All is well, I still have some things I need to do but am just focusing on more maintenance stuff at the moment. It's cold out, car is in winter mode and now I have a squeaky bearing somewhere either idler pulley or water pump.

Picked up a spare head, may have it built up a bit more than current and will likely do some probing as to engine health before fully embracing flex fuel.

Right on. Sounds fun. I forget sometimes that the rest of the country gets actually cold. The weather in California today is low 50's and a bit of showers here and there lol.

So it's been a while since I've pampered Smurfette. I need to change the water pump because the bearing is making a screeching noise. Just planned to do a timing belt job out of it. Dammit. If weather permits, I may try to tackle some fuel related activities. I need to get new O-rings for injectors and clean up some wiring over all. Also I really need to try to get my knock sensor working. I also bought a sewing machine. Take that as you will. I'm trying to finish some upholstry projects particularly the package tray since the new roll bar has left gaping holes where old carpet used to be. Still have that quilted material on hand.


Action Items:
Water pump/Timing Belt
Re-mount fan to the passenger side
Oil Cooler
Under tray + Ducting
Clean up spark/fuel wiring
FM Fuel Rail
Flex Sensor
New Throttle Body
Tighten things down that may have rattled loose
New parcel shelf cover
Coolant Re-re-re-route. This meziere housing for the M-Tuned kit pisses me off. TheBandit's stuff is going on my spare head.


Anyone know if there's any benefit or reason to do the disputed "Big Three" upgrade or should I just refresh existing grounds?

So a couple weeks ago, I tried to replace my waterpump and timing belt only to be held up by the crank bolt. I couldn't hold it tight enough to loosen it without it slipping teeth on the timing belt. Took to a local tuner shop who had it done for $500 including a diff fluid change. Now with 100% more 36-2 trigger wheel!

This past Saturday had been so nice, I took the opportunity to rewire the knock sensor, spark and injector C/D and found one of the vvt solenoid wires got chewed through rubbing against the intake manifold. Im happy now the SADFab wires will be run in the proper order. Success!

At this point I had the upper plenum off the car to correct the issue and decided last minute to throw the FM fuel rail on. Unfortunately the bolts where too short and I may have fucked some stuff along the way because some major compression of the injector cushions was required before the rail would seat on the spacers. I wish I knew this before and got some longer bolts with flow force injector spacers. Despite the rail being tweaked a bit, it's not leaking.

Finally got to install the fuel pressure regulator using a Bandit made mount. I removed the catch can to mount all the flex fuel and fuel filter bit, now I have to find some real estate to rerun the catch can as it's just VTA.

Lastly buttoned up the upper plenum with a Powdercoated one I had on standby that I ported for a skunk2 throttle body.

Tonight I'll tie in the flex sensor wiring on the ms3x harness (thanks Brain and Aiden for answering some questions).

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...32adff60cd.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2ac8511f72.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a5b19cf4ec.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7bf0332bc2.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c912b9fc2e.jpg



Action Items:
Water pump/Timing Belt
Clean up spark/fuel wiring
FM Fuel Rail
Flex Sensor
New Throttle Body
Re-mount fan to the passenger side
Oil Cooler
Under tray + Ducting
Tighten things down that may have rattled loose
New parcel shelf cover
Fix Coolant Leak after thermostat housing
Find a new home for the Oil Catch Can
Install new Oil Press/Temp, EGT, Wideband/Flex gauges
Flex sensor wiring + e85 tune!


Build spare head and check engine health via leakdown.

Does the signal wire on a flex sensor need to be shielded if it's a digital output?

There is some disagreement on this. I think it is probably fine to have it unshielded. And mine is unshielded.

So long as it shares the same ground as the ecu?

There is an unused plug that goes to a purge valve, white/red which is jumped back to the ecu for switched power, then yellow/red that is vacant on the ms3/ecu harness. If I can just use the common ground on the block, I'd barely have to extend any wires for power and signal.

So just so to record panic, I had a scare today. Car wouldn't start and the composite log plotted no triggers. Turned out to be a loose plug of sorts. Whew.

Because I took the day off, and the day was half done, I changed my knock sensor to try to get it working in time for a re-tune in three weeks. This was strange because I really didn't want to pull the tee off the oil port. I'm stubborn but I don't feel good popping npt fittings on and off so many times. I removed the oil warmer and had to wrench it with a 24mm in infinitesimally small increments. It's in, but I worry not tight enough. It's as tight as space will allow. Inspecting the old one, the insulation had been eroded and it was all sorts of frayed. I can't wait. This is the first time my car has had a "working" knock sensor. Time to log and see if it's too good to be true.

I still need to check somehow if the flex sensor is functioning. I tested continuity from the ECUplug/MS adapter and it checks at least across that interface. I found the ethanol content gauge in Tuner Studio and flipped the flex sensor on, but it only read 1%. Perhaps this is true since pumps advertise it ~may~ have up to 10%? Any other way to ensure the flex dingle is working? Shit, maybe I should try for fuel temp.

Spare head has been sent off for rebuild. Changed the oil. I guess nothing else new.



Action Items:
Water pump/Timing Belt
Clean up spark/fuel wiring
FM Fuel Rail
Flex Sensor
New Throttle Body
Flex sensor wiring
Install new Oil Press/Temp, EGT, Wideband/Flex gauges
Oil Cooler
Under tray + Ducting
New parcel shelf cover
Fix Coolant Leak after thermostat housing
Find a new home for the Oil Catch Can
DYNO TIME + E85

What are you using for the flex sensor again?

Continental 13577379

Oh I thought you were using the box in between.

Sensor has 12v?

Our gas in oregon is about 8%.

So that question had a quick solution. The Innovate ECF-1 gauge does not power on no matter what. I even tried running on a separate relay direct to the battery. Nope. It's being sent back to Innovate for warranty. I will not be using an analog input for the percentage, but maybe for fuel pressure if it ever works.

So that gauge package came with a 13577429 flex sensor (still installed) but I had one dedicated for megasquirt which is the 13577379. I harvested the wires that where left over from the purge valve, one white/red which is tied to the ECU for 12V, and then the yellow/red for signal. This was why I asked you about whether or not shielding was required. I grounded to the same ground on the head as the ECU. The purge valve wire has been populated to the flex input as it was unused on the ms3x harness.

Cool. Sounds like it should work. Make sure you have the calibration correct in settings.

Used the same feed through as Sav, because they are awesome. Wired up a relay using 12 gauge wire, but I opted to use the DW300. Everything worked out well.
Had a pin hole coolant leak so I replaced a section of hose. Tried to tidy up the fuel lines and allow space for the catch can to be remounted.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cd79b61705.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e149caec30.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...32bfc3c201.jpg

The aeroquip socketless AQP hoses on the turbo showed signs of cracking, the oil line was actually pushing off the barb a bit. Replaced them with some stainless lines and bled the system. I'm tired, but today was ultra productive.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c691fbf010.jpg
Then this happened, just from changing the pump.

Is this normal if I hadn't changed anything with the fpr?

I'll check it again tomorrow, when primed and when running.

So when the pump is primed I get:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3f4ba38013.jpg


But when running, its:
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3cdf4b050d.jpg


Now, I'm. Using a radium fpr with a Bosch 3bar regulator cap. It's vacuum referenced. The only thing that changed was the pump.

I don't know if this is a concern or if I should switch to a 4 bar or leave it. It drives fine

​​​​​​????

What happens when you run the pump from test mode?

Oh man....the plot thickens.


So today I go to answer your question Aidan, and after priming (~44psi) the needle just drops to 0. When running, the needle is at around 42psi. Car drives but I don't dare push it as I don't have a pressure sensor on the line to know if it's starving up top if it's even doing anything referencing pressure. Did I break my regulator?

What is the base pressure supposed to be? NVM, 3 bar. Derp.

Do you have a leak somewhere? Because it sounds like you might have a leak.

Although I'm still not 100% sure what the problem is.

What is pressure when priming
What is pressure when running
What is pressure when running the pump with test mode.

last time this happened to me I had a big ol leak in one of the braided lines.
aidan knows, he helped me order replacement.

It could be leaking past the regulator, if its not seated in that radium housing correctly? Maybe a torn o-ring or something? If the pump can supply enough pressure/volume to overcome the leak plus the regulator that would explain how it makes a "proper" 3 bar, but drops instantly but without a giant puddle of fuel.

I got nothin' for that 60psi reading wile running though, that don't make no sense. Unless you have the 4 bar one in there, but that just raises a whole bunch of other issues...

Agreed. What part are we talking about exactly :)

Pressure when priming: ~44 psi, about on the 3 bar mark (then needle drops after prime)
Pressure when running with vacuum line attatched: ~46psi , 3.2 bar (Shouldn't it read lower, not higher?)
Pressure when running with vacuum disconnected: ~44psi, 3bar
Pressure when running the pump with test mode: ~44psi, 3 bar

I'm not sure if I have a leak. If I do, it might be at the hose/pump side. I'll have to pull the hanger out again which is fine just to be safe. It has also been the hottest day this season if that means anything for fuel temps. Everything up front on the rail and sensors haven't been touched during the pump install. I'll double check the AN fittings on the tank. All that would have to be this weekend then.


What I don't get is why it no longer holds pressure after prime (there's a check valve on both the pump and the fuel filter) unless it's just bypassing to the return. Then why it started to read 60psi under operation. Either way, this is making me nervous enough to just swap FPR's.

during operation the pump is just making up the difference
in my limited experience, if pressure drops immediately after prime then you haz a leak

Yarr. And if there is no puddle, then its either in the tank or bypassing into the return at the regulator.

Mine drops, but not instantly. DW200 punp + Fulelab FPR FWIW. It does take a while to bleed back into the tank but I've never waited around to see how long it takes.

Ok, I think it makes sense. I'm still second guessing the FPR right now. As a thought experiment:

Assumptions:
- Everything is sealed fine

Observations:
- Sustained pressure after prime
- Higher than normal running pressure (4bar)

New Observations:
-No sustained pressure
-Slightly higher than normal operating pressure (hair above 3bar)

Now if there where a leak, assuming the rest of the lines outside the tank are fine, could this pressure bleeding and drop off after prime be answered by
1) The hose on the pump leaking, as though not tightened enough, the extra pressure found a path to eject some fuel, resulting in relieved pressure
2) The FPR is damaged allowing more fuel to bypass to the return


My notion is the FPR because it didn't seem like it played well with the pump initially. Then the pump just demanded more. This might be a limitation of an OEM style regulator cap. Or it could be I suck at tightening clamps. Or anything in between on the high side. Either way, I'll have to check it all and I went ahead and ordered a FuelLab 353 Mini.

Lastly, anyone out here using an internal 3.5bar map sensor? I had been going back and forth with Brain but he's done quite a lot for me with this VVT/knock/sequential thing I don't want to keep pestering him. I'm not confident in soldering on the MapDaddy 4 bar myself and the MPX5700 is just way more than I need. I'm supremely terrible with electronics. I'd feel more comfy wiring the AEM 3.5 Bar to a spare analog input, but didn't know if this was the way to go.

https://www.diyautotune.com/product/...ar-map-sensor/

Boom. Super easy to install. Run your existing vacuum line to it. I'm running a china version of that.

To confirm:

Grab +5V from TPSref, run signal to spare analog input (EXT_Map) and ground business as usual?

Yes. Then futz with calibration so it matches your internal map.

:love:

Yesterday I pulled everything apart to install new injectors, and repair the threads on the fuel rail mounts. Flyin' Miata supplied M8x1.25 x30mm bolts which had initially chewed up the leading threads. This was a bit tricky with everything open and I was worried that the tap was not gliding as smooth as it could be, and was cross cutting existing threads. Turned out OK and I had overnighted 40mm length bolts from McMaster-Carr. I'm feeling a lot better about it now. I also got new oring and cushion hardware from Flowforce but ended up forgetting the rail spacers. I didn't have time and was running out of daylight, but with the new injectors, everything seemed to fit a lot better. I rewired the injector harness with one that Raisin sent and it cleaned up the wiring quite a bit. This is the first time I didn't break out the soldering iron and just used weather sealed butt connectors because I'm starting to get jaded from the wiring work. I hope this doesn't bite me in the end. I also re-wired the VVT solenoid because I found insulation to be eroded and was grounding on the manifold. I tried to separate and isolate the Cam/Crank bundle from the old CAS wiring but ran out of daylight and it was tucked further behind the head than I could reach in the given time frame. At this point the car started again and I ran to the local store and got electronic connector cleaner. Cleaned all the ECU plugs, and all the engine related plugs and then dielectric greased everything once it was dried.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0682d1b23c.jpg



Luckily it started today. I'll try to revisit this wiring when I replace the FPR.

Tweaked ID1300 injector settings, but I think the deadtimes are going to be off until I get the fuel pressure stable. Still fired up but I found that it starts easier mid priming than waiting for the pump to stop....probably because fuel pressure drops after that. I had checked the top of the pump hanger in case the pressure line was leaking, everything is sealed up great with no smell of gas. Also no leaks under the car. If there is a leak and it's not the FPR bypassing prematurely, It's gotta be the hose between the pump and hardline in tank. Both the pump and my fuel filter have check valves, so I'm still inclined to think it's on the low side of the fuel system (FPR to return) that's bleeding off pressure.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8c8c2957db.jpg


On the way to the parts store I curbed an unseen island next to a cross walk. It follows a median, where there's a cross walk, then an island juts out. The curb is eroded from where others have done the same since there are no markers or reflective batons to identify it's protrusion into the intersection. I couldn't see it at night, probably cut sharper than I should have, and made a stupid mistake. Bent two wheels. Ordered replacements to be overnighted as well as two new tires. Things have been tough lately.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5ae1251b41.jpg



The throttle body feels more sticky than ever. It doesn't return to full closed until blipped. I think I just need to adjust that throttle stopper and back off the IAC bypass screw to just let it hang open more. It's getting annoying having intermittent high idle / high AFR (16:1) just because it's stuck reading 1-2% TPS




Action Items:
Water pump/Timing Belt
Clean up spark/fuel wiring
FM Fuel Rail
Flex Sensor
New Throttle Body
Flex sensor wiring
Install new Oil Press/Temp, EGT, Wideband/Flex gauges
New parcel shelf cover
ID1300 injector install with new orings and bushings
Retapped threads to mount fuel rail because Flyin' Miata supplied 30mm length bolts which chewed things up
Fix Coolant Leak after thermostat housing
Find a new home for the Oil Catch Can
DW300 fuel pump install with feed through and upgraded relay/wiring

New map sensor
Replace two bent wheels and tires due to bad curb chomp
New FPR
Oil Cooler
Under tray + Ducting

DYNO TIME + E85

Go figure you get close to completion of your to-do list and more fail happens adding to the list. Glad to see you chugging along and ironing out all of these issues! LMK when dyno time happens, id like to come out and enjoy :)

It was a pretty sad moment. Right in my blind spot as I was making the turn and my heart stopped because I didn't know what was going on. I thought I got T-boned.

Anyway, I'm just a bit jaded from doing so much on this car, I still need to wire a new map sensor and replace the FPR to see if this solves my weird over pressure issue. Then I need to stop for a while.
Helping James with some things this weekend. I'm more worried about the leakdown and pre-dyno shake down next week. That'll determine if dyno is go for the following week.

Sucks to hear about the curb check :cry:

Bummer about the issues and curb man, but if/when you hit the dyno on e85, it will make all your bad feelings go away :D

Found my upper ball joint is loose on the passenger side. Could explain a bunch if noise and pull in the past.



Is this normal?
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...75da3ef1e2.jpg


Also some carnage pics of front wheel
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1c4de7db87.jpg


Some bending action. Fuck.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...679ad3d6c9.jpg

Replaced the FPR. Pressure is way more stable and consistent. It still drops pressure. I'm going to buy some submersible fuel hose from parts store and investigate the tank. I've tightened down everything in the engine bay that I could think of. No smell of fuel otherwise. No signs of fuel on the ground.

I had a spare 6UL kickin it as a foot rest. The front wheel was replaced, tire was still fine (above post). Waiting on two more 6UL, one to replace the rear and the second will be another spare. I guess I didn't need to order two more tires. That's $300 I didn't need to spend, but hey, I can make a running spare, and have another tire on hand for nails and shit.

Not sure what i'm looking at in that second pic of bendy action.

Sorry, that was a pic of the front subframe just under the rack.

The guy at the place that swapped the bent wheels out wants to sell me a k24a2 for $300.

Crap....


Going in later today to get my rear wheel sorted. May end up having to find some space in my basement just in case.
Pig tail came in for new Map sensor, and I ordered a gates 27097 submersible fuel hose. Also thinking about just ordering an inline check valve, if none of this works and it happens to be the valve on the pump.

With the way your luck has been going that motor is blow to pieces.

so true......


I gotta stop watching KMiata's build thread here and posts on FB

Do you have a check valve on your feed line? If not that is most likely why your pressure is dropping after the system has primed. You need the check valve to hold the pressure in the system rather than it returning to the tank once primed.

The pump is supposed to have one. My fuel filter has one integrated but it's laying on it's side and might just be a ball and orifice type, so unless it was upright, might not be doing anything. The question is if the in pump valve is faulty because of the shady vendor from whom I had ordered.I guess as stated previously, I could just order a third check valve and hope that'd do the job despite the 5psi opening pressure.

To reiterate, all this happened after the fuel pump job. Not the fuel rail, injectors, or flex fuel stuff which where done all in different stages. So I'm tending to isolate it to the pump side as there are no leaks anywhere else externally. For the uninitiated, I have continuous AN lines from the pump hanger to the engine bay, so it shouldn't be anything in between (as I've already checked the hanger outlets and the inlets to the fuel filter in the bay.)

You got about a year to get the Kswap done, then my Miata Kswap Turbo setup should be done for you to bolt in.
​​​​​​​

Don't tempt me. I'm already looking at pricing a build at InlinePro if I dropped this thing off as a core. I just don't know anything about K series to select the right pistons. I'd have to find a clean NB shell. I don't think this NA can handle more work, and these headlight motors are aggravating enough with space constraints. (and I still need a car to drive)


Aidan, do you already have a K mule to work off of? I'm closely watching KMiata's build but still haven't been able to see how well the exhaust side works on a turbo K swap. There was a guy local here that had an s2000 motor with a turbo, but I never saw it in person.

I'm trying to familiarize myself with wiring, I really am so bad at this. I'm more nervous swapping harnesses and trying to make sure everything is pinned out properly for what needs to be merged and what needs to be scrapped.

Is InlinePro still around? I had a good friend with a supercharged S2k that took it there to get tuned. They did a really shitty job. Ended up at PTuning a bit later to have them do it correctly.

Not sure about the tuning, but I thought that was the go-to place in the country to build a honda motor. I'll be at PTuning next weekend and the following. I'll pick their brains.

2 week old o2 sensor died.

But I did finish tying in the 3 analog inputs from the DB37 connector to the ECU adapter. That way I won't have to revisit the DB37 which is getting haggered already. Just gotta wire in the external MAP sensor and fix the o2 sensor now. As well as whatever breaks tomorrow.....

Yay for external MAP sensors!

What did you end up going with?

I'm going to try to finish the wiring on an Aem 3.5 bar, then use the main board one for bars correction. Or just turning it off.


Public service announcement regarding possible fraud o2 sensors

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...781bee921a.jpg
Top sensor is used Bosch original part. Came with the ECF-1 unit that had to be sent back for warranty. Sensor worked fine and is identical to the one it replaced until it crapped out with an e8/reading lean all the time. It has LSU 4.9 etched right on it.

The replacement sensor was purchased through Amazon, seen on the bottom of the pic, and came shipped in a bubble wrap bag. The bag said made in China, the sensor has the correct part number but the laser etching is different than the genuine part. Also has notched corners on the wrench flange. It didn't work at all and was stuck on heating.

Ordered another through titan Motorsports who shipped it next day, original bosch packaging, looked similar to the markings on top sensor, works perfect. Also noted LSU 4.9 on the body.

I got one of those. Amazon helped me out and took the return. It was dead out of the box. If you buy from amazon make sure it is sold by Bosch.

Sold by bosch:
Fake:

I wired in the aem 3.5bar map sensor, went into the calibrate map/baro in TV and selected the Aem 3.5 option. It reads 109.2 kpa where the main board reads 98.3.

Do I need to adjust these to match somehow?


Here it is mounted, I opted to hang it up front so it can reference off the manifold in the shortest manner possible.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...720f9378bd.jpg




The egr port in the back of the manifold would have been fine, but it still has a longer path referencing from runner 4.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5079926898.jpg

OK, so I had some errors because it looked like ADC11 Ext_MAP was already being used by MAF input, but because there's no MAF I disabled it. I hope I didn't fuck it up.

Now it reads -29 KPa

!!

Silly me! I forgot to plug the Aux harness into the MS adapter. Seems to work fine, it's about 2.6kPa off though from the on board.

My internal map reads 98.4, while the AEM 3.5 bar reads 101kPa

So, to run barometric pressure correction, do I follow the little help bubble under the MAP calibration:

The barometerc correction to fuel at a total vacuum. For new installs set these two settings to zero and the barometric correction curve to 100% across the board. Imported settings from older code versions use a vacuum of 147, a rate of -47 and have the curve at zero.

and set the real time baro port to Mainboard?


Like this?
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c677554b13.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f598e0aeb1.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ad44b9ff93.jpg

I went with the AEM 3.5 bar. Can't help you there ^ I am just running the AEM. I love your mount location! Where'd you get that bracket?

It's some generic 7/8" handlebar clamp for a light mount



Right now, baro correction isn't set to do anything, I may just turn it off, but happy that the car runs just fine on the AEM 3.5 dispite the .3 psi difference in reading.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b5b5dff60a.jpg

So I got my sew on and with about $25 of material (same that I used for the door cards) I tried to make a new parcel shelf cover. For my first time, I think it came out OK. About 70%. Its hard measuring out the position and sewing the radius for the roll bar, that and I should have left a bit more material on the edges.

If it bothers me, I'll just spend another $25 and try again.

Also replaced the fuel pump and all pressure issues disappeared. It was the drain back valve on the outlet. Sending back to DW for warranty.