Have you tried adding or pulling fuel? How wet are the plugs?

We haven't touched fuel yet. The first time we checked, the cylinders definitely had gas and the plugs were decently wet. Hard to scale it in words. But today they were mostly dry. The car sat all night from about 10pm until 4pm.

Welp, good news. The oil soak trick worked and after doing the compression test, the average reading in each cylinder went from 60 something to 120 something. Bad news is that in the process of trying to get her fired up my coil packs gave out and I also need to have my injectors cleaned ASAP. 3 out of my 4 265cc had gunk in the little brass filters while one was completely flawless. Very strange to me as these were working just fine before the motor blew and I hadn't stored them in open air around debris of any kind. Let's hope after I get them serviced/replaced and get new coil packs along with a new battery that my troubles are over with as far as starting the car.

What "oil soak trick"?

put some heavy weighted oil on the cylinders (about 4 oz each) and let it seat the rings before you turn the engine over by hand. Get the oil out by using lint free towels. Do a quick compression test with the motor off to see if it made a difference vs the old test. Then if its higher you try the real thing with the engine turning over without the fuel pump sending gas into the cylinders and it should be a LOT higher than it was before. In my case it nearly doubled and the engine was able to fire up for a bit, even with the shitty injector situation I ran into.

As some of you may have seen on the Facebook page, I got her running. Turns out the trigger wheel was on backwards causing it to backfire and fail to crank up. Got that figured out and she idles a tad rough. There's an oil leak or oil buildup on one of my vbands. Once the car cools down I will reach down to the dipstick to check the actual levels.

I'm thinking in the process of getting to the trigger wheel, I may have taken the car out of timing by a tooth or so. I'm currently running her on the stock ECU for now but if these problems persist I'll end up switching them out to see if any logs might be able to lead me down the right path.

Update, the motor has about 200 miles on it. She's been running like a champ. I can't believe I'm daily driving a Miata again. I'm doing an oil change this weekend as it's already filthy from all the miscellaneous residue from being freshly built. Break-in oil is some serious stuff! Just glad to not find metal shavings in it this time around :rofl:

300 miles to go then I'll be getting her dyno'd at Lethal Performance in San Antonio. Just a little baby tune until I can get the RX7 trans installed and get some new axles...etc. I'll add some more details later today regarding some hiccups I had whenever I get off work.

Well, the car is being an absolute asshole.

It keeps overheating now, all of a sudden. And didn't overheat once during these 700 miles. A few days ago I noticed it getting pretty hot, then I checked the usual. Faulty temp sensor, coolant lines, thermostat, etc.

At this point, the situation is this:

The fans are "working", as in, they definitely come on when the temp sensor is unplugged from the reroute location. They are NOT coming on whenever the needle starts to move away from dead center, and still won't come on even if the needle hits the 1 & 2 o' clock positions. Whenever I see the needle moving that far, I turn the car off and leave the key in accessory mode...then the needle all of a sudden dips below half again.

Stock ECU? Sounds like a fan setting issue.

Yes stock ECU.

Would it be safe to pull the temp sensor and let the fans just run on their own? Or would that possibly cause some issues from not being able to see the coolant temp? My problem is that I'm not entirely sure the fans are the cause, but they sound like they're faulty regardless. Fans don't even come on after a certain speed anyways, correct?

Fans come on at a temp and turn off at a temp. Why don't you have an aftermarket ECU?

I have the MSPNP Pro but the car won't run. I spent about 2 or 3 hours messing with it and could never get it to start. I figured while the motor is being broken in, the stock injectors and everything else would find that just fine for now until I sort out what's up with the MS.

*edit* the turbo isn't even hooked up to the intercooler FWIW. No boost or heat generated from it specifically

Welp. Here we are in September, and I'm at my wit's end. The car is now reading false temps in the dash (source: it's reading at operating temp 10 seconds after being turned on from a cold start).

I haven't found any answers looking through the forums since July, and my "solution" for now was to unplug the temp sensor in the thermostat housing and use an auxiliary temp gauge from Autozone so I can at least drive the thing to work. Now I can't find the temp gauge, and I'm legitimately out of answers to get this car running again.

How frustrating to have a built motor and BT with a worthless MS that won't fire the motor up, and a stock computer that no longer is able to communicate with the fans properly. This car is the bane of my existence.

Not getting my hopes up, but here goes nothing. Leaving temp sensor unplugged so the fans will just stay on. Really hoping they don't wear out before I can find the root of the actual issue.https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fe1b253dc2.jpg

*Update* Fans are working again. Disconnected the battery and left it alone for a while. Reconnected, and let it warm up again. They came on after a while.

*update 2* My climate control knob for hot/cold is stuck on cold now? Whats up with that?

Put a fresh sensor in from Mazda. Nixed the cheapy temp gauge idea..

Hey what's up guys, just thought I would update on the project (yes, it's still going by something short of a miracle). Got my intercooler installed after a bout with procrastination finally went in my favor. Fab9 Stage two, and for those that don't know, it involved some cutting to make it fit. I wanna thank BoostedSmurf for showing the forum how he did his, as that is the same route I went. I still need to find a working wideband that won't crap out on me and a boost controller for me to say the car is "safe" to drive, I've had two Innovate MTX's die for no apparent reason other than my shitty luck. Blacksmith Fabrication in San Antonio or Matt @ Kotzur Racing will be welding the IC piping for me once I cut it to fit my needs, depending on scheduling and funds. Anyways, here's how it looks installed!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4a5a84006a.jpgBumper off, undertray held on with a bolt or two
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ad7783384f.jpgMock-up in driveway, say hello to the daily in the background haha
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0092883c46.jpgAfter cutting some tabs visible in earlier photos, cutting front support enough for IC to fit
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...138bd815f8.jpgThis was a really rough mock-up (uncut pipes, no space for filter without cutting the hood, etc.) I tried out inside Kotzur's shop
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2db92ea5c3.jpgInstalled with bumper, loving the stealth

About time for an update...

I still wonder why you're going with a huuuge turbo. :dunno:

No specific reason other than Matt Kotzur's Mazdaspeed6 was on this turbo, and when his car went down for a rebuild my car was already down for the same reason. He offered it to me for about $1300 or $1500 bucks, honestly can't remember as I just finished paying off the last bit of money to him like yesterday for it and he gave it to me over a year ago and I thought it was too stupid of a deal to pass up, especially since the TiAL hotside came with it. Including the 3" downpipe, the manifold I had built and the wastegate, I'm sitting under 2k and will be under $3k for the entire turbo system. I might run into lag, but the end result will be worth it (IMO)

Do you plan on tracking the car?

No, as all the roadtracks in my area are pretty expensive. I believe Harris Hill Raceway even requires a yearly membership. San Antonio's Drag strip is still an option if I decide to use some kind of traction control system, but the one I saw on a similar build seemed pretty pricey. While I want the car to be done properly, this will eventually turn back into a daily driver car that makes 20+mile commutes every day so traction control for 1/2 mile salt-flat builds isn't what I'm worried about. Nor is aggressive spool.

Update:

My Boundary oil pump is leaking oil. Bolting a tow-bar to the Miata after work and dragging it's carcass over to Kotzur Racing Thursday evening. The plan: weld up or possibly reroute the coolant line that fit the factory turbo, confirm that the oil leak is indeed coming from the Boundary oil pump seal, replace with OEM seal, finish IC piping and begin next steps for the tune (COPs, BOV, boost gauge, wideband, etc.)

The slow, arduous process of me DIY'ing a 500hp build continues. The car made it over to Kotzur's as planned, but I insisted that everyone over for weekly "shop night" let me do it all myself whenever possible. It ended with only the turbo side of the IC pipes being fab'd, but it was satisfying to get my first fabrication project under the belt. Matt did all the welding in exchange that I detail all his cars upholstery. I trailered the car again this passed Thursday but was too tired to concentrate hard enough on the TB side of things. The sensors have me at a loss as far as mounting bungs and vacuum lines for both the TB and turbo side of everything. (No MAF)



https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5251be3489.jpgHate seeing her on a trailer.






https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b628baf1ee.jpg


This is the spot directly behind the driver side headlight





https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ef7ae7ba42.jpgTack welded mock up.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5084794080.jpgTack welded mock up again, underside view





https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bb31fe4224.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5e7a36ee64.jpg
Decent welds for a quick sit down. Function over form this time (done for free by Matt @ Kotzur Racing)


https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f3087c223c.jpgFully welded mock up


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6fff5e92dc.jpgFully welded mock up on topside

My apologies if the images are coming out too large for most monitors, it looks proportionate on the mobile site. Just logged on to the laptop and had a good laugh looking at my thread.

So I found that I'm dealing with some issues that other owners are dealing with as well. Both the faulty set of Supertech valve stem seals, and a leaking oil pump/crank seal on my Boundary pump.

I'm taking care of the pump seal today as I am unable to deal with the valve stem seals on my own without help from Matt @ Kotzur Racing Heads.

While getting to the oil pump, I noticed a giant chip in my crank gear. How fucked am I? And what on earth would cause that kind of damage if nothing struck the gear during disassembly?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ce465292ce.jpg

Fair enough. Anybody got tips for getting the Woodruff key out without messing it up? If not I'm sure I can just grab another one from Mazda if I have to yank it out with Vicegrips

A: It isn't a woodruf key ( woodruf keys are semicircles and go in the middle of a shaft).

B: Pull the gear off, then tap the key out.

Quick update guys.

This is more of a life update than a Miata one, as the car hasn't progressed much since my last post (I now have TWO IC piping sides finished whooopeee!). When I started the build I was making really good money with AT&T and thats why it seemed like I had something new to throw at the car every other week. But some personal demons had me hopping from job to job since 2016. I recently found a badass welding gig that's letting me learn on their dime, and I should be in school for it soon. Either this year or the next. But I assure that the build hasn't died, and I haven't fallen off the face of the earth like some 500+hp builds have. It's been a while since I stayed involved with the forum, but I'm hoping this new stage of employment and a stable living situation will finally let me live out the (now nearly 4 year old) dream lmao. Right now she's still not tuned, and I've got one hell of a wiring mess under the hood. In my infinite early 20s wisdom I decided to give this build the full beans before doing everything in steps, obviously. And now I'm paying the price both from a financial standpoint, and an organization standpoint. Once I figure out what vacuum lines and sensors I can delete with the ECU, and get my paychecks flowing again, I'll start updating and possibly back track to previous posts to catch myself up on what steps I should take next.


Take care, everyone.

It seems in my ever-pervasive negligence I've missed out on the ability to buy a complete fuel kit, because I can't find the one I originally planned to use. I believe it was the Flyin' Miata kit? I remember it was about a grand and had some GM flex fuel components with it too.

If anybody has a quick rundown of what I'll need to get close to that setup it would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long absence, life gets in the way sometimes but the project is still a go!

Any update? I feel like I saw someone on Instagram that had purchased a very similar build to yours. Hope you're doing well.

Yep! Car still exists, actually had to trailer it to a new place I moved into. I was thrilled to find that ignition kits are now plug-n-play, so that's next on my list. It drove up the trailer under its own power, idles smooth and currently sits on a battery tender in my new garage. I can't remember if it was @18psi who said it, but I believe I am now one of the folks who is eating crow and no longer wanting to be in the 500+hp club, hahaha. It's just been a very turbulent stretch of time that overlapped with a project that deserved more from me, that I wasn't able to give until recently.

I am however doing great, I appreciate you asking. I took care of me before the Miata, and now she's got some obvious signs of being in a garage untouched from 2018-2022. I don't know, I remember how big of a deal this car was to me almost 8 years ago, and I'm figuring out how to return to that feeling. I sorted out the leaks, and have plans to get that ignition kit going. Wideband is installed and I should be able to get a basemap going before I hand the car off to Trackstar in DFW for some mild boost on this overkill setup. Open to offers if anybody wants to help me downsize in any capacity just to speed up the process of making it roadworthy again. I don't foresee any attempts to make my RX-7 transmission fit, or custom axles etc. I'm just ready to drive it at this point.

Day of the move
 

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6ecf21450c.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1baa17fd40.jpg

Saved myself some hassle on the bodywork side. Back in 2015 the door was creased near the driver side mirror. It wrinkled in a way that would be hard to fix without cutting and welding. I can do it and have someone paint it, BUT I happened across a completely perfect Velocity Red door for $200 at the beginning of this month. Didn't bother haggling the guy because it was a great deal and became one less headache.


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9d8c75dfef.jpg

I've done some thinking over the years about that exhaust manifold, and some of the concerns from more senior members about whether or not it's pragmatic. I've decided for sure that I'm definitely going to ditch it. Only difficult part about the decision is whether I jump to the FAB9 top mount w/ v-band flanges or commission the same fabricator for a re-do. I like his skill but I believe he took the ideas of a severely ADHD 23 year old me entirely too literally (which is my fault, not his) :noob: From what I can gather, those of you who have purchased the FAB9 kit are happy with it! I only wish they had a v-band option for the full exhaust setup they offer as well. It would be a pain in my ass converting back to T25.

In other news, next week I should be making some headway on getting the ignition kit sorted.

HORRIBLE but very unsurprising news. The questionable manifold design indeed failed. What caused this remains unknown to me. As you're all aware, I was going through some things and neglected the car once I broke the motor in. It never saw boost and was kept in my garage for years. Given the fact I decided to step away from the forums and dealing with my build for a bit, I'd say it's a blessing in disguise because things could've been a lot worse had this thing failed under boost.

As previously stated, I wanted to ditch the manifold anyways and reminding myself of how many v-band points I had on my setup led me to walking across the complex to my garage to verify visually...thats when I noticed how bad the situation had gotten. The collector is cracked 75% around and there's at least one runner that I can tell that has a crack on one of the welded pie-cuts. Very disappointed, but it's not like it wasn't expected. You guys called it years ago and it's been on my mind ever since, despite letting the car sit for a few years.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...29f813d69b.jpg
Failure at collector
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...07a9f60025.jpg
Failure on pie cut for the runner

Welp, didn't waste any time trying to get this car back on the road. Figured I would start from scratch since the financial aspect works out. Found a dirt cheap stock turbo kit. Similar miles to my chassis, we're gonna rock with it until I get word from the Fab9 folks about whether their top-mount V-band kit will be compatible with my 3076 setup. Suffice to say I'm done with one-off custom stuff whenever possible.

Naturally, even if that top-mount does let the Garrett clear my hood, Ill have to figure out something with my external wastegate. Perhaps more expensive in the long run than just trying to source a local fabricator again. We shall see, but for now, smol power!!!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5718664042.jpg

New battle scar found. The the weld for the flange on my FM mid pipe is cracked all the way. Likely the result of stress from poor fitment attempt when asking to temporarily make it work with my downpipe until I could run a full 3" all the way through. My engine builder suspects the welds just weren't ever strong to begin with, and now that I'm a welder myself I don't see the point in doing custom exhaust fab work for a car that has such a massive aftermarket.

Good news is, I do have a downpipe kit and intake kit coming from FM today. I ultimately decided that I'm going to nix the monster HP plans. I'm not interested in swapping transmissions or doing custom rear end work anymore. Keep a look out in the classifieds for my turbo and, RX7 Turbo II trans. I should be able to fix the midpipe flange myself, then we'll see how quickly we can get this baby back on the road with the stock MSM turbo. Definitely gonna keep an eye out for a bigger EFR in my near future once I get the MSPNP dialed in.

It's here!

Plan for the next few days: take all the GTX setup off, get my EBC installed instead of using the manual one from the FM kit and start calibrating the wideband since I rewired it yesterday. Was getting a lot of signal noise for some reason. I do remember my electronics flickering the last time I messed with my radio because the aftermarket head unit had a loose wire, perhaps forgot to pull a fuse. Can't say for sure but that's where I am today, and I'm very excited to see how drivable the car is after all these years.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4bfdfd0b45.jpg

The predictions about this manifold cracking might as well have been prophetic. If any of you are feeling confident enough to start a cult, let this be part of your considerations 😂


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ecd7ce032c.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0a63f9a5ba.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b4af81bd1f.jpg

Finally got the stock turbo get reinstalled. 2 week nightmare of sourcing the right banjo bolts for the oil & coolant feed lines (block side). Who knows what I did with them when the motor came out 🤷‍♂️ Got some generic steel ones online, let's hope they hold up since Mazda doesn't make the oil feed line anymore. Called 4 dealerships in San Antonio area, only 1 "could" help because my VIN is for a Mazdaspeed and apparently certain dealers aren't "allowed" to deal with Mazdaspeed cars of any kind. Not even to look up diagrams lol. Crock of shit? Maybe.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9234b1cf74.jpg

As one would expect, installing MSM turbos is like playing Doom on Ultra Nightmare difficulty w/ Famine activated. Installing the exhaust kit was like being quizzed by Dora the Explorer. Took all of 5 mins.
​​https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c7ed1a1915.jpg

At some point during the next 7 or 8 days I'll get the FM intake kit installed, and thank the heavens above I was lucky enough to still get the O2 signal modifier despite them stating they would not longer sell it anymore. YES the PNP-Pro will still get put to use, I just desperately need this to be a running car ASAP

Looks like you are pretty close! Good luck!

Turns out I'm missing more OEM pieces than I originally thought. I know at some point I had the entire OEM intake kit plus random "upgrades" from BEGi, if you can call them that.

Ordered some 4 ply coupling to be able to connect the FM kit to the inlet of the turbo. For some reason, the 90 degree tube I thought would work simply won't go over the inlet or the piece FM sent me. Turns out I'm also missing the outlet for the compressor side, so that's on order as well. Feels good to actually know where to go with it all, though. This is nothing like the vibe of when I hit my mental wall and couldn't be bothered to turn a single wrench with the old direction of the project.

Shame it took me 7 years to figure out I was always gonna be happy with a 200-300hp car 😅

Got a notification that UPS is delivering my compressor outlet a day early, and I saw that the truck is nearby in the adjacent industrial complex. That means all that's left now is to get the fluids changed. I bought the proper Mazda coolant and flushed the generic Prestone out. Im recycling the Mobil1 since it has no more mileage on it than what was used to get on the trailer back in November.

Next up is finishing the FM intake kit, cutting the last bit of MSM intercooler pipe to fit the current Fab9 core and then I have to address the oil weep on my output shaft seal (I already have a fresh one from Flyin Miata). Looks like one of my transmission housing bolts is backing out or too long and I just noticed within this new period of maintenance. Other than that, plan is the same. I'm starting over and doing this right. Despite all my early 20s stupidity at the beginning, I feel really blessed that I get to do this on such a strong motor as a base. EBC, ATI damper, MaxxSpark ignition kit and round 2 of MegaSquirt on the horizon!!

Last update for the week since it's starting to turn into microscopic updates of miscellaneous nature. I'm having a quick dinner in town before I grab some Simple Green to clean up old oil under the car and some better hose clamps.

The car will definitely fire up and theoretically be suitably drivable tonight, whether or not it shoots oil from every crevice of this turbo assembly is another story :inout:

So, the car is idling like trash, but not as bad as it was prior to today. I recently got all new coil packs and spark plug wires and that sorted the idle out SOMEWHAT. I can still visibly see the motor shaking and the exhaust sounds burbly. If this was my Crosstrek, I would be stoked, but my MSM has always been super smooth even when I had it all hacked up and piecemealed together. I'm gonna get some new spark plugs because my local AutoZone has them on sale $4/pc.

Beginning to wonder if I fucked the timing way back in 2018 whenever I replaced my crank seal. Any suggestions are welcome, including your favorite OBD2 scanners haha

Welp. This is a new level of fuckery I've personally yet to encounter. My Crank sensor bolt stripped out the threads where it mounts up. I went to loosen the mount because the gap seemed further than it should be, used a 1/4in drive ratchet, loosened up fine. It was putting back on that showed me the issue... This sucks 😂
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0d37f5e15a.jpg

Oh, the joy of working on cars. Even the easiest tasks can become something that will take up your entire day... or more :bang:

Good news! It only stripped at the very edge of the catch point, so I went to Lowe's and got a 25mm length bolt and some M6 washers. Snug as new! Bad news, the car still idles rough, so repositioning the crank sensor wasn't the 100% fix I was looking for. Currently don't have the funds to buy an OBD2 today for retail cost, or a safe way to get the car to a parts store for scanning.

I suppose this means everything is on hold once again until I can have an inexpensive OBD2 delivered from Amazon tomorrow. In the meantime, I've got a sweet new BMX for commuting, so I'm in no longer in a rush to make things roadworthy. Gonna focus on redoing the wiring for my head unit, retorquing the bolts on the bell housing, and seeing what I can do about the cracked flange on my midpipe.

I know exhaust leaks can be hell, but I highly doubt the secondary O2 would cause an idle issue like this.

Alright, so after fiddling with things for a while, I've got my headunit reinstalled and sorted out the issue with my bell housing bolts backing out. Deep in the memory archives, I remember them being tightened down with a cordless ratchet the day I put the engine in the car with anticipation of buying a torque wrench that day (obviously torquing them down never happened) and then the car sat for a while after break-in.

Now, for the OBD2 situation. I was able to scan the car finally and it thankfully only had 2 codes. One for EGR and one for YOU GUESSED IT: the MAF, specifically that the circuit voltage was too low. Stupidly I panic bought a MAF from Autozone and eventually noticed the signal wire was starting to fray. So I've got a repinning kit from Ballenger coming in soon. I tried my best but couldn't open the crimping in the pins to remove the wires. Imagine my shock that professionals working 10-12hr days, do top notch work hahaha. Major wrist-slap scenario for me not having my own multimeter at 29years old, but all things considered I've put a cumulative 7 or 8 months into this build so I'm hilariously "learning" how to prepare for these deep-dives as I go.

I will say, this is noticeably less intimidating compared to when I first starting showing up in MT. I might still be a doofus, but I feel like way less of one now that my ADHD is (mostly) in check. I'm really loving my car again. Shoutout to all of you who contributed to the Connector Witch Hunt thread, it made buying the right components a breeze!

Repin kit and spare connector housing came in a while back. But I've been procrastinating because I bought a new BMX and it was delivered the day after my last post. It's been really fun getting around town on it and relearning my childhood trickbook. Lord knows I need the exercise too. Here's what's causing the blasphemous "neglect" of repairing one last connector to get my car running (really it's just that I keep forgetting to stop at Lowe's and buy the right crimpers lmao)

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1258507a8b.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4a95d2d25d.jpg

Lots of overtime hours have held up the car, but here's an update on what I've been up to. Finally got around to cleaning the wires with some distilled vinegar and repinned them for the MAF connector. Ballenger Motorsports really came in clutch for me with a problem I never thought I'd encounter. While I'm glad to have learned something new, I think next time I need to remedy a similar issue, I'll just buy a pigtail and solder it to the harness 😂 that being said, heavily considering redoing this since I bought two kits just in case. I think I can make it look better.

Also, the rest of my exhaust is finally on the way. Thank you overtime checks!
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bd2c52ce6c.jpg

For those of you interested in doing a project like this, as you already know Ballenger Motorsports sells the kits for basically any connector you need.

And this lovely lady did a great video walkthrough on the process.
I'm sure there are other mechanics with similar content but she's local to me and cool as hell. I try to support small businesses around me when I can 🤘

Nice progress! Love the stolen bike, I got into BMX again a few years ago after switching to MTB in my early 20's. It's not as easy when you are older. Ha!

So we're definitely making progress. The car runs a LOT smoother since I got the MAF connector repinned. I suspect there's still something wrong with it though, so luckily I have a spare MAF I got from AutoZone back in August. I'd rather have OEM but it's looking like that's not an option right now, as the original part is still not responding well enough to clear the P0102 code and Mazda is having a hard time getting a replacement for me. Not worried about it, as PNP-Pro is still the plan.

Car had a clicking noise on the exhaust side, I likely have a small leak. Nothing a new gasket probably won't fix. That being said about exhaust, the second half of the FM kit finally got here so I threw that on. Second pic speaks for itself, the stress of that custom job up front destroyed that flange where the fabricator welded it back on. I take the blame for rushing things all those years ago.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bdb06718b9.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7636f4dc15.jpg

Here's a brief video of the car running. Sounds like shit mostly, but if you can believe it, in August things were much worse. I thought the motor was gonna jump out of the bay 😂 The scratching/whirring sounds seem like some of the accessory pulleys, not that I have many after the power steering delete.

Lastly, not exactly happy with the fact I don't trust the car enough to burp the coolant right now, but at least the water pump is still good. I left distilled water in the funnel to see if any of the Zerex mixed, as you see it started to turn blue. All systems go in that regard. And no fluid leaks at all from the engine. Feels good knowing I didn't mess up the crank seal install. That's all I got for today, folks. Off to bed!

Been a great day. Got my new door installed, found that the rattle behind my door card was the Infinity reference box's Velcro mount being too old to hold it up, so I threw some clear 3M strips on the box. Originally planned to use those to mount my DDM ballasts, but alas I've procrastinated so long that a whole new generation of LED bulbs were released since the motor blew, so that's what's going in the headlights tomorrow.

Also.... the car FINALLY runs smooth!!! My MAF problem was indeed a broken wire. Turns out even though I repinned everything in the correct order, the pins were upside down in the connector so they didn't snap all the way in. I figured it out after fidgeting with the spare connector, noticing the click I was supposed to hear was MUCH louder than the one I heard during install. Attached a short exhaust note video, file size is still limited to 20MB I see.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...43d341d754.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2533e4af15.jpg
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https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...97a684fad9.jpg

sorry for the late reply! you're absolutely right - its even worse when you got scared off at a young age due to injury, makes you real skittish - that being said i've been having a blast and it makes fixing this hunk of junk a lot less stressful (especially considering it's mostly rot from my neglect over the years) because a BMX rig makes a great commuter and my GF loves how happy it's made me since I got it put together. I appreciate the love for my bike, it's in my top 5 purchases for sure. one day the Miata will be #1 again!

Drove her to work!
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...41319403f7.jpg

Good news:
•Fans turn on, no overheating issues despite me forgetting to reinstall the under tray. I was surprised by my foresight so many years ago to wire both fans up in sync. So they both run AC or not
• Fixed a whoopsie coolant leak, literally ONE clamp wasn't tight by 3/4 of a turn. No oil leaks either and it seems my output shaft leak was actually just residual spray from back when the turbo return line blew
• Turbosmart boost controller is turned about 2 clicks open and she still pulls good for an extremely abused old gal

Bad news:
•P0300 code came up while I was giving it the beans - I'm open to the idea I gapped the plugs wrong, y'all know me and my ADHD tendencies by now, but I'm hoping that's all it is.
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Just news:
I've got a lot of odds and ends to sort out
• couple intercooler pipes got recut to accommodate the FM setup, so now they don't have beads on them to fully secure my couplers but so far they're holding haha
• Soft top is cracked in multiple places so I sewed up the holes and sealed with the adhesive black permatex for now - time to save for a new soft top or a hard top
• Gotta install the FM coolant reroute double 90° upper radiator hose, my current one is rubbing the inlet pipe
​• radio needs to be installed
• various body trim bits need to be attached properly with the stockpile of Mazda bolts/nuts I've collected instead of zip ties
• trunk and rear quarter clear coat is a mess - previous owner's accident is now my problem 🙌

Instead of piling on to a sub thread I made, and since this involves me tearing into the engine somewhat, I'm bringing updates to the build thread again.

Just ordered a timing belt kit and all new OEM valve stem seals. I know I made some mistakes editing the earlier portions of this thread, so for anybody who doesn't remember, or if the information is gone until I can reference the edit log: I have the Supertech valve stem seals that became infamous for leaking almost immediately. I have a suspicious amount of carbon buildup on my pistons for a motor that has roughly 1600 miles on. It's barely broken in. I assume they were leaking years ago, then the car sat. I don't imagine it's something as simple as a leaky valve cover, but even if it is, I'm experienced enough to handle this job myself.

For once I'll try to be better about documenting my specific efforts even though its a job that's been documented 1000 times 😂 my apologies for not having photos of the pistons, My Pixel 8 Pro keeps trying to decide on its own that I want a macro shot down my spark plug holes, so I gave up in order to make it to work on time after my compression test.

Documented all that here:
Oil in places it shouldn't be, the story of my life