My new addiction...finally
 

After selling my Talon this past week, I finally got my hands on a Miata. The seller held it for me over the weekend, and I picked it up today. I now know what all the hubub is about lol, and with another 100hp (eventually) it'll be a ridiculous kick in the arse.

$3300
'92 Mariner Blue
A Package (I think...a/c, manual windows, and manual steering that I'm pretty sure is a depowered rack...need to get a closer look)
100086 miles
Raceland coilovers
Konig Daylites
Kumho Ecsta AST 195/50/15
Oil pressure and temp, water temp gauges in the vents
Ridiculous sounding axle-back exhaust with a Magnaflow muffler


First order of business is to get the filter isolated so I'm not ingesting 200* air. Then sell the "style" bar and install a proper rollbar. I'm also going to sell the wheels/tires in favor of some Panasports/Rewinds/similar with some stickier tires. I'd also like to swap out the rear springs for 250's based on what most folks were stating in the Riceland thread. Eventually I'll get the trunklid painted, but it's not horribly offensive at this point so I can live with it. And the seller still had the stock muffler, so that's going back on, too, until I need an exhaust for the turbo setup.

I've got a couple goodies for my turbo conversion already, and I'll start that in the next few months I hope. On hand is a Mitsu Evo3 16g, 550 injectors, and a 1st Gen DSM ECU to use as a standalone. Hoping for 200-225whp ultimately.

I need to get used to driving a RWD car again for the time being.

good straight car.

Clean car. Put on your list a 1.8 differential. Also, could elaborate on the ECU you plan to use? Remember Megasquirts are cheap standalones with awesome support in the community. ;)

Damn clean. Good job for $3300. Every time I see a car like this I kick myself in the ass for not holding out for a better deal.

congrats.
clean car. with your plans to "clean it up" it will get even better.

this is in the wrong section though

Thanks guys. Looks clean from 10', any closer and the hood reveals its speed dimpling from a hailstorm. And there's blue painters tape over the former antenna hole lol. But overall I'm really happy with it for sure, especially at that price. Soft top/boot and interior are also in great shape.

ECU from a 1st generation Talon/Eclipse/Laser. Factory fuel/timing/airflow maps that work pretty well for the OEM turbo application, and an amazing tuning program available for it called ECMLink that gives full control over the ECU. Underdog is using the same type of ECU in his car, see this post in his build thread: https://www.miataturbo.net/showpost....4&postcount=51

I went ahead and started a new thread here as opposed to updating the uber lame intro thread I made a few months ago when I started seriously lurking around. Please move it wherever it needs to go.

What exactly do you need to do to run those DSM ECUs? The low cost is seriously appealing.

Well, I'm going to be figuring that out at some point lol, just don't know yet. Underdog is using one, and gives a decent overview in his build thread that I linked above, or you can see it all on his website here < that's the specific page where he mentions it. If my funds don't run out, I'll be using ECMLink to manage everything and capture data, so I'll have plenty of room to grow. If I go bust lol, then I'll use a custom mapped chip like he's using. There is just so much flexibility in those ECUs, even with just a custom chip, and I'm familiar with them since I'm a former DSMer. With the full version of ECMLink, there is a huge amount of control, as well as control for external hardware triggers (like meth injection). The ECUs can usually be had for ~$200, and will probably work great stock up to about 26-28lb/min of airflow.

Very nice smurf, d00d! $3300 for a clean car like that with the hardtop is a good buy.

Thought I'd update this now that I've made a few changes, and am getting closer to the turbo install. Figured out it's a Base with a/c added. I finally got a proper roll bar in there (HD Sport), picked up a blue trunk lid from a local partout, sold the Daylites and picked up the '96 M Edition wheels/tires for cheap so I'm going to use them until I run out of traction...they don't look too bad IMO. I raised the car about an inch to 12.5F/12.75R and adjusted the camber back to a less CR-looking amount. Installed a stereo and speakers, checked that the TB has been replaced (thankfully yes), made a shield for the intake, and probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting. Still on the list is the rear springs, but I disconnected the rear sway so it's a little more manageable back there.

I pretty much have everything for the turbo swap except the piping to make a catback exhaust and a few nuts and bolts. The IC setup I just picked up from astroboy here was the last major part. I thought about going over the radiator, but for the price I'll go around the sides for now. I picked up a copy of ECMLink, so I'll be using that in speed density mode for engine management along with the DSM ecu. Probably going to be a big tuning curve to get over this way, but in the long run should be totally worth it.

So far I'm thrilled with the car, but I'm really looking forward to having more horsepower lol. I hope to get it torn down sometime in January or February and back together/tuned by March. I did do a baseline pre-turbo dyno session a few weeks ago, and to my surprise it made 93whp/85wtq up here at 6000ft.

Anywhoo, here's a couple of photos I took yesterday before it started to snow :mad:

Attachment 192480

Attachment 192481

Congrats! I saw the PO's posts on CR and they were OK for a good laugh. Hopefully you will be a more educated owner :giggle:

DSM ECU, interesting. Following this.

You'll run out of traction soon enough, lol. Don't forget to replace that 1.6 diff!

DSM tune? Oh boy this will be good. Speed density is awesome, and can work MIRACLES 'if you know how to tune it properly. Just remember to do clean up tunes when the environment changes. Temp and elevation can impact the speed density in small ways. I'm sure that you know since you've been rocking the talon. From AWD to RWD is a bit tricky, but these little miatas are a blast either way.

Just so we can get a feel of megasquirt vs. using the dsm ecu, how much work was involved and how much did it cost for everything you needed to get it running?

I know you dont have it running on it yet but im pretty sure you've figured out what you need/ need to do

Mariner blue FTW!! :bigtu:

Nice purchase! You'll love it 10x more once boosted. That's when the addiction becomes permanent.

Thanks guys. Yeah the PO was a nice enough guy, but headed in the wrong direction with the car IMHO. The guy before him would be good for a laugh or two if I could find him...I keep finding more shit he did under the dash every time I look under there. The best so far has been discovering that ALL the ventilation ducting was removed, presumably so he could install 3 aux gauges in the vents :nuts:

I'll definitely be upgrading the diff, but I figure I'll just run with all the stock driveline stuff (trans/diff/clutch/etc) until something breaks. I'm also going to be looking into the trans at some point to see if anything in there can be improved upon. I know they are relatively cheap used, and best I can tell the 6 speed is what most higher HP street guys are using, but if there's any way to make the 5 speed a better unit then maybe I can start offering that service. But I'm thinking way ahead at this point lol.

Yeah, the DSM ecu will be interesting. As I said earlier in the thread, I'm not breaking any new ground here (Underdog is using one), but since it's familiar to me and proven to work I'm going to give it a shot. And, I work part time for a DSM/EVO shop here in Colorado Springs called Jacks Transmissions (www.jackstransmissions.com), and they've built and tuned cars for years on those platforms...GTRicky you may know about them already as they are one of the Big 3 tranny builders for DSM and EVO cars in the US. The tuner there, Kevin, is already assuming he'll be the one getting it running lol. I'm going to give it my best shot though before I enlist him.

Versus Megasquirt:

Hardware - I paid $100 for an already socketed DSM ecu, but they typically go for around $200. I picked up an engine harness for $80, and a DSM throttle body with factory variable TPS for $30. It turns out the CAS in both cars outputs a similar enough signal that it will work with the DSM ecu, so no crazy workaround is needed there (meaning more $$). I bought a good used knock sensor for $10, as the DSM ecu has a built in knock/timing retard feature. So I'm at $220 before the software, with a lot or wiring ahead of me to swap this over cleanly. Frankly, the car would probably do fine on a stock DSM ECU/ DSM 450cc injectors/DSM MAS at up to about 200hp, as that's what it's designed for. But there's no datalogging unless you spend another $50-100 for a Palm or PC setup which is nowhere near as good as the datalogging in ECMLink. And just to be complete here, the '98 and '99 DSM ecu's can be had for $225-250 and are being flashed/logged with a $35 program and $75 cable, so it could be done that way as well. Full timing/fuel adjustments there.

ECMLink software - For the brand new Version3 it's $495 for the full program and $375 for the Lite version (fewer features - no dual maps, no external triggers, etc...but can run SD). I've seen used copies of V2 go for $2-300, and it's essentially like V3 Lite but not configured for SD iirc. I have the full V3, but only because ECMLink cut me a huge deal on it after I told them what I was up to. I think they are wanting to see their software used as a standalone, so that certainly helped my cause. Otherwise I'd be looking for a used copy of V2.
Here's the site for ECMLink: www.ECMTuning.com
Here's a short vid of a datalog used while making a timing adjustment just to illustrate a fraction of the program for you guys: http://www.ecmtuning.com/demos/basictune.html
^^^ This kind of usability is another reason I went with ECMLink...it's been in development for close to a decade, is constantly being upgraded, and is ridiculously friendly for semi-noobs like myself. Though to be fair I don't know a thing about MS, how it looks on-screen, it's user friendliness, etc., but I know it's a great program as well. And there are DSMs out there on MS, too, so ECMLink doesn't even appeal to everyone on that platform.

Really sounds like a good option, especially if you are already familiar with that ecu/tuning platform. Sounds pretty closely priced to a diy megasquirt

Although I don't think that I could go without the datalogging option.

Yeah, that's a drawback to just using the ecu. With ECMLink you get the control and an amazing logger that ties directly to the adjustment tables, which really makes things easy to see and compensate for.

might be just the EVOs, but i could have sworn that datalogging was in the ECU... but then again, I may wrong about that too.

I also could have sworn that the open source flashers can do data logging and run SD. I'm not positive since my SD tune comes when I do my E85 tune on the EVO, and the parts needed just the OMNI 4bar map sensor and the GM Intake Air Temp (IAT) with pigtail along with the fuel system upgrades for that.

If you get it working without too much pain, i would love to see the end result and even the mess of cables when you do it. I might even do a DSM ecu conversion since I know tons of DSM owners. Those guys are always parting their cars out.

The open source flasher EvoScan can flash those later DSM ecu's, but last I checked the earlier ones weren't working all that well. There's definitely a logging app in that software, too...I actually tried it with my '95 ecu but they didn't play nice. So for less than $400 you could have a '98-99 flashable ecu and software, then you'd just need the harness and a couple of sensors. My hesitation with that route is that the GUI is nowhere as good as ECMLink, and there's still code to be wrenched around even as good as it is. I just don't want to deal with code, I'd rather have pretty pictures lol.

Sounds like you know what you're doing, good luck!

You'll hear that referred to in the MS world as "VE analyzer", FYI.

From about 20' away, get any closer and it's all smoke and mirrors lol, but thanks! And thanks for that decode on VE analyzer...seen it referred to but been clueless as to what it was.

VEAnalyzer autotunes based upon wb input though, which is a very nice feature.

BTW... you had a clone on CR....(if you would have kept those Konig wheels)

http://www.clubroadster.net/vb_forum...834#post670834

Yeah, I think I saw it in a "post your blue" picture thread over there a couple of months ago. One of those is enough lol. Of course the first thing anyone says to do is lower the car.

Thought I'd toss up a picture here and post on some progress. I'm currently working on the Galant VR4 engine harness for the swap, replacing some stock connectors that were missing and grafting on Miata specific plugs where appropriate. Best I can tell at this point, I'm down to needing only a Miata coilpack plug/pigtail and there's a local partout I think I can raid for that. But I still have some research to do wrt integrating the ecu as a parallel unit, so I'll probably end up needing a few more harness pieces. Went to the junkyard today looking for a coolant temp sensor plug/pigtail...no Miatas there but found an identical piece on a '92 Stanza.

Over the last couple of weeks I've gotten my exhaust piping and v-bands, 7psi wastegate actuator (thanks aug), some Nord-lock washers for the turbo, and a few other random bits and pieces. Aside from the odd harness bits I may need, I think I'm only lacking some coolant feed/return and oil drain hose, and the right bit to drill the pan. I hope to have the harness sorted and ready in the next week or so, and try to get the install started by the end of the month.

Here's the harness spread over part of the living room floor.

Very nice, I just picked up an almost stock white 97' w/ 86K miles for 4.5K. I should have tried to talk him down more, dont know why I didn't, but its super clean and I'm very happy with it. You got a really good deal though, especially if it came with the hard top.

Started my install this afternoon at the shop...I've got till about noon on Tuesday when we open back up to get it put together. I planned to get going around 1pm but ran into an issue with my wiring harness that required a last-minute a trip to the junkyard and about 3 hours to figure out...still need to solder on the once-missing connector. It was of course the only connection I didn't look into over the last 4 months, as I assumed I had all my shit together. It was the data transfer connector no less.

Anyway, thus far I've got the bumper/related bits off, deleted the a/c up to the firewall (kind of a last minute decision), hosed all the header connections with PB Blaster, half the intake is off. Of course it's taken me about 3x longer than I thought it would to get to this point, but Im glad the a/c is gone as it's so much cleaner in there now. I'll post some pics of the mess when I get home. Hopefully by the end of the night I'll have most of the new parts attached to the motor, and can start on the harness install tomorrow.

By the way, WTF was all that goo that spewed out of the a/c lines when I vented them? Never seen that before.

Alright, so I got a decent start but I'm not as far as I wanted to be. Engineering shit on the spot kills a schedule. I got the exhaust off from the head to the cat, the intake off up to the intake manifold, the return line drilled/tapped and pan flushed out, and was able to get started on adapting the DSM throttle body to the IM.

Surprisingly, no bolts sheared anywhere on the exhaust but they were rusty as fuck and I had expected them to be a nightmare. The only one that was a real pill was the bolt that runs into the bellhousing bracket...thought for sure that one was going to twist in half.

Here are some random shots from the teardown thus far.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1300699601

I used a deep socket to control the depth of the hole for the return line. This was the 3/16" pilot hole. I used a hose clamp on the large bit since I didn't have a socket that would fit over it.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1300699601

Flushing with mineral spirits.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1300699601

Comparison shot of the 1g DSM and Miata TBs. The DSM has a variable TPS and is about 3mm larger in diameter, and since I'm using a DSM harness/ecu it should perform perfectly. It's taking some work to get the TB and IM to play nice as the native bolt patterns are not terribly similar, but when I left I had two of the four bolts figured out and the others not that far off. There will need to be some porting of the IM flange but I'll tackle that in the future. I've got a 2g DSM throttle body elbow that bolts to the TB and makes a ~90* turn down towards my piping.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1300699601

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1300699601

How I left it for the night. I'm really happy I pulled the a/c out as it's looking a lot less cluttered, and not having the stock intake is a huge improvement too.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1300699601

Back at it tomorrow as early as I can drag myself out of bed lol.

So why'd you get rid of the Talon?

I've always been curious to get a 1g Eclipse GSX (again) and work on the drivetrain so it could launch hard all the time. Haven't been able to figure that out though. Anywhere to point me?

I tossed the Talon for a list of reasons, however reliability was not on the list contrary to popular opinion about DSMs. I had been driving a 2g Talon for over a decade and wanted to try something else for one, and second, I raced a ChumpCar last year against a bunch of Miatas that totally drove circles around us. That really was the biggest deciding factor. I figured it would be easier to make a Miata quicker than make the Talon handle better, and I was tired of only being able to go fast in a straight line :)

Your best bet for a 1g GSX for drag racing is an early '92 model that's called the "6/4" combo. The motor is the 6, referring to the 6 flywheel bolts, as it has beefier rods that are safe up to about 475hp. The 4 is the number of bolts in the axle cups in the rear diff, and earlier models had a 3 bolt attachment point. These combos were made in a short window before the 6-bolt was phased out and replaced with the 7-bolt motor. Also found in earlier cars up to about mid '91 is a weaker transfer case with a 22 spline input shaft and all-aluminum housing. The later ones are 23 spline with a cast iron section, which is stronger and offers a little more flexibility in building a trans as there are way more 23 spline trannys to donate parts for a rebuild. There is also a gearset that was manufactured in the first couple of years of production that's "heavy duty"...it's much stronger than the normal gearsets. Unfortunately, it's not always obvious which trannys have those gears, and even here at the shop we might buy a trans based on the serial number thinking it's HD, but it turns out to be normal.

If you have a 6/4 with a 23 spline t-case, the weak link is the center differential. Welding it is a proven way to help preserve it, or you can go with a modified "4 spider" center diff which has 4 instead of 2 spider gears...those hardly ever break whereas the 2-spider setups can break even in a stock car if you don't shift smoothly. There are also a bunch of LSD inserts for the DSM center diff, and we mostly use ones from Quaife here. You don't even have to pull the trans to get the diff out...it's just under a couple of layers of stuff accessible through the end cover.

So, the cheap way to a good GSX for launching is a 6/4 with a welded center diff. Find one with a blown head gasket for under $1K, fix it, throw another $1K in parts at it, gut it, and you'll have a 12sec car even on the stock 14b turbo.

So if a person got a 6/4, 23 spline, Quaife center, when would driveline stuff start to break?

I couldn't really figure that out.

Of course, my only experience so far was owning a GSX that melted wires and blew out the dipstick with enough force to bend it. Sooo, this might just be masochism.

My brain was a bit fried when I wrote that paragraph the other day. I misspoke regarding the Quaife LSDs. We use those for the front diffs, and typically advise customers to go with the 4-spider center as it's really beefy, though there are Quaifes for the center diff. The stock trans uses a viscous lsd in the center. So to sort of answer your question, with a 4-spider or welded center and an otherwise stock gearset you are good to about 400hp. Go here and look at the various build options and you'll have a better idea of what you can do to improve the trans: http://www.jackstransmissions.com/pages/dsm-page

That's interesting. I've always been interested in DSMs and Evos, but my DSM was a POS, and my friend's WRX... he launches slower than a FWD car because he's afraid to break his whole drivetrain.

If it could be built to handle abuse for a reasonable amount, that'd be pretty awesome.

nice progress OP. not the normal style of doing things around here, but It seems like you know wtf you're doing and its refreshing to see dsm shit bolted up and actually working. I know of just 1 other guy here that took this path, has a yellow one (forget his name, I think "underdog"?) his came out great too, though he did ultimately switch to MS.

Yes, underdog's degreddified sunburst build.

DSMs are more stout than their rep would otherwise suggest. Most of the time when they break it's because somebody did something really stupid (lack of maintenance or bad driving) or they are just too powerful for the gearset. We have an example of the former at the shop right now...kid revved to redline and sidestepped the clutch in his AWD Talon. It literally ripped the tcase off the bellhousing. I didn't hesitate to launch mine off the two-step at any time, and nothing bad ever happened, but I was paying attention to the car and not abusing it.

The strongest built DSM trans without going to a dogbox uses EvoIII gearsets, and it's good to about 600hp. Eventually, 2nd or 3rd is going to have the teeth stripped right off it given enough power.

Thanks. Yeah, Tom (underdog) was the first to go this route and he's been a huge help to me WRT getting this together. He's sent me a lot of info regarding the harness swap and sent me a couple of really useful links as well. I owe him many beers if we ever meet lol. And 18psi he's actually still running the DSM ecu in his Miata. He bought the same management software I'm going to run on mine, and he's already swapped over to it on his Talon (which is what it's originally made for). The owner of the company (www.ECMLink.com) was really enthusiastic about my project, and wanted to talk to Tom about his as well. It's a good opportunity for ECMLink to get the word out that their software can be used in other platforms, and at least in my case, they cut me a huge deal on it so I could give it a go.

In other exciting news, I got all the hardware installed over the last few days except for the injectors. Not working with a prepackaged kit makes for some tedious work, and using a cheap ass eBay manifold and dp doesn't really help the cause either. Yeah, I know, and I’ve read all the warnings, but this was to be a budget build and thus far I'm into it for about $1300 total so at least I met one goal lol. At some point I'm sure I'll upgrade to a better manifold but until then the cheap log-style will do. The downpipe will be reworked pretty soon when I put the exhaust together, and it will be far better sorted once that happens. I'm going to move the flex section closer to the front (it's about 6" ahead of the cat right now...not really doing much for flex there) which will relieve a lot of tension on the whole setup and hopefully forestall any more cracking than otherwise might happen.

I didn't get the new ecu or harness installed, but the harness is finally sorted out and I’ve pulled as much unused crap off if it as I’m comfortable with. I fudged the stock MAS back onto the car and drove it home that way. I got new leads made for the three power supply lines from the Miata to the DSM ecu, and only need to decide where I’m going to attach power for the fuel pump and where I’m grabbing a switched 12V (probably the cig lighter). Getting to the harness pass-through in the firewall was a real treat, but now that I’ve pulled the blower and a/c I’m thinking I can get the new harness through there rather easily, even if I leave the old one in place for a while, just in case haha. I hope to be able to address the wiring this weekend and get it set up on speed density on the new ECU by the end of the week.

Anyway, a few more pics…yep it's still super dirty under the hood. And the PO did a swell job (not really) running the yellow and green wires through the bay...gonna tuck those when the new harness goes in.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...7&d=1301076788

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...8&d=1301076788

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...9&d=1301076788

This is a terrible thread. Now I have ideas in my head of a 1g DSM with a 2.6 4G64 swap and an EFR 7064. Thanks. :)

Lemme know when you're ready and we'll build you a trans for it ;)

Got back out today and knocked out a little more. The cold side IC piping was in the way of the right tire at even half-lock, so I got that worked out. Ended up pulling the a/c fan out to make more room for the pipe directly off the TB, but I yanked the entire a/c system last week so I guess it doesn't matter at this point. I'll toss in a slimfan if it's getting too hot. I also soldered in my connection at a switched +12V for my main relay, and ran what I hope is the only thing I need to power the fuel pump. I grabbed the factory pump power wire under the dash at the circuit opening relay, removed it from the connector and ran it straight to my new main relay. Left everything else plugged in there so we'll see how that goes. Supposed to be 70*+ here for the next few days so maybe I can get this thing tied up and started by the end of the weekend. We'll see.

More work done yesterday. I got the ecu side of the harness through the firewall, alongside the factory harness for now. That was a huge PITA, like pushing a baby back in a vag. Took two people to get it done, one under the dash one outside. I got the coilpack pigtail swapped over to the DSM one...thought I was going to toss in the DSM coils but they look essentially identical so I'm just going to run the stock ones and see what happens. I also made what I hope are all the correct power supply connections to the ecu and the fuel pump, got my +12V constant bolted in at the fuse box under the hood, power from the starter solenoid, etc. It's all connected at this point.

I've got another couple hours at lunch today, so hopefully I can get the routing around the engine sorted and maybe get some stuff plugged in. Might even put the injectors in if I have enough time.

Everything is installed at this point, and it only runs on 2 cylinders for a few seconds at a time. I've swapped in 3 coilpacks and 2 ignitors; performed every test on the power supplies I can think of (and that's been suggested to me) at least twice; checked continuity everywhere, again; etc....

At this point I don't have spark at one of the coils, and no signal at the #4 injector, so I'm sending the ECU out to be bench tested. It's pretty much the last thing to investigate. I'm actually hoping that it's bad lol, because the last week has been pretty frustrating at times and I'm not sure where else to look.

It runs! Again!

Got the ECU back from being both bench tested, and installed in another car for testing, and it worked flawlessly for the tests. In the meantime I revisited the harness connectors for the ECU and discovered that I had bent many of the pins out of shape while continuity testing int he early stages of the swap. I reshaped the pins, plugged the ECU back in and it runs! This time on all 4 cylinders haha. I pulled it out of the garage and let it idle for about 10 minutes.

I've still got a ways to go before it's buttoned up and ready to beat on, but now that it's at least running I'm reinvigorated and itching to knock out the remaining installations (wideband, boost gauge, proper intake, speed density sensors, exhaust, ...).

I now have a Miata running on a DSM ECU. Pretty freaking cool in my book. I'd like to take the space to again thank Tom T. (underdog) again for being a bottomless well of information during this install. He broke the ground on this swap and I'd still be scratching my head about a lot of stuff if it wasn't for his help.

clean car bro, and the rims fit nicely good buy

Thought I'd update this again as I had a chance to work on it after moving my residence over the last month or so. What a hassle.

Anyway, now lacking a garage, I've only had a day or two of good weather to get back on the car but this past weekend was lovely so I was able to knock some things out. I finally got the dash and gauges sorted for the most part. I pulled three gauges a PO installed in the vents and moved them to a three gauge mount I built a couple of months ago, and installed them under the head unit. The wiring was so bad on these gauges that it took me a couple hours to straighten it out...think spade connectors on the gauges with wires wrapped around them and taped in place, leads doubled and tripled up this way. Yikes. That's all redone now, relocated, and I got my boost and wideband gauges installed in the center two vents above the stack. Glad to finally have the interior look mostly finished, and now I'm down to reinstalling the HVAC stuff and glovebox, and giving it a thorough cleaning inside. If anyone has an a/c delete duct I'll trade you straight for the non ps pulley I pulled off the motor. Otherwise I'll just gut the piece I've got.

Up front, I worked on the nose/bumper cover and got the undertray modified and installed, as well as the small insert just inside the mouth of the bumper, and got a quick/temporary heatshield made for the turbo. I installed the DSM coils into the Miata bracket, swapped out a couple worm clamps for tbolts on the intake piping, resealed the FIAV to the throttle body as it was leaking coolant into the intake, and tried to tidy up under the hood as much as possible given that I have a huge 1g DSM mas in there right now. The mas/filter combo is bigger than the effing turbo/manifold combo, it's jammed up against the cooling fan, and the harness (which I had to extend with random wires I had laying around) is snaking across the valve cover...ghetto as fuck. But it runs, and this week I'll be working on getting the idle/cruise fuel trims in line. I can then ditch the mas and all that nasty wiring and go speed density.

Still lots to do wrt aesthetics under the hood, cleaning it up, heat shielding, gotta build an exhaust, etc., but it's nice to finally have it looking like a car and not so much a project lol.

Coupla crappy phone pics:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...4&d=1306259203

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...5&d=1306259303

First couple of WOT pulls tonight! This thing is gonna be fun! Even on 5-6psi it's a totally different car than before. Oh yeah!

Edit: I finally had a chance to work on my base tune for the car yesterday, and a friend helped me WOT tune it at 6psi. It's really conservative right now, mid 10's on the afrs on pumpgas, but will work until I turn up the boost and ultimately move to speed density. I still have a healthy list of things to do, but it runs well and is a ton of fun, even on such low boost. Never imagined 6psi could be so entertaining! Making an mbc is at the top of the to-do list tomorrow :) I'm going to turn it up til the clutch starts to slip or I run out of pump!

Picked up an mbc today from a friend instead of making one. Up to 11psi now, uber conservative timing map, no knock. Fucking feels good! And also feels like there's a lot left on the table ...first couple of pulls had 30* of timing up top (only at 6psi though) with no knock. Need to see what you guys are running before I get on the timing side of things.

Did some more work on it yesterday. My coolant temps have been 206-213* since I started driving it and while that's OK for putting around I want them 10-15* cooler for beating on it. So I completely boxed in the IC core and radiator starting at the mouth of the bumper. This is made from the same 1mm aluminum I made the other sheet metal bits from. The IC core sits as low as the bumper bottom, so I made the lower tray so that it drops down about 1.5" and allows air to pass around the core to get to the rad. Also made it modular so that it comes out relatively easily.

Attachment 188553
Attachment 188554

Six weeks later and I'm still making slow but steady progress.

After making and installing the ducting I did get a drop in coolant temps of about 5* on average, but that still was not enough for me so I tossed in a 180* thermostat and now at cruising it is dead on 180*. When I beat on it I don’t see anything higher than about 205* on the gauge and it drops off pretty quickly again. But if I idle for longer than about 30sec it jumps up that high again, so I think the radiator is just not up to the new load. Ebay radiator is on my list now.

The biggest improvement, and one that was long overdue, got crossed off the list just last night when my friend built an exhaust for the car. I was the “cut this and clean these” guy while he tigged it up. It is now 2.5” all the way from turbo to tip, with only a straight through Magnaflow muffler to quiet it a little. It’s pretty quiet until you mash the fun pedal and then it sounds pretty sweet! I’ll post some vid soon. Huge, ridiculous difference in driving it now too. With the 2.5” dp bolted up to the old stock Miata catback (yes, that's right) I was making 8-9psi. Didn’t touch the mbc and it shot up to 15+ (and misfired like a biotch) with the new exhaust. Probably just blowing spark out since I’m at oem gap. So I dropped it back to 10psi and it’s perfect again. Will play with that this weekend, and try to add some timing as well since that’s still pretty conservative.

I’m still running the stock 1g DSM mas. Speed density conversion is still waiting for some love, but it runs great as-is so I’m tempted not to do anything with it for a while. I ditched the rattling/annoying heatshields under the hood and went with some reflective fabric and a diy turbo blanket kit. Just got that on tonight so we’ll see how well it holds up.

Also installed some speakers in the headrests. I got some cheap 3.5” two-ways from Parts Express and wired everything in up to the dash. Sounds bueno even with shitty speakers.

Money shot
Attachment 187432

Went out tonight for some fun since it was feeling pretty good on 14psi. A friend of mine has an Evo8 with 272 cams, otherwise stock, not even an mbc or boost gauge. We ran from a 2nd gear/25 roll and I had him by a car in the middle of 4th gear. Also discovered the limit of my current clutch as it slipped just a hair, so I backed it down to about 11psi and it's holding fine. Ran my friend again on the lower boost and lost by a couple lengths.

Finally converted to speed density this week. So far it's running pretty well, have the fuel trims basically dialed in, and have done some 2nd gear WOT pulls and adjusted the timing to get rid of some knock. Later today I'm going to have a friend who knows SD way better than I do take a look, do some 2-3-4 pulls and make sure it's not going to blow up. Also built a cold air box yesterday after getting the new filter arrangement figured out. Nice to have Silicon Intakes a 10 minute drive from the house for shit like this.

Air box and new cleaner look under the hood. Also did some wire rerouting left by a PO that was on my nerves. Still not perfect but livable for now.

Went out and did some pulls tonight to make sure my SD tune was OK. Clutch slips at 10psi in 3rd gear...two weeks ago it was 14psi :( Looks like that's on the short list now.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...4&d=1312092515

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...5&d=1312092515

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...6&d=1312092515

Looking good man!

I really need to take care of my intake location at some point, as well as some IC ducting.

Thanks vash. Dedicate a Saturday or Sunday to some metal fab and you'll be i good shape. I've probably only got 6hrs in all the ducting/metal fab on the car, all with hand tools. If you have access to a shear and brake it'll go a lot more quickly.

I installed QA1's on the rear Racelands at lunch today, but it's raining too much to see how they'll feel at speed. The short drive back to work was definitely smoother after the swap though, and the install was a snap except for a stubborn sway bar bolt. And I reconnected both sides of the sway after having it disconnected with the original springs on them. Hopefully flatter and more compliant cornering awaits.

This is really interesting. I'm gonna keep an eye on this thread. Keep up the good work!

Me>Craigslist today. I had to drive almost 300 miles round trip to make it work, but I ended up with an RX-7 clutch LSD for $25, and a mint Momo Competition + 2 hubs for $100.

Pics of new crap

Momo installed with a spacer.

Attachment 187001

Finished my headlight intake duct. Color is not a perfect match but livable.

Attachment 187002

Attachment 187003

Attachment 187004

Attachment 187005

Picked up a valve cover here a couple weeks ago. Ran it through the parts washer, hit it with some VHT wrinkle paint, and some leftover paint from the headlight duct. Really impressed with the wrinkle paint...didn't have high hopes but I think it turned out great. Very consistent finish.

Attachment 187006

Attachment 187007

I am freakin Jell-0us, super mint condition.

Congrats on such a nice find.

Sexy sexy color, tho tbh I'd have left those black+yellow rims on, they give the car a nice touch.

Installed 1.8 brakes and Carbotech XP10 front and XP8 rear over the last few weeks when I had some spare time. Love them so far...unbelievable stopping power as compared to what had been on the car (supposedly EBC Greens but I have my doubts).

Also, installed the valve cover today along with a 323GTX pcv valve.

Attachment 186486

Great build. Makes me happy I'm going with the DSM turbo.

Question, Did you just cut the j pipe that bolts to the turbo or make something yourself?