the rubber injector insulator, so called up Mazda and order that. Also deleted the EGR and the Charcoal canister while I was at it; Hopefully should be turboed and running by next week.

some pics of right now:

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8876/photo11wr.jpg

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8242/photo12oe.jpg

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8876/photo11wr.jpg

Worked on the car for a little bit today

spliced up my mishimoto hose, so the gauge sensor could fit

Attachment 186827

removed the header, drained the radiator and removed it.

Attachment 186828
looks so empty haha

removed the pesant ass fitting that came with the kit, and installed some cool AN ones. Gonna be running -8AN SS line PTFE coated for the drain, -4AN SS line PTFE coated for the oil feed, and -6AN rubber pushlock hoses for the coolant.

Attachment 186829

some of the other stuff that's gonna be in soon :)

Attachment 186830

Also mocked up the turbo, shit sits soo low can't wait. Might be getting the manifold jet coated too, if they can do it fast enough, it looks mad ugly right now

Attachment 186831

I would of ditched the rc440s and gotten newer fuel injectors. Also I wouldn't of waste money on a fuel rail.

I got both of them for real cheap, 440s should be fine for what I need. And the fuel rail looks so cool haha, too bad you can't really see it.

Don't really have too much to update, it was a good friends birthday so I left town for the day, but there is a dude in his town that does awesome thermal coating, so I dropped off the manifold there to get it coated, hopefully he should be done with that by the end of the week.

Other than that didn't really do a whole lot, drained and drilled the pan, I thought this was gonna be hard, but it actually turned out to be pretty simple. Worse part is when I was trying to move the AC line out of the way, I bent it a little too much, and it started spraying refigerent all over the place looked like snow haha.

Attachment 186815

Also took the manifold to my buddies fabrication shop, and cut the dildo looking EGR valve thingy, and welded it shut.

before:
Attachment 186816

after:
Attachment 186817

The turbo had some garbage ass gasket that looked like a frog chewed all over it, got a fresh SS one for APT turbo, looks so much better.

Attachment 186818

Attachment 186819

Nice car!! I like the color ; ).

You used my oil pan drilling spot! That's a nice, easy location that is well clear of the pickup tube. I've had no drain issues whatsoever with that location.

You should refresh your brake fluid. It looks like you still have the original fluid in there (or are you running some sort of HP stuff that looks dark?).

haha thanks, yeah I saw your build thread, that spot is sooo much easier to get to, mine is a lil more toward the drivers side, that anywhere else.

No its not the original fluid, just bled it out acutally a couple months ago before a track day its ATE super blue, aka blue as fuck haha

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1318433090

great stuff! but I think you misspelled "input" ;)

haha yeah, I'm not sure how I came up with it, but its been my username for years.

Ahhh well this sucks, not sure what happened, but I tapped it, and then put the fitting in, after I got done, I left, came back a couple hours later, and noticed three small hairline cracks around it. I mean they are small as fuck (thinner than your nail). Just put some JBweld on it for now, but might need to remove it and get it welded up. Not really sure why this happened, I'm guess maybe too much force? But I'm not rambo, and I just used one hand to tighten it.

I tired to take some before pics, but it was super hard to see. So I just took it after.

crack on the top left and on the right (where JB is):
Attachment 186776

and the last crack was on the bottom side:
Attachment 186777

Attachment 186778

Got my injector seals in finally, so that's taken care of

Attachment 186772

Now just waiting for my manifold, and hopefully the pan isn't too messed up. I had a ton of the gold spaceship wrap, so I went a lil crazy with it on my intercooler haha

Attachment 186773

Attachment 186774

mounted up the intercooler

Attachment 186775

Just got the manifold back from the jet coating, they coated both the inside and the outside, looks so good, turbo time

Attachment 186759

I've heard rumors that coating the inside is not such a good idea because any flaking will go through your turbine wheel. I have no personal experience in this regard. May be a good idea to check around to see what others have experienced.

I ceramic coated my manifold and haven't had any problems. Unfortunately, I can't remember if I coated the inside. I don't think I did, but I'm not sure.

I never thought about that, that would suck haha. But this guy does legit work , and the coating is rated at 2000 degrees, so hopefully that does not happen.

Pretty much got everything done, just waiting on a oil drain fitting. Amazon says it gets here tomorrow, so hopefully it'll all be done in a couple of days.

Got the oil feed line, and the coolant lines made, used grade 8 nuts and fastners on the manifold and turbo. Wish I went with SS lines for the coolant as well, the pushlock hoses are freaking ugly. also used the reflective tape on the brake lines and the heater hoses, still have about 15' left, so might do the entire firewall, haha.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...g?t=1318987746

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...g?t=1318987742

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...g?t=1318987742

Mounted and wired all the gauges except the boost gauge, broke the stupid white tube. Somehow I manged to loose a gauge pod, so I temporarily used a swivel pod I had laying around and mounted it on top of the steering column; it'll join the location of the other two gauges eventually.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...g?t=1318987725

Anyone know where I can find a replacement at? hopefully lowes has it.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...g?t=1318987720

Gauges are all STRI X Line:

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...g?t=1318987731

I think I have too many points on the ground haha, might get some cool heat-shrink tube and make one big ass wire.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/d...g?t=1318987736

Worked on the car all night, got everything else in and working, towed the car in the morning to a friends fab shop, to get the rest of the intercooler piping and exhaust made. Can't wait, almost there!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319143289
tow hook getting put to good use, haha

Dropped by the shop today to see the progress

Intake done

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319244392

hot side piping done, still needs to get powdercoated

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319244392

intercooler/radiator shrouding, and exhaust are up next

Nice progress, you got so much bling under there son!

Thanks man! Haha yeah, I went a lil crazy with the gold tape. Should look a lot better, after I clean everything up.

stopped by today to drop some stuff off, no progress since yeterday but I took a pic:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319351861

need to tuck the wires badly, looks so fucking cluttered. haha

Stopped by today, didn't really do a whole lot, my buddies TIG broke down, so we just mocked up places everything, and decided on the exhaust design. Everything hopefully should be done tomorrow.

Thinking of this location for the coolant overflow

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319491191

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319491191

gonna just weld a bracket on to a clamp to mount it, so it can easily be moved, and usable.

decided that the catch cans going here, gonna remove the fitting, and just weld some -8ANs in there.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319491191

Unfortunately exhaust still isn't done yet, catch cans are tho, we decided to change some stuff. Originally I was gonna get the AVO downpipe hacked, so it's a 2.5 to 3" downpipe; but then we decided that it would be better just to keep the downpipe intact, since it fits perfect, and just make a little 2.5-3" extension for the exhaust, and eventually just make a 3" downpipe bolt up to the new Vband location.

The ugly AVO downpipe :(

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319607376

This is the little extension piece he made, looks super sweet.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319607376

And of course V-Band everything after that.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319607376


One of my main concerns with the exhaust was to keep it as high as possible, so I wont have to worry about it scraping everywhere. The location now is freaking perfect, tucked nicely.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319607376

Also wanted it to be light as it can be while being really durable. So I choose Vibrant 304 stainless steel for everything including the hangers.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319607376

Just a random shot of the intercooler gap, gonna be a perfect place to mount a oil and a power steering cooler.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319607376

Exhaust done, car stared up right away!!! Still have to fix some random stuff tho, before I can really drive it, random leak from the manifold from a stud rubbing, need to saw that off, and then it should be good.

Took these pics before the exhaust hangers were made, but I'm super happy with the exhaust, its higher than everything in the car, the entire exhaust probably weighs between 15-20lbs. The muffler is a Vibrant SS race muffler, weights a little over 1lb haha.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319664505
originally the plan was to make a dolphin tip, but we ran out of bends, haha.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319664505

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319664505

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319664505

was gonna add an additional vband, but not really needed, and it wont fit anywhere, everything is tucked really nice.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319664505

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319664505

haha, that exhaust is going to be so quiet. I see many sleeping babies in your neighborhood.

Yup, that's why I got that muffler. haha

So I assume from your post that the exhaust piping is 3" also?

Edit: Doh!! ignore.

Its back home!!! Time to fix a manifold leak and tune it

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319749099

decided to wait on shrouding till I get a different front bumper

Did some more stuff today, fixed some random issues. Originally I was gonna do a drift day tomorrow, but my tune sucks ass, so I'm going to get it dyno tuned instead. Hopefully everything goes smooth.

changed my plugs put some iridium NGK's in, got another gauge pod, so I was able to move my gauges around.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319950902

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319950902

Installed my new valve cover & sparkplug cover, and make some lines for the catch can. Tried to clean it up a bit, but its so damn messy, haha, a tuck is def coming soon

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319950902


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319950902

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1319950902

got the car tuned:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1320026588

feels sooo much better.

boost kicks in early as fuck. 221whp, 243wtq @ 8psi, I'll upload the graph later

Nice!

hell yeah dude, feels so freaking good!

First: Nice build, looks great!

Have a couple questions though:
1)Where did you get that spark plug/wire cover? That's badass.
2)Is there a write-up you followed for deleting egt? Any tips for someone who wants to do the same thing?

Thanks!

Sparkplug cover was from a group buy garagestar did a while back.

I jsut removed the tube, removed the EGR valve, bought a EGR valve delete plate on ebay, and covered it up.


Dyno graph:

car feel soo fucking good:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1320112289

Your torque curve looks amazing.

Why are you cutoff at 4800 RPM?

Fake dyno is fake. 2554 @ 8psi =/= over 240wtrq

Am I the only one to notice this?

its a graph from 2.5k to 4.8k, thats why tq looks so good?

and you are right, why does it end so soon?

Looks like a lot of fun! Really liking the radiator/intercooler/piping setup.

-Sam

Throw it away. You are going to nuke the spark plug wires. They don't last very long as-is, and encasing them in a shell so the valve cover can bake them is exactly the opposite of what you want to do.

I would also have made the vent lines much, much larger than -8AN, and I would not have vented the passenger side of the valve cover. You're going to see the passenger side can fill with oil very, very quickly.

Also, not to be a dick, but I really don't think you made 220whp at 8psi from a 2554R. I had a similar setup ('99 longblock, 2554R, 3" exhaust, standalone) and I made 217whp at 15psi on a Mustang dyno. Your dyno chart tells us nothing - it's so bad I don't even know what mistake the dyno operator made.

maybe its in newton meters. hahaha

dyno isnt fake lol, its just a section that he printed, it looks the same tho. Theres a dyno day coming up at a different place, i might do that just to see what that says.

Thanks!

Thanks, did not know that about the wires. NGK wires lifetime warrenty @ autozone haha. I'll remove it on the track, but it looks too damn good haha.


That's cool, I understand. The stupid cutoff was retarded when he printed it out, but I didnt pay attention at the print out, but the graph pretty much looked the same.I could care less how much power/tq it makes, it feels amazing. I got a track day this sunday, hopefully I'll be able to find out a bit more.

so around 2 in the morning, a buddy wanted me to make a lil acceleration video, and I had a go pro with me. didnt really wanna go too fast on the street, espacially without a radar haha, but heres a little clip. Wasnt really trying to do a crazy launch, or shift like crazy or anything, was just a relaxed fullthrottle drive.



car feels so freaking good right now haha.

Also took another pic of the engine bay:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1320220012

so, does the car feel freakin good now or what? ;)

My car makes 190 rwtq at 2500RPM without boost 'er day.

:jerkit:

My boost kicks in instantly. For example if I'm at 1.5k in 2nd, I floor it, by the time I'm @ 2k I'm in boost. If you want I can take a video, or you can look at my other video. I really doubt my car would accelerate so quick if I didnt make 2xxhp

I'm pretty sure this is because of the AVO manifold. There will be another dyno in the future, I'll make sure to do a proper print, and I'll post it up.

I'm pretty sure there is a dyno thread here where a guy made 242whp on 9.5ish PSI with a AVO manifold, and a 2554.

hell yeah :)

(Posting from my phone.)

Except the dyno shows full boost closer to 3500

Not talking about full boost. Anyways I'll post up a a better graph when it gets redynoed.

Thanks.

Don't doubt the car is a blast, just doubt that particular dyno prinout.

Not a chance in hell. I'm not doubting that your car is fast or even very fun, but those numbers DO NOT happen with a badly designed cast manifold a 2554, actually those numbers don't happen at all with a 2554 strapped to a miata. 240whp is past the turbo's maximum power output, lol.

the car doesnt make 190rwtq out of boost. the end.

I understand, I'll post up a better graph, next time I get dynoed.

just gooled AVO miataturbo dyno, first link:

https://www.miataturbo.net/showthrea...&highlight=AVO

I can post more if you want.

look at this video 0-60 is 4.xx without a hard launch or hard shifting. I doubt that will happen with out 2xxhp.

According to Garretts website maximum output is 270, but what do they know.

To my knowledge, and all the threads that I have read so far, the AVO manifold, is one of the best flowing quick spool setups you can get, but then again you probaly know a lot more.

Sorry to offend you dude. Like I said, I'll post up another graph when I get the car redynoed, and we'll see what happens.





its in boost, anyways I'll get a new graph like I said. No point wasting time arguing about the same thing.

Anyways, I got this cool wideband today, TOUCHSCREEN!!! lol, might be useless, but still cool as shit haha

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1320697455

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1320697455

sure, but it's not always at full boost (below 3300).

Notice that Jason is not even at 190rwtq until 4000RPM.

Yeah, I saw that. I completely understand what your saying; but arguing about this without another dyno is pointless.

agrees.

Rad car, looks quick. Looks 200whp range judging by the video. Nice. I would like to see a more accurate dyno chart as well. Get on a different dyno when you turn up the boost!

to be continued. haha

thanks, def will do!

had some free time today, and didn't have anything else to do, so I decided to tuck the cold side harness. Hot side, and motor ones next.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1320980570

Before:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1320980570

during:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1320980570

after:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1320980570

Tucked up the drivers side as well, decided to check out a hard parking meet, so went to import alliance.

A friend took this pic of my car, looks kinda cool. Def needs a lip or a bumper or some shit haha

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1321426838

why is there gold tape on the end tanks? those see airflow too and still help cool.


you want the hot side to shed heat before the IC, and the cold side to retain cold to the TB...

Gold tape is a barrier to radiative heat transfer (i.e., the kind of heat a glowing turbo gives off). It is not much of a barrier to conductive heat transfer (the kind of heat transfer used by an intercooler or radiator). So, the gold tape looks goofy, but doesn't actually impede heat transfer much. The gold tape on the end tanks serves no function other than aesthetics (for good or bad).