Nothing wrong with a 2.5" setup, you just give up a little spool over 3". If it was cheap and available I would be happy with it.

Yup, that's why I ended up with a 2.5 FM setup as well.

If shuiend started building exhausts for other kits things would be different, heh.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1ea2d4e648.jpg

These arrived today too. Should be adequate enough for my build and at £30 a decent bargain.

Yes happy with the exhaust! A good couple of hundred pounds less than I was going to have to pay for custom so it worked out well.
​​

it is to costly to only ship my exhaust.

Well it comes with a manifold, turbo, and downpipe. Of course its expensive

I mean, really, it's a outstanding bargain.

Well because the weather was good last night I managed to get the exhaust fitted. There's a noticeable improvement in spool/power and I seemed to have cured a strange vibration that was off putting by swapping them, so I can only presume this must have been part of the exhaust making contact with the chassis somewhere.

However, it's so quiet... I was really hoping for a little more sound but I didn't realise that silencing box really is quite so effective. I think what I might do is just make a rear 2.5 inch section to bolt on at the end of the FM pipe and run this for fun days out in the sun and then swap back to the FM back box for track days etc.

So once I've got the COPs sorted, and ducted the rad properly I think I'll be getting it to a tuner for some professional mapping and hopefully get some good safe power.

Some more updates!

Finally managed to find a few spare hours in the lovey sunshine so I made a start on the car.Began by stripping the front quarters and front bumper off, what a ballbag this was! if the bolts didn't snap by themselves then I had to either cut them out with the dremel or drill them out!Once they were off though I was pleasantly surprised with how clean it was under there, I still needed to brush the whole area down to remove loose dirt but other than that, only a little surface rust here and there. The driver side front wing had an absolute ton of mulch in it though, I'm sure that's visible under the car in some of the photos.
Then once I'd cleaned up, I used Dinitrol aerosols to spray on, very impressed with this stuff, went on easy and gives a really nice clean matt black look.

Anyway, here's some pics:

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Next up before the panels go back on is relocating the oil cooler in front of the rad, and ducting the whole lot with sheet aluminium. I'll also look at fitting the Wilwoods soon, just awaiting on parts arriving at work so I can fit them, I'll have to do the master cylinder and brake lines at another point, I don't have the tools. As for relocating the oil cooler, I'm looking at removing that cross member at the front and having a much thiner plate welded in place that I could possibly mount the oil cooler on. I think some people on here have done this, so I need to check their builds.
And my last decision... Do I go with this front bumper?

Attachment 237234 It's an Rs Aizawa repliaca that I've had for a couple of years. It needs a little work in places but I think it's a much better fit for my purposes, the extra vent above the normal mouth provides more flow to the rad and then there's the two handy fog light holes either side that should get some cool air into the wheel wells.
Open to peoples opinions on this, I just think it's nice to have something that's not just the normal bumper and GV lip.

-Lew

Had a busy day on the car, got stuck into making the air damn out of the ali I'd bought... Started by making a template of where I needed to cut and then laid that out on the sheet, what became apparent quite quickly was how I really should have bought thinner ali... maybe even just 1mm. It took some serious cutting to get through 3mm and cut a neat shape out of it, and then bending each end up was an absolute nightmare!

I got there in the end though, and it fits pretty well. I decided to paint it black because by the end it was covered in a lot of scratches and I though it'd look better. I also sliced through one side of some vac hose and glued that on round the shape edges that the intercooler hoses will go through to protect them.

I also did this around the hole I cut for the coolant drain in the radiator.

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The white stuff is foam... I didn't really want metal on metal around the rad so there's little gaps that will get squished by that and then it should seal nicely. Now air could technically vortex and go up and around the bumper through a gap that exists there, it's only minor and I think I've probably done enough now to cure any worry of overheating.

I've also got enough ali left from the sheet I bought to make an undertray/splitter too which is useful.

Next up is going to be fitting the aerocatches and possibly doing the bonnet vents as I picked up some mesh today from B&Q to fill the voids once they have been cut.

This also turned up... I decided the naff job I did was worth replacing as I'm coming up to getting it resprayed soon so figured I best sort the exterior bits I want sorting beforehand.

Attachment 237222

Still got an absolute ton of jobs to do on this car to get it ready for shows/track but I'm powering through the jobs now!

I've decided to use the stock bumper as well... when I was planning the air dam I realised that the bottom of the other is too high to make a neat splitter in the future and I'd have to drop the bottom of it somehow to make it flat.

More updates to come over the following days/weeks/months!

-Lew

Great success :D

Got another bunch of hours with the car today so I made some more progress.

Started off with the aero catches, what a bastard these things were, first time I've ever fit something like this and I feel like the underside of the bonnet has been butchered but at least they fit well and I could bin off the clunky stock latch. I'm thinking of getting some under bonnet insulation to hide anymore cutting work I do. I presume eBay will be able to provide this.

After that I fit the air dam, added some extra foam in all the gaps I could find and now it's pretty well bloody sealed. With the slam panel fitted there is very very little where the air could go now other than straight through the radiator and out of the engine bay.

As I was moving the oil cooler to the PAS rack it freed up some space on the back of the rad for a second fan, so I happened to have a slimline one hanging around in the garage so I made up some brackets and fit that, and wired it up, I also routed the wiring through some insulation that I used to seal the other rad fan to hide the wires.

I also started on the brackets for the oil cooler on the PAS rack, the idea for these brackets is now that they will also be bolted onto the bottom of the air dam giving a strong place to mount the oil cooler. Unfortunately the rain halted me at the end of the day or I'd of finished the oil cooler off.

Anyway, here's some pictures of today's work... I'm hoping to get another day on the car before I go back to work and I imagine I should get a lot done if I do.

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-Lew

Update time:

Finally got the oil cooler mounted on the pas rack, turned out the cause of some weird steering issues was also a loose steering rack bolt! The brackets I made bolt onto both the PAS rack and also the air dam that I've made, I also added some support brackets for the top of the cooler with it being on an angle I figured it might need supporting so all the stress isn't focused around the lower mounts. I've added some mesh in front to protect it from any debris, I don't think it should affect air flow too much but if it does then I will replace with some less fine mesh.

I also re fitted all the front panels today... for this I had to drill out 5 bolts and re-tap them as a lot snapped off when I removed them initially. I sprayed any rust I found with rust converter and then under-sealed behind the quarter panels too.

I've taken it for a short drive, everything seems fine so far, there's a strong cool breeze in the mouth of the bumper when the rad fans come on so the air dam must be doing it's business well. I'm going to take it for a proper drive once traffic has died down a bit and open it up, make sure the oil connections are all sealed once the oils nice and hot.

Here's some pics!
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Still left to do:

COPs
Wilwood brakes + Master cylinder
Rear brake FreakyParts brackets + Discs
Undersealing rear + underneath
Coolant reroute

-Lew

Done some more work on the car!

Got around to cutting the bonnet vents, what a pain in the arse this was! removing the bonnet skin underneath was a pain. Overall I'm pretty happy with them, I still need to actually attach the mesh underneath so they're not just holes, Ideally I would have used louvers but I couldn't find any that I liked other than the really expensive singular ones.
Having removing the bracing under part of the bonnet here the vents are I am amazed how non-rigid it now is around that area. Hopefully this won't be to much of a problem to paint.
I'm getting closer to getting the respray done now, thank god... the bonnet is in such a bad state it's a joke!

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As the weather was good and I was in the mood for more I decided to have a go at fitting the Wilwoods... having used copper slip on all the stock bolts for the standard brakes with a tap of a rubber mallet they were all loose and came off nice and easy. I built the rotors up and used some thread lock on the bolts to keep them safe from vibrations making them loose.
The kit bolts up really nicely, the brake pads slide in so easily, the only real pain was bleeding them and even that wasn't too much hassle.Took the car out and bedded the brakes in which absolutely stunk!

I definitely need to fit the other master cylinder to improve the brake pedal feel but other than that they are lovely and reassuring to use!I had to cut bits of the dust shield away that would otherwise make contact with the disc and caliper, nothing the angle grinder and a few seconds of grinding couldn't resolve!Attachment 237177

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My COPs bracket from Skuzzle motorsport turned up, as well as my coolant reroute spacer from the group buy on here. So soon I will wire up the COPs and get those mounted. I'm not sure whether to attempt the coolant reroute just yet or keep it fresh for the new engine build. As I reckon that's just a pain in the arse job.Hopefully my order from FreakyParts will be delivered soon enough, which has the brackets for the rear brakes in it along with the larger discs.There's not many jobs left aside from those mentioned, mainly just undersealing underneath and once that's done I will be getting it resprayed.

-Lew

Update time!

I made the very long drive down to Bournemouth from Manchester to collect these:

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949Racing 6ULs in 15x8 with 225/45 DMACK tyres. They are epic!I've been after a good deal on some 6ULs for a long time now, they were the only wheel I could consider swapping my Wats for. I still have the Wats, and I don't know what to do with them yet. But the fact was I needed and wanted more grip, as the engine build is looming now, and decided to make the journey when I saw these come up.There's quite a difference in width from the other tyre, I think there would be more if DMACKs had rim protection.

Attachment 237142
I absolutely love the look of these things, and they came up in the right color too. I wanted to keep the red and black theme going.
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Attachment 237144I have bought some hub spacers, 13mm ones and also some longer studs. The plan is to roll the arches and with these fitted I should get quite an aggressive look whilst still having a reasonable offset as they are a higher offset than my Wats.Another thing I started was respraying the bonnet. I only wanted to do something that looked better than the current state it was in, unfortunately I don't know what to make of it so far.I sanded the crap off it, and used some finer grit afterwards which gave a nice finish, primed it and then sprayed two cans of classic red. Now, 2 cans turned out to be no where near enough, so I had to stop at this point. The paint looks a bit 'meh' at the moment. But I am going to finish it off with two more cans, maybe flat it after the first to even the colouring and remove any runs. And then I have a lacquer to apply.

Even if this turns out ok I think I will end up replacing the bonnet with another red one and just redo the aerocatches as the bonnet is far too flexible after having the bracing cut away.Attachment 237145

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I'm going to finish off the bonnet tonight, and then this week I am getting the brake lines made up for the new Wilwood master cylinder. Hopefully my brake parts will turn up this week too and then I'm aiming to make the Bunch of Fives meet in North Wales on the Sunday.

-Lew

Well, I finished off the bonnet last night. It looks terrible in person, as does the rest of the paintwork on this car though. The main reason for doing it though was because it looked absolutely shocking originally. So I think I can deal with it like this for a few weeks, gives me chance to source another bonnet, and then have the car resprayed.
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Had the first drive with the new wheels, to work this morning. They felt good. Did manage a slight arse out moment when they were cold but nothing different to how the AD08Rs behaved.The end of modifications (for now) is in sight. I'm dropping the car off to have the master cylinder and new brake lines made on Thursday/Friday. Then I've still got coolant reroute to fit, COPs to wire and knock sensor to wire up. My brake kit from FreakyParts and longer studs and 13mm spacers just to bring the 6ULs out slightly for a more aggressive look.All being well I should be at the Bunch of Fives meet on Sunday so you can all laugh at my paintwork there.
-Lew

Had a good few days, dropped the car off at a mates garage, got him to fit the Wilwood master cylinder and bias valve. And run fresh ATE Type 200 fluid through the whole system. The brakes feel amazing now, really really happy with them and I've yet to overhaul the rears with bigger discs and axxis ultimates.Gave the car a rare wash, cleaned the interior and spayed some lacquer on the dull quarter panel I had. Car looks semi reasonable now until you get up close. It's ok enough to live with for now though.Popped over to the bunch of fives meet in North Wales today, that was a good turnout, plenty of different cars and I finally got to see Matts F20 Mk1 in person, and luckily he obliged when I asked for a passenger ride. Turns out that thing is outrageous!It's really made me want to get the engine build done so I can squeeze the most out of the GT2560R so I think I might try pushing the engine build now.Anyway, some pics:

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-Lew

I keep forgetting to sort some pics of my bonnet... I'll get them at some point!

Brake update:

The parts to fit the rear brakes had all arrived now, so I set about doing those today. Pretty easy job really, I've done the rear brakes a few times now so everything came apart nicely. The only thing different to normal was fitting the caliper spacing brackets and also cutting away quite a lot of the dust shield in order to fit the 276mm discs.

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Attachment 237133I've been out with them and the car feels so good now. Done a little tuning, including bouncing off the limiter to get the high ends of the table. A good few heavy stops to bed the pads in, the car is an absolute monster now!-Lew

Thread revival time...

It's been quite a few months since I last updated this... a long standing dream of mine has always been to become a pilot. Through the last few months I've been trying to figure out if I could afford to go to an airline academy which lasts 18 months and would put me straight into a first officer seat of a British Airways/EasyJet plane...

Initially I was looking at breaking the Miata, selling my Audi bla blah to fund it and so I was selling off some spare parts and preparing to break the car.

Having made the 4 hour drive there for an open day, to discuss the finance, I discovered that it's totally out of reach. So instead I've paid for a package at a local airport to do my PPL (Private Pilots License) in a Cessna 152.

Which leaves me not necessarily needing to sell the Miata anymore... but don't know what to do with it now!

It 100% needs a respray as the paintwork is shocking beyond belief. But then I start looking at forged parts again! Why do these cars have to be so bloody addictive.

Anyway... some pics of flying stuff;

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d8255f2f22.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5fe5e1dcd1.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d0eabffd32.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...dbcf1dbc9b.jpg

Although I haven't changed much on the car in the mean time, I did swap in some new chunky ARBs and adjustable drop links, along with a lovely small OMP wheel:

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6eb2f4db96.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0199e92373.jpg

Also picked up a clean 6 speed box from our 2005 SVT model, not sure what that translates to in Miata spec.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...21a4baae79.jpg

Forgot I had this:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9a04d9b37a.jpg

Got married! that's probably important

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...950fe8b920.jpg

And I think that's about it... Hopefully if I decide I can afford to keep the car then I'll be looking at taking it back to quite OEM looking externally and making it into more of a sleeper. I really miss it looking clean, that way I get to see the horrified looks on Porsche drivers faces when they're left behind :rofl:

Hope you all had a nice thanksgiving,

-Lew

Congratulations!

Well, actually did some things on the 5 this weekend!
Drove up to see Carl @ CBS Autos to replace my bonnet and pick up some other stuff. Great guy, big help and sorted me out. I'm going back to a fairly OEM look so I can surprise people with the power http://www.mx5nutz.com/forum/public/...ult/tongue.png

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3dce21c7bb.jpgI think it looks much much cleaner this way... I think the more mature I get the more I appreciate that the OEM got it right first time...Then on Sunday I went to the North Wales Bunch of Fives mince pie meet! Meet up with some familiar faces, always good to chat with Vince.https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3d78f773c5.jpg

And then we finished the day off going to watch the planes at the Airport pub again.
Doesn't matter how many times I see the A380 it never ceases to amaze me that man created such an engineering masterpiece.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...30ca82945e.jpg

I have some parts arriving tomorrow that you lot will be interested in :P

-Lew

You've got an awesome build going here man.

Cheers!

Soooooooooo parts (not all the parts yet but some of them) came today:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1f02c2213b.jpg

You could say things are getting pretty serious.

Eagle rods, Wiseco 8.5CR 83.5mm pistons

-Lew

More parts!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fe7041241b.jpg

Oil pump is a Basset Down Engineering pump with Boundary gears. The only real thing left now is to figure out what crank damper to get, but there only seems to be the ATI one at the moment?

-Lew

Right so I'm facing a bit of a predicament with the 5, with regards to the engine build.

There's seemingly two options I have:
1) Continue with 99' cylinder head route, I still need to buy the cylinder head from a friend, and a VVT bottom end. But then I already own a very nice 323 cam cover, adjustable cam gears and I'm running Ms2e. This will be coupled with a flat top mani that I already have, and should give me reasonable scope in the future for cam changes etc.
2) I already have a VVT head in the garage that I got when I bought a full engine, now I could use this head instead as VVT appears to be good at controlling the spool on the turbo and getting the torque in even quicker. As I understand it I could potentially also run a cam gear on the exhaust too? To go down this route though, I would need to sell the 323 cam cover as it doesn't fit, I'd have to sell the basset down billet oil pump I've bought, and the Ms2e, to then buy an Ms3 and Boundary engineering VVT pump.
Option one is a net cost of £130~ roughly, and option two £350.

What are the opinions of the two? In my head VVT option sounds better, as I'll be sacrificing aesthetics for a considerably more powerful ECU and more control over tuning. But there is the drawback that there is almost no VVT cam choices if that became an upgrade in the future and I don't know what the longevity of the VVT solenoid is?

-Lew

A couple of updates over recent weeks...

Changed my steering wheel again, the Nardi was too thin and too close to me, the OMP had a nice feel but too small. Settled finally on a Momo Protipo which for lack of a better word, is perfect.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cd5d83b7c1.jpg

I ordered one of the China knock off Skunk2 throttle bodies... this came surprisingly quick! just over a week from ordering it. Build quality on mine seems fine, there's very little in terms of manufacturing marks that I've seen mentioned in various reviews of them. Shame it's not black though... although I might get it powder coated. I do plan on securing all the assembly with various Loctite.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...620d327e79.jpg

And probably some more interesting parts, after doing fair bit of reading I went for the Volvo valve springs, I'm not wanting to run any super high rpm but it's nice to know there's a little bit more in it, and also my plan was to freshen as much as I could afford to whilst doing the build to save me needing to take it apart again.

Ordered them from Summit racing, again, really quick shipping from those guys, had it in the UK in under a week I think.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...05629696a9.jpg

Finally, an order from Fab9... I've gone for +1mm intake & exhaust Supertech valves, and an ATI damper with 36-2 trigger wheel. I'm still waiting on this parcel, but when it arrives I'm pretty much good to go with the build then. In the future I may look into cams, but I've seen some really good power figures on other builds with only valve work. Plus, they're expensive!

I've decided to stick with the 99 head, and square top inlet combination, but I am planning to move to the crank angle and cam position sensors rather than stick with CAS.

I think that's probably it for now... I know in the future I would really like to move to some kind of tubular manifold and a GTX turbo but that'll have to wait for now, I'm pretty sure the cars still going to be insane fun with the current setup once the new engine is in.

-Lew

I've not updated this for a while due to being stupidly busy.

Here was a picture of the parts I'd collected before dropping them all off with the engine builder:
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...954f5eafb6.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...496c62f0f9.jpg

Quite excited to get that back from him, he's busy building a Ginetta for the start of the racing season and then he's sorting my engine.
Rough specs of that are:
VVT bottom end
Eagle Rods
Wiseco 8.6:1 83.5mm
ACL bearings
ARP Head & Mains
OEM thrust washer
Basset Down Engineering oil pump (Boundary engineering gears AFAIK)
ATI Super damper
99' cylinder head
+1mm Supertech Exh Valves
+1mm Supertech Int Valves
Volvo valve springs

I've also received a Walbro 255 & dedicated wiring harness from Fab9. I was really surprised how thick the cables were for this, but I've never fit a high flow pump before.

On top of that... I've also decided to upgrade the ECU to keep the new engine in check, so I spoke with Dimitris and ended up ordering an Enhanced MS3 which I'm excited about. Hopefully that should arrive in the next week or two.

Ordered the medium JoyFast knob from Rev9, what a work of art that is! Feels great to change gears with.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...09ac4f9897.jpg

I'm now looking at potential turbo upgrades, ideally GTX2867r territory to really make the most of the new engine. I'd like to think next year maybe I could look at a gearbox upgrade, not sure whether the K-miata kit will work out cheap enough with import duty to the UK or potentially someone here will have a better option than the 6 speed by then, who knows!

Outside of the car, I managed to get myself a new job as a senior software engineer at Jaguar Land Rover, which hopefully I can start mid-May, and I got myself a cat... you guys like cats right?!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4d165ffb77.jpg

On top of learning to fly I have literally had zero time to breath. I'm hoping now the weather is getting better (it's never great in Manchester) then I can spend some more time with the car and start enjoying it this summer.

-Lew

What an amazing looking cat!

The car stuff is nice, too. Did you read the thread about the ATI damper problems?

No?? When I was reading up there wasn't really any other option and I still don't think I've seen the new Supermiata one out yet? But like I say... been busy

Just read the ATI thread, I believe I'm in the problem zone and my damper is with the engine builder but luckily he's not begun yet. Going to get him to check for me and if its wrong then I'll have to totally mess around getting it back to the States from the UK providing Fab9 will sort it for me. Man this sucks 😫

It's better that you caught it now before the engine was assembled and installed

That it is, thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Updates!

New ECU arrived swiftly from Dimitris, so that night I shot home like sh*t off a shovel and started swapping it over.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...851768cc6b.jpg

Chaos, removing the Ms2 which had a harness far too long, I will shorten that for the new owner I think...

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0e9a248ab5.jpg

It took me about 2 hours to remove the old one, neaten the wiring up and install the MS3e, and maybe a further 10 minutes with the laptop to get it working sensibly although the basemap was very good. It was just a case of getting the idle sorted.

Then I wired up some new sidelight bulbs, for the smoked sidelights which come from the US I think. I really like these over all the others I've had/tried so they will be staying.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2d0d5700ab.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8bbc9356b8.jpg

Then came this weekend, I knew I was going to an Mx5/Miata meet on the Sunday morning so I wanted to get the EBC working again. Initially I just planned to do that, but alas, I ended up doing much more.I relocated that to the air bag location that I previously had the MS2e in. A bit harder with the MS3e because there was no long harness that would make it simple so I had to fight with the thick engine loom and cable tie it in place over the top of the heater pipe behind the dash so that the two plugs would be close enough to the air bag location that I could plug the ECU in. After that I ran a nice thick ground cable from the inlet manifold to the foot well and spurred 4 wires off it, 1 for the wideband, 1 for thhe ground ground coming from the ECU that allows EBC to be anabled, and then 2 spares for when I connect up the boost map switching and table switching control. I could always re do that and add more grounds if needed. I also mounted the ECU on some foam padding that I had lying around in the garage, so there's no rattles etc. It sits nicely wedged in when the air bag cover is installed. Then I neatened up what was left and cable tied things in place, now the CAN connector and USB cable are in the glove box for easy access. Overall I'm happy with that installation now, it's much much neater than what I previously had.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6c7b5f9ac6.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b436c17f24.jpg

Then on Sunday I got up really early, like 06:30 early, to get out mapping again with the EBC now wired in. Luckily the settings that were there worked straight off so I just upped the duty table and generally sat at a nice 12psi all day, with the occasional boost cut at 14 psi. Part of the mapping was on the way to the Bunch Of Fives meet in North Wales, we ended up driving 46 cars to the Ponderosa Cafe and then after there I went on a bit of a hoon and headed home. All in all a good weekend!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f4743204f9.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e476478403.jpg

I've ordered a new part which I will update once I've got it installed.

Really really happy with how MS3e is running the car, I'll be happy once I've connected up all the spare wires to their associated uses to make the most of it.

-Lew

It's faulty :cry:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...005396e972.jpg

Thanks again for pointing out the thread!

-Lew

I have done a lot of things since the last update...

Firstly I got my replacement ATI damper through the post which I've handed over to my engine builder, he's starting the build now very soon. Seriously excited about that.

Then I buggered off on my honeymoon to Mauritius which was pretty bloody lovely.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b46764cbef.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1cf1566580.jpg

Spent a whole load of time whilst I was away studying for my Air Law exam as part of my Private Pilots License, glad to say that I passed that exam when I came back, just another 8 exams to go :confused:

I started a new job, I'm now a software engineer for Jaguar Land Rover, who have opened a new office in Manchester city centre, the two main floors we're having are still under development but we're working in the building already. It's been a pretty insane first few weeks but it's great to work in this industry now. Especially as I'm likely to be getting an insane deal on a Range Rover Velar. We've got some awesome views too:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8b1258262c.jpg

Interestingly, I'm working alongside a team in Portland, Oregon so if I ever have to have a trip there I might see what Miata community is knocking around and see if I can get to a meet.

So. Back to car stuff, I've had a couple more part deliveries in the last week. Firstly, an LS coil kit from Hawley Performance. I got brackets, coils, and leads from them, along with the connectors that I need to make up a loom with so I'll be looking for some guides soon. These seemed to come highly recommended on here so I figured I'd go for them to stop me encountering any issues later down the line when I crank the power up even more.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5e00e70153.jpg

Secondly, a 3 inch exhaust from Kraken. I opted to have an interchangeable back section, so I can run either the Magnaflow silencer or a straight pipe section depending on how loud I want it that day :P
One thing I might get changed eventually is 2.5 inch flange at the beggining of the exhaust, as I'll be getting a custom 3 inch downpipe done at some point I'd rather it was 3 inch the full way through. Not really an issue at the moment as my Flyin Miata downpipe is 2.5 inch anyway.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...26152a5e26.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...920f03aeed.jpg


https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...77511cd4f5.jpg

That's about it for the time being, I really need to start getting the car in a position where it's ready for the new engine. I still need to fit the new fuel pump, wire the coils in and get them set up, paint the engine bay (and the car), sort out a new battery, fit my mini amp and door speakers...

I'm fairly sure I've missed several other jobs.

-Lew

Great progress man and congrats on all the life things: cat, new gig, honeymoon. Awesome!

I wonder how your exhaust will sound. I opted for the 'base' silencer and I'm not a huge fan of how it sounds since it's too loud for me. I have a big magnaflow muffler that I have sitting here waiting to be swapped out so hopefully that improves the tone. I'm curious how the mid sized magnaflow you have affects things!

Currently residing in Portland Oregon, working as a software engineer. Let me know if you have any openings :D

Cheers!

I'll get some video's up once it's on. I found the Flyin Miata exhaust too quiet so I'm hoping this is louder Certainly should be with the non silenced section in !

I'll find out on Monday, I'm not sure what's available there with being in Manchester but I imagine I'll be able to check.

-Lew

I wouldn't mind some opinions on turbo choices.

I currently have an FM setup with a GT2560R, inconel studs and stage 8 locking hardware.

I've narrowed down a few potential routes to go with the new engine now being built;
1 - Keep the FM mani, studs and locking hardware, sell up the GT2560R, buy a GTX2867R + ATP Housing and have a 3 inch down pipe fabricated, AK Automotive who are building my engine here in the UK did this with good results. Probably also the cheaper option.
2 - Sell most of the kit I currently have FM mani, studs, GT2560R + oil feed and drain, FM elbow and downpipe, FM cat(decat) and FM exhaust, then go 100% custom:

I have a GTX2867R on a tubular Artech manifold with a 3in exhaust and big MagnaFlow. It uses the .86 Garrett hotside IWG housing. At ~20psi it's about 330whp and has exceeded the capacity of my 6 speed. I am finding it necessary to get the KMiata BMW transmission kit.

It's a fine turbo but it does not perform as well as an EFR. In some ways that was a moot point because it made all the transmission could handle and there wasn't any reason to have anything more awesome. It will likely make 400 horsepower, fuel permitting, with a little more boost. And I see that you are making the value judgement of the best versus good enough with a 500 euro price difference and the fact that the efr is currently out of stock.

My spool numbers are in the show me your spool thread if you want to compare them. Bear in mind I'm using an NA8 head and intake if comparing to NB spool numbers.

Yeah, I have a 6 speed to go on this engine, but the K-Miata kit is on the cards (next year). Most likely just the box though, adding the Getrag diff adds a ton more cost with our lovely import duty and VAT added on.

It's looking most likely that I'll go for the GTX option, what are your thoughts about the ATP housing vs external waste gate? I feel more inclined to go external wastegate? that way should I change the turbo again in the future, although unlikely, it'll mean less issues if I don't already have a port there for a waste gate.

I'm thinking of taking it to this guy:
https://www.instagram.com/schubandautoworks/

I might be slightly biased, but I say 6758

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...526feab972.gif

External wastegate adds a level of complexity to the downpipe. I haven't had any issues with the Garrett turbine housing with internal wastegate. What is your reason for not considering it?

Ha! we'll see... like I say, it's quite a big difference in cost to go for an EFR, so much so that it nearly covers the entire cost of my custom manifold.

I dunno whether they're all as bad, but I had to port the wastegate on my GT2560R to solve a boost creep issue with an internal wastegate and that sucked.

Efr doesn't need wastegate or bov. Remember that.

I really like this kind of design:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d0c7ae153c.jpg

But I'd be wanting to link that screamer pipe back into the downpipe as I do eventually intend on the occasional track day in this.

aidandj you do raise a good point. I'm still debating what to do... I suppose first thing I should do is sell up what I have so I know what funds are available.

Starting to really consider a GTX3071R as well now, going to continue doing some more research... Maybe I'm getting too silly.

My AWR mounts from Fab9 should hopefully turn up this week, I'm also on the hunt for a front subframe with wishbones so that I can have it blasted, powder coated and bushed ready for the new engine. I'm aiming to rebuild the front end, underseal it all etc whilst the engine swap happens. And then when I have chance I'll do the same with the rear. The parts are cheap enough it's just having the time to go and collect them.

Happened to see this beauty whilst I was out and about for my birthday:
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...55966ca86e.jpg

Talking of my birthday... I did my first solo flight the morning of it. I'd say there was an equal share of excitement and terror ha

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...da25cb2313.jpg

I think that's all for now, other than me still trying to figure out what turbo to go for. I've read a lot of threads on here and had a browse through most of the spool data thread. I'm still leaning towards a GTX3071R after all that, I think it'll be a good compromise between reasonable spool and sensible power goals. A bit unsure on A/R choice though.

-Lew

A/R choice would depend on your redline, fuel choice, and a couple of other factors, imo.

A larger AR will certainly give you later spool up on what is already a large Turbo. If you plan on running 8000 RPM then maybe you have enough operating range not to fall out of boost every shift. A larger AR offers a little less back pressure, but that's probably not a big deal on a turbo that big. Increased back pressure will create more heat and possibility of detonation at the same power levels but again not probably an issue on that size.

If I was going to run a GTX30xx I would likely look at the larger compressor size really closely. 76R will actually flow more pounds without probably a tremendous shift in the surge line. You'll need to look at it.

All of that being said, I would run a smaller AR with that turbo and keep my red line 7200 for longevity. .64 or something.

Why not EFR?

Thanks for the input! I'm still open to the idea of an EFR, I've by no means discounted it. However, here in the UK the prices seem fairly insane for one.
I got quoted £1880 for an EFR6758 with T25 turbine housing. That's roughly $2,497.68...
Maybe I'm missing something, but the Garrett options are cheaper for me, I could probably get the GTX for around £900-1000. If I ordered an EFR from the US then I'd have to factor in a hefty import duty and tax to pay on it.

-Lew

That makes sense.

I had a Chinese 2871 copy and it spooled fine to 12psi with the .86 housing. I can't tell much spool difference with the GTX2867R and .86 I have now. I make a lot more power now than back then, though. A 2867 made enough power at 21psi to destroy my 6 speed (~320-330whp) and had the headroom to go higher, so unless you have a transmission solution planned I wouldn't be in a big hurry to go to the GTX30xx. You will have slower spool up and no room to gain on the top side for power because of the trans.

Yep, again, not sure what to do here.

I really REALLY want to get the K-Miata ZF swap kit. The robustness of it, combined with the longer gear ratios just seems perfect. However, again I'll be smacked with import duty and 20% VAT to pay on it, making it really expensive, and I don't see anyone here making a kit because the volume of orders would be significantly less than over there.

All I can hope for is that your tremendous* president and our tremendous* prime minister banged out a great trade deal. Until then I'll just have to run 6 speeds.

Another factor, I am considering track days too and I suspect I'd benefit from the cooler temps from a no-so-strained 30** than a 28**. But, as you say if a 2867R can turn a 6 speed into metal bits then maybe I shouldn't be looking at going any bigger.

* not really tremendous

Another piece of the puzzle arrived from the US

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e2fe377792.jpg

I've found an NA front subframe and wishbone setup fairly local to me that I will hopefully collect soon. Plan is to blast and powder coat the metal, get myself some new hubs, etc, I want everything to be fresh and new. Any recommendations on bushes? it seems to be a hotly debated topic over here, I'm quite tempted to just replace with OEM, heard very mixed reviews about pretty much all polybush kits.

-Lew

Machining work pics... rods and pistons balanced to within 0.1g

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fd2d9d36f1.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ef1e32efb9.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...402ac3f118.jpg

-Lew

Nice, is AK doing your engine build?

Yup.

A couple more updates.

Finally got chance to sort through my bombsite of a garage, managed to organise everything, bag loose bits up and label them. Cleaned every spanner and socket and got my wife to size order them, winner! Another winner was finding a whole load of stuff I forgot I owned and decided to put up for sale, and overnight most of that has already sold, pending collection.

I needed to do this in preparation for the engine returning, as I'll need somewhere to build the remainder of it.

In two weeks time I am collecting this lot:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4c1a6255b9.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2028d54764.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...acc6962acd.jpg https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...87f3cdca74.jpg

Refurbished and powder coated subframe/wishbone set. I did plan to do this myself, but a whole set came up and now me and the wife will be spending a weekend in Cambridge when I collect them.

This makes things much easier for me now, as soon as I'm free (possibly our August bank holiday weekend) I am going to whip the engine out, take the subframe off and begin undersealing the front section of the car. I need to look at ordering some poly bushes, new hubs etc. I also need to get my hands on a depowered steering rack too. Aiming for a full rebuild under the car inline with the engine build. I've not had a show car for 4 years now and I'm itching to get back to that level. But also to own something that will decimate all.

-Lew

Cheers! It's going to have cost me a fortune this build, but I really wanted to make this car standout to those with a keen eye. The plan aesthetically are to keep it subtle, again, those with a keen eye will pick up on the sticky tyres and Wilwoods, but other than that, it's mostly plain looking these days.

I began taking parts off the car on Friday night, I'd already agreed a sale on the GT2560R so I needed to remove that, and I also finally decided that I'm gonna sell the FM hot side setup in favour of a custom tubular setup.

Pretty much decided on a Gen 2 GTX3076R 0.83 A/R VBand turbo for the build, I have absolutely no doubt that this car is going to terrify me as much as it excites me.

Having removed some bits from the car it's made me realise what a cruddy state it's in, but thankfully most of the cruddy stuff is being replaced with new shiny parts, I'm undecided on whether to spray the engine bay a different colour to the car. Maybe a satin black or something so the engine can stand out some more.

Collecting the powdercoated subframes and wishbones this weekend, as well as some frame rails. So I'll definitely need to crack on with stripping the car down soon in order to begin prepping the underside of the car against our crappy salty roads. That said, I don't think I'll ever drive this thing in the rain/snow/ice again in order to help protect my hard earned!

Here's a few pics of Friday nights work:

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...24e923a831.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8a05a50359.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7a5153bc27.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bc8906aaa4.jpg

-Lew

I bought an efr6258 t25 for $1264 brand new.
I would imagine even with $150 shipping and 20% VAT it's still a lot less than the prices you were quoted.

I went from a 2560r to 6258 and the difference is very significant, more power and much faster spool up between gear shifts.

I recommend you rethink the turbo selection.

Where did you buy from?

It's looking around £1300 for the GTX3076R option. Your 6258 would probably come in around the same as that all costs considered, but I'd prefer the 6758 I think, I really do fancy having the headroom for more once I get look at getting the ZF box swap or similar.

-Lew