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None of the S2 problems involve the ingesting of a screw.
None of the remedies to stop stock TB breakages are guaranteed, including epoxy, including the brace.
Don't be frightened, read the S2 threads, the fixes are kid's stuff and work, so you never again have to worry about whether the epoxy is going to work or the brace is working, maybe the screw won't do any damage on the way through ....
Can confirm. I epoxied the screws on OE NB throttle and the shaft broke instead and sent a screw through my fresh 11:1 built motor.
One question for you guys. It seems like Megasquirt is the goto standalone for Miatas. Is there a multi gauge setup/output that reads the CAN bus from the MS? My thinking was to run the standard oil press/temp into the MS and have an output (maybe via the CAN bus) to a gauge setup. Either a simple 2" gauge like gaugeART or some kind of tablet? If someone could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated. I've been digging through build threads to gather more info but I could probably spend a year or two just digging in my spare time before I go through most info on here.
There is no "standard" oil temp/pressure in an NB. There is a dummy switch for pressure. If you run an MS you can remove that sensor from the motor completely and put an actual pressure sensor in its place(its a 1/8 BSPT on the block so you need a converter to 1/8 NPT, they are only like 10 bucks).
To run an MS3 you need a wide band O2. I am running a Spartan 3 WB O2 via CAN. Lots of people run AEM X series. The AEM CAN signal is a bit different and a little harder to work with with the MS3 if you have other CAN devices on the network. I dont have a wideband o2 gauge of any kind, mostly because I would never actually look at it on track.
I have an AEM X gauge oil pressure gauge. This COULD output via CAN, but I dont care enough to go through the setup on the MS3 to get it on CAN at the same time as my Spartan 3. I run the 0-5v which is good enough for my purpose. I have an actual gauge I can look at(which I rarely do on track LOL), but my MS3 is setup for oil pressure fail safe to shut off if my pressure drops below 10psi(I have hot pressures of 18-20psi). If I was doing my setup again I might not even run a gauge and just use a 0-5v sensor wired direct to the MS3 and use it as a failsafe...or send the data to an AIM dash. Ballenger sells a nice honeywell 0-150psi sensor and the associated wiring plugs for like 95 bucks(and if you search I am sure you can piece together even cheaper). My AEM X gauge was ~$250... You could put that $150 towards an AIM dash.
I have no oil temp gauge as a buddy of mine has basically the same setup as me and he has never had oil temp issues. I run Amsoil 0W50 which is good to 300+ degrees. I think highest my buddy has ever seen is like 250-260.
Water temp on the NB is a 3 wire sensor which basically has 2 sensor loops inside of it. One goes to the dash and one to the ECU. While the dash gets the same "signal" as the ECU it can only interpret it 3 ways(cold, ok, hot). Cold is less than 165, normal is 165-227, and hot is above 227... When I am on track mine will flicker between "normal" and "hot" and back and forth... I datalog everything on my MS3 so after a session I will look at it... 225-230 when running is normal here in HOT HOT HOT Texas... no concern. Again MS3 can be setup with temp fail safes. One thing that IMPORTANT and cheap is a coolant PRESSURE light. Just get you a cheap 12v LED and a cheap pressure sensor(I have an AC Delco C8020). Pressure sensor grounds when pressure is lost so feed 12v to your light and ground the light through the sensor. If you lose coolant pressure, light lights up. I think mine lights up at 4psi. Temp sensors dont sense temp of air real well so you can have zero coolant and your water temp gauge will show normal...for a while... but a low pressure light will alert you to coolant loss way faster AND as long as you put it in your line of sight you will actually see it while on track.
There are a few gauges out that can grab all the CAN data and display it... They are small... you will never be able to look at actually decipher them on track IMO.
A few people run small tablets that run TunerStudio on them and run gauges via that interface and a USB cable.
The best setup is probably an AIM dash running on the CAN bus. Takes more work to get it all setup, but probably the best overall setup.
Sorry I was lazy typing. When I said "standard" I meant standard for a track car to have oil temp, oil pressure and water temp.
What size oil cooler do you run a 19 or 25 row setrab? It seems like oil cooling is definitely not a problem for most people with a 25row Setrab. A 25row is probably a little oversized for a ~250whp car so that makes sense.
Why do you recommend a coolant pressure sensor? Interesting I've never seen that recommended but I guess it certainly can't hurt if the water pump stops or you suddenly lose your coolant (although you'd probably notice the latter).
Thanks for all the info. Gauge/sensor setups are definitely tricky and tedious. I guess no way around it. A full digital dash definitely seems to be the "best" way to output the data you want without having a million gauges everywhere. I've also seen some tablets I guess running Tunerstudio.. I will say a couple multigauges are pretty effective though. Here's one I installed in the passenger visor of my s2k and I love it. The interface/setup is clucky like many but it works well and is easily visible on track and the street for the sensors I just check periodically (water/oil temp, oil press). That's a really old picture. I changed the font to white and the output but it's very visible.
Sorry I was lazy typing. When I said "standard" I meant standard for a track car to have oil temp, oil pressure and water temp.
What size oil cooler do you run a 19 or 25 row setrab? It seems like oil cooling is definitely not a problem for most people with a 25row Setrab. A 25row is probably a little oversized for a ~250whp car so that makes sense.
Why do you recommend a coolant pressure sensor? Interesting I've never seen that recommended but I guess it certainly can't hurt if the water pump stops or you suddenly lose your coolant (although you'd probably notice the latter).
Thanks for all the info. Gauge/sensor setups are definitely tricky and tedious. I guess no way around it. A full digital dash definitely seems to be the "best" way to output the data you want without having a million gauges everywhere. I've also seen some tablets I guess running Tunerstudio.. I will say a couple multigauges are pretty effective though. Here's one I installed in the passenger visor of my s2k and I love it. The interface/setup is clucky like many but it works well and is easily visible on track and the street for the sensors I just check periodically (water/oil temp, oil press). That's a really old picture. I changed the font to white and the output but it's very visible.
I dont run an oil cooler on this car... If I was turbo I would run one. Setrab has a pretty good chart of cooler size needed for various HP levels. I think for 250whp(probably slightly under 300chp) I think a 19 row is likely enough as long as you have good flow through it.
And the thing is you might NOT notice you lost coolant since most people run straight water so it has no smell. Buddy of mine had that happen and he had a real water temp gauge, but by the time his water temp gauge registered it was hot, it was way way to late and his motor was fucked. Again pressure sensor will tell you almost instantly(again 4 psi) if you lose coolant.
And as far as that little gauge with 6 things on it goes, no way you would EVER see that on track, at least I wouldnt. I BARELY can take the time to look at my oil pressure gauge and its fairly large. It has an alarm function on it, but I doubt I could hear it with my helmet on and my ear plugs in. Like I said, using the fail safe functions on the MS3 is the way to go vs. relying on yourself to see a gauge and react all while trying to push the car at 10/10's on the track while watching flag stations and managing traffic... I'm personally not that good. The only gauge I really care about on my car is the tach... everything else is superfluous and its all caught in the datalog to look at later... and the fail safes for low oil pressure, high coolant temp or excessively lean O2.
And the thing is you might NOT notice you lost coolant since most people run straight water so it has no smell. Buddy of mine had that happen and he had a real water temp gauge, but by the time his water temp gauge registered it was hot, it was way way to late and his motor was fucked. Again pressure sensor will tell you almost instantly(again 4 psi) if you lose coolant.
That makes sense and is a good point.
And as far as that little gauge with 6 things on it goes, no way you would EVER see that on track, at least I wouldnt. I BARELY can take the time to look at my oil pressure gauge and its fairly large. It has an alarm function on it, but I doubt I could hear it with my helmet on and my ear plugs in. Like I said, using the fail safe functions on the MS3 is the way to go vs. relying on yourself to see a gauge and react all while trying to push the car at 10/10's on the track while watching flag stations and managing traffic... I'm personally not that good. The only gauge I really care about on my car is the tach... everything else is superfluous and its all caught in the datalog to look at later... and the fail safes for low oil pressure, high coolant temp or excessively lean O2.
I have it configured to show 4 lines. Again, that picture isn't indicative of how it looks in real life but it's very visible. I can even read the numbers from my gopro footage that sits above the center console. I completely agree that failsafes are the way to go, but it's nice to be able to check values periodically so you know if things are hunky dorey. Also, I try to be methodical and it was interesting to see and log changes stock vs adding mods (oil pan, cooler, turbo, etc.) Things like water/oil temp/oil pressure shouldn't change very quickly and they are nice to check on a straight. It was interesting for me to see in real time the oil pressure change as oil temp climbed. Unfortunately hondata doesn't support datalogging for external inputs, which is one reason I'm switching to Infinity.
Edit: Found a better shot of the gauge. Sits right next to the mirror. Very easy to see. The lower AEM AFR gauge is definitely useless on track.
Lets just say I am into a minimal interior, gauges, etc... I have the factory gauge cluster installed, just not in this pic, but honestly just a tach would work for me. The factory water temp gauge is useless, the factory fuel gauge is to damn slow to be useful, and I could care less about my MPH.
Very nice! Yes I'm not a fan of gauges in my face at all, especially on a street car. A lot of people use lights but I'm a big fan of a shift beeper personally. You don't even have to look at the dash and keep your eyes up. https://modifry.com/index.php?route=...&product_id=66
Been searching the interwebs lately and this looks like a pretty compelling price point for a dash. $1k and looks decent.. Definitely would be nice to have no/minimal separate gauges.. Anyone run one? https://dd-efi.com/collections/pro-d...sh-90-05-miata
For front bumper bars.. does removing the stock bumper support help airflow significantly? It looks like a couple different people make a replacement/smaller bar. Someone on this forum and there's Charlie Moua making a Doryoku bar.
Another few random questions.. what is the lowest amount of boost that can be run on a Kraken top mount and 2560R garrett? Does it hold the wastegate spring pressure of ~8psi or does it creep at all? Also, what is the power level at ~8psi, 200ish whp?
At this point, I'm hoping to do a lot of maintenance stuff (timing belt, seals, hubs, BBK, clutch) and run the car NA for a few events before putting the turbo on. I'm sure it'll have way too much tire and brakes with 15x9.5 and 245 square but the current rpf1s I'm pretty sure won't clear the BBK.
If you are doing the Afco with 11.75x1.25 rotor you will almost 100% need to run a x10 wheel, not a x9, unless you plan to use spacers to clear the caliper.
Also a 245 on a x10, on a track car, supports the side wall much better than a 245 on a x9... Most people who track x9's use a 225.
I have had zero issues with my setup running NA with 245 x10's and AFCO's... would the car MAYBE be a tiny bit faster on a 225 due to less rolling resistance, maybe, but I have full aero which tends to limit my overall top speed anyway, so...meh.
Was out running this past weekend and came within 1 second of my buddies built NC which has 70+ whp on me. We were chasing down cars with double and triple the HP... And my car has probably 4-5 seconds in it on this track, but the nut behind the wheel isnt that good yet, also the nuts below the wheel arent big enough. I ran a 2:19, but a buddy with a similar car, who is a way better driver, has gone 2:15. He went 2:11 on hoosiers.
I'm sorry I should've said 15x9.5. I haven't ordered the Konig freeform 15x9.5's but that's what I'm planning on running. According to SM's website these wheels clear the BBK. I guess I could run a 15x10 but honestly I doubt I could ever notice the difference and saving a few bucks is nice.
also the nuts below the wheel arent big enough.
Lol. Sounds like fun. I'm looking forward to getting back out on track more frequently.
I'm sorry I should've said 15x9.5. I haven't ordered the Konig freeform 15x9.5's but that's what I'm planning on running. According to SM's website these wheels clear the BBK. I guess I could run a 15x10 but honestly I doubt I could ever notice the difference and saving a few bucks is nice.
What I was told when I was looking at 9.5 or 10 is that the 9.5 was really a wheel intended for NA's as they can run them slightly deeper in the wheel well to help clear the NA fenders and still not hit the suspension and what not on the inside, but on an NB with our much better fender setup, a x10 is really the preferred wheel. I also was looking at 9.5's because they were cheaper than x10's.
Again sidewall support on track.
Not so say with either you arent still going to have to roll and flare your fenders, but the X10's are the way to go.
Just a thought re: brakes - depending on your power plans you may consider the AFCO F88 11.75" x 0.81" setup, it's not listed on his website but BroFab made a run of adapters for that caliper - should be able to order them if you contact him directly.
Fits under some 8" wheels, most others with a small spacer, and uses the same massive 7420 pads. Calipers are <$50 a piece (while still available, I bought 4 spares since they're cheaper than the rebuild kits).
Gives up an amount of thermal capacity but, I suspect, is the sweet spot for factory transmission power levels (<250 lb-ft) and didn't render my collection of 8" & 9" wheels useless. Gutentight makes ducts if temps demand it.
Total cost to piece together a kit is ~$700 before pads, fluid, ducting.
Just a thought re: brakes - depending on your power plans you may consider the AFCO F88 11.75" x 0.81" setup, it's not listed on his website but BroFab made a run of adapters for that caliper - should be able to order them if you contact him directly.
Fits under some 8" wheels, most others with a small spacer, and uses the same massive 7420 pads. Calipers are <$50 a piece (while still available, I bought 4 spares since they're cheaper than the rebuild kits).
Gives up an amount of thermal capacity but, I suspect, is the sweet spot for factory transmission power levels (<250 lb-ft) and didn't render my collection of 8" & 9" wheels useless. Gutentight makes ducts if temps demand it.
Total cost to piece together a kit is ~$700 before pads, fluid, ducting.
Thanks for the suggestion. Yes I saw that option but the SM kit with the larger AFCO caliper which allows the larger 1.25" rotors I think is worth the extra money. I ordered a set. I'm hoping pads should last a good while and I'm going to run w/o ducts initially.
I did order a set of the BroFab hubs though as they seem like a solid upgrade over the OEM style hubs but a few bucks cheaper than the "Miatahubs."
11-09-2023, 09:10 AM
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