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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
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 😂
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 😂
Oh, the joy of working on cars. Even the easiest tasks can become something that will take up your entire day... or more
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)
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!
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.
Here's a brief video of the car running. Sounds like **** 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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
07-31-2023, 09:50 PM
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