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I've been a member for a bit of time and figured its finally time to start a build thread. Also a good way to consolidate any questions or concerns that I have.
A little bit of backstory, i've owned 2 Miata's so far. A white 1997 that I kept completely stock except for crudely swapping the interior with a NB2 interior. My current build is a Black 2003 (non-msm).
Current Purchases for New Build
- Custom Manifold/DP
- EFR 6258
- Weisco 8.5:1 83.5mm pistons
- Supertech heavy double valve springs
- King XP Race main/rod bearings
- ATI Damper
- Boundary oil pump
- TSE Radiator
- Oil Temp/Oil Pressure fed into the ECU
- Tial MVS wastegate
First/Last picture of the engine as I start removing everything for the new engine
Picture of the Engine Bay as is. I'm hoping to clean up every so it's overall a better looking engine bay. I also would like to hardline the upper radiator hose along the left (passenger side) of the engine bay towards the base of the strut tower but this is dependent on my welding skills when I arrive at this stage. Intercooler piping will be fed through a ~2.5" hole behind the passenger headlight.
New Engine that's going in. Valve cover will be painted probably black for simplicity. the 6258's internal waste-gate was welded shut by the fabricator of the manifold which is why I am using an EWG. The Turbo sits back far enough to clear the PS delete pulley and AC. I will need to do some trimming in the engine bay to fit everything but not much. The ewg "dump tube" will be re-routed into the down pipe once everything is installed into the car and final down pipe position is determined.
Hopefully the pictures resize to be more user friendly. I don't have any questions regarding my builds but i'm sure tons will arrive as I get closer to installing
TSE's inconel studs are out of stock. Any alternatives? I need m10x1.50x30mm. Length can be longer if needed as I can cut them to size and then run it through a die.
TSE's inconel studs are out of stock. Any alternatives? I need m10x1.50x30mm. Length can be longer if needed as I can cut them to size and then run it through a die.
Thank you both! I went through a post from 2015 that talked about TSE and Full Race studs. This car is a pure street car so far. Full Race would most likely suffice for my application but at $50, i'd rather pay the premium for TSE. i'll buy cheap studs and nuts from ATPTurbo for mockup. Hopefully Tarmac88 is back in stock before I drop my engine in so that I can permanently install TSE's kit.
Slowly anticipating to drop in the engine next week. to ensure i'm as ready as possible without having to wait for additional parts, I reviewed break-in procedures from multiple sources.
I initally planned to run cheap conventional oil for the first 50 miles and then change to T6 but plans might change after reading this posts below.
1)Run BR30 for first 50 miles, change oil and filter
2) stay with BR30 for about 300 miles of variable load driving with tons of vacuum
3) Straight to synthetic, 10w30 ATM (Ouch at $52 a gallon but within reason)
4) Tune car after switching to synthetic.
Originally Posted by emilio700
BR30 straight to your regular oil. When possible, we try to drive the motor for a few days on BR30 then switch to race oil before we dyno it or take it to the track.
Originally Posted by emilio700
Our "regular" oil is synthetic. For us it's BR30 to whatever syn we are running in that engine. The street cars with cats get Amsoil 10w30 OE (OET) for the high mileage cars, Sig series (ATM) for the new engines. 10w30 Dominator (RD30) race oil for the engines without cats including the race cars.
Race oil has a lot more zinc (good) which kills catalytic converters.
The only instance where we ran dino oil briefly, as you mentioned, was a race engine in a street car that we didn't have time to adequately break in before dyno. So we drove it for a few days on BR30, switched to dino oil just for the dyno tuning then filled with race oil right after. I don't thinks its a good idea to dyno on BR30. That's not what that oil is designed for.
Update, got the engine mounted and everything plugged in. Current issue is that my ECU will randomly lose power while cranking resulting in backfires.
The ECU is correctly wired in regarding its power. Key in cranking position but foot off pedal, ECU still has power and connects to my laptop. When actually cranking, ECU has power but half a second in the ECU loses power for a split second and turns back on instantly. Another reason I know the ECU loses power is because I have it set to where my tachometer needle will sweep across the entire range on the gauge cluster and reset back to 0 when powered on. During cranking, it will do this randomly, matching up to when my laptop shows the ECU powering off/disconnecting.
I'm left with thinking I either have an inadequate/missing ground or bad battery. I did not remove the PPF and double checked that the ground in the rear of the ppf was still in place. I also hooked a jump started to my battery. Any ideas?
Good choice of ECU you have. I like mine. Just got CAN display working with it. btw: mine uses stock ecu power wire. I have deleted PPF and made extra ground wire from battery to the engine. No problems
2003 Miata EFR Build... Nothing Goes as Planned
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