The masses have demanded it. The masses shall receive.


Well, back in mid-June 2009, i bought this for $900, and probably overpaid.

 

We're going to backdate this ish a bit.

4/2/10

Had a bunch of parts STOLEN off the car.

Tial 38mm wastegate
Greddy Type S BOV
Intercooler, piping, and all couplers and clamps.

The Greddy was welded to the intercooler.

Basically. It sucked.

So, here's where we stand: I've since purchased:

a Turbosmart Ultragate38 wastegate (black)
2x Turbonetics metal 38mm wg flanges
knockoff Type S bov (for testing purposes)
new oil pan gasket (stupid, i know)
new oil pan bolts
new hose to make a better fitting oil return line
new coolant feed lines
Evo 8 intercooler
shitload of piping, clamps, and couplers, ALL in black.
A/C delete pulley
Addco 1" rear swaybar
Energy Suspension Endlinks f/r
Energy Suspension sway bar bushings f/r


Painted my headlights and corner lights while i was at it. Yellow. Pics below.

Well, during teardown and prep of the car, i discovered something that i wasn't too happy about. The car has a rebuilt title, but everything lined up well, and the car drives perfectly, with no abnormal tire wear, so i figured it had just been the victim of a minor fender bender.

WRONG.

This sucker has been MANGLED at one point up front. There is no main bumper bar. There is only one bumper support/reinforcement, that being on the driver's side. The passenger side had an L-bracket welded to the radiator support to hold up the bumper on that side. That L-Bracket had to be removed for the Evo8 intercooler to fit. So i have to remove it, and get a bumper support.

So today, i spent 3 hours at the junkyard trying to pull one. I got everything off a 1989 MX6 LX, only to snap off the last 4 bolts to get the main bumper reinforcement off, and stupid me, forgot to bring a hammer. Move along, nothing to see here.

Ended up getting one off a 1989 626 LX. Here are some reasons i'm glad i have an MX6, or maybe just a molested MX6, and not a 626

1) I do not have 47 PHILLIPS HEAD screws, nuts, and bolts of assorted sizes holding on my bumper, bumper cover, lip, and inner fenders.
2) I do not have that STUPID chrome trim thing below the headlights.
3) I can get to everything in my engine bay without having to contort around those damn a/c lines that are cluster[fizzle]ed around the coolant overflow tank bracket that i was trying (and didn't succeed) to get. Guess mine will stay held in by speaker wire, huh?

Anyways, i hope this thing fits. I'd like to fire the car tomorrow and drive it. Preferably with the bumper installed.

Pics: (Will also update tomorrow with the first GOOD pictures of the car for everyone to see and laugh at.)

 

4/3/10

Didn't get much done today, found out that CXRacing screwed up more of my order (I really don't, nor can i use 2.25" to 2.0" reducers.), and the local rice shop can't get their orders in line. (Can i PLEASE have my Tial wastegate gaskets? PLEASE?)

So... here's some picture of the carnage to hold you over.

Here's the L-Bracket i was talking about:



Ugly half-destroyed front end:



Not cool at all:



Ugh. Really?



Ugly engine bay:



Detail shot of WG dump:



Oh my. WTF is this?



What an ugly mess:



The new WG hotness:



Heh heh heh. (stock exhaust, i SWEAR!)

 

4/15/10

Went back out today to button everything up so all that's left on Saturday is finish the intercooler piping and fluids.

Put the crossmember back up, made a new oil return line (heater hose for now, will replace later with stainless braided line), fitted the wastegate, though i'll probably have to do it again when the right gaskets come in, new sun visors!!!! Soldered up the new sensor clips for the waterneck, put the flywheel cover back on, reinstalled the radiator hoses. Got a short list left:

1) Install 4 nuts on the wastegate bolts
2) New oil filter
3) oil
4) coolant
5) finish intercooler piping (waiting on two more couplers)
6) install bov (already have flanged pipe)

Then just gotta pull a fuse and prime it, then she's ready to roll.

And now, some pics:







I don't think my control arms are supposed to point this way....






I wasn't really expecting the car to be this low with the 2nd gen setup. Not sure if i like it.

 

4/17/10


Well well well....

Only 3 things left:

1) Oil/Coolant
2) figure out what to do about the headlights (don't seem to fit with the IC piping)
3) Prime and start.

 

4/25/10 - Stupid fugly swag mode engaged


Pics! (Yes, i need to fix my bumper.)

The car runs like a sewing machine, but drives like utter ****. Needs an alignment pretty badly. Will be taken care of this week, then i will get a video up of the car. (On dry roads, hopefully, spinning through 4th sucks.)


Yes... that IS the future ill-fated Escort in a former life sitting next to the MX6.









5/2/10

Home with the Celica.

 

Moar!

 

we should really have a section for non miata builds.

 

Sub'ed
Ben, The exhaust looks bad-***. Hows the loudness? Probably not as bad as an open pipe Harley. I see driving next to people with their window down and flooring it. (Is Indiana conceal and carry?)

 

Moar will come. This copy-paste thing is time-consuming.

The exhaust is surprisingly quiet inside the car. Easily hold a conversation without having to raise your voice on the highway. Something that can't be said for either Miata we've had.

It's probably the quietest vehicle we have. (Cherokee has some stupid Magnaflow exhaust on it)

Now, when the wastegate opens, all bets are off.

 

Blah blah blah there were some small updates between then and this post that nobody cares about. Here's the start of the next real "round."

12/7/10

Alrighty, small update, and pictures will follow in the next day or two.

My [shizzle]ty "weld" finally failed on the flange adapter. So i took the manifold off to get it re-welded. Found that the weld had failed completely and that the adapter was held on by 2 of the remaining bolts from the adapter when i first got the car. (bolt on adapter) Decided to just get new better quality bolts and just roll with that rather than take the crap shoot of welding 20 year old cast iron that had been heat cycled thousands of times.

Of course, as i am prone to do.... one thing led to another led to another led to another.

The front half of the car is all apart again.

Installed new Addco front endlinks. (that kinda sucked.) Fog lights are installed.

Innovate Auto Timer/Wideband display is flush mounted in the trim panel in front of the sunroof controls. Greddy Profec B Spec II and Greddy Turbo Timer are flush mounted in the cigarette tray. MSD Blaster2 coil is installed. Right now i'm fighting with the LC-1 and wiring it up to do narrowband simulation so i can stop running so rich after the car realises that it doesn't have an o2 sensor.

I decided NOT to do the TKT hybrid setup, so if anyone is interested in that setup, let me know. (Lacking ONLY a wastegate. Have manifold, dump tube, full 3" exhaust, and turbo. Uses stock oil feed.)

The Moroso catch can is mounted, but i don't have all the lines run to it yet. Gotta go get one of my spare valve covers tapped for AN fittings.

I'll be using the ZombieSS 440 ECU with Supra 440cc injectors on my current turbo setup until this turbo starts to fail, then i'll be jumping up to the DriftMotion CT26-57 come spring/summer. I have an Aeromotive 13109 AFPR that i'm waiting on two fittings to come in for. (FYI, the KL fuel rail adapters for aftermarket afpr work on 1st gens, too.)

The port polished head will be dropped off next month to have it gone through, might be putting in oversized valves, and WILL be doing dual valve springs. Have already talked to Delta Cams, and will be running their Stage 3 cam.

My ported and extrude honed intake manifold will be sent to a machine shop next month as well to be shortened, then i'll have to start figuring out what throttle body to try to make work on there. I see no reason why the car shouldn't make 300whp using Gavin's ideas of making the motor work smarter, not harder.

I also picked up a set of FD RX7 wheels that i'll be refinishing/polishing over the winter, and then i'll be cramming those with a set of 245/45-16 RS2s under the car, i anticipate needing to roll the fenders pretty drastically.

Pics will follow when i get back out to the car. It's currently sharing a garage with a built to the hilt drift 240/Silva with a built KA-T in it, so space is a little limited, but it works.

I'm HOPING the car should move under it's own power again this weekend, but i'd rather make sure that everything is set to go rather than rush it. But it's gotta get out of that garage so i can start tearing into the Celica, which is more important to me. (Sorry. )

 

1/21/11

They aren't sticking too well, and the dash is too brittle to set screws in there, and they're way bigger than i thought they would be.

I may try some Autometer pods, but i kinda doubt i'd like those either. Ricey A-pillar is probably my best choice unfortunately.

Probably going to get a different wideband as well.

Lights off.


Lights on.


Mess.


Ugh.



2/21/11

Maiden voyage was today.

Impressions:

I hate this Greddy Profec B Spec II. It's awful to set up, and i still haven't figured out how to stop it from giving me ALL the boost.

Now that i FINALLY have no exhaust leaks at all, the spool up on this thing is crazy. Time for a bigger turbo.

The Greddy RZ blow off valve is obnoxious. Not sure if i like it.

Addco front endlinks make a BIG difference. This thing feels really tight now.

For some reason, if i turn my lights on or present an electrical load to the car, my water temp gauge goes UP. Which is... weird. And annoying. Ideas?


I seem to be cruising at about 13:1 AFRs, and accelerating it'll climb into the 14s before richening out under boost. Little strange, but it seems to run great. (Stock ECU right now)



I also hate that i can't heel/toe this thing. I kept jamming my foot into the side of the console.

 

10/24/11

Well... update on the car i guess.

Trying out a generic dash pod right now for my gauges. Looks like crap.

FINALLY seeing sane water temps though, as of yesterday. This makes me happy.

Bought another POS Spectra 248 radiator because my old Spectra 248 radiator exploded. Mounted it in yesterday, dropped in a 180 degree t-stat, and mounted my ebay (facepalm) fan as a puller unit on the driver's side instead of the pusher on passenger side as it was prior.

WINNING!!!! Never gets above 205 degrees in traffic, and i can actually even WATCH the temps go down when the fan kicks on. Solid 185-190 degrees on the highway, so THAT at least is taken care of.


Bad news: My friggin' turbo manifold is leaking. AGAIN. I'm so over this piece of [shizzle]. Looks like this weekend i'm taking it apart again and trying to figure out where it's leaking. I'm hoping that one of my bolts just came loose on the flange adapter, but holy hell this is a pain.

Oil is leaking from... what looks to be the timing cover. Looked like head for a minute, but it's only on passenger corner. Also leaking from distributor. (LOL PART NLA!!!!) Also think my brand new valve cover gasket is leaking.

Fog lights are actually functioning now, which is good. I just have to clean up the wiring.


Probably going to order this to make thing easier and cleaner, especially for the future when the HKS "Tower Of Power" gets installed in spring.

Detailed Specifications for Array.Title - PN 5026—Blue Sea Systems


And i've put 12,500 miles on the car since i bought it two years and 4 months ago. Blargh.

Oh well. At least it drives well.

 

5/2/12 - SRS BZNS V.1

Ok so... **** went pretty bad on this car in the last couple weeks. I spent about 30 hours on it from Thursday night until Saturday early afternoon getting it back up and rolling.

Problems.
1) Oil leaks. Dizzy o-ring, oil pan, valve cover, oil return line
2) Exhaust leaks. Everywhere.
3) Coolant leak. Out the turbo.

So the exhaust leaks were getting bad, and come to find out, i could actually grab the turbo and wiggle it around on the manifold. Why? Well, the IDIOTS that built this (cough cough McCormick Motorsports cough cough) had the most fucktarded solution to mounting a CT26 to the factory flange as i've ever seen.

They had welded together a T2 and a CT flange, and THEN bolted that to the tapped stock manifold, so it all went IHI flange -> T2 flange -> CT flange. To make matters worse, the bolts used to hold it on were about 3mm too long, so they would bottom out before the flange ever sealed. BRILLIANT. I don't know how this car boosted at all.

Solution
Remove old E36 M3. Buy new bolts. Shorten said bolts a bit. Blast old E36 M3. Grind off the brazing crap that was on there. Bolt on stuff. Have baller older dude weld up the adapter to the manifold to doubly ensure it will never leak. Have baller older dude weld bolts in place to triply ensure they will never come out. PROFIT.


Finished product:



NEXT.
As those of you who have watched the Escort build, i suffer greatly from "Project Creep." Let's examine.



"While I'm In Here..."
1) Walbro 255lph HP
2) Aeromotive 13109
3) Supra 440cc injectors
4) ZombieSS 440 Revision II ECU
5) Moroso oil catch can
6) Outlaw pheno spacers
7) New fuel filter

(All parts were previously accounted for in budget, this is just me finally getting around to installing parts that i've had for 2 years.)



Thursday night:






More tear down. (Had it down to just block/head and trans, but no pics, sorry)



First step of re-assembly, figure out fuel rail. WE GOT ALL THESE -AN FITTINGS AND I USED BRASS FITTINGS LIKE A BALLER.



Fuel rail and 440s in:



I worked through the night. This is about 6am on Saturday.



7am on Saturday.



Like a boss.



Where the magic happens: (Placeholder for now until i repin my FCON harness)



After that thrash, making it to an MX6/Probe meet where you're still the fastest car by a WIDE margin, priceless.



End results? Well, it sounds better, pulls much better off-boost (no exhaust leaks and big timing advance from the ZombieSS ecu), doesn't mark its territory, and is getting over 30mpg.
My super reliable happy fun time butt dyno says it's a mid-low 13s car on 7psi now. This ECU has maps to 18-19psi and i'll be dynoing it on the 10th @ 15psi in a showdown against some turbo Dodges where i will be asserting F2T dominance.
I'm laying the throwdown now: The F2T is the unsung hero of the 80s turbo 4 bangers.
Next up: I finish suspension and attempt to fit 245/45-16s "under" stock fenders. Then FCON time and over 20psi of boost.


Don't let anyone else in your work area. They mess with your list.

 

6/9/12

The MX6 likes to crash Miata meets.

 

Memorial Day Weekend

I want to get underhood temps under control. (Proof of concept, further revisions coming at a later date. Only the exhaust wrap stayed long term)

 

Warning: Nerdy **** with no pictures incoming.

5/28/12

Another update: Still no secondary working fan. Turns out that actually my WORKING fan is the "additional" fan according to the FSM, and my "main cooling fan" isn't working at all.
The relay is tripping, fan works independently if i put power/ground to it, but put it all together, and no love.
Anyways, got the narrowband simulation working properly, so it runs even better and idles and cruises dead on to where it should be, isn't pulling timing, and is making MORE power. (Exactly what i needed.)
That said... i filled up again before i hooked up the narrowband simulation.
Drum roll please!
...
...
...
...
33MPG mixed driving.
WIN!


5/29/12

Turns out Axxis Metal Master pads only last about 15-20k miles. I was a bit bummed, since i got those on closeouts from Stillen 2 years ago and wasn't sure if i could find more.
RockAuto has 'em right now. Front set for $20 shipped! SOLD.

Had a slight issue this morning of a really lean idle (18.5:1, it was stumbling) at a couple stoplights before the car reached full operating temps. This was the first time this ecu has been run on this car in temperatures below 85 degrees, and this did not happen previously before i fed it the narrowband o2 signal from the LC1.

My theories:
1) Need to just reset the ECU and clear the codes anyways, then it can "re-learn."
2) ECU immediately gets narrowband o2 signal from LC-1 with a faster warmup than stock. Stock o2 was a one wire unit with no heater. LC-1 is heated, maybe it's in "ready mode" sooner than stock ecu?

Only issue with #2 is that i'm pretty sure "warmup enrichment" is dictated by coolant temp, so i'm thinking #1 is more likely.

No problems at all once car reaches operating temps, so i'm not real worried about it. We're cruising cycling between 14.5:1 and 15.2:1 AFRs, idling in the high 14s, and as soon as you bury the gas, it dips quick down to 11.0:1 and climbs back up a little bit (bigger turbo than chip was designed for) maxing at 12.1:1.

I'm pretty happy with it. Gotta turn up the boost and see how it handles it though. ECU is supposedly mapped to 18-19psi, so i'm hoping the AFRs don't change much.

Yeah i've been messing with the temp sensors as well trying to track down why my a/c fan circuit is actually the only one that's working. The main cooling fan circuit isn't functioning properly.
I've got a sensor/switch for 207 degrees and another for 226 degrees (according to FSM), then the one wire that goes to the gauge, and then the one that goes to ECU. So far i've been able to determine for sure that the gauge and the 226 sensors are functioning.
I'm not throwing any codes for bad coolant temp sensor, so i'd guess that the one going to the ECU is ok.
The one on the 207 circuit is the wildcard. If i take the connector off the sensor and ground it with ignition "ON," the fan doesn't kick on, but i can hear the relay click.
It's a bit confusing and electricity is like magic to me.
As for the AFR thing, i'll reset the ECU today or tomorrow and see what happens. Appreciate the help!


6/2/12

Got it. Apparently the relay that was clicking needed a previous circuit completed by the A/C pressure relay/switch before it would actually pass power to the fan. Had to rig up 12v power to the wire that came from the pressure switch once completed. So now it's seeing constant 12v there, but still won't power up until the thermoswitch on the water neck trips and grounds.



Not my favorite solution, but it works and was free.



I guess the radiators are warranteed, but when i left work yesterday, the one in the car had dumped a good gallon of coolant on the ground. I called Autozone to see if they would warranty (i've bought at least one, maybe two from them.) and they're actually lifetime warranty through Autozone.


However, they couldn't find my info in their system for the warranty, and i ended up talking to about 3 different extremely rude people about it. Ended up going to Autozone and paying for another one. Because i'm mad that they didn't enter my warranty info in their system, and at how i was treated yesterday, i'll be warrantying the old radiator through RockAuto, and then "returning" the new one i get to Autozone.


Also fixed the lean conditions last night. (Well, this morning around 5am.) Turns out i've never had the battery/chassis ground on the car. I noticed when i was limping the car from work yesterday that if i rolled up the window or turned the lights on, the AFRs would go way up and the fuel pump whine would drop in pitch a lot.


Threw on a chassis ground. All is well, and i actually need to take some fuel OUT of the system. (Hitting 10.8:1 under boost onset) My headlights are REALLY bright now!

 

To give you an idea how shitty this thing used to run... here's cruising AFRs. #friendsofOPEC.




6/8/12

Fixed the last of the coolant leaks, the car is leak free other than the oil pan gasket, and both fans are verified working.

I may or may not have tickled the boost controller a bit. No 2nd gear, and 3rd gear is a bit sketchy.

 

6/25/12

Awwwwwwww yeah.


I guess i have updates... i need to take pictures, but:

1) The Greddy RZ has been removed, replaced with an early 90s OG HKS Racing BOV that i rebuilt on Saturday. ****'s rad. Tons of compressor stall if i let off anything 5psi or lower which is fun. Greatly reduced lag.

2) Got sick of all my bumpers sagging. Fixed it the right way. "The right way" being: Drill holes through bumpers and body, attach zip ties and cinch them closed. VOILA!!!! OEM panel gaps!

 

6/30/12
Sooo... those horrible rattlecanned black wheels?




ALL the flakey!!!!



Spacers and moar stuffs.