Long time, no updates. Not that there has been much to update with. I ended up selling the orange trailer, and purchased another that should work MUCH better for my purposes.

To the surprise of no one (least of all me), my wife decided that she'd rather have me around to help with the kids than spending the next many weekends in the garage working on the car, so the car is going to AR for the turbo install the end of this month.. That's fine by my, it's cold! However, I did just wrap up some of the easier preparatory work yesterday. First up was installing the Trackspeed Fuel Pump Rewire kit.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c818635433.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...849187dda5.jpg

The only hiccup came with the wire that runs to the battery. Apparently the cable terminal had broken (which explains why it's needed a jiggle at times this year), so I had to replace that as well.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...751911b877.jpg

Overall it was pretty straightforward, and now I don't have to worry about melting the main relay!

Since I had the rear shelf apart anyway, I decided to put in some sound deadening. First was a trip to WalMart for some high density foam to stuff in the tunnels and behind the panel.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ffd987da6e.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f010abc142.jpg

Then a trip to Lowes for some of the flashing stuff people use for vibration damping on the panels.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c00a907051.jpg

I also installed my DW200 pump and replaced the fuel filter, so the annoying part of the fuel system upgrades are out of the way along with several hours of shop labor. PRO TIP: if you do all this BEFORE installing the roll bar you will like your life a lot more. Also, a hacksaw does pretty well cutting foam.

I was originally going to install the injectors and LS coils as well, but it looks like I may not have enough time before tax season hits. Oh well, at least I can drive it on to the trailer now. Already working on my calendar for 2019, and looks like I will be hitting up Oregon Raceway Park for the first time in March.

I at least had the good sense to only have one at a time. :) Enjoy the time with your little ones, it goes by fast.

Thread jack here... curly did you have twins? Is there something that mazda baked into the plastics? I had twins 9 months back; didn't someone else on the forum as well?

Haha well congrats and hang in there! There was a point where I had 3 under 2 years...

OK enough thread jack :)
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a5a20908ac.jpg

Looks like MT has quite the 3 under 3 club. Mine are 3.5, 2.5, and 6 months.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...adac32c19c.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ea915e8515.jpg

Cuties all around. I think they'd restore my car and comment that it appeared I had been continually working on the car for 5 minutes a day for the past 30 years.
Here's my clan back in November
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...953b94ff6b.jpg

I did a not-Miata thing.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...16812bd89f.jpg

2018 Mazda 6 Grand Touring Reserve. Used with just 6k miles. SIGNIFICANTLY more comfortable than my Fit, which will be up for sale once I get it cleaned up.

Nice ride! I wish I had more seriously considered a Mazda6 when we bought our "family car". I was afraid a sedan wouldn't be practical enough. Genuinely excited about the cars Mazda is making right now, happy to see the turbo love spreading around a bit. Is the "Reserve" the one with the pretty wood accents inside?

No, that's the "Signature". Still, the interior is way nicer than any mainstream sedan has any right to be. We already have the minivan for schlepping kids around, though I will be putting three car seats in the back. Outside of tax season my wife and I trade off picking up/dropping off kids to daycare. Waiting for some seat protectors to show up so I don't cause indentations in the leather, hoping to keep this nice for a long time.

As consumer desire for more performance increases, and government regulated emissions requirements get more strict, we're going to see more and more manufactures switch to turbos and smaller displacement engines. That's why BMW, Porsche, Mazda, etc, are all running turbo 4s. Versus say the MSM or 335, where Mazda took the BP and BMW took the n55 and slapped turbos on, they're needed to make smaller engines for emissions purposes and than claw back some performance by putting a turbo on.

Boring and useless information aside, nice ride Don. I think it was Ed that told me those 6s are super popular all over the country except in the NW, where the 3s are more popular, so I'm sure they were happy to sell it for a great deal

Thanks Josh! Hopefully your wife is getting some rest, I can't imagine those early weeks with twins. Looks like I'm going to be dropping off my car a couple weeks later than originally planned to give you time to get caught up at the shop.

Yeah, Mazda took a tough route, trying to optimize non-turbos exclusively for the last few years, falling behind the competitions offerings on power (typical). So it's nice to see they aren't reserving the turbo power plant for just the full size SUV.

However, I think Toyota stands alone as the ONLY company that doesn't utilize turbos what so ever. I guess when you sell the go-to hybrid in massive quantities, you have some corporate MPGs to spare?

I just wish Mazda would pair the turbo engine to the manual...also offer the Mazda6 wagon in the US, please and thanks. #DadDreams, sorry carry on!

I’ve determined that loading the Miata on to a trailer at night in the dark with the cold, wind, and rain sucking every ounce of energy and concentration from my body is probably one of the least fun things I’ve done so far this year. At least that’s done do I can drop it off on Wednesday.

Get a winch on the trailer. Makes it cake.

Sweet, guess who just learned he’s working on a Miata Wednesday! It’ll be a nice change after dyno’ing a CX Racing kit Wednesday morning. I’ll be sure to compare the runs to your TSE kit.

Yeah, I think I’ll need to get that on the agenda.
Feel free to post them here for the lolz. I’m excited to have the car at least mostly “done”.

I’m excited to make 2 of everything so I can get some intercooler pipes for my own car out of it!

Even a hand crank boat winch works pretty good.

Don the bar has been set high, that damn CX Racing turbo kit made 290hp. So looks like we're forced to break 300 just so there isn't a CX Racing dyno line above a TSE line when we compare.

Sorry for threadjack.... but was that CX kit the one with the funky manifold?

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8ff26562f5.jpg

Yeah, specifically I think it was this t3 kit: https://www.cxracing.com/TRB-KIT-18-...earch=m%20iata

Spooled by 4000, and boost crept at 5500. It's a stock engined '99 with a MS2pnp, CX racing kit, FF injectors, ACT clutch, welded diff, XXRs, and Racelands. Kid bought it for $2k off the drifter PO. It's pretty terrible, but you can't argue with 290hp for around $3k. We blew the cap off the NA IAC port on the intercooler pipe on one of the 290hp pulls and it started controlling boost beautifully and holding 185hp, so we left it off and tuned the EBC to 220 with an amazingly flat boost curve.

My 450whp EFR setup spooled by 4000rpm too :party:

Yeah at 4000 he was probably only around 160-180...

Whoa. Hold the phone. Better parts work better?

I wouldn't be so sure! What if it was Version 2 of the CX Racing manifold? :laugh:

I'm still in treatment for the AIDS i contracted from that thread.

Thread needs a title change, now worlds most expensive drain pan drain. This heavy weight shockproof gear oil from the Morgan's bevel drive took FOREVER to drain out of the catch pan, shop heat is broken and it's about 45 degrees inside.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c419a695aa.jpg

Had I not been busy with twins at home, I might have done a little more research into the turbo kit's previous owner and caught a few of the "uh oh" pieces before hand. Things like the intercooler piping not meant for an NA IAC, a heat shield built for a car with no heater core, and an intake that fit a headlightless NA. Oh well, one problem at a time! Here's my remade cold side intercooler pipe, including the port for the NA IAC. Really quite proud of this. 5ish years ago when I started working here, we had to farm out any fab project requiring more than a vice and some dull drill bits, we're now able to cut, bead, and weld all in house among other things, with 3 very capable tig welders, and more fab tools en route or planned for the near future.

Filter is being bolted to the turbo for the time being, and a new heat shield is next. Not sure if I'll bolt it to the downpipe or just rework the previous piece...

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e5344a79db.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a9cab20eae.jpg

Current state of affairs, here I'm contemplating a headlight reroute to do anything but bolting the filter to the turbo.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1924ebb4f9.jpg

and yes, the ebc is plumbed to the bov, as a reminder to myself to look up the proper port to use, I've since fixed it

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e6d5b3a98.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2c57bc760.jpeg

The exhaust is back from coating!
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d5546d3f71.jpg
Should reduce the heat going to the transmission


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bea2e2080a.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...85cff76ea1.jpg
Engine bay, minus heat shield.


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b34dfcea05.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...17be542ea4.jpg
No boiling brake fluid for me!


Dyno tuning coming later this week!

It’s been a blast don, can’t wait to see what it’ll do.

at zero preload on the wastegate, the rear nut could only thread on half way. I snugged it till it was flush with the end of the wastegate rod, and we’ll tune from there unless it’s too much boost.

Too much.

Ok that’s what I thought. Zero preload or somewhere in between to start?

The setup guide on Full Race says three turns from zero.

For the 0 people following along at home, the car was THIS close to being done late last week when the FM1 clutch started slipping at peak torque on wastegate. ACT XT-SS going in today, along with a new driveshaft as it turns out my OEM one is a little sloppy. Probably explains the vibration I was getting approaching 100mph.

Holding out hope that I'll be able to pick the car up tail end of this week, still have some other prep work I want to get done before a pair of track days at ORP March 30th and April 1st.

Awesome, congrats!

Also cool you are able to break away to do some things during tax season!

Trans was out after an hour Monday, we had minor concerns about the rear main seal so we replaced it, although it was most likely oil blowing back from a leaking VVT oil line, which I also fixed. Replaced the driveshaft with the bad U-joints, and it's now easily holding wastegate pressure.

Here's a quick screen shot of my datalog on the drive home yesterday, dyno is happening this morning. I'm guessing around 200-225hp on wastegate. It's hitting 7psi and holding that beautifully. Running rich at low 11s. There were some minor misfires, but after discussing with Aidan about LS coils, I changed the dwell settings and that seemed to help. I'm guessing I'll also end up gapping the plugs down on the dyno, since I think they're still at the out-of-the-box spec of ~.035-.037.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d6d9ce64c5.jpg

I'm excited to see the final numbers! And, of course, to get my car back.

I could be wrong, but isn't 43psi a little on the low side for oil pressure?

No, it averages 45-50 anything above idle. This is with Total Racing 5-40.

Final dyno numbers were 220/210 on wastegate, 315/300 at 18psi. I’ll get some dyno charts and data logs posted soon, car feels great!

Here’s a quick screen shot of the final high/low boost setting. I’m at 255 in the fuel table so I need to change required fuel so I have some adjustment. Hence the 2-3 lean spots.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...46a684cac.jpeg

Finally got the WinPEP 8 software so I could put together a comparative dyno of all major iterations of my build. Yellow is bone stock, green is with built VVT engine w/CNC head, blue is current wastegate pressure, red is current EBC tune. SAE correction this time around.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...379ff596e9.png

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...052400c80.jpeg
Made it through my first track day turbocharged and my first day at Oregon Raceway Park. Only issues were a v-band for the exhaust coming loose, and the downpipe rattling against the steering shaft on hard right handers. May need to adjust things, or may just need to get clamps for my exhaust hangers to tighten things up.

Sleeping accommodations worked pretty well. I might have over packed a bit, so had to pile things up to make room for the mattress.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f37874636.jpeg
My home away from home!

Got a little chilly over night, but my sleeping bag can handle it. Tomorrow going to visit some college friends, then another day at ORP Monday!

I think I gave you that baggie of hardware that should have the v-band locking nuts. But like I said they usually either strip the threads or become regular nuts after the first use.

AAR from ORP: Only had the loose v-band and the downpipe rattling against the steering shaft. Unfortunately, even with adjusting it as close as I can to the block it was still hitting on right-handers. Looks like I need to get standard-height motor mounts to get that little bit extra clearance.

Since I won't be doing any more track days this year I'm just going to go with MazdaComp mounts. If I decide that allows too much movement I'll probably add in an AWR mount for a hybrid setup. The BBFW drop mounts will be going up for sale eventually once I get them out.

You’ll probably have the downpipe out for the motor mount, you could always give it a good dent, it won’t hurt performance at all.

You'll rip those Mazdacomp mounts in half in no time with that much power.

That being said, if those are VVT Drop Mounts PM me before you list them for sale.

"Here, take this nicely built downpipe that you paid to have ceramic coated and hit it with a hammer!" :noes:

Truthfully though I might just do that. Should be significantly less of a PITA than replacing the motor mounts. On the other hand, having less rattles would be nice and Martin thinks that the drop mounts are a contributing factor in that drivetrain vibration you were trying to track down. :dunno:

That's what I thought, but the local performance Miata shop thinks it would be okay. Haven't bought anything yet, still mulling on options. My mounts are for the 94-00 block.

Long time no updates. I had high hopes for many track days this year, but we'll have to see if the world opens up in time.

Only a few changes to the car since last year:
-I finally installed the MR2-S rear hubs that I bought back in 2018. Axles were stuck in the OEM hubs pretty good, had to take to a shop to get pressed out. Unfortunately, the new bearings were lunched after only a couple hundred street miles. The race shop I use has seen similar failures with the adapted hubs, so I had them install the MiataHubs rear hubs. So far so good.
-I also installed the BroFab E30 front hub conversion. Went with the "Economy" hubs, and one had some play. Replacement en-route from Bronson, excellent customer service!
-Finally, I decided that I needed to sit lower in the car. Had the shop install a Mazdaracer floor drop pan. Now my helmet shouldn't rub against the hardtop!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dd7c2d9a3c.jpg
The parts.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...33e8898939.jpg
The hole.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...872857eef2.jpg
The mounting


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cf3a49e6c3.jpg
The drop.


Had hopes to go to ORP at the end of this month, and PIR early May. Doesn't look like either of those are going to happen. Optimistically signed up for a day June 4th at PIR, hopefully the world is back up and running by then. I had also hoped to join some of you for the West Coast Track Meetup at the end of September, but that is uncomfortably close to the due date of my fourth child so probably going to miss that one. Might be lucky to get 5 days in this year. :dunno:

No that my experience is in any way unique, here is a visual representation of how 2020 has gone in a lot of ways:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cccf8a4cc7.jpg

Obviously COVID-19 messed with a lot of things. We were fortunate that our jobs have not been impacted, just working remotely now. First track day wasn't until mid-late June though, so at least 4 events were cancelled in my planned schedule. Then we learned in early June that we lost our son 20 weeks into pregnancy.


But the hits kept on coming. This happened during the first track day of the season:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6ff48411d1.jpg
Oops
Stud just fell out: nut, locking hardware and all. And yes, Resbond was used. This is after only 3 track days since installation. Sourcing a replacement was a little tricky, but I found one. Then as the shop was re-applying the Resbond to the surviving studs, another one broke in the manifold. Now I'm using trimmed down FM Inconel studs, since Trackspeed studs are nowhere to be found. Hopefully they hold up.

While everything was apart, they noticed this:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...eba8bfc023.jpg
Hey, that's not quite right...

Guess we (the guy that sold me the turbo, myself, and the shop initially) missed that. Good news is that we confirmed that the turbo is behaving just like it was at installation, so this has been this way since I've owned it. It's also survived this long, so we slapped it back together and I'll get a replacement supercore to put in over the off season. Southeast Power Systems is being helpful in that regard, hat tip to @sixshooter for the contact info in another thread about broken EFR turbine wheels.

Used quite a bit more Resbond this time around:
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5651af6f3a.jpg
I SAID STAY FUCKING PUT!!!

Barely got everything back together in time for my track day last Thursday. Fortunately that went a bit better. No calamities to report, but the last session I did have my cam sensor start to overheat. Need to do something about that, since it isn't going to be getting any colder. Best time was a 1:31.61, SM record is in the 1:29s so still lots of room for improvement. Also had one of my Xidas start leaking, so I sent them all off for rebuilds yesterday. Hopefully I get them back and put together in time for my next day the middle of August.

Off-season plans are coming together:
-Get new supercore and re-tune
-General nut-and-bolt check
-Address stock bushings. Nothing catastrophic has happened yet, but I have noticed some sliding in the bores. Still can't decide between poly/bronze or delrin. Main holdup is laziness: I don't like the idea of having to ream all the delrin bushings.

The resbond was the reason I took the super core out, you can get much better access to all but the shaved down stud, which is a PITA to begin with. I shook the SHIT out of our 10oz resbond bottle and put enough on it was dripping off. Car still feels great, which is good, but I'm excited to see the spool improvements with the new supercore.

If you ever need more studs, Full Race has inconel M8 and M10 studs with locking hardware. I've been happy with the results.

My last track day was also my first day I got to use the AIM Solo I picked up second-hand. It was nice not having to cobble something together with my phone, external GPS receiver, etc. Just pulled the data off it tonight, and it was pretty humbling.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, my best lap was 1:31.61. Not great, not terrible. On most clear laps I was hanging in the 1:32 range so I made it a goal to get into the 1:31s and was pretty happy I made it. I also figured that since I had been in the 1:32s for much of the day I was finally getting some semblance of consistency. Looks like that may not have been the case. My "Theoretical Best Lap" was 1:26.94! Knowing that I left 5 seconds on the table just confirms that I still have a long way to go, even at a relatively straightforward track like PIR.

The plan is to get the shocks back from rebuild hopefully this week, get it put back together and aligned in time for another day on August 15th. It will be interesting to see how my sector times compare.

Sleeper status ruined:


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...129994b0d.jpeg

Another day at PIR tomorrow, we’ll see how fresh shocks, fresh RS4s, and a fresh alignment help my lap times.

Sleeper status ruined, but resbond happy! Kick some ass, and hurry up and buy that supercore

Great thread, thanks for sharing! It makes me really happy to see tracked turbo miatas.

Track day was a success: nothing broke, and I didn't crash, and I had a good time. Between the new tires and reconnecting the rear swaybar I'm having to relearn the car a little bit and get away from some bad habits from when understeer was the name of the game, so my lap times were about the same. Haven't pulled data but I'm guessing braking into turn 1 and entering the 10-11-12 complex is where I am a good bit slower than last time, just got to get used to how the car handles.

First session was cut short because my gas cap wasn't on tight and fuel was coming out. Another thing to add to the checklist I guess, wish we could just pump our own gas. Also learned the 2 sessions per tank is the cars limit, I tried for a third and was getting fuel starvation issues. Planning to get some fuel jugs so I have fuel at the track and can top off without driving to a gas station or buying fuel at the track in the case of ORP, but longer term I might see what I can do to get more useful tank space. I know there are a number of threads on it, so I'll look those up.

Also had some trouble downshifting, particularly going into turn 1 where I'm going 6-5-4-3. There were a few times where I just couldn't get it into gear and blew the corner. Probably multiple factors at play:

1. Still getting used to my arm position relative to the shifter now that I have the seat pan drop.
2. Just getting tired later in the day and getting sloppy, the last couple sessions were where I had the most problems.
3. Transmission getting too hot. Again, later in the day so higher ambient temps, heatsoaked, etc. Also, the exhaust was adjusted to clear the seat pan drop moving it closer to the transmission and removing the ceramic coating I had originally so that's radiating more heat to the transmission.
4. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I still haven't learned to heel-toe downshift.

Have some pictures to share from my phone in the next post, there were some cool cars there. The day was put on by the Shelby club, and I had visions of Cobra replicas and the like. Turns out it was more like GT350s and GT500s, both new and old. There was also an Optima Ultimate Street Car-prepped Mustang with a supercharged Coyote, 750whp. Crazy.

Better late than never with the photos.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2ea4e0bd9c.jpg
Expected to see more of these
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c6d3d823e5.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6bf80eb308.jpg
So pretty
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...51d5cdac8c.jpg
Sounded awesome
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5ec430e539.jpg
ALL THE WIDTH
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...55e573c13d.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...896e7acad6.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...74077f85d6.jpg
One of my paddock neighbors. Italian roadster in it's natural state, leaking oil onto the pavement.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b6cff37933.jpg

It was a good day, even if there were a few people in the Advanced group that shouldn't have been there.