help eval current trackday setup
 

Hi all. Life has kept me busy and It's been quite awhile since I have been on this forum. Longer yet since I've run 2004 msm trackday car. Well, the long storage has gotten the best of it; squirrels nest in the engine and mice have ruined the race seats. Even if you could stand the stench long enough to crank the motor you'd find that it won't start. It looks like I can use this as an "opportunity" to try to go thru all of the components and make sure that I've got it all put right. I'm going to need some help to bring me back up to speed as I never did have it quite set up perfectly... you know "turn key".

So here's what I've got: Basic mechanicals: std bore msm block, JE pistons, Carillo H-beam rods and Carr rod bolts, head chambers and pockets cleaned-up, 1mm larger valves and dual spring kit.
Induction is a Beig log, garret 2860, separated gasses manifold and 3" back to a flowmaster. Coldside is a 3" round filter and maf delete to a decent front mount intercooler using FM hoses.

Ecu is a MS. Injectors are 1000 cc.

The good: I've tracked this car for almost 15 years and it's been a blast. The bbk/abs delete and MCS suspension are well sorted to my driving style. Easy on the wallet.

The bad: As I've taken the car down the engine modification path, it has gotten progressively less reliable. It has never started easily hot and would often leave me cranking in the grid line. When I went from the stock ecu to a chipped ecu the dependability really suffered... and I could no longer get local help to work on it. When I changed to a MegaSquirt I was able to get some local help. Initially, some of the MS internals were soldered up wrong which cause some delays. After finding some very knowledgeable help at a local race shop and after a couple of dyno sessions, the car made good, safe power but would still not always start reliably, idle and run smoothly at anything but WOT. (Mostly because of the inability to street drive for the final tuning?) I'm an old school motor-head, but unfortunately not an IT guy, so I still have to depend on a race shop for my every tuning need. The turbo may be at the end of it's usable power range, but it supplies gobbs of mid range torque. I've been resistant to change it. Unfortunately, the waste gate is not large enough to control boost past 16psi (after that it severely boost creeps) and I've had to use a 2-1/2" restrictor in the exhaust to keep it in check. (Maybe I should take that 3" rattling nightmare of a mid pipe off and put on something smaller that fits right?) The downpipe bolts finally stretched to the point that 3 of the 4 broke. So, I'll need a new diffuser housing and better bolts.

Has any new "miata wisdom" come about over the last couple of years. Since I've got to tear into the wiring and some of the mechanicals anyway are there any changes I should make? Also, the turbo impeller wheel is pretty dinged up (I likely sucked some trash thru it in a crash that broke my airbox a few years ago). That, plus the bad diffuser housing... the turbo either needs to be rebuilt or replaced. Is there a better option? Is the Megasquirt still the most reliable option?

A little rambling, but thanks.

You need to elaborate on these two things: Ecu is a MS. Injectors are 1000 cc.

A lot has changed in the last few years. If you are on an older ms1/ms2 unit, you definitely need to make the jump to ms3 for things like hot-restarts and general reliability. If you are on older injector technology, ev14's will make a huge upgrade in drivability as well.

Where are you located?

Even my ms1 would crank and and do low throttle things well. It's simply a matter of tuning to do it. Okay that's not always so simple but it can be done.

I'll help how I can.

He's local to me. (Hi Craig). He had an ms3 of some sort iirc, not sure on the injectors
You could always look at a k24z3 swap. Would get you about 200hp and uses stock subframe. I'd love to help out one of those together.

I'm not sure he's the type of driver to ever want less power and torque.

Craig, the last tune someone makes is always the best, since you learn new ways to improve drivability every time, or at least I do. Just remember that there are two parts to the tune. The easy part is the software, a simple click or two can drastically change how the car behaves. The other part is the physical setup, which is often over looked. Everything from refreshed injectors and properly functioning fuel pumps, to engine leak down and oil/coolant leaks can cost a lot to fix, but also play a large roll in the finished product.

As you know my help is just a phone call away, Martin and I would love to work with you to make your race car perform safer and faster. I know it's needed a QR steering wheel and a more comfortable seat for a few years now. If it's been in storage for more than a month or two, you'll also want a battery tender on it. If you haven't been doing this, the battery should be replaced anyways. I'm a big fan of stock batteries in race Miatas, especially ones that have a MS. The extra starting capacity over the lightweight batteries is more important than the weight savings. You lose 100% of the races you don't start.

How attached are you to the hotside parts? If you want to try out a Trackspeed Engineering EFR setup you are welcome to take my car for a spin assuming the weather holds up.

Hey Six and Aidan, thanks for chiming in. As for Curly, I was going to call you after I'd gotten this mess somewhat sorted out. I'm sure that you and Martin are tired of me bringing my busted stuff into your shop and then expecting miracles...

Dleavitt; I'm not opposed to changing out the hotside. I think Aiden showed me/recommended that setup to me last year. Btw, I'm from Salem. Why haven't I seen you around? Would love to see your install.

I've got all winter to clean up the car and then bring it to Curly. I just don't want to bring in a rats nest! The injectors are ID1000's ...and it's a MS3pnp.

We met a couple times at PIR last year, but that was pre-turbo. Had to lay low this past summer after spending way too much money on the car getting the turbo setup installed. I'll shoot you a PM with contact info and we can see about getting together sometime.

You need an EFR and a very good tune. Find a tuner who will agree to get the job done and charge you accordingly (expect to spend $1500-2000 for this alone). With enough time, it's possible to get an MS3 to start and idle in all conceivable conditions.