NA6 Engine Build

[RG.net]

boring turbo setup.

Poor choice of words... Nothing boring about a Turbo MX5 (when you are in the driver's seat)...

opinions vary guys, however i am talking more in general of turbo setups, every tom dick and harry has one these days. Considering this is an mx5 forum, i apoligise for my dicky post

[Boags]

boring turbo setup.

Poor choice of words... Nothing boring about a Turbo MX5 (when you are in the driver's seat)...

opinions vary guys, however i am talking more in general of turbo setups, every tom dick and harry has one these days. Considering this is an mx5 forum, i apoligise for my dicky post

Like I said, "poor choice of words". Fatty is right, you can describe them as common, but not boring.

Have you dríven a properly set up turbo? Or did you just decide to go the route less travelled to be unique?

[adamjp]

I can't speak for others but I want to be able to drive the car hard, and not worry about breaking the speed limit (as much).

This was one reason why I sold the V8, and why I don't drive the wife's MPS too often.

Turbo is the way to go maximising power for $$$$, but NA has always been more involving for me. My ultimate car is a Megabusa (and rebuilding a 1972 Porsche to 2.5l) light, high revving and peaky.

[StanTheMan]

Adam.

I take my hat off to you. That's awesome work there. When I grow up.......I'd love to build an engine like that.


Top effort.

[RG.net]

Poor choice of words... Nothing boring about a Turbo MX5 (when you are in the driver's seat)...

opinions vary guys, however i am talking more in general of turbo setups, every tom dick and harry has one these days. Considering this is an mx5 forum, i apoligise for my dicky post

Like I said, "poor choice of words". Fatty is right, you can describe them as common, but not boring.

Have you dríven a properly set up turbo? Or did you just decide to go the route less travelled to be unique?

yes i have, the other car is an S14, and i have dríven some SE's and NA turbos. You dont like to let things slide to you?

Edit: still curious on what your plans are with the emb and quads are adam!

[adamjp]

Edit: still curious on what your plans are with the emb and quads are adam!

The 4AG quads fit the bore spacing of the NA6 perfectly. The AE101 4AG (Silvertop) injectors are only 30cc larger than the stock NA6 ones. The factory manifold has vacuum, fuel etc in it already.

Once I have this engine running, my next project is to build a manifold to adapt the quads to the head. Think two flanges with very short connecting pipes. There was a mob in Thailand or Malaysia making a billet adapter, but I cannot find details for them anymore.

Then I build an atmosphere-side plenum for the quads to draw their air from.

Then I connect the whole lot and install it.

It could take me a year or so to get that far....I have other hobbies that draw on my time and money.

The EMB will tune the quads adequately if I install a true TPS (which the quads have on them already). Since I intend to keep the AFM upstream of the plenum, the original engine sensors will remain.

[RG.net]

Edit: still curious on what your plans are with the emb and quads are adam!

The 4AG quads fit the bore spacing of the NA6 perfectly. The AE101 4AG (Silvertop) injectors are only 30cc larger than the stock NA6 ones. The factory manifold has vacuum, fuel etc in it already.

Once I have this engine running, my next project is to build a manifold to adapt the quads to the head. Think two flanges with very short connecting pipes. There was a mob in Thailand or Malaysia making a billet adapter, but I cannot find details for them anymore.

Then I build an atmosphere-side plenum for the quads to draw their air from.

Then I connect the whole lot and install it.

It could take me a year or so to get that far....I have other hobbies that draw on my time and money.

The EMB will tune the quads adequately if I install a true TPS (which the quads have on them already). Since I intend to keep the AFM upstream of the plenum, the original engine sensors will remain.

fair enough, is it worth the hassle of running a plenum and saving the AFM, rather then running a standalone though? i guess it wont draw as much attention which can be a good thing in some cases.

[adamjp]

fair enough, is it worth the hassle of running a plenum and saving the AFM, rather then running a standalone though?

I believe that it is. The average inspection won't pick the difference, and with the piggyback ironing out the material differences the stock ECU should be able to keep the engine within the ADR limits for an NA6. Technically the quads will work at the top of their ability as they will be getting cold air, not superheated underbonnet air.

i guess it wont draw as much attention which can be a good thing in some cases.

Yep. Thats the one.

I ran into some hitches with installing the engine - the MPS collected a roo at 100kph.
Roo = dead.
MPS = $12k worth of damage and 4 weeks in the body shop.
Wife = pissed off.

I'm hoping to get to install the engine in early June. Thats my next window of opportunity.

If anyone wants a set of NEW UNUSED Belfab MX5 rods, I can do them a good deal.

[adamjp]

Well the engine is in. Some issues with the water pump (see below) and the damn engine mounts wouldn't line up properly. Seems that this is a common problem, take the passenger side mount off the engine, fit it to the chassis and then morph the engine to the mount.

Now that it has a whopping 100km on it I can say that the new engine is definitely stronger than the old engine - and I have not revved it above 4500rpm yet.

I'm looking forward to next weekend when I can drop the running in oil out and fill it with some good synthetic and start exploring.

Belfab customer service is useless. They sent me the wrong water pump and won't answer my emails about the issue. Since they overcharged me to the tune of $156USD for postage and another $33USD for a pump for a different model of B6, I'm less than impressed with them. I still have a credit with Belfab, so if anyone is looking to get something off them (the parts they sell are good, just the service isn't), drop me a line.

I'm also building a fairly stockish engine with my spare parts. Anyone want a reco B6 with good innnards? I'll even help fit it if you are local.

[meta]

beautiful build up there, just out of interest, how much has this little engine cost you all up (i.e parts and engine porting, etc)? and how much are you expecting to put down at the treads?
I'm just interested as, in the next couple of months i'll be heading overseas with the army, and seeing as my na6 is hitting the mid 200k, it feels like the right time to go in for a nice rebuild, so i'm just trying to get some basic bearings in terms of cost, time and so forth

[adamjp]

beautiful build up there, just out of interest, how much has this little engine cost you all up (i.e parts and engine porting, etc)? and how much are you expecting to put down at the treads?
I'm just interested as, in the next couple of months i'll be heading overseas with the army, and seeing as my na6 is hitting the mid 200k, it feels like the right time to go in for a nice rebuild, so i'm just trying to get some basic bearings in terms of cost, time and so forth

Total build cost is close to $4k all up. More if I had paid retail.

Prices....
Cams $450 each
Cam Gears $400 pair
Pistons, Rings, valves and valve springs $1400
Long Nose engine as a base $350
Bearings $135
Block machining $550
Head Service & Assembly $400
Head Porting $500

I'm expecting something like 100kw at the flywheel, up from the stock 84kw - probably around 80kw ATW. When it is all said and done, all I've built is an equivalent to a strong Toyota 4AGE.

Ahhhh tax free field pay - loved it. Didn't like the being away from home once the first kid came along though.

[adamjp]

Hi With that compression what octane fuel do use
OD

The current tank has Shell Optimax 98 in it. No pinging under current use - but no heavy acceleration on an engine with only 150km on the clock.