Lessons Learned : The untold stories of do-it-yourselfers
MFz Regular
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 443
From: Chicago
If I could go back, I wouldn't of bought a Mazdaspeed and would have tried to find a regular NB. Then just turboed it myself.
I love my MSM but car payments suck and I wouldn't feel so bad about daily driving it.
I love my MSM but car payments suck and I wouldn't feel so bad about daily driving it.
MFz Regular
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 81
From: The Lord's Republic of Dallas
My sister is selling her pristine MSM and building a giant-killer NB. Imagine the OGK with the stock diff, full interior, and no aero. The VVT swap is pending.
MFz Regular
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 53
Came in for Hustler's newbie title. Decided to post.
The first thing I would have done so far, no matter what in hindsight is only done one thing at a time in the car, tested the ---- out of it, then went on to the next. I've begun to move over to that methodology now. Having something go wrong and then desperately try to figure out what it is over several independent changes resulted in a lot of time and money wasted.
A coolant reroute is easy and cheap. Waiting as long as I did to finally get around to it was foolish. This should have been the second thing I did after the Megasquirt.
Labelling bolts and screws can be handy, but only if you are dealing with an excessive amount. If you follow my first lesson, labelling them is unnecessary - but if you don't follow it and do several things at once, not labelling them can be a killer.
Simple is best. If you can't understand it, why the ---- are you installing it? (Tied to why my Miata is down and I'm redoing the piping. Fancy solutions to wiring and sensors bit me in the *** on several occassions.)
OEM wiring is king. But just because OEM wiring is king didn't mean someone else didn't ---- with the harness. A shitty wiring job, even if it is done with OEM wiring, is still a shitty wiring job. Just because it looks like it was an unmolested OEM harness does not mean it's an unmolested OEM harness.
The first thing I would have done so far, no matter what in hindsight is only done one thing at a time in the car, tested the ---- out of it, then went on to the next. I've begun to move over to that methodology now. Having something go wrong and then desperately try to figure out what it is over several independent changes resulted in a lot of time and money wasted.
A coolant reroute is easy and cheap. Waiting as long as I did to finally get around to it was foolish. This should have been the second thing I did after the Megasquirt.
Labelling bolts and screws can be handy, but only if you are dealing with an excessive amount. If you follow my first lesson, labelling them is unnecessary - but if you don't follow it and do several things at once, not labelling them can be a killer.
Simple is best. If you can't understand it, why the ---- are you installing it? (Tied to why my Miata is down and I'm redoing the piping. Fancy solutions to wiring and sensors bit me in the *** on several occassions.)
OEM wiring is king. But just because OEM wiring is king didn't mean someone else didn't ---- with the harness. A shitty wiring job, even if it is done with OEM wiring, is still a shitty wiring job. Just because it looks like it was an unmolested OEM harness does not mean it's an unmolested OEM harness.
Great Tips Blaen99. This is applies anywhere, not just to turboing cars. I teach new engineers this all the time.
@arctct, I'd love to hear the AMS issues. I'm going to have another tuning shop help me this spring with my MS because AMS is freaking ridiculous expensive for Dyno time, but I thought those guys were good.
My lesson learned builds off of Blaen99s. Don't rush, check your work, and torque everything twice. I got into a hurry as I usually do, to finish my timing belt install last winter and neglected to properly torque one of my cam gear bolts. Two days later it spun off and ruined the cam. That was embarrassing.
@arctct, I'd love to hear the AMS issues. I'm going to have another tuning shop help me this spring with my MS because AMS is freaking ridiculous expensive for Dyno time, but I thought those guys were good.
My lesson learned builds off of Blaen99s. Don't rush, check your work, and torque everything twice. I got into a hurry as I usually do, to finish my timing belt install last winter and neglected to properly torque one of my cam gear bolts. Two days later it spun off and ruined the cam. That was embarrassing.
MFz Regular
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 443
From: Chicago
Great Tips Blaen99. This is applies anywhere, not just to turboing cars. I teach new engineers this all the time.
@arctct, I'd love to hear the AMS issues. I'm going to have another tuning shop help me this spring with my MS because AMS is freaking ridiculous expensive for Dyno time, but I thought those guys were good.
@arctct, I'd love to hear the AMS issues. I'm going to have another tuning shop help me this spring with my MS because AMS is freaking ridiculous expensive for Dyno time, but I thought those guys were good.
MFz Regular
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 486
From: Chicago
MFz Regular
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 111
From: royal oak mi
Dont reef down 2 turbo to mani bolts then tighten the other 2. It will always result in a leak. Only took me about 6 gaskets to figure that one out. Tighten them all equally in steps.
Oh and dont thow out the oil feed line restrictor for your china turbo and wonder why its smoking after 5k miles.
Oh and dont thow out the oil feed line restrictor for your china turbo and wonder why its smoking after 5k miles.
