chicksdigmiatas

iTrader: (11)

no prob. I got to spend about 30 min in one taking some curvy roads in one, and that is the one thing that let me down. No doubt the nd is better out of the box. That is the problem. I'm a power guy. I'm considering eventually getting 300whp out of one. Maybe I should just get a nd, prep it for str (would still make a mean track car) then buy a suncoast trans for my duramax and get it running 11's.

Edit. I'm also tired of the 124 bronys always saying "you can get 200whp for only $1k) or whatever. I have yet to see it.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

We ridiculed mnet wine-n-cheezers for years.
Now the ULTRA mnet wine-n-cheezers surface and you're suddenly surprised?

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

We have decided to prep our car to campaign STR at the national level. It has a GCC box in it now which isn't legal for ST and has a stock 2nd gear anyway. The box we took out was a gen 1 trans the dealer replaced for us last year. So we're buying a brand new gen 2 trans from Mazda to improve our odds of avoiding a transmission failure when the car is a few states away.

Chilicharger665

iTrader: (2)

I am in total agreement. It seems to me that all the previous 500 owners that now get or are interested in 124's are NOT enthusiasts at all and just take any vendors word about mods. They all throw around that 1k bullshit, have no proof, and get mad if you ask for proof.

The best bet for tuning will be Shiv at Openflash, since it is changeable by the end user, but he hasn't said a word about Abarth stuff in YEARS...

All the exhausts I see for the 124 are pretty small, with Goodwins being "large" at 2.5". Is there any reason to not just get a full custom 3" exhaust made? I would want to go full v-band and no one offers that currently anyways.

Chilicharger665

iTrader: (2)

You are going full-circle. Didn't you start off in autocross?

z31maniac

Still waiting for ND oil cooler development.......

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

Driver TBA later. I drive an S1 in the Maxxis Cup Supermiata race series that I organize.

Lincoln Logs

iTrader: (1)

At this time, on the stock turbo, there is not evidence that 3" is beneficial. There are also space constraints under the car that pose significant challenges fitting 3" piping. To get well above 200WHP a turbo swap is needed, I think with the right reflash and bolt ons we'll kiss the 200whp range. Turbo swaps on the 500 were extremely limited due to packaging in the front...on the 124 this is not as much of a problem.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

ND manual trans (gen 2) from Mazda Motorsports is $2999 FWIW

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

999 cats, $2999 transmission.

Too many 9's, so I gave you a

concealer404

iTrader: (3)

There was an ND trans on local CL for $300 a couple weeks ago.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

Yup. We bought a gen 1 on eBay for 800 and have seen several more since. I have been waiting for a Gen 2 to pop up for months and finally gave up. It was either send our racer on the road with the Gen 1 wait for it to blow up and let Mazda replace it with a Gen 2 or just buy a Gen 2. I didn't want to leave our racer stranded so the choice was clear however painful it may be.

chicksdigmiatas

iTrader: (11)

Add breaking out the welder for a brand new car to the list of **** I have no interest doing. Shiv does seem to have his **** square for the most part.


True story, I can't imagine that little turbo being good for much past 200whp. You would think with as baby it is it would spool faster. Interesting that it is not helped by a 3" just a little, when on other 200whp turbo cars it seems to, at least with boost threshold. I thought I saw somewhere that an open dump didn't really do much. I guess we have to work around retaining a cat at this point we're at with the tuning though. I admittedly haven't been under the car, and while I don't think it would help a hell of a lot, I myself would probably decide to go 2.5 and sacrifice a little bit of go if it was a pain in the *** fab job like you say.


Should have just tossed in the gen 1 and done a couple track days. I'm sure you could have broken it. Is it power that breaks them? Mileage, or both? From what I've read/gathered, it seems to be both on gen 1, and pretty much power on gen 2.

Lincoln Logs

iTrader: (1)

The turbo is a very small GT1554 but the engine itself is a 1.4L, single cam, and it just doesn't move that much air.

emilio700

iTrader: (3)

As mentioned in my earlier post, that was not a viable option for us for several reasons.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

A GT1554 and it's that sleepy? What a poorly engineered engine... Kinda pitiful these days.

chicksdigmiatas

iTrader: (11)

I got you. I misread.

I didn't know the poor little bastard was a SOHC. That explains a ton right there. The engine is probably a turd without a turbo, if such a thing exists. I had no clue the turbo was that small. That also explains a ton. Which means it is already working pretty hard to get 160-180whp, and 200whp may be a tall order, and probably not anywhere near the middle of the happy place on the compressor map. Which begs the question: If we upgrade the turbo will it spool even more shitty?

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

Yep, SOHC iron block.

It is most definitely a turd, with or without a turbo.

Lincoln Logs

iTrader: (1)

There is a sweet spot for turbo upgrades, you give up a tad of spool for a proper power band once it's on boost.

Turd, but a bomb proof turd and it makes good noises. There is actually a lot of cool tech in this engine and it was designed to outlast the Italian wiring in the Fiat 500s.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

True Story.