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

[ManiacLachy]

Yesterday I dropped the car down to Autoworks for a dyno tune. It's difficult to find a tuner who will work with Megasquirt in Australia, but Autoworks are developing a reputation as a great MX-5 shop in Brisbane and they're happy to tune what you have. I took the car to them a couple of months back to address my rattley timing trigger wheel and they did a great job, so I was confident to let them put the car on the dyno.

In communications to the owner and tuner, Darren, I said I was looking to make about 200-220wtq peak to keep the rods straight, which should yield me ~250whp. I picked up the car today, Darren did the full tune, worked hot and cold restarts, transient response, AFRs, timing and boost. And the result...


Well, that's not what I expected

I couldn't understand it. Less than 200whp!? What is this, a power curve for ants?! The dyno shows 200wtq at 6500rpm, that should give me ~240whp! Is his dyno miscalibrated? Am I being punked?!

Oh ... NM ... newton meters. Not ft-lbs...

So, 220ft-lbs of torque = ~300nm. 220nm = 162ft-lbs.

At least my rods should be safe

I just figured if we're talking Imperial Horsepower instead of Metric Kilowatts, then we're talking Imperial Foot Pounds as well and not Metric Newton Meters. He went an mixed his units of measure.



I noticed this once I got home and was able to examine the dyno graphs in a little more detail. The car drove home quite nicely, though if you've looked at the BOM today, you'll see the country is currently underwater with rain, so I didn't press on it. The car ran smoothly, no stumbles or jerks, and I had the AC on and off to deal with the misting thanks to the humidity, I'm generally quite happy with it based on that commute.

Co-incidentally, my AC still doesn't cool for sh*t!

I've emailed Autoworks back, explained the miscommunication. My plan is to drive the car this weekend, weather permitting, give it a good wring out and see how it feels. Then possibly arrange to go back in and up the boost a little. Darren mentioned the Borgwarner boost solenoid wasn't reacting very fast, so I might arrange to swap that to a MAC valve for better response. And I will try to get my Turbosmart wastegate actuator sorted so I can run a slightly stiffer spring than the Borg Warner low boost canister, but not as much as the medium boost canister - I suspect the low boost won't stretch much more than 12psi, and we're currently at 10psi, I expect I might want ~14psi to hit my goals.

[The American]

As once most eloquently put by a great American fictional cartoon philosopher of the people:

“D’oh!!!”

[PaulF]

Horsepower and Nm is certainly an unusual combination to use, and I would have hoped that they would recognise the work that's gone into the car and think "Surely he wants more than 183whp". Oh well, at least it drives nicely which reflects well on them. Hopefully there aren't too many dramas getting it rectified.

[KevGoat]

...I would have hoped that they would recognise the work that's gone into the car and think "Surely he wants more than 183whp".

My first thought too! At least a quick call to check the info considering what he's working on. Looks like the power comes in nice and smooth though, just needs more ...

Sent from my SM-G781B using Tapatalk

[Daffy]

If it could speak, it may be asking………

[ManiacLachy]

The numbers he showed me of other cars he's dynoed were in line with this, but it just doesn't gell with my experience. Of course, it's in his interest to be conservative, and I specified 220 "torques" - I did question 183hp being well below what I expected and we discussed the other results he's achieved. At this point I thought we were still talking ft/lbs though. It's just a really odd mix of units to use, but we'll move forward from here.

No E85 this time, Daffy. The turbo has way more in it, and E85 is too expensive and drinks too quickly.

The paint mixer under the hood (the engine) really shook things around while on the dyno, even with a poly mount and a damper. I found the licence plate rattling because of a loose screw to the mount, and then while doing an under the hood check I noticed a loose coil-pack.


Attempted jail-break

3 out of 5 bolts securing the coil packs had come loose, 2 fully dropped off and 1 just hanging on. Luckily all the hardware was caught by the valve cover so I didn't loose anything, not even the tiny washers.


That was lucky!

With the use of my magnet wand I retreived the hardware and re-tightened everything. Just another thing to keep an eye on when doing my under-the-hood checks, along with hose clamps and turbo hardware.

Beautiful weather here today, so I plan to go for a drive this afternoon and see if I can bump the boost a little now that I know I'm pretty safe on the torque front

[StanTheMan]

so you've
gone from about 155 WHP & 144nm n torque
less than 20% more in power..... you don't even need to get a engineering certificate. with all the Kraken gear.

not going to mince words here.

Id be disappointed.
if he's the best tuner in town?.... or the only place who will touch Megasquirt? Id be really suspect.

and if the 144 Stock for torque is footpound from an american forum .....that's even more miniscual.

[ManiacLachy]

so you've
gone from about 155 WHP & 144nm n torque
less than 20% more in power..... you don't even need to get a engineering certificate. with all the Kraken gear.

not going to mince words here.

Id be disappointed.
if he's the best tuner in town?.... or the only place who will touch Megasquirt? Id be really suspect.

and if the 144 Stock for torque is footpound from an american forum .....that's even more miniscual.

I'm disappointed in the power, sure. I was expecting an easy 250whp. But I'm not disappointed in the tune overall, the car is behaving quite nicely. But basically, yeah, he's the only tuner that will touch Megasquirt around here. It's almost enough to make me switch to Haltech, TBH. But that's for another day.

I've already gone out and bumped my boost a bit And I'll continue to play with it. I am confident I have headroom to play with safely. If we call that dyno a peak of 230nm, I've got ~70nm I can add in (or 50ft-lbs). I also want to add some boost viagra after 5000rpm to keep the torque up by increasing boost as revs raise past peak efficiency.

This dyno from our friends at MT.net shows what I want to achieve. A torque curve you could use for a ruler!


https://www.miataturbo.net/dynos-timesheets-21/efr-6258-kraken-vs-stock-vvt-motor-105300/

And I'll try to learn closed-loop boost control like I intended and add some more to that thread. I just need a nice empty straight road to do my runs. And some cooler weather!

[ManiacLachy]

Not much has happened these past 2 months, maybe a drive or 2? I find it's just too hot in summer here to do much with our cars, especially when the AC doesn't do much.

I cleaned up the garage a bit over the Christmas break, returned Lokiel's hardtop after 3 or so years, and put my sliver top on the car in order to make room on the floor. I had designs on building a hardtop stand using PVC, but supplies being what they are Bunning's didn't have what I needed, so the top is still on the car.

Oh, I played a little with rideheight and suspension. For a long time I couldn't understand why changes to my springs weren't doing what I expected to balance my ride height side-to-side. Then one day out of nowhere I realised I need to disconnect the sway bar! Obviously, with it connected and unadjusted the sway bar is trying to stay straight and is fighting against my changes. Still need to check I'm happy with everything, then I'll get an alignment.

I've had the dreaded Covid for the past ~10 days, I think I'm clear now though. Yesterday I finally got around to doing something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I removed the final Mazda "wings" logo from my car, and put on my RevLimiter badges. I hate the wing logo, I preferred the old eternal flame logo on the NAs. The front logo went when the car was with Dann some years ago. I swapped airbags with an earlier model that has the Nardi logo instead of wings. And yesterday, the boot logo came off!


Ghost logo

Some dental floss, and a plastic trim remover popped it off. A lot of gunk was left behind, but with some elbow grease, metho, turps, and polish it came off. And on went the new badge from RevLimiter that I've had on a shelf for maybe 2 years or more!


Attempting to line it up

The badge covers the holes perfectly. And then the front went on as well.


I really hope this is straight!

Lining them up was a little tricky and in hindsight I could probably have taken further measures. They look OK up close, but I need to get the car outside so I can check form a distance. Maybe this weekend I'll get a drive?

[Lokiel]

I must be in the minority regarding the Mazda "Flying Wings" logo - I like it!

When someone pointed out to me that "The Eternal Flame" logo was often referred to as "The Toilet Seat", I could never see it being anything other than a toilet seat.
I guess if you had a really old, clapped out Mazda, "The Toilet Seat" logo would be appropriate (ie. a shitbox)

If I were to replace mine, I'd use these:


Hope you're OK after Covid. Can you please tell us how it progressed and how bad it got for you?

[ManiacLachy]

As with everything, something one person might like another doesn't, and vice versa. And we change our minds on things over time. Which leads to great variety and personal cars - I love it.

OK, sure, so my Covid experience. I've been double jabbed, but not boosted yet. It started as a slightly sore throat for me on a Friday. Saturday I thought I had a cold or flu, but didn't think it was C-19. Sunday I did a RAT and was surprised it was positive, but I wasn't feeling great. The itchy/sore throat was causing a cough, but I wasn't flemy and it wasn't uncontrollable. I had brain fog, but no headaches at this stage, and I don't think I ever had a fever (I don't have a thermometer so I can't be sure).

I took Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off work, tried to work Thursday but I could only do a half day. My brain really wasn't working right, I couldn't type words properly and I did not feel confident doing any critical thinking. I had very little focus, I made easy mistakes just doing normal day-to-day things. I never felt the need to seek medical attention, I just felt like I needed rest and time. I drank a lot of water and took a lot of Panadol.

Friday I did a full day of work (from home), but it wasn't easy. Still limited focus, but better than earlier. Saturday I felt pretty good, slight headache, but I generally felt good, I mowed the lawns and in anticipation of getting free on Sunday I washed the cars hoping to go for a dusk drive in the MX-5.

I woke up Sunday and I did another RAT. You don't need a negative to leave isolation, you need to wait 7 days from your positive test, and have no symptoms. But I had the test and I wanted to be sure, I had a slight headache which I attributed to being cooped up for 9 days by this point. But the result still came back positive, so I needed to stay home. I was very disappointed, but the last thing I want to do is make someone else sick.

Monday I had no headache, so Tuesday I allowed myself to take Hobbes for a short walk in the morning and evening, but I carried a mask and I avoided people. Today, Wednesday I feel great and I consider myself free now.

My partner stayed with me Friday and Saturday, she had mild symptoms throughout but got a negative RAT on that first Saturday, and then a negative PCR on the Wednesday. She's had the 2 shots + the booster, my theory is she did have the virus, the RAT was a false negative, and she quickly recovered from the virus thanks to the booster. She certainly wasn't as affected as me.

My advice for everyone - get all the vax shots you can, it's the best defence we have. Wear your masks, use sanitizer, take precautions that we might have become a little relaxed and complacent on due to Australia's relatively low case numbers up to this point. Stock up on frozen meals, keep a loaf of frozen bread in your freezer, canned tuna etc. And get a few packs of Panadol - I was taking about 10 a day, these helped ease symptoms so I could sleep at night, and get by during the day. Drink lot's of water (just good advice generally really). Basically prepare yourself so you can isolate and aren't in need of supplies for the first few days.

[The American]

Glad you’ve recovered! I had my booster on Friday.

I rarely go anywhere at the moment, but my wife is a teacher and we have three primary school aged kids. It seems only a matter of time before we have our ‘turn’.

[StanTheMan]

yea thanks for those awesome insights. My partner is a beautician. she gets cancellations all the time with people getting Covid. I recon its just a matter of time before I'm exposed to it. The ex wife had it a few weeks ago & the kids were close contacts but neither child picked it up. all double vaxxed at this stage

[greenMachine]

Yes, good to hear you are on the mend - no sign of the long corvid I hope?

While I am in effect in long term self isolation anyway, I have laid in stocks of essentials including Panedol - just in case my isolation has to turn official at some point. I have an oximeter and an ear thermometer so pretty well equipped on that front.

Seems to be something of a lottery as to who gets it from what I see, I'm hoping living in the bush, being retired and avoiding all unnecessary contact with the great unwashed (not to mention my boosted status) will keep it at bay - fingers crossed.

[ManiacLachy]

It's been pretty quiet as far as my car goes lately. I'm still planning to feed it some more boost to find my missing HP, but I want a new TurboSmart wastegate actuator for that, and I don't really want to spend the money right now. Might as well wait until we hit cooler boost friendly temps anyway


Silver in the sun hides the dirt and filth pretty well from >10m!

A few drives here and there, as discussed in Tell us about your most recent drive. I went for a quick drive to get fuel yesterday and noticed how filthy my car had gotten under the house, so it got a quick wash in the afternoon and I've put the car cover on so it's still shiny when I next take it out.


Scrubs up pretty well, and you can see my new nose badge

As you're probably aware, we had a little rain here over the weekend! I studied the flood maps before I bought, but that's not always a guarantee against future events. My yard became a moat, and for about an hour my street was underwater, but my house was fine. I'm in an elevated Queenslander/cottage, the garage and everything under the house is on a slab, and batons all around. The slab got wet from blow in rains, but it doesn't look like the standing water ever breached the slab, so all good! And thankfully I didn't loose power or internet, and my neighbourhood wasn't cut off. All in all very lucky over here!


Hobbes (in the cone of shame) checking out the street/river

I'm hoping to get out this weekend, but it looks like more rain on the way