Mentalpopcorn's MX5 SE

[Lokiel]

It looks like you're well on your way to making the SE the way it SHOULD have come out of the factory.

Beware of falling into the trap I fell into though, where you have limited time and end up spending more time installing your mods than actually enjoying/driving the car.

It's a good exercise too to install one power/suspension mod at a time and test it out for a month or so to really know the impact of the mod. If you do them altogether within a short timespan you don't really get a feel for this. Taking your time also allows you to research each mod more and your installs will be more thorough, plus, when you've done all your mods, what are you going to do then? I can understand people who spend years building a car the way they want it, then selling it because they NEED an ongoing project in their life.

[mentalpopcorn]

Agreed Lokiel, that's the main reason I re-joined the MX5 club, to get out there and actually use the car rather than just drive to work and back. I've already locked in the "First Run of Summer" on December 5th and Phillip Island Track Day December 12 (only spectator....this time).

I'll certainly take on the advice and give each mod some time to grow on me. I'm expecting several weeks break between current pending mods, the air intake (which will be late December) and ECU which will be January/February.

Mind you, there is still a nice list of things to investigate; injectors, suspensions, tuning, rims/tyres.....

My friend from Motec has pointed me to a new ECU they have released. I'll be doing some thorough investigations on this.
http://www.motec.com.au/m84/m84overview/

I've already downloaded some of the software to get familar with...looks impressive, but it is my first dabble in this area. ECU alone I think we be several months of investigation which I'm really looking forward to.

As mentioned, exhaust is going in Saturday. Borrowing some car stands and jack from a mate tonight and will have the car off the ground Friday night. Spraying all the bolts Friday night to make life easier on Saturday when start taking it out.

Will post photo's as the process evolves.

[mentalpopcorn]

I won't go through an exhaustive (pardon the pun) description on how to install the SMB Exhaust and there a many posts on the subject, but I will provide some pictures that may be of interest and some of the things I found tricky.

Firstly...you need to get the car off the ground. Again there are many posts across many forums on how to do this. Given I had a heavy duty jack which could't fit right under the car, I opted to take it up one side at a time. I lifted it off the seem and put car stands where the normal jack would go if changing a tire. Here it is off the ground.



Gave it the shove test once it was up, mainly to satisfy the girlfriend who said "you're not getting under that". She was convinced once I put all my weight behind it and it didn't budge.

Important - spray all your bolts the night before with some WD40 or equivilent. It will help a lot with getting all the bolts off later. I opted to do this the night before.

The last time I was under a car was my first...HJ Monaro. So, I wasn't exactly ready for all shielding and braces under the car. They all had to come off to get access to the exhaust. Here's a look.



There is one light weight shield close to the engine bay, a heavier one overlapping and then tubing braces towards the rear. Pretty easy to take off.

From there you just start taking it apart section by section. I went back to front (or easiest to hardest). There are three rubber hangers on the muffler section and one on the midpipe. I pryed up the rubber a bit, sprayed in some WD40 and they came off reasonably easy. To get at the manifold to down pipe nuts is very awkward and would recommend a socket with long extension and universal joint.

The hardest part for me was taking off the bracket that holds the downpipe near the manifold. It is held on by two bell housing bolts. They were the hardest to get out and most the awkward spot. This bracket is not needed for the SMB as it has a bracket that joins to a bolt used to secure the rear of the gearbox (you'll see this in the photo below). Tip - the SMB bracket cannot be bolted until the downpipe is fully located on the manifold, so I removed the bolt and used a clamp to keep the pipe off the ground. Once the pipe was bolted to the manifold, the bracket was in place and could easily be bolted in place.

Now..the SMB comes with a spot for an 02 sensor on the mid-pipe which isn't present on the OEM mid-pipe. If your car doesn't have an 02 sensor it needs to be blocked. DON'T DO WHAT I DID...and run around to exhaust shops etc trying to find something to block it. The OEM downpipe has a blank that fits the SMB exhaust. LEARNING No. 1....pull everything out before worrying about extra bits you may need.

Right now, I have only put in the SMB downpipe and intend to work backwards...hardest to easiest. I found the holes on the downpipe slightly smaller than the OEM manifold nuts. It was very tight, so I just took half a mm out of the holes. It was still tight, but went on enough to then use a socket extension and hammer to persuade it on. After that the tighening the nuts took it the rest of the way.

Here are some comparision photo's of the exhaust.

Maybe you already know, but the OEM exhaust chrome tip has "Mazdaspeed" on it. The things you find when you start looking.


You'll see the hole at the top that needs to be blocked.


The bracket on the SMB bolts up to an existing bolt, so I ditched the factory bracket. This also left more room to get sockets in place to get it back on.


Breath baby breath


Part 2 will be up tomorrow which should include first impressions!!

[mentalpopcorn]

Well...the exhaust is in! Might as well start with some photo's.





Pretty easy job this morning as I only needed to get in the mid pipe and muffler sections. It was less than an hour to get these two in place and put all the shielding back on. It took me longer to head out and find a copper washer to put the bung into the 02 sensor hole.

More importantly.....how does it sound and what is the performance like? I'm glad I asked!

It sounds fantastic and I am very very happy with it. . It's not too loud, but certainly a deeper "sportier" sound.

As for performance, the turbo is certainly spooling up faster and it is getting more boost. So much boost I have had to turn the manual booster controller almost to its lowest setting and I'm still hitting maximum boost at around 4500rpm on full acceleration. I don't think there is anything I will be able to do about it until ECU replacement but I'll ask some people smarter than me if there is any short term fix for this (aside from taking the exhaust back out!!)

Although getting this professionally done probably would've been fairly inexpensive, I"m glad I did this myself. It was extremely satisfying and I've learnt a lot. Always happy to answer any questions on this installation if anyone is after more detail.

Highly recommended modification.

[mentalpopcorn]

Been experiencing some minor vibration in the exhaust on load and de-acceleration. It is something I expect I'd ignore in time, but for the exercise I'm going to explore it further.

The factory exhaust had a bracket right up near the manifold which was bolted to the bell housing. I figured this let the exhaust move with the engine. The mid pipe had a rubber hanging mount and the muffler had three hanging rubber mounts. (You will see all this on previous photos)

The SMB exhaust couldn’t use the factory bell housing mount as it is bigger, so there is a metal bracket just passed the cat which secures to a factory bolt near the end of the gearbox. The mid pipe has the same factory rubber hanger as does the muffler.

I think there are two issues here:

1) The metal mount bolted directly to the frame rail is causing some vibration, particularly on de-acceleration. This is minor but can be felt through the floor
2) On load (reversing up my steep driveway) it is vibrating so much it is hitting the shrouds under the car. I expect this is due to the exhaust simply being larger.

This weekend I'm taking it to a mates workshop and get it on the hoist (saves me lifted onto stands again). I’m going to take off the shrouds to see if that is indeed part of the problem and also to see what we can do with the metal mount i.e. use some rubber to chock it, remove it altogether or find some other means to hang it. Expecting this will be a some minor changes just to refine the install.

I'll probably post this in one of the other forum topics to see if anyone else has experienced this. I'll also contact SMB as they have been fantastic so far and may be able to offer some suggestions.

[twinlol]

Hey man, I had the rattle rattle with my SMB system. Mine was fouling on the chassis next to the front sub frame brace, on the straight part of the 'U shaped bar, similar to yours, with that vibration coming up through the footwell, it was quite horrid.
To rid myself of the rattle I raised the motor mounts by a few mm.
This is a safe thing to do provided you only raise by a few mm, 3-4mm max is safe.
I'm going to be replacing my motor mounts with mazdaspeed ones shortly, then I'll be getting new braces, which will hopefully be lower and give me more clearance. If it still fouls without me raising the engine, I'll either bend the pipe or just cut/bend part of the chassis. :\ - terrible option IMO.
SMB paid for my engine to be raised by a mechanic, which was nice.

If you need more details I can grab some photos etc.
I think theres more details in my garage thread on the first page.
Happy to help

[mentalpopcorn]

Lots to discuss today...it's been a big weekend.

Firstly, thanks to Twinlol and Blackster for responses to my exhaust knocking problem. Once I got it on a hoist (rather than flat on my back), it was reasonably easy to see what was going on. It has been knocking on a brace and certainly making some noise on the front shroud. Here is a picture.



Just used one large washer (around 2mm) on each bolt. The soft shroud we just bent down away from the exhaust, there was plenty of give so wasn't difficult. All vibration and knocking now gone.

Spent some time yesterday installing the Flyin Miata Throttle Body Inlet and Turbosmart Kompact Recirc valve (purchased as a kit from FM). It was a very easy installation. The instructions provided by FM where reasonably clear but you certainly just need to get into it for them to make perfect sense. Instructions can be downloaded from the FM site and are provided when you purchase.

Here are some pictures







This modification makes a notible difference to acceleration and de-acceleration. The flat spot I would normally feel on gear changes is gone. When gearing down, it is more progressive rather than loosing rpm quickly.

I'm still experiencing overboost...basicallly hitting 10psi or over at 4500rpm full throttle. I'm not sure this is something I will be able to resolve until ECU is replaced. I'm doing some investigation on manual boost controller and the standard boost solenoid. It seems most people bypass the standard boost solenoid, whereas I still have it connected. Next week I may by-pass and see what difference it makes.

AEM Intake has been ordered and I'm hoping to receive it next week. Started some reading on it's installation as it will also affect how the MBC, Boost Solenoid and new Kompact Recir Valve are plumbed together. This is a steep learning curve but it is coming together.

It is becoming apparent that although each modification is improving certain areas, the ECU is going to bring it all together.

On a social note...I attended the MX5 Vic Xmas party at the Albert Park Sailing club. Lots of fun to catch up. Here is a photo of the car park.



Intercooler install isscheduled for next Saturday and the AEM Intake if it arrives.

[mentalpopcorn]

Intercooler has been installed. With two of us working on it, it took around 4 hours. Although 1 hour was spent trying to get a hose clamp on which finally got the best of us and we went out to get a bigger one.

MX5 Mania provided some basic instructions which we mainly used for the cuts, but I also used some valuable information from the forums. Thanks to Blackster and mprhead5. Here are some links.

http://www.mazda-speed.com/forum2/index.php/topic,6106.0.html
http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=23738&hilit=intercooler+installation

I won't go into details on these instructions but I will add some photo's that support some of the trickier parts, namely some hidden nuts and the location of clips.

You do need to remove the shrouds under the wheels ones and then some nuts present themselves.


Here are the clips that need to be updone to get the bar off. We were lucky and these just popped off one the nuts and bolts removed. Some have needed to tape the bar and use a screwdriver to remove.


Here's the intercooler pipes cut to pieces. We opted to remove the pipes to cut them to avoid any material getting into the system. We used a angle grinder with a cutting blade which worked perfect and took only a minute. Then spent some time filing and cleaning up the cut.


Just for people's interest, here is a comparison between the OEM Intercooler and the MX5 Mania Cooling Pro version.


And here is the finished product.


Didn't realise how bad my front bar had been marked by the number plate bracket. I'd been meaning to change this for an Mania bracket, so will pick one up next week. Then touch up the exposed body work.

AEM Intake has made it to OZ, but unfortunately not to my home yet. So that will be a job for next week.

As usual, happy to answer any questions or hear any feedback.

[mentalpopcorn]

AEM Intake arrived this week so I jumped straight in this weekend to get it installed.

Here is the contents of the box. Lots of brackets, clips, pipes etc. The instructions are very comprehensive step by step.


Pulling everything out was straight forward. A few of the bolts need an extension to get to but no trouble. One thing worth remembering..when removing the intake pipe and hot pipe leave it attached to the rubber pipe attached to the turbo, hold the clip open at the turbo and pull so it all comes out together. If you don't do this, the rubber elbow at the turbo end is very hard to get out. The factory pipes give you good leverage.

Here is part of the intake installed.


The next troublesome part is the heat shield. It is just not designed to go around what I guess is the power steering pipe. In addition there is some rubber that is suppose to go around the inner circle of the shield which appeared to be missing. So some modification was required.

On the left had side of the heat shield I cut some away. Then used some rust protection to reseal the edge. It is still reasonably solid even though it's getting a little thin.


For the inner I used some plumbing supplies from Bunnings. I just cut it to length, slit it up the middle and it sat over the lip nicely.


Here it is in the car.


After that the shield bolted in perfectly. There was no need to modify any mounting points, it all bolted up to factory holes. The relays were relocated using the bracket supplied by AEM. Here is the finished product.


Now it is worth noting, or repeating as the case may be, that the intake is loud. I knew this going in but it's worth being clear for anyone intending on putting one of these in. As the turbo winds up there is a roar from the intake and a loud rush of air as the waste gate opens. It is a little obnoxious look-at-me when you are racing the engine but reasonably silent driving normally. Will take some getting used to.

Now....I need to confess to an oversight.

As I've mentioned, once the exhaust went in (which I still love!) I have experienced over-boost and cannot get passed 4500rpm at full throttle. Now here is a lesson for anyone not doing the work themselves...check and re-check others work. While installing the AEM and moving all the piping around I realised the manual boost controller was the wrong way around. My assumption is they are not directional per se, but certainly less boost would actually mean more boost if put in backwards. So...now it is the right way around and I will be kicking my mate up the @rse when I see him next.

So the driving experience now. Heaps better. At full throttle the turbo is spooling up quickly, and is now allowed acceleration through 5500 rpm. It's quick, or at least quicker than stock. It is still getting to boost cut but it's taking longer and holding boost at lot better. It's good now, but you can really see how the ECU will tie it all together.

Here is the engine bay as it is now.


Also took the opportunity this weekend to install an MX5 Mania number plate bracket. Heaps better than stock. Only change I made was a little tape so it doesn't run against the paint work.


I will be doing another dyno run either just before Xmas or just after. That will give us a comparison of stock against all the bolt ons. Then in January the Motec ECU will be going in. The plan there is to complete the install, and initial tune to get idle and kw sorted. I'll then drive around for a few weeks before re-tuning to iron out the bugs and get it as close to factory reliability as possible. From there we will just play it by ear. Really looking forward to learning all about this process. We're thinking of leaving the factory injectors in initially so I can move back to factory ECU if anything major goes wrong. Then later we'll upgrade the injectors.

That's it for now. Probably be a little quiet between now and Xmas, so Merry Christmas to all and hopefully my Xmas present will be some nice Dyno results.

[Lokiel]

Awww, you got a red filter, mines grey

I'm surprised that you had to cut the heat shield. While mine didn't go in easily, with a bit of force and swearing I got it in OK.

You can get rid of the solenoid at the front of the rocker cover too since it's no longer doing anything. Just put a 50ohm resistor across the plug to prevent the CEL error and a 10mm rubber cap over the top of it to keep it in and water-tight.

Also, you'll come to love the whoosing/farting noises that your car now generates.

[Lokiel]

I read on miata.net that AEM have stopped production on these intakes - maybe you got a heatshield designed for another car?

[mentalpopcorn]

I'm sure it wasn't another model given the detailed instructions it came with and everything else bolted into factory mounts perfectly. I was thinking its possible the pipe in the way is located differently in a US model or maybe I just wasn't patient enough trying to massage it in. In any case, even it I bent it or forced it a bit it would have been hard up against some pipes and I wasn't confident it wouldn't rub through over time.

A small cut and now no pipes touch it and it bolted to factory holes perfectly.

All part of the fun of playing with car...and now I can say I had to fabricate something.

[Lokiel]

I meant that possibly the heat shield is not correct (because they're no longer making the kits) not the other bits - if they weren't right you would have noticed and required a lot more modification.

Given than many of us had to force/bend the heatshield into place, I'm not sure that AEM really spent much time on the heatshield - I believe that our cars are exactly the same as the US in the front+left engine quadrant so it should have fitted easily/better given how easy the rest of the kit was to install.

I was never happy with the AEM relay mounting solution since it exposes the unshielded underside of the relays to air rushing in, allowing crap to accumulate under there over time. When I changed my front strut brace I made a simple bracket from aluminium that mounts them verticaly (you need to bend the bolt braket 90 degrees though). See bottom of viewtopic.php?f=57&t=41091&start=30 for the bracket. It's a very simple mod.

[mentalpopcorn]

Agreed...given everything else bolted up fine, no reason why the heat shield wouldn't unless something else impacts it such as poor design.

I didn't even think about the location of the relays but you make a good point. The tail end of them are very exposed. I'll make a point of changing that in the near future, maybe when I look to upgrading sway bars at it seems based on your photo's it will be a neccessity.

All the best.

[Lokiel]

:
I didn't even think about the location of the relays but you make a good point. The tail end of them are very exposed. I'll make a point of changing that in the near future, maybe when I look to upgrading sway bars at it seems based on your photo's it will be a neccessity.
:

Not a necessity at all, the sway bar attaches under the car, not in the upper engine bay so you wont need to change your existing setup. I had to create the bracket since I changed the OEM front strut brace and had to come up with another monting solution for the relays.