December 2007 Archives
The good:
- MegaSquirt fired up on the first cranking. Good for me for double-checking my wiring and double-checking that I had the coils reversed. After swapping the plug wires, it fired immediately and idled. Sweet.
- No major leaks with "10 miles" of relatively untested coolant piping
- Car didn't fall apart or strand me with around 25 miles of driving
- Update: ~200 miles on the trip-meter, still running strong, running 6 psi of the WG spring
- Update: ~1000 miles on the trip-meter, everything is fine, probably should take it apart a bit to check/torque everything
- Lots of noises/creaks. Some I can identify (hard top, glovebox), some I can't.
- Still leaking a little oil. Darn. Oil pan has been installed twice since the car was taken offline, I'm not doing it a third time.
- Stutters occasionally. Probably due to excess fuel. I think the spark plugs are begging for mercy and I'd need the COP system in place to light the fire.
- Maps are pig rich everywhere. Need to be leaned out. AFR of 10's under boost (which FM considers "low" and to be tuned to 12.5). Ignition values are unknown but don't hear pinging. Again, tuning ($125/hour x 2-3 hours).
- Losing coolant somewhere or coolant doesn't bleed well with the radiator as positioned as reservoir tends to be empty.
- The rust. Need to do something about it before it gets worse.
- Paint/fiberglass chip on the hardtop. Annoying.
- Car needs washing. Bloody Durham county water restriction. Can't wash car in my own driveway with water that I pay for. Mental note: take pressure washer (which only uses a couple of gallons of water) borrowed from parents to wash house, wash car at parent's house in Forsyth county at next visit instead of extortionist car washes.
...on an eBay auction far, far away (New Jersey)...there was a turbo Miata...which seemed to be a heck of a deal.
Having ridden in and owned a stock Miata, I knew that a turbo Miata was in my future. However, I didn't know what a rocky road it would be to get one "right".
Having spent so much time working on this project, I have lost count of all the things I have found that were wrong, both serious or benign. I started to keep track of them but the list just got so darned long, I gave up. I'll attempt to recount all the things wrong with the "deal of the year".
Intercooler:
Routing of pipes "doubled back" just to use the stock configuration of piping of the NPR/Conquest I/C
Pipes hung low and were once knocked loose by exiting my driveway wrong. This results in the AFM-based stock ECU not knowing what to do and the car was marooned half-way exiting my driveway.
Pipes so low they scraped.
Undertray doesn't fit with said pipes, undertray omitted/removed, cooling issues ensue (watch stock water temp gauge climb as you got on boost in warmer weather, well, there are other issues at hand as well)
Steel pipes, ghetto stick welds, JB weld need I say more?
Motor:
OIl pan tap for oil drain - leaky
Oil drain hose - ghettofabulous copper fittings from Home Depot plumbing that leak
Wrong type of hose for oil
Rediculous number of AN fitting for oil feed hose
Home-built banjo bolt for oil feed
AN-6 oil feed, no restrictor in feed
No water lines for turbo
Wrong turbo. Too freaking big, spools up at 5000rpms (many contributing causes possible for this)
Fuel management = set static fuel pressure to 90psi (not even an RRFPR)
No timing retard device
Boost @ 10 psi with above (granted, it made 150 rwhp peak as configured on a DynoJet)
Wiring:
Wire-nuts used copiously
Solder used where it shouldn't be
Crimps done wrong
Wire insulate occasionally "slitted" and new wire inserted to "tap"
Wires wrapped together and throw electrical tape on them
PWM dimmer circuit tapped and all sorts of rediculousness to dim the gauges
Vampire taps (evil buggers)
Two fans wired to the RELAY power source
...this was done the HARDEST way possible, by cutting/splicing wires in the fusebox and not just grounding the coolant thermoswitch to turn both radiator fans on at once (or by tapping in the diagnostic terminal box)
No horn button, bare wire for horn, if that
Airbag light taped over with electrical tape instead of putting resistor or disconnecting airbag computer OR removing lamp from dash cluster
Clock-spring missing
Safety:
No stock seatbelt latches
4-pt race latch and link harness to a poorly implemented "harness bar"
Seats installed with sheet metal screws
Seat install "ghetto"
Brakes: mushy, probably never bled (as evidenced by stripping 1 bleeder screw in caliper and the other 3 equally "rusted" in place)
Aesthetics:
Huge chip/defect in hardtop NOT pictured in auction photos of all the other "paint defects"
Typical Miata rust behind the doors
One side cut out to make "muffler" hole
Soft-top removed, not mentioned in auction but was pictured if you looked for it
A/C removed (acquired from a local 1991 SM buildup)
Front bumper support removed
Handling:
Crappy KYB GR-2 shocks way past worn out
All-season "kraptonium" 185/60/14 tires on a TURBO car = can go sideways when you least expect it = dangerous
Exhaust:
Horrible welding and fabrication
Huge cracks in downpipe, exhaust manifold (thank you eBay manifold)
Seller claims he prototyped the original eBay manifold and received the crappy thin-walled SS as compensation
No muffler in exhaust (no NC inspection without a muffler)
Lousy gaskets used in critical exhaust joints (turbo to mani, mani to head)
Exhaust flex joint "pre-tensioned" and permanently "bent" due to not supporting weight of exhaust aft of downpipe
Cut off exhaust hanger welded to body to fit muffler pipe exiting in side-sill
Having ridden in and owned a stock Miata, I knew that a turbo Miata was in my future. However, I didn't know what a rocky road it would be to get one "right".
Having spent so much time working on this project, I have lost count of all the things I have found that were wrong, both serious or benign. I started to keep track of them but the list just got so darned long, I gave up. I'll attempt to recount all the things wrong with the "deal of the year".
Intercooler:
Routing of pipes "doubled back" just to use the stock configuration of piping of the NPR/Conquest I/C
Pipes hung low and were once knocked loose by exiting my driveway wrong. This results in the AFM-based stock ECU not knowing what to do and the car was marooned half-way exiting my driveway.
Pipes so low they scraped.
Undertray doesn't fit with said pipes, undertray omitted/removed, cooling issues ensue (watch stock water temp gauge climb as you got on boost in warmer weather, well, there are other issues at hand as well)
Steel pipes, ghetto stick welds, JB weld need I say more?
Motor:
OIl pan tap for oil drain - leaky
Oil drain hose - ghettofabulous copper fittings from Home Depot plumbing that leak
Wrong type of hose for oil
Rediculous number of AN fitting for oil feed hose
Home-built banjo bolt for oil feed
AN-6 oil feed, no restrictor in feed
No water lines for turbo
Wrong turbo. Too freaking big, spools up at 5000rpms (many contributing causes possible for this)
Fuel management = set static fuel pressure to 90psi (not even an RRFPR)
No timing retard device
Boost @ 10 psi with above (granted, it made 150 rwhp peak as configured on a DynoJet)
Wiring:
Wire-nuts used copiously
Solder used where it shouldn't be
Crimps done wrong
Wire insulate occasionally "slitted" and new wire inserted to "tap"
Wires wrapped together and throw electrical tape on them
PWM dimmer circuit tapped and all sorts of rediculousness to dim the gauges
Vampire taps (evil buggers)
Two fans wired to the RELAY power source
...this was done the HARDEST way possible, by cutting/splicing wires in the fusebox and not just grounding the coolant thermoswitch to turn both radiator fans on at once (or by tapping in the diagnostic terminal box)
No horn button, bare wire for horn, if that
Airbag light taped over with electrical tape instead of putting resistor or disconnecting airbag computer OR removing lamp from dash cluster
Clock-spring missing
Safety:
No stock seatbelt latches
4-pt race latch and link harness to a poorly implemented "harness bar"
Seats installed with sheet metal screws
Seat install "ghetto"
Brakes: mushy, probably never bled (as evidenced by stripping 1 bleeder screw in caliper and the other 3 equally "rusted" in place)
Aesthetics:
Huge chip/defect in hardtop NOT pictured in auction photos of all the other "paint defects"
Typical Miata rust behind the doors
One side cut out to make "muffler" hole
Soft-top removed, not mentioned in auction but was pictured if you looked for it
A/C removed (acquired from a local 1991 SM buildup)
Front bumper support removed
Handling:
Crappy KYB GR-2 shocks way past worn out
All-season "kraptonium" 185/60/14 tires on a TURBO car = can go sideways when you least expect it = dangerous
Exhaust:
Horrible welding and fabrication
Huge cracks in downpipe, exhaust manifold (thank you eBay manifold)
Seller claims he prototyped the original eBay manifold and received the crappy thin-walled SS as compensation
No muffler in exhaust (no NC inspection without a muffler)
Lousy gaskets used in critical exhaust joints (turbo to mani, mani to head)
Exhaust flex joint "pre-tensioned" and permanently "bent" due to not supporting weight of exhaust aft of downpipe
Cut off exhaust hanger welded to body to fit muffler pipe exiting in side-sill
