Juicy's SE

[Juicy HiC]

After toing and froing about what to do about my ecu the opportunity came up to get chiptorque to work their magic. So I pulled it out and sent it up to brisbane on a Tuesday then picked it up on the friday, although Lachlan had it done by Wednesday arvo. Amazing g turn around time.
I had often considered this route but was always a little hesitant during to the fact that with any change you need to re do the chip. However my car is now at about the limit of what I could do without rebuilding the motor. So it made sense for now. I had also bought a Haltech Interceptor of davekmoore but it had been a bit of a wait because of the rebuild on his car.
In speaking with Lachlan this works quite well and gives a very good compromise.
I also picked up Dave's 460cc injectors.
Haven't had a chance to get the Haltech installed yet but the difference with the chip is phenomenal. The power comes on very smoothly and it's pulling very strong from around 3000 rpm all the way to the new rev limit of 7100. No more bog. I can not recommend this highly enough for those that don't want to do a full ECU.

I've also now got the Garage Vary front lip and the side diffusers installed. The car now, I think looks the goods and has the go to match.



Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk


Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[Roadrunner]

That's very interesting.
So they didn't need your car, just the ecu?
How much did it end up costing all up if you don't mind me asking?

[Juicy HiC]

The total cost was $880, although that didn't include shipping as I was able to deliver and pick up myself. When you place the order with Lachlan or Leah you tell them exactly the modifications that you've already got on the car and He'll tailor it to that.
I'm also going to be fitting a Haltech Interceptor which will allow me to fine tune the fuel and ignition a little further. Although straight out of the box the Chiptorque chip is pretty bloody good.
They also offer the XEDE along with the chip which is essentially the same as the Haltech. If you want to have a good read go to the Mazdaspeed forum and search for the Begi reflash and XEDE. Chiptorque did all the research and share with Begi.
If your not wanting to go down the road of the stand alone I would highly recommend this, they really only need your ECU for one day so the car is only off the road for as long as it takes for AusPost to get to and from the Gold Coast plus the day that they've got it for. Once you get it back and in the car away you go, no other messing about with tuning and what not. Smooth power and new Rev limit of 7000rpm.

Most recent photo of the car

[Juicy HiC]

It's once again been a little while since my previous update.

After having the ecu "reflashed" by Chip torque I thought I'd perhaps sell the Haltech that I had. There was a little interest but nothing definite, so I decided to go ahead and install it.

Through the Haltech website I managed to find a dealer in the western suburbs of Melbourne which is where I'm located, NT performance garage, can't recommend these guys enough.
Dropped the car of and told them what I was after. Picked it up 2 weeks later and its perfect.

How's it different from just the reflash? Well the reflash was generic as chiptorque only have the ecu. This makes it much more car specific. At the same time I also had them install an Eboost 2 that was left over from my Dad's build which works so much better than the manual boost controller. The power comes on very smoothly and seems to always be there. They've given me 2 settings in the Eboost, 1 at 8psi and 1 at 12psi, I will post the Dyne chart later but the results were fantastic, lo boost is 190hp (they work in hp) hi boost is 210hp or around 155rwkw. Talk about putting a smile on your dial!

Now for the million dollar questions. Why did I go this route verse a standalone, we'll from what I've read of other forumites troubles going this way I really wasn't prepared to fight it that much. The reflash ended up being a bit of a spur of the moment decision and hadn't really been planned but was a good start and the interceptor has brought that to life. Would I do it this way again? Probably not. If you don't plan on getting an ecu of any kind then the chip is definitely the way to go. However knowing what I know now the piggyback seems to be the best option to get rid of all the SE faults while keeping all of it good qualities.

So for now the car's unreal and the only things left that I want to do is an oil catch can, after the few track days that it's been on this is definitely a must. I'll also be doing good an oil filter relocation so that I can easily get oil pressure now. After which its really then a matter of deciding get if I want to go to the next step of bigger turbos and built engine or different car. At this point I'm leaning towards keeping the 5 and sending it to Dann. My Dad's car has been with him for a bit and that will be one of the deciding factor after I drive that.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[davekmoore]

As you're now doing track days and have 155rwkw do you have plans to improve the cooling? You know why I ask.

[Juicy HiC]

G'day Dave, no plans at the moment as its not getting to the track that regularly. However as a result of the Plx multi gauge that I installed I have a direct reading of the water temp. Took the car to Phillip island in April and the hottest the water got was 97°c at the end of the straight and that was after 6 laps for me and a quick swap from Dad who'd been in the group before me, so should have had a little heat soak going on as well.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[davekmoore]

Hmmm. Real gauges. Always a good thing.

[Juicy HiC]

Most recent additions to the car have been completed.

I've now been driving the car for a few months with the ChipTorque "reflash" and the Haltech Interceptor and can only say that it's so much fun! Especially when running at 12psi. Unfortunately once the Mod bug bits there is no end, so I'm now looking into the next step.

I was able to get in on the Shorty antenna group buy organised by Emily so I've fitted that to the car and must say that I really do like the look of it. Although the reception is certainly affected, but sometimes looks are more important than practicallity!

The next addition has been another new Hardtop, this time though thanks to one of the other forum members it's a Velocity Red in fantastic condition. I must admit while I liked the white Hardtop I really do prefer the red on red.

New hardtop.jpg

On a slightly different note, I went up to Brisbane over the last weekend to take part in the QLD MX5 club track day at QR and also a Super Sprint at Lakeside. Bit fare to take my car just for the Weekend so my Dad and I used his car, an NA6 with the AVO turbo kit that has recently seen some NitroDann love. It's now running on E85, dam this thing is fast!!!

Dads car.JPG

Had a great day at Lakeside on Saturday, I managed to do a 63.7 lap and was consistently in the 64's and then we went to QR on Monday for the MX5 track day. Started off great, unfortunately we ended up cooking the brakes. The car did the 2 days between both Dad and I with little to no break in between sessions resulting little to no cooling for the brakes.

brakes.JPG

On the bright side one of the reasons that the car went to Nitro's was to sort out engine cooling issues, which have no been well and truly fixed.

left over brakes

Had a great weekend even if Monday was cut short a little.

[davekmoore]

My wallet bleeds for you regarding the brakes.

Spill the beans about the cooling improvements please.

[Juicy HiC]

Watch this space for some very exciting NitroDann magic

[ManiacLachy]

Tease!

[NitroDann]

On the left is his fathers car, the Turbonator named by the owner, Juicy's father. (Na6T, 200rwkw)

So the SE has been named (by me, not official..)

I present Turbonator, and Judgement Day. (check the number plates btw-Qld, and Vic, Im in Newcastle!)

[Juicy HiC]

Much better than what my wife originally named it, Barbie.

[speed]

Like father like son. Awesome!

[Juicy HiC]

Except instead of the son chasing the father it was the other way around[SMILING FACE WITH OPEN MOUTH AND TIGHTLY-CLOSED EYES]