Finally saying hi here at Miataturbo. When I joined I had a 93 LE, now a red (imagine that ****) '90. Nothing special. Currently stock outside of Illuminas/FM springs/ISC top hats. Current plan is VVT/6 speed/3.90 torsen swap out of a 2002 with Megasquirt.

This isn't even my cat. It just knows...





And the parts car:

 

Well ****. Welcome aboard.! You got more than one miata in your history, photos of cats, you're obviously a natural. Your plans have merit. Oregonmon's thread should give you useful information and inspiration.

 

3.63 center section arrived. They had to remove the open diff to get it under weight to ship. I've got a 4.3 and 3.9 Torsen rear in stock, but I don't want to take those apart. I guess I'll have to find another car to part out.

 

Semi-stupid question: Should I megasquirt the 1.6 that's in the car now, or just wait until the 1.8 VVT swap? It would make more sense to get the learning curve out of the way before putting in a different engine, but it doesn't make sense to do some of the wiring changes twice. Debating on an MS3X build or waiting for another DIY-Autotune sale and getting an MS3-pro module...MS3X will likely do everything I'd ever need.

 

ms3x or ms3pro is the correct answer.
each will work with both engines if you want to start learning now

 

i did the ms3x for my 93. put it on the 1.6 to make sure it is working well and get some tuning practice. Then it will be mostly ready for the VVT. You will have to add some circuits but its not bad. I built an entire new engine harness for mine because i didnt want to run a bunch of new wires along with the stock harness.

 

I just repurposed some old MAF wires to eliminate running new wires along the stock harness, e.g. EBC, VVT. There are several things left unused and vacant when switching to megasquirt so it's just a matter of tracing them and transferring them from one pin to another on the ECU plugs.

I think I did end up running one 4 wire shielded cable for the additional two injector and spark wires for sequential. But that has a small footprint so I wasn't worried about it.

 

Slap in the MS and start learning. Made a huge difference in how my stock 1.6 drove. Much smoother, better low end torque, crisper throttle responce. Took me 3 months to get to that point though. Even managed 100hp at the wheels on 89 with stock intake, manifold and cat.

Every time I get in a stock one now I think something is wrong...