The Roadster NA Journey Begins

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Tue Aug 27, 2013 7:45 pm

More decisions today. Decided to replace the power steering with a manual one. The spare NA I have has power steering and driving hat for a few days was not hat bad. It is really only noticeable at low speeds. Plus it will make the engine bay a bit tidier as well as save some weight.

Electrical wiring getting sorted out. All the sensors for the Innovate have been planned into a wiring plan. Bonus is as the Innovate sensors are 5v output they can be hooked up to almost any data logger. Plus I'm checking if the Haltech can output some of its sensors so it can log them as well.

Plan is to have it running by the MX5 Plus open day

plohl · Postby **plohl** » Tue Aug 27, 2013 10:48 pm

why didn't you just depower the ps rack?

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 5:50 am

Thought about that (de-powering) however after driving a non PS MX5 (and feedback from ohers) swapping seemed a good idea, plus it is quicker and I can always put the PS into the other NA (as I will be doing with other parts). It could be another decision that I live to regret (like the roof scoop) when using it on the road. Further the other half no longer wants to drive it and this will be another.

Also nice to see that people do read this build thread

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 6:15 am

I thought rack ends for the manual rack were now unavailable?

I've dríven plohls with a de powered rack and its pretty good. The only time you will miss it is parking and u turns st lights etc.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 11:21 am

Thanks Sailaholic I agree that you only really notice it at carparks and U turns so happy with my decision. I was not aware that the rack ends would be an issue, MX5 Plus had a manual rack available so I made the decision. However i could have just have sent my other MX5 up and just had a swap done or I could have gone down the de-power path but the swap is alot quicker considering the state of the engine bay.

MattR · Postby **MattR** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 3:18 pm

You won't notice the powersteering gone at all. My NA doesn't have powersteer and it's not a problem.

Where you might miss it, is with wide slicks and so much castor that you have cut the guards to get wheel clearance, otherwise MX5's have some of the lightest manual steering I have ever dríven.

People have gotten soft over the last few years, I drove plenty of XA-XC falcons with 245 wide rubber up front and no power steer with ridiculously small (around 350mm) sports steering wheels. Tw

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Wed Aug 28, 2013 5:20 pm

MattR so far your advice has been reliable so I have no reason to doubt you now

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:00 pm

Well, I have planned the wiring out for the data logger. In the end I probably should have gone with a racepak logging dash, but hindsight is a wonderful thing

I will be spending a few days when I am home next doing this whilst Jason is away snowboarding.

The following will be logged:
4 exhaust gas temps, TPS, water temp, oil temp, oil pressure, brake pressure, fuel pressure, front ride height, rear ride height, wheel speed, RPM, AFR, g forces. I have a spare thermocouple that I can use (possibly on the gearbox) as well as 2 x air temps that can be used if I can think of a useful place for them. When the Vbox camera is used it can also log up to 8 CAN inputs from the ECU or 4 x 5v sensor inputs. However the main use of the data logger will be to pass information on to the tuner as well as keep an eye on what is happening on the car, cheap insurance.

plohl · Postby **plohl** » Sat Aug 31, 2013 4:45 pm

should have just bought a motec

What software are you using to look at all the data?

We found the EGT's are good for a tweaking the fuel for each cylinder, but you pretty much only use them once and then remove them. What ecu are you running again? Can it individually trim cylinders?

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Aug 31, 2013 5:29 pm

plohl wrote:should have just bought a motec

Ouch, that almost hurt

In hindsight I should have done lots of things, but I'm still happy with the outcome. It should be fun to drive.

Using a Haltech P1000. Logworks from Innovate is the software and it is very good. In addition the files can be exported into a csv file for importing into other software. I will be trying to merge the Vbox GPS/Video data with the Innovate log files when I get some spare time.

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 9:17 pm

Well did some wiring (data logging) on the car today as well as took some photos of the engine. The ECU wiring is still to be done hence all the wires. So far the parts removed and not going back weigh in at 25 kg (power steering and air con). When it is finished the car will be corner weighted again so will get a chance to weight it and see the difference.

However there is going to be issues with the airbox and the clutch master. Plan is to have it running for the MX5 Plus open day.

Full size pics https://plus.google.com/photos/115769813738304087848/albums/5920792786448200849

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sat Sep 14, 2013 2:47 pm

Did some wiring whilst I was at home.

Glove box - TC-4 (exhaust gas temperature x 4) and SSI-4 (brake, fuel pressure ,TPS and 1 spare channel). Bootlace ferruels have been used to connect to the innovate stuff (with the exception of the Type K Thermocouple)

Back of the glove box (connectors)

Firewall connector and the exhaust Thermocouples. Other hole is for the ECU wiring.

DL-32 (data logger, G forces and 3 spare channels) is now behind the passengers seat. It was under the drivers seat.

LMA-3 is on the gearbox tunnel drivers side (RPM, front/rear ride heights, speed, gearbox thermocouple).

All up the DL-32 will record 4 x EGT's, brake/fuel/oil pressures, TPS, AFR, oil/water temps, front/rear ride heights, XY g forces, RPM. I still have 2 air temp sensors that can be used considering putting them either side of the oil cooler to see what the air is doing.

With luck nect time I am home I can finish off the sensor wiring and test it all out. Plan is to have it started for the MX5 Plus open day.

MattR · Postby **MattR** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:59 am

Mark, might be time to lose the carpet now the car is more race than road. The weight reduction helps, as does having a nice clean surface to easily mount wiring harnesses.

Oh, and you need some dry ice to remove any sound deadening, easiest way to get it out rather than heat gun and scraper. Plus any left over dry ice and plastic soft drink bottle equals immature fun........

Magpie · Postby **Magpie** » Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:13 am

MattR wrote:Mark, might be time to lose the carpet now the car is more race than road. The weight reduction helps, as does having a nice clean surface to easily mount wiring harnesses.

Oh, and you need some dry ice to remove any sound deadening, easiest way to get it out rather than heat gun and scraper. Plus any left over dry ice and plastic soft drink bottle equals immature fun........

MattR I'm staying with the carpet at the moment as it is really a road registered car, however I may remove what is under the carpet

I agree that it will be earier to do the wiring without the carpet but it is the only creature comfort left (excluding the radio) and my other half does travel in the passenger side every now and them. However no carpet/sound deadening would make the complaints from the passenger side more difficult to hear.

My immature side would suggest granulated chlorine and brake fluid in a platic bottle not dry ice

gslender · Postby **gslender** » Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:13 pm

Just curious, but how much did all that sensor reading equipment set you back? I mean that's quite a lot of equipment so I'm curious how it compares to something like the MS3 system which can log all that stuff plus store it on board on an 8G stick and only cost you under $1500 for an ecu that can run full spark and fuel sequential. The current firmware and logging software will even do torque/dyno/fuel economy estimates assuming you have the needed speed sensor and are able to enter details about the car (such as weight and gearbox ratios etc).