Awesome, that is exactly what I thought. Thanks for the info!

I'm also an industrial designer! PM'd you

OK surfed through your student portfolio...wow. Very impressive work man. Thank you for the good work on the Aircast Boot too...I've worn those too many times in my life.

Man that fuel rail setup is clean...I need to look at mine again, it is a jumble of hoses and T-connections.

If I were to do it again (which I might) I would probably use PTFE hose for the feed instead of the hardline ... vibrations+aluminum makes me a bit nervous. I'll run it on the street like this, however, if I ever get serious about track time I'll change it for ease of mind.

-Zach

You could have run stainless hardline. Stainless AN line is nice that a single flare is strong enough in most cases where aluminum probably always needs a double flare.

Because I'd rather slit my wrists then try to repeat those bends with stainless ... though I might end up trying this if I'm feeling ambitious.

Double flare? Seems like a lot of the small aircraft builds are running single flare aluminum lines, though, maybe those suggesting it online are the ones whom end up scattered about a field on the evening news.

-Zach

Single flare is probably fine for normal fuel pressures maybe.

Did you make your bends with a bender? When I made my oil line with stainless and the harbor freight bender I didnt find it to be all that hateful, I just made sure to use a ton of oil on the die.

Yessir, my bender is even a bit more up scale then the HF tool. Perhaps what I'm imagining is far worse than reality. While I love SS, I generally avoid working with it.

-Zach

Back in 2011 VW did a recall on TDI's due to vibration cracking the aluminum high pressure fuel pump injector lines. The solution for them was rubber blocks that go between each hardline and valve cover. No one has had any issues since they "fixed" the issue.

Could be cheap insurance for a lot less work and time spent bending S.S. lines.

Just a thought for yah.

Wow. I assumed those hardlines were SS. I would NOT run aluminum hard lines directly on an engine. Especially on the street where you make get lots of cycles. Fatigue.

Sigh ... I'll swing by the brake warehouse and see if they have some 3/8" SS ;)

In other news, my 949 shipment came. When the box says 'racing' you know it's good. Items purchased: RB .188" bar, 949 endlinks (which are nice BTW), and a Wilwood bias adjuster.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393598983

Just in case, I installed grease fittings on the the sway bar mounting brackets (yes, I drilled a through hole in the poly bushing).

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393598983

And I finished up my part on the breather tank and will be taking it over to my beloved welder, John, today (who does all of Killer-B's oil pans - great guy).

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393598983
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393598983
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393598983

Lightened and painted the mounting bracket.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393598983

...and, since designers don't to CAD drawings, the welder gets a pretty colored picture instead.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1393598983

Now I'm just waiting for it to NOT be 9 degrees outside.

-Zach

Thats a cool 21st century napkin drawing.

The RB bushings, dont forget to sand those fuckers so they're even with the brackets.

Thanks for the reminder ... sure enough, there's about 3mm more bushing then required.

-Zach

The HF belt sander took em down in mere moments. Way better than using washers like I did with the previous bar.

??

Learn me please. What's this about?

Jesus christ that work is perfection. Mad props.

If you look at the picture of his bushings you'll see that the white metal brackets arent touching the table. If you bolted them to the car like this, they would squeeze the swaybar and cause it to bind when you tightened the bolts. So you can either run a washer ground into the shape of a D on each bolt to space the brackets away from the chassis or you can sand the bushing down to be the correct height. With the thousands of these bars that RB has sold like this you'd think they've have figured out the correct bushing.

Oh, gotcha'. Knew about that one.

As I near first start-up, I'm beginning to start the check list. A couple questions:

A) Is there a calculator for setting the base pressure of a 1:1 regulator for non-OEM injectors? I'm running 650cc EV-14's with a 190 pump and an Aeromotive 1:1 adjustable FPR. I know the OEM FPR is roughly 43-45 @ atmosphere but that's with 19Xcc (?) injectors. I know this involves some simple math but I doez not compute and cannot find the equation.

B) Is the non-AFM base map for the MSPNP-1 safe to run with an OPEN wastegate? DIY states the map is scaled for boost so I suspect I will be safe. I should note that I would simply be peg legging to car to my personal garage on the base map.

C) Is there an MT approved install for the LC-1 on a 1.6 miata? I've searched the shit out of this subject and I've read mixed suggestions. My current working assumption is to ground at the OEM point under the brake booster, es bueno?

D) Poly bushings - worth it? I'm a week away from painting and installing all my front end suspension bits and now would be the perfect time to install poly bushings. This said, my OEM bushings still look good and I'd rather put the money towards a Kirkey seat or door bars or beer :burncash:. So, for a street/non-competitive track car -is it worth it?

Thanks in advance for any feedback. Love you guys :love:

-Zach

For A, the stock regulator will give you the rated output of your injectors since most injectors are rated at ~44psi base pressure. And as long as it isnt broken it will always give that pressure differential unless your fuel pump doesnt flow enough.

As to the bushings, I didn't think my Miata rode roughly at all and it has every single bushing replaced with poly. As long as you do Zerk fittings when you do them it takes the maintenance pain/anguish issue out of the equation.

Then again I may be slightly spoiled with the "Mythical unicorn tear SD Bilsteins". The car rode better than my Jetta in some cases.

I've got 10-12kg monoflex (depending on which springs I end up running) ... NHV is not a concern.

I'm more concerned about missing out on significant handling improvements.

-Zach

Should be, just take it easy. It's where a lot of us started.

I'd ground to where the OEM ECU grounds. That would be on a bolt near the back, passenger side of the engine. Should be a 10mm bolt there with a bunch of grounds going to it.

Watch out for Error 8. Current LC-1 software will kick this error even if nothing is wrong. Read this: https://www.miataturbo.net/megasquir...-lc-1-a-58873/

It will give you that last ounce of performance at the expense of added maintenance.

On my rides, Silver has rubber, Red is getting poly. Different missions (Silver has a radio too).

The LC-1, based on everything which I've read including your own posts, is a huge concern of mine. The good news is I had Abe weld two bungs onto my DP, which allows me to input the LC-1 to the MSPNP and run an AEM sensor/gauge (which should be very accurate). If they don't jive, then I at least know something is 'off'.

I'm also generally paranoid about reassembly now that my father has sold his '90 1.6 (which sat conveniently next to my project) ... it was my assembly reference. Having it there also caused me to get a bit lazy about documentation since he quote, "would never sell the '90". Well, he sold it.

-Zach

Well, just give a shout-out when you need reference pictures.

A minor, and rather uninteresting, update.

Finished assembling the breather tank/BOV lines. I ended up using Summit fittings for non-critical lines since their cheap and I has Summit bucks to burn. I'll use Goodridge PTFE for fuel/oil. Assembly was simple enough (far easier than older Earl's lines).

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1395942813

In other news, it occurred to me that I tossed my OEM washer tank (along with the pump) years ago. Being older, lazier and burdened by additional bureaucracy, I wished to have a car which can easily acquire an inspection sticker ... this meant I needed a washer tank (which I'll likely never use).

So, after realizing I mounted my coolant tank to the OEM washer tank mounting point, I began seeking a plan B. Cappucino and BEGI tanks were too $$$ and held far more fluid then I'd ever need or want on a weekend toy.

I ended up finding some small tanks which worked @ U.S. Plastic Corp (The McMaster of plastic containers, with a shittier interface and a heaping of Jesus). Bought an OEM pump through RockAuto which came with a new rubber seal. 5 minutes with a dremel and boom ... leak-free vented washer tank with a new pump for <$25.

Bottle link, if interested: .50 Quart 3.8H X 5.5313W X 3D | U.S. Plastic Corp.

I plan on mounting it to the back side off the firewall behind the booster. I didn't want to add additional holes to my already holey firewall so I picked up some SS elevator bolts off McMaster-Carr which I'll epoxy to the wall with some 3m dp-420 epoxy (metal epoxy with super high shear strength). I'll post picks once completed.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1395942813

...and the local welder said the tank is ready to go, so I'll be picking that up today and slapping it on. Pics to come.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1395942813

Audi5k - Zach

OMG I rub ru wong time for that plastics place. I needed a new coolant reservoir and a catch tank for my new air oil seperator, I just found the place, no more crystal geezer water bottles.

Now to find a tank with a top entry that goes to the bottom for proper use as a coolant overflow.

Be prepared to receive a prayer pamphlet with your order :blah:

How a huge company catering to lab sciences remains overtly anti-secular in 2014 is beyond me.

-Zach

I blame the south.

Alright, here's some low-light, high noise, poorly composed pictures of the breather tank.

I need to tweak the lines some and fixture the BOV line; however, I'll worry about that once it's running. I'm thinking about powder coating the breather tank wrinkle black to match the cam cover, but again, I'll worry about that later.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396010862
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396010862

-Zach

Maybe I missed it but how the hell did you hide your wiring so well?

Looks good! I'd leave the catch can raw like that. Really pops as is.

Holy Cow!! Are you planning to run without piston rings? LOL.

Looks great though.

I didn't :giggle: ... the harness resides in the oversprayed grocery bags currently draped over the firewall.

Once I add the remaining fuel/oil lines and wiring harness, the car will no longer be CR friendly (gotta tuck it, bro). I thought about doing a 'tuck' but then I reminded myself that function>form on this project.

-Zach

Wire tucks are stupid/impossible on miata's anyways, at least traditional ones that put the wire in the fenderwell are.

I know ... it looks huge in the pics. It's not that big in reality, at least volumetrically, due to the internal baffles/filter. Perhaps I should powdercoat it with slimming vertical stripes.

-Zach

Agreed. I'm just going to mount the bulk of the harness under the chassis fender mounting flange and call it "done".

-Zach

The worse part is the cluster fuck behind the intake manifold. Its not noticeable from the front of the car, but when you're working on the car its just terrible.

Everytime I consider pulling apart the electrical tape and redoing it I pull a Homer. There is just no easy way of making it look like someone didn't vomit wires into that spot.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396020777

There is, but it requires re-doing the entire engine bay harness, and If I'm going to do that I'm switching the car to having a seperate engine harness with 3-4 points of disconnection (one for low power, one for high power, two grounds. Using Milspec/motosports connectors. To do it right (my way) is like a $500 project.

I'd also add the cluster**** behind the IM is where all the reliability problems are with our harnesses. I've seen rub-throughs there on almost every older harness I've seen.

Yeah hell no. At least for now, besides painting the hardtop I'm done spending money. Knowing Thasac he'll come up with a crafty method to hide it well

I had a break in the temp gauge wire, where it was inside the big piece of loom int a huge bundle of wires, no idea how just that one broke.

I'm patiently waiting until someone makes an aftermarket harness ... I'm confident it will happen, just not sure when.

My harness has been hacked into in various spots by a younger & dumber self ... I am ... a bit ... nervous.

-Zach

Honestly it isn't that bad. Especially when you have the ability to do as nice of work as you did on your COP harness.

Once you realize it mainly looks intimidating and just jump in it's not that bad. Just take your time, lay it all out, label everything, and be patient.

This build is almost TOO nice for a Greddy/1.6 :P

LOL. I inspired him.

TRUTH! :party:

-Zach

Cmon Zach. Step up to my engine/turbo level, we have better cookies!

TRUTH! :party:

Truth is, had I known I would take it this far, I would have gone with a 1.8.

This has been a true exercise in shipwright's disease. The car had sat for 8 years and to sell it, I had to get it running. So I started fixing a few sins I had committed as a misguided youth and began to love the car all over again. The more things I fixed, the more a sought perfection, and so now I find myself here ... an unfinished 1.6 miata and lot's of wasted time/money.

It's also an '89 date coded car, which I have wrongly placed value on.

:dealwithit:

-Zach

Dumb question I couldn't google-solve or sort out with my DMM (since I mistakenly let a friend borrow it).

Are the wire colors on a '90-'94 Protege TPS the same as the 1.6 Auto TB TPS? I couldn't find an auto tps connector so I had to buy a protege connector+harness pigtail ... and while it fits, I'm not sure the wiring diagram is still relevant.

-Zach

I would find pleasure in seeing my car burn to the ground.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396890520

That is all.

-Zach

Trouble in paradise?

Petty stuff - like paint that isn't perfect in a spot no one will see. That, and having to buy MORE AN fittings because my reroute caused an interference. It is ... trying ...at times.

-Zach

I'll just say get over the paint issue now.

I've had so many unintentional chips from stupid stupid shit that I'm passive about it now. It helps that I have a shit load of touch up paint and clear coat though!

Not much to update. I bought all the line/fittings to plumb the car ($$ouch$$$). Finished installing the new windshield washer tank setup and project-g cowl cover. Will post pics soon.

In other news, I finally took the advice of many (Curly, Hornetball, Sav, etc.) and redid my fuel rail set up with SS hardline and pitched the annealed aluminum in the trash (where it belongs!). I also used it as an opportunity to clean up the fittings. Now there is a simple NPT to AN tee and two Earl's swivel fittings. Buttoned everything up with Loctite 592 and SECO crushable AN seals from Pegasus Racing (since I was concerned about the SS to aluminum flare).

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1398257684

-Zach

Oooohhhhh!! Nice.

Looks very clean, love it.

God you do such clean work Thasac. Envy I have.