Rebuilt Engine, Dynotuned, and Gorgeous
 

I finally did it. After a completely heart-breaking, sometimes miserable 2 years, with tons of roller coasters of emotion, I got my 03 Miata running again.
I need to start off by saying a thank you to everyone here on this forum, as you were instrumental in providing good advice and support. A huge huge huge huge thanks to @curly who donated countless hours of advice throughout this journey. Enormous personal thanks to Chase Race, who has been there for me when I didn't have personal shop access or when things got over my head. If you need a race mechanic in WA, he is the best of the best. And finally a thank you to the race shop AR Motorsport in greater Portland, who I would give a huge recommendation to for work and dyno work (for OR area). They are among the highest caliber of professionalism and talent.

So to give you a quick recap:

• A few years ago, had the FM Turbo kit that I moved from my previous Miata to this one. I decided to go "bigger" this time and upgraded to a standalone ECU and injectors. I couldn't find a good tuner, so ended up taking it to a crappy dyno tuner. He did an ok job on my fuel map, but a poor job tuning my boost map, and kept things a bit to close to the edge --> BENT CONNECTING ROD
• I then came here and got advice, help, a huge grocery list of things to buy. Then did the removal, tear-down, took it to a machine shop for the fine work, then built it up and installed (details further down) [I should have come to you BEFORE I did the dyno tune.]
• Finally, I dyno-tuned last month. While what I got is not big power yet, it is good power and is running great. Big power is likely to come next year.

Output:

• 221whp and 224torque at ~12-13psi
• Engine and turbo have maybe 280-295whp possible, but we ran out of fuel (and could benefit from a better intake manifold).
• I will upgrade the fuel and intake manifold next year after I have ensured all the little gremlines are gone, it is reliable, and have enough fun with my build here.

Build:

• Turbo: Garrett GT2560R (this was from the FM Kit)
• Head: Stock rebuilt head (it is a VVT head), stock 5-speed tranny with Flyin Miata Clutch
• Block: Manley Connecting Rods, Wiseco 8.8:1 84mm pistons and engine bored to 84mm (now ~1.9L engine), Boundry Billet Oil Pump, ARP Head Studs, Lots of OEM replacement parts
• Cooling: FM Re-Route Kit, SuperMiata Cross Flow Radiator
• ECU: Megasquirt Pro3 PNP
• Exhaust: FM Downpipe, Cobalt MidPipe, and Roadster Muffler. All 2.5"
• Fuel: Deutchwerks 550cc injectors (too small~!) and stock fuel pump (ooooops!)

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Happy to help, and I'm looking forward to more boost once the fuel system is addressed.

Looks good! I’d maybe reroute the upper radiator hose lower down, just so it’s not the highest point in the system (could be the angle of the pic but it looks higher than the rad cap) just cause it can trap air up there and make it harder to bleed.

I think I mentioned that, there's a lot of #NB shit in the way. I think we mentioned putting a pulse damper on a radium rail. Completely unnecessary except for eliminating the stock pieces, but allows more room along the frame rail for the radiator hose.

@themonkeyman is very right. It would be a lot nicer with that coolant hose down, but @curly is right, it is not an easy endeavor.
It actually had lots of air in the system for a while, because that hose is so high up. It is fine for now, but further in the future I may look to see if it is possible to lower it without removing all the nb shit :) but I think its not possible.

I got other bigger fish to fry at the moment, but good thing for possible future improvements.

You are on a MS... none of that shit is really functional anyway.

Get you the hard pipe piece from BBFW. Makes the install super clean looking.
​​​​​​https://auroraautodesign.com/product...nb-miata-90-05

The fuel pulse damper is the main thing they’re referring to I believe, which is definitely still functional and needed. But yeah the BBFW hard pipe might be able to snake along the frame rail or something.

My buddy has his fuel damper in place and is running the BBFW hard pipe. Its mounted up a little bit higher, it doesnt sit right on the frame rail. Im going up to his place later today and ill try to snap a picture.

And there are LOTS of people who claim to have deleted the fuel damper with zero ill effects.

While a lotta people have deleted them, anyone serious will advise keeping them. Deleting them can cause strange hysteresis and pressure issues at high flow rates. Probably not a big issue with a stock motor but as soon as you start demanding much more from the stock fuel piping they’re quite important. There’s a reason every Oem has some form of one on or near the fuel rail. But good to know the BBFW hard pipe can fit around it.

Yes, please take a few pictures to post. The more installations we see, the better others can figure out if this pipe will work for their setup. I'm not entirely happy with the silicone reroute hose location on my FM2 Garrett upgraded MSM. It snakes under the intake manifold (NB2 manifold) and around the OEM catch can drain hose and required bending the A/C parts up near the radiator to fit the FM crossflow radiator inlet.

I also ground down a sharp corner on the manifold as well as numbers that were cast in to lessen rubbing issues. An extra layer of silicone hose helps but I plan on closely monitoring those contact areas. Routing a hard pipe under the manifold and inside of the frame rail might require the shorter, curved end to be trimmed down and a new bead formed...I might send measurements and ask for a quote on a custom pipe, They look great for dedicated race cars but less so for upgraded daily drivers. When I install my rebuilt forged rod/piston engine I'll be able to see better and get measurements.

Sorry, didnt see my buddy last night as he was sick and I dont want to get sick...

Ill grab a pic when I can, but probably wont be for 2-3 more weeks.

I know he is still running his fuel damper. i know he has also deleted the little charcoal canister and all that stuff.

But as they say "a picture is worth a thousand words"...

i dont think Moti from BBFW is on here is he?