Fireindc's attempt to build a decent miata. (the search for more torque).
#801
I've had issues with the BEGI spacer causing waterneck warping. It happens because the bolt holes are only partially supported. I used to use less than FSM torque to alleviate the issue, but bought replacement spacers with fully supported bolt holes as a final solution. Both my NAs run these. Can't remember who made them now, but they were sold through this forum.
Anyway, recommend not using full torque with the BEGI spacers. It's disheartening to get everything installed and then discover a water leak as you fill the radiator.
Anyway, recommend not using full torque with the BEGI spacers. It's disheartening to get everything installed and then discover a water leak as you fill the radiator.
#802
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I agree. It is so satisfying putting it together, all new seals everywhere, every bolt (that matters) torqued to spec as per the FSM.
I decided to keep the coolant neck despite how ugly it is, because it's what I had. It does have some nifty water ports I'll use for water cooling the turbo. This car is running some seriously OG parts, and original BEGI re-route spacer and kia waterneck, original MSPNP (though with hi-res firmware flashed), dw800's (which btw I just got back from getting cleaned/flow tested. two of them were 20cc's short before cleaning.), the same clutch I ran on my old setup (a 1.6 ACT XT clutch kit. It has way too much life on it to throw it out, it's really only seen 10k miles. They claim this kit is good for ~300 wtq, so we'll see if that's a mistake or not). I went with a standard OEM BP4W oil pump and no billet gears. Trying to not dump too much more into the setup, as really in the end I'm shooting for pretty mild numbers (~250whp on pump, ~280-300whp on e85). And I'd realy like to re-fresh the suspension setup after I get it running. Thinking budget bilstein setup .
I decided to keep the coolant neck despite how ugly it is, because it's what I had. It does have some nifty water ports I'll use for water cooling the turbo. This car is running some seriously OG parts, and original BEGI re-route spacer and kia waterneck, original MSPNP (though with hi-res firmware flashed), dw800's (which btw I just got back from getting cleaned/flow tested. two of them were 20cc's short before cleaning.), the same clutch I ran on my old setup (a 1.6 ACT XT clutch kit. It has way too much life on it to throw it out, it's really only seen 10k miles. They claim this kit is good for ~300 wtq, so we'll see if that's a mistake or not). I went with a standard OEM BP4W oil pump and no billet gears. Trying to not dump too much more into the setup, as really in the end I'm shooting for pretty mild numbers (~250whp on pump, ~280-300whp on e85). And I'd realy like to re-fresh the suspension setup after I get it running. Thinking budget bilstein setup .
#804
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Got a lot done.
Installed coolant re-route.
Installed the manifold.
Clocked the turbo (resurfaced flanges, cleaned up, re assembled with new hardware)
Installed the Mamba wastegate with 12lb spring.
Downpipe mockup.
Installed oil line T fitting for the oil feed.
Installed oil cooler/coolant warmer
All new gaskets of course, everything thoroughly cleaned inside and out. Lots of work, phew.
More to come.
Installed coolant re-route.
Installed the manifold.
Clocked the turbo (resurfaced flanges, cleaned up, re assembled with new hardware)
Installed the Mamba wastegate with 12lb spring.
Downpipe mockup.
Installed oil line T fitting for the oil feed.
Installed oil cooler/coolant warmer
All new gaskets of course, everything thoroughly cleaned inside and out. Lots of work, phew.
More to come.
#809
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Turbo is on for the final time. Had to slightly re-clock the hotside due to interference with the water line banjo bolts that I did not notice until I went to bolt it on this AM. Came out great though.
#811
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Hopefully will have time to drop the motor in tomorrow. Going on a motorcycle ride in the AM though!
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Anywho.. got more done today. All the wiring is cleanly routed and hooked up. I cleaned the chassis, and installed a transmission tunnel heat shield before the motor went in - forgot to mention this. One of these:
It fit very nicely, failed to take pics but she's in there. Used some of the gold foil stuff around the turbo and generally scrubbed the crap out of the bay before dropping in the motor.
Got the clocking of the turbo perfect today, did tons of little things, and got the coldside piping sorted. Came out super awesome, I'm more than happy with it.
And how she sits today:
I left the fuel lines disconnected, as I'm still going to purge the tank of old gas. The plan is to use MS to enable the fuel pump and run it dry, top it off with a gallon or so and pump that out too, then fill with fresh, install a new fuel filter, and start it. I don't know if i mentioned this, but I also had my dw800's cleaned and flow tested, so fuel system should be on point after that. Can't wait until the weekend, I'm going to drive it for sure.
#815
I left the fuel lines disconnected, as I'm still going to purge the tank of old gas. The plan is to use MS to enable the fuel pump and run it dry, top it off with a gallon or so and pump that out too, then fill with fresh, install a new fuel filter, and start it. I don't know if i mentioned this, but I also had my dw800's cleaned and flow tested, so fuel system should be on point after that. Can't wait until the weekend, I'm going to drive it for sure.
#816
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Any suggestions on break-in procedure? My thoughts are to crank for oil pressure, bypassing the clutch switch so I can do so without the clutch engaged (less pressure on thrust bearings), then start it and immediately set base timing. From there, do some tuning and dial in the idle and watch it warm up, rev it a few times, then change the oil.
With fresh oil take it on it's first drive, varying RPMs and engine braking with lots of vacuum. I'll wire the wastegate open so it's not seeing positive pressure yet, and take it up to 3,000 and engine brake it back down, take it up to 4k, engine brake, repeat while working my way up to 6k or so while running VEAL and hitting all the cells. Probably put 40 or 50 miles on it and then do a few WOT pulls. Maybe put 100 more miles on it, then change the oil again.
Next I'll switch to synthetic oil, hook up the wastegate, and begin letting it eat on wastegate pressure while tuning. I'll probably put 1k or so miles on it, then change the oil again, and start tuning for high boost if I'm feeling like it.
Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but I've been thinking a lot about it recently reading various break in recommendations. Does anyone have any input?
#817
I had no idea, thank you!
Any suggestions on break-in procedure? My thoughts are to crank for oil pressure, bypassing the clutch switch so I can do so without the clutch engaged (less pressure on thrust bearings), then start it and immediately set base timing. From there, do some tuning and dial in the idle and watch it warm up, rev it a few times, then change the oil.
With fresh oil take it on it's first drive, varying RPMs and engine braking with lots of vacuum. I'll wire the wastegate open so it's not seeing positive pressure yet, and take it up to 3,000 and engine brake it back down, take it up to 4k, engine brake, repeat while working my way up to 6k or so while running VEAL and hitting all the cells. Probably put 40 or 50 miles on it and then do a few WOT pulls. Maybe put 100 more miles on it, then change the oil again.
Next I'll switch to synthetic oil, hook up the wastegate, and begin letting it eat on wastegate pressure while tuning. I'll probably put 1k or so miles on it, then change the oil again, and start tuning for high boost if I'm feeling like it.
Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but I've been thinking a lot about it recently reading various break in recommendations. Does anyone have any input?
Any suggestions on break-in procedure? My thoughts are to crank for oil pressure, bypassing the clutch switch so I can do so without the clutch engaged (less pressure on thrust bearings), then start it and immediately set base timing. From there, do some tuning and dial in the idle and watch it warm up, rev it a few times, then change the oil.
With fresh oil take it on it's first drive, varying RPMs and engine braking with lots of vacuum. I'll wire the wastegate open so it's not seeing positive pressure yet, and take it up to 3,000 and engine brake it back down, take it up to 4k, engine brake, repeat while working my way up to 6k or so while running VEAL and hitting all the cells. Probably put 40 or 50 miles on it and then do a few WOT pulls. Maybe put 100 more miles on it, then change the oil again.
Next I'll switch to synthetic oil, hook up the wastegate, and begin letting it eat on wastegate pressure while tuning. I'll probably put 1k or so miles on it, then change the oil again, and start tuning for high boost if I'm feeling like it.
Perhaps I'm overthinking this, but I've been thinking a lot about it recently reading various break in recommendations. Does anyone have any input?
#819
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I just ran my engine like I normally would. I did spend a bit of time doing timing and warm up tuning before we took it out. I like to let the engine see some boost right from the get go. My engine builder said "if it's going to break it will be within the first 30 seconds".
If you drive like your tuning it, idle cells, then cruise, light accell and then into boost. That would be the perfect way to break in. Change oil after the first drive.
If you drive like your tuning it, idle cells, then cruise, light accell and then into boost. That would be the perfect way to break in. Change oil after the first drive.
#820
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Alright boys, the first start and first few drives are in the books. First time driving her in 4 years! Did lots of work today, lots of little things. Finished charge pipes, finished radiator and turbo water line install. Finished final PPF alignment and installed the shifter. Finished installing the f*ing bad-*** kraken 3" exhaust (i'm beyond thrilled with this setup btw, the fitment is so easy and perfect). I wired in the fans. Installed the 6psi wastegate spring. Shoved an air filter on that inlet. I'm currently coming up with a better solution, that janky filter is very temporary. Filled it up with oil and coolant.
Emptied the tank by pumping all the fuel out with the pump. Didn't bother with the drain.. the fuel was coming out pretty clean and surprisingly not as varnish-like as I expected.. I'll change the fuel filter after a few hundred miles.
Turned it over with no plugs until oil came outta the turbo feed. Hooked up said inlet feed, re-connected CAS (i unplugged it as to not flood the engine with fuel), and she fired on the second try.
Immediately went to set base timing. Got it dialed in perfectly using the adjustment within MS (didn't actually do anything with the CAS. Made a mention that I should unlock the timing after warming the motor up and giving it a few revs to make sure the timing is staying at 10 like it should (when locked).
Went for the first drive and basically followed FM breakin procedure. Pretty much immediately started taking the motor to 4, then 5, then 6k rpms at 0vac and engine braking it back down. Blah blah, taking it super easy but letting it see a little bit of pressure and rpms.
After the first drive i was going through the idle tuning and it clicked that I had forget to reset timing to -10 (duh) so that it used the map. The car immediately drove much better (again, duh), and I took it for several more drives.
So far I've only got maybe 15 or 20 miles on it. No leaks so far, though! It got dark, gonna warm it up tomorrow and change the oil/filter, go and fill it up, then go put some miles on it tomorrow. Wish me luck! The engine sounds very smooth and makes very good power already, and it hasn't seen over 100 KPA yet Mind you I live at 7,100 ft elevation and my map sensor reads 76kpa when the car isn't running (just like it should, and like it always has). So I did let it see a little bit of atmospheric pressure for sure.
This post is probably a bit of a rant as I'm super excited. Will update further tomorrow.
Here's a blurry *** picture for now
Emptied the tank by pumping all the fuel out with the pump. Didn't bother with the drain.. the fuel was coming out pretty clean and surprisingly not as varnish-like as I expected.. I'll change the fuel filter after a few hundred miles.
Turned it over with no plugs until oil came outta the turbo feed. Hooked up said inlet feed, re-connected CAS (i unplugged it as to not flood the engine with fuel), and she fired on the second try.
Immediately went to set base timing. Got it dialed in perfectly using the adjustment within MS (didn't actually do anything with the CAS. Made a mention that I should unlock the timing after warming the motor up and giving it a few revs to make sure the timing is staying at 10 like it should (when locked).
Went for the first drive and basically followed FM breakin procedure. Pretty much immediately started taking the motor to 4, then 5, then 6k rpms at 0vac and engine braking it back down. Blah blah, taking it super easy but letting it see a little bit of pressure and rpms.
After the first drive i was going through the idle tuning and it clicked that I had forget to reset timing to -10 (duh) so that it used the map. The car immediately drove much better (again, duh), and I took it for several more drives.
So far I've only got maybe 15 or 20 miles on it. No leaks so far, though! It got dark, gonna warm it up tomorrow and change the oil/filter, go and fill it up, then go put some miles on it tomorrow. Wish me luck! The engine sounds very smooth and makes very good power already, and it hasn't seen over 100 KPA yet Mind you I live at 7,100 ft elevation and my map sensor reads 76kpa when the car isn't running (just like it should, and like it always has). So I did let it see a little bit of atmospheric pressure for sure.
This post is probably a bit of a rant as I'm super excited. Will update further tomorrow.
Here's a blurry *** picture for now