'90 Mazdaspeed Miata Rallycross Project

How much do you want for the intercooler? I am interested, I have to check my funds to see how much I can afford right now. Most of my money is taken up by paying off the DUI fines I got.

EvanB wrote: How much do you want for the intercooler? I am interested, I have to check my funds to see how much I can afford right now. Most of my money is taken up by paying off the DUI fines I got.

Given your circumstance, I'll let you have the IC for a couple beers and gas money. I really just need to clear some of this crap outta my shed so I can move my mower inside for the winter.

Did a little work today. Switched the real oil pressure sender from the 1.6 to the 1.8 and took off the EGR pipe. Anyone know what size plug is needed for the EGR pipe?

I also bought some taps to plug the hole from the VTCS shaft, now I just need to get a plug and I can get the intake manifold back on.

M22x1.5, I believe. Get an iron plug, not brass. It'll get toasty warm.

Update on my parallel project - hope you don't mind :) The engine is in and fully plumbed. Oil, intake, intercooler, bypass valve, fuel, etc, etc. I'm starting on the wiring now. In my case, I'm using all of the MSM sensors and will be wiring it into a Hydra Nemesis. The coils are wired up now, next comes sensors. The car also got a new fuel filter yesterday. I'm not working on this one too hard, but I might see if I can get it running on Wednesday when I've got a day off.

Thanks for the help.

You may not be working on it too hard but you are moving faster than me .

I'm just not going backwards - I took out the VTCS when the engine was out of the car It helps a bit that the car was already turbocharged, so the IC was already there and mounted. I just had to hook up the hoses.

I like the parallel updates: Kieth's Mr. Miyagi to Evan's Daniel. Or something like that

Just get it done and debugged in time for the fun stuff

It is incredibly hard to find anything in M22X1.5 that is available in singles.

Keith wrote: I'm just not going backwards - I took out the VTCS when the engine was out of the car It helps a bit that the car was already turbocharged, so the IC was already there and mounted. I just had to hook up the hoses.

Yea, I should have done more with the engine out. I just wanted to get the engine mounted in to get it out of the way so I could fit the car in the garage.

FM does have an appropriate plug on the shelf, this should not be a surprise. We get them from a fastener specialist. The length should be 0.700" or so. Don't ask me why our notes are a mix of metric and inches.

I totally understand wanting to get the engine in the car. It killed me having it on the stand so long. But I didn't want to curse myself out later.

I've been doing a little work the past few days. I have the VTCS hole in the intake manifold plugged as well as a blank plate made for the EGR tube. Just need to make another plate to block off the EGR valve holes and I can get the intake manifold back on along with the 99 fuel rail.

I have also been working on the interior some. My original center stack (tombstone) was quite broken. It was cracked when I first got the car and bracing my knee on it while rallycrossing didn't help any.

I am attempting to make a replacement out of aluminum using a hammerform. I got it roughly shaped out so far, needs some trimming and cleaning up still. I am removing the whole center console/armrest so I wanted something that went all the way to the trans tunnel rather than the ugly transition of the stock piece. It doesn't look too great but if I can't clean it up I will just flock it or something.

(Most of the marks are just in the PVC plastic layer covering the aluminum)

I got the intake manifold back in today after making the EGR blockoff plates. I started to put the fuel rail in but the FPR from the 1.6 won't work due to the hose being routed the wrong way. It looks like the 94-97 1.8 will work so I will have to order one of those.

The 99 fuel rail is back on and the injectors are wired up. I am just waiting on the used 94-97 FPR I ordered from Flyin Miata (along with one of the cool new timing belt tools).

Here is the current state of my engine bay (dirty).

Looking at pictures of the FPR it actually looks like the vacuum fitting might run right into the valve cover. I hope there is some room for it...

Is that a 1999-00 fuel rail? Looks like it. From what I recall, 1999-00 fuel rail and 1994-97 FPR is the magic combo. Remember that the FPR can go upside down if necessary. But it's been a while so I forget details. Mine's set up with a hose barb where the FPR should go, running to an external FPR. Mostly because that's what I had left over from some fuel pressure experiments a while back.

Parallel project update: engine bay is done. The MSM engine harness has been merged with the 1990 wiring. The Hydra is wired in. Now I just have to bolt up the exhaust. I'd been hoping to reuse the 1.6 FM downpipe, but I found out last night that's not going to work.

Yep, 99 fuel rail. I should be able to maybe trim the fitting a bit and just squeeze the hose by the valve cover. If not, I will turn it upside down.

Do you have any pictures of your project you could post up? It would make the parallel projects even better.

Not a lot of pictures, just a few. But here you go. The car's getting paint after I'm done. This all started as a 120,000 mile service.

Out comes the old. This poor engine was leaking from every possible seal, so that's why I decided I'd pull it for the service. Then, "while I was in there..." turned into grabbing a nice 60k MSM motor from FM salvage. I was originally going to get a 20k motor, but it's still in the car. The patient was fitted with an FM Voodoo II turbo.

Bath time. While the engine was out, I swapped in a 4.3 Torsen rear and the brake booster/master from the MSM. There's also an adjustable proportioning valve in place now. I also resprayed some of the engine bay because the leaky old master had damaged the paint. The MSD ignition retard also got pulled.

The hard lines I built for the turbo. That's the GT2554 turbo from the FM kit, on a new FM manifold. There's no rubber in either the oil or water lines, good for long term use.

VICS delete. Nothing exciting, but apparently I took a picture. The engine also got a timing belt and seal job, including testing a couple of new FM tools in the process.

Quite a bit later, the engine is in and plumbed. The wiring harness looks factory. The biggest fit problem is close clearance between the IC outlet hose and the alternator pulley. It's clear, but I need to make sure it stays that way.

Wiring. Not that bad, really. Just lots of attention to detail. I ran about 5 extra wires through the firewall in order to keep from disturbing the MSM harness - the shielding on the O2 wires, for example, didn't get touched. I also did a few tricks such as use a now-redundant wire in the diagnostic box to bring a fuel pump signal from the Hydra to the engine bay.

With this turbo, it'll be good for about 200-220 rwhp and great response. I could bung on a bigger turbo without any other alterations, but I'd have to spend more money This one's a fun street car, not a high-power monster. We've got those.

Is that the stock throttle cable bracket or a modified one?

Your engine bay looks quite a bit cleaner than mine.

I swapped in the throttle cable from the donor Mazdaspeed. No need to alter the bracket that way. There's a lot of stuff you don't see at first in this swap - the water pump manifold, for example, is from the 1990 but it's had the stock bypass nipple removed, the hole bored out and the larger bore 2004 part pressed in. Even the bolts holding the cross bar to the towers have been replaced with Velocity Red ones as a nod to the donor. Not being able to see them is the whole point, I want it to look like it's supposed to be there.

Took about three rounds of engine degreaser plus some fresh paint to make the engine bay look that pretty. It was on orders of Janel, who actually belongs to this car. Of course, it was right around freezing when I hosed it off. It was quite entertaining trying to push the car up the 1 degree slope into the garage after we made a little curling rink...

Keith wrote: Took about three rounds of engine degreaser plus some fresh paint to make the engine bay look that pretty. It was on orders of Janel, who actually belongs to this car. Of course, it was right around freezing when I hosed it off. It was quite entertaining trying to push the car up the 1 degree slope into the garage after we made a little curling rink...

That's what it was like when my engine was out...I decided to clean it after I had it running and it was warmer.

Thanks to JFX001 and grafmiata I now have some more parts for the project. FM intercooler and twincooler radiator, some intercooler piping and intake, BOV, boost gauge, and exhaust that looks like it will require less work to fit the hangers, and a driveshaft for the inevitable Torsen swap.

I started turning my spare A/C dryer into an oil catch can today. Total cost so far is $1.50 for the fitting on the bottom.

Cut the top off:

One input goes to a tube reaching to the bottom, the other will be the vent:

There is a convenient place at the bottom right in the center to put a fitting. When you look inside you can see that there is a round area that is thicker than the rest of the bottom so it will hold more threads:

Screw the fitting on that I originally got for the intake manifold. I will probably just put a hose going to this and plug the other end with a bolt and clamp to act as the drain:

Made a little more progess on the center piece, it still needs some more adjustment and cleaning up but it is looking better:

And fixed the vacuum fitting on the intake manifold. I was going to drill and tap it for the 1/8" NPT fitting that I used in the catch can but it worked out better. As I was drilling it, the broken piece of the fitting came out with the drill bit and the original hole was untouched. I remembered the there were the same type of fittings on the 1.6 IM so I twisted one off with pliers and it put it in the hole. Perfect fit.

Before:

After:

I like the AC catch can! Nice. I might have to start saving the ones we pull out of salvage cars.

Parallel project update: IT'S ALIIIIIIVE! The car fired up right away with only one small leak from a coolant hose. A little extra torque on the hose clamp and voila. Janel was very disappointed that it didn't make a different noise than before, of course.

All I need to do before driving is reinstall the butterfly brace and do a final brake bleed. I just realized that I accidentally hooked the circuits up backwards (front to rear) so I need to crack the system open and rework the lines. Still, there's a good chance I'll be driving it to work on Monday.

Nice!

Now that I have most of the parts I need, my first start should be in a couple weeks depending on how much time I have between work and school.

To Do list:

Install FPR and fuel lines, replace upper intake manifold
Get IAT sensor and wire it
Figure out intercooler mounting and pipe routing
Install wideband O2 sensor
Wire megasquirt for real TPS sensor signal
Get the exhaust fitted
Wire the coils and extend CAS wiring
Get the dash back in
Mount throttle cable

Not at all related to your project(s), but a couple of weeks ago I learned that rallycrossing a Miata is not crazy.

Much to my surprise, I won PR! That was fun. Not something I plan on doing regularly with the Miata, but fun. You should've heard me cackling maniacally when I nailed perfect drifts through a few of the turns...

Evan,

Not a problem glad, that you can utilize the parts.

Good seeing you again, and it was nice meeting your Father.

~ John