fwiw - I was prepping for a v-band EWG when I chopped the two bolt flange off and noticed a surprisingly thick walled tube. That's almost ⅛ inch - sched 10. That might explain (some of) the longevity of these vintage SSA manifolds vs. the typical eBay tubular manifolds at less than half this wall thickness.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1396622869

What? SS Autochrome? It just won't work! :)

I didn't realize it was that heavy, not sure mine is or not. Along with the brace on the WG downpipe, I welded a small gusset from that tube to the #4 runner. I wasn't sure if I was making things better or worse since I probably changed the metallurgy in that area while welding it. I seem to be lucky so far.

Did you V band the muffler or at least drive w/o the muffler on?

Hey, I thought you were going to reference the WG to the collector!

My SSA manifold is the first gen- early- as evidence by the non contour cut flange. It's just a straight up rectangle, which is what allowed mounting to the FE3. Perhaps that's a difference...?

I have yet to get to the exhaust/dp at this point. That'll be my second phase along with the heat exchangers. Phase 1 is getting the engine in, starting/running. That should inspire me to at least build an exhaust and cooling system. :D

I couldn't find enough of a reason to go off the collector. Add to that the idea of cutting up that area and it just seemed like to much of a risk. I figured you (and the PO) have done OK with the WG mounted there. And so have all the ETD long tube manifolds that have the EWG on the number 4 runner. It looks to me like it's a case of "less than ideal is OK for normal use." Fortunately I'm not building a race car. ;)

You are right, the EWG on #4 works just fine, even with E85. I can't believe I suggested that time and money be spent on a mod that does nothing for performance!

Hey dvcn, since you never posted a picture of your cold air intake box do you have it fairly well sealed?

My NA6 came with a fairly beefy aluminum heat shield that I'm thinking about adding a sheetmetal top to and sealing up any openings to the engine bay. The only worry I have is that the relatively small mouth of the TSI won't supply enough CFM to keep the turbo happy on track.

The headlight assembly has been removed on my car so it is a straight shot from the TSI to the filter. I might just remove the TSI entirely at the track to see if there are any gains (in IAT and butt-dyno power)

I don't know if it needs a top. Most air boxes I've seen with a top also have massive gaps elsewhere. It takes a lot of effort to do a highly sealed box and I'm not sure if it's on the right side of the 90/10 rule. I don't think I've seen an OTS air box that I'd buy, except for the Racing Beat one for the RX-8 with the ram air snorkel. It is a thing of beauty.
REVi Intake Kit for 04-11 RX-8 - Racing Beat
REVi Ram Air Duct for 04-08 RX-8 - Racing Beat

With the TSI out, watch coolant temp and boost creep.

My "airbox" is one of the most commented areas of the car. It is made of Coroplast/twin wall polycarbonate/campaign signs or whatever you want to call it. The first reaction is that it won't last with underhood heat. True, the first one lasted about 5 1/2 years before it started to get brittle and deteriorate on the edges. Just over a year ago I made V2.01 and put my favorite aluminum duct tape on the edges. I'll let you know how it's doing in five years. Like it or not, Coroplast is a relatively good insulator and a bad conductor of heat. The only downside is longevity - relative to aluminum or stainless. Not sure if most people even keep their car more than 5 years.

Cost: Near zero, maybe 20 cents of tape. Tools: Utility knife. Time: 10-90 minutes depending on how much you are drinking. Effectiveness: Very good.

It is cut fairly close to the hood. I purposely left a gap on the side to get airflow to the master cylinder area. I blocked off all radiator discharge air.

I think that the bigger the internal volume of the airbox the better. Or, the distance from the air filter element to the walls of the airbox should be maximized given underhood space constraints.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1396704348

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1396704348

The DIY TSI is not pretty but it works. What's the use of an air box that isn't properly fed with outside air? Mine is a stock broken TSI, lens removed, the back of the housing hacked out on either side of the bulb. It is still functional. I sprayed the inside of TSI so it wasn't bright white. I once put a screen over it to make it 100% legal, now I don't really care. Not going to show a closeup, it hurts even my eyes. I was still running stock springs in this shot.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1396704348

At the track, sleepy eye added 2psi above 100mph. I hadn't tuned in that area before so I run with the headlight down at the track. I do sleepy eye at autox just to annoy people.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1396704348

Thanks for the reply!

Is this because of the increased pressure in the engine bay? My whole thinking with sealing the airbox is to allow the TSI to supply cold air to the filter without adding any pressure to the engine bay so the radiator can maximize its flow. Apart from adding a top I would also go around and try to plug any holes that would let air in/out. I'm planning to duct the rad and cut a hole in the hood (if I need to) so anything to increase the deltaP across the rad is the goal.

Nice car btw, looks like fun! I'm really excited to get my NA6T on track since all of my track experience has been in larger sedans. The lack of body roll just driving the miata on the street is getting me really excited :D

You are spot on about the pressure differential across the radiator . Drives me nuts when people just install larger bits and wonder why it still runs hot. I also have a thing against the "the stack" of a bar/plate intercooler, condenser and radiator. Massive airflow restriction and preheating of air (eventually making it to the radiator) hurt the deltaT and airflow that have to happen in conjunction with the deltaP. My IC setup is a little different than the norm. Sorry, I digress.....

I think ram air is a great thing. The majority of turbo setups I see don't even try to get cold air. It confuses me.

Well that brings me to another point of contention I have with the original owner's design choices. He has the vertical FM intercooler covering the driver's side half of the radiator which reduces the effectiveness of both exchangers and makes ducting the radiator harder. The only problem is that there doesn't seem to be a better place to put it. Below the rad is too low and across the bottom of the rad presents the same issues...

Any brilliant solutions out there?

The good news is that driving it on the street in anger at low speeds so far hasn't caused any sign of over heating even with no ducting, a weird DIY "racer reroute", no turbo heatshield, no undertray, and the headlight covers missing. Once I get on track with a splitter and headlight covers I might find myself cutting a hole in the hood even with proper ducting on the rad.

Found this video from a while back. Hand held cameras are discouraged at our autox events. This passenger took a stealth video that I think is fairly odd and funny. 12k hits on an autox video of a dashboard and keys. Hilarious!



My fave comment:
00:06 he just came a load.

Hey dcvn, We need to hang out sometime Im in the SATX area as well.

Sure!

Going to SAR in the next few weeks if I can work myself up to change the oil and clean the gravel and concrete out of the air filter.

I went last week and ran a 13.6 @104 .I need to play with my spark map, My goal is to get into the 12s

You should be able to get there with a half decent launch and just a little more power. I ran a 12.98@106.26mph back in 2008 on low boost and a 5sp.

Just had to bring this thread back from the dead :hatecat:

Read through the whole thing and was thoroughly impressed. Any chance this engine is still kicking?

It Lives!
 

Over 8 years since the installation of the churbo setup, the same engine is still running. It still burns oil but I'm not going to rebuild because of that. I've been planning on doing a proof of life video for a long time but never got around to it. I'll post one soon, hopefully before rods shoot out the bottom and pistons achieve a low orbit.

Overall health? Wheelspin on a 4th gear roll on yesterday.

:party:

So cool. Repeated 12 second passes on stock diff, tranny, and 200K+ motor is just amazing. Awesome.

2106 Proof of Life
 

9 years since the initial install. Still running the same T3/T4 ebay turbo and SS Autochrome manifold that the experts proclaim to be the worst evar! It makes 327whp and ran a 12.21@118mph the last time down the track. It's been at this power level since 2011.

I'm doing a couple things to the car then going back to the track soon-ish. The 60' should improve significantly.

I wanted to do a good video that had an unsafe fly by, 100 yard burnout, illegal speed contests, etc. but decided to just throw my phone on the dash when a friend asked me to take his son for a ride. Nothing thrilling. 30mph residential area so I tried to stay out of boost/WG. WOT for about five seconds of the ten minute drive. I'm pretty sure he thinks highly of the antique beater Miata that's ten years older than him! Not a thrilling video, just a proof of life.

It's not always about proving people wrong, going after a stupid number in the 1/4 mile or trying to be at max boost at 2k rpms. Sometimes it's just about taking a drive. Life is best while in the spool.

Ha- boost on, smile on. I envy your drive:wrench ratio. :bigtu:

I cant believe this car. Its almost everything people say not to do on here.