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I figured the SM radiator would be better. Honestly that's what I should've gotten up front, but I didn't know where the car was heading at that point and I liked the "lifetime warranty" from Mishimoto, which I am learning now is basically nothing.
Always another thing to buy . I've got some parts listed for sale locally so hopefully those sell and I can roll that money into some other parts.
If I can toss my hat in the ring here, I'd probably do passenger side hood vents first, then oil cooler if it was my car. The SM radiator is ****, but passenger side vents are cheaper and will net you a lot of easy cooling, although I don't think the R-Theory vents are the most efficient of the bunch. No hate to R-Theory at all, the fact that they keep the hood structure is definitely a smart idea and a good selling point for some.
I can't remember, you're not tracking oil temps currently, right? Obviously oil temps are going to be less of an issue on an AutoX car than a track/TT car, but I think my turbo NA would've been very unhappy without an oil cooler. The lowest oil temps I ever saw on track with a Setrab 25-row in the front bumper were 225-230 on cold days (40-50* ambient), and I could still get temps up to ~250 on warmer ~80* days. That would've been danger zone territory for oil temps with no cooler. Disclaimer: I'm aware that my cooler setup probably could've been optimized better, but it was definitely putting in some finite level of work. Again, maybe not totally pertinent to your current situation, but possibly useful data nonetheless. I guess it's still worth weighing the pros/cons of adding another system to your car.
After installing the oil cooler (while my car was still N/A), my coolant temps while driving in anger dropped around 10*, but that was with a smaller cooler mounted behind the radiator. I assume they would've dropped even more with my later setup with the 25-row cooler inside the bumper/wheel well.
I might have to take your advice Z, and the vents are way cheaper than the radiator because I already have the rest of the vents sitting in the garage... I ordered the full set originally and only installed one side because I wasn't sure if they'd make me overcool and I was still worried about driving a car on the street with a cut up hood. I agree that the vents I got (I think I said R Theory, but they're actually RGR) aren't the most efficient, but I think the whole set (especially finishing out that front row) would add a lot of additional airflow. The car lives in a garage and the hoods already cut up, so what's to lose?
Cruised up into the mountains with a convoy of Mazdas yesterday. A local guy organizes Mazda Takeover which brings a decent crowd of Mazdas to the area for the weekend. It's not very well organized IMO, but I still like to show up if I can figure out what's happening. Some of the guys were taking rollers, so hopefully I'll be able to track one of those down. One of the Mazdaspeeds said he was really confused when he floored it on the freeway and I was still in his mirror
ETA - Ambient temp was around 30C (85 F) and sunny. Coolant peaked around 96 C with both fans on and no AC. IATs were around 36 C and peaked up to 40 C while we were moving. To be fair we were driving pretty reserved, so the car wasn't being pushed much.
Overcooling would be a great* problem to have. Like 949 somewhat addressed the need for a rad block off to get up to temp for a street car- before the thermostat revision.
I think that's the plan. I'll need to run to HDR to grab some paint and most likely an angle grinder. I used an air saw previously but don't have access to that anymore, and when I cut some of the hood with the dremel it started smoking.
Somehow these "free" jobs always end up costing money.
Ahh, I should've caught that. Especially since I recently bought a set of those little top teardrop vents from RGR for my car haha. Yeah, if you don't store the car outside, that's just another reason to go the vent route. I personally keep a pair of dedicated shopping bags in my trunk to cover my ECU and battery if I'm driving the car and it starts raining, but you won't have that issue haha.
Nice turnout on that cruise, and glad you were able to hold it down for the Miata crowd lol.
No worries from me. It's not like the designs are very distinct. I've thought about trying to make some 3d printed rain covers for them, but after watching an old Haggard Garage video where they took a garden hose to the air filter while the car was running I'm less worried.
Also, no oil temp monitoring. I've been dragging my feet, but the plan was to redo the oil feed for the turbo, get rid of the T and add a sandwich plate to do oil temp/pressure sensors. My expectation/fear there, is that I'll get the sandwich plate on, start looking at oil temps, realize they're too high and then have to pull it all back off to add an oil cooler setup. I assume my oil is getting overheated though. I'll notice the pressure drop after a run on a hot day, or even just getting off the freeway in the summer.
I'll hopefully run over to HDR tomorrow and grab paint for the vents and we'll go from there.
At an autox bring an IR temp gun, when you're done with a run, whip the dipstick out and measure it. You'll know your hottest AutoX oil temp. or at least close enough to say whether you really want to do a cooler or not.
That's what I was just thinking about when I wrote that last post. I figure there must be a way to get a rough temp estimate with an IR gun pointed at the oil pan or something. Hadn't thought about the dipstick.
Maybe that's how I get rich. Make a dipstick with a temp sensor embedded in the bottom. Better yet, add the turbo oil drain to the tube like the old HKS setup.
Car's looking good! Maybe I missed it but do you not run an oil temp sensor? You got a built motor but no oil temp sensor? Dead simple to do, stick it in the drain plug for the oil, and start datalogging it with your Link.
Maybe I missed it but how you liking the 6 spd btw? I haven't put that many miles on mine but so far so good and no big complaints honestly.
Nope, no oil temp sensor. The local guy I know who runs a turbo Miata at autocross never had one or an oil cooler and he said he was fine, so I figured I'd be OK as well. I don't think I had enough I/O on the speeduino to add the sensor, but since installing the link I've been thinking about it. Hadn't thought about using one of those oil drain plugs adapters, but that's an interesting thought.
My 6 speed is super crunchy going into 2nd when cold and sometimes I can't get it into 3rd, almost like the shifter hits a wall. I bought that trans with unknown history fwiw. Feels fine once it's warmed up. I miss 3rd sometimes, but I'm not sure that's the transmission and not engine/diff mounts. I'm pretty sure I'm running Redline MT-90.
It also rattles like crazy at high rpm. It sounds horrible. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a different 6 speed in the car next year (or this one rebuilt).
Nope, no oil temp sensor. The local guy I know who runs a turbo Miata at autocross never had one or an oil cooler and he said he was fine, so I figured I'd be OK as well. I don't think I had enough I/O on the speeduino to add the sensor, but since installing the link I've been thinking about it. Hadn't thought about using one of those oil drain plugs adapters, but that's an interesting thought.
My 6 speed is super crunchy going into 2nd when cold and sometimes I can't get it into 3rd, almost like the shifter hits a wall. I bought that trans with unknown history fwiw. Feels fine once it's warmed up. I miss 3rd sometimes, but I'm not sure that's the transmission and not engine/diff mounts. I'm pretty sure I'm running Redline MT-90.
It also rattles like crazy at high rpm. It sounds horrible. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a different 6 speed in the car next year (or this one rebuilt).
You're right, for auto-x you're probably fine w/o an oil temp sensor. Makes sense you haven't added it yet. With that said, now that you're on Link it should be pretty easy to add/monitor. One of the nice things with the BMM ECU is it adds any added sensors to the can bus which can be displayed on a can gauge (I'm sure Link is similar). Drain plug adapter is simple and pretty easy. It doesn't hang low at all and changing the oil you just unplug the sensor and remove it with the drain plug adapter. Hardest part is doing the wiring and wiring it in.
Sorry to hear on the 6 speed, I'll post impressions after I actually do a track weekend with the 6 speed but it seems fine on the street with the Ford unicorn tears tranny fluid. Maybe I lucked out with a decent one. *knock on wood*
I might go back to the Ford fluid. I had it in my 5 speed from the time I got the car until this winter when I went to the 6 speed and never had issues with it. I am using the MR shifter and haven't ever used a 6 speed with the stock shifter.
Yeah, I would assume the Link would broadcast just about any sensor value over CAN. I'm hoping to get the ECU pulled out of the car to do some additional wiring and am planning on getting CAN setup one way or another so I can monitor sensors without the laptop.
Also, because all I seem to do is talk **** about the 6 speed, it is super nice paired with the 3.6. Cruising at 80 used to feel like I was wringing the car out and now it feels comfortable. A lot of the time I'll end up on the freeway around 80 without thinking about it.
Painting has begun. These little spray paint grips are completely worth the $5 for jobs like this.
You've made me look at and consider buying three separate things today between the diffuser tunnel files in my thread, adhesive patches (for my tearing driver's seat) in Teg's thread, and now this spray paint grip. How have I not heard of any of these things!? Keep posting man, I need this
I dropped the ECU out of the car this morning, which wasn't as bad as previous times, but is still a job I don't enjoy. The clips on the factory harness are so stiff that they always end up making my finger hurt. I ended up using some pliers on a couple of the clips and that helped. Pro-tip, pull the connectors before unbolting the ECU and it's much easier.
It's a bit of a puzzle to get it out of the car. I have to disconnect the expansion harnesses through the case and/or pull the case apart in the footwell to get everything disconnected. Someday I'll get some subharnesses/connectors added to make this job easier, but this should also be the last time I pull the ECU for a while
The idea was to add 2 harnesses for CAN. I ordered the cheapest Bluetooth OBDII adapter I could find, and am planning to get that ripped apart and connected to a JSTXA connector that will plug into the ECU. I want the other harness to be there when (*if) I finish the other CAN display project I've been procrastinating. Really, the next step in that project is getting it packaged and connected to the ECU, so I suppose there's some progress there.
Well ****... I thought I had the right connectors, but I guess not. Maybe if I'd looked at the 8 pin connectors I used for the other expansion harness and changed the "8" part number to a "4" I would've ended up with the right connectors On the upside, I had contemplated making the harnesses before pulling the ECU, but figured I'd wait to make sure I had lengths and everything correct, so maybe I'm learning.
DigiKey to the rescue. The new connectors should be here next week. I try to keep the car down as little as possible, because I think a lot of the motivation to work on it comes from driving it, but it'll be down for a week or so. Not the end of the world, and besides, the Subaru needs to get moved once in a while. In the meantime I think I'll try to get the rest of the hood vents lined up and installed and possibly route a couple wires from the existing ECU expansion harnesses.
We took very different approaches at running the expansion harnesses. I ran mine through the inside of the case, out next to the OEM harnesses, then used 8 pin DTM connectors for each expansion so I don’t have to open the case for it. I use DT/DTM/DTP connectors on as much as I can. It makes adding or changing sensors a breeze. Let me know if you need help with the CAN OBD stuff. Should be straight forward, just set the bus speed really low for OBD
DTM connectors have been on my list of wiring upgrades for a while now. I really need to just buy a kit, but I keep putting it off. I'd like to run a similar setup to what you've described, but it's been working well enough and once I have the CAN harnesses added then I think every wire/pin on the board will be resourced and I don't think I'll need to touch it again for quite some time.
It is more hacky then I'd like, but I guess that's what you get when you cobble it together piece by piece.
. I've got some parts listed for sale locally so hopefully those sell and I can roll that money into some other parts.
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Dead simple to do, stick it in the drain plug for the oil, and start datalogging it with your Link. 
On the upside, I had contemplated making the harnesses before pulling the ECU, but figured I'd wait to make sure I had lengths and everything correct, so maybe I'm learning.
