I just wanted to share my little adventure in the world of drive by wire aka DBW...

As usual in the winter you are on the search for something better, now - this year it was DBW for me. The NC throttle bodies are readily available and through my contact with SPS Motorsport in Germany I have seen quite some
DBW swaps made by them... most of them are made with welded throttle body adapters. Because I didn't want to weld I quickly learned some Fusion360 and made my own adapter:

Luckily I got a neighbor that can fabricate that kind of stuff at work... ;-)




Test fit of the adapter - goal was to keep the throttle body clocked according to the specs, so water can not enter the axle/bushing or electronics...
Also - space is quite tight there



Of course I did need a DBW module - it's made by @Reverant and order through SPS Motorsport over here in Germany.
Of course with that you need a electronic gas pedal - which I also got of an NC MX-5, Reverant also came to help with that- you need an adapter that mounts
the pedal to the OEM points in the 89-04 cars.

I did need to do the switch to one of Rev's MS3Mini because that's needed to run his firmware - so my MS3pro module on the WestfieldMX5 adapter will get a second life
in another family project (323 BW station wagon with 1,6 GTX engine)....

I modded the install inside of the ECU housing slightly - so that I can get a nice PNP solution...






Yesterday after work Reverant was so kind to set this thing up correctly for me - as it's communicating with the MS3 via CAN... and also upgrade the firmware to his
nice firmware with an EGO correction that keeps your mouth standing wide open... the AFR are nailed to the target, and the idle control with the DBW seems to be the same --- WHAT a difference...!

Now on to some road testing soon...
Thanks to Rev for the continuous help and support... if somebody want's to go DBW and MS, he's your man!

I will keep this updated... see you,
Sven

 

I've been brainstorming a DBW setup with ND MX5 hardware as its throttle body has none of the coolant lines and its connector is on the more convenient side for our B-series engines. It can be had cheaper if off another Mazda with a 2.0. You probably can swap over if you hate the look of the coolant lines as the bolt pattern is likely standardized.

Do you have pics of the pedal setup? To me that has been a hurdle, as the only solution to me for a top-mount is to metal fabricate brackets, which I, and most, cannot do. I've been playing with the idea of bottom-mounting with a ND or BMW pedal and screwing it to the floor, but I'd hate to poke more holes through the sheet metal.

 

the pedal adapter is courtesy of Reverant, so we must ask him if he is willing to share the pictures.
it brings the pedal in just about the original position, I can’t find a difference in pedal position feel.