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Hey Folks,
I've read a lot of build threads lately, and I've decided it's a great way to document and learn how to turbo this car. It's a great platform and so far its more fun than my previous VW's in the corners and autocross.
I definitely bought this car to track/autocross, which has been a lot better since I PCS'd to Las Vegas from North Dakota. So far it's been a great starter car and despite being my second Miata, has taught me a lot more than my GTI's are proper handling and fluidity through a course. I bought the car relatively stock with a set of Tien S-Tech springs on blown shocks. From there I've swapped out for a set of AGX's just to get it running right. The roll bar, wheels and tires were my doing. Still a VW guy, but now the wife has this her daily. Decided what better way to have a dedicated fun car, then a nice daily for the wife and kiddo. Cleaned up a 96 4.1 Torsen from Florida that had some surface rust. The carrier sadly had some damage, but I have a spare with new seals and comp mounts to put it in. As I still needed a kid mover I thought why not buy a dedicated tow/kid mover.
It is a bit late in the game but I've acquired a lot of parts thanks to my reading and lurking. Heres what I have so far:
Krakens T25 kit with 3" exhaust and inconel studs
Rebuilt SR20's T25G (From what I see its just a larger T25) - I figured it would be a great starter turbo and easily rebuildable.
MSLabs MS3 Basic + Singular Mount
LS2 Coils with the Flow Force Harness kit and a sadfab mounting system
So far besides my thoughts of swapping to AN lines I believe all I'm missing is my wideband, clutch, intercooler setup and injectors. I plan to go the FF960 route as I'm thinking of setting up E85 as well for extra safety on higher boost days. My goals with this current setup arent too high as I'd be happy to be around 230whp/210-220wtq. I have a spare VVT engine and a BE stage 2 pump ready for rebuilding on the side while I run this current setup.
For clarification, I have a 2002 Miata with the 5 speed and a 4.3 open diff. I know I'll likely need the 6 speed later on, but I really love the flow of the 5 speed so far and hoping to keep it for a while until I go bigger and faster.
Last edited by s0n1cm0nk3y; 01-24-2019 at 04:17 PM.
Thank you! Right now I'm working on deciding the wideband and I'm strongly considering the AEM 30-4900 to use as a one stop gauge for boost and AFR. My goal is to have the necessities such as boost and AFR readily available, but to have the rest such as oil-temp, coolant-temp, oil-pressure, and etc readily available via MSDroid/ShadowDash on my android head unit.
Once I have it all set up, I'll add the FF960s, then clutch, then start my way down the turbo kit route
Last edited by s0n1cm0nk3y; 01-25-2019 at 05:41 PM.
Started working on my harness to install my MS3. I really enjoy building stuff like this and even component level work. For those who are looking for wire to build their own harness, check out 25 pair 22 AWG phone wire. It's single stranded, but it works great for a cheap and easy source for wiring up a DB37.
Building the harness for my ECU has been a good bit of fun. Nothing like getting back to the basics of my work in the AF.
Ouch. Yeah, you need Kirkeys. I rode in a stock seat recently and felt like I was sitting on the car instead of in it.
Amen to that. I had a Kirkey before, but I was after the make it comfortable and low goal. I kick myself for trading it, but at least I got a spare engine out of the ordeal.
So I finished up the harness, and this is the pretty heat shrinking before I threw on the split loom. All wires are checked and it looks good, but I'm starting to wonder if I bit the bullet on my single strand wire I had available. No worries, I'll hunt for a 90 degree adapter or something of the sorts to aid in the fitment, and as always this isn't a deal breaker. I have the AEM 30-4900 in the car, wired to a tempory fuse-in to make sure everything lights up right. After install, I'll wire it directly to the available ports on the DB37. As the 30-4900 is only wideband, I'll wait till the holiday for when I actually install the ECU. So far its just testing fitting the wires as this car runs secondary daily duty to the Suburban.
Finally got to enjoy the Miata at an Auto-x event again. Possibly the last run on this brake setup, but a good bit of fun. Oddly enough I seem lower in these photos than my last one.
I'm waiting to see how things go once I install my ECU. I was watching the competition in my next class and I'm thinking I might need to look at some stickier tires.
Last edited by s0n1cm0nk3y; 02-18-2019 at 02:04 PM.
Decided to build a second harness with stranded cable to make sure I don't have issues in the tough bends. Turns out my AEM Wideband (30-4900) had a damaged heater circuit, so I should be able to pick up the repaired gauge today. It is also time for a new set of brakes, so I picked up a set of HPS pads to get my toes wet with more performance oriented pads, and a set of fresh rotors. Shooting to get the brakes and differential in before the next autox event.
25 on the offset and 205/50/15. I've contemplated wider and closer but I think I'll try a better tire first. I'll wear these out this season and get some more seat time, then move to something like RE71's to be a bit more competitive in Autox.
Frame damage.
Sadly right after getting a pretty comfortable base tune, this happened. Looks like I'm back to square one on the next car, but luckily I was able to get my parts off it.
01-24-2019, 08:26 AM
My Angry Tic-Tac
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