Beautifully clean work. In inspiration to me for sure. I will be following closely.

I made some good progress the past few days.

*Supermiata crossflow radiator is installed

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377IMG_5158.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377IMG_5154.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377IMG_5155.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

*Radiator upper hose made from 3 pieces of silicone from Pegasus Racing and a section from the Escalade OEM hose. 1 3/8 to 1 1/4 45 degree from the re-route Kia neck, followed by two 1 1/4 45 degrees down beneath the intake manifold and meeting up with the S section from the Escalade hose going to the radiator. Two 2" aluminum joiners and a 4" joiner needed. The entire hose length doesn't hit or rub anything, even accounting for engine movement and harmonic vibrations, something most aftermarket shops can't even understand. One of you tuning shops should be making this hose a 1 piece silicone product and sell the crap out of them, duh.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377RYE_9505.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

*Setrab 619 oil cooler mounted where A/C fan used to be. We'll see how the oil temps play out, but with Michigan's mild climate and my modest power goals it should be adequate.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377IMG_5150.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

*Oil cooler lines built from Aeroquip socketless fittings and matching -10 hose. Oetiker clamps used as redundant insurance. The hose assemblies are surprisingly light.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377IMG_5167.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

I used some sitting-around aluminum stock and leftover stock Miata hardware to make mounting brackets for the oil cooler.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377IMG_5176.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377IMG_5175.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

^^^Here you can see the shim I used to space the IM brace away from the block to account for the Hondata phenolic gasket. Everything just clears, you have to install the oil fittings before installing the brace. Below you can also see a portion of the upper radiator hose. It's about an inch above the oil lines at its closest point.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377IMG_5184.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

...and a forward looking engine bay shot, showing the radiator, fan, oil cooler, and shiny red RB sway bar.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1421514377RYE_9510.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr


I have to do a once over/double check to make sure all my lines and fittings are clearanced and snugged properly, and then I can add fluids to the car and begin the 1st start-up checklist. First crank is very close and I'm hoping Dimitris got more right with my base file than wrong.

Everything look clean and well done. But I have a question, wouldn't it be better to install the oil cooler rad in front of the water radiator to have it get colder air through it?

Go peek in Jeffbucc's build thread for an explanation as to why you're wrong. Just had this conversation within the last week or so.

I'll check it out thanks!

The Cliffs Notes is essentially, put the heat exchanger you want to be coldest up front, then warmer, then warmest.

Intercooler up front [closest to ambient]
then Radiator [180-200F]
finally oil cooler [230-ish F is fine]


I still have all my aero ducting to do. I'll be sure to post that when I finish it up. None of the theory matters if all your available airflow blows around the heat exchangers.

So, I'm getting real close to cranking it. The crappy old battery that's still in the car went flat so it's back on the battery tender.

*Brake fluid in via Motive pressure-bleeder with Castrol SRF
*clutch fluid in via Motive pressure-bleeder. BTW, the whole car only took about 3/4 liter, most of which is in the brake reservoir and my drain pan. Good old m.net/garage indicates 2 liters for the car, which is waaaay off.
*Coolant added via vaccum lift. About 1.3 gallons-ish, as I'm sure there was still some coolant in the block and heater core. 3 quarts distilled, 2 quarts HOAT, and half a bottle of AMSoil coolant boost. I don't quite need 50/50 for my climate, as record lows are about -15F and my garage is always warmer than that from ground warming.
*AMSoil 10w-30 Dominator oil added. 4 quarts for now. In theory I'll have to add about 0.1 quarts once it fills the oil cooler and lines and turbo feed.

So far no leaks. Filling the coolant with the vacuum lift allows you to hear for potential leaks, and I didn't hear any.



I compared my old MS1 cranking and warmup settings to the MS3-Basic, and wow they are totally different. Since I know the car starts and ASE on the MS1 tune, I changed those figures.

I was also able to test-fire my injectors individually, proving the sequential wiring is correct. When the battery is charged then I'll do the RPM sync test, then spark test, and finally try to start it.

I got the car started last night! :party:

I obviously have some cranking pulsewidth and ASE curve to tune, but otherwise it's in the realm of functional.

My HLA's are horrendously noisy after the engine's been sitting since late October. The couple minutes I had the engine running (only got the coolant to 122°F before calling it a night] they didn't shut up. They sound like direct injectors. I'm going to take the valve cover off and double check my timing belt and cam sprockets, and I'm considering taking the cams out and rebuilding the HLA's.

Thoughts on that?

Congrats on getting your car started (that's half the battle)!

No tips on rebuilding HLA's ('99 w/ solid lifters here).

Thank you very much!

I ran the car some more tonight. More cranking pulse width and ASE helped start it quicker and keep it running, but there's more start-up tuning to go for sure. I let auto-tune work on my warmup enrichment, and based on how much it wanted to push it upward even close to fully warm it seems that the VE numbers in the idle cells are too low. I'll start by fully warming the coolant, dialing in the VE in the idle cells, and then rescale my ASE and WUE and try it again so the WUE auto-tunes to end up wanting to be at 100% enrichment at fully warm.

I suppose there's a silver lining for doing this in winter. I get plenty of opportunity to nail down my winter cold starts and warm up enrichment.


Oh, and a big plus: the HLA's have massively quieted down. Hooray!

congrats man.

tuning cold start is very time consuming.
you only really get 1 try every morning or at least every dozen hours or so.

everything else isn't nearly as time consuming.

I got through my 2nd full heat cycle. Turns out I forgot to fully tighten the 1/8" NPT plug in the block where the OEM oil pressure sensor was, so it was just barely weeping. I had to pull the oil sandwich plate stackup to get access to it, but I found out that pulling them does not drain the oil cooler, which is nice. It's all sorted out now, better than ever.

VE cell at idle and neutral revving to 3k RPM are now about nailed. From there I reverse inferred the ASE and WUE by keeping the EGO correction off and just watching the gauge, and the car is starting quicker and better.

I also accidentally verified my rev limiter settings. I temporarily set it to 3k just to see how it behaved and check its hysteresis. I forgot I had the override TPS at 90%, so in an amusement to emulate anti-lag I ended up giving the engine a 6600 RPM WOT revving. it ended up making 8.9 PSIg just by revving, which I find very encouraging for low lag. It revved from 3700 to 6300 RPM in only 0.3 seconds before I realized what I did and lifted the throttle. I'm running totally untuned X-Tau AE right now and it's already a million times better than the MS1.

...then it died because I think my fuel-cut over-run and idle settings are wrong. More to tune obviously. Here's those few seconds on the MegaLog viewer:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422332091Screen Shot 2015-01-26 at 11.11.11 PM.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

...and my finished engine bay circa this morning with terrible lighting.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422332091IMG_5217.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

Stupid clean.

yep, love how pretty that engine bay looks. very nice

That's it. THAT'S IT! I'm getting rid of power steering and A/C. It's going bye bye.

Beautiful work.

Ok, seat and harness time!

*Driver side: Sparco Rev, modified Sparco steel mounts, modified AWR rail, Schroth Hybrid II HANS 6-point harness [wrap around for shoulders, eye-bolts for lap and sub belts]
*Passenger side: Sparco Sprint, modified Sparco steel mounts, AWR rail, Schroth Profi II HANS 6-point harness [same mounting methods]

The Rev and Hybrid II combo is fantastic for my 5'9" 135# build. The Profi sub belt t-bar digs into my inner thighs in longer duration seatings, which is not the most comfortable. The passenger side obviously gets the lower rent and/or more universal accommodations while still abiding to the stricter clubs' HPDE safety rules.

The biggest challenge was to get my seat to sit low enough for me to pass the broomstick test. This was a surprisingly big problem given my average height. I had initially bought Kazespec mounts and they placed my head higher than stock, which is obviously a problem. Doing further test sittings, I needed the seat to be at most 1/4" off the floorpan, if not on the floorpan itself. I took the AWR mounts and cut them apart to place the seat bottom literally on the carpet. I also fabbed 1/8" steel backing plates so the seat mount is sandwiched around the floorpan, creating a much stronger joint.

The sub-belt anchors are sharing hard points with the FM butterfly brace frame rails, using Schroth backing plates.
The lap belt anchors are the factory lap belt hard points with eye-hooks.

All this should be fairly legit in terms of strength and geometry. I strictly abided by Schroth's geometry recommendations for all belt angles and load vectors, as much as the seats would allow.

Bottom line: I pass the broomstick test, and the seat doesn't hit the door because it's perfectly centered in front of the steering wheel.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5237.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5238.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5253.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5255.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5256.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5262.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5245.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5242.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5268.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422849604IMG_5271.jpg by Ryephile, on Flickr

Cheers,
Ryan

The Sparco's are much more comfortable for ECU tuning than sitting on the floorpan. :bigtu: It's also worth mentioning the Schroth Hybrid belts are suuuper comfy, well worth the moolah over the Profi sub-belt T-bar.

I've spent some time tuning my cranking, ASE, and warmup. I also discovered the magic of batch-fire at cranking and idle advance. Take a look at my not-even-close tune. Only about 10 VE cells are tuned, my ignition map is inferred from my MS1 setup, and I haven't yet touched the AE. It starts pretty good at 10°F and starts solid above freezing. My main problem was idle @ operating temp was oscillating, but the idle advance, even roughed in, has dramatically stabilized idle.

Cheers,
Ryan

A few things got done:
*carbon-fiber spliced these small ABS NACA ducts to the GV lip apertures for the 2.5" brake cooler hose (sorry, no pictures yet, but it's functional, not gorgeous)
*carbon-fiber upper radiator panel made [see below picture] from 3 plies of 3k plain weave. 80 grams is 40 grams lighter than the ugly plastic one the previous owner made, and the new one seals the holes much better too.
*Put the fenders, bumper, and wheels back on.
*Took the car for its maiden drive! :bigtu:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1424817613Miata's first drive by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1424817613Miata's first drive by Ryephile, on Flickr

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1424817613Miata's first drive by Ryephile, on Flickr

Overall it was a big success, drove the car for about 20 miles total. I auto-tuned most of the <100KPa and <3.5k RPM VE cells. The coolant thermostat works great per my datalog, the coolant temp cycles around 180°. Rev's base map is heavily biased rich in the boosted cells, to the tune of 30% or so. Even so, the untuned X-Tau is a revelation for throttle response. It seems easy to get a few pounds of boost below 3k RPM, so it's looking good for a nice low RPM boost threshold. I spent very little time in boost on this first time out and my peak TPS was ~50%.

It appears I need to re-bleed the brakes as it feels like there's still some air in there, but the totally new pads and rotors certainly confuse that feel. Oh, and the cold snap we've been having resulted in the [presumably original and heavily clouded] plastic rear window to crack with a *BANG*. So, a new Robbins top is en route.

Tell me more about the Abarth.

:giggle:

Seriously clean work on the Miata sir. Looks fantastic.

Thank you very much.

As a plus, my Robbins top just arrived. Yay!

:hustler: I know you're just kidding, but the Abarth is actually really fun. It's definitely Italian in its quirkiness, but it's been totally reliable, sounds incredible, and is super fun as a DD. I keep test-driving other new cars (e.g. F56 MINI, 86 twins, Mk7 GTI, FoST, etc.) and can't find a satisfactory reason to replace it. For sure all those other cars have better interiors, and most actually handle better, but none of them are nearly as raw fun.