JCH13 - Turbo Miata Rehab Thread

[JCH13]

Its always something isnt it?

Indeed!

Sorry you melted a piston mang!

Me too! Just another thing that happens though, and a good excuse to cram some upgrades in

everything looks awesome including your shop ! I am back in a small 2 car home garage and I am still a sad panda. I can at least look at cars again which yours always makes me smile!

Thanks! And bummer... I caught a snippet that your shop closed? I had been wondering why you disappeared. Glad you're back!

Next year sometime I plan to do a miata once my vette is gone.

Build thread or ban! Learned lessons must be passed on!

wish all the epic build threads were in a sticky at the top!

I wonder if the Mods would be amenable to this...

 

[JCH13]

Tightening up the hose clamp fixed the leak. So far anyway.

 

[JCH13]

Finally done with the 600mi clutch break-in period. Longest 600 miles of my life!

Absolutely love the FM clutch.
Frog-arm braces are awesome. Coupled with my FM frame rails the chassis is considerably stiffer and more responsive to turning inputs.
The new(ish) engine runs great. Limited blow-by, decent fuel economy (est. 27-30mpg), and it starts very easily. No leaks resulting from my first-ever head gasket attempt (with stock head bolts no less!)
My DIY coolant bypass works well, the engine stays nice and cool. However, without the thermostat downstream of the heater core I have to run a gear lower than normal in some situations to get adequate heater core circulation.
Disconnecting the RSB is, as many already know, awesome. It's not nearly so tail-happy. I can mat 1st gear in sharp turns without immediately sliding out (i.e. turning from a stop sign onto a 55mph highway). Very happy about that.

Now she gets to sit in my garage for the next 2+ weeks while I get married and go on my honeymoon. Hopefully I'll get a chance to autox later in the season...

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Congrats and have fun! Hopefully you still come around here after getting hitched.

In the words of my dad on the day my brother was married: "Its her day, but its your night!"

Or as my Japanese friend puts it "Good Luck! Good Fuck!"

Edit: by the way, I have this awesome new formula for penetrating oil... :awe:

 

[manimal]

Congrats on the marriage man! Where is the bachelor party and Fuzzy already made a joke about penetrating oil!

 

[JCH13]

Thanks guys! I'm sure I will still be in ATG post-hitch. I am anticipating a fresh build thread in the not-too-distant future.

All I know about my bachelor party is what I need to bring: overnight bag, safety glasses, hearing protection, and all my racing gear (helmet, suit, gloves, etc). I'm half excited and half terrified.

Also...

 

[JCH13]

Nothing too exciting to report.

After the break-in time for the clutch, and making sure I had no real coolant or oil leaks, I put in real coolant (used straight water to make sure nothing was going to piss everywhere) and changed in 5W40 AMSOIL engine oil (thanks JLee!)

I've been busy cleaning up my garage/shop in preparation for a new toy. Before then I was making parts for two other cars: a DSM getting a turbo swap, and a D-prep Miata.

No pics of the downpipe and dump pipe for the DSM, but here's a quick pic of the coolant block-off plate with fan switch port (and gasket) and 8-ball shifter. The shifter knob wound up with a surprisingly nice feel and weight, I'm going to have to make one for my car.

[shameless plug] Like I've mentioned before, always happy to take a crack at making custom parts if anyone is interested [/shameless plug]

 

[JCH13]

I've been trying to diagnose a weird problem: when the cooling fans kick on my tach drops out. Just the gauge, not the ECU. No idea why that's happening... started right after my COP conversion, but I can't figure out how the two are related.

In better news I did a bunch of auto-tuning with TunerStudio MS. The new engine is definitely making more power and running more smoothly now :awe:

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

weird. Do the sensors share the same ground or power source?

Megasquirt is too fun. tricky at first, but too fun. Have you ever considered meth kit?

 

[JCH13]

weird. Do the sensors share the same ground or power source?

Megasquirt is too fun. tricky at first, but too fun. Have you ever considered meth kit?

They both ground in the engine bay... but the harnesses are quite separate. A Miata.net user suggested checking both grounds, which I intend to do.

I don't think I'll get a meth kit because I will quickly approach the 250whp power limit of the 5spd transmission. What I *should* do is get a real Garret ball-bearing GT2560 turbo, but that's a few bucks.

 

[JCH13]

Found and fixed a small coolant leak - a hose clamp on the re-route fitting was rubbing against a close-off nipple. That was a bitch to do just because of access, but I got it patched up.

It's a good thing she's been running well since, because much of of my free time lately has been dedicated to getting this inside my garage:

Which would look like this if I didn't have a shitty cell phone camera:

Moved a buddy's 4-axis CNC mill into my garage, and we're starting a company around the mill and some IP he has developed. In more practical terms - easy access to a mill to make car parts on!

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

Wow! That would be awesome to own one of those. Super cool

 

[Howard]

Damn it. I need someone who has a lathe.

 

[JCH13]

Just in general, or do you need some work done?

 

[Howard]

Just in general, or do you need some work done?

I have plans to build an 18"+1" coaxial driver, wherein the compression driver (tweeter) fires through a woofer whose profile is an oblate spheroidal waveguide. It is designed to overcome the drawbacks of conventional coaxial speakers and will also include state-of-the-art techniques to maximize its performance. I can provide more details when I'm back from vacation.

Anyway, I need to turn some plate material. I'm looking at 1005/1008 steel for the magnet structure, some 6061-T6 (general purpose) for some bracketry and support, and some multilayer Baltic birch ply. Max swing required for the metal would be 8" or 9" or thereabouts, but the OD of the ply ring would be about 24". Might need to put that on the mill with a ball end cutter to get a required 3" radius.

All hobby stuff. No plans to take commercial.

 

[JCH13]

I have plans to build an 18"+1" coaxial driver, wherein the compression driver (tweeter) fires through a woofer whose profile is an oblate spheroidal waveguide. It is designed to overcome the drawbacks of conventional coaxial speakers and will also include state-of-the-art techniques to maximize its performance. I can provide more details when I'm back from vacation.

Anyway, I need to turn some plate material. I'm looking at 1005/1008 steel for the magnet structure, some 6061-T6 (general purpose) for some bracketry and support, and some multilayer Baltic birch ply. Max swing required for the metal would be 8" or 9" or thereabouts, but the OD of the ply ring would be about 24". Might need to put that on the mill with a ball end cutter to get a required 3" radius.

All hobby stuff. No plans to take commercial.

Well, let me know if you want a shop to slice some of that stuff up, none of it sounds particularly complicated.

 

[Howard]

Well, let me know if you want a shop to slice some of that stuff up, none of it sounds particularly complicated.

Great! I was hoping you'd offer. I'll be in touch, thanks!

 

[JCH13]

FINALLY got to an autox, the last of the year . I got five timed runs: 1:05.6, 1:02.6, 1:02.6 [lunch] 1:03.3. 1:02.6... Despite trying different directions through the optional slalom, changing tire pressures, adjusting my 1-2 shift point, and changing my line a little bit, I just couldn't get the car to go faster than 1:02.6. I think that this winter will finally see some aero mods, better wheels/tires, and maybe a ball-bearing turbo.

 

[jlee]

FINALLY got to an autox, the last of the year . I got five timed runs: 1:05.6, 1:02.6, 1:02.6 [lunch] 1:03.3. 1:02.6... Despite trying different directions through the optional slalom, changing tire pressures, adjusting my 1-2 shift point, and changing my line a little bit, I just couldn't get the car to go faster than 1:02.6. I think that this winter will finally see some aero mods, better wheels/tires, and maybe a ball-bearing turbo.

:awe:

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

hey cool, another miata. I just picked up a 96 to tinker with. It's been lowered and has after market rims. It was in an accident at some point in it's life and was kind of put back together. It has a bent bumper support in the front that I'm not sure how i'll straighten it, but it's not visable from the outside. car drives straight and is a blast, except it is to low for the crappy roads around me.
I've started finding replacement parts for the pieces that have gone missing over the years.
I rebuild the shifter with an aliminum bearing and new boots. Found some trunk carpet and the gas tank access panel plates for the rear deck and trunk. I've got a long ways to go to get all the little things done. But that's the fun in it. It has 220K miles on it and i need to rebuild the master and slave cylinders ( I think that will fix the issue with the clutch peddle having no feeling until half way down). I'll drive it until it gives out, then I'll do a v8 swap into it. Probably go tame with it and just do a 5.3L vortec because they are cheap.

 

[jlee]

hey cool, another miata. I just picked up a 96 to tinker with. It's been lowered and has after market rims. It was in an accident at some point in it's life and was kind of put back together. It has a bent bumper support in the front that I'm not sure how i'll straighten it, but it's not visable from the outside. car drives straight and is a blast, except it is to low for the crappy roads around me.
I've started finding replacement parts for the pieces that have gone missing over the years.
I rebuild the shifter with an aliminum bearing and new boots. Found some trunk carpet and the gas tank access panel plates for the rear deck and trunk. I've got a long ways to go to get all the little things done. But that's the fun in it. It has 220K miles on it and i need to rebuild the master and slave cylinders ( I think that will fix the issue with the clutch peddle having no feeling until half way down). I'll drive it until it gives out, then I'll do a v8 swap into it. Probably go tame with it and just do a 5.3L vortec because they are cheap.

Where's the build thread? :awe:

 

[JCH13]

hey cool, another miata. I just picked up a 96 to tinker with. It's been lowered and has after market rims. It was in an accident at some point in it's life and was kind of put back together. It has a bent bumper support in the front that I'm not sure how i'll straighten it, but it's not visable from the outside. car drives straight and is a blast, except it is to low for the crappy roads around me.
I've started finding replacement parts for the pieces that have gone missing over the years.
I rebuild the shifter with an aliminum bearing and new boots. Found some trunk carpet and the gas tank access panel plates for the rear deck and trunk. I've got a long ways to go to get all the little things done. But that's the fun in it. It has 220K miles on it and i need to rebuild the master and slave cylinders ( I think that will fix the issue with the clutch peddle having no feeling until half way down). I'll drive it until it gives out, then I'll do a v8 swap into it. Probably go tame with it and just do a 5.3L vortec because they are cheap.

Cool. Feel free to post or PM if you have any questions you might have.

I would suggest simply replacing the master and slave cylinders, frequently the fail because the cylinder bore is shot. Unless you're keen on re-honing them. If the issue is clutch feel try bleeding the clutch system, though it has a VERY light clutch to begin with.

A v8 swap is an admirable endeavor, but be prepared to spend $10k+ and have it be off the road for 6-12 months or more. It is a very difficult task to complete properly. Go in with your eyes open!