When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
After spending 3 and a half years on a forum called miataturbo.net, we're finally here. 2554R, second-hand but never been used. Picked it up locally for $560. It's getting real now, boys.
Looks good! You are more patient than i am for sure.
Extra points for curious cats!
Thanks! Trying to save money where I can without compromising on parts, so patience is a must. I'm not expecting the kraken kit to arrive for several weeks, so that helps keep the temptation to buy the rest of the parts ASAP at bay. Since I have to wait anyway, I can use this time to watch for deals. Once that big box from the UK arrives, I'll be a lot more eager. Might even commit to going with the widely espoused ebay intercooler.
Purchased drill, tap, and stainless steel oil drain fitting today, as well as a rubber cap. I think I'll drill the pan on my next oil change, then cap it until the final installation. Will pick up a harbor freight right angle drill today to make the job easier.
I've identified all the fittings that I need, but I'm not entirely sure what comes with the kraken kit, so I'll have to wait until that arrives before picking anything else up to avoid double buying.
Stuff to tackle in the mean time:
Finish selling extra parts and clean up garage to make room for this big project
Insert weatherproof connector into factory AIT wiring so I can swap between the stock sensor and the GM AIT with extended wiring. Got this idea from a build thread, I think it was EO2K.
Install injectors
Run wiring for EBC. I picked up a solenoid off the for sale section here. Looking forward to this job the least, removing the MS3 is such a pain in the ***.
I managed to drill the pan in my 1.6 with a big plug in drill from the late 50s, since it was the only one I had that could fit the drill bit. Rubber tube over the drill bit to keep from drill to deep worked perfect.
I donct have an AC compressor in my car, I do have PS though.
I decided to go with AN for the oil drain. Should be less of pain in the *** to remove than cutting a rubber hose off. Picked out some stainless steel braided teflon hose and -10 hose ends. I'll cut to length and then put the ends on when I test fit the turbo.
3/8 NPT to -10AN fitting for the pan and matching cap
-10 AN turbo drain flange
I managed to drill the pan in my 1.6 with a big plug in drill from the late 50s, since it was the only one I had that could fit the drill bit. Rubber tube over the drill bit to keep from drill to deep worked perfect.
I donct have an AC compressor in my car, I do have PS though.
Just realized that the drill I bought earlier won't fit the harbor freight right angle drill. Largest shank it takes is 3/8, and this bit is 1/2. I'll have to return it. Bought this instead, 37/64 reduced to 3/8 shank: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Drill-Am...8998140withTHD
ID 725s are in.
On 99-00s at least, the EGR valve has to come off before removing the fuel rail. Learned that the hard way. Once it was off, I installed the EGR block-off plate I got from Begi. I'll try to remove that godforsaken EGR tube tomorrow. Soaked it with rust penetrating lube.
I read a bunch of warnings about being careful with the black plastic spacers that the fuel rail bolts go through. I picked up some super glue in order to adhere them to the manifold. Managed to drop one while super gluing it. Came closer than ever before to lighting the car on fire and watching it burn. Ended up finding the spacer thankfully and finished up the install instead.
Used these settings from an mt.net thread in tunerstudio:
I got everything back together and went to start the car. It started with a little throttle, then went really lean, 17ish or so. I had to up my idle VE table, entries in the main VE table, and warm up enrichment. After some tweaking it idled quite well. I'll take it out and use VEAL tomorrow morning.
Spent an hour or so tuning idle. A/C engagement in particular was challenging. It was shitty before, but it was "good enough" so I just left it. Now that I have the actual injectors in that I'll be running, I'm more inclined to spend the time to make things run well. I switched from Took it out for a drive and ran VEAL. Did my commute to work and a few local roads. It started out a litte iffy, but I think with some refinement it will run smoother than stock.
Finally swapped from "use last value" to the initial value table for closed loop idle. This appears to have solved a persistent issue I've had where the idle would jump to 2k or so occasionally when pushing the clutch in. It was really obnoxious while parking. Also, the RPMs would dip very low occasionally after coasting to a stop. Now the car slides into idle much easier.
A/C engagement is a little better now. I added more PWM duty %. It sounds like hell when it engages and the RPMs dive bomb, but it's better than before. This is with idle RPM timing correction enabled. Might need to revisit the wiring for my Spal fans and use an even larger gauge. I've looked into PWM controllers and delay relays, but I really don't want to add additional complexity if it can be avoided. A PWM controller for soft starts would be so nice, though.
EGR tube won't budge. I need to remove the heater hoses in order to get it off. I'll wait on that, since I don't feel like draining the coolant today.
Running low on items for my pre-turbo checklist. Just waiting for the kraken kit. If it arrives in the next couple weeks, I might go ahead and order the FM intercooler and piping instead of waiting for the sale. Not sure I can hold out until mid-October.
Get awr motor mounts and you'll get that rumble you miss!
No thank you my newish factory motor mounts are great. I want to keep the car civilized since it will be my daily for the foreseeable future. Speaking of which, the more threads I read about the big magnaflow, the more I think it will still be too loud for me. I'm loving this stock exhaust life. In a strange way, it's actually been a performance upgrade. I don't feel obnoxious when I'm at high revs on surface/residential streets anymore so I can spend more time in the engine's power band.
Should give me an easy to install/remove solution. I looked into adjustable flapper valves, but I don't really need any adjustment -- just want it quiet all the time unless I'm at WOT. I need to do a little research and see if this will completely kill my spool, but I'm willing to tolerate a loss in performance when the silencer is installed so I don't have to be so paranoid about attracting attention that it prevents me from enjoying the car.
Now, when I press the a/c button the compressor and the first fan engage right away, then 10 seconds later the second fan turns on. The amount of current required is much more manageable with only one fan turning on at a time. I'm still getting a dip when I turn the a/c off at idle, I'll have to look into that. I thought it was my idle rpm timing correction curve being too aggressive for over-RPM, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It's not nearly as severe as the drop when I engaged a/c previously, so I'm satisfied for the time being.
Stefanst and I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out idle in my car. Idling rich actually helps with the dip since the car doesn't threaten to stall every time. This is pretty much the only thing that let my car have any sort of normalcy while street driving. The big spal fans draw a fair amount of load. More than expected if one looks at the fuel load etc as well.
That said, hit me up if you end up trying to get rid of the big maggie kraken setup. Truth be told, I'd wait to try it first. With a resonator I'm sure it'll be quite nice. If it still drones, you can have a helmholtz put in. I don't see the need for what you suggested here, though to each their own!
I have a 5 second delay relay so my compressor engages before the fan. Works nicely for splitting up the loads.
Originally Posted by yossi126
There's AC idle up delay option in TS. Worth a try, did the trick for me.
And a Fan Delay for the main fan. In my case, I have a short delay for the fan, then a longer one for the compressor. Not sure why it could not work in reverse.
I have a 5 second delay relay so my compressor engages before the fan. Works nicely for splitting up the loads.
I didn't think about putting a delay on the compressor, that's a good idea. I could use a shorter relay to break it up into 3 phases: main fan, a/c compressor, secondary fan.
Originally Posted by yossi126
There's AC idle up delay option in TS. Worth a try, did the trick for me.
I've played around with that quite a bit. Right now I have it set to the max, 1s, to give it plenty of time to raise the idle before engaging the a/c.
Originally Posted by DNMakinson
And a Fan Delay for the main fan. In my case, I have a short delay for the fan, then a longer one for the compressor. Not sure why it could not work in reverse.
Looks like I'll be tracking down another delay relay for the compressor.
So the car doesn't stall or anything, but it drives like a dog in stop/go traffic with the a/c running. The amount of throttle input required to start smoothly varies tremendously depending on whether or not the compressor is running. Also, it creeps forward in 1st/2nd much faster with a/c on than without. I know driving in traffic with a/c on wasn't pleasant with the stock ECU, but I don't think it was this bad. I spent some time adjusting the fan and a/c idle pwm duty increases. Running hypothesis was that I had these set too high in order to compensate for the load due to the current draw of both fans starting at once. Dialed these back a little bit so that I had an acceptable dip.
Still haven't had any luck figuring out what's causing the idle dip when I turn the a/c off. Log and tune attached in case anyone else is curious.
.
I can't see your tune right now but I keep my base idle around 1050-1100 RPM and 1200 when compressor engaged for better smoothness and better A/C performance, too. It produces cool air better and keeps the alternator production up when blower, rad fan, compressor, are all on full blast. I'm really not worried about idling fuel economy as much as being comfortable.
Let me be plain. I am saying that MS3 has a fan delay setting for the main fan. Basic/Load Settings -> Fan Control > Idle-up Delay. If you set that to 1000, then there will be a 1 second delay from when the idle up occurs, and the fan relay is energized. It cannot be set for more than 1 second (1000mS).
Stefanst and I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out idle in my car. Idling rich actually helps with the dip since the car doesn't threaten to stall every time. This is pretty much the only thing that let my car have any sort of normalcy while street driving. The big spal fans draw a fair amount of load. More than expected if one looks at the fuel load etc as well.
That said, hit me up if you end up trying to get rid of the big maggie kraken setup. Truth be told, I'd wait to try it first. With a resonator I'm sure it'll be quite nice. If it still drones, you can have a helmholtz put in. I don't see the need for what you suggested here, though to each their own!
You had the big maggie in your build right? Would you say its fairly quiet? Or "quiet?"
Originally Posted by sixshooter
I can't see your tune right now but I keep my base idle around 1050-1100 RPM and 1200 when compressor engaged for better smoothness and better A/C performance, too. It produces cool air better and keeps the alternator production up when blower, rad fan, compressor, are all on full blast. I'm really not worried about idling fuel economy as much as being comfortable.
That's a valid solution, might opt for that. I idle at around 950 currently. The stock ECU was able to manage a/c engagement at that RPM just fine so I think I'll keep pursuing it for now, but if I can't get it working well enough I'll try raising the idle some more. I suspect that will just take care of it.
Originally Posted by DNMakinson
Let me be plain. I am saying that MS3 has a fan delay setting for the main fan. Basic/Load Settings -> Fan Control > Idle-up Delay. If you set that to 1000, then there will be a 1 second delay from when the idle up occurs, and the fan relay is energized. It cannot be set for more than 1 second (1000mS).
Ah, got you. When I read your post I didn't realize you were talking about TS settings. Still had relay on the brain.
In other news, so much for waiting for the FM sale to buy the intercooler and piping:
06-27-2019, 02:26 PM
0
