I guess technically you should measure shim clearance and adjust for the new cam. I don't know anyone who actually has done that though. The 3-4 friends I have who have installed the cam, just threw it in and started driving. None of them have had issues yet.

 

Heh ok then. Do folks typically check valve clearances etc on these engines? I thought that was due at 100k.

 

I don't know if most folks to or don't. I have several VVT heads with various mileage on them. I have never really checked clearances. I just run them, and I have yet to have an issue with clearances as far as I have seen. Getting replacement shims can be sort of a pain and get expensive. There is a thread floating around with a link for a place that sells nissian shims that fit in the mazda head.

 

Would you ever buy a used clutch?

A guy is selling an FM happy meal clutch/flywheel combo. Car has 95k miles and had a MP45 blower on it. He's doing an LS swap so he's getting rid of everything. Trying to see if it would be worth it to consider. The limits of the clutch are probably far above what the MP45 could handle.

 

How many miles are on the clutch?

 

I ended up buying it. Guy gave me a solid price for the torsen 2 pumpkin, the clutch and flywheel combo, and the TDR exhaust manifold heat shield. The clutch actually had maybe 5-10k miles on it. He bought the car in the summer last year and the previous owner had bought it in Jan that year. Came with the 13.45 lb flywheel, which I think is recommended for NA and potentially turbo application. 10lb might be rough in stop and go traffic, right?

In any event. It was a pretty god deal for everything. I'm pretty psyched.

 

That sounds likes a great deal!

 

I know there's a lot of talk about wheels/tires, but the wheels I have on the car are pretty crummy (heavy and ugly). The tires maybe have a season left on them. I was thinking of picking up some NB twist wheels for the car. Any reason not to do that? Or would the 6.5 width lead to issues down the road when I get around to boosting?

The twist wheels are probably going to end up costing in the 100-150 range.

Yeah, I got pretty lucky! Now I can basically build the Sport/LS version of the car instead of paying a premium for it. Works out to be a bit cheaper the way I went and the car will have more power because of the header and BP5A cam. Sadly it still has the base suspension, but I honestly don't think it's that bad. Someone was selling the MSM suspension locally for 250ish but I think I was told to stay away from that because it wasn't all that great. I'll get something that's well sorted in good time. I think I'll try to budget for the megasquirt, injectors, wideband, and MAF sensor for the spring.

 

The 13.45lb one is recomended for superchargers. Doesn't mater though, still lighter than stock.

The MSM susspension should be Bilstiens. Those, in good shape, matched with some decent rate springs are what a lot of guys here are running.

 

I didn't really get to pick, but still figured that the lightest one would cause issues for a car driven on the street, sometimes during rush hour in bumper to bumper traffic.

Which springs do people use on the MSM billies? They're not the yellows on the LS right? I was shying away from those after a conversation with braineack. Maybe he'll chime in here as well. Someone was selling a set of them with 75k-ish miles on them for 200ish. It's an option if it's worth it.

 

Do you have a hard budget to meet? I would hold off on wheels and tires until you get all your other stuff working first. Unless the tires are just shot or something. I would run a minimum of a 205/50/15 on a 15x8 for the street.

I had an MSM and the stock suspension is really bouncy. Also, the MSM Bilsteins are a bit different than the other Bilsteins, to compensate for the MSM's fatness, so I am pretty sure your car would sit a lot higher than you would want if you used them.

 

I actually don't want the car to sit much lower. A little may be okay, but my driveway is incredibly steep and I don't want to bottom out on it. If I go lower than stock I think I'll have that issue. Not sure how much clearance I have right now. I can have a friend drive the car up so I can have a look and see how close it is. I'm guessing that it's a few CM to be honest. Though if the springs are stiffer it may work out. Who knows.

Re:budget. I'm doing this budget minded. I'm in grad school so don't have a ton of cash to throw around, but enjoy doing this in my free time. The thought was that if I end up deciding to call it quits pre-turbo, I'd still have a respectable NA build that would be fun to drive around and perhaps autocross.

 

As a side note, I'm going to buy a radiator because the old one looks shitty and brown/green. I don't think it's a huge deal yet but folks say this is when they die.

I'm guessing it's better to replace it with a non-oem radiator if I'm planning on going FI eventually? Even if it's a couple of years down the line, I'd rather only spend the money once.

 

If you feel like spending a bit more $, the 949 Supermiata Crossflow is a great value for what it is: light (thin) and super efficient. Otherwise, there are cheaper all-aluminum radiators.

 

For a DD type car the aluminum eBay radiators work fine. I have used well over a dozen in various miata's over the years. At this point I think only 2 of my miata's don't have them, 1 has a TSE, the other is still on an OEM, because previous owner put in an OEM one shortly before I bought the car.

 

Awesome.

Thanks guys, I'll give things a look this weekend.

A friend is coming over to help with the diff and cam swap this weekend so I'm looking forward to having that done as well.

 

Didn't get a chance to swap the cam over today but did the diff. Took 3 of us freaking forever, but finally got it all set up.

Did a dry compression test, aka while cranking and no oil in cylinders. Car is a 2000 nb with 105k miles on it. Here are the results:

Cyl 1: 175 psi
Cyl 2: 175 psi
Cyl 3: 165 psi
Cyl 4: 180 psi

Is cyl 3 anything to worry about? There's a good chance I need a new valve cover gasket since I have had some minor oil leaks. Additionally, we only pulled the injector fuse. All that maintenance will happen this winter!

Hoping to find a mazda dealer that may stock shims so we can do the cam swap this week.

 

Figured I'd update this. I've been talking to a member here about buying the turbo kit that he put together and semi gave up on after he bought a car for a k swap.

At this point, I think I'm going to avoid doing the BP5A cam since that's likely to have issues on a turbo build (right?) or not really lead to worthwhile gains. I'll sell the cam and my RB header once I get things together and that should help me recoup some of the costs hoping I end up with 350-400 for both those things.

For now the plan is to get an MS3x from the brain himself, figure out which injectors to run and get the car idling on those, look into the options for fuel pump, and intercooler and start to piece things together. I already have a torsen in, which is nice, and I need to sell the 4.3 open diff as well, which I hope someone will want for the ratio. All the maintenance will be done over the winter as well. Goal is to keep AC/PS. For now, plan is to keep the stock exhaust setup depending on how the build ends up re: price. I should be able to swing for that as well though, but I don't want to skimp on the necessities, though exhausts are always a good thing with these setups. Have a slightly used FM stage 1 clutch and 13lb flywheel waiting to go in as well. Thinking 640 EV14's for now, but I'm going to look around and see if I can find something used that can be flow matched for cheaper. Trying to figure out where the balance is for injectors vs fuel pump, but I almost wonder if I should do both for peace of mind.

The 'kit' I'm looking into is a mofied FM manifold with a 38 mm wastegate adapter, braided lines/steel ports. Turbo is a SR20 machined to a T28 compressor 2560 Garrett with an ewg. Power goals are modest since I don't want to tear into the engine or trans at this point and value reliability to a certain degree. So I should be happy with like 350 hp.

Jay kay. Goal is like 220-240 to stay within reason of said engine and stock 5 speed.

Time to start reading some build threads to see what people with reliable builds have done at this level. If you can think of any for me to read off the top of my head I'll be all ears.

 

You can roll your own FlowForce injectors to save some money if you want. There are a few threads on here about what injectors to buy and such. I think it ends up being a little over $200 at the end of the day, but I honestly have not priced it all out in years.

I would recommend a MKTurbo setup, but I am a bit biased. Used t2 setups are fine, although I am not a huge fan of EWG on the Begi/FM cast manifold and a 2554 sized turbo. I think it is a ton more complexity then needed, for the marginal marginal benefit you might get. Also you probably won't get near 220-240whp with the stock exhaust.

 

Interesting re: stock exhaust. I guess I'll have to figure that into my calculations as well. Want to sell just an NB1 exhaust setup? Heh.

I guess the next step is to start collecting parts and bothering braineak about an MS3X!