Superefficient cooling via geographic location
 

So I decided to make a build thread instead of just adding to my post in the noob section.

So the story of how I bought it and imported to Iceland is here in one page
Buying a miata - Album on Imgur

Right now I'm talking to Reverant about buying an enhanced pnpms2. I've already gotten the turbo which is a t25 disco potato from a sr20 buddy that wanted bigger. Just waiting on a rebuild kit.

I'm still in the process of making the car nice before boosting. But gradually collecting all the parts and using the time until boost to get used to the MS and upgrading one part at a time.

Until then this will be where I put in small updates and pics.

Last nightshift I got bored at the hangar. So I decided to use the facilities there to work on the car a little. The upper radiator mounts were ratty so they got tackled first.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1437346715

Sandblasted them
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1437346715

Primer and paint
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1437346715

Installed!
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1437346715

While I was doing that I remembered beatrush's radiator airflow plate. So I thought, Fuckit. How hard can it be?
Almost done here, Just need an hour more to finish and clean it up
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1437346641


As some pointed out during my introduction the headlights were hazed and ugly. Tackled that tonight.
Left after stage 1 polish, Right after stage 4 polish
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1437346641

How it looked during the surgery
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1437346641

What the finished product looks like
Attachment 233126

That's it for now. Bigger updates to come

little projects like this make wrenching on the car fun and rewarding.
little by little you'll work towards a fully sorted car in tip top shape

removes rusty brackets, spends time cleaning them, bolts them back down with rusty hardware.

hahah I know. Forgot about the bolts until my shift was over. Need to find a place where I can buy all those bolts, small stuff like this is surprisingly hard to find in Iceland.

And while I've got your attention.
https://www.flyinmiata.com/nb-diy-tu...-downpipe.html

I've always felt like the log manifold design just shouldn't flow properly. Would I be better off having something tubular made here?

What are your end goals with the car?

The log cast manifold should be pretty stout & reliable (no headaches, not going to crack)

My plan is to have a fun daily that I can occasionally hoon around in during the few track days we get each summer. 250 and upwards would make me happy.

The reason that logs aren't as bad as you're expecting on turbo engines is because the turbo itself is so restrictive. Here's some reading for you:

https://www.miataturbo.net/engine-pe...-theory-71503/

And documents it with absurdly large images ("4K"+ is noticeable over mobile).

yeah. that is overkill. I'll resize everything tonight

Are the stock miata engine mounts soft? like reeaaaally soft?
Mine felt like they were toast so I bought Gomiatas 40% stiffer mounts. And thse just feel exactly how I'd image that stock mounts should feel. And the old ones looked like there was nothing wrong with them.

I was going to change my timing belt, there was just no way I was getting the camshaft pulley off.

You need a bigger breaker bar then...

Stock mounts are really soft. I'm not sure what the go-miata mounts are, but I'm thinking they're Mazdaspeed mounts.

Mazdacomp mounts will be even stiffer, and they're the stiffest you can go before AWRs. Which are crazy stiff.

Yeah, they might very well be the mazdaspeed ones since they looked exactly like the ones I took out.

Not so happy news.
I was sitting in traffic yesterday and started to smell something foul. I pulled over and popped the hood. I saw a small whiff of smoke and turns out that the nut that holds the battery cable to the alternator had worked it's way off and had a reaaally small contact area, which meant that it was glowing from heat. and had managed to melt the insulation of the cable.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1440626868

What I'm wondering now is how I should go about fixing this.
As far as I can see the wire goes into the wiring loom and I simply don't trust the rest of the wire not to burn anything else later on. So should I replace the end or lay a new cable all the way back?

I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

(new cable, IMHO)

--Ian

so is there any chance of removing the original wire without a maaajor hassle or should I just leave it there and lay a new one alongside the wiring harness?

Is the conductor still useable? Just the insulator that toast? If so, maybe a couple layers of heat-shrink insulator over the conductor?

It's usable. I currently have it wrapped in electrical tape as a temp fix until I get to fixing it on monday(12 hour nightshifts yay).

I'd replace at least 6 inches of that cable. When you cut it, look at the cut end to assess condition and see if you need to go further. Also look for corrosion as that can really increase resistance (and heat).

Mine did the same, except in my case the nut broke loose, unthreaded partway and the eyelet was arcing to the stud slowly melting through it. I cought it about 1/2way through the stud and put a new locknut on; luckily the worn through area is above the nut and not a risk of failure but wow.

frábær!

I don't remember ever seeing a Miata in Iceland. Lived in Sangerði for almost 9 years.

Great imgur album. It's so crazy to think of the trouble you had to go through to get one, when they're all over the place in the US.

Good work so far! Can't wait for updates.

sounds like you got lucky!

haha I live in Keflavik, So I'm 5 minutes from where you lived.

there are a few, I think there are ~6-7 on the streets that I know of

Got a small package today.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1442940549

And I'll most likely be going to Florida 2-17. nov. So in case anyone knows of a hardtop for sale or wants to meet up then I'm all ears. Would be fun to meet some members on here and see what they've done to their cars.

stuff is happening.

I changed the timing belt along with all fluids, deleted the evap canister and started some engine bay cleaning. While I was doing that a friend of mine was working on the rust.

The rust problem starts at that seam about half way up the wheel arch. A drop of sealant in production would've saved us a lot of trouble.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1451567816

But boy was I happy that the problem hadn't dug any deeper.The insides are CLEAN!
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1451567816

Here we've gotten above the problem and now we'll bring the car to a guy that'll blast it with soda and get rid of all the rust.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1451567816

Once we're done with this I'll be happy with my car appearance wise and can dive headfirst into the turbo part. I just wanted to stop the rust before it became a bigger problem

Found a couple of guys with a mobile sandblaster. We just showed up where they were working, paid them 70bucks and the took care of both sides.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452372062



Success!!

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1452372062

Updates!

Got the cappuccino washer bottle from japan
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453422007

Got my wideband yesterday and test fitted it in the middle dash vent since I never use those.
The vent cup fit well around the gauge but the trim ring didn't fit around the gauge. So I brought it all to work and used my lunch break to fiddle with it.

Test fit, unsightly gap around the gauge
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453422007

I cut the back off the cup so the studs of the gauge could protrude from the back of the cup.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453422007

Cut and straightened the U-shaped bracket so it would hold the gauge to the cup without protruding from the sides
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453422007

Then I got our machinist to make the interior diameter of the trim ring match the gauge face
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453422007

Awww yes, snug fit and held by friction
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453422007

*sliiiiide..CLICK* god that sound was satisfying
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453422007

Awww yess, you're tight in there aren't you?
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453422007

And then I started stripping the engine bay and cleaning up what I could, cutting brackets and removing what I didn't want to keep
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1453422007

And we'll most likely finish this rust nonesense over the weekend
Attachment 237509

well, lovely. I just found my car like this outside my house...

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1454792914

Ugly dents
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1454792896

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1454792896

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1454792896

fuck people. they even tagged my house with spraypaint.

That sucks. You deserve better.

thanks man. I'm just dumping money into this already and hate getting a longer "to-do" list.

The bolts for the stock license plate bracket broke. I got bored during a night shift and threw this together.
Scrap aluminum plate, surface treated with alodyne for corrosion protection, titanium fasteners because why the hell not. Will paint it black tomorrow

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461116401

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461116401

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461116401

Now I just need to order a stubby plate to throw on there.

well, I got the dreaded E8 on the MTX-l which means that my wideband sensor is toast. I guess I'll move it further downstream then.

guess the front o2 sensor bung is just too close to the engine for a wideband

do the heatsink for the sensor.

Hah. That option seems eaaasy. I'll make one later tonight, aluminum is something I have easy access to ;)

But I assume the sensor is toast already though, right?

Nah you're okay

Done, but can't toss it on until tomorrow morning

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461277477

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461277477

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461277477

Very nice!

now whatever I do I just get e2. heatsink fits perfect, but the gauge just sweeps through the led's and then throws an e2 code. I'll get another sensor after the weekend

At least I know that the heatsink fits like I hoped
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1461360540

well, I'm planning my shopping list before I go to the US to buy the bulk of the turbo stuff.

I have the 99 pistons at 9.5compression. I plan on buying rods but from what I can gather the stock 99 pistons are quite beefy. My question is if I should keep the stock Compression ratio and just upgrade rods.

It is possible to make more power by using a lower compression piston unless you are using e85 or race gas because you can run more advanced ignition timing without detonation.

Alright I found a reverant msm ms2. As long as I switch to cops I should be ok, right?

Alright I found a reverant msm ms2. As long as I switch to cops I should be ok, right?

And I guess I'll have to buy pistons then. Because there is no e85 here. Only 93octane for $7/gal

Wow, that's high.

When are you coming to town, again?

Did my first autox last night and I'm hooked. lots of 911's, boxters, a couple of evo's and random other cars. One of the evo's was driven by a guy from my gym, as soon as I showed up he and his friend walked up to me and said "you've got 38.16 to beat!"
a few passes later I managed a 37.24,

And I was the second fastest car there apart from this thing! I'm not even mad.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1462457682

Now suspension and tires are all I want, like right meow!

Aaaand just paid for a MK turbo kit.

My plan now is to buy a vvt motor from the UK, build it and swap that in for minimal downtime. Also good to have the stock motor in case the new one decides to go boom.

You will be the first person outside the USA to have one of my setups, and honestly most likely the only one to have one of my setups.

Got a package today. Throwing them on over the weekend. Lots of people over here use them and I still haven't heard a bad thing about them so I decided to give them a try
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1464974624

And news outlets used a picture of me while talking about street racing, even if the cops were just talking to me and I was sitting as a passenger in that stealth. That night I was volunteering at a huuuge car meet and they decided they would try to ticket as many people as they possibly could after the official meet for the most minor infractions. A friend even had 5 cops surround him and try to push him into signing a ticket for dark taillights that came stock on his car.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1464974624

Here's what it looks like on the settings out of the box. way too low for my taste and I'll raise it tomorrow. Alignment on tuesday and autox on wednesday.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1465083576

And yes. A smaller license plate is on the way

Where did you buy the pizza box holder? :p

It was there simply as ballast so the car wouldn't get blown away by winds ;)

Alright. First time driving the full track, this is a brand new track and still being built. It's an add on to the previous quarter mile track. And I gotta tell you, turning on to a wet drag strip is scary as fuck, it's sooooooo slippery.

I have an errand to run in the UK early next month. and I've picked up a VVT motor with a squaretop manifold which I'll build during the winter. Things are getting exciting

Uuuuhm. Anyone have a spare drivers side headlight connector?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1467310218

NB1? I am pretty sure I do. Not sure when I will be done with your turbo setup though, or I would throw it in the box with it. Might check out Ballenger motorsports to see if they have it.

I'll do a temp fix and most likely just put some time aside to do a projector conversion of these lights asap. Just trying to find out if other cars that use the same bulbs use the same plug.

Edit : neeevermind, any h4 connector should work. Buying new ones tomorrow

Look on eBay for a ceramic plug. I got a pair of connectors for my car for like 8 USD shipped. It keeps the connector from ever melting again.

Superefficient cooling via geographic location
 

Do you mean the very generic H4 connector?
That have been around for ages in all auto parts stores. Might be less common now than 10-20 years ago.

Nb2 motor arriving tomorrow from the UK. Decided that I'll use my storage room as a workspace for the engine build, so I bought an engine stand today.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f4260fd23c.jpg


Does anyone have the turbo kitty stencil? I tried googling and searching on here but found nothing

PM your address to me and I'll send you a decal for it and your car, too.

btw. what size bolts and thread pitch for the transmission mount so I can throw the engine on the stand as soon as it comes

M12x1.5 the same as wheel studs.
I welded normal bolts on some scrap studs.