Looking very good man. You are documenting this very well. Hopefully everything goes well for you, and plan on engine management, like the megasquirt in your very near future.

Hello All,

Here's the latest! I had to travel for work all last week, but found a couple hours yesterday and today to knock out a few more items.

Here's a picture of the fan I ordered from Summit Racing compared to the stock fan. Replacing the fan wasn't 100% necessary, but it sure did free up room to install the hot side turbo piping.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3313.jpg

Below are the upper brackets that I made to mount the intercooler. They are pretty simple, but strong.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3314.jpg

The intercooler mounted. You can see the passenger side bracket, but the driver's side is barely noticeable. I used two holes that were already in the factory core support. It's like Mazda stuck 'em in there for this purpose. To get to the bolts, I loosened the four 10mm bolts that hold the condenser in place.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3360.jpg

Here's the intercooler piping after being welded up and painted. I've done this on a few cars and found the Miata to be fairly simple. I re-used a 1G DSM blow off valve and flange that I had lying around from another project. The section of hose is Napa truck radiator hose. It is 2.5" and is very tough. It comes in a variety of bends and is affordable compared to the same part in silicone.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3348.jpg

Pic of the intercooler piping being test-fitted. You can see how much room is freed up from the slimmer cooling fan. I didn't have to relocate the power steering reservoir thanks to using 2" piping on the hot side.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3352.jpg

Pic of the engine bay with the turbo re-clocked and all intercooler piping installed. the lovely orange couplers will be replaced with black ones soon, they're all I had on hand at the time.

Also, I had accidentally overlooked the small throttle body bypass hose, so I welded a little section of pipe to the IC pipe that leads to the throttle body. Also, the blow off valve will be plumbed back into the intake, I just haven't got around to that yet.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3358.jpg

Intercooler mounted! I was thrilled that the front end didn't have to be removed for this install. Overall I am happy with how it came out. I'll probably paint the clamps black so they aren't as noticeable. I still need to modify and install the stock plastic under trays, which will require a little trimming here and there.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3359.jpg

The last thing I took care of today was the Vortech FMU. This was a piece of cake. I still have to plumb the vacuum lines to it and the boost gauge.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3362.jpg


My "to-do" list is getting shorter! Next time I'll finish up the exhaust and fab up an intake setup.

Thanks again for the comments and support!

-Tom

Looking great dude! :bigtu:

Vash-

coming along well. Looks like the same intercooler I have.

hi
 

hi

Hello :D

WOOW... That is one Great way to get some room to fit those intercooler pipings!

I had to remove my ac fan and PS belt to fit my IC piping haha.

is that a 'be cool' 12" fan? miata specific or universal ?

frieken sweet. I'm using the tony dp with no cat, and a factory evo 8 mid section. All you have to do it clock the flange at the dp and then just clock the part where the muffler did reside. Start it up, it sounds bad ass. IF you want you can actually make it come out either side.
Overall it looks like you're gonna have a nice set up. Really cleanly done. In every aspect.

Thanks again for all the comments and for checkin' out my updates! I am dying to get this thing back on the road, but between craziness at work and a new baby girl, there's not much time for toys these days. :hs:

shinobix: The fan I purchased was a Summit Racing brand universal. (SUM-G4902)
I was leaning toward a "be-cool" or similar name brand, but they were either too small or too large for the Miata. This one fits perfectly.

-Tom

Tom, I like your approach so far, to do the exhaust and I/C from the get-go. Are you planning to dyno it in that state?

Yeah, since you are already going for the IC and exhaust, it seems you won't be staying at 5psi for long... what are you going to do about fuel and spark?

your car is freakin sweet. Just curious though for the slim fan did you have to splice the wires or was it PNP?

I would like to dyno it as it sits now to get a feel for what kind of power it's putting out and what the curve looks like.

I don't plan on turning up the boost right off the bat, but I will be adding my DIY water/alchy injection kit before I start hammering on it as an extra measure of safety. On that note I am a HUGE fan of water/alchy injection, as I've been using it for about 6 years on my various turbo cars. Here's a link to my DIY water/alchy site

Also I'll most likely get a wideband (I have an extra 02 sensor bung welded in) and I'd like to have a knock sensor of some sort. I've been spoiled by DSMs and how easy it is to simply datalog and tune off of the knock sensor alone. I ran 24psi of boost on 93 octane with my stock 4G63 for 4 years and over 50k miles with NO problems. I attribute that to water/alchy injection and tuning by the knock sensor.

Ok, I'm rambling, I need to cut the chit-chat and get to weldin' :eek5:

I can see megasquirt in your future. The megasquirt along with a knock sensor is going to be the cheapest way of getting fuel/ignition management. That is the route that I am going to go and the route that a lot of people on here have gone also. The project is coming together very nicely though. A+++.

Yeah, me too. The plug and play version looks like a great setup. I've been reading everything I can about it.

Very impressive. One more miata out kicking ass.

underdog,
please go ahead and order a downpipe from TT or BEGi. My TT install was a PITA. Had to take the turbo off to get the DP up. Do it once, do it right!! The difference in spool and power is un-friggin-believable with the 2.5" dp over the craptastic greddy pipe.

The greddy wastegate can also sucks balls. Lots of people have gotten away with installing helper springs. But you should consider throwing it away and ordering a quality can. Otherwise boost control is going to suck! They have terrible spike then boost drop problems. My boost solenoid duty cycles are like 98% at high rpm, trying to keep that fucker boosting at 13 psi!

Otherwise lookin good dude.

PS, I used a lot of !!!'s in this post for no reason.

Ben

krayzrac3r: The fan isn't plug and play. I clipped the plug off of the stock fan and used it so that it is plug and play.

RotaryJunky: Thanks!

Ben: I would get a 2.5" D.P. from the get-go, but at this point, the weather is incredible here and I need to get this car back on the road! The upgrade will have to wait until this winter. As for the wastegate, I'm not surprised at all and thanks for the tip.

On to the update! I'm getting VERY close to firing this thing up! Today I was able to find some time and hammered out the exhaust system. As seen in previous posts, my modified downpipe was finished, I just needed to fab up the rest of the system.

It was a perfect day for doing some welding. Unseasonably cool and low humidity made it much nicer to work outside. Here's my setup. It's simple, but I highly recommend a Lincoln if you want a good entry level welder.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3366.jpg

I was really flying on this thing, so I didn't take a bunch of pictures throughout the process. Here's a pic of the system finished and waiting for paint. Don't you love my exhaust stand/empty cat tree box?
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3368.jpg

Here's a shot of the exhaust all finished with a coat of dupli-color low gloss black engine enamel. I always spray my exhaust systems with this to avoid any rust and to make it blend in under the car. For paint out of a can, this stuff is tough and durable. You can also see that I was able to use all of the factory hanger points.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3370.jpg

Done! Being able to drop that little brace on the rear is key. In fact, I'd like to hug the Mazda engineer who made that a bolt-in piece. As you can see, the system tucks up in there pretty good and the tip is just a good old piece-o-pipe.
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3376.jpg

Another shot of the tip. Stealthy, no? :bigtu:
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3377.jpg\

The last thing I did today was whip up a 3" intake pipe out of some pieces I had from a car that I sold. I welded them up and put in a BOV recirc port and nipple for the valve cover vent. The intake isn't complete here, but it should be done tomorrow. On the BOV return, that is a stock return hose from a DSM with another small extension on the end. It's almost like it was made for this car!
http://turbomirage.com/miata/2007_07/IMG_3381.jpg

Gettin there!

-Tom