Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

I put the bumper back on today. Here is what it looks like all together.

palmtree

iTrader: (4)

Looks great bro! Super stealthy. Makes me want to paint my intercooler black.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Looks great.
My only worry about a painted intercooler is: chipping/flaking, and inferior heat exchanging capability vs an un-painted one.

Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

The stock one was also black and to be honest after 90k miles the chipping was not too bad. You barely noticed unless you were down and looking right at it. The paint does hinder cooling but I remember reading a thread that IIRC was on this site that found that the difference is negligent especially if you are not making mad power. This is not a track beast, atleast not right now, so I am doing my best to keep it clean and somewhat stealthy as I build it.

I need to start working on getting the wideband, boost solenoid, gauges, and everything else wired up or in place so that I can start using the eMS2 that is sitting in my apartment.

Then I can move on to adding a rollbar, adressing the suspension and wheels/tires.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Cool beans. I'm sure its not a big deal like you say I'm just OCD like that lol.

Nice setup though. I love that you're doing it right with an MS instead of band aids. I keep telling my friend who just bought an MSM and throwing bolt ons and the FM o2 clamp to go MS.

good luck

Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

Thanks,

I think that anything worth doing is worth doing right. I have always subscribed to the philosophy of buying high quality products once instead of getting cheap stuff many times and taking my time setting something up to look the way it should. I even clean up all the cords in my apartment and semi "tuck" them so that they are barely visible if at all. I think I have slight OCD with clutter.

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

That misumoto might have a thermal dispersive coating on it rather than paint. Which theoretically increases its heat transfer capability. But I have no idea if misumoto uses that or not.

Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

This weekend I did all the preliminary stuff to install my MS2. I routed the vacuum tube into the cabin and ziptied it in place in the engine bay without actually taping into the line off the intake manifold. I put my LC-1 on the car with with the actual sensor ziptied up out of the way and wrapped to shield it from the elements. I also soldered extension wires to the pigtails from my IAT sensor and routed them up and into the engine bay where they will need to be, also tied out of the way.

I realized I am terrible at soldering and that wiring really intimidates me. I did not do the whole install because I know I will probably F something up and want a whole weekend to troubleshoot any problems. I did not take any pictures because there really is not anything interesting to see.

Going on a cruise next week so I probably will not get around to installing it until the weekend after. Hopefully I can con sixshooter into helping me once again as his knowledge always makes my life so much easier.

palmtree

iTrader: (4)

Sounds like you have set everything up really well. Installation is pretty straightforward and you should have it up and running in no time. It looks like you are very thorough but if you haven't read through this thread about the LC-1 and where to ground it, I would definitely do that. Have you decided where you're going to install the MS2?

Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

I am gonna try to bracket it into about where the stock ECU sits like I have seen a few others do.

slmhofy

iTrader: (5)

Hey Donald,

Our setups are going to be very close once you've got your MS installed. Let me know if there's anything I can do for your in the way of comparing tunes and what not. And I'd also be interested in looking at yours in a few months when you've got things ironed out.

Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

I will definitely let you know. Thanks for the offer.

wowmiata

iTrader: (1)

how noticeable was the lighter flywheel? ive read that having a lighter flywheel on a DD is kind of a pita. what where the differences you felt? when i upgrade my clutch, im thinking about getting a lighter flywheel but i can't decide as of now.

Lee04vr

iTrader: (1)

I have the 10.3 pound flywheel from FM even with the level 2 pressure plate it's very easy to drive on the street.

Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

Sorry for not responding right away I did not get the notification. I like the lighter flywheel in my DD. It is definitely noticeable and takes about a week to fully adjust to in order to keep smooth shifts and moving from a complete stop without lurching. Once you are used to the feel of it you just notice the benefits.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I drove a friends MSM the other day with bolt ons + FM o2 clamp. WOWWWWWWW I have no idea how you guys put up with the stock MSM ecu. I would rip it out on my 1st day of ownership and replace with MS. I was seriously stunned. I have yet to drive a car with a worse ecu. Below 5k when it finally "kicks in" the car feels almost as slow as my 01

Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

Yeah, I agree. I have been dieing to get my ms2 hooked up but life and my ignorance with wiring has made it a slow process. I am gonna take another crack at finishing it this weekend. The stock ecu drives like ****. It noticeably holds back the car until like 5k rpms. Mazda really did a terrible job with the tune. I expect to pick up a lot of area under the curve from the switch as well as some top end due to increased fuel capability from the new injectors.

FrankB

iTrader: (4)

Nice job on the intercooler, car is looking clean.

Ryan_G

iTrader: (8)

So, after Sixshooter showed me how to get a good solder with my crappy HF soldering gun, I grew a pair of ***** and finished wiring up and installing my MS2 this weekend.

I started on Saturday around 11 A.M. and got everything wired up including my gauge. I started to disassemble the top half of the intake manifold to get to my fuel rail so I could install the new injectors and it was too dark by the time I had it apart to continue so I waited until Sunday morning to finish.

I got up early on Sunday and started on the car around 9 in the morning. I had the injectors in and everything reassembled by like 11 a.m. I had a little trouble with contorting the fuel rail so I could reach the injectors easily. At this point I set up tunerstudio on my laptop and followed Reverant's instructions for first startup. When I finally got to the point of starting the car it was really struggling to start and I had to give it some gas. It was idling really really lean and at first I thought my wideband was broken because it was at like 19:1. I hopped out and looked at the engine and I saw a mist of fuel coming from injector #1. I quickly shut the engine off and then let out a few expletives because I now had to uninstall all that **** again.

It went much faster the second time and I quickly noticed that the O-ring on injector 1 had torn when I put it on the rail. I removed the O-ring from one of my stock injectors to replace it and reassembled everything.

I turned the key again and everything started-up just right and the car idled at 12.3-12.5:1 at around 1k rpms! perfect. I checked for any visual signs of a leak so I was confident I was good to go and I drove around for about 20 minutes autotuning.

The base map Reverant provided was so good right out of the box that very little corrections were even needed. I am currently running wastegate pressure to fine tune it before I turn up the boost. It is already leaps and bounds smoother than the **** tastic stock MSM tune. The only thing I don't like about the upgrade so far is how loud the 650cc injectors are even at idle.

I will post more updates as I progress with tuning. i have a lot to learn and am confident I will have a lot of fun with it.

miata2fast

iTrader: (2)

I had no idea you had a build thread until today. I guess I need to pay attention more.

Can't wait to see the tranformation. We have to get the cars together soon.