300+whp 2002 miata custom turbo kit project
 

Project started when my dad wanted a fast reliable little car for summer....so ended with the idea of a turboed miata. (because i had experience with turboed BP)

We searched for the best model to by to put a turbo on it

He ended buying a 2002 (sport package) in absolute MINT condition.
Some features : blisten suspension
OEM frame brace and shock tower braces
6 speed transmission
VVT engine
torsen LSD
biggest OEM brakes
16" wheels
nardi steering and shift knob
no a/c, no cruise, nothing fancy so....... lightweight

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385503598
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385503598https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385503598https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385503598https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385503598https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385503598https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385503598

looks great!

better change your title to 200+ whp before naysayers and pita's tell you things will break or it isnt going to happen.

good luck and the best to you!

Strange... your NB has the ABS washer fluid bottle but the gaping hole on the other side of the engine compartment does not have an ABS pump.

Good luck with the build. What kind of turbo/manifold/downpipe stupidity do you have planned for 300hp? ;)

i don't know why the washer fluid bottle is on this side without the abs but it came like that from the factory for sure.. the car was totally like new
maybe canadian cars have it on this side ???
as for my title.....don't worry I'm not the kind who give numbers without proof ;)

awesome :D

****car has 65 000 km

Parts list:(price are in CAD an include shipping and duty)

supra ct26 turbo (free had one from my mk3)(50-100$ used)
ct26 rebuild kit (75$)
ct26 gasket set (75$)
ct26 mild steel inlet flange (30$)
ct26 stainless exhaust flange (40$)
FM lvl 1 clutch (475$)
deatchwerks 550cc injectors (310$)
AEM FIC (free had one from my old ZMDET protege) (340$)

Summit Racing Parts list :
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385510561https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385510561

Treadstone Performance parts list:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385510561

Way to over pay for everything from treadstone, and on a good bit of stuff from summit.

Dont forget to remove the grill and the decapitator bars.

It took a little over a month of waiting time but it was worth it
here's all the parts that will go on the car:

Not the best pics but you get the idea

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385512361https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385512361https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385512361

Treadstone don't have the best price for everything but when you order stuff from canada you have to consider the shipping and the duty price ;)
that's why I ordered a lot of stuff from there

Wideband integration with the FIC/6 Boomslang? I don't see a wideband on your shopping list, but then I also didn't look very hard ;)

Also, shooting for 300+ hp and claiming that on miata turbo while running AIDS is ballzy.

I was getting to that :vash2:

Canadian Cars came this way from factory.

Our washer fluid is preheated. for Canadian winters. :dealwithit:

you're right i forgot to mention AEM UEGO gauge (Wideband Controler)
And I know 300whp on a piggyback seem risky but Have you tried the AEM FIC, it's a very powerful small box. I have a MS3X in my drag only 2nd gen mazda protege and an AEM EMS in my supra and all i can say is that the FIC is certainly not as powerful as these standalone but I am not shooting for crazy numbers and crazy boost like in my protege for exemple. I ran my ZMDET protege at 21 psi for 2 years on this box and never had a problem and i started with a 250000 km engine and it never let go since i scrapped the car with 340000km on it. The only thing is that you need to make a good safe tune.

inb4 gore shots

Now for those who would be interested in installing an FIC:

First thing i did on the car was to install the FIC. I did it first because i wanted to be sure that the car was acting like if the FIC wasn't there and i wanted to collect data from the MAF voltage on the car when it was totally stock. Once the dataloging completed i had values at each RPM where i needed to clamp the MAF voltage and adjusted the MAF voltage table in the FIC to prevent the stock ECU in seeing increased airflow :)

BE AWARE!!!!
The boomslang harness needed a mod to be 'plug and play' on the car
The stock miata MAF outputs a voltage of around 8v with key on and engine not running but if you tap on the wire you will get around 1.44v because there is a resistor inside the stock ecu to bring the voltage down to a more friendly 0-5v signal. The problem when you plug in the AEM FIC is that the MAF signal wire is intercepted so you can clamp it but with the wire cut there is no more resistor to bring the power down. So in the Boomslang harness they welded a 1k ohm resistor between the MAF signal input and the ground to bring the voltage down the a 0-5v signal that the FIC is able to recognize. The problem is that with the 1K resistor the voltage with the key on and engine off is around 1.24v instead of the 1.44v. If you let it alone the car will start and die because it will not read the right amount of air. the fix is to install a 250 ohm resistor inline with the 1k ohm already in the harness. it will give a total resistance 0f 1250 ohm and bring the voltage up to exactly 1.44v. Now the car will start right up and act exactly like before the AEM FIC was installed.

NOTE: The car can't be run with the jumper harness in place it has to be plugged in the FIC

I don't say the boomslang harness is not good, i only say that on my car is was not working

Ok now the real project really starts.

First i started by removing the engine to change the clutch, install an oil return fitting on the oil pan, oil feed for turbo and coolant fittings for the turbo.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526
the coolant fittings acts as a bypass for the thermostat but the car don't have any problems getting warm quickly and it gives an awesome flow of coolant in the turbo :)

I also did some cosmetic upgrade while i had the engine out
First i removed the intake and valve cover to change the injectors.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526


than it was cooking time:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526

I powdercoated the valve cover and the intake manifold in oem wheels gray and with anodized red lettering and added a clear coat over that... Personnaly i think it look pretty good :)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526

And here you see the FM clutch:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385528526

Pics look good and I dig your valve cover. Why use those fittings on the thermostat? I'm looking a a little piece of hose that could easily be removed to supply that turbo with plenty of coolant.

i putted those fittings because they are cheap, easy to install and reliable. there is many other way to supply coolant and this is mine. My only concern was maximum coolant flow thru the turbo ;)

Coolant in the turbo is mainly use to cool the turbo after shutdown. It doesn't need flow, it just need a height differential - as in, one side needs to above the other side. Doesn't matter which is inlet and which is outlet.

During normal operation turbo is cooled by oil, so an oil cooler is a better idea.

I don't think you'll actually get any coolant flow at all using those 2 ports that you made once the thermostat is open. Why not just use the same solution that everyone else uses and use the hose barb that was already there as supply and the barb on the mixing manifold as return. That would've been much easier, and is proven to work great.

Also, why go through all thee trouble to remove the pan and and weld a hose nipple on? Why not an Npt bung or a male AN fitting as a second best solution? Seems like a lot of effort to just put in a braided AN line.

What is a ZMDET motor? I'm intrigued.


Interesting choice on the CT26 turbo. I run one on my daily driver, but i can't imagine response to be anything but "lazy" on a BP. Will subscribe to see how this turns out.

SOVIET the turbo inlet and outlet of coolant have a heigh differential to help coolant recirculation on shutdown but i really think that coolant helps cooling the center section when the engine is running so cooling the center section will in fact put less heat into the oil and will remove the need for a better oil cooler than the factory one.(BTW nice build with the EFR, I've seen your dyno with the 6258 and it look very nice but keep reading my tread and i promise you will be surprised with the dynosheet i have)

BARON340, There is a flow of coolant in the lines even when the thermostat is open because even after a couple pulls on the dyno i was able to touch the turbo center section with my bare hands witch is totally impossible on my oil cooled s256 on my supra or my s256 on my protege. As for the oil return fiting in the pan i did that way because i needed to remove the pan to drill the hole anyway and it was easier for me to turn a firing on my lathe and then weld it with the tig :)

CONCEALER404, a ZMDE is the 1.6L engine from 3rd gen protege, the T is because i turboed it. And i can say that the turbo don't feal lazy at all on the car, not more than when it was on the supra...but the fact that the miata always rev higher than the supra helps too ;)

now that every mods are done to the block to accept the turbo, there is one more thing i have done before putting the block back in the car.

Intercooler intallation:

I had to cut the bottom of the plastic bumper in order to make the intercooler fit in the bumper.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385599576https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385599576

here's another shot with the bumper installed.
It fit right there
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385599896

after the intercooler was installed, it putted the engine back in the car and started to do the manifold for the turbo.
It's a totally custom made manifold with sch40 1.5'' mild steel pipe bends.
I tried to make the runners as short as possible for response while still having a really smooth transition into the turbo. This is probably one of the parts that lead to making power all the way up to redline :)
(sorry no picture early in the manifold building process)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385600503https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385600503https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385600503https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385600503https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385600503https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385600503https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385600503

After that i started to rebuild the turbo and fabricated all the fittings that would go on it.

here's both turbine and compressor wheels, they were in pretty good shape considering they are more than 25 years old

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601208

here's one in the middle of the rebuild

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601208https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601208https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601208

here with the compressor
The compressor is powder coated anodized red over oem wheels gray
the center section and the waste gate actuator are satin black.
(yes i powder coated the actuator and putted it in the oven at 450f, at first i didn't realize that there was a diaphragm in there until it was already cooking, so let it cook and thankfully the was no damage to the diaphragm)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601208

now it was time to build the fittings.
One strange thing about the CT26 is that the oil feed and return are both located under the housing one beside the other

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601653https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601653https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601653https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601653https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601653

this one is for the coolant fittings the were made the same way as the above fitting, i mean a steel tube was welded on the center. I have no pics of it finished tough..
Also both coolant and oil fittings were powder coated satin black for a sleek look and to prevent corrosion

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385601653

After that it was time for final installation of the turbo !!!!
As you have previously seen the manifold is a top mount. I did it that way for two reasons, first is that the ct26 has really big turbine and compressor housing for it's size and second, it has a better look when you open the hood and what you see is the turbo up top beside the valve cover!!

Here is the turbo installed with the intake pipe and the bracket i made to hold the MAF in place since i had to keep it with the FIC

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385680755

Heres the intake pipe and bracket powder coated gloss black for a more sleeper look

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385680755

after that i made the intercooler piping, sorry not a lot of picture of that but here is the final result, powder coated gloss black to make it clean but not to visible.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385680755

Extra pics, it is possible to see the diverter valve recirculating hose in the intake pipe.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385680755https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385680755https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385680755

With the turbo in place i started building the down pipe and all i can say is that it was a tight fit with my manifold....

but before doing the down pipe i installed a brace for the turbo to support it. I don't like the idea of having all the weight from the manifold, turbo, down pipe and exhaust only on the flange of the manifold. I think this brace will give a lot more resistance to manifold cracking or exhaust gasket failure.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385682543

Building the down pipe
i tried to give the waste gate port a good flow path to prevent boost creep issue and im glad i did because event with a MBC the boost don't spike and only move by .5 Psi throughout the rev range. (from my personal experience (used it on 3 different engine at boost varying from 4 to 21 psi), internal wastegate on the ct26 is particularly good. it has a low boost on waste gate spring and boost can be turned way more than twice the base boost on a small engine like a 1.8)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385682543https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385682543https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385682543


Here with the o2 bungs installed

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385682543


on the car


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385682543


finished product


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385682543


And i wrapped it fo better under hood heat control (One of my favorite pics taken by one of my friend)


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385682543

At this stage pretty much everything was done under the hood so there is only the exhaust remaining and it will be a first start.

the exhaust has a 3'' flex pipe and a vibrant resonator and tubing.. that's it

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385683094https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385683094

Ready for final welding

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385683094

and finished product

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385683094

I'll try to make a video of the sound of the exhaust but thrust me it is absolutely amazing.

I hope you have heat sinks for those o2 sensors, because they're way too close to the head to last long without it.

And that turbo brace is pretty weak. Add a gusset along the vertical angle section all the way down to the 2nd bolt, if you want it to actually pretend to do something.

Forgot to mention, it is not shown on the exhaust pic but since i still use the stock ECU and the car have no cat I had to figure a way to mount the second o2 so the signal simulate the stock cat. so i used a 90 degree o2 extension and still no cell to this day (1 month later)

Now that all was done it was time for a first start!!!

This is the fun part of using the FIC, it start absolutely like stock because it is still the stock ECU. NO idle to tune, no cold start nothing.
the only thing i had to do is change my injector size in the software from 265 to 550cc and voila, the fuel table was generated and the car started right up like if it was stock.

here is the air fuel ratio 20 sec after startup

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385683894


a shot of the tuning software

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385683894


Before startup i was a little worried that the accel fuel and throttle response would be screwed up because the MAF was now far away from the engine than in stock for but i was happily surprised that it was not even noticeable that the MAF had moved. The car still have that crisp throttle response of the stock VVT engine. such a nice thing :)

The next thing that surprised me the most was the fact that i could build boost from neutral just by playing with throttle up in the rev range (not in the limiter it would have been too easy). not a huge amount but around 1.5 psi witch is really interesting since it was promising in term of turbo response with the ct26. I knew this turbo would not be bad spool wise because I had already mounted it on a 95 bp engine in a protege and even with a restrictive 2,5" exhaust (had a cat and a chambered muffler) It was still able to build around 18psi at 4000-4100 (YES I BLEW THE ENGINE AT THIS BOOST LEVEL BUT IT WAS A TEST AND I WANTED TO BLEW IT, HERE WAS THE COMPRESSION RESULT OF THAT SCRAPYARD ENGINE : 110 180 90 135 SO IT WAS ON BORROWED TIME AND I WAS REVING IT TO 7800 WITH THAT BOOST LEVEL, WELL IT STILL TOOK THE BEETING FOR AROUND A MONT AND 20 DRAG RACES BEFORE THROWING A ROD WHILE ON THE LAUNCH CONTROL)

Honesly it was very very fun to beat the shit out off that engine :)

In the next post ill talk more about the response of the car on the street and ill try to find some pictures of logs to show te spool and the boost recovery between shifts

stay tuned !!

LEAFY, I know that the sensor bung is close to the turbo but the sensor going in is a narrowband witch is supposed to be a lot more tolerant to heat than a wideband sensor. The wideband was only used for tunning and is now removed from the car and the hole is capped

I don't know why, if it has something to do with my tubular manifolds i build that makes less exhaust heat ??? but the wideband on my supra is in the exact same location (6" from the turbo ) and it's been there for 50 000 km and still work just like new. And my supra is putting around 500 to the wheels so i think it produces more heat than the miata.

well we will see, if the stock o2 sensor fail in a short period of time i will relocate it on the exhaust.

As for the turbo brace, this part work in nearly pure compression or tension. The purpose of it is to form a triangle between the manifold flange , the turbo and the bottom of the block.
it has to move to accept a little movement of the turbo when the manifold heats up to prevent stressing the manifold even more.

I haven't read the entire thread, but I didn't see any mention of rods. How exactly do you plan to keep them inside the block?

He just said he blew the engine already.

No he blew up his 95 protoge engine (I went back and read again). I'm thinking it will be at least another week before he blows this one. Probably not more than 2 months I'm guessing.

I'm really surprised you're doing all this and sticking with such a crappy turbo. Genuinely surprised.

I'm genuinely interested to see what the F/IC can do. We don't really have many people running these, the last time I checked. Probably because the $300 for the Boomslang harness and $400 for the AEM F/IC-6 puts you solidly in the range of an MSLabs MS3 Basic.

I guess already having the F/IC takes out a lot of the sting.

THENUGE26 you're right there is no rods in the block, it is totally stock. For the longevity of the engine all I can say is that it already survived a couple time banging the limiter in 6th gear and in a weather that was almost 30 degree colder than when we dynoed the car (so power was almost certainly over what we measured on the dyno) and the compression is still within 1 psi on each cylinder and didn't went down at all so everything is still in great shape in the engine.(no bent rod)

18PSI please wait for the dynosheet before saying anything on the turbo. I think everyone will be surprised of what it can do.

EO2K the reason I went with the FIC is first because of the simplicity of tuning because my dad wanted a perfectly runing car as fast as possible and the second reason is as you stated because I had one in stock. Let's say that money was not a big factor in this build.(even if my choice of parts seem to suggest it)

a little teaser for the next time i'll post something.....


yes 300+whp on a MUSTANG DYNO:)




https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1385700997

:rofl:

I'm sure we'll all be surprised what a 20 year old turbo can do.

Interested to see where this goes.

Regardless of opinions, work looks great. Nice welding.

That wasn't his point..

Nice to see something different on here. Curious to see how this one turns out.

Hayyyyy bro, wanna race me from a roll?



Ok but seriously, what makes the turbo so crappy? The fact that it's huge for the power it's capable of? The fact that it's a 25 year old turbo? Or the fact that it sucked when attached to the motor that it came off of?

I'm skeptical of the idea of one on a BP, but i love it on my F2. They last forever, refuse to die, can be purchased in working condition for $50, and nobody wants them, so spares are never an issue.

LOL
I don't think its really even a good roll race turbo. Its big and heavy, like a roll race turbo, yet doesn't offer any of the perks of a roll race turbo like topend for days. I craps out at what, like 12-14psi? I remember tuning my friends bolt on mk3 supra and being really disappointed with this turbo.

In for (hopefully) surprising dyno plot :)
Maybe I'm completely wrong and somehow magically this is a perfect turbo for a 1.8 BP

It craps out at about 14psi....

On a 7mgte.

So that has approximately fuck-all to do with any of the cars being mentioned in this thread.

It's not the perfect turbo for a BP, i know that for sure, but it's not going to crap out at 14psi either. Think more like... 20psi. Or more.

Mine pulls hard as a motherfucker up top at 24psi, verified.

Hmm, ok so then I might be pleasantly surprised.

Sounds good.

I think you will. Like i said, don't expect a perfect plot, but if the tune is worth a damn, it's not going to be as limpdick as you think.

I'd never SEEK out this turbo for a BP, but in a budget "what the fuck do i have laying around the shop today?" build, sure, absolutely. :)

It's better then the MSM IHI turbo. :giggle:

---- fissures are better than the MSM IHI turbo.

Now that is saying something..
Don't Google it by the way.

Now time for some results....

Car was tuned using homemade det cans and filled with 91 octane gas.
All pulls were done in 5th gear (1:1 ratio)
Boost was totally straight thru the entire pull (varying from 11.8 to 12.2 psi)

Interesting thing was that I was able to hit MBT while tunning my timing map even with the vvt high compression engine. I would have taught that i would be limited by knock with such a high compression ratio and boost but i had to add 6 degrees past MBT before i could ear a single knock event in the det cans and power was already down by 13whp with 6 more degree of timing. So what it means is that I have a safety margin of 6 degree with my current running map witch is pretty awesome!!!

Here is one of the dyno pulls:


here's the dynosheet :

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1386563206

Honestly, on the the dyno I missed my MS3X....
First I would have loved to bump the limiter to 7500 because power was still climbing a bit.
And Second I would have been able to remove that ''too rich'' section followed by that 800rpm section where I am a little lean. I had to have that rich part because there is no load enrichment in the stock ECU with the AEM FIC and if it is not there it would go crazy lean when boost would build fast when shifting or flooring it at high RPM. On the road this rich and lean part is totally unnoticeable. (Here's a log from AEMLOG that shows the rich and lean part is not there when I shift from 2nd to 3rd) (and also notice how boost set smoothly and is constant thru the rpm range)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1386563206




And now for all of you who think that the ct26 is not a good match for the miata engine here is a video that shows how it respond in diferent situations. And there's also a 2nd to 3rd flyby to show the sound of the car with my manifold exhaust combo ;)


Now Please leave comments and questions and i'll be happy to respond to them.

****Boost gauge isn't there normally, it was only for the purpose of the video*****
****also initial boost was set down to 9psi due to boost climbing 3 psi with RPM in cold weather (below 0 degree)*****

Well that's pretty impressive if that plot is legit.

Good for you.

ct26 does still look pretty lazy on the 1.8 a 300hp turbo not making full torque by 3000 rpm?

Sure not full torque at 3000 but find me a turbo that have full torque by 3000 and that has that flat of a torque curve up to the limiter....(with a dyno proof of course)