BMW Fanatic From VA Buys A Built Turbo NA
 

I've been lurking for the past few day, and it looks like I'm going to be joining this community now hah. My name is Alex and I'm from Richmond VA. I'm a junior in HS and I absolutely love cars. I started out in the VW scene when I was 10 or 11 when my brother got into cars and still hangout with a lot of those guys. Then I moved towards the BMW community when I bought my first car which was a 2000 323ci(pics below). Then I moved onto my most recent car which was a 1998 M3(pics below). The 323ci was built for auto-x with a euro closer ratio tranny, clutchmasters kit, bilstein pss10s, powerflex bushings, and some meaty star specs. The M3 was more of a fun street car and is one of my favorite all around cars I've ever driven. It had Ground Control coilovers, camber plates, 17x9.5 et 26 CCW Classics, AA catback, catless midpipe, and random assorted lighting stuff. And now I am making a crazy shift ha. I'm buying a 93 Miata. I decided I can't truly build myself a dual duty car that I'll be happy with. So now I'm buying the Miata with the purpose of it solely being a fun car and DDing whatever the parents aren't driving that day. My M3 is being picked up today(Thursday) and I am picking up the Miata on Saturday. Below, I'll post pics of all the cars and specs on the Miata and what not. I'm really excited to get to know everyone around here and hopefully I can learn a lot. The Miata is pretty heavily modded, but my plans are majorly TLC and bettering a few things. I describe my modding style as "functional stance" so we'll see how the miata turns out with a splash of my creativitty. P.S. I'm a snowboarder and a wakeboarder, any other boarders out there?






323ci
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/...95cfae83_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/...9899ff9e_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3566/...19750af5_b.jpg






M3
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2462/...800172fd_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2548/...a7d3878f_b.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2536/...fb6916d0_b.jpg





Miata
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/ericcsong/m1-1.jpg
Attachment 201030
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Specs:
1993 mazda miata, 130000 on chassis
Fully Built 1.6 (30psi capable/20psi daily)
20000 miles on motor
5000 miles on fresh head
Wesco Forged Pistons 9:1
Carillo Rods
ARP Head studs
Multi-Angle Valve Job
SS Intake and Exhaust valves
Titanuim valve spring retainers
Metal Head Gasket
Turbonetics t3/t4 60 trim StageIII .63 a/r
Haltech E6k Standalone
550cc Injectors
AEM FPR
RX7 Fuel pump & Ignition system
Turbonetics wastegate
Custom log turbo manifold
Isuzu NPR intercooler
Aluminum Intercooler piping
Apexi Dual chamber BOV
Silicone Hoses
Aluminum Intake with HKS style filter
Anodized Catch can

TRANSMISSION:
99 Rear diff
6 spd transmission swap
Simpson Design short shifter kit

SUSPENSION/WHEELS:
Tein flex Coilovers
SM 002 Wheels 15x8 0 offset
195/50/15 Kuhmos
Stainless lines
Cross Drilled rotors
Ferrodo pads

INTERIOR:
AEM Wideband Gauge
Greddy EGT GAUGE
Autometer Boost gauge
Boss Frog SSCA legal roll bar
MOMO Classico wood steering wheel
Sola Polished Shift Knob and ebrake
AWD DIAWA Speedo gauges and Climate control
Custom mounted Push button Start and swithces for haltech
Clarion Head unit
New Headrest Speakers

EXHAUST:
Custom 2.5 inch exhaust
Resonator and stock tip

BODY/AERO:
Matching Mazda Hardtop
Mazda Rspec front lip
Rolled and Pulled fenders to accommodate wider wheels
Old School Cobra style gas lid by K.G Works
RS AZIAWA Airduct inlet




The diff swap should be taken care of this afternoon, and now I am desperately in need of someone who can tune my Haltech E6k ECU in the Mid-Atlantic area. VA, NC, or MD. If you know anyone please please let me know.




-Alex :D





EDIT: Oh and a pic of me lol(I'm in the center)

Attachment 201032

Welcome to the forum. I saw your post on CR and was wondering when you would find your way to the light :). Thats a hell of a miata to buy, but I'm curious...Have you seen dyno plots? I have doubts about making 400hp (as you claimed on CR) with a 1.6, log manifold, and a 2.5" exhaust. Sweet car though.

Edit: Also, from your other thread...upgraded to 550cc injectors.......at 25psi your duty cycles would be through the roof/something would have blown. Along with finding someone to tune that haltech I would also suggest finding someone who is knowledgeable about turbo miatas in general to help you sort out exactly what you bought.

Geez, there must be good money in being a highschooler these days.

Welcome! Nice cars.

I bought it from some reputable people. This car has a history around here of pretty much destroying anything it comes across. And the owner before the guy I bought it from pretty much took really shitty care of it. So now I am left to do lots of TLC. But this car dyno'd 380whp on smaller injectors and a fairly conservative tune. I can't verify numbers till after I have someone tune it though, so right now I'm just as much of a ricer as the kid in the civic claiming he makes 300whp with his ebay turbo kit.

:laugh:

Don't get me wrong dude, I'm not trying to bust your chops. The proper grammar combined with an apparent good disposition and willingness to follow forum etiquette make you one of my all time favorite noobs :bigtu:. I just don't want you to get suckered.

Someone find him a tuner.

Fucking hell that's a lot of money in iron. What the fuck do you peddle?

Welcome, you could fit in here.

Can we get some underhood shots?

Rich kids nowadays. You remind me of a High school buddy of mine, the fucker's dad owned a dealership. The fucker had an M3 and multiple bikes.

Me= :vash: = envy

BTW how much did you pay for that Miata?? I saw the FS add and thought it was way too overpriced.

Well let's see, I split the price of the 323ci with my mom with money I worked for and saved. Then we sold that and I bought the M3 with the money from the 323ci and I worked all summer to afford the wheels. Then I parted the M3 and sold it, and used the money to buy the miata. Yes, I have a lot of opportunities, but I'm not some rich douchebag kid. It's actually very hard times right now, my dad owns a local homebuilding company. If you know anything about the housing market right now, then you know on the economic side of things life ain't so great right now. I paid $9,000 for the miata. Can you link me to the FS ad? I never saw it, I bought it locally.

Hey, we'll bust your balls for a little while over this perception, and if you're still around you'll be part of the crew.

I'm interested in seeing the FS thread, too. I do not spend my time poking around CR.net, so there's no way I'd even look for it.

Get that thing tuned in right away, and don't crank up the boost. Unless the base pressure on that afpr is cranked WAY up, those injectors are beyond maxed out. Maybe you can at least run some datalogging and post it up for us to see to check duty.

Miata looks nice. Not a fan of the interior but that is just me. Welcome.

Well next time you introduce yourself dont forget to mention that or else all the broke college kids like will hate. I do know how the Real State Market is going- I live in South Florida for fucks sake. We literally got pimped slapped by Real State Fraud and all that BS.

IIRC the guy selling the car was asking a ridiculous amount of money for it. something along the lines of 14-17k, but Im not sure. I saw it in some random mazda forum back when I was looking for a car. I'll try to track the add.

EDIT: Shazam motherfuckers!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I typed in google "Turbo miata for sale 17k" and here you go http://www.vadriven.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238485

BWAHAHAHAHHAHAAA You actually bought that car? Like...for real? I'm not even going to spend the time to read the post after seeing the pictures and knowing the car like I do, I gotta ask though, how much did you end up paying for it? Certainly not the $12.5K he was asking for it a while back.

God have mercy on your sole with that car.

EDIT: There are some pretty funny pics of this car we took after finding it in the parking lot of a "shop" we had a dyno day at, I'm sure Scott/Brad/someone will chime in with them once they see this thread.

^

In for pics.

<-- Owned :facepalm:

Anyway...have fun with this thing...I saw first hand what it did to (one of) it's many heads, hope the tuning has been worked out since then, the owner at that point was a god damn idiot.

Good luck.

see his CR.net posting, we already discussed the car's history.

Oh ok, I've pretty much exiled myself from over there, I may go check it out, I'll check myself out of this thread until I do.

Welcome dude.

I hope she treats you well and vice versa.

You should paint the gold wheel a different color

Let's not get too picky, after all he just bought it.


Welcome!

I agree that those injectors won't flow enough to keep up with that big turbo at those boost levels. At a 9 to 1 compression ratio I would expect detonation with that LARGE turbo at 20psi and up even with good timing and larger injectors on hot days. At 30psi I would think 800cc injectors would allow comfortable headroom if you could even get there on 93 octane.

You should really get it tuned before you drive it in boost or you'll be manufacturing small pieces of metal out of larger ones.

I'm sure that someone will be able to recommend a good tuning shop. We have many members in your area. Good luck.

AA motorsports? :giggle:

OK OK, I'm done this time for real.

Pics of the motor/turbo setup????

Yes please!

this right here. all of this. FML. :bang:

Bro come on! Post up some pics of the motor/dyno plots!!!!!

PM me your phone number cause I'd like to buy an 8 ball from ya! You gotta be dealin to buy a car like that beings you're in high school! What's your beater car, a Ferrari Testarosa? Know what I drove in high school? I had 1971 6 cylinder Chevy Nova, then a 1981 VW Rabbit, then I bought a '71 Pontiac LeMans that was a project, then I sold the Nova and the VW and bought a 1986 Pontiac Firebird. Then I graduated, so word to your mother. Now I'm 28 and have a turbo miata and I smile everyday. But seriously, good luck with the car, and even more serious...Be careful.

Welcome sir. Im actually about to buy an E36 next month with plans of twin turbo. Great cars. Looking forward to see more of your new purchase

What the fuck is wrong with you?

17k, or whatever, was seriously ambitious for this car. 9k that the OP says he paid was a little more in the realm of reality, maybe still a little high. But guys, help a motherfucker out. The kid just bought the car, didn't come off like a douche introducing himself, asked a reasonable question as to where to get the car tuned, ie doing the right thing by it, and he gets this ^? What the fuck.

I bought my car from a guy that got beat up here a little bit. I got what I thought was a reasonable deal (still do), and made my own way on here and with the car. Does who I bought the car from reflect who I am? I don't think so, and likewise for this guy. So, I say, give him some reasonable advice, or shut the fuck up.

We have a funny story about the history of that car while it was in a shop up here. We basically called the shop owner out. They blew the motor when fitting a 6-sp tranny swap, blamed it on the guy's tune, and pulled the head to replace "burned/bent valves" The shop owner eventually sold the business and never heard about the car since. The owner at the time was an idiot who trusted the shop, and wanted us to stop bothering him.

that's about it, so to us, it has a funny history, and even before that we used to lol for about a year with that car constantly on vadriven.com and CL for sale for like 17K and crap. His auction used to state the car was faster than a z06 corvette and it made me lolz, especially when I emailed him to call him out on that.

sounds like the car got back in some order and has a few loose ends to tie up.

This. Just like my car did, just like probably every other car on here does if we were to list them for sale.

Thanks Brain.

Welcome dude! Cars looks good! :bigtu: I'm not a huge fan of the tan interiors, but this one is super clean.

I almost never post in a noob thread, just because most of them are horrible. I think you'll fit in fine here.

Shitty history or not, everything is fixable. As long as you do the work yourself, you'll know whats going on. Learn as much as you can on here, and don't beat on it until your certain its good to go.

I'm also a fellow boarder. 15 years on and off skateboarding, about the same snowboarding, and 2 years into longboarding. There's a couple other guys on here that thrash as well.

So where is the OP...???? :dunno:

Still turning that CAS back and forth guessing at settings.

Good luck, OP! I hope you get the car straightened out without too much drama and cash. Did you get any sort of warranty or guarantee from the seller? Some sort of documentation regarding the stated HP? If he's drastically lying, then you might be able to get him to at least chip in for some of the fix ups. Just food for thought.

Anyhoo, best of luck and welcome!

This...

Plus me posting drunk.... I apologize your highness. Oh and not reading anything past seeing the pictures and realizing what car it was and it's history that I have more or less first hand knowledge of.

Since this thread is really movin now I guess I shall post my findings after the first weekend with the car. It's a lot so I'll divide it up.



Friday

Well I drove the car to school and was oh so happy to just be driving my first car that wasn't always in vacuum. It was a good day, went out to eat, put about 50 miles on the car. Then I headed back home and met a few of my friends there. So I put the car on my lift for the first time and prepared to replace my 3.90 torsen with a unit from an ad off miata.net. Well let's just say this was the first time that I actually got scared that I should have done a little more research before buying this car. I changed the engine oil, when I took it out I found it was black and not looking so good. Then I noticed both of my tie rods are near the end of their life. Oh and I noticed my right front wheel bearing had begun to make noise. Then I checked my IC piping and found it wasn't mandrel bent at all, it was verrryy inefficient, not to mention the back side and underside of the IC was pretty beat. Then I found I had a super inefficient oil feed line into the turbo along with a nice split in it. Then I moved my was back a little bit to find that the 6 speed tranny was covered in engine oil and was missing a bolt(thanks AA). Then I noticed that the exhaust was pretty much just barely bolted together(such simple neglect). So needless to say I wasn't too happy with what I found and I hadn't even dropped the diff.

Then we drained the diff fluid. It honestly looked like mud. So then we began to unbolt the thing and soon found nearly every bolt holding it in was a different size. That led to a lot of confusion and was just an inconvenience to have to keep switching tools. We unbolted the axles and after talking to David(very helpful recommend him for sure) who I bought the diff from, he informed me that the axles on the car had not been upgraded to 1.8 axles like they should have with the 3.90. Also found that my left rear axle ain't in too great of shape considering when I popped it off it was covered in grease and then the metal contact point in the center was popping out. Then we got the diff on the ground and disassembled it and inserted the new diff on to the wings. The old diff isn't in as bad of shape as I expected. There was a definite whine to it, but other than that I don't think any serious crunching was going on. Well we finished up that job and found out where my madddd oil leak was coming from. The CAS o-ring was shot. So I planned to do that on Saturday. Took the car off the lift and went for a drive enjoying the quietness while cruising. Loud exhaust vibration was still present unfortunately though. And that concluded Friday's discoveries.



Saturday

I had SATs in the morning and enjoyed driving the car without heat at 7AM on a 25 degree morning...NOT. Then I went out to lunch and stopped by NAPA too pick up some goodies. I picked up engine oil, some butt connectors, and some top secret specially mixed up spray paint which I will use in the coming weeks. Car felt great and I chose the backroads to enjoy the dry weather and because I felt confident this diff wouldn't lunch box at some unexpected moment. Let me tell you, I love driving this car more than any other car I have driven. The combination of wide stance, stiff coilovers, summer tires, and no power steering made it feel like I was driving an overpowered go kart. Which it really is, but anyway it was fantastic. But to put a damper on the mood, Saturday was the first time I was having real shifting issues. The car really did not want to go into third gear without grinding at all. Everytime I shifted to third it grinded. Then it became hard to shift into other gears. And then the other gears would be fine and it would go into third like butter, then a few minutes down the road it would be grinding to go into third. Then I had the pleasure of cruising with my friend in his Rover V8 MGB. Two roadsters with the tops off on a 40 degree afternoon haha. You should have seen the looks we got.

Anyway, this is where my weekend really starts to suck. Went back home to change that o ring on the CAS. Well I followed the DIY except for one very important step. In my haste of unbolting the unit and proud to show my friends how quickly I had gotten the job done and was going to have my car leak free before my friend could bolt the exhaust back on the MG, I forgot to mark where the sensor was. Well then I really realized that I was kinda fucked. So after a group huddle we decided to reinstall the CAS and see if we could guess where it needed to be. Well it seemed as if wherever we set it the car did not like what was going on at all. It had always started right up before. Now it cranked, then bogged, cranked some more and then turned over. Once it was running it ran so rough, almost as if the motor was running on 2 cylinders. It was missing badly and backfiring. It didn't seem to really matter where the CAS was set, it just ran horrible. So we gave up for the night. And I had no idea where the timing was supposed to be set because it surely shouldn't have been stock with the wack ass tune on the car. So I left the car sit and came back Sunday afternoon.



Sunday

So I was definitely disheartened after my failure on Saturday. I arrive Sunday and find that my stepdad has decided that the car is not leaving his garage until my dad(who authorized the purchase) has gone over the car with him because he believes it's unsafe(which it is). I had planned to replace a bunch of safety equip, but this just made me make the move a little earlier. It also meant that the car would be down for a bit so it made me think about redoing some things. For some weird ass reason he took my spark plug wires and hid them. Well I got those back and put them on correctly. Then noticed that the exhaust manifold had a nice crack in it before the flange. Well that's great. This is when the shittyness of the wiring really set in. I had reinstalled the CAS and was attempting to start the car. Well now it was just cranking and not even trying to turn over. BTW I have a 13b ignition. So then we tested the wires. I was getting spark when I turned the battery and ecu on, but not when I cranked it. Well then we found that a wire on one of the pins on the CAS had just decided to pop out. So we rigged that to go back in the pin and found a shit ton of grounds and other wires just kinda hanging. And wires everywhere. Some hooked up, some not, some aftermarket, some oem. Well anyway, we put that wire back in the pin and started it. It ran just as bad as before with it missing and just running like crap. Again, I adjusted it from all the way retarded to all the way advanced with little to no change in how the car acted.



Monday

I've got a half day of school and I've spent all morning real worried. I am seriously in over my head. I need to replace the roll bar with a taller one before I even move the car, and I need to get some fixed backs and harnesses. At that point I may as well pull the interior and put a black interior in. Then I'm thinking that I should rewire the whole car. But I don't know hardly a thing about wiring besides basic soldering. Then I thought whether I should stick with Haltech or if I should go MSPNP. And I have the afternoon off so I'm thinking what in the hell do I do with my time to be productive. I'm thinking I'm just gonna start dissassembling the interior and take the bar out and start looking for a taller one. I'm 6'4" 180lbs. btw. So FML it started as an awesome weekend and ended in a terrible one. Oh and the other issue, I'm pretty much out of money. So now it's time to start selling shit and then most likely have to borrow money from my dad to make this thing pass the parent's safety inspection.


I'm probably about to go down in this forum's history of that kid who got completely owned and now has a hunk of metal sitting in his garage. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

post this on FML.com

Btw I am in Richmond va if anyone is local and wants(or has enough sympathy for me) to take a look at this. I'll provide something, I'm not sure what, money, food, parts I don't need...anything really lol.

Sucks, the car has a ton of potential. Nice that you have a lift at home to work on it though. What exactly does the "parent safety test" entail. Assuming you get the wiring issues solved, replace the oil feed line, and get it fully tuned what else is there? Do you have another car that you DD?

What exactly do you consider not safe?

That's what I'm saying. I was driving around a 260whp miata without a rollbar before the motor blew. Didn't bother me any.

Wow. Jokes aside, everyone knows that horrible feeling when you realize you might be stuck with a piece of shit. Sorry dude.

My advice would be to set aside stuff like the roll bar and interior swap for now. If the roll bar is really a concern, just take it out entirely.

Well a miata isn't safe to start with, but the main unsafe thing is the fact that the back of my head sits level with the roll bar. I could have brain damage from a fender bender. So I need to forget the hard top and get a bar that is safe for my height instead of the shortest one so it fits under the hard top. And if I'm swapping the bar I really should do fixed backs and 6 points because the seats and belts in it really just aren't cutting it. Btw my friend just gave me a great idea. I probably fouled the plugs by messing around with bad timing, so it's possible that is the reason the car isn't reacting to my cas adjusting.

Well, you won't get a rollbar that is but so much higher. You need to focus that attention to making or getting a seat that is much lower in the car. A racing bucket bolted to the floor of the car would get you a ton of extra head room. As far as the miata being safe. There are not many cars I would rather be in a crash in or a roll over than a miata with a rollbar. There are plenty of pictures on the net to prove that.

heads above roll bar is typical:

http://www.boostedmiata.com/gallery2...serialNumber=2

You didn't check the plugs first?

Brainey-balls, is that a hard top bar or regular? I have two Miatas, one with each bar. The regular bar is a bit higher, but with either one, someone 6'-4" will be above the bar.

Damn dude, I feel for you, wish you would have posted a "should I buy this car" thread here...oh well. If I was still at home (Charlottesville) I'd be more than happy to drive east for an hour or so and give you a hand but I'm about 4500 miles away and will be for a good while, hope someone else local feels bad enough for you to stop by and lend a hand.

Good luck with her.

HT model.

OP Just wear a helmet when you drive the car. You will be "The" coolest motherfucker in you HS and pussy will rain on you. Also about miatas not being safe, that a lot of crap I stopped an Expedition almost head on and all I had was minor cuts an bruises, so yeah.

Attachment 200969

Word, they were designed to be raced and therefore designed to keep you alive after wrecking.

Heading to get some plugs, anything I should know? I've got a 13b ignition...

BKR7Es

Yup, do not deviate from that at all. If they don't have them, go somewhere else.

But is it safe? I know it's not without a helmet.

when's the last time you flipped a car? It's safe enough, a little scalping beats a full on crushing :) or just run a hard top or both...

better than nothing, which is how they come...

Or stop being a pussy :giggle: shit there's people street racing with chrome style bars

Sucks about the car. Exact reason I prefer to do all my own work.

But on the bright side wiring is just about free to fix, just takes time. The other problems will put a dent in the pocket, but it's all part of being a car enthusiast.

Sorry to hear about the mess. Still nice car imo, get it running well and enjoy it. Dont become overwhelmed, just go step by step.

Alright I took a video for you guys. This was the best I was able to make it run tonight. I now know that my spark plug wires are out of order so that needs to be fixed. Oh and my honda buddy suggested that I could have installed the sensor 180 degrees backwards, but as far as I knew from reading DIYs Mazda had made the sensor specifically so it could only go in one way. Ideas???

IMG_0395 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

oh and check out this gorgeous wiring i found when i peeled some electrical tape back...most of the wiring is like this...it really scares me. and of course i cut all of that out and ran new wires.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/...eeec918594.jpg