JCH13 - Turbo Miata Build/Auto-X Prep - UPDATE 4/29/2011 MOAR VIDEO!

[JCH13]

There will be no more f*cking around with the intake bolt torque: I just got my hands on an A&P calibrated Snap-On torque wrench :awe:

 

[JCH13]

So over the last two weekends much progress has been made thanks to help from JLee, Black2NA, and Andy & Nick (not on the forums).

Two weekends ago all of the significant others were out of town, so on Saturday Andy, Nick and I worked, then on Sunday JLee, Black2NA, Andy and I worked again. It's amazing what you can get done with four guys who know how to turn a wrench :awe:

This last weekend Andy and I worked on Saturday, got the last few things sorted out (except for the wiper linkages). Mounted the coolant bottle, and I cut and re-welded my old down pipe, which didn't quite fit because the new turbo's flange was slightly twisted.

I cranked it for a while to get everything primed with oil, and it started up like charm on the first crank! Beautiful! There were some exhaust leaks around the turbo at first, but we shut it down, let it cool, re-torqued some of the bolts, and everything was perfect. Can't wait to sort out the last few little things and get it back on the road!

The LIST!

Wiring in the horns and auxiliary power block:

Final torquing on the intake manifold:

Everything torn apart with all sort of panels missing! Also, we're not working in the most glamorous shop ever...

Jaz coolant revoery bottle mounted:

Free speakers mounted and rewired:

New horn button, all the stock wiring was gone! It's a neo-geo type arcade button :wub:

Sexy new engine bay with oil breather, coolant recovery, new radiator, new turbo, etc:

Bonky: I will be headed to your place to make a 2.5" stainless turbo-back exhaust as soon as the roads are sorted out.

 

[jlee]

It's starting to look scarily like a car again!

 

[bonky]

Bonky: I will be headed to your place to make a 2.5" stainless turbo-back exhaust as soon as the roads are sorted out.

Yar! the grader came last week, and then some rain. i'll let you know when it's miata friendly.
i'll pick up another bottle of argon (actually, i'll up-size the tiny back-up bottle to something usable). we can use the remnants of the current bottle for back purge (i hate returning partially full cylinders...)

 

[JCH13]

Chatted with the previous owner, he's sending me a boost control solenoid that he dug up, 14psi here we come!

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

looking good mate. good on ya!

 

[skyking]

Yar! the grader came last week, and then some rain. i'll let you know when it's miata friendly.
i'll pick up another bottle of argon (actually, i'll up-size the tiny back-up bottle to something usable). we can use the remnants of the current bottle for back purge (i hate returning partially full cylinders...)

Now your talking my language

 

[JCH13]

Also probably going to register today... thinking about a vanity plate... ideas?

 

[jlee]

Also probably going to register today... thinking about a vanity plate... ideas?

Ready to inspect within 10 days?

My appointment is at 3:30 this afternoon..

 

[JCH13]

Ready to inspect within 10 days?

My appointment is at 3:30 this afternoon..

That's the hope... just need to connect the wiper linkages, exhaust, and drill/plug that hole in the trunk.

I might just keep it simple and get RED13, or maybe MX5+BST hmm...

 

[bonky]

made it to the welding store today. they were going to sell me an 80cf cyl at retail and give me wholesale (or less) for my little bottle. so now i have 2 80's and a 20. i think that should last a while. We need to find a way to tee in my second torch and i'll help you move that puddle around.

also bought an adapter that goes between the lens and torch head... seals up tight now.

also also saw jlee in the MR2.

my road is good, but the normal route in is bad. you'd be fine if you came the back way in. ready when you are.

 

[yhelothar]

Looks incredible! How much did this whole "budget build" cost ya? It looks like a helluva custom work not just some simple bolt on turbo kit.

 

[JCH13]

Looks incredible! How much did this whole "budget build" cost ya? It looks like a helluva custom work not just some simple bolt on turbo kit.

Thanks!

I bought the car for $2150 (maybe $2350, can't quite recall) with the hard top, roll bar, turbo setup, ecu, 6-puck clutch, and a few extra goodies like 2 heads and a 1.8L engine block, extra set of suspension springs, and some racing slicks. I've spent another ~$1k on two new turbos and gaskets, new radiator, radiator hoses, heater core, heater core hoses, horns, coolant recovery bottle, oil breather bottle, intake gasket, intake bolts/studs, and a bunch of misc. bolts, bits of metal, and wiring supplies.

By the time I'm done I'll have spent another $1k or so to buy all of the parts to make a new turbo-back exhaust, get a laptop for tuning and data-logging, in-car mount for the laptop, various cables and connectors to make everything talk, and so on.

All of this may not sound very 'budget build' until you consider that a real turbo-back exhaust from an outfit like FM is $1100 by itself instead of $400 worth of stainless tubing to make your own, a Koyo radiator is $450 instead of the $200 godspeed one I got, an aluminum coolant recovery tank is $120 instead of the $25 jaz bottle I got... you see the pattern.

 

[MotF Bane]

The reliability of this budget equipment would concern me greatly, but I wish you luck with it.

 

[yhelothar]

That sounds very budget build for what you're getting.

How'd you get that miata for so cheap? It seems like it'd go for $4k easily on craigslist right now.
Was it falling apart or something?

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

That sounds very budget build for what you're getting.

How'd you get that miata for so cheap? It seems like it'd go for $4k easily on craigslist right now.
Was it falling apart or something?

this is exactly what I was going to ask. 2300 around my area barely gets you a used Dodge neon.
Most miatas are at least 6 - 9k, and thats with 180000miles on them

 

[thedarkwolf]

Just have to take your time. Most go for around $4k here too but I got my 95 for $2k because the soft top was shot. Found a good top and frame for $100 on craigslist.

 

[JCH13]

That sounds very budget build for what you're getting.

How'd you get that miata for so cheap? It seems like it'd go for $4k easily on craigslist right now.
Was it falling apart or something?

It was a GRM car for the $2009 and $2010 challenges, so a lot of the work was very home-brew, and the combination of Megasquirt ECU and mish-mash of parts limited the market to DIYers. It also lets me not feel bad about getting less expensive parts for it, modifying it far from stock, and beating on it a little bit.

Honestly, I won't feel bad about putting in a new turbo in a year or two, replacing parts as they come up, they are all fairly inexpensive. Heck, a used motor and transmission is $500 from a JDM importer and even less if I go through CL. I consider this practice before I eventually spend the coin to get a super-clean, low-mile NA Miata to mod, then turn this red one into a something silly, like a d-prep auto-x car or swap in some silly engine, like a 5.0L v8.

 

[JCH13]

this is exactly what I was going to ask. 2300 around my area barely gets you a used Dodge neon.
Most miatas are at least 6 - 9k, and thats with 180000miles on them

There are many to be had around here (NH) under $6k, some with 100k or fewer miles. I had purchased a 1990 miata from a used car dealer for $2100, with ~200k miles, reasonably nice stereo, spec miata wheels, koni shocks, koyo radiator, and borla exhaust. Needed some bodywork though. I sold it to a friend of mine when I got the red one, and it's still running great, car has about 210k miles on it now, still gets 30mpg, still has great compression, doesn't burn oil (actually, the oil stays remarkably clean), I am convinced that it's damn near impossible to kill a Miata.

 

[yhelothar]

There are many to be had around here (NH) under $6k, some with 100k or fewer miles. I had purchased a 1990 miata from a used car dealer for $2100, with ~200k miles, reasonably nice stereo, spec miata wheels, koni shocks, koyo radiator, and borla exhaust. Needed some bodywork though. I sold it to a friend of mine when I got the red one, and it's still running great, car has about 210k miles on it now, still gets 30mpg, still has great compression, doesn't burn oil (actually, the oil stays remarkably clean), I am convinced that it's damn near impossible to kill a Miata.

I got a 91 base model with a salvage title for $1100.
It runs great for the most part but it just burns a crapton of oil.
I'm guessing it needs an engine replacement unless you know of a fix?

 

[JCH13]

I got a 91 base model with a salvage title for $1100.
It runs great for the most part but it just burns a crapton of oil.
I'm guessing it needs an engine replacement unless you know of a fix?

Do you know where the oil is disappearing from? Or is your car exhausting blue smoke? I'd do a compression test too, to see if it's potentially your piston rings. I think you may be able to do rings without dropping the engine by taking off the oil pan. You may also want to check/clean your PCV system, if something is screwed up it may be forcing oil around your rings.

I'd guess:

Blue smoke + fail compression test = piston rings

Blue smoke + pass compression test = PCV or maybe valve guide seals

no blue smoke = slow oil leak

Though, honestly, an engine replacement in a Miata would not be too bad to do, and you could even replace the 1.6L engine with a 1.8L for not much more $$ and keep the 4.3 rear end from the 1.6L for a little extra torque

 

[exdeath]

Can't replace rings without reaming and honing the block. New rings on an aged block is just going to make it worse.

Valve seals and head gasket are also likely sources and will show up with a wet compression test.

 

[JCH13]

Can't replace rings without reaming and honing the block. New rings on an aged block is just going to make it worse.

Valve seals and head gasket are also likely sources and will show up with a wet compression test.

Good point. I may have been thinking about connecting rod bearings. I wonder if one could hone the cylinders from underneath the car...

 

[exdeath]

Not to mention good luck with a ring compressor that works from below. Id pay to see that :awe:

But yeah you can drop the crank from below and send it out for polishing and replace bearings no problem.

 

[yhelothar]

Do you know where the oil is disappearing from? Or is your car exhausting blue smoke? I'd do a compression test too, to see if it's potentially your piston rings. I think you may be able to do rings without dropping the engine by taking off the oil pan. You may also want to check/clean your PCV system, if something is screwed up it may be forcing oil around your rings.

I'd guess:

Blue smoke + fail compression test = piston rings

Blue smoke + pass compression test = PCV or maybe valve guide seals

no blue smoke = slow oil leak

Though, honestly, an engine replacement in a Miata would not be too bad to do, and you could even replace the 1.6L engine with a 1.8L for not much more $$ and keep the 4.3 rear end from the 1.6L for a little extra torque

Wow nice link on the kit. I tried to get quotes to get a 1.8L from a NB I wrecked to get swapped in to my previous 95 miata and one shop wouldn't do it and another one wanted $4k.

It's definitely eating the oil. It even sputters out of the exhaust when I first turn the engine over. There's also soot over the rear bumper where the exhaust is.