It's been really cool following this build thread. You did a great job of reading around, absorbing knowledge, and applying it to this car. There's never been a better time to build a turbo track miata between parts availability, technology, and knowledge-base to get it sorted!

Unlike 90% of the turbo miatas I've seen (in person and online) I think yours has a good chance of staying cool and reliable on track with minimal teething. I'd definitely suggest an oil cooler for a track focused car eventually, but I wouldn't let that stop you from tacking it asap. Excited to see how it goes for you.

 

Seconding what Nate said. It's been sick watching this thing come together! Really shows the fruits of taking your time, making proper decisions, and executing without cutting corners.

Can't wait to see this thing run some track laps, man.

 

Thanks all 3 of you! @SimBa @Z_WAAAAAZ @Fireindc Glad you guys keep this site going. So much history and new/old info here.

Yes, thanks Fire- Ill do the infrared gun on the dipstick and see.

Update on cooling: 195F/90C Thermostat, 96C/205F fan on / 93C/200F fan off.
Its been hot lately, about 80-90 in the afternoons. These hood vents realllyyy brought back the turbo noises so thats cool; with the rear one directly over the air filter
I see 89-92 (192/197) driving around. After pulls its 92-95 (197/203). If I come to a stop after some pulls it then gets up to 96(205). Any sort of movement gets me right back to 89-92. Hoping i made the right thermo choice. I really based it off wanting decent warm up for my 15min drives to work, and having a solid heater in the early spring/late fall drives.

Loving the metric system for certain things. Lamba is muchhh better.
Will follow:
100 C Good (212)
105 C Hot (221)
110 C Yikes (230)
115 C STOP (239)

Probably get a CLT rev limiter for the latter 2. Last year with stock stuff It got to 230 and not sure if it was 10 seconds or 1 minute of that.

 

Definitely get those coolant based protections setup. It can be frustrating when they shut the car down, but it's better than having to build a new engine.

I agree, Celsius seems way more convenient once you're used to it.

And yes, those hood vents add a ton of turbo noise. My intake noise is much quieter after adding the little insulation blanket to it, but once I added the passenger side vents I got more BOV noise as well. Cooling + Noise is a win-win for me!

 

Ok CLT protection on. Did a little rev limiter of 6500 under 40c too

got the tcm hardtop on! Threw some rustoleum top side marine black with a roller. In a time crunch so I didn’t go ham on the paint/finish. It works.
will just need to get some window seals to wrap it up. The coupe feel is nice- my soft top is so old and cracked it doesn’t even close in the hot sun.

my little beater looks good at certain angles

 

Wow man, looks good. I thought you got it resprayed for a second.

 

Lookin good man! I never set my cooling fan on/off temps in the BMM ECU so I'll follow your lead. I'm sure the temps are set too low and the fan is running all the damn time unnecessarily. Also cool you got the CL boost control and virtual dyno working. I've been dragging *** lately and haven't had time to mess w/ the car but will get around to it. I fully expect your water temps to be 100% a-ok since you did proper ducting and you have hood vents. Oil temps I'd just keep an eye on but you should be able to get a handful of laps in or so on track before temps get too hot. I'm sure 12psi is a lot of fun and she boogies!

 

Yeah so theres a filter on those photos, so it has a good side ha

Yep @SlowTeg so ya for me - 90c thermo and '96 on 93 off' works good. You have AC i think?; so probably 98/95 for the second fan would be a good start to test. You can extrapolate those numbers based on what thermo temp you have.

Trying my hand at the Ignition blend table for e85. I just scaled up at E30/0%-E70/100%. So e40 does 25%, e50/50%, and e60/75%. Threw in +2 and this mornings knock log looked good. Ill quit at this til i get on a dyno.

 

Cool thanks. Looks like the SM Reroute has a 195F thermostat which is 90C. I'll try your numbers of 96/93, that sounds reasonable. No a/c in my car either which I think has helped a lot keep temps in check on track w/o a condenser blocking things.

That's fun playing w/ e85. Nice to have a little cushion tuning wise w/ e85 but I'm nervous about bending a rod with too much more boost. Still gotta play w/ boost control again just been hectic lately and won't get around to it for a few more weeks.

 

Well the steps I did for CL was turn it on with PID zero'd.
That way I learned and looked at the boost target vs MAP.
I then set the targets to just above actual MAP w P.5 & I.3.
I found that solved the OL hot/cold duty issues and gave me consistent boost, and also learned what it was trying to do and where.
Then I started increasing the boost targets.

 

I just had the best weekend ever in a car. On Thursday & Friday I took part in the Optima Street Car Challenge at Gingerman Raceway. To get there was a lot of prep and last minute things like you all have been through. I had just nailed down CL idle and CL boost and proceeded on the hour drive along with my dad in his Mini Cooper S. I lowered boost to 11/12psi at redline just to be safe. We're still on 205 615Ks and 450/300 bilsteins after all, and this is only my second time on a track. I completely forgot to record with my phone and TrackAddict pro but oh well.

The car felt great and being here last year without a turbo and still on stock suspension, I was giggling at the speed improvements. Temps were in the 80s and it was very humid. My coolant temps did great all day which was a huge relief! On track I never saw over 206F/97C. My dual VTA with modded VC also did great with 0 oil in the catch can. Total oil consumption for the day was a little less than a .5qt. I went through about 5-6 gallons of e85?. Inconel studs from KAI injection and Stage 8 fasteners worked great too. I completed all 4 15 minute sessions and mowed the grass only once After a pass through pit lane and a little mud/grass in between the tire & wheel, everything was fine.

First session was a feeler and reintroduction of the course. Second session I got on the throttle a little bit more, but still short shifted at 6k. Third session a friend wanted to ride along; I was for it, so I obliged but wasn't sure how'd that would go..well we had some small talk and I ripped of my best time of 1:52! I had laid into the throttle but was still short shifting. Fourth and last session I decided to say F it and tow truck or flatbed be damned- I'm going hard. Now, I had slowly moved up the grid each session due to confidence and my times compared to the other session cars. In other sessions, there were a few GT3RS' in the sub-1:40's and most of the mustangs, camaro's, and corvettes in faster sessions/groups were in the 1:40-1:45 range. I took grid in the third spot knowing that the faster AND in 2nd place in my session was a 1972 Mach 1 Mustang w/ a 408 Cleveland & 5sp tearing it up with a time of 1:51. Well for the next 3 laps I slowly went from a 20 car-length start to being on his ***. We were dancing together in every turn with me inching closer, yet he would pull a half car length on the 2 quarter-mile straights. So there's me, just happy as a pig in mud; the closest thing to wheel-to-wheel racing I've ever been for these last 3 laps...We both knew I was faster, but he wasn't gonna give me a point-by- but that just made it more fun. After the race, I ran over to him and just said thanks and what a freaking blast that was- What a fun thing to just go hard every corner battling another car. I now know how important it is to have a great pacing car right in front of you- or someone slightly faster than you.. Oh...yeah, and I clocked a 1:50 to his same 1:51's

 

Glad to hear it! Nothing like thrashing a car you built yourself with the help of some strangers over the internet and having it hold up. Do you have plans for more trackdays this year?

 

Dude, good sh*t! Car held together great for its first track day AND you got to experience the quintessential Miata vs *insert badder faster car here* tale. Don't think you could ask for anything more. Sick read dude, super stoked for you.

Can't wait for more. Super satisfying watching the fruits of your labor pay off haha.

 

Thanks dudes- you guys rock. Yeah would like to hit 1-2 more this summer/fall. I really would like to get my skill up with the current car settings. It did feel really neutral though. Springs settled, so will reset ride height and try and get a shop to confirm/adjust to 949 dual duty specs. I ran the day at 31psi which felt good- wear marks and pattern looked ok- all new stuff for me there.

I need to get down shift timing per corner as well. I would grab 4th and then need a downshift before corners- where I should prolly be hitting rev limiter in 3rd and coasting that last 50ft before a turn. (4.1/5sp)

The Stoptech 309s held up and I could probably push them more than I did. They for sure need pedal travel when hot, so that’s me getting used to them.

of course I’m looking at fallen 660/225’s now lol- had a few former Miata guys say they were quite a step up. (15x8 motegi & falken 615/205)

would love to run this for another year and catch up on my other hobbies.

 

Awesome man. I've found time like that chasing cars in sim racing leagues but I have to imagine it's way more intense in real life. Glad to see the car held together and you were able to wring it out without issue!

 

Great to hear man! Nothing quite like getting a car on track and really pushing things and having fun. Also great when you don't have any issues and you don't end up missing any sessions. Still need to play with boost control a bit to squeeze a few more hp's but it's so damn hot lately I have no strong desire to be working in the garage, and I don't really care to drive it w/o a/c either.