Jason's Build Part 2
 

As one build ends another must begin. This time around I was positive that I would be moving to a different chassis. That didn't happen, at least now yet. I'll slowly transform this car into my new daily driver and weekend track toy. It won't be anything wild or new, just purely an exercise in comfort and reliability to allow me to get as much seat time as possible. Here's the plan:

1993 chassis
VVT engine
AEM engine management
MSM 6 speed transmission
Full interior
Hard top
Hard Dog roll bar
15x9 6uls
Xida coilovers
Trackspeed BBK

This combination should provide me with day to day comfort as well as very good reliability. Definitely will leave me with a ton of money so I can do a few track days every month and work on my driving skills. I'm hoping to have her at least running by the end of 2010. Right now she doesn't run or stop.

Attachment 193236

Sweet! What happend to the S2K aspirations

Something about this car got my attention so I'm putting that on hold for now.

Perfect list IMO. Basically what I suggested to Jacob minus the rotrex. way cheaper than an s2k too, and IMO not the least bit less "drive to and from track comfortably".

Excellent.

Now....When do we get started :D?

This is exactly what I've wanted to do. Not that turbo setups can't be reliable, I just don't have the money to do so. I'm a bigger fan of curves than straights anyhow.

P.s., why are you going aem when you already have a hydra, or going MS to save $$$? Even savington in his 400hp track monster JUST upgraded to AEM. Just curious.

I went with the Hydra on the other car because at the time it was a proven option and could support vvt. Now that there's other options available it was time to start over and evaluate everything. I've never been a MS fan and to get one built to my specs/options/tuned is more than what an AEM will cost me when said and done. That leaves the AEM and it's what I've wanted since day one so it was a simple choice.

Will be cool.

I'm building your 2001 MS shortly. Once they get the VVT and alternator code implemented, I'll send you an invoice and specifications.

MS3+xpander
sequential (P&H) injection
sequential coil on plug (if you have four coils...)
all necessary stock functionality
etc etc etc

When you say 2001 MS, are you saying it will work in my 1993 Miata with a 2001+ engine or that you're building something for the 2001 Miata that I'm selling?

I suppose it could work with either... but I'm planning to plug it right into the stock 2001 harness (and run a few wires for spark and other non-stock functions)

Is there knock control in there anywhere?

Lets hope so. I'll probably leverage the Jason C SBB bandpass style filter that's on this site somewhere.

I'm still leaning towards the AEM, but you've got my attention.

Your going to love the car when its done. My 02 is pretty much what you listed and I love driving it on the street, track and auto x it just works awesome and its dead nuts reliable.

Spectating is free. I'll probably start a thread or something if I'm feeling up to it.

did you know they institute social classes in who can get to swim in the hot springs or not?




an MS3X on the 93 harness to run a 2001 would be easy right now. just no VVT without the DIY controller for now.

Long term which setup to you guys think will allow me more flexibility for changes? I'm trying to keep an open mind and let the actual ecu make the decision.

Started to get some work done today. I've already started on the weight reduction by removing at least 5 lbs of pine needles. There's still plenty of them left even after this first cleaning session. The list of things that need to be replaced is growing every day. Started under the hood by fixing the timing belt and adding all the other broken stuff to the to fix-it list. I'm not going to really do any thorough cleaning until I pull the engine but it sure does look cluttered right now.

Attachment 193173

After that I moved to the inside and started looking at the wiring. I think a new wiring harness in in my future. Just to see if it would run I taped up all the bare wires and tried to start it. She fired right up and ran like complete shit. Here's what I am working with on the inside.

Attachment 193174

Attachment 193175

That's all for today.

Made some progress today, now there's two Miatas with missing engines.

Attachment 193048
Attachment 193049

You move fast! Is pulling the engine without tranny a lot harder than pulling both out in one piece?

Nice, looks like you are making progress quickly. Subscribed.

It really depends on the car, some of them seem to cooperate a bit more than others. I prefer to pull them together whenever possible, just decided to do it this way yesterday so I didn't have to store it somewhere. I'm still undecided as to which car I want to keep.

Got quite a bit accomplished over the past couple of days. The brakes are now fixed and there's a new clutch/flywheel/pressure plate installed. Engine even went back in without any fuss. Added fluids, checked everything again and she started immediately. Turns out the cat was hollowed out, so that's another thing that needs to get fixed. Set the timing and did a quick test drive. Everything was fine until I turned on the heater. The engine immediately dies and won't start until I turn off the heater and remove the key from the ignition. I'm completely lost as to how these items are related, but apparently they are. The car is a Cali car, but the previous owner ended up running a non-Cal ecu in it and that's why the wiring has been spliced and diced enough to get it to run. I'm thinking there's additional wiring that needs to be changed, a Cali ecu installed or just MS it. Any ideas? I like the idea of getting the car to run in it's stock form prior to making any additional changes to it.

I would MS it

Definitely time for a clean harness.

There's nothing more I hate than wiring issues.

I've thought about that more than once, but if I did this and started to have problems, I'd be wondering if it's the MS or some other wiring issue I have yet to uncover. It's always easier to throw an ecu at a car that already runs good.

While its not generally accepted as a good idea, I msd my car when it had a few problems and they went right away with a good tune. My car had these issues: idle would droop and stall after letting off the throttle at red lights/etc. The car had no throttle response, it would bog when you gave it gas.

MS+AFM delete and my car runs perfect.

Again, not recommending you do this. Just throwing in my :2cents:

^this!

Buy a clean harness from a dismantler and swap it in. I did this on my track car that had a hacked up harness and it only took a few hours. All the electrical gremlins magically disappeared after I did it.

I have a good friend that keeps telling me to do that, but I'm reluctant to believe that it will only take me a couple of hours to accomplish this task. I could easily see this turning in to a nightmare of epic proportions.

The heater issue will be a nightmare... and so will the alternator issue, and the car shutting off issue and the radio issue, and the... (just hypothetical future here)

It's alive, with heat and no it didn't start on fire while running.

good shit, congrats.
whats next?

I'm not sure, yet. Part of me wants to keep it, part of me wants to sell it, part of me wants to put a V8 in it and part of me wants to drive it into a lake. I'm going to spend the next few weeks working on the other Miata so I can make a true back to back comparison.

need help with the back to back comparison? lol. good to hear you found out the heating without engine dying problem. that was really weird.

I'd pay good money to see this.