How many of you guys have running FI miatas? no, really
 

And with running, I mean, set up, tuned, reliable, FI miatas :)
I know how much downtime one can have waiting for parts, after breaking stuff etc. And on this forum ;) with a lot of "big power freaks" breaking stuff seems pretty common.

Please include, year, engine, management, cooling, type of FI (i.e. supercharger, turbo, model of turbo, boost level etc.), yeah, you know.
So come on, shoot, and be honest now :skid:

Specs in sig, reliable enough to let my wife borrow.

Mine runs great. Set up in vbgarage.
(knock on wood) Never a large failure or anything that stranded me. Had a wiring issue once that took 10 minutes to fix in a parking lot.

Ben

I turbo'd mine in 5 days, then after a 10 day shakedown driving to work every day, I took it on a 2000 mile road trip without any issues. I've since done some reliability and cooling mods and still no breakdowns after almost 30k turbo'd miles in 18 months.

Nice, the top dog in reliable is running 14psi so far :) and from what I can see only OEM internals.

It took awhile for everything in my original build to work itself out... but that's because I went CHEAP on almost everything and had to replace a lot of parts. Then I blew the HG and had to install a new motor.

Megasquirt TAKES AWAY A LOT OF PAIN!!! There is essentially no tuning to do if you don't want to. Plug it in, install bigger injectors and an IAT sensor, steal somebody elses tune and drive. I'm running Brain's map on my T25@8psi that he is running on his T3@14psi.

Turbo'ing your Miata essentially gets easier and easier every month. This forum has a lot to do with it. Even about 2yrs ago when I first joined, there were only about 15 people who regularly posted and shared... very small numbers, the most popular thing to get was EMB. You couldn't find a used Bipes for under $200, and 305cc injectors were HUGE! The turbo forum at m.net was a disaster... anything that didn't bob up and down on FM's knob was heresy... it really stifled the market. I found this forum and learned more overnight than I had at m.net in months.

Megasquirt has really changed the way we do business. If you can solder, you can build one with MAF delete and EBC for under $400 including all parts. Back in the day, you needed a Link for $1500 that does far less. This lets you spend better money where it counts if you're on a budget.

There's really only one way to do things now if you want quality parts and are on a budget.

First thing is to buy a Megasquirt and some injectors. 550's if you can, but 460's should support up to about 250whp. Fabricate a crossover pipe to mount your IAT sensor... but make sure your design can be easily modified to that your crossover pipe can be made to become your cold-side IC pipe.

You can take your time acquiring turbo hardware as things become available in the used market or get yourself a Begi"S" kit with Intercooler minus the few pieces you wont' need (like the AFPR).

Used Begi stuff is starting to become available in the classifieds, so I'd just wait until somebody was parting a mostly complete system.

My current setup is in my vbGarage, but the short is:
Begi Mani/DP
eBay IC setup w/Bosch BOV
SR20det T25 turbo @8psi
Megasquirt w/550's
Spec StgII clutch
Borla Dual's

Runs strong... a little EBC should see me sitting fat in the 220-230whp range.

JRSC w/5psi for about 7 months now 7k mi. No broken belts. Daily driven. I put an Oil cooler on to help the engines out. Gets hot in Georgia. I know, Not pushing enough boost to have concerns with any failure :slap:

Custom T3/T4 based kit, driven at 12psi most days. Only issues I have are my cold starts with the Hydra nemesis, and my exhaust has cracked twice due to a lack of a flex pipe. I don't really daily drive the car because I have a second miata, but I certainly trust it's reliability. Knock on wood It's never left me stranded!

I've had the turbo setup on for nearly 2 years now, and aside from blowing the seals on the chinacharger I used the first time around, I've had no issues that I myself haven't caused

Down for the count at Corky's right now.

I did drive it in there, as to if it will drive out, who knows.

Mark

Oh yeah, came up with one more q for this topic :)

DD, trackcar, playmobile, plywood hauler?

I pulled my exhaust and stock intake off on June 1st, '07. Took me a month to amass all the parts (virtually nothing was ordered aside from a few components). Fired the car with an open downpipe on June 30th, welded up the exhaust and drove the car for the first time on NA maps July 1st. Dyno-tuned using Ben's maps as baselines on the 3rd of July, and drove the car 200 miles to SLO on the 4th, then another 100 miles to Buttonwillow on the 6th. My dad and I double-stinted the car both days that weekend, then I drove it back to SLO on the night of the 8th. Drove the car around that entire week, then drove it to LA (another 200 miles) on the 13th to have Jerry tune the car. Drove it back to Ventura that evening, then back to San Jose the following day.

I worked it all out once, and it's something like 1450 miles in 11 days, including 350 miles or so of track time. The only mechanical malady was a blown IC pipe after the first session at Buttonwillow. Car ran like a top the rest of the time.

It spent 3 weeks down hunting a ghost problem (ended up being the wastegate flapper door catching on the DP), and another 3 weeks upgrading to 10mm studs. I've done 9000 miles in the last 7.5 months, including 6 weeks or so of downtime.

From July to December 1, the car did 4 days at Buttonwillow, then 2 days at Thunderhill, then 2 more days at Buttonwillow before the 8mm studs failed at Thunderhill in December. It is my everything car (only car I have down here at school).

'94 engine, stock internals, MSPNP controlling a GT2554R at anywhere from 13 to 15psi. Big radiator, now has an oil cooler (2 months old).

Mine has been very success full except for 1 failure do to negligence and greed al togehter i am very satisfied with it though.

1994 with 180k on the clock.
MP62 Hotside running at 13psi.

EMU, 440cc Injectors, WI, (DO pump, AM HSV), custom IC, PLX R-500 WB, TurboXS KnockLite.

Had my Eunos 5 for 5 years, been FI'd for 3 of those years.

I track the car as regular as i can, it's used everyday as my only method of transport, i do between 20k to 30k a year mileage.

Cars let me down once due to the fact i used the wrong bolts for the crank pulley.

Not one other failure in all that time.

Oil's changed every 3k, i never boot it till my oil temps reached at least 80c.
All the work and tuning done by myself.


Cheers
Mark

mine has been running solidly except I can't drive it more than 10 minutes or the clutch goes wonky.

It was running...until i decided to ditch the emu for a ms.

Mine has been running over 1k miles, which equals over 2 years since I don't drive much. But when it is driven, it's usually lots of boost. Only real boost catastrophe was a chinese turbo failing in the beginning. It's only down now when I "must" mess with something.

Y8s - I thought you had the ultimate clutch setup for all to envy? :confused:

1995 1.8L with Link EMS. PWR radiator to keep things cool, going to add another fan in the a/c slot before summer (don't have a/c or p/s, mine is an R-Package). Cusco 1.5 way LSD. Turbo system started out as an FMII kit with a GT2560R, still have their manifold, but switched to a BEGi divorced gases downpipe, and working on a new IC setup.
Car is a daily driver that when driven to work and back Mon-Sat sees 300 miles a week. Boost is set at 15psi on stock internals, although it doesn't see that too much, I drive it pretty nicely.
Only issues I've had were a leaking heater hose caused by a CAS seal leak, the clutch line (upgraded that to a SS line, a highly recommended $30 piece), and one of the coolant hoses feeding the turbo (which I really should upgrade to SS lines, but haven't gotten around to it yet). Like Ben, I'm knocking on wood, but nothing major to report.

hey i'm not too proud to say it's not perfect.

I'll give it one more shot--possibly with a hydraulic release bearing. I think the problem this time around was using the Ultra high ratio pressure plate instead of the standard high ratio pressure plate. The Ultra requires 20% more stroke and I suspect I killed the diaphragm spring by overstroking it. (isn't that always how it goes?)

Four (4) Years straight with no problems. Still going strong as a Daily Driver.

No problems with mine so far. 36k miles on the factory microscopic turbo with boltons and running great.

i was boosted for some time, then took turbo off, now im going back to boost w/ gt2560r in few weeks :)

I've had the Greddy kit running on the stock computer with 6* timing for 2 years.

Now that I have upgraded everything and picked up MS, I'm going to build it right. I have never had an issue with the car not running, and I have never been left stranded. It's my daily in the Summer.

I wish I would have listened before buying the Greddy. After the MS install the only parts left will be the manifold and turbo. After I get out of college I think I will upgrade to Begi parts.

92 with about 130k on it
2k of that are boosted

greddy kit, bt set to 5-6*
clutch masters 35% increase clutch setup
xtd flywheel 9lbs
both clutch and flywheel have 5k on them
etd cross over
stock everything else

i drive my car 20 min every day to work, and some days to school


only problem ive had was heat bubbling the heater core hose,
which i failed to wrap.......

now its all set, runs and drives fine

'91 w/GReddy. 55K on turbo (110K total on car)still running fine@12~15 psi, but making strange(but different) noises when clutch engaged and disengaged. Pulled everything apart. Clutch shot, manifold cracked. Pulled motor apart to check: Pristine inside, surprised that even the thrust bearing is perfect.

Tapped pan, replaced clutch and manifold, Godspeed radiator, big brakes, should be on the road next couple weeks for another 50K trouble free.

Well, i've had 3 reliable boosted miatas. Well, one of them had problems..only after i let someone drive it unattended... but before that it was great.

96
JRSC,FMIC,RX7 injectors,Crank pulley,60mm s/c pulley, SAFC and dyno tuned 10psi w/16* advanced timing across the board

99
JRSC,FMIC,Voodoo BOX, crank pulley,62mm pulley, OBX header, street tuned w/ WB o2, no timing control,8psi

02 SE
FMII,Hydra,2560R,large FMIC, 550cc, 10psi, set on Auto-Tune/base maps from Jeremy at FM (one day going to BPM for 12 psi tune)

All 3 have made MANY long road trips with no problems.

8k miles on stock motor and Greddy kit @ 8psi with Begi AFPR 2025, JR Inj Controller, MSD Timing Box, and O2 clamp. The car is now down due to the rear gears failing, but I needed this to get all my extra parts in...so it worked out perfectly to get the project moving in the right direction.

Lots of reliability here, mostly low and moderate boost applications. Seems great so far.
anyone with a high boost DD or track car?

I have 18K turbo miles on my "02. No problems except a downpipe rattle and tires. :)

Daily driver, but Mom is not allowed to drive it. She somehow manages to get her foot under the dash and unplug Xede wires???

BEGI S3, w/ Xede, Enthuza Dual 3" Exhaust.
Stephanie

Mine was running fine for 10k+ miles. GT28R + 305cc + EMU. I blew the engine after that but that was my fault of starving the engine of oil.

I know I can't be alone in saying that 99% of the downtime I've had with my car since going FI was not because something broke, but because I said to myself "Gee, it'd be neat if..." or "I bet I could improve..." followed by several days of cutting, welding, machining, wiring, etc...

Ya, projects are the cause of most of my downtime. I start out with something simple (READ rods and pistons) and end up building something entirely different (I don't think there is anything else I could have possibly replaced with an aftermarket part). So instead of 1 month, it takes 5 months.

Very familiar from my last car. Of course, once i got to 14+ psi stuff started to happen, only on track though, that surely is the true test of durability.
(I guess 16 y/o piston rings made for n/a applications just didn't cut it ;) )

But the miatas seem better than that.

91 greddy 5psi, jim pipes starion IC, ceramic coated tony DP, 1.8 diff, oil cooler, timing 10* advance, act 6 puck.

DD and track rat 180K miles, 60K boosted.

Lost a motor from rocks in the intake, melted some random stuff and 2 brake master cylinders, had studs in the manifold shear, that's about it. All issues have been fixed, waiting for some more track time to see if there is anything else that needs attention.

Pretty reliable given the environment and amount of abuse.

I used to have a reliable boosted car. I had a JRSC for three years, but the more power I eeked out of it the less reliable it got... I had insane torque but nothing up top. I'm all motor now and the car is now more fun then it ever has been. I did raise the compression but not so much that I could not go turbo later... If I do get bored with N/A power I think my engine would be perfect for a turbo on the larger side... say a GT2871 at moderate boost, 10-12 PSI... the engine should be good for 300 reliable RWHP, But I dont want the extra complications right now... like the extra underhood heat and cooling issues that could come with that, but when/if the time comes its only a matter of a kit and larger injectors.

96, DIY, ~30K miles, She drives it- I don't get to drive it much, Maybe I'll remember to change the oil this year..:)

94, Cold Side BRP M45--was a POS for belt reliability, have since re-engineered the belt system - hoping for better this year, Had battery drain issues too, (this system was installed BRP dealer) discovered they taped the wrong wires for the idle relay...(was always on...)

FWIW 03 P5 +50K miles DIY, recently de turboed (85K on OD> time to find something else)Had an O2 wire short out once, and a hose clamp puncture an A/C line but nothing that wasn't my fault.

See sig... Have about 3-4K miles on the setup and the turbo sounds like it is eating itself. It's a $100 turbo though so I'm not really upset.

With the exception of turbo starting to fail everything has been golden. It's fantastic. Car is my DD and get's heavy abuse.

Technically I have 3 boosted Miatas.

1) '01 turbo - Trouble free for 30k miles. Literally not one problem. This spring I am pulling off the link piggy and putting in a Hydra.

2) '00 Hotside SC (roots M62) - No real issues except for occasional idle droop. It is my GF's car and she like the turbo much better. The SC is now off the car and I will be selling it. I will likely put a turbo in the car within the next year.

3) '94 SC Twin Scew - Bought the car in December sight unseen (It was Corky Bells prototype car for the MOAB). I hope to pick it up next month when the snow melts and this will be my toy to play with.

I am at around 40k miles boosted so far. Granted I have had tons of issues over the years but thats cause running redline uphill for 5 minutes 6 times a night kept the Manifold nice and busy. But honestly nowa days I don't run it nearly as hard as I use to so its pretty damn reliable.....but everyones definition of "reliable" is different. :)

93 1.6-116,000 on the clock-? miles on turbo set up
begi S w/ gt2560, megasquirt, 460cc injectors @ 6psi(on paper)- really 10psi(boost creep)
The good- the car turns on
The bad- lc-1 keeps taking a shit on me, just developed odd cooling problem, was rear ended all in the matter of a week or so

updated- As of today the car no longer turns on

Yours doesn't count :)

Why not? The MSM BP is nearly identical to the 99 BP..:magna:

If you read the original post, it's directed more towards those who started out naturally aspirated
With the MSM, the factory has already taken care of most of this (though the engine management isn't that great).

Haha, yea I knew I was exempt from that. I was just kinda kidding around, obviously mazda worked out quite a few of the problems many people here have. Do you have anything done to your MSM? I'm shootin for 13's once I get my intake and up the boost to 11psi, running low 14's right now.

*Edit* and our stock engine management blows. It gets the job done but is very crude. Hydra is the choice of the majority of MSM owners, really cleans it up and evens out the power delivery.

FM intake, FM DP, Thermal catback, GReddy RS BOV, GReddy PRofec B (7 psi low setting, 11 psi high setting), Koni adjustable coilovers, Work VS-XX (going on next week), Yokohama S Drive 225/35/17, minor stereo upgrades

I'm getting hesitation from 4400-4900 at 11 psi. I have the O2 mod that I'll be installing when it gets a little warmer out. If that doesn't fix it, I'll dump the money into the Hydra and run bigger injectors.

Yea I can't stand that damn hesitation. From what i've read it seems like people either love the O2 mod or think they wasted money.

mine isnt my daily, so i have like 1500-2000 turbo miles, but i beat the living shit out of the car every time i get into it, and it hasn't failed me yet. just had to weld the ebay mani 2 times, but the car was still running fine, just wasnt making boost. i have a VERY small oil leak now, but the full boost 7500rpm shifts every time i drive it probally have something to do with that, lol

Yea, that could have something to do with it lol.