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Just thought I’d say howdy and post pics of my 1.6 Turbo auto project. Nothing too fancy just a turbo miata on methanol (or thats the plan at least). Gonna fix some of the more obvious issues like cooling in the near future just hunting around for some nice radiator options. (Apologies for the cockeyed plug wire cover I didn’t have it sitting quite straight when I took the photo d’oh!)
dunno what she puts down for power I’m not sure how far 14 pounds of boost gets you on these things. I’d hope like 230 but I wouldn’t shed a tear over like 200hp to the wheels
basics of the build are a CX manifold which I spent hours making not ***** cause from factory the manifold flange wasn’t even close to being perfectly flat or fitting right, CX downpipe with the end chopped off to fit the transmission, CX mystery turbo, intercooler off a BMW N54 with different caps welded on the intercooler to fit the miata, charge pipe off a random Volvo that just happens to perfectly go around all the miata power steering, RZCREW Airstream intake manifold, Snow Performance Stage 4 methanol injection kit, rzcrew fuel rail with those purple mazdaspeed/nb 265cc injectors and then I’m gonna play around with a 323GTX AFM because I think it’s a bit more boost friendly than the miata one. Nothing too fancy just a bit of a weirder setup. I can’t say I’ve seen many turbo autos or even autos for that matter lol
megasquirts don’t have the ability to control the torque converter lockup as far as I know so I’m a bit **** outta luck for that. If I can’t find success with the methanol I’ll go greddy e manage as a last resort.
im not sure how many dudes here are running full standalones for methanol injection but it’s worked for us in the past so I’ll have to see how she goes with Mazda stuff.
megasquirts don’t have the ability to control the torque converter lockup as far as I know so I’m a bit **** outta luck for that. If I can’t find success with the methanol I’ll go greddy e manage as a last resort.
im not sure how many dudes here are running full standalones for methanol injection but it’s worked for us in the past so I’ll have to see how she goes with Mazda stuff.
I'm pretty sure MS3X can control torque converter lockup. I have the setting for it at least. Not sure what it's for though.
Just thought I’d say howdy and post pics of my 1.6 Turbo auto project. Nothing too fancy just a turbo miata on methanol (or thats the plan at least). Gonna fix some of the more obvious issues like cooling in the near future just hunting around for some nice radiator options. (Apologies for the cockeyed plug wire cover I didn’t have it sitting quite straight when I took the photo d’oh!)
dunno what she puts down for power I’m not sure how far 14 pounds of boost gets you on these things. I’d hope like 230 but I wouldn’t shed a tear over like 200hp to the wheels
basics of the build are a CX manifold which I spent hours making not ***** cause from factory the manifold flange wasn’t even close to being perfectly flat or fitting right, CX downpipe with the end chopped off to fit the transmission, CX mystery turbo, intercooler off a BMW N54 with different caps welded on the intercooler to fit the miata, charge pipe off a random Volvo that just happens to perfectly go around all the miata power steering, RZCREW Airstream intake manifold, Snow Performance Stage 4 methanol injection kit, rzcrew fuel rail with those purple mazdaspeed/nb 265cc injectors and then I’m gonna play around with a 323GTX AFM because I think it’s a bit more boost friendly than the miata one. Nothing too fancy just a bit of a weirder setup. I can’t say I’ve seen many turbo autos or even autos for that matter lol
There are a few of us running turbos and automatics. Most of us that are set up for drag racing though.
You can't because you have an electronically controlled transmission. Shifting between the 4 forward gears is done by the ecu. A megasquirt won't do that for your transmission. If wikipedia is to be believed your transmission doesn't even use a lock-up style torque converter. It's not about the torque converter. It's about shifting between forward gears.
You can't because you have an electronically controlled transmission. Shifting between the 4 forward gears is done by the ecu. A megasquirt won't do that for your transmission. If wikipedia is to be believed your transmission doesn't even use a lock-up style torque converter. It's not about the torque converter. It's about shifting between forward gears.
If he is a 1990 it is hydraulic valve body with lock up converter. mazda calls it a n4a-hl . The lockup solenoid is externally located on the front, bottom left side of transmission. It is simply on or off and can be activated with a switch if you want. The electric shift solenoids were used 93-97 model years. Mazda calls this one nc4a-el, However they are both different versions of the jatco 4n71 based transmission. You can get aftermarket standalone transmission control units to control solenoids or you can modify the valve body for manual shifting. After 97 they switched to Aisin 03-72 transmissions.
The Jatco transmission is a decent unit once modified. I have two that are very heavily modified for drag racing use with extra clutches, increased line pressure, many valve body mods and manual shifting. However when stock they are soft shifting and only have 3 frictions in the clutch pack used for 3rd gear. The stock 1990 transmission may last at 200 hp but you may want to at least modify the valve body to firm up the shifts. Once you start adding more power you will want to build it with extra frictions and the whole gamut of valve body mods. Built right it will hold a lot of power and last a while so long as you keep it cool.
Thank you very much that's fantastic info. I've had a very difficult time finding any miata auto trans info and it seems what I found wasn't even correct.
I guess the only thing that might prevent a plug and play ecu from working for OP is if the ecu pinout is different between auto and manual.
If he is a 1990 it is hydraulic valve body with lock up converter. mazda calls it a n4a-hl . The lockup solenoid is externally located on the front, bottom left side of transmission. It is simply on or off and can be activated with a switch if you want. The electric shift solenoids were used 93-97 model years. Mazda calls this one nc4a-el, However they are both different versions of the jatco 4n71 based transmission. You can get aftermarket standalone transmission control units to control solenoids or you can modify the valve body for manual shifting. After 97 they switched to Aisin 03-72 transmissions.
The Jatco transmission is a decent unit once modified. I have two that are very heavily modified for drag racing use with extra clutches, increased line pressure, many valve body mods and manual shifting. However when stock they are soft shifting and only have 3 frictions in the clutch pack used for 3rd gear. The stock 1990 transmission may last at 200 hp but you may want to at least modify the valve body to firm up the shifts. Once you start adding more power you will want to build it with extra frictions and the whole gamut of valve body mods. Built right it will hold a lot of power and last a while so long as you keep it cool.
are you the dude who has the turbo miata he spools with compressed air?
Thank you very much that's fantastic info. I've had a very difficult time finding any miata auto trans info and it seems what I found wasn't even correct.
I guess the only thing that might prevent a plug and play ecu from working for OP is if the ecu pinout is different between auto and manual.
You are right, when I first started down this rabbit hole several years ago I hard a hard time getting solid information on what automatic transmissions were used on what years of miatas' as well.
Originally Posted by MX-****
are you the dude who has the turbo miata he spools with compressed air?
Yes
Originally Posted by MX-****
Oh geez that’s rad. We def need more turbo automatic owners to come out of the shadows and post some vids of their cars
those suckers have some serious untapped potential!
Probably not a huge number of miata owners turboing these things with automatics. Shame because turbos and well built automatics go together like peas and carrots if setting up for primarily drag. You should look up patsmx5 and mx5psi to see what they've done. Lots of good info on their end.
I am confused. The ECU that controls the auto trans for the stock auto is not the same ECU that runs the engine. At least in the US you can replace the stock ECU with a MS and it will work fine. Genesplicer did this on a NB.
I am confused. The ECU that controls the auto trans for the stock auto is not the same ECU that runs the engine. At least in the US you can replace the stock ECU with a MS and it will work fine. Genesplicer did this on a NB.
The 94-97 100% for sure used a separate tcu (transmission control unit) from the ecu. Im not sure if the 90-93 did or not. The tcu for the 94-97 uses speed and engine temperature data from the ecu as well as transmission turbine speed sensor and gear position data from the transmission range switch located on the transmission to control the shift solenoids as well as lock up. 100% positive on the 94-97 have shift solenoids and lockup solenoid as Ive already built and modded a couple of those. I also have an extra valve body and some other parts out of a 91 n4a-hl. It is all hydraulic with no shift solenoids, however that transmission does have an external lock up solenoid. They are both versions of the jatco 4n71. The 90-93 will say either 4n or 4n-h on front pump, 94-97 will have 4n-e. If he has the n4a-hl he should be able to figure out control for lockup solenoid.
06-04-2020, 09:05 AM
My 1.6 Turbo auto build
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