Here's What I've Been Up To
 

Other than sorting out the supsension, this is how far I've made it in the past couple weeks. Now I'm about to take a week long break to go to the shore with my girl...... The pics below show a decent summary of my progress.

:Here's what I have to get done:
-Mount and hook up Vortech fuel riser
- Hook up innovate wideband (deleted boost guage off of original, got it done today!)
-Plumb A.F.M. and air filter to turbo inlet
-Heat shield to isolate master cylinder, A.F.M. and filter from the turbo fireball
-A little more heat shielding on the turbo lines
-D.P. back 2.5" exhaust, reemed cat, summit turbo muffler
-Turn signal intakes

-Start the slut, see if she holds 6psi, determine if I have to throw in my 1.8 injectors, click the A.F.M. spring or get an o2 clamp or all of the above.

I was wondering if you guys could help me out with two questions....

1.) My vortech was bought off of a buddy who had it on a supercharged mustang, and then let it sit for a few months before I bought it. Should I worry about cleaning the thing out? If so what is the best way to clean it? Disassemble or just run carb cleaner through it?

2.) Should I do a black mesh grill the main opening in the front bumper and my T.S.I.'s? Anyone have pictures of their grill's???? (Miata grills please!! I don't want to see a close up of Juvenile or Ja Rule!!!)



Catch you guys later! I'm living at work for two days and then heading to the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :bigtu:

Anthony

I'm diggin the tdr style over the top pipes. I would clean out the vortech just to know that it is clean before I put it on, and I think grills look like asshole.

Yeah, I want to clean it to be safe, but I'm wondering if there is anything touchy to watch out for when dissasembling the vortech.....

I like the over-the-top IC setup. Did you have to lower the radiator at all?

Thanks ATL,
Yeah I definitely had to lower the radiator, about 2.5"
I have a crapload of pictures. Give me your email if you want to check them out....

If it'd been done a month ago, I'd be all over more pictures. I did something similar, but not as elegant ;)

There is certain places mesh belongs, in your grill is not one of them.

That reminds me... gotta redo the porch screen door. Bah.

I'm diggin the over the top IC piping, any chance you can put more pics on what and how you did it? Did you notch the hood too?

As for the Vortech, it probably has a 12:1 disc in it, meaning it's gonna run rich at low boost for you. It's not hard to take apart at all, there's nothing to really mess up. The paperwork that came with mine did say NOT to disassemble the lower part of it (with the fuel barbs), but I took it apart anyway, and it still works. Just be sure that you don't fux the rubber diaphragm and that it properly seals.

Here's my grill <G>

definitely more pictures of the IC pipes. It looks like you notched the front support to make room for the pipes?

Haha.....I guess grilles in the mouth are kind of taboo around here huh? :eek5:

lol....I kinda want to get something in there to protect/hide the i.c. a tad bit....i might just have to make a bar style piece to fit in there..... or try mesh first...

I'm a little more familiar with miata.net and know that they have a pic upload limit. Do we have one over here too? If so...I gotta find a site to host some pics. Got any recs. for a good free spot to do that....cardomain? myspace?.....I dunno :confused:

If I can get a decent spot to host the pics...I will try to get some up between being hungover and drinking while down at the shore. I have a crapload of pics so...



ATLANTA......post some pics of your over the tops if you get a chance...i'm curious to see your setup

I've been using a free photobucket account for about 3 years and have been happy with it.

+1 for photobucket.

Don't grills tend to cause overheating as well. The faster you go the more and more grills act like a solid wall. If you want stealth, then lightly paint the IC flat black, it's been documented on here. Otherwise your IC and radiator will not operate as well as they should.

not a big fan of grills...but flat black paint is #1 in the sleeper world...im digging the pipes two...:)...i just finished my diy turbo on my 1.8 na, running the same vortec fmu too...i definitely need to get an o2 clamp though!!!

You're absolutely right. The tighter the mesh, the more pronounced the wall effect.

s10383: I just got the car boosting last night/this morning, so I'll get some pictures of my over-the-top setup posted on the forum somewhere soon.

Hmmmm :cool: .........that's a good point about meshy crap acting like a wall at speed. Never took that into account. I guess the mouth will stay open, but I'm still no too crazy about leaving the TSI's wide open...guess I'll just have to see how it looks.
I will definitely get some pics up on photobucket within the next few days....

If you are worried about it getting beat up you could make something like what racing beat designed for the 06-07.

http://www.racingbeat.com/conMX5/Screen.gif


Pegasus sells SS wire mesh...

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/gro...GroupID=SCREEN

If racers are buying it from Pegasus then I am sure it doesn't affect cooling to much. I would think the coarse mesh would block a lot of rocks but still allow flow.

Over the top intercooler pipes- yay
Tiny postage stamp IC- nay

It's all about total surface area my friend. The core is about 11"x10" and 6" deep. "10x6" = 60 sq in for each layer and there are about 10 layers in it.
So we got 600sq in. with each layer having 2 sides to the atmosphere so that would be 1200sq in. Go check up in braineack's faq which outlines surface area for I.C.'s and see where 1200 sq in is going to get me. Big I.C.'s look cool and thats about it. They're also nice for blocking a shitload of air from the radiator.