Roadrunners SE

speed · Postby **speed** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 2:47 pm

Nice read mate. Well done.
Was actually toying with a bronze rocker cover to go with my red paint. I've since settled on something else but bronze and red do look great together.
Also want one of those mazdaspeed rear view mirror covers. Too cool

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Thu Jul 02, 2015 3:25 pm

Thanks

The Mazdaspeed rear view cover is very hard to find in red. Mine was a pressy. My sister in law found it second hand on ebay and only by chance as it was spelt wrong. It had been on there for ages but no one had looked at it as it didn't come up in the normal searches. Very lucky!

If your feeling creative, you could spray the factory one and get a mazdaspeed sticker.

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 4:07 pm

Small yet significant update: (or also known as: "The dangers of living a stones throw from NitroDann's Workshop")

I had plans for an ECU upgrade by years end, however this has been brought forward. To now.

Backstory: Sadly a friends stunningly beautiful SP was unfortunately written-off recently by a red light running state transit bus :cry:

He was able to salvage the Adaptronic and MTX-L and offered it too me at a price I couldn't refuse.
So while another SP has gone to car heaven (Lou's backyard), its brain will live on in my car.

Soo last week this arrived!

These things are seriously tiny!
I was expecting something the size of an A4 paper
Standard iPhone6 for scale:

I thought about going the whole hog and getting the intake and injectors etc etc but I figured for now, if I get the ECU installed and tuned, all that other stuff will be easy to add on and adjust the ECU as I go down the track.
So for now NitroDann is installing and tuning an ECU in an almost stock SE

Not expecting more peak power, though he suggested an extra 10kw is likely, but a smoother car and more power in the lower and mid range. Oh and a cooler running engine for the track too

No more factory ECU running crazy lean till 5000rpm!!

Dropped the car off at Dann's last night and handed over the keys.
Also got to check out a few other noice looking MX-5's while I was there. Emily's was there again as well as a very clean looking Titanium SE, oh and IanR's monster in the making!

Pick it up in a few days time. Nervous but excited!

ManiacLachy · Postby **ManiacLachy** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 4:14 pm

That's awesome. I look forward to hearing the results. You've got me restraint than me, I would have done the injectors (and any missing bolt-ons) and bumped the boost up

david_syd_au · Postby **david_syd_au** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 5:31 pm

Should be fun at Wakefield Park next month.
I'll bring popcorn!

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Thu Aug 20, 2015 5:38 pm

david_syd_au wrote:Should be fun at Wakefield Park next month.
I'll bring popcorn!

Especially with what Helen is now running! :twisted:

SE with all the trimmings :shock:

Sisterly rivalry at its finest :lol:

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:55 am

Congrats on the new(-ish) ECU mate! :mrgreen:

Any chance of a before/after dyno chart to see how much difference the ECU alone makes?
I'm particularly interested as I'm not really after more power, just a cleaner delivery..... :wink:

Roadrunner wrote:Especially with what Helen is now running!
SE with all the trimmings
Sisterly rivalry at its finest

IMPOSTER!! :shock:

Let me guess, she finally buckled to Lou's advances? :twisted:

speed · Postby **speed** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 9:47 am

Nevyn72 wrote:Congrats on the new(-ish) ECU mate!

Any chance of a before/after dyno chart to see how much difference the ECU alone makes?
I'm particularly interested as I'm not really after more power, just a cleaner delivery.....

Roadrunner wrote:Especially with what Helen is now running!
SE with all the trimmings
Sisterly rivalry at its finest

IMPOSTER!!

Let me guess, she finally buckled to Lou's advances?

I'd also be interested to see a before and after dyno to see the improvement in the mid range.

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 2:15 pm

Nevyn72 wrote:Congrats on the new(-ish) ECU mate!

Any chance of a before/after dyno chart to see how much difference the ECU alone makes?
I'm particularly interested as I'm not really after more power, just a cleaner delivery.....

Roadrunner wrote:Especially with what Helen is now running!
SE with all the trimmings
Sisterly rivalry at its finest

IMPOSTER!!

Let me guess, she finally buckled to Lou's advances?

Will definitely post an overlay of the before/after dyno graph when I get it. I'm the same at the moment, not after more power, just cleaner delivery and better running all round. Power later :twisted:

and No Helen didn't buy Lou's SE engine, she bought a full SE already built and ready for track. Sooooo smooth and probably pulling about 220hp. Idles and cruises like a dream too

Nevyn72 · Postby **Nevyn72** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:23 pm

Roadrunner wrote:and No Helen didn't buy Lou's SE engine, she bought a full SE already built and ready for track. Sooooo smooth and probably pulling about 220hp. Idles and cruises like a dream too

Already built? Where's the fun in that! :roll:

Registered?
Did she keep the other one?

Tell that girl she needs to start a garage thread! :mrgreen:

speed · Postby **speed** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:18 pm

Nevyn72 wrote:
Roadrunner wrote:and No Helen didn't buy Lou's SE engine, she bought a full SE already built and ready for track. Sooooo smooth and probably pulling about 220hp. Idles and cruises like a dream too

Already built? Where's the fun in that!

Registered?
Did she keep the other one?

Tell that girl she needs to start a garage thread!

Already built. She sounds like a smart cookie. ;)
Wish I had done that!

Roadrunner · Postby **Roadrunner** » Mon Aug 31, 2015 3:21 pm

So verdict is in:
WOW

Picked the car up from Dan and I'm very impressed!

For those with stock SE's, you all know that feeling when the car finally kicks in at 5000rpm, well now I have that kick all the way from below 3000rpm!
The car has so much more oomph over stock in the mid range and is so much smoother right through the whole rev range.
Clearly the air fuel ratio is a lot better than factory!

Peak power hasn't really changed, and I didn't expect it too (163HP vs 160HP stock) Obviously there is only so much the factory injectors and the asthmatic intake can deliver, but Dan has pretty much nailed it in one.
Cold start idle is smooth as, headlight load etc perfect. In general daily driving its so smooth and easy. Even though peak power is much the same, the bum dyno tells me its definitely quicker overall.
I didn't expect it to be so good straight up.

There is the odd niggle when idling hot. The revs go up like its compensating a load and then drops back down to normal idle in 2 steps and then is perfectly fine. This happens randomly and not very often at all, so keeping an eye to see if there's anything specific that's triggering this, or if I'm even bothered by it. Car hasn't stalled once

Heres the Dyno graphs:
Before (This was a few months ago when mine (the orange line) was used as a stock comparison to Emilys car with the works)

And after:

Just a bit different!!
When I picked it up, the boost went up to about 18psi and then settled back to about 15psi higher in the rev range as it ran out of breath.
This initially freaked me out (especially when I'm use to only seeing 7psi) and while Dan assured me the engine was safe, I did get him to turn the boost down to 12psi max, more-so to protect the turbo. This lost a bit of push in the mid range, but surprisingly not too much. And doesn't feel like it runs out of breath after 4500rpm like the dyno graph shows. Still miles better and faster than the stock ECU.

Went for a good run and let the wife have a drive yesterday and she loved it! Big grin and the nod of approval! Win!

Off to Wakefield in a few weeks time. Very keen to see the difference on track.

While I will go the whole hog in the not too distant future with injectors and intake, I highly recommend those with stock SE's to do the ECU. Completely transforms the car to something so much better than stock, and is easy to adjust it all when the bolt-ons come in the future!