Not sure how to embed video in here, but maybe this link will work?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOquyxeA...Rl10WY0/?hl=en

Dann that engine moves. Can't remember if that is a normal amount of movement with stock style mounts or not since I have moved to AWR mounts. Mine barely torques at all. When my timing was off I usually got the occasional backfire when trying to start. Are you sure you're getting spark?

The gasket advice on the last page made me cringe a little bit.

If the part is embossed RCM (rubber coated metal) you should not add any type of RTV or coating. Inspect the castings for defects large enough to snag your fingernail that the emboss will run across. If there are none, install the gasket as is.

RTV/coatings (like copper coat) make the joint less rigid and "crush out"... which reduces clamp load and make the joint fail quicker. They also spread the clamp load out across the gasket surface instead of concentrating it on the emboss which make the gasket less effective.

On paper parts RTV is probably unnecessary but okay as long as you apply it uniformly. Non-uniform application can concentrate stress, causing the paper to split.

Assuming they're designed/manufactured properly, metal gaskets > paper. If you need proof go look at any OEM gasket that has been designed in the last 10-15 years.

RTV on paper will spread like jelly on bread when fresh out of the tube. It will self level when clamping force is applied and is why OEMs use it. It fills minor irregularities in surfaces.

Rubber coated gaskets can seal those irregularities as well. But bare stamped steel gaskets do not do that at all.

Couple problems with that theory:
1. The gasket is conformable and you need pressure to force the RTV to spread.
2. The only place OEMs use RTV with a gasket are in t joints and sharp radii. There is a reason for that.
3. Joints are not static. Temperature/pressure cause changes in pressure distribution across the joint.

As I said previously, if you're only using a light smear across an entire gasket in a low torque joint you're probably not going to have issues. The failures I typically saw when doing gasket failure analysis were related to people putting a bead around a port and it splitting the paper.
The only place I have ever seen bare metal used is on exhaust. The theory there is that carbon in the exhaust stream will pack any surface irregularities fairly quickly and self seal leaks.

I would be very surprised to see a bare metal gasket used in a coolant application.

I always spread the rtv.

I wouldn't use a metal gasket for water without rubber and advised accordingly.

OEM oil pans are often sealed with RTV and no gasket.

The weird looking gasket for the water pump was metal in my car.

I beaded some RTV on both sides of the gasket and installed it. It held the gasket in place while it went on. Then we tightened all the bolts and made sure RTV came out around the gasket. We went to go eat and poured in the coolant after that. No leaks. Hoping it stays that way.

So from the video we're thinking timing issue right? Not a cam/cas issue? I guess I can double check those just in case.

Yeah...

I think we're going to take the engine and trans out when doing the turbo install so we can do the coolant reroute, tap the pan, and swap out the clutch. I think it'll save time since we'll be able to do those three jobs much faster with the engine out.

I think I'm going to swap to mazdacomp motor mounts as well.

So since I'm going to be taking the motor out, anything I should add to the list of things to do? Motor mounts? Mazda speed ones? I want to keep noise reasonable so the race oriented ones are out. It would be nice not to miss shifts though. Thinking of getting a shifter rebuild kit too.

Recs appreciated!

Going to tackle the TB job again tomorrow. Anyone have any tips for resetting timing given that it's probably fubared now?

SUCCESSSSSSS!!!

Going to put a few miles on the car and make sure things are running well, then it's going to be time to do megasquirt things!

Any guesses as to why it didn't work last time?

Haha, slow day on MT today.

Turns out the timing trigger wheel was backwards.

Fucking rookie mistake. Car runs like a top now though!

Koyo radiator is pretty ridiculous. With highway driving last night (air temps in 40's) I was barely above the 'C' on the coolant temp gauge. I turned the AC on a few times to see if it would do anything and the needle barely budged. This is with no undertray.

Gonna be pretty awesome for when things are all bewsty like.

Radiator sounds aweseome. I have just an oem one but no boost currently, temps sit between 200F and 210F with a single fan. Sounds like the koyo is pretty darn good.

I think you'll be fine with the stock unit till you build the engine and turn up boost. If things start overheating, you can always do the radiator then. No use spending money you don't have to yet. There was another thread recently where the OP posted the koyorad for 230 or so. I paid 280. 230 is a pretty solid price for something that will likely live the life of the car.

I'm looking forward to monitoring coolant temp when I get the MS3X installed soon (hopefully this weekend!). I want to spend atleast 2-3 months with the car on MS3X while in NA trim so I can learn to tune a bit and get the injectors and fuel pump installed. I think there are a few dyno's nearby too. I might take the car to them as it currently sits to get a baseline for how the car was running NA and then take it back again before the turbo install to see what I managed to get out of it with the MS3X. Unfortunately the cost isn't insignificant for what was supposed to be a budget build, but I think there's utility in having actual data. My goal was to reach 2x-ish stock power and if nothing else, having data will help me rationalize dialing back the boost till I build the engine up with atleast rods. Given how insane school is going to be for the next year and a half (or 2), I doubt this is going to happen for a good long while, unless my big winter project this winter is to just learn how to put rods in. Then I can buy a 6-speed and live happily ever after*.


*If only things played out like they do in daydreams...

And lulz, I got a neg-cat for my newby comment on your thread. Womp.

Do you not have a thermostat? Or better question- do you not have the proper rated thermo?

Put the stock thermostat back in. I have the stant thermostat from bandit's reroute kit waiting to go in when I do the reroute with the turbo install.

Temp climbs up normally if it's driven at county road speed. When I got off the exit, it climbed about a quarter of the way up. It's working. It's just running pretty damn cool.

That's not right. I should be in the middle, no matter what radiator.

That's so bizarre. It usually gets close to the middle if I'm driving slowly.

If it was stuck, I'd expect it to not move at all, no? I guess I'll find out exactly what's going on when I get the megasquirt in since I'll be able to pull the coolant temp. Don't have the obd reader yet and don't see the point of ordering one for a week's use!

I've never seen the needle climb to exactly half since the new radiator install. If the needle is moving, it's not a clogged/bum thermometer, right?

:dunno:

Running a rich mixture for longer periods of time is bad for your engine. Find someone with a 2$ obd reader and diagnose the problem.
Problem solving is much easier with a stock ecu. Standalones have so many variables in the tune it is especially hard to diagnose in the first steps of a new project.

Did you install a re route with an aluminum spacer in the back, with a gasket on each side? Did you add a ground strap to the spacer? The sensor will gI've a crummy signal if you dont.

Would the ground wire be as simple as cutting the ground wire to the sensor, crimping a ring terminal on it, and bolting it up?

maybe, but that sounds more difficult than just tapping a small hole and making a small jumper to the head.

I'll order an OBD reader on amazon.
Not sure what Yossi is talking about. There are no codes. The only issue is the coolant temp gauge reading low with highway driving. It was about normal in the city when it was warm out from what my friend and I saw.

No reroute yet, was thinking of doing that with the turbo install.

Not for the codes, but for a digital reading of the temperature.
You know what to expect from a stock ecu every time.
MS can have all sorts of weird untuned warmup and idle variables.
In my case with the reroute, it will read for a minute or two, then shutdown and drop to nil. My lazy ass wouldn't care.

Thermos can stick open or closed depending on type and failure mode. Driving slowly the water pump doesn't circulate water as fast as hwy driving, if you get what im sayin'.

Isn't the water pump circulation a function of RPM? Air flow on the highway can make up for lower revs, no?

The needle moves. It goes up to about halfway when I'm driving around town in a high-ish gear.

I'll order the obd reader on prime today and drive with it in before swapping over. Might just use torque or whatnot. I can use the obd reader in my other car in the future so it's money well spent.

Wouldn't the needle just stay put and not move if the thermos was stuck closed or open?

No. NB has 3 pins on the sensor.

Signal and ground drive a signal to the ECU. This will read correctly either way.

Third pin drives the temp gauge and relies on the engine ground for proper operation. This is separate from the ECU signal ground. That is the one that might need fixing.

Okay so I need to check the ground to the engine? I don't think we took one off, but it's not hard to double check.

It got to about midway in town but this is on the highway.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...080b66e6e6.jpg

Me thinks your thermostat is stuck open. Highway air flow reduces temperatures.

Ahh bollocks, I don't want to drain the coolant a third time haha.

Worth trying to do the coolant reroute with the engine in? I might as well just do it if I'm replacing the thermostat...

Yes pump flow is rpm dependent, but average rpm over a given time span is dependent on vehicle speed assuming you are using the right gears in a manual car(especially in a Miata that likes ~4krpm on the hwy almost all the time).

As mentioned, make sure this isn't an electrical issue first, but I agree it sounds like thermo is stuck open.

I did mine with the engine still in. I didn't think it was too bad, just annoying.
It helps when you have hands like Trump. :bigtu:

Cleaning off the old gasket was the most difficult part of putting in re-route for me.

Got the shit today. I'll just do it and stop being a bitch.

Leaving the reroute for when the engine's pulled because that makes sense.

Stupid thing was stuck on itself. I was able to push it back on itself and get it to the point where it would probably be functional, but I bought another one and gasket for 10 bucks so whatever. The one I have is the autozone one with dual domes. Should be fine for the next few months.

I have a stant superstat I got with my reroute kit. I saw something that joe perez did ages ago comparing the size of the opening. Was this an issue at all? Do people prefer just using a regular stant or napa one with the larger opening for the reroute?

Alright, few updates in the last couple of weeks!
I'm really new to wiring and stuff, so I wanted to take my time and make sure that I didn't screw anything up with the megasquirt. Took the opportunity to wire in the boost gauge too and have it running off the back of the manifold. I put the vacuum line for the megasquirt where braineack's instructions told me to, teed off the FPR and in through the passenger side firewall. Good god it was annoying as heck to find the line in the passenger footwell. Routing it through to the drivers side was pretty ridiculous too. With @bytevenom's help, I ended up pushing through a coat hanger from the driver to passenger's side, zip tying it to the vac line, and then pulling it through.

A few random pictures...



https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a16dc22090.jpg
Started getting the wiring for the boost and AFR gauge in. I also have an oil temp/pressure sensor that needs to go in, but I'll do that when the turbo goes in.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b19abf66d3.jpg
So close to having the wiring doneeee... I may have burned the butt connectors a little bit. Should have heat shrunk them too. I might splice that in later, but it seems superfluous.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7884c38235.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d31e252b85.jpg
The two pictures above are the rats nest I found behind the radio. It looks like the splices were made and electrical tape was used to seal the deal. I'm on the fence about whether I want to take everything apart to try to fix it or just leave it be because it's clearly been this way for years without issue.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2b32da7923.jpg

As a side note... I bought NB2 seats. Except that when I say that I bought them, I mean I gave my cousin money to buy them for me. Said cousin lives in Virginia. I wonder when I'll actually get them lol.

why two widebands??

Isn't one of those a boost gauge?

It is. There's no boost in the car yet, but I just hooked it up for funzies. It'll still show vacc lol. I was doing tubing and wiring so figured I'd just do it all at once.

Oh, nvm. I missed the post right before yours. Yeah, one boost gauge and one wideband. I have an innovate oil pressure/temp sensor going in on the open slot. Getting a coolant temp instead of a boost gauge may have been smarter, but I'll just monitor that on my phone if things are getting wonky. I bought the EFI Bluetooth connector module. I was too scared to wire the Bluetooth thingy in :/

What's a good spot to get a tach signal in the NB1? I've looked things up and i can see that the diag box can work, but it's weird to hook up something that far away for a shift light. I know there's a tach signal going into the cluster too. Can I bum off the signal by attaching a ring connector or something or is the diag slot the best bet?

Was trying to follow this somewhat.

Thanks!

Use a megasquirt output to power it instead of taking the tach signal. Or use megasquirt tach out

Okay, explain it to me like I'm five...

I followed brain's instructions and added the wideband power to the ms3x. I can power other gauges off the MS3x as well? i'm guessing there are unused connectors in the harness or something? Brain's instructions didn't mention anything about that and while I'm down to read up on stuff, I'm not really sure where to start regarding this.

Appreciate the mini hand holding sesh.

Edit: Just pulled up the MS3x manual. Hoping this isn't something I need to mess with the board for!

You aren't powering the gauge. Just providing a signal. There are a bunch of different things you can do with the megasquirt. What shift light are you trying to install?

The innovate boost gauge I bought has a shift light around it so I figured I might as well install it (LINK). We're probably looking at 1.5-2 feet on the ground between this past Thursday through Monday, so the car isn't leaving the garage. Using a tach output from the MS3 would be preferable to doing it through the dash or diagnostic box. I'm also going to have to find the headlight cable to run the dimmer. I also don't want to have to tee/splice multiple wires off the same source because that doesn't sound like a good idea.

I'm probably just going to try to get the car/MS to interface tonight when I get home from school. I'd stick the ass end of the car out of the garage and start it but I'm nervous that it'll get stuck there if it doesn't work for whatever reason haha.

On the bright side, it's a great time of the year to own a Subaru. Did a few donuts in a parking lot the other day with my gf. I thought she was going to freak, but she was a good sport about it!

Thanks again Aidan!

Got the MS wired in today and wanted to make sure my computer recognized it and that everything was a go. Things were going find and I calibrated the TPS. I updated the firmware to 1.5.0 and got a host of error messages when I opened Tuner Studio again. It gave me the option of backing up the tune I had on TS onto the MS3X, which is what I did. Is this the correct way of updating firmware? Or should I reach out to braineack and see if I should get an updated tune for this new firmware. Not sure if that's required.

As a side note, is it normal for the MS3 to make clicking noises? Atleast, that's what I think was making the noise!

Once it stops snowing outside, I'll stick the ass end of the miata outside the garage door and run the car for a bit to see if I can tune idle. I still need to figure out how the hell I want to mount the MS3.


RTC's first foray into the world of MS3 and Tuner Studio!
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f3a99c5647.jpg

Quoting myself re relevant question.

Anyone know if there's a way I can find the features on the Brain MS3X? I think he just builds the DIY kit, so just the miata specific manual for it should suffice right?

Singular Motorsports Miata ECU Bracket for '99+ for Miata 1999-2005 this is how you want to mount the esc.

Bah. Really didn't want to have to buy something. Was hoping to ziptie it in place, but I guess it's nice when things like that are secure...

I guess I can't use the existing ECU bracket mounts unless I mess with the ECU. le sigh.

I couldn't make myself zip tie in a $1000 ecu. even though that was my first thought

The DIY instructions say to use the lower mount of the stock ecu and zip tie things on the top. That sounds pretty reasonable. It shouldn't be bouncing around like that.
That said, if I place an order for anything at GWR, I might just add it on for the same reason as you.

I just got a small piece of aluminum from lowes, screwed my MS to that, then screwed that whole thing behind the seat. I also put a piece of foam weather strip between the plate and the car, because buzzing noises.

Oh interesting.

I don't know if the cable that I got with the Brain unit is long enough to get it to go behind the seat. I'd be content mounting it in the stock ECU position. Might mount it with zip ties for now though.

What. i drilled holes and screwed it in good and tight, call me cheap but who needs a bracket that no one will see that costs 60 dollars holy crap.

Zip ties for the win. I had my shit zip tied for years, once you pull it tight that its secure, forget about it.
It's under your dash...out of sight, out of mind.

It's a plain-jane MS-3, it can do anything the firmware offers (so long as you have the correct circuity/wiring to support).

at a minimum, if you go to: https://trubokitty.com/#/ms3xassembly

click your model year, it's wired to support/control all that (minus knock -- unless you added the knock module).

im still working on docs to outline all the controls and how i setup the basemaps.

for example, i use the "fan control" feature to control the a/c fan when the a/c is activated, and use the simple on/off programmable outputs to control the main fain -- this allows for two-stage fan control since the main fan is told to turn on at 190° where the a/c fan activates at 200°. I wish they'd update the code to allow for two fans within the "fan control" parameters.

I thought he had an ms3x, seemed too fat to be an ms3 basic. Then again I only got one picture on FB

Haha, wait I thought you built folks the MS3X? And yeah, I had you add the knock module to it.
I'll check the trubokittehhh site out and read there. Some of this wiring is beyond me right now re: adding power/ground/tach. I'm not sure if I'm just supposed to strip the existing cables for ground/tach and splice in the wires for the gauges. That seemed sketch, but wtf do I know. Or if I'm supposed to solder the wires to the open spots on the open slots of the connector.