De-Noobing/Thoughts about current project
 

Hi, I'm Gregg and I'm a miata-holic. I've been a miata-holic for four years now after buying a good friend's '91. There have been good times, like that first car in NM. It looked like a chop-shop victum, but ran great. And there have been bad times, like the two NA's that rusted out from under me in Okinawa. Now I'm on to a turbo NB I bought from that same friend (enabler?). It's too early to say how this is going to turn out.

Prior to this were two Evos, a B5 S4, and my first car out of college, a Subaru 2.5RS.

So, anyway, I feel a need to vent some. The car is an '01 with the old FM/BEGi kit (2560) and piggy-back link/extra injectors. Things were great initially, except for the rusted out roadstersport muffler. Then the problems started happening.

First thing, the old-style bov decided to come apart. The outlet was press-fit into the main, uh, part. Well, I didn't like the way all the intake pipes were angled as they were putting too much strain on the outlet. So, after pulling things apart, and cleaning a surprising amount of oil out of the pipes, I reinstalled everything...and the car started running poorly. Very rough, wouldn't rev/tried to stall at low rpms. Long story short, I put the MAF in backwards (Doh!). Easy fix.

Well, sort of. The problems continued. I first got a code for a bad cam pos sensor. Plus, the car wouldn't start when heat-soaked. So, got a new sensor...problem didn't resolve itself. Plus, got the same code. It seems to be installed correctly, so I moved on. Checked the crank pos sensor spacing. It looked good, and the sensor was replaced by my friend in the last year or two. So, got new coils, plugs and wires...throwing parts at the car now. However, I'm the third owner and found out some maintenance was long overdue. Car seemed to be ok after that.

Not so fast! Right before I started ordering a rediculous amount of parts, the car started to stumble again. This time, the gauges started to "stick". The tach would only move up, but not come back down without a decent whack on the dash. I checked to ensure the needles move properly, but that doesn't seem to be the issue.

I finally said "screw it" and started checking wiring in the car. The first owner did a lot of work: hardwired radar detector, switch and light on dash for detector, some speaker by the headrest so you could hear the detector when the top was down, new stereo system/amp, power outlet, some big box to make the windows go up when you hit the lock button, etc. Turns out all the work was done by a monkey missing most of it's brain.

After tearing out a lot of stuff and fixing some wiring, I moved on to the underhood maintenance. New TB/seals/water pump, etc. Which led to other "while I'm in there" stuff. The stock rad wasn't going to cut it in the Houston summer, so got a new FM crossflow, shroud, and water hoses. Well, that stuff probably won't fit with the old IC/10ft of piping, so next came the newer IC kit and intake. Of course that requires pulling the turbo off to reclock it, so why not get the newer BEGi manifold so I can get the exhaust divider and 10mm turbo studs? Oh, and make some braided coolant/oil lines because I don't want to do this again.

After fixing the mess of oil leaks (filter relocation adapater not even hand tight, oil feed T-fitting not even hand tight, etc), I finally got around to installing the new parts.

FCUK!!! Nothing seemed to want to fit without being modified! Wrench clearance on the exh manifold is non-existant, FM's shroud wouldn't fit their own rad without clearancing a few areas. Trying to bolt/un-bolt the DP to the turbo outlet is a huge pain (just rotate the flange 45 deg...argh!). And, finally, the lower rad hose, compressor outlet hose, AC lines and turbo coolant lines all try to occupy the same point in space at the same point in time!

I'm not terrible at wrenching, but this project has taken way too much time and effort due to poorly designed parts.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent, and I'm happy to have this board as a great resource.

Welcome, czubaka!

Thanks, Scott!

Ugh, more troubles today. New FM crossflow rad leaks at one of the mounts. Grrr...

Its FM though, call them on monday, it'll be ok.

Hi czubaka

Excellent into post. Welcome to the site.

Welcome.
Bummer on all the bad fitment.
The upside is you're dealing with companies which are very reputable in the miata world and will definitely take care of you if the parts they sold you are defective.

Some pics of your ride/setup would be nice

Ok, finally read the posting photos for morons thread. Let's see if flickr will play...

My Evo 9 MR, which I miss very dearly:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137

My 2001 B5 S4, which I don't miss at all:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
You can also see my '91 rat-trap in the background. Somebody's got that in NM. Probably building a race car out of it.

Perfect time on the '01 Miata to grab the camera. (huh-huh </Butthead>)
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137

Example of first owner's (hereafter referred to as FFO) $hitty wiring job:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137

All to install this piece of crap:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
Supposedly this rolls up the windows when you hit the lock button. Probably what caused my passenger window to roll up when I started the car. :facepalm:

Examples of poor fitment/design on the FM crossflow rad and associated shroud:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
Nothing difficult to fix, just annoying. Especially with two parts "designed" to work together.

Then the kicker - brand new rad leaking: :mad:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
On the positive side, Griffin turned the radiator around in just over a week. Haven't installed it yet to make sure it's fixed. And, yes, that's my finger in the photo...

The upskirt shots:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137

Some crappy brackets I made to secure the IC to the rad. You know, for when the rad is actually there and not out getting fixed:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
Towards the top of the pic you can see where I cut the rad support bracket to fit the AWR swaybar mounts. Also, for future reference, don't use a dremel to drill out the spot welds, get a proper spot weld removal bit. That sucked.:vash:

Oooh, shiny:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137

Pic of the retardedly cluttered drivers front corner:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
Let's see; compressor outlet hose, lower rad hose, turbo coolant lines, AC and PS. Hmmm, what else can I stuff in there? This is what makes me want to kill people.

The compressor outlet hose and lower rad hose spooning each other:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
FM's instructions say they "might" make contact. Uh, yeah, definitely might...:doh:

IC to TB hose contacting the swaybar:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
If I adjusted things back to prevent rubbing, it'd push the hose into the accessory belt. Probably not a good thing.

This Link piggyback mess also makes me want to kill:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
What's not shown is the crappy wiring job the FFO did to the ignition wiring harness. I'm not even sure I can fix it since he decided to put the splices right up against the coil connectors.

Making progress, running out of parts to install, should be less things to have go wrong now. Right? Oh wait, what's this?
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1344148137
The BPV bung on the intake hose is pointed right at the AC line bracket. F'n great!:facepalm:

And that's where I'm at right now. Re-install the rad, figure out the BPV hose routing, secure all the lines, put the front end back together (with new air guide and undertray since the FFO butchered them), and whatever other stuff I forgot...

Let me know if anyone wants some specific pics.

haha your having pretty normal issues man.. if bolt on really meant bolt on how would we learn?? you should set up a build thread..

also that Evo looks tough!!

nice intro too

Thanks! But don't tell me these issues are normal! That just makes me feel dumber than I already am.

well they've been pretty normal for me so far!! so maybe we're both thick :P good luck with it