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Is your upper timing cover 3d printed? Because it looks 3d printed.
hahah no, but I can see how it looks like that. So, before, I tried to paint that piece with wrinkle paint and it chipped pretty badly within a couple months. So this time since I had everything apart, I went for some oil-based "tractor and implement"
paint which is a poor mans POR-15 I can get at the local tractor supply and has been incredibly durable. The reason it looks like that is because I live in New York and it was about 30 degrees when I brushed it on, so it dried thick with the brush strokes, and when I noticed the brush strokes I tired really hard to make them look uniform at least.... I guess that is a weird testament to my steady hands, anyone need some cheap surgery?
Been a little bit since an update, but have been slowly getting small things done
Got the transmission filled and interior back together Most of the wiring done, just need to pin these up I ran into an issue with an ebay2 throttle body, they sent me the wrong hardware and stripped these holes, got screwed on returning it. Probably just going to use the stock throttle body for now, try again later on down the road once the car is running But then this came today!!
Still working out little things with my coolant reroute, but need to get the throttle body figured out before finalizing it. Hoping to get my fuel stuff figured out next and go for initial start-up mid-March! Excited and nervous
*any chance a mod can move this to Builds, it’s not so much DIY turbo*
Ran into a couple issues this weekend:
First and the biggest... Car was already running on a spectre eMS-Pro standalone from like 2005 that ran ms1Extra, which means that the previous owner had a shop (I have the receipts) cut the plugs off the ecu harness and splice in the connector to the eMS-Pro, which makes the ms3pro PNP I just bought... NOT PLUG AND PLAY (!@$#^%&^$@!#$@#)
so after about 20 minutes of cursing the car and panicking over the thought of trying to trace and rewire the stock plugs back in... I turned to ebay and found an ecu harness out of a 1994 for $80 and got it. I guess I would rather take apart my interior and replace that harness than to try my luck at extensive wiring followed by a decade of chasing gremlins. So this definitely puts the first start a week or more back, but what can I do
Second problem, I just hate the coolant reroute upper hose routing, after trying to make it work and cutting up my qmax hose I decided to try the $13 escalade coolant hose ive been reading about. I was going to buy the $120 cobalt hose that supposedly "fits NA" but I will give the cheap version a shot first.
Somewhat discouraged on the build as every time I go work on it, something else goes wrong and costs me another $100 but we will get there. Persistence without "i" is just persstence, and thats not a word......so
I DEFINITELY understand what you’re going through. I bought a M edition as a good foundation to build from and it became a total nightmare due to previous mods done wrong or half-assed. Most of that stuff is worked out now but it still seems everytime I start some modification, even the smallest, most insignificant mod, it turns into some huge ordeal and things go wrong. Good luck to you
I appreciate the encouragement, it’s going to get done one way or another! Spring is coming FAST here which is at least lighting the fire under me
Anyways, here’s what I am working with
Got this far last night and stopped, definitely broke my gauge hood — first one I’ve taken off on all the Miatas I’ve owned, feared I was going to break it and self-fulfilled that prophecy — what’s another $100 at this point 🤪
the harness will be here Friday so I am hoping to knock it out this weekend, but we will see
Oh, I remember these times.
In the middle of my build, I simply didn't care anymore about $'s. I feel with you right now I originally thought I can build the car for 5000$ - was about 15000$ at the end.
Now that the car is on the road, it hurts me a little more to invest in it. Last week I had to buy parts for the six-speed/torsen swap (seals, boots, oil etc) and I can't just take it that easy anymore, idk.
I was guided by friends who have only taken apart NA6 dashes (who swore I had to pull my dash), which do indeed require you to pull the entire dash to replace the ECU harness
HOWEVER, for NA8's (and possibly NB's, but can not confirm) you actually only have to get up behind the AC and heater blower behind the glovebox to disconnect that portion of the harness. I attribute this to the difference in where the ECU's live (footwell on NA6, behind pass seat on NA8)
I learned this too late, and broke a cluster hood that did not even need to be removed. Am I frustrated because I wasted hours of time? YES. Am I thankful that I don't have to continue pulling the dash and worry about getting everything plugged back in correctly? A RESOUNDING yes! It also gives me an opportunity to route some of the additional wires (EBC etc) in a cleaner way than they were previously and properly finish the AC delete as I had just left the under-dash box there, whatever...
So, I just wanted to put that information out there because it was not something I had come across and hope that someday this might save someone a bunch of time and unnecessary breaking of cluster hoods. Will work to get the drivers side dash put back together today, the harness will be here tomorrow! *eye of the tiger playing somewhere off in the distance*
Got some more done, AND sold the old ecu + harness (making it essential PNP for a 94 at the plugs behind the AC) and netted $185 after shipping, which pays for the hood and the harness... thrilled to break even!
New OE harness installed Getting fuel side figured out, I need more fittings Radium rail dry fit Getting the extras figured out Wife just signed on this ‘21 cx30 turbo, officially a dual turbo Mazda household! 250hp 320ft/lb it’ll probably beat the Miata to 60 hahah
also ordered my dw1000cc injectors (yeah, yeah.) and just need a couple more AN fittings to finish up the fuel side and hopefully go for a first start in 2 weeks???
Got a few more things done, Stefan from Napp Motorsports came and helped get my AN lines done
Radium rail, flex sensor, and regulator all AN Still waiting on injectors MS3 installed, getting the interior back together
I’m going to double check my grounds and then go key on this week for the first time since august last year; just to set up the MS at this point, but it’s another step closer. Hoping the injectors ship soon, still don’t have tracking numbers.
Also preordered a set of those new R8 coil kits with the sequential harness, which I will get setup before the dyno but will do break in with the stock setup in the meantime
Unexpected day off from work today, so I got lots of little things done!
Interior back together! Did a real ac delete with the Mazda OE pipe, pain in the *** but got it in there MS3 cable through the glovebox, planning to run the same windows based tablet in there running full tunerstudio at all times Blew out the fuel lines and tightened them, got the throttle body set up
so once the injectors come (tomorrow, Saturday) I can put them in, double check some things and hopefully go key-on to set up the MS
Finished up coolant routing, filled coolant, fixed a leak at the turbo, installed DW1000s and went key on! MS3 is communicating with my laptop, base map loaded. AFR isn’t quite right, and was just playing with my boost map switching and can’t get that right either (not important at all right now) but I am in a good spot to build oil pressure for the first time and consider first start!
Fixed a gas leak I had around the AN lines today, still can’t quite figure out the wideband communication and am going to have to do some wire tracing from whatever previous owner did
Got the courage to try to turn it over and build oil pressure!!
*click*
didn’t even turn over 😠 battery is fine, thought it was the “st sign” fuse I pulled (which you apparently only need to do for 90-93 cars) so put it back and was ready to try again, certain I had figured it out... and *click*... ugh
so I’m going to check all my grounds and starter connections, I bought the starter used from a forum member who said it was working when he took it off the engine, idk
I also went to change the fuel filter and there is an in-line canister above it with power running to it????? I’m not sure if it is some kind of external pump or what, but I am not loving all these gremlins my low mileage NA is turning up. Was really hoping to see oil pressure to keep some momentum to the build, but I’ve gotta find motivation elsewhere I guess...
Check your clutch interlock switch. They can go bad and cause exactly the symptom you're experiencing. I replaced multiple starters, the ignition switch, battery wiring, installed extra grounds and even a relay - to no avail. I was ready to sell the car until my mechanic traced the problem and took the switch out of the start circuit.
If you're worried about the starter being bad, you can jump the solenoid on the starter with a remote starter switch (or just a screw driver if you're feeling froggy). Just make sure it's in neutral if you're under/infront of the car when doing this.
02-08-2021, 01:35 PM
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I originally thought I can build the car for 5000$ - was about 15000$ at the end.
