Standing on a ladder in a store something hit me. No, it wasn't something from the ceiling, but a realization that I never introduced myself to this forum. With the recent surge of newtards round here and discussions of attempts to make the more public areas a bit more P.C. for newbies also made me realize how easily I seemed to slip into the community around here, so to speak. Part of that might've been making every attempt possible to search out all avenues possible before posting a question on the board.. I hate asking for help on something when I know damn good and well I can do it myself and don't really like being handed things on a silver platter..

So here we go, for those who care.

Hey Everyone. Some of you might know me from various posts and I'm sure quite a few of you probably think I'm a giant douche -- Most of the time I'm pretty cool but sometimes I can be, much like a lot of other people. Either way my name is Scott and I came to this site seeking assistance with a DIY Trubo install for my red 95 Miata. I'm 25 years old and work for an Information Technologies company as a POS Field Services Consultant. Sounds fun, but the job really sucks. Off and on I've been attempting to acquire a degree in an IT field but haven't made enough progress. Part of the problem is being stuck in a job where I travel 97% of my life...

I became a huge mazda fan after my friend bought his Laguna Blue 1994 Miata and I found out how much fun they could be. Less than a year after his I picked up my 1995 for $3000.00 in moderate condition. Needed tires, brakes and a new top (back window...) Drove the car home on July 25th 2005 and loved it. Soon after buying it things really started down hill. The paint was very rough and the under carriage wasn't in the best of condition. Gentleman I bought it from who was a coworker of my brother claimed he always parked it in his garage, well, Didn't. Had about 8 years of oak tree sap on the paint which took me over 2 days to get cleaned off. The radiator split open, coolant hoses I didn't even know about blew, and the engine ended up overheating on me Spring 06 about 8 times total.

First day I had it. No, that piece of **** eclipse in the background is NOT mine...


Sadly my poor little car sat without a motor in it for a little over a year when I finally got around to putting a junkyard escort shortblock with my rebuilt miata cylinder head on it into the car and finally got her running in Sept of 2007. Planned on turbocharging the car since I bought it, but didn't really know where to start when I got the car. Now theres a semi-solid motor in the car and I've gathered the knowledge, tools/equipment, and parts to do a complete turbo install on the car finally.

Oddly, I found this website from Chuck who I don't think ever posted on here and Jim B who I met at a Heartland Park performance driving event. In 2003 I bought a v2.2 Megasquirt kit to install on my 1988 Ford Ranger with a turbo 2.3 Lima motor until it caught on fire June of 2004. That truck sat around for several years until I finally sold it to my brother for him to hopefully rebuild one day. The Megasquirt sat around for several years until I found this wonderful site where Ben, Brain, Sam, Joe, Chris, and several other people assisted me through various FAQs and a few posts here and there. Aside from a couple really small hiccups everything has been working fantastic. While I'm a very electronics savvy person, I don't think I could've had the success I did without the help of this forum. Just wanted to give a thanks to everyone on here, you guys are awesome and I'll do my very best to contribute back to the forum every opportunity possible.

Anyway thats it.. I feel better now that I've formerly introduced myself. Feel free to put me back on ignore for my occasionally useless antics.

 

You forgot pics...sig doesn't count

 

Nice post Scott. I'll never put you on any ignore list. You're way too entertaining for that!

 

Howd you come up with your handle?

I figure youre not spanish, and you make no mention of anything mullet or LS1 related.

 

Plus, it doesn't mean anything is Spanish. I must say though that it does sound like something in Spanish lol.

 

Sam got it there, its supposed to be LS1. Kinda came up with it one day on Offtopic.com when I saw a guys handle "elteawon" and found it catchy. It really does seem to screw with everyone and most people can't seem to nail it.

About six years ago I bought a 1990 Nissan 240sx rolling chassis for $150.00 from some redneck kid. He had a few of them and thought he was going to swap motors and trans from a wrecked KA24DE car and swap it into the 90. Yeah, Right. How far did he get? Ripping the motor 3/4 way out of the 90 and his dad told him to get rid of it, I bought the pair of cars for $300 and sold the wrecked one for parts to another friend for $150.

At first I wanted to get the motor reinstalled and drive it. Sounded like a fun car to drive round. Then after I assessed the amount of work required to make it run again with the KA24E a swap became more and more attractive, just as much work but with greater results. Started looking at the CA18DET.. Sounded like a waste of time. SR20DET felt the same.. Most people I talked to and a lot of research showed it'd cost me a fortune to break 400rwhp in it. Naturally someone suggested an RB20 or RB25 which would cost around $5000 to get the stock motor and matching parts rounded up then my gold old boy switch clicked on.

Why spend $5000 on a 200hp motor when I could spend $6000 on an LS1/T56 combo and make 2x the power in complete stock condition.. The gears ground, then I found it became pretty difficult to find the motors available and most were VERY high mileage. The plan switched away from an LS1 to a 5.4 liter truck motor and see about 300hp/300tq. Searching for that proved just as difficult to find until I stumbled on an LQ9.. 345hp/388tq 6.0 from an Escalade.. That'd hit the spot.

After the car sat for 5 years and I hadn't even touched it I realized that with everything going on in my life it'd be years before I had the time to dedicate to a swap like that. Sold the car off on ebay for 1500$ (LOL!!!) and some kid came down from Iowa to get it.

My obsessions for putting LSx's in various cars still exists however.. I just think its a damn good motor that General Motors put a **** ton of work into the Gen III Small blocks and is easily one of the best motors ever made.