Midge Mountain

I am new to this forum and thought it would be a good idea to introduce myself and my project.

Car: 1999 Miata 10th Anniversary Edition.
Current Modifications: Mishimoto radiator, racing beat header, intake, upgraded alternator, hard dog roll bar, upgraded plugs/wires, and SS brake lines.

Supercharger Project: BRP MP62, 6 rib, later version with the beefier mounting bracket.
Intercooler: BRP brand, air to air IC
Tuning: Megasquirt PNP2. No idea how to tune yet but learning a lot from searching this forum, reading the manual, and from watching Evans Performance Academy videos on youtube. I don't aspire to be a tuning expert but still want to learn how. The car will be brought to a dyno for a professional tune regardless.
Old Engine: Once I get the SC'er swapped over to my car and running I plan to rebuild the old SC'ed engine. After a rebuild, I'll either keep it as a spare or sell it.

Current Project Status and Plans: I got the supercharger installed. The IC is next. It'll be tricky because I'm missing all the mounting brackets for it. Will need to fabricate them myself. Anyone by chance have this same IC installed and could share the brackets being used so I could reference them?

Midge Mountain

Didn't want to post something and then just leave it. So here's a quick project follow up/update post.

So far I have installed the SC, IC, RX8 injectors, Megasquirt PNP2, deatschwerks 255 fuel pump, new radiator, dual hood struts (can't use factory hood prop anymore), single A-pillar gauge bezel, Innovate PSB-1, wideband O2 sensor, EGR block off kit, and racing beat header. Currently working on installing a GM IAT sensor. I plan to mount it on the cold side intercooler pipe. Have read a lot about boosted people dealing with heat soak due to sensor location. To prevent this I plan to locate the sensor just below the radiator cross member. It's a much warmer environment anywhere closer to the intake manifold from there and I hope this spot isolates it well enough to avoid heat soak. Pictures alone don't show much progress. But hopefully that changes soon with a first initial startup on jack stands. I'm very excited and want to thank miataturbo.net for all of it's search-able knowledge that it offers me. Will post another update later. Cheers!

Midge Mountain

Project update: it runs! Tried an initial first start up with a tuner by my side to help with mega squirt tuning. We got it to fired up, idle, set the base timing, and got the AFR’s in good operating range. Putted the car around the neighborhood, staying out of boost, and it’s happy.

I couldn’t be happier either. Spent 4+ months working on this project and it feels amazing to see it run. All things considered, I think this is a giant win for a first timer because out of the hundreds of possible things that could go wrong only 1 problem popped up (forgot to wire something) and it's a simple fix. Otherwise, no fires, no other electrical gremlins, no overheating, no unexpected smoking, no unusual fluid leaks, no obvious vacuum leaks, and didn’t even need the fire extinguisher (it was standing by just in case).

It still needs more tuning because it doesn’t run perfect yet. A professional dyno tune will be happening soon though. Can’t wait! It’s gonna be fun!

As for the spare 1.8 engine, I'm thinking about doing a full tare down and rebuild. And then contemplating on doing a turbo build with it. At some point I'll probably get bored with the supercharger setup and want something different. I've never done a turbo build before and it would be fun to learn how. Additionally, I can sell the supercharger parts to fund it, and it wouldn't cost too much more for a turbo setup since i've already got all the supporting mods. We'll see what the future holds.

As for tuning the megasquirt, I highly recommend learning the fundamentals, and also paying a pro tuner to help. Pro tuners aren't cheap but they're worth every penny spent and glad I went that route. He also taught me a few things about tuning the ECU and I plan to build on that skillset over time by tweaking and playing around with tuner studio myself.