Not sure where I should post this, but I wanted to share my recent track weekend with you guys. This was only my 2nd time on track (in a car) in my life so the car has a lot more potential I've left on the table, you can see on my best lap there's an EASY 1-1.5 seconds to be gained just by not missing apexes... (oops).

This was the 2nd track day in a week for my Miata, and according to my timing devices, I have done over 200 track miles in the last 7 days, not a single mechanical issue to speak of, very happy with the cars performance and it's all thanks to the immense encyclopedia of knowledge that is available here. My best lap was 1:52, the fastest street cars I saw in the advanced group was a mclaren 600LT (1:47) and a 911 gt3 (1:48).

My fastest lap beings at 6:26 in the video


Mod list again so no-one has to search for it:

VVT swap with VVT not VVT'ing - stock internals
Kraken top mount manifold and 3" Exhaust
GT2560R - 8psi for track day (Runs 16psi on street and drag)
Skunk2 TB - Ported VICS intake manifold
ACT Streetlite flywheel - Supermiata 4-puck clutch disk and pressure plate
FF640 injectors - DW200 Pump - E85 fuel
FF R8 Coil on plug kit
Flyin Miata coolant reroute 180* thermostat
Supermiata crossflow rad
ms3pro
6 speed - 3.9 torsen
245/40/15 RT660s
Supermiata Techna Coilovers
Supermiata BX11 Front BBK - 2 Piece rotors GLOC r10 front pads r6 rears

 

That’s great. Any reason you don’t have the cam phaser running? Probably big gains to be had.

 

I am currently trying to figure out an issue with the vvt. I have it wired up to my ms3, it sounds like it works in test mode (changing duty cycle changes the frequency of sound that the actuator makes with the engine off).

When I start the engine and attempt to adjust vvt, nothing happens, revving to 3k makes no difference. I slowly increase the duty cycle with the engine running and suddenly the vvt will snap to full advance at idle and kill the engine.

When I turn the ignition on, the vvt actuator clicks loudly, when I turn the key to the run position it stops.

I'm at a loss, not really familiar with how the system works so it's on the back burner for now. I've replaced the actuator and the results are the same.

 

I’d probably start by confirming it’s wired correctly. The cam advance will/should be tied to load and RPM, not solely RPM, so just free revving will likely not cause much advance, but I have no idea what table you’re changing or how your maps have been configured.

Your tuner should be more than capable of setting it up, if not find a new tuner.

 

I don't let other people work on my car. I've done all the wiring and tuning and mechanical work since I've owned it. I'll figure it out eventually. Not too worried about 5-10ft lbs of tq from 3500-5000.

Your posts seem to indicate a lack of understanding of how test modes work on a standalone ecu. Using a megasquirt I can command any duty cycle I wish from the vvt actuator. In test mode VVT advance is NOT tied to rpm, or load.

 

Nicely done! Good work getting out there and tracking your turbo miata, that alone is an accomplishment 👏

Driving looks pretty smooth too. Is that track local to you? Looks like a fun one!

 

Yes it is, just a 15 minute drive from home. The course is normally run clock-wise. This was to my knowledge the first time any organization has run it CCW.

 

Chill dude, I'm trying to help you out here. You're the one who can't get it to work; lets not insinuate who lacks understanding.

What frequency are you running the phaser solenoid at? Sounds like its unhappy both from the buzzing and the sudden jump in advance when commanded position gets high enough. Several people on here running MS for BP6Ds are around 300hz, others use more like ~500hz. An old post from Emilio at 949 says they use 511hz. Maybe try playing with the frequency its being driven at and see if your results change. That phaser can run a maximum of 45* advance, as measured at the crank. Generally finding a pwm frequency that results in the quietest operation of the solenoid/motor is where it'll be happiest.

 

Hey brother. Just wanted to say your car looked great out there. I was working the flagger station at the hairpin after the back straight. You were pulling away from that Audi R8 in the afternoon session and shooting some massive fireballs exiting my corner.

I really hope our region runs CCW in the future because it definitely looks like it flows much better than CW. I'll be coming out to the SV event in April.

 

I saw you give me the thumbs up at the end of the last session of the day! I managed to get a video from a guy that was following me at the SV event on December 1 so I finally got to see my fireballs haha.

And my VVT works now

 

What was the fix?

 

I spent some time searching the forums and reading as many VVT threads as I could until I found ZWAAAAAZ having basically an identical issue. It was explained in that thread that the VVT has 3 basic states, advance, hold, and retard. Once I read that I understood that when testing at idle and low RPM revs with a fixed duty cycle wasn't going to work. As I mentioned before I would get absolutely no advance. Slowly I would manually increase the duty cycle until suddenly the VVT would advance quickly, and completely, leading to the engine running rough and dying when at low rpm. I decided to go for a slow and cautious drive in my cul-de-sac with the laptop next to me monitoring all the critical details and was pleasantly surprised to see everything functioning as it should.

Turns out, I likely had it setup and functioning correctly on day 1, but out of an abundance of caution (and lack of understanding) i did not ever go for a drive with it connected because when I was doing my testing I believed it was not functioning correctly and did not want to risk any weird issues by driving the car.

The actuator still clicks loudly and constantly with the key in the accessory position. My theory on that at the moment is that the MS3 is not attempting to control the VVT without the key in the run position. I pull power from the 12v lighter outlet in the car, where I have installed a small power distribution block under the radio for various things that need 12v power sources.

 

This is awesome man! I am from Cali and actually will be moving to Vegas middle of 2025. How often can one get a on this track, I am debating on keeping my car in cali or bringing it with me.

 

As far as I know, this track is only open to the public 3 or 4 weekends a year. Usually through speed ventures, and SCCA.

I'll be out at streets of willow on the 18th of this month if you happen to be going

I thought your name looked familiar. Your install thread for the kraken kit was awesome. Helped make the decision easy on what turbo setup to go with. Really appreciate the info you posted.