Lachstock and Four Turbo Charged Cylinders ['04 NB SE]

[Nevyn72]

Congrats on the new house mate!
Looks like a good area for working on the car.

I know how you feel about moving the car on when it's so rarely used, imagine how Lokiel feels about Gina, I mean he hasn't dríven her in decades!
I regularly consider selling mine as it only comes out of the garage every couple of months....
However once on the move I realise I couldn't part with it, especially as the funds liberated couldn't come close to replacing the experience.

Hopefully my newly acquired semi-retired status will give me more opportunity to give the old girl a run!

[Alex 2550]

All the best for the new chapter in life and house mate.
Looks like you have a great amount of space, looking forward to seeing the door cards.


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[ManiacLachy]

I think I'm going to persevere. I know once the car is running and driving again I'll be pleased. I like a little tinkering, but need regular drives to balance it out. I think Lokiel likes tinkering more than driving Actually, it's probably equal for him, but I don't know how he does it. Certainly his works turn out better than mime.

I think a 3rd car is needed. A daily/family car, a fun driving car, and a tinker car! Golden Rule: Never tinker on more than one car at a time. If only rego and insurance weren't so expensive...

The door cards aren't going quite as well as hoped, a few issues but I'll get a finished solution on there soon hopefully.

[The American]

Persevere.

Collect a pile of parts.

Find someone do the engine assembly for you, and you reinstall.

Retune it and smile. \

(I am saying this to myself as much as to anyone! )

[Okibi]

Focus on the positives, be patient, lifes too short not to drive a boosted MX-5.

[Daffy]

Well done on the new place mate! You have had a bit of an upheaval year for sure. I’m booking in some leave time soon, we’ll tee up a catch up soon enough where you can jump in the Problem Childs drivers seat for your boosted drive fix

[ManiacLachy]

Well done on the new place mate! You have had a bit of an upheaval year for sure. I’m booking in some leave time soon, we’ll tee up a catch up soon enough where you can jump in the Problem Childs drivers seat for your boosted drive fix

Thanks mate, will be good to catch up.

Pretty sure the Problem Child will fix me straight into bankruptcy though

Well, today the dog went off for knee surgery. Poor kid has old man knees at 5 years old, doing the left today, and the right in a few months after this initial recovery. He'll be a sad boy for a few weeks.

[ManiacLachy]

I've also come to the conclusion that I've installed the sway bar brackets incorrectly (or they aren't designed properly?). The ends of the sway bar are now too close to the shock bodies, it's not possible to use the soft holes on the Racing Beat sway bar, which suggests the bar is mounted too far rearward. I need to try flipping the brackets to see if there's an orientation that works properly. I should have taken more care in comparing to the stock braces while they were in the car.

I went through the trouble to pull the mounts off, and try different orientations, but they way I have them is the only way they'll fit. I suspect mine might have been welded up incorrectly. I read the AWR instructions, they suggest that the brackets should angle forward and inboard, but mine can only angle backward and inward. Also, they say nothing of cutting the AC condenser bracket which I had to do. If I offer them to the frame rail angled forward and in, the mounting brackets aren't in the right place at all.

Just another example of the car fighting me I'll reach out to AWR and see what they say, but I suspect I'll just have to run them as I have been.

Collect a pile of parts.

Yep, back to BAU

Maybe I'll give the speakers and door cards another try. I also want to re-wire a couple of things. Can anyone tell me where the ECU ground is? I want to re-wire the WB02, it's currently wired off the window switches, but the instructions say to use the ECU ground for best signal, I have no idea where that is!

[Lokiel]

I'm wary of wiring the WBO2 sensor to the ECU GND since the Innovate LC-2 only has one power and one ground wire so a LOT of current is going through those wires to heat the sensor. This will introduce unwanted noise on the GND which may affect the ECU and other sensors.
The LC-1 had multiple power and ground wires, one set to heat the sensor and the other to power the electronics. This was a much better design and made sense to wire the electronics to the ECU GND and heater to another power+GND source but they got too many questions regarding wiring so simplified the LC-2 with one set of power+GND wires.

Regarding the ECU GND:
The wiring diagrams assume LHD so you might have to reverse the following:
Wiring diagram Fig. 10 Engine Performance (1 of 10) shows the PCM is connected to G5 (at right side of engine compartment) via the BLK and BLK/Red wires
Fig 15. Ground Distribution Circuit indicates the PCM is connected to G5 (at right side of engine compartment)
Happy hunting/tracing

[ManiacLachy]

Regarding the ECU GND:
The wiring diagrams assume LHD so you might have to reverse the following:
Wiring diagram Fig. 10 Engine Performance (1 of 10) shows the PCM is connected to G5 (at right side of engine compartment) via the BLK and BLK/Red wires
Fig 15. Ground Distribution Circuit indicates the PCM is connected to G5 (at right side of engine compartment)
Happy hunting/tracing

Were there meant to be diagrams included in that?

Food for thought about the ECU GND, but everything I've read says that's the way to do it. I thought it might be worth trying. Since having your multi gauge I've noticed a difference between the analogue and digital signals (when the gauge is alive), and I thought fluctuations might be contributing to the issue of the gauge freezing. Was hoping to kill 2 birds with 1 re-wire

[Lokiel]

Sorry, assumed that you had a copy of the Mazdaspeed manuals from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B3YbfB30DxW0bEdwS0xSNGVXMzA

Those diagrams are in the wiring_all.pdf file.

If you haven't already done so, you should save all these .pdf files to a local HD in case that site goes AWOL.

Regarding the gauge and sensor box, V2 is imminent, I'm waiting on the new PCBs.
* Same small box size
* External buck converter (12V->5V) replaced with an an internal 6-26V->5V converter so you can just wire it up to a fused 12V source
* External serial->TTL converter (for WBO2) no longer required (new internal MAX232 chip handles that)
* Simpler socket (previous dedicated socket really needed ALL pins to be wired rather than adding the required ones initially then additional ones later)

While I'm waiting for it, I'm looking at a sensor box mounting solution near the cluster which will eliminate any issues with the I2C interface to the gauges due to the wires being too long. This will also mean shorter IAT, Oil Temp and Oil Pressure wiring from the engine bay since you wont have to route them behind the centre console to the passenger side.
This is one of the reasons I bought a complete spare NB console, I can get a good look at it from the inside too to figure out what's possible, it needs to be secure, out of the way and accessible.

[ManiacLachy]

I've been on a bit of a parts ordering spree lately. Blame it on Covid

But this just arrived!


Unboxing

This is the Guardian Designs Corsa 330 wheel. Through magic they have shrunk the NB wheel form 360mm to 330mm, while giving it a thicker more ergonomic grip.

They have several options and make wheels for all the MX-5 generations. There are a few other manufacturers that with similar offerings, I.L Motorsport, Redline Goods and Cypher (through Flyin Miata), but IMO Guardain Designs have the best details and options. I believe Lokiel has a flat bottom I.L Motorsports wheel and KevGoat has a GD flat bottom. These really are the only option if you want a fresh wheel for your MX-5, but want to keep your airbag and remain legal.
https://guardiandesigns.eu/collections/mazda-mx-5-steering-wheels/products/nb-mazda-mx-5-steering-wheels-1999-2005




Some comparisons with my ratty looking OEM SE wheel

I oped for smooth Nappa leather all around, no perforated sections as is often specified. And I went with their "Lexus Blue" stitching, and I got matching shift and hand brake boots to complete the look.




The details

It feels great in the hand and I'm looking forward to fitting it up and seeing how the smaller wheel goes with leg room as well as steering feel. If its as I hope I can remove the steering wheel spacer I put in last year(?).

But I it might be a little while before I can actually take it for a spin around the block

[lucmor444]

Lovely leather gear.

I am waiting for my ND handbrake boot and handle from GD and expect they will be high quality too.

[KevGoat]

Looks great!! That will make a big difference over what mine did. I still love the look and feel of mine every time I drive the car. Be interested in whether your's interferes with the instrumentation at all (a small compromise anyway considering the benefits ...)

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[Daffy]

May have to look into that steering wheel