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If you later want a usable volume of washer fluid, you could do the suzuki cappuccino bottle swap. I've had my suzuki bottle on my workbench for a decade waiting to do it.
I loaded all the base settings and familiarized my self with Tuner Studio- Goodness! I have more reading to do on certain parameters and cause/effect. First time using this..
Fired up the car to check for leaks on all the new lines, injectors, and gauges. I know I need to wrap up the wiring first- as I want to enable Flex, Knock, and Rail pressure right away to get a decent starting VE and tune. Fuel will be E10 to start, and will be inputting small pulse correction as a bonus to having the absolute fuel rail sensor.
Stayed up way too late, but got everything wired in. Flex and Rail sensors working. The GM flex sensor also outputs fuel temperature and the BMM supports this - ill have to turn this on as well. Will get this bad boy off the jack stands and go drive it finally.
Started driving the car last Wednesday. Just plowing through tuning and struggling with idle, as everyone does. I entered in the low-pulse-correction data to be used with my absolute rail sensor, but wasn't happy with the VE and auto-tune runs-so for now it is just a rail gauge. Some of the Min/Max PID info in TS got changed somewhere (probably by me accidentally?) so that took a bit for Closed loop idle to behave.
All in all - it runs, and being new to all this is wild. It really is a trial-by-fire type experience. Car idled great on stock ECU - but with the BMM ecu, I ended up cracking open the Idle Screw by a 1/4 turn. Even though it was idling at 950rpm & 14-14.7, I could still hear a rich miss from the exhaust, and car would die out after 20 seconds of idle. After opening up the screw, I could hear audible vacuum from the air filter, and the idle cleared up. I reviewed the logs, and it appeared all closed loop sensors/idleVE/timing/IAC position/etc were all trying rescue it and raise rpm; it just not enough air.
Ill keep at it and improving. Wheels, tires, brakes, and suspension are next -
Well, I've been busy. I feel pretty confident in my ecu tuning abilities relative to where I was this spring; which was 0.
Flex fuel is working great with the Beer Money ecu. I usually run 25-50% E, and things just happen in the background
Knock sensor tuning took a while, but after the crash course in VE and Megalog Viewer- things went slow and smooth.
Rail sensor and pulse compensation also just..work.
Kan-Gauge is really helpful. You connect via Wi-Fi to change gauge faces/colors/parameters/values. A button switches between 3 preset faces. Balancer took a poop. Should be a mandatory replacement on the 1.6's. It was also running hot! I went with the CSF 2862. Replaced the thermostat as well. I will rip out the working AC come fall/winter :( It is really tight in their with AC and PS. Late-night foamectomy the day before my track day. Took 3 hours and 25 zip ties. Had to quick mount an extinguisher and transponder.
Had an awesome day at Gingerman! First time driving on a track. I was so anxious before that first run! Also had to learn the track... I am still on stock brakes and suspension - just ran out of time. The 615k+ were hilariously sticky and definitely overpowered the suspension. I ran a 2:02, which really didn't matter- I learned so much each session it was crazy. I was also being gentle since I tuned the damn thing haha. My coolant temps did great- It runs 90-92C on the street, and it held between 92-93C the entire day!
ordered the $100 Jass extended mounts for my diy Billie’s. I couldn’t find anyone using these, which I found odd- and at a 1/3 of the cost of competitors…Ya know, could be a reason no one uses them too
Marketplace find! I got really lucky on this top- local ad for $50 5 minutes from my work..plan is to get the TCM lexan and some Rustoleum marine battleship gray to match the wheels. and by match, I mean in a squinty race car way
Nice work on the BMM ECU! I'm running those same tophats, they work great. IIRC I did run OEM miata rubber bushings in there, and did slightly enlarge the hold so that the "nipple" on the OEM bushing would fit into it the hole to keep things centered. Been a while though!
Good to know! These are just not talked about at all. The fab time and material costs made it any easy choice. At almost $300 for the current offerings, I was going to cut and weld pipe to the stock NB hats.. The Jass come with either 10mm or 12mm holes, so they will have to be drilled out to fit the 5X 14mm Shoulder diameter. It comes with some hard rubber bushings, but I will use the smaller sections of my civic bumpstops for that.
DIY bilsteins
Jass rear top mounts
450/300
FM links
Stock sways
4.5” pinch front/rear
I took a short drive and I’m very happy on how soft it is. Stock front sway bar is not cutting it anymore. I found a local 1-1/8 sway bar to pick up. I’m hoping this sway tightens it up just the right amount.
Swapped out the rusty fuel tank. This rust pile is fresh- I cleaned and vacuumed it out last fall ahahaha.
I found the DW 70mm fuel filter fits in the OE filter clamp; just had to move the bracket one hole over to the passenger side.
my previous score of a $50 torsen is rightly fighting back. The ppf bolts were already stripped (last guy gave up on it), due to the bolts and sleeves being rusted/frozen in the housing.
Another thing I'll add- I've picked up 2 used 1.8 driveshafts and both have had a slight hitch on both ends of the ujoint, on both axis'- Where it catches is when both flanges are straight, and both u joints are rotated up and down, left-to-right off center. The rest of the travel is smooth. I've done enough u-joints in my life to know this isn't normal, and they're probably just normal needle bearings inside the caps..right? Well, wouldn't you know, when I pulled the 1.6 driveshaft- it has the same on-center dead spot on both u-joints, both up/down and side-to-side movement. I had no issues with the 1.6 driveshaft as far as vibrations up to 100-110mph. Just seems weird they all 3 have the same dead spot on center. Anyone encountered this? I think am just going to get a replacement dorman driveshaft unless this is normal.
This is normal for older driveshafts. I’d keep them on hand, as aftermarket ones like Dorman are known to have vibration issues straight out of the box.
The "notch" is fine and shouldn't cause any issues. I agree they all get that, I think it has to do with the mild pinon angle, basically when they spin they don't move on that axis and get notchy there.
What I look for is play in the U joints themselves. If they start to have play, or you get a clunk going from forward to reverse (or vice versa) you need to replace it.
Mockup on the DW FF70. Quick cut of aluminum flat stock to move it over for ppf clearance.
There was a couple initial threads hogged out from the original bolt being missing. Retapped it, and cut the head off a bolt; and converted to a stud.
I toiled on what to do with the diff bushings. This car is still 90% take-to-work on a summer day. I went with the SuperPro inserts instead of full poly or the possibility of being disappointed with just factory replacement rubber.
Weird, I've never seen or heard of those inserts before. You'll have to report back on how you like them. I was fine with the full poly bushing setup in my dual duty car, but it did introduce a lot of decel chatter.
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