Tallgeese builds a miata
08-17-2011, 08:02 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Key West
Posts: 191
Tallgeese builds a miata
Pretty much copy and paste from my MT build thread (minus some unimportant stuff)
TONS of updates to come soon including big turbo and other fun little fabricated stuff. I'll probably also post all the work I do on local cars(Turbo E30's, F-Bodies, Gti's, etc..)
__________________________________________________ _______________
I'll be doing some new stuff soon and seeing that most people have no idea who I am what my car consists of, I figured I'd better start a thread.
Anyway, car is a red 1989 with a lowly 1.6 that I call the Pelican. I've owned the car since the day I turned 16. I bought it from dad and payed the same price that anyone else would have had to pay(Dad=Army Colonel). He bought his first viper to drive as a daily, so I got the first chance to buy the miata.
Things on the Pelican pretty much stayed the same when I lived in Pensacola. I daily drove the car for about a year there and two years in the Keys. Unfortunately my daily commute to school went from three miles to fifty five miles a day when I moved. The Pelican no longer was garaged and the roads were so bad that I started having interior trim fall off, salt air was pitting everything, suspension was getting fukked, etc.. So I made the decision to get a daily and gut the Pelican into a track/autocross only car.
Well that lasted for two seasons. I won my class twice. Then I got the itch and I discovered MT.net... Now for pics!
Back in they day with my old autocross group. The building behind us is actually my current college.
My stupid charger
My work space
I was dead set on going with a external wastegate setup from the start, so I searched and searched and finally found a 1.6 FM3 that was taking space in some guys shed. Came with some sweet Kicker Impulse door speakers too!
The down pipe was in really rough shape. Only took a few hours to get it decent again.
The turbo that came with the FM3 was completely shot, so I got a SR20 off eBay for 50 bucks and started the install with stainless oil lines from Begi and a Turbonetics Evolution wastegate.
I had running like this with MS-pnp for awhile on 6psi. I made the turbo/learn MS jump all at once :crx:
Then I E-Sniped Braineack's old intake manifold and started fresh with a GT2554(got in a trade). I sold the SR20 t25 to my friend for his diesel rabbit caddy project, it went to a good home.
Changed the valve cover gasket while I was there.
Over the past year I've been helping my friend with his turbo E30 project. Every once in a while he hooks me up with left over parts and what not. I got a hold of a lot of 2-1/2" intercooler piping after I did the intercooler install on his car. So I decided to order some couplers, t-bolts and ditch the heavy FM steel pipes I was running on the hot side(cold side is FM silicone that I got in a trade).
Yup, so it sat like that for a while.
TONS of updates to come soon including big turbo and other fun little fabricated stuff. I'll probably also post all the work I do on local cars(Turbo E30's, F-Bodies, Gti's, etc..)
__________________________________________________ _______________
I'll be doing some new stuff soon and seeing that most people have no idea who I am what my car consists of, I figured I'd better start a thread.
Anyway, car is a red 1989 with a lowly 1.6 that I call the Pelican. I've owned the car since the day I turned 16. I bought it from dad and payed the same price that anyone else would have had to pay(Dad=Army Colonel). He bought his first viper to drive as a daily, so I got the first chance to buy the miata.
Things on the Pelican pretty much stayed the same when I lived in Pensacola. I daily drove the car for about a year there and two years in the Keys. Unfortunately my daily commute to school went from three miles to fifty five miles a day when I moved. The Pelican no longer was garaged and the roads were so bad that I started having interior trim fall off, salt air was pitting everything, suspension was getting fukked, etc.. So I made the decision to get a daily and gut the Pelican into a track/autocross only car.
Well that lasted for two seasons. I won my class twice. Then I got the itch and I discovered MT.net... Now for pics!
Back in they day with my old autocross group. The building behind us is actually my current college.
My stupid charger
My work space
I was dead set on going with a external wastegate setup from the start, so I searched and searched and finally found a 1.6 FM3 that was taking space in some guys shed. Came with some sweet Kicker Impulse door speakers too!
The down pipe was in really rough shape. Only took a few hours to get it decent again.
The turbo that came with the FM3 was completely shot, so I got a SR20 off eBay for 50 bucks and started the install with stainless oil lines from Begi and a Turbonetics Evolution wastegate.
I had running like this with MS-pnp for awhile on 6psi. I made the turbo/learn MS jump all at once :crx:
Then I E-Sniped Braineack's old intake manifold and started fresh with a GT2554(got in a trade). I sold the SR20 t25 to my friend for his diesel rabbit caddy project, it went to a good home.
Changed the valve cover gasket while I was there.
Over the past year I've been helping my friend with his turbo E30 project. Every once in a while he hooks me up with left over parts and what not. I got a hold of a lot of 2-1/2" intercooler piping after I did the intercooler install on his car. So I decided to order some couplers, t-bolts and ditch the heavy FM steel pipes I was running on the hot side(cold side is FM silicone that I got in a trade).
Yup, so it sat like that for a while.
08-17-2011, 08:04 PM
#2
MFz Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Key West
Posts: 191
I got tired of the valve cover being prison striped, so I decided to change it again.
Painting was done in the bed of my trusty Nismo!
Got the valve cover back on and hooked everything back up.
Most recently I have swapped in a 1.8 rear from a 2001 with one-piece axles. PAIN THE ***:crx:
Motorcycle jack is WIN:giggle:
The rear end swap is done, I just haven't taken any new pics. I figured we all know what a 1.8 rear end looks like, lol.
I've also decided to completely restore the interior as well since I want to daily the car when I move. The finished product came out MUCH better than I had expected. The top gauge pod will house all black VDO gauges(water temp, oil temp and a clock). The bottom is a gauges/head unit holder that I bought from DDM and it has my AEM af/r and my Begi boost gauge. The middle slot in empty for now.
I haven't taken any finished pics, but I will soon.
Future plans are to get my Devils Own water/meth kit installed, rx7 turbo 2 trans or 6spd swap, rx7 clutch diff, fesh paint, bigger radiator w/ kia hose reroute and then a either a disco or 2871. Then tune for daily use at 20psi and have a blast. Also I will be taking on a crank trigger wheel setup using a old TEC2 wheel that I have laying around. That with a set of TSE cops will get the back of my head completely wire free and clean looking.
The motor in the car is worked over very well and has not been opened since it was built back in 1996. It's seen more than 100k miles and all of those have been boosted. Plans for the summer are a fresh set of M-tuned H-beams and a custom set of new .060 overbore pistons with a higher compression.
Fancy low light shot, lol.
EDIT: Whoops! Forgot a pic of the hotside shielding. I know it looks goofy, but it works flawlessly.The top piece is from a old Begi/FM kit that I painted and cleaned up. I mounted it so it swivels, that way I can lift it out of my way in a second. The foil looking stuff is my old header shield that I got from Track Dog Racing, the inside is all fiber glass and I wedged it around the turbine housing and down pipe to protect my heater lines. So good so far. No smells, no leaks.
Painting was done in the bed of my trusty Nismo!
Got the valve cover back on and hooked everything back up.
Most recently I have swapped in a 1.8 rear from a 2001 with one-piece axles. PAIN THE ***:crx:
Motorcycle jack is WIN:giggle:
The rear end swap is done, I just haven't taken any new pics. I figured we all know what a 1.8 rear end looks like, lol.
I've also decided to completely restore the interior as well since I want to daily the car when I move. The finished product came out MUCH better than I had expected. The top gauge pod will house all black VDO gauges(water temp, oil temp and a clock). The bottom is a gauges/head unit holder that I bought from DDM and it has my AEM af/r and my Begi boost gauge. The middle slot in empty for now.
I haven't taken any finished pics, but I will soon.
Future plans are to get my Devils Own water/meth kit installed, rx7 turbo 2 trans or 6spd swap, rx7 clutch diff, fesh paint, bigger radiator w/ kia hose reroute and then a either a disco or 2871. Then tune for daily use at 20psi and have a blast. Also I will be taking on a crank trigger wheel setup using a old TEC2 wheel that I have laying around. That with a set of TSE cops will get the back of my head completely wire free and clean looking.
The motor in the car is worked over very well and has not been opened since it was built back in 1996. It's seen more than 100k miles and all of those have been boosted. Plans for the summer are a fresh set of M-tuned H-beams and a custom set of new .060 overbore pistons with a higher compression.
Fancy low light shot, lol.
EDIT: Whoops! Forgot a pic of the hotside shielding. I know it looks goofy, but it works flawlessly.The top piece is from a old Begi/FM kit that I painted and cleaned up. I mounted it so it swivels, that way I can lift it out of my way in a second. The foil looking stuff is my old header shield that I got from Track Dog Racing, the inside is all fiber glass and I wedged it around the turbine housing and down pipe to protect my heater lines. So good so far. No smells, no leaks.
08-17-2011, 08:07 PM
#3
MFz Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Key West
Posts: 191
Got a chance to do some work tonight. We have a insurance inspection next week and it's taken the last month to get the house ready and since I live here for free, my parents are making me do all the work. Which is fine for me, lol I'm broke as ---- right now from paying for school 
Anyway, I've gotten tired of looking at a dirty engine bay. So I went to the hardware store, got a big bottle of Simple Green and went to work. I also read this thread about five times, Wire Tuck/Delete Write-Ups, and it made me realize that I can make the engine bay look much by just a simply moving a few things.
I also discovered that my camera is taking very, very shitty pictures lately....I need to fix:crx: Bear with me, I know this pics are shitty.
So I started on the cold side and removed all the structural mounts for the fuse box, ignition thingy and my vacuum block.
The vacuum block is getting moved for sure. I like it better some what hidden away. I can still reach everything just fine and it helps with my sea of wires/lines. I will eventually make a permanent mount for it, probably some where on the fire wall.
Well the fuse box mount and the ignition mount were absolutely disgusting. I soaked them in simple green and went back to my paint booth a.k.a. the bed of my truck
Then I dried them using my state of the art drying room.
That's it for tonight. I got invited to go play Dominoes at my friend's house so I have to get ready. But I will be up early to work on the car, then I'm going to the gun range with some friends in the afternoon. Then I'll just focus on the car for the rest of the day.
Anyway, I've gotten tired of looking at a dirty engine bay. So I went to the hardware store, got a big bottle of Simple Green and went to work. I also read this thread about five times, Wire Tuck/Delete Write-Ups, and it made me realize that I can make the engine bay look much by just a simply moving a few things.
I also discovered that my camera is taking very, very shitty pictures lately....I need to fix:crx: Bear with me, I know this pics are shitty.
So I started on the cold side and removed all the structural mounts for the fuse box, ignition thingy and my vacuum block.
The vacuum block is getting moved for sure. I like it better some what hidden away. I can still reach everything just fine and it helps with my sea of wires/lines. I will eventually make a permanent mount for it, probably some where on the fire wall.
Well the fuse box mount and the ignition mount were absolutely disgusting. I soaked them in simple green and went back to my paint booth a.k.a. the bed of my truck
Then I dried them using my state of the art drying room.
That's it for tonight. I got invited to go play Dominoes at my friend's house so I have to get ready. But I will be up early to work on the car, then I'm going to the gun range with some friends in the afternoon. Then I'll just focus on the car for the rest of the day.
08-17-2011, 08:09 PM
#4
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Key West
Posts: 191
Okay. Well dominoes night was lame...again. Same people, no new faces.
Got my camera sort of working. I'm still thinking of new places to mount my vacuum block. I am also going to ditch my current FPR and buy a nice Fuel Lab unit in black. Mount it all down low and out of the way, but still accessible when I need to get to them.
Overall with just the hour I've put into it so far, I'm happy. I'm going to go all out tomorrow and really start scrubbing with the simple green, as well as remount the fuse box and start tucking more wires/lines.
Got my camera sort of working. I'm still thinking of new places to mount my vacuum block. I am also going to ditch my current FPR and buy a nice Fuel Lab unit in black. Mount it all down low and out of the way, but still accessible when I need to get to them.
Overall with just the hour I've put into it so far, I'm happy. I'm going to go all out tomorrow and really start scrubbing with the simple green, as well as remount the fuse box and start tucking more wires/lines.
08-17-2011, 08:12 PM
#5
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Key West
Posts: 191
Okay! Decided to do some small projects today and ended up a ---- fest.
Reinstalled bumper core support:
While I was down I decided to cut some old silicone and use them in strategic :giggle: places to stop the a/c lines from wearing a hole in my silicone cold piping:
Reinstalled bumper core support:
While I was down I decided to cut some old silicone and use them in strategic :giggle: places to stop the a/c lines from wearing a hole in my silicone cold piping:
08-17-2011, 08:18 PM
#7
MFz Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Key West
Posts: 191
I thought I had a minor exhaust leak, turns out I did. I guess these old studs in the FM3 manifold are ready for a change.
Got the entire thing out in about a hour and a half. Tomorrow I will replace the stud and install everything back in as one unit.
Should be a fun day. I'm going to use my entire gallon of simple green on the block and clean that bad bitch up
I'm taking a break from torturing myself and decided to upload some pictures.
I to my manifold to a machine shop today and had all the studs removed and the threads cleaned. The guy gave me some new hardware and I walked out the door only having spent 15 bucks. So now I can get the whole hot side back in today...........NO MORE LEAKS :giggle:
Worst down pipe ever.
Having already done this before, it was MUCH easier to assemble every thing as much as I could outside of the car. Unfortunately I had to detach the lower half of the down pipe, but no biggie. I'll have it all back in and hooked up by tonight.
Just takes patience and a few bloody knuckles.
Got the entire thing out in about a hour and a half. Tomorrow I will replace the stud and install everything back in as one unit.
Should be a fun day. I'm going to use my entire gallon of simple green on the block and clean that bad bitch up
I'm taking a break from torturing myself and decided to upload some pictures.
I to my manifold to a machine shop today and had all the studs removed and the threads cleaned. The guy gave me some new hardware and I walked out the door only having spent 15 bucks. So now I can get the whole hot side back in today...........NO MORE LEAKS :giggle:
Worst down pipe ever.
Having already done this before, it was MUCH easier to assemble every thing as much as I could outside of the car. Unfortunately I had to detach the lower half of the down pipe, but no biggie. I'll have it all back in and hooked up by tonight.
Just takes patience and a few bloody knuckles.
08-17-2011, 08:20 PM
#8
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Key West
Posts: 191
Hot side is almost all in and plumbed up.
Used a flat head screwdriver and a hammer to get these bad boys out of my differential carrier.
MMR is now awesome sauce. This shot is for Nagase
That's it for today. Tomorrow I will finish re-installing the turbo kit and then(for the last time) put the rear end and drive shaft back in place.
Got some work done.
Differential
Axles
Brakes
Exhaust
Turbo shizzle
My car is dirty as FfuUUckk and will probably get a bath tomorrow.
I'll snap some more pics, as well.
Used a flat head screwdriver and a hammer to get these bad boys out of my differential carrier.
MMR is now awesome sauce. This shot is for Nagase
That's it for today. Tomorrow I will finish re-installing the turbo kit and then(for the last time) put the rear end and drive shaft back in place.
Got some work done.
Differential
Axles
Brakes
Exhaust
Turbo shizzle
My car is dirty as FfuUUckk and will probably get a bath tomorrow.
I'll snap some more pics, as well.
08-17-2011, 08:23 PM
#9
MFz Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Key West
Posts: 191
Oh well, might as well update this biatch.
I ripped my friend's 1.8t golf a new ------- a few weeks ago at the local autocross. The feeling of how shitty and inferior that car was made me miss working and racing my superior car. So now it beings.Phase Stage 2:giggle:
After exchanging emails with the nice folks at Comp Turbo I'm 99% sure on the turbo I will be using. It will be T3 and it will be one of their oil-less models with a billet compressor and stainless turbine housing.
The manifold will more than likely be a ETD shorty and I'll just swap over my current Turbonetics evogate. If something pops up in the classifieds that peaks my interest then I will consider that as well. I'm not picky, I prefer my parts used. But the turbo will be new.
Anyway, I will start collecting parts for the new hotside and in the mean time I will start doing some aero work. I'm (hopefully) getting the 949 air damn when it comes out, 949 mirrors, PIAA driver lights (no more beaver dams), rear bumper cut ala Levnubhin, under body panels and whatever else tickles my pickle.
The dash/seats/whatever is coming back out tomorrow so I can get prepped to do the truck bed liner on the tub. ThePass was generous enough to send me some photos and information on how he did his, I am most great full. I, however, will be doing black instead of red. I just can't get used to having carpet again. I stripped it out when the car was solid race duty only and just loved it that way. But I want some type of heat shielding and noise control. Plus it will bring the interior back to a uniform look.
Since I still only have 2 out of 6 gauge spots filled, I decided to go ahead and start collecting VEI gauges. I'll have two dual gauges as well, so I can have 8 real times monitors at my disposal.
I'm still debating on the combinations, but I know for sure it will be:
Wideband -already have
Boost-already have
Water
oil temp
oil pressure
battery
EGT
?????
Profit
All gauges will be in the middle of the dash, nice and uniform. Three on top in the pod and three in the DDM panel.
I'm going to freshen up my motor when I pull it for the new hotside swap. New slugs from Wesico: off the shelf .060 8.5:1 and rods will be M-Tuned H-beams. The head will stay the same, just new seals all over, water pump, blah blah blah. Might as well do a long-nose crank swap while I'm down there.
Only debate for me is the billet oil pump gears. I'm not totally convinced I will need to rev the motor higher even with the new Comp Turbo. We'll see I guess.
I'll post more specs on the Comp Turbo when I receive them, the options they can provide are nearly limit less. But we worked out that I might use a T3 .76 housing and a quick spool valve.
Ok. I'll post info as it comes and progress pics when I get free time.
Superchargers are gay
Still debating on paint for the rest of my ----. So far I have done just the hotside piping (may redo one pipe due to blotches from the wind). Still undecided on the intake manifold, maybe a dark gray. I'm going to wire wheel the throttle body and paint it silver.
I may actually attend a auto cross on the 19th. I was asked by another friend to co-drive that event, only this time it will be in a Sti w/ a Perrin 30r kit (paging 18psi). I will take my car and run it at 10psi and see how it all does with my crap tires. If I have issues I will just turn it down to 5-6psi~
Also, after more talks with Comp Turbo, I'm not convinced it's worth the investment for one of their turbos. Some of their internal features are actually shared with Borg Warner, Holset and other similar diesel turbos and they don't seem to really hold an advantage besides their oil-less systems. An equivalent Borg Warner can be had new for 800~ (S256sx) and a Holset for considerably less.
The plan is still on for a ETD shorty and a QSV, just looking like a turbo change.
I ripped my friend's 1.8t golf a new ------- a few weeks ago at the local autocross. The feeling of how shitty and inferior that car was made me miss working and racing my superior car. So now it beings.
After exchanging emails with the nice folks at Comp Turbo I'm 99% sure on the turbo I will be using. It will be T3 and it will be one of their oil-less models with a billet compressor and stainless turbine housing.
The manifold will more than likely be a ETD shorty and I'll just swap over my current Turbonetics evogate. If something pops up in the classifieds that peaks my interest then I will consider that as well. I'm not picky, I prefer my parts used. But the turbo will be new.
Anyway, I will start collecting parts for the new hotside and in the mean time I will start doing some aero work. I'm (hopefully) getting the 949 air damn when it comes out, 949 mirrors, PIAA driver lights (no more beaver dams), rear bumper cut ala Levnubhin, under body panels and whatever else tickles my pickle.
The dash/seats/whatever is coming back out tomorrow so I can get prepped to do the truck bed liner on the tub. ThePass was generous enough to send me some photos and information on how he did his, I am most great full. I, however, will be doing black instead of red. I just can't get used to having carpet again. I stripped it out when the car was solid race duty only and just loved it that way. But I want some type of heat shielding and noise control. Plus it will bring the interior back to a uniform look.
Since I still only have 2 out of 6 gauge spots filled, I decided to go ahead and start collecting VEI gauges. I'll have two dual gauges as well, so I can have 8 real times monitors at my disposal.
I'm still debating on the combinations, but I know for sure it will be:
Wideband -already have
Boost-already have
Water
oil temp
oil pressure
battery
EGT
?????
Profit
All gauges will be in the middle of the dash, nice and uniform. Three on top in the pod and three in the DDM panel.
I'm going to freshen up my motor when I pull it for the new hotside swap. New slugs from Wesico: off the shelf .060 8.5:1 and rods will be M-Tuned H-beams. The head will stay the same, just new seals all over, water pump, blah blah blah. Might as well do a long-nose crank swap while I'm down there.
Only debate for me is the billet oil pump gears. I'm not totally convinced I will need to rev the motor higher even with the new Comp Turbo. We'll see I guess.
I'll post more specs on the Comp Turbo when I receive them, the options they can provide are nearly limit less. But we worked out that I might use a T3 .76 housing and a quick spool valve.
Ok. I'll post info as it comes and progress pics when I get free time.
Superchargers are gay
Still debating on paint for the rest of my ----. So far I have done just the hotside piping (may redo one pipe due to blotches from the wind). Still undecided on the intake manifold, maybe a dark gray. I'm going to wire wheel the throttle body and paint it silver.
I may actually attend a auto cross on the 19th. I was asked by another friend to co-drive that event, only this time it will be in a Sti w/ a Perrin 30r kit (paging 18psi). I will take my car and run it at 10psi and see how it all does with my crap tires. If I have issues I will just turn it down to 5-6psi~
Also, after more talks with Comp Turbo, I'm not convinced it's worth the investment for one of their turbos. Some of their internal features are actually shared with Borg Warner, Holset and other similar diesel turbos and they don't seem to really hold an advantage besides their oil-less systems. An equivalent Borg Warner can be had new for 800~ (S256sx) and a Holset for considerably less.
The plan is still on for a ETD shorty and a QSV, just looking like a turbo change.
