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PROLOG:
Hey guys,
as already stated i will try to document my adventure of the turbomiata or mx 5 as it is called here in Europe.
First of all a bit of history. My first car was a silver Mazda MX 5 1.6 NB. I bought the car for 2200€ from a used car Dealership in Gelsenkirchen. (What was i thinking ). I can´t even remember how i got thinking about buying an MX5. My Dad has always been a V8 Muscle kinda guy. I think at the time he owned a Corvette C6. I needed the car for driving to work in my apprenticeship. So my dad tried to be the voice of reason. Guess what ... that didn´t work out. But being a car guy himself he understood that i had found a cheap and fun solution to my car needs. So i took the car on a testdrive at night and in the rain with my dad on the passenger seat. I was instanly in love with the way the car handled. All my friends were kinda making fun of my newly aquired "Barbie Car". They didn´t see the RWD, 50/50 weight balance, 1.6 liter rev-happy, 110hp driving machine. Well **** those guys anyway. (one of those guys actually bought himself a Mx5 after seeing how well the car drives). Back to the NB! Turns out the car was complete trash. Different locks on both sides, splittered glass inside the drivers door and a color wich didn´t match the color of the title were just the top of the iceberg. The car burned a lot of oil. Like a real lot of oil. Like 1 liter every gasstop lot of oil. I had lots of fun with the car and got my first sidway action going. After not checking the oil one time a valve decided that it couldn´t take anymore in-n-out action without proper lubrication (RIP). So i was stuck with a broken car. Even though it was a shitheap i still miss the thing quite a bit.Here is a little video of it. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9...U50MUdMWHVmakU . Long story short i sold my beloved Cbr600RR to get the cash and buy a new car. Having learnd from my mistakes i bought another Mazda MX5. But this time it was MK1. 1.6 115hp and Pop up Headlights.Long story short: Loved the car, drove it for 2 Years fixing various Problems, wanted to go Turbo, cant because no money for regestration fees in Germany. Then i found a MK1 with all the registration bs already done! Bought it right away.
Getting tha Boost:
So here i am. Once again owner of another MX 5. But this time i haz turbrooooo. The car is 1996 1.6 90HP MX 5. The 90HP Version is basicly the same with the 115HP Version exept it has lower compression, a different ecu, and different camshafts. It is equipped with a greddy turbokit which was probably installed by the second owner in 1997. He took care of declaring the modificatons at the Tüv. In contras to the standard greddy kit this one is equipped with some sort of Audi intercooler and an Audi pop off. It runs on the stock ECU with just the RRFPR taking care of proper fueling. I dont know what the timing is set to but i belive it has been retarded to somwhat like 6 Deegrees BTDC. Further more i have no clou what kind of boost pressure iam producing. I ordered a boost gauge wich unfortunatly got destroyed while beeing deliverd, so i will have to wait a bit to find out. Previous owner told me it was running 0.3 Bar (equals 4,35113 PSI) which sounds about right for the greddy kit. Here is a quick shot of the engine bay.
Yeah i know, the heatshield is a bit hacked. But hey! I didn´t do that!. For the now it does its job. The first thing i did to the car was taking of the fenders and looking for rust.
Looked managable. So i organized a garage to work in. After cleaning up in the garage i had a place to wrench without annoying my room\housemates by taking both parkingspots in the carport.
My NA mazda in the garage.
After grinding it down and applying rust stop primer.
This is the stuff i used. worked out quite well i think. I could see the former rustpots being "converted".
After the 3rd coat of paint it started to look alright.
On this picture you see the tapped oilpan. Iam still confused about what kind of plug this is (Sombody who has an idea?) . I want to replace the turbo oil outlet with a braided line. Not a big fan of pumping hot oil through plastic hoses....
Got a fire extinguisher just in case!
Glorious wiring from someone before me. Take a look at that prestine grounding. Yep that is the black wire wich goes to a terminal strip which then becomes a wire which was slung around the Dashbar. i wonder why nothing works.
Redid the wiring, everything running again. Exept the oiltemp. I have since then Wired a new ground to the sensor, maybe this fixes it.
Installed the beautiful Apexi EL Boost Gauge. Sucks that it´s broken
Hooked it up here. Is that the correct way to do it or should i switch to the back of the manifold?
Well that´s it for now. I will try to keep this up to date. Build progress is mostly dependend on my income and my money spending habits.
If you have red this far: Thank you! I hope to get some feedback and suggestions for my build.
I plan to go standalone ecu. But before that i want to get a good baseline. Next big purchase will probably be a AEM X Series WB. So i can monitor my AFR. Since im running an intercooler i might get away with turning up the boost a couple psi and/or playing with the basetiming while keeping the afr´s in focus.
After going standalone clutch,flywheel and diff will most likely be the nexts steps in the search for more boost.(Rip money)
Till then: much todo before cranking up the boost.
PS: Please take it easy on grammar, and spelling. *
Few random comments you may find useful:
-To keep rust away in the rear please check if the watering holes in the rear sill at the jacking points are free and check if the hood drain tubes are free (but I guess you already did)
-There are quite a few differences between European MX-5's and US Miata's. Diffs and ratios is one of them: so please pay attention to this when looking for a diff! As far as I know, all 1.8 (sometimes called 1.9 in Germany) 5 speed NBs (1999-2000) came with a 4.1 Torsen, at least my MX-5 1.8 from Germany did
And your plan to start with the ECU and clutch seems a very good idea, I would have done the same.
And your language is fine, don't worry! Keep posting!
rust in the rear is a whole other story. The right sill was done badly by the po to pass the inspection. I will probably have to get that done by a professional since i only have an electrionic welder and no fabrication skills. For now the car is in the dry so i don´t worry about it to much, but for the future i want this car to be done right. Front drain holes are clear, will check the other ones though when im at the garage the next time. For the diff´s i am looking for the 4.1 Torsen. This is rather far down on the list because going standalone comes with a few other things i need to take care of like new injectors, new tps, iat sensor. I also want to do a coolant reroute to keep the temps in a safe level and prevent cylinder 4 from overheating and seizing under more boost. As already stated i am now in the process of baslining the care for future performance upgrades. Doing maintanance first is a part of this :( . Not the most fun but will keep me happy in the long run.
Cheers
Your turbo drain lines in the picture are rubber, not plastic, so they are not likely to melt unless there is a fire.
Speaking of fire, when you have an accident your fire extinguisher will become a projectile and likely cause serious injury. I do not like the way it is mounted. Mount it in the trunk since that is a wall mount holder and not designed for movements or impacts. Or buy one with a better mount and secure it in the passenger footwell or down low behind the passenger seat somewhere.
Please don't turn the boost up until you have a standalone. Having an idea what the AFR's are is good but being able to control the timing properly is critical as the manifold pressure increases. Detonation is too easy with unknown timing. "ECU erste."
EDIT: Near Muenster (no umlaut on my keyboard)? You are way up north. There's someone on the forum here from across the border in Enschede, NL and a few others around Deutschland and NL.
Your turbo drain lines in the picture are rubber, not plastic, so they are not likely to melt unless there is a fire.
Speaking of fire, when you have an accident your fire extinguisher will become a projectile and likely cause serious injury. I do not like the way it is mounted. Mount it in the trunk since that is a wall mount holder and not designed for movements or impacts. Or buy one with a better mount and secure it in the passenger footwell or down low behind the passenger seat somewhere.
Please don't turn the boost up until you have a standalone. Having an idea what the AFR's are is good but being able to control the timing properly is critical as the manifold pressure increases. Detonation is too easy with unknown timing. "ECU erste."
EDIT: Near Muenster (no umlaut on my keyboard)? You are way up north. There's someone on the forum here from across the border in Enschede, NL and a few others around Deutschland and NL.
Okey, thanks again for the input. So i shouldn´t be worried about the oil drain? And you are right about the fire extinguisher. Mostlikely much more of a security hazard then benifit. I will check if i can mount it in the trunk. Boostbug bit me but i will try to follow your advice "ecu erste" Thanks again
Okey, thanks again for the input. So i shouldn´t be worried about the oil drain? And you are right about the fire extinguisher. Mostlikely much more of a security hazard then benifit. I will check if i can mount it in the trunk. Boostbug bit me but i will try to follow your advice "ecu erste" Thanks again
The oil drian is hot trash and should be replaced, just not for the reasons you cited.
^What he said. The second most important thing about a drain hose is that it doesn't have a "belly" in it that holds fluid. It should drain completely and not block airflow.
The first most important thing is that it is made of material that won't fail, and you have that.
Quick Update.
I have reassembled the car after fixing up the front sills. I drove it a couple of times and now i have a better feel for the car. Only thing that annoys me is the fmu. You can feel it dumping gasoline into the engine at around 3k, wich makes the motor run kind of wonky. When boost builds at like 4k i dont notice it anymore. But it still feels like its losing power on the top end. Other than that it runs pretty nice. I think the cheap audi pop off is leaking air. It makes a "whoosing" sound when stepping on to the accellerator a bit. Thinking about junking it and just run without a blow off. Bought a rollbar that i wanted to install on the weekend but it turned to a total shitshow. Turns out there was already something mounted in the car previously.
I have no idea what. Someone welded threads onto the chassis. After removing the softtop from the car i cut the headrest (?) to make room for the rollbar. Turns out that when the rollbar is in, the seatbelt holder things (lost for words right here) are hitting the rollbar.
The next fuckup is that i cannot mount my hardtop because the latches hit the bar aswell.
Sooooo i ripped the rollbar out again. The manufacturer told me now that the bar can only be used with aftermarket harnesses and the hartop latches need to be cut. It was actually my fault that i did not research before i bought the thing.
I ordered Fluid Film to undercoat the car and coat the inside of the rear sills. I took a peek with an endoscope through the hole in the inside (behind the seats) and of coures the sill wich was "repaired" by the po is already rusting again. Iam thinking about giving it to a shop to get that fixed as i do not have any welding machines nor skills. I think the next upgrade will be a me221 ecu and an aem x series wideband + new injectors. Im hopeing this gives me more drivabillity by controllig the afr´s better and also being able to run a better timing map. Maybe i will order a clutch and flywheel at the same time. But i am worried that i will blow up my stock diff chasing more boost. Also i need to take care of cooling. Would a coolent reroute be more efficient than buying a bigger alloy radiator? I am really struggling with getting a list of upgrades and in what order i should go before running more power. Maybe anyone has had a similar experience and can share his ways.
Herzlich Wilkommen. Sieht gut aus aber die Kabelbinder für den Feuerlöscher? Echt?
The firextinguisher has already been taken care of. Thanks to the previous posts i realized that it is not safely mounted. In addition to that the harness bar is not in the car anymore as it will be replaced with the rollbar.
But thanks for mentioning it again😅
It's a pitty that there is so much trouble to get a street legal turbo setup in germany. And it's extra expensive too ...
Your car is a really special one over here!
It's a good bar, so I would say work around the issues - there are solutions.
Yes of course i am keeping the rollbar. Your Solution is one of the cleanest but also blowing my budget. I will mos likely just cut myself some diy steel brackets.
The bigger problem for me is the harness situation. My car has an airbag, and i don´t know if its safe to run harnesses and airbags in combination. I will have to look into that before. Also i planned on declaring the rollbar modification at a later point in time to the tüv. This means risking points on your license. But the way things work over here in germany are a pain in the ***. Declaring modifications is best done when EVERYTHING is done and EVERYTHING can be inspected as a whole. Otherwise you have to do multiple trips to multiple engineers, who all tend to have their own opinion on your modifications.( And that **** aint cheap either). But messing with saftey features like seatbelts without approval from tüv is a no go for me. So i will have to find a way to do this properly and rightous.
It's a pitty that there is so much trouble to get a street legal turbo setup in germany. And it's extra expensive too ...
Your car is a really special one over here!
Heiko
Yes Heiko, i know it is kind of a unicorn over here. Thats why i bought it in the first place. But as stated above doing things the "right" way in this country is really tiresome. I have friends who went through all that inspection ****, got everything sorted and still got their cars impounded by the police. Still iam trieng to stay out of trouble and declaring everything.
^What he said. The second most important thing about a drain hose is that it doesn't have a "belly" in it that holds fluid. It should drain completely and not block airflow.
The first most important thing is that it is made of material that won't fail, and you have that.
The shop that installed my turbo kit also installed my drain in this location, on the corner, with the same kind of 90* elbow. I bought a silicone replacement hose that I was going to route and wrap in heat shrink. Is the location on the corner usable? Or should plugging and re tapping on the side be considered.
01-22-2018 | 07:17 PM
From Germany with Ladedruck
). I can´t even remember how i got thinking about buying an MX5. My Dad has always been a V8 Muscle kinda guy. I think at the time he owned a Corvette C6. I needed the car for driving to work in my apprenticeship. So my dad tried to be the voice of reason. Guess what ... that didn´t work out. But being a car guy himself he understood that i had found a cheap and fun solution to my car needs. So i took the car on a testdrive at night and in the rain with my dad on the passenger seat. I was instanly in love with the way the car handled. All my friends were kinda making fun of my newly aquired "Barbie Car". They didn´t see the RWD, 50/50 weight balance, 1.6 liter rev-happy, 110hp driving machine. Well **** those guys anyway. (one of those guys actually bought himself a Mx5 after seeing how well the car drives). Back to the NB! Turns out the car was complete trash. Different locks on both sides, splittered glass inside the drivers door and a color wich didn´t match the color of the title were just the top of the iceberg. The car burned a lot of oil. Like a real lot of oil. Like 1 liter every gasstop lot of oil. I had lots of fun with the car and got my first sidway action going. After not checking the oil one time a valve decided that it couldn´t take anymore in-n-out action without proper lubrication (RIP). So i was stuck with a broken car. Even though it was a shitheap i still miss the thing quite a bit.Here is a little video of it. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9...U50MUdMWHVmakU . Long story short i sold my beloved Cbr600RR to get the cash and buy a new car. Having learnd from my mistakes i bought another Mazda MX5. But this time it was MK1. 1.6 115hp and Pop up Headlights.Long story short: Loved the car, drove it for 2 Years fixing various Problems, wanted to go Turbo, cant because no money for regestration fees in Germany. Then i found a MK1 with all the registration bs already done! Bought it right away.
i wonder why nothing works.
0
Thanks again
