Alex's white NA8 build.

[Alex 2550]

So what’s the plans from here well I have pulled the gearbox out to put in the ORC clutch and flywheel. I did it on the ground with ramps and jack stands in the garage.
It’s the most fun you can have on your back!!! ……. Well maybe not.

I plan to weigh the clutch and flywheel I pulled out to compare the weight difference.

I’m going to darken the mood for a moment, the reason I pulled the gearbox out is I needed a distraction, sadly my best mate chose to end his life last week and this kept my mind off it.
I want to take this small opportunity to say if you are struggling in life reach out and talk, us blokes more so than women often keep things bottled up and its not good for anyone.
suicide is never the solution. RIP Bushy.

Anyway back to the car.
While I have the box out I’m going to replace the rear main seal, it has the smallest weap starting.
I’m also going to put some heat insulation in the trans tunnel to help with radiant heat from the down pipe. I’m waiting on parts at the minute so lots of cleaning.

I also have a small leak from the sump, I’m going to try sort it with the motor in, it’s leaking from one bolt so fingers crossed I can fix it in the car.

Once I have it all back together I want to take the car for a quick drive just to confirm everything is ok.

I’ll then look at wiring in the wideband and GM air intake temp sensor and installing the Megasquirt.

I went with MS3 from MSLABS because they are known to have a very good base map loaded, many additional features over other offerings and live barometric adjustment so great for me, I can go from 0m to 1200m above sea level in just over an hour from my place.

There is heaps of megasquirt help guides out there for the MX5/Miata and I’m looking forward to dialling in the idle ect myself.
On previous cars I have fitted the ECU’s but not done any tuning myself.
Things like idle, hot and cold start, air con load ect all take heaps of time on the dyno to get right and I’m hoping I can save some cost and learn by doing it myself.
Once I get everything up and running nicely on the new ECU I’ll introduce the big injectors, re-tune and then once that’s all going well I’ll start fitting the turbo gear.

I’m also removing the CD player from the car and installing a small Bluetooth receiver, I rarely listen to music in the 5 anyway.
The reason for this is I’m putting the boost gauge in the middle of the zoom extension and moving the clock down below where the CD player is now so it will be a custom plate with the receiver, clock and a couple switches for accessories.

More to come.


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[Alex 2550]

Hopefully around the time the megasquirt is in I’ll be fitting a Q-max reroute and a Mishimoto radiator along with Mazdaspeed competition engine mounts.
I’m doing this to prepare for increased heat from the turbo and torque but I haven’t purchased these yet.

So as for power.
Stage 1 I’m shooting for around 220HP at the wheels initially, I want to keep the 5 speed together and the rods straight.

Stage 2 will be a built motor with forged internals and around 300HP.

I have swapped my Stewart head for a standard BP4W with cash my way (pending payment) but I have kept all the parts going into it. The 60 thou shave was going to make boost difficult.
I’ll clean the new heads ports up and un-shroud the valves slightly but that’s about it and drop in the TODA/Supertech/Mazdaspeed valve train I have. This may go on with the flat top manifold as a stage 1.5
I think that’s about it for now.


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[PaulF]

Very nice parts list, it's pretty much exactly what I'd be buying for a turbo build. I might have missed it, but what's your plan for ignition coils?

Sorry to hear about your mate.

[ManiacLachy]

Sounds like a good build plan.

The Kraken stuff is really good. He's been saying he'll shut down soon for about 3 years though I don't think he intends it as a sales tactic or anything, the demand for his stuff is high so I guess he keeps going, and more than that he keeps adding new products! The quality is good, though I've read a few fitment issues with the IC kit, however I don't think it's reasonable to expect it to be perfect for all (some people complain it doesn't fit with their existing mods!), and you're competent enough to make changes as needed.

What boost does the stock wastegate actuator on the Pulsar produce? You might want to invest in a lower boost spring setup to keep the expensive things inside! Also, do you have a source for the Pulsar? A friend is looking to upgrade his old GT2860R and I've been pushing him to a Gen2 GTX2860, more power, better spool, same size! If the Pulsar is 9/10ths of the Garrett but for way less it's a solid option.

Don't let another year slide by without updates ;)

[greenMachine]

So sorry about your friend, don't beat yourself up over what you should or shouldn't have done OK?! Best thing you can do for yourself is grieve for him, remember him, and be there for your friends and family if and when they are having troubles.

The Kraken setup is very attractive, as I already have much of what is in the kit I'd be looking at just the turbo, dump pipe and (high mount) manifold for the same reason as you. Low mount is doable, but I don't think I want what comes with it, much as I'd like the better flow. Did you source the Pulsar locally, or as part of the kit? If local, can you let me have a contact?

I need to investigate if that tombstone comes in NB too, Lots of room there ...

[Alex 2550]

So sorry about your friend, don't beat yourself up over what you should or shouldn't have done OK?! Best thing you can do for yourself is grieve for him, remember him, and be there for your friends and family if and when they are having troubles.

The Kraken setup is very attractive, as I already have much of what is in the kit I'd be looking at just the turbo, dump pipe and (high mount) manifold for the same reason as you. Low mount is doable, but I don't think I want what comes with it, much as I'd like the better flow. Did you source the Pulsar locally, or as part of the kit? If local, can you let me have a contact?

I need to investigate if that tombstone comes in NB too, Lots of room there ...

Thanks very much mate,
Going to the funeral home with his wife tomorrow to see him, not going to be a great day.

I agree the low mount flow would be great but a tight fit and harder for maintenance made me go the top mount, also mine will be only a street car now so don’t need every tenth of a second.

straight from Kraken “the flow difference is noticeable above 400HP.”

I sourced locally because Kraken couldn’t get the GTX2860R Gen 2 yet but could get the GTX2867R Gen 2, I just want as much response as possible.

I got mine from Pulsar Turbos Australia.
I’ll PM you some contact details.


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[The American]

Will be thinking of you for tomorrow.

[Alex 2550]

Will be thinking of you for tomorrow.

Really appreciate the message mate, thanks.


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[Alex 2550]

Very nice parts list, it's pretty much exactly what I'd be buying for a turbo build. I might have missed it, but what's your plan for ignition coils?

Sorry to hear about your mate.

Sorry Paul, missed your message.
I’m already running Toyota COP’s from an MR2, been on a couple years and work well.
Thanks for your condolences.


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[Alex 2550]

Sounds like a good build plan.

The Kraken stuff is really good. He's been saying he'll shut down soon for about 3 years though I don't think he intends it as a sales tactic or anything, the demand for his stuff is high so I guess he keeps going, and more than that he keeps adding new products! The quality is good, though I've read a few fitment issues with the IC kit, however I don't think it's reasonable to expect it to be perfect for all (some people complain it doesn't fit with their existing mods!), and you're competent enough to make changes as needed.

What boost does the stock wastegate actuator on the Pulsar produce? You might want to invest in a lower boost spring setup to keep the expensive things inside! Also, do you have a source for the Pulsar? A friend is looking to upgrade his old GT2860R and I've been pushing him to a Gen2 GTX2860, more power, better spool, same size! If the Pulsar is 9/10ths of the Garrett but for way less it's a solid option.

Don't let another year slide by without updates ;)

Hey mate,
Sorry I missed your reply.
Yer many times he has made the threat about closing and I just didn’t want to miss out on another good product. I noticed he is doing a twin turbo setup for Z cars now so perhaps he is trying to grow and get another source of customers.

I have seen the comments about the IC kit lately and figure I may need to massage a little, I was going to knock up my own kit but I’m hoping this way will allow a few less joins as I was going to use silicone bends.

I have also noticed some changes to the intercooler kit lately and I think some issues are addressed.

As far as standard wastegate actuator pressure on the Pulsar it’s about 15psi however you can request different. I agree 15psi from that turbo on my bottom end would be an efficient way of venting the crankcase lol.

I’m planning on a Turbosmart adjustable actuator with a 7psi spring for now. I looked at some of the cheaper actuators but it looks like they may suffer from some issues and I don’t want to chase my tail with them.

I will port the wastegate and match port the manifold to turbo before installing.

I’ll PM you some details of who I purchased off and try to update more often.


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[Alex 2550]

So little update.
WE HAVE AN ECU!!!!


The MSLABS MS3 basic is a pretty cool bit of kit with more functions than I need.

For those that want more details on the spec of this ecu have a look here.

https://bofiracing.co.uk/engine-parts/e ... x-5-na-nb/


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[Alex 2550]

Also another package arrived, nothing overly exciting but worth a mention.
Car Mods Australia (CMA) took a bit longer than expected to get the 190 HP Walbro pump out to me, no big deal.
But as an apology for the delay they sent me out a merchandise pack. Pretty good service I think.
So it was my first time using CMA and must say it’s a positive one.
Shirt is comfy and fits well, they messaged for size.



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[Alex 2550]

A few figures for those interested as far as clutch and flywheel weights go.

Firstly the standard replacement clutch and flywheel total weight.


Next the ORC clutch and flywheel.


Next up is the flywheels.
Standard Mazda NA8 flywheel.


ORC Flywheel.


So as a recap.
Mazda flywheel 7.7kg
Mazda standard replacement clutch 5.5kg
Total = 13.2kg

ORC flywheel 4.4kg
ORC clutch 4.5kg
Total = 8.9kg

Weight saving = 4.3kg


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[Alex 2550]

I have completed the heat shielding for the trans’ tunnel and firewall last night however have no photos of the finished product. I left my phone inside but did get some progress shots.

The products I used where these.




They are an adhesive backed glass mat with aluminium face. Both sheets are 600x500mm and it’s very light.

0.25mm alloy face on the heavy which I used in the trans tunnel because it’s designed for less complex curves.

0.05mm alloy face on the light for more complex areas.

I sealed the edges and joins with this heat reflective glass tape.

I will get some pics up of the edges and joins all taped up but here is a couple of during the project.


Nice clean tunnel ready for shielding.

The heavy sheet fitted up, I managed to smooth it out a little after this photo, the curves I tapped with a ball hammer.

Nice clean firewall and frame, the shielding seen is the front of the heavy faced stuff in the trans tunnel.

The frame and firewall all covered with the light faced stuff. It’s much easier to mould.
it’s not pretty in these photos but came up well with the tape……. Hides the ugly .


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[Alex 2550]

I should also mention that I only used about half of the light faced sheet and hope to have enough left over to shield the sides of the air box from engine bay heat when I build it.
I plan to build something similar to the FM turbo air box then feeding cold air from the passenger TSI and vented headlight cover.


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