Don't Stop Now! These regular updates keep me on my toes. Just when I think I understand everything you throw in chemistry!
Don't Stop Now! These regular updates keep me on my toes. Just when I think I understand everything you throw in chemistry!
sooon....................
Awesome to see how much you have improved this thing. Loads more power and more MPG from where you started.
In reply to crankwalk:
Its been a long journey......Let's see....shaved and lightly ported head, adjustable roller cam, RX-7 5th gear swap, Megasquirt, EV6 injectors . ... But biggest improvement was crank trigger ignition..... that was a game changer.
After a brief hiatus, I started wrenching on the car again this afternoon. I'm still a few weeks away from putting it back on the road, however updates should start soon.
hmmmm.... the hood is off...time for an LS2???
this is a disaster in so many ways. Time to sort it out...
This is getting serious...
??
Nope, it ain't getting and LS2....Although that would be nice!
Stay tuned!
I figured it was time to post an update to the winter rebuild. the primary goal is to sort out the wiring and rearrange stuff under the hood to make room for the possibility of a turbo. 
This is the result of too many tweaks to the harness. I don't have the patience or attention span to fix this problem so I elected to go the nuclear option.......
Every wire associated with the engine was systematically traced and removed from the main harness. A few wires survived....
Among the survivors were the fuel pump, air conditioning and vehicle speed signals. A new stand alone harness version 5.0 is in construction.
meanwhile... The cooling and heater hoses are being rerouted to the right side of the engine.
currently the engine bay lacks any sort of wires for the engine.
Soon.....
Stay tuned!
Its March already and the Miata is still in the process metamorphosis... Hmmm, I reckon it's about time I stopped fooling with the robots and put some effort into this project.
A Internet shopping spree yielded a bunch of bargains to build the new Megasquirt harness. Most notably I was able to score a seven piece Deutsch connector kit with terminals for $45.00.... not to shabby.
The Deutsch terminals require an incredibly expensive crimping tool
... Fortunately I was able to borrow a Daniels tool
Meh, nicely sorted wires.
On a Miata, passing wires through the bulkhead is a royal pain in the ass. The solution was to make a new tunnel that bridges the engine compartment to the cabin. Ain't to many options, but I eventually found a suitable location
Harness installed and dressed with split loom. Scotch 33 tape runs between $4 and $6 a roll but is worth every penny. This is one area where being cheap will not pay off.
With the chassis harness installed, it was time to move on the the engine harness. I'm building the electrical system much like an OE harness with a disconnect point to allow engine removal without fiddling with too many wires.
Much of the original engine harness was salvaged, however some wires needed to be lengthened. Solder joints are too brittle and eventually fail, so I went with butt splices. The crappy plastic shielded butt splices are almost worse than solder. A good splice uses a ferrule type butt splice and then covered with some heat shrink.
so pretty.....
Most of the engine harness routed and ready to be terminated. I managed to salvage a lot of hidden elements that make up the harness so it should be as durable as the original. Once the harness is terminated it will be covered with split loom.
Stay tuned!
Looking good! Where did you get the cheap deutsch connectors? We use similar amphenol connectors at work but the costs are astronomical. I do have access to the crimping tools. I am looking into doing a scratch built harness for a motorcycle project and would much rather use those than weatherpack.
In reply to 2002maniac:
I scored the Deutsch connectors on ebay. The seller only had 15 feedback points but the allure of quality parts at a crazy price was too much to resist. It was pretty much a unicorn deal that payed off. There are plenty of Deutsch products on ebay, 'ya just got to hunker down and wait for the right deal.
I bought those on McMaster for 40ish? For an 8 pin. They were kind of enjoyable putting together.
scratch that...15 bucks.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#6084t25/=11j99x0
So doc, forgive me for spouting out my possibly dumb $0.02 and all but i notice your intake is a little, well hot and lacking a resonator. Did these little motors not come with one of those helmholtz resonator intake tubes? What about a heat shield or something? I know your going for most mpg and power and just wanted to ask because you are obviously WAY smarter than I but its something I noticed. Anyways carry on with your interesting build and skillset way above mine, ill return back to the peanut gallery.
In reply to chiodos:
Good points..
The helmholtz resonator originally fitted to the Festiva engine was sort of ugly... so I got ride of it. I never really understood the purpose of them thingys. Should I put it back?
The intake track is not really optimized for any purpose other than providing a way to filter the air. I was thinking of rerouting the plumbing to draw air from the cowl.
Anyway, I sort have been fumbling my way through this project for the past four years. A lot of the tweaks and past experiments were more or less inconclusive because of the faulty ignition. At this point in the game I'm pretty much starting over. Comments and ideas from the 'peanut gallery' are what keeps this project going.
Stock Festiva engine in its natural habitat. helmholtz resonator looking a bit fugly... should I put it back on the engine?
Stay tuned!
Did you mess with individual coils on plugs? (LSx coils)
Those Heimholtz resonators I've heard anything from balance out the airflow to just making the air intake less droney. Something to think about if you wanted to play around with it at least and see what you find.
In reply to RossD:
Haven't done COP yet. I'm still experimenting with the Direct Ignition System (DIS) that I poached from a 2.2 Chevy S10. So far the DIS has made a huge difference.
isn't cold air induction going to harm fuel economy? What happened to the hot air induction deal?
A great day in the garage, let's have a look.
The collection of new parts hit a critical mass and instead of fooling with the electrical, I opted to sort out the cooling system.
The cooling system was more or less fine, but it occupied too much space in the area reserved for the turbo. Yes, this car is going to get a turbo.
The water outlet was upsized to a Kia unit that all the kool kids use on Miata cooling re-routs. I think the previous outlet was poached from a '95 Mazda Protégé. Anyway, the Protégé outlet would have been fine but I wanted the larger Kia unit so I wouldn't have to mix and match cooling hoses. The larger outlet matches the remote thermostat perfectly. It all worked out in the end.
So far everything fits
and it fits!
The completed re-rout... Figure about $100.00 ... not to shabby.
In this photo we are looking at a spare cylinder head. Since the ignition was upgraded to crank trigger, the CAS was no longer needed, nor will it fit with the new cooling system. Somehow the hole in the back of the cylinder head needs to be filled. Prolly could have called it in and put an expandable rubber stopper in the hole but I decided to make something complicated.
For the record it takes the length of two 80's heavy metal songs to hand cut through a 2 inch slug of aluminum.
The slug of aluminum ain't gonn'a fit without some trimming...
Fast forward an hour or so and a clever home made plug is fashioned. Tighten the bolt and the CAS plug will squeeze the O-ring and lock into place.
Looks like it will work great!
Stay tuned!
In reply to Autolex:
I'm still inventing, At some point the engine is going to want cold air for WOT and other shenanigans. The hot air deal was a miserable failure, however it will get a second look.
Which two 80's heavy metal songs? Judas Priest songs are considerably shorter than, say, Iron Maiden or Metallica (especialy ...AJFA Metallica!...
The first song was ??? ... may have been 90's vintage. The second tune was definitely Metallica. I want to say it was Unforgiven but I couldn't testify to that.
Doc Brown said: For the record it takes the length of two 80's heavy metal songs to hand cut through a 2 inch slug of aluminum.
I imagined this but with that hacksaw:
crankwalk wrote: Those Heimholtz resonators I've heard anything from balance out the airflow to just making the air intake less droney. Something to think about if you wanted to play around with it at least and see what you find.
Applied Physics degree with acoustics concentration:
Yes, they are for drone. They eliminate very specific bands of frequency. They are bandstop filters, in EE parlance.
Work'n on the Miata two days in a row. If I keep this up the car will be running by the weekend
This silly intake manifold was outfitted with vapor ports a few years ago. Meh, I never really did anything with them and they are a pain in the arse to deal with.... so the manifold will get transfered to the dyno and I'll put an unmodified manifold on the car.
Gluing water neck with Hylmoar HPF....that's some good E36 M3 Maynard
Yup, that ain't never coming off.... I hope
Fuel system plumbed, clamps on radiator hoses and the lower intake torqued to the head.
Stay tuned!
In reply to RossD:
Wow, that hurts my neck just watching....
In reply to Doc Brown: Is the Oring housing bottomed out on the head? I'm imagining a few ways where this whole assembly loosens and that aluminum puck goes to meet your cam.
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