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I have figured out the rest of the coolant reroute given the constraints of the chargepipe to the throttle body. I managed to reuse the stock lower radiator metal pipe.
Does anyone know what cleaning solution to use to clean up oily grime on the block/trans? I’ve been using simple green, brake cleaner and scrubbing with a brush with mild success. They are no longer touching! Had to cut the mounting tab for the lower radiator pipe but it works! Just need to throw on some clamps.
Last edited by Paisa; Yesterday at 03:12 PM.
Reason: Grammar
Sure it’s not sparkling new but it’s much better "]https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.miataturbo.net-vbulletin/2000x1504/img_3894_d6a079841f744a864a7a4f891ed417d7565f6c72. jpeg[/img] After Sure it’s not sparkling new but it’s much better
Dude, great work! I ran the setup with the throttle body 90* touching the rad hose for years, fwiw. When I finally went with the supermiata rad it fixed that issue for me. In the end after 15k+ miles and 5+ years it held fine, but the silicone was getting a little thin where it was rubbing. Your solution looks great.
Honestly glad to hear my thread helped. There's a lot of BS in there but I even find it useful sometimes when I need to look something up.
Simple green smells nice but it's a terrible degreaser. Super clean, from Walmart (purple stuff) is the best I've found by a long shot. Highly recommend. For aluminum I use alumabright which is an acid and works wonders.
Dude, great work! I ran the setup with the throttle body 90* touching the rad hose for years, fwiw. When I finally went with the supermiata rad it fixed that issue for me. In the end after 15k+ miles and 5+ years it held fine, but the silicone was getting a little thin where it was rubbing. Your solution looks great.
Honestly glad to hear my thread helped. There's a lot of BS in there but I even find it useful sometimes when I need to look something up.
Simple green smells nice but it's a terrible degreaser. Super clean, from Walmart (purple stuff) is the best I've found by a long shot. Highly recommend. For aluminum I use alumabright which is an acid and works wonders.
I’ll get that next time. Simple green was all I had on hand.
I’m going to go back into your thread to look at your wastegate bracket solution.
Home stretch! I'm gonna bookmark that Super Clean stuff. I use this MOC Optimizer stuff for degreasing and it works wonders. It's supposed to be a SeaFoam substitute/induction system cleaner but it also melts grime and sludge really well.
I got some more work done today. Mostly reclocking the turbo, redoing my intercooler piping, and starting the waterlines.
I might have some time to work on it Wednesday/Thursday morning before work. I?ll finish the waterlines then along with the heater core hoses. Still much to do.
Had to reclock the turbo again and hated drilling new holes for the wastegate bracket. Manifold and turbo mock mounted. Figured out I needed another odd silicone hose. It should be here Thursday. Turbo water line that is fed by the coolant reroute.
The tee on the coolant reroute feeds both the heater core and turbo?
The water line port that comes from the front of the motor.
Looking good so far! AN line to the banjo bolt at the front of the blockoff plate looks so much better than what I was running on my car. Almost too clean and out of place compared to the rest of the engine bay lol.
Looking good so far! AN line to the banjo bolt at the front of the blockoff plate looks so much better than what I was running on my car. Almost too clean and out of place compared to the rest of the engine bay lol.
Haha yeah, It is too clean compare to the rest of the bay. The car is still rough overall, but I will worry about making it pretty once it is actually running and sorted. Right now the main goal is simple, get it running safely/reliably enough to handle my 10-minute work commute. Ever since I have owned two cars, I get anxiety when one of them is down for more than a few days lol. The 340i also needs brakes soon and I have got a door to replace after an unfortunate incident where the jack, and the door got into a spontaneous argument... and the jack won. Luckily, an F30 BMW in Estoril blue came up at Pick n Pull and I got the door in mint condition for $100. I also want to recheck everything on the big turbo setup since it is only been on for a few months.
Not smart having two projects at once.. but boost is a hell of a drug lmao
Thursday update: I woke up late, and did not have much time to make significant progress before going to work. I managed to get some smaller things done.
New silicone coupler is here, it just needed a little trim, and verified that there is no contact with the engine bay. Front turbo waterline is officially connected to the turbo, and left some slack for engine movement. I order one more 2" intercooler pipe that will improve the routing to the intercooler. I should receive it by tomorrow.
Rear turbo waterline connected to the coolant reroute housing. Heater core waterlines have been slighted trimmed. As far as I know, the heater core ports are not directional. Thinking of bending the heater core metal return pipe slightly so I have greater clearance for the downpipe, and can have some space to make some sort of heat shield.
New oem valve cover gasket and CAS O ring is here. I have a spare valve cover I am going to cut off the timing gear cover off. Still needs to have the PCV system to be ported and drilled for AN fittings.
Last edited by Paisa; Mar 26, 2026 at 08:02 PM.
Reason: Images not visible initially, and grammar.
Sonoma GT World Challenge America Weekend + Intercooler Piping/Coolant Hose Revisions
Reconfigured my intercooler piping for the 3rd time.
Deleted the charcoal canister with the hopes of being able to run my intake to the passenger side of the engine bay.
Redid the coolant reroute routing as I wasn’t happy with the hose making contact 3-4 different places, and being slightly kinked.
I heard that this is the last year that Audi/Lamborghini will be using V10s in their GT3 cars.
The Carousel almost claims another victim.
Last edited by Paisa; Mar 30, 2026 at 12:18 PM.
Reason: Pictures not populating/grammar
I finally drilled the oil pan for the return. I ended up using thick and tacky grease to both drill and tap the pan. I had some left over PVC pipe that I used to prevent the drill bit from hitting the oil pick up tube. I also used around ~10psi of air from my compressor shot into the dipstick tube which helped tremendously with the metal shavings (I appreciate that tip!). My uncle gifted me some unused 0w-20 oil so I ran three quarts of that into the pan through the newly tapped oil pan. I did end up removing the power steering pump, AC/AC bracket to get better access to the proper drilling spot.
It ain’t pretty, but it is drilled, tapped, and JB Welded on.
I did my first oil pan drill and tap without compressed air, and the second one with compressed air. Man, what a difference haha. Extra bonus of having the compressed air is that you know when you've breached the pan because you start getting hit in the face with oil spray at least that's how the experience in my current car went.
I did my first oil pan drill and tap without compressed air, and the second one with compressed air. Man, what a difference haha. Extra bonus of having the compressed air is that you know when you've breached the pan because you start getting hit in the face with oil spray at least that's how the experience in my current car went.
Not much left now, yeah?
Good thing I had the PVC pipe on the drill bit because had I not, I would have 100% hit the pick up tube. While cleaning out the pan for metal shavings, I felt the pick up tube maybe 1.5-2" in. I damn near went blind when I got brake cleaner in my right eye lol
Getting closer every day, just chipping away at it when I have time.
I've officially bolted down the manifold & turbo to the engine. My work schedule for the upcoming week is a little unforgiving so I won't have much time to work on the car. I've created a huge checklist of tasks with the car I have to do before the first start up. I've also taped up a piece of paper on the steering wheel which states "NO OIL. DO NOT START THE ENGINE" lol
Ordered a Suzuki Cappuccino Windshield washer bottle that I'll bolt on in the future. New BKR7E spark plugs, have yet to gap them (.032 gap is what's recommended?)
I cut and extended my heater core hardline return with some spare silicone hose. I don't like how it is currently routed so I might buy a modified water pump inlet. I am thinking of the Billet unite from Hawley Performance.
I've lost the fitting to connect the oil port from the block to the oil feed line, so I am going to have to buy another one smh.
The turbo oil return line makes a little contact with the AC compressor so I'm using a sliver from a silicone hose to buffer the contact.
I spent the morning looking for both the AN4 to M8x1.5(?) fitting and the GM IAT sensor. Strangely, I found them in the center console. I don't like how I routed the heater core line return, nor the NB lower radiator hose. I gave in, and bought the Hawley Performance Billet Lower Water Pump Inlet System. This should help with both the routing of the heater core line, and the lower radiator hose. This will also help the turbo oil drain line as it will not make contact with it.
Drilled a hole for the IAT sensor.
To clear out any remaining shavings, I did the responsible thing, and used my leaf blower. Maybe a little overkill, but I theoretically made ~0.5 psi of leaf boost 🤣
In regards to the BK7RE's, you should be good at .032" with the stock coils depending on boost level, but might want to go a bit tighter, as there's quite a bit of variance in coil wear now that these cars are mostly all high mileage. I think I ran .030" on my stock NA8 coils at 9psi with no issue.
Coolant Reroute & Charge pipe Routing
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at least that's how the experience in my current car went.
