Progression of the Miata thread

[Black SC2]

I had no idea that was the mileage range for the Miata. I'm honestly a little surprised. My car which has more weight, displacement and power, as well as the shorter gears available for the car regularly returns around 7.5l/100km combined city/highway driving. Unless my foot is right in it. Are they just geared too tight, or do you guys all just mat it everywhere you go?

Originally posted by Black SC2
I had no idea that was the mileage range for the Miata. I'm honestly a little surprised. My car which has more weight, displacement and power, as well as the shorter gears available for the car regularly returns around 7.5l/100km combined city/highway driving. Unless my foot is right in it. Are they just geared too tight, or do you guys all just mat it everywhere you go?

It's mostly the way I drive it. I don't keep the pedal down, but I do always drive in the higher rpm range, which isn't terribly good for mileage

[m1ataman]

They say that the best way to get more power out of a Miata is to shift at 6000 instead of 4000 rpm. Dustin, however, never lets it drop BELOW 4000.

[ForFoxSake!]

props for taking the blue out of the interior...looks MUCH cleaner with the brushed/black look...congrats on the dyno #s, they're pretty impressive...finally...glad to see a car like that with that that many kms...that car was made to be driven and it looks like you're getting the most out of it! Keep us updated

Originally posted by m1ataman
They say that the best way to get more power out of a Miata is to shift at 6000 instead of 4000 rpm. Dustin, however, never lets it drop BELOW 4000.

You know me too well

But here are a few mods I hope to do within the next 6 months:

Flyin miata frame rail brace


and H&R wheel spacers


I haven't decided whether I want to go with 5mm or 10mm plates.

Ordered a hard dog functional roll over bar today. Looks just like this but powdercoated black:


I'm currently in Kelowna, but I witnessed a pretty gruesome thing. Some people I know with a miata rolled theirs on the highway. One of them died, and I happened to drive by the crash shortly after. Pretty disgusting stuff.

Anyways, some pretty big things to come for the miata. Stay tuned

Installed the roll bar yesterday with the help of my dad. I absolutely love it. It's really amazing how much stiffer the rear end of the car is now...

[Victoria SiR]

I love the flames on the bar haha...

Originally Posted by Super WOP

I love the flames on the bar haha...

That totally didn't influence my decision...

Big updates on the miata:

So about 2 months ago, I started installing a custom turbo setup into the miata. It involved a Garrett DSM T25 turbo, stainless manifold and downpipe, Barrel style air/water intercooler, Gizzmo Electronic Boost Controller, AEM F/IC, 440CC injectors... all the good stuff. Anyways, turned out the T25 turbo I had was shot, as it passed a ton of oil directly into the exhaust.

Here's what it looked like:




So that turbo was fail, and I ended up ordering a new 16G with a small compressor from Kinetic motorsports in Vancouver. Turned out that it was the same flange, but different compressor side, so I had to have my charge pipes redone. After getting the pipes refabbed, we through the car on the dyno at $$$$$$$$ (I don't have pics of the 2nd turbo install).

And about 6 runs later, on the second boost run, this is what happened:




Cylinder 4 completely blew up. Massive detonation, destroyed the piston and the head. It blew debris through the entire motor... was pretty crazy.

So yah... lots of reasons it happened. 1st off, I didn't upgrade fuel rail, and found out it's quite common for the #4 cylinder to become starved under higher boost. My rail is super small and only feed from the front. With the addition of bigger injectors, and fattening them up, under high boost it totally starved number 4, and then kapow! The car also severely overboosted. The vacuum reference feeding the wastegate was pinched, and was only registering about 2 and half pounds. My electronic boost controller has a function in it where it records the highest boost level it sees. And yah... it showed just over 19 lbs... that was at 4500 rpm when we called the run off. These motors don't really like anything over 15lbs without forged internals.

Anyways, that motor only had 52,000kms on it (Factory rebuilt motor), so I was a little bummed. I was able to track down a 1.8L motor from a 97 miata, and decided to do the conversion. Anyways, found out quickly that nothing really fits. My turbo manifold in particular doesn't fit anymore (1.8 motor is stretched longer), and because motor is stretched, my air/water doesn't fit either... But I decided with the adversity I might as well one up the build. So here's what I've done so far:

1.8 Motor
AEM EMS standalone engine management
ACT Stage 1 clutch

I also completely deleted my air flow meter, and on Saturday fired it open header. Will hopefully have it on the road tuesday night! I won't have the turbo in for another month or two, but i will be doing a small front mount this time around. Here's some pics of the car as of last week:
Motor:

[NashMan]

pooor dustin



oh well blowing stuff up at least you learn some form it

Originally Posted by NashMan

pooor dustin



oh well blowing stuff up at least you learn some form it

Thanks Ryan, you crazy bastard!

[hud 91gt]

Wow, that's some bad luck. Good luck with the build. How much boost were you originally planning with the first set up?

Originally Posted by hud 91gt

Wow, that's some bad luck. Good luck with the build. How much boost were you originally planning with the first set up?

Originally I was going to run about 8lbs to start off, and turn it up to about 12 later on.

[Adsdeman]

Nice car man, not sure about the flames, but to each his own.

[Dentz]

Dustin, I've got 2 spare T25's laying about my house (they're nissan/garrett T25's), that you're welcome to have. Both are mechanically mint!

PM if you're interested, I'm not looking for much for them.

Thanks for offer on the turbo, but my current turbo is only about 3 weeks old.

As for the miata, it's complete now and running, but we ran out of time to tune it. Should definitely be on the road this Thursday.

[NashMan]

why did you re pic a miata motor chould have done some thing mroe spicey and stuff

[Fleemer]

isn't the bp turbo motor a luittle mroe beefy internally? :P

(one in the 323 gtx)

Originally Posted by NashMan

why did you re pic a miata motor chould have done some thing mroe spicey and stuff

Because the other options cost a lot more. I got this motor for just over $900, and to do a LSX, 5.0 Mustang, or SR20DET swap would've cost a ton more with all the pieces needed to make them fit and work properly.

Originally Posted by Fleemer

isn't the bp turbo motor a luittle mroe beefy internally? :P

(one in the 323 gtx)

The 1.8BP makes more power and torque, but with a lower red line and a higher compression. The 1.6 is the ideal turbo motor with a 9:1 compression ratio, high revs, and really good aftermarket support. The internals handle about roughly the same horsepower (250), and with either of them you need forged rods and pistons to go higher.

[Fleemer]

oh, they don't come stock with forged anything?

Either way good luck with your build, don't run lean this time

[NashMan]

here you go dustin


http://niketalk.yuku.com/sreply/4818...cs-whips-.html

Originally Posted by NashMan

here you go dustin


http://niketalk.yuku.com/sreply/4818...cs-whips-.html

I saw that earlier, I laughed out loud.