blenderblast
01-12-2013, 02:29 PM
1997 BRG Miata
This is my build thread. [note that I bought this car pre-built from my Uncle]
acquired: 11/29/2011
Okay, after a year and a half, I've decided to type out my build thread. I didn't feel like typing it up until the car was running again. I'll type out the back story, and I'll be sure to label what you can skip if you don't want to read the boring story. I'll also label which section is what(ie; Parts section, problems I had with car, back story.. etc.).
This was originally a White Miata. My Uncle painted it British Racing Green.
-Back Story-
So, my older brother's Dad, Mike(for easier story telling, we'll just call him my Uncle), had this car for a while. I've only ever heard stories of this car, since I was too young to be allowed to drive it, and I've only seen it once. My older brother would race the car, as my Uncle [Mike] lost his eye working for my other Uncle [Bob]. Uncle Mike loved/s watching the cars racing, so he really didn't mind letting my brother race around in it. He would auto-cross it every once in a while, but, Sebring is where it was at most of the time. It was also my Uncle's daily driver. We'll just skip right to the "how I came across to purchase this car" part. I had a Red 1990 Miata at the time. It needed it's front main seal done(SNC), so he offered to show me how to do it since I was a little afraid being that it had the Short Nose Crank going on. I drive the car around back to his garage so we can start working on it, and there sits this beat up, jacked up paint job, but still beautiful Miata in the back corner. Throughout the time of working on the Red Miata, I would always throw glances at the BRG[Turbo one], because, like I said earlier, I've only seen it once and only heard stories. I would start making comments like, "Man, I would love to have that thing." "Why is it just sitting there?", I would just keep poking, hoping for him to just talk about it haha. but anyways, We took a break and he took me over there to look at it. Miata I cannot express how horrible the interior was when we opened the door. We opened the driver's side door, and holy f**k was it a horrible mess. Like, imagine a spider web. A really really thick, huge, 'takes up half the passenger's side of the car goes into the rear shelf goes behind the driver's seat' type of big spider web. Along with the horrid mold smell, mold practically everywhere and all these critters just chilling everywhere. Now, he feels extremely bad because he left the car stuck to get into this condition. I honestly think when he had no idea it was that bad, and I think it broke a little piece of his heart. You could see it in his eyes. So we start talking, he pops the hood, and leaves everywhere, spider webs here and there. He gives me a run down of what everything is (this is my first turbo anything, and really my first "big" mechanical challenge). So, as it is just sitting there, I ask him, "What are your plans with it? Would you be interested in selling it?". He tells me that in his dream world, he would like to completely strip it and make it a strictly track car, Spec Miata. but he just doesn't really have the time or the extra money it would take to do it, and for his age it is getting harder and harder to get under the cars (lol). He is really hesitant about selling it. He had the car for a while and I could tell he is really attached to it. He said he would have to think about it, because of the condition it is in, and it being my first turbo, he just didn't want to have that[him selling me the car] on his shoulders if I get hurt in it. I ask him if it will start up since it has been sitting for a year, and with no hesitation, he tells me, "First try no problem.". He tells me to come back next weekend so he can pull it out and clean it up a little so we can sit in it. (I failed to take pictures of what it looked like when we first opened the door) Sure enough, I go to his house the following weekend and he has it idling waiting for us to take it out. He said it started first try without any problems. Oil looks brand spankin' new(he just changed it before it sat for a year). We take it out, have a little fun in it. Drives perfectly. We get back to his house and sart talking about the car again.
Then the magic words that I thought I'd never hear... "I'll sell it to you as is, for $1500." $1500 for a perfectly working turbo car with extras. Of course I wouldn't pass that up. I didn't have the money at the time, but he let me take it to my house (almost an hour away) so I could work on it and clean it up. It needed a lot of cleaning. 2.5 Months later, I give him the cash and he signs over the title to me. :D I was so excited.
*Problems*
(read the last few sentences of previous paragraph to understand what the two months means)
Within that two months of having it, I would just drive it up and down my street (dead end street, never any traffic) just to get used to how the turbo felt and how the car handled and drove. Had absolutely no problems. I get it all legal(registered, etc.) and then the problems start.
**Starting problem #1**
I have some friends come over to look at it, and we planned on driving around throughout the night, but it wouldn't start. After an hour of trying to figure it out, we trace it down to it being my coil pack. So I get one from Project-G (best place to get anything Miata), I replace coil pack, try to start it.......and then [on the phone with Uncle] my Uncle tells me it sounds as if I've swapped the two plugs on the coil pack. So I take it back off and swap the two plugs and BOOM, starts like a champ.
**Starting Problem #2**
I drive it for about 8 hours... took my friend out to Chilis, we start to leave and the car doesn't want to start. So she has to call her Mom -__- to come pick her up. After the 4 hour wait in Chilis parking lot at 1:30am for the tow truck and the $120 dollar tow bill later, it gets to my house. I have a couple friends come over the following weekend to help me figure it out. After going through trial and error, we trace it down to it as the Fuel Pump Relay. So I order two from Project-G (really guys, they are the best). I ordered two just in case it went out again, or maybe I might need it way down the road. Who knows, I like having back ups.
**Starting Problem #3**
I drove it around all day after getting it started again. Just to make sure it wouldn't leave me stranded at night. I decide to take it to the USF car show. Having fun all day, having fun showing it off at the car show. Decide that I want to take it through some back roads to cruise around on and I have a couple friends come with. We drive all the way out to this road(sorry, cannot name road), having fun going through the twisties (I'm taking it easy cause I just got it started). We decide to park in this open field near the road to just chill and talk. an hour and a half later I decide to go home, get in and no start. One of my friends has his multi-meter with him. So We spend about 2 hours trying to figure it out. We couldn't really come to a conclusion, and being on the side of the road, we didn't really have all the tools needed to figure it out. So I have my friend pull me to his house so my tow bill isn't too bad.. $130 later. I get it back to my house.
-Almost one whole year later of it sitting in my parents drive-way-
I decide to save up some money and have our club electrician/mechanic (Jeff Helms) come figure it out. It took him about 7 hours to get it started. So... Excited!
-List of Problems That Needed Fixing-
•He[Jeff Helms] re-wired both of my piggy backs to the ecu, cleaned up the contacts, re-soldered it all, made it look beautiful.
•Found out that the starting problem was caused by the ignition switch. The part where the plug plugs into the ignition, it had dirty contacts, the pins were loose. He tightened up the pins and cleaned contacts.
•Injector Number 3 wouldn't work, we did typical diagnostic procedures to figure it out. It is the connector that is in the plug that connects to the ECU. (currently working on it, car runs fine, as long as you don't move the ECU.) We plan on de-pinning that pin and swapping it out with a different pin. If that doesn't work, we'll de-pin another plug, and swap the wires into that plug.
-Misc-
We [Uncle and I] cannot figure out why the paint did what it did. He said he painted it, it looked really good for about a year, and then it started spider cracking and getting rough and stuff. Mainly where the sun had hit it throughout the year. Around the bottom of the car, where the sun didn't really hit or bake, it doesn't look bad. Odd.
This setup was on a previous Miata, that Miata has been on the dyno and was rated 200rwhp @ 8psi. This Miata has not been on the dyno, but we assume the numbers are the same.
-End Goal-
•MSPNP
•Garret T28
•slowly gather parts to build engine up
•Volk TE37V Bronze, probably 15x8
•Have prestine interior
•wire tuck, clean up engine bay (after paint job and MSPNP)
•new paint job
•misc exterior pieces
•misc interior pieces
-Goodies-
•Completely re-built head. Less then 1500 miles on it(as of 01/12/2013)
•Koni Yellows with Racing Beat springs. 12"F, 12.5"R
•15" NB five spoke wheels wrapped in Dunlop DZ101s, one Falken 912 and one General? tire. (Will be buying brand new DZ101s to replace them all.)
•NB light purple top injectors
•Custom built 3" exhuast
•Walbro 255
•Garret T25 at 8psi
•FM Voodoo Box (Fuel Management)
•Bipes ACU (Timing and Knock Control)
•Boost guage [tbn]
•Water Temp guage [tbn]
This is my build thread. [note that I bought this car pre-built from my Uncle]
acquired: 11/29/2011
Okay, after a year and a half, I've decided to type out my build thread. I didn't feel like typing it up until the car was running again. I'll type out the back story, and I'll be sure to label what you can skip if you don't want to read the boring story. I'll also label which section is what(ie; Parts section, problems I had with car, back story.. etc.).
This was originally a White Miata. My Uncle painted it British Racing Green.
-Back Story-
So, my older brother's Dad, Mike(for easier story telling, we'll just call him my Uncle), had this car for a while. I've only ever heard stories of this car, since I was too young to be allowed to drive it, and I've only seen it once. My older brother would race the car, as my Uncle [Mike] lost his eye working for my other Uncle [Bob]. Uncle Mike loved/s watching the cars racing, so he really didn't mind letting my brother race around in it. He would auto-cross it every once in a while, but, Sebring is where it was at most of the time. It was also my Uncle's daily driver. We'll just skip right to the "how I came across to purchase this car" part. I had a Red 1990 Miata at the time. It needed it's front main seal done(SNC), so he offered to show me how to do it since I was a little afraid being that it had the Short Nose Crank going on. I drive the car around back to his garage so we can start working on it, and there sits this beat up, jacked up paint job, but still beautiful Miata in the back corner. Throughout the time of working on the Red Miata, I would always throw glances at the BRG[Turbo one], because, like I said earlier, I've only seen it once and only heard stories. I would start making comments like, "Man, I would love to have that thing." "Why is it just sitting there?", I would just keep poking, hoping for him to just talk about it haha. but anyways, We took a break and he took me over there to look at it. Miata I cannot express how horrible the interior was when we opened the door. We opened the driver's side door, and holy f**k was it a horrible mess. Like, imagine a spider web. A really really thick, huge, 'takes up half the passenger's side of the car goes into the rear shelf goes behind the driver's seat' type of big spider web. Along with the horrid mold smell, mold practically everywhere and all these critters just chilling everywhere. Now, he feels extremely bad because he left the car stuck to get into this condition. I honestly think when he had no idea it was that bad, and I think it broke a little piece of his heart. You could see it in his eyes. So we start talking, he pops the hood, and leaves everywhere, spider webs here and there. He gives me a run down of what everything is (this is my first turbo anything, and really my first "big" mechanical challenge). So, as it is just sitting there, I ask him, "What are your plans with it? Would you be interested in selling it?". He tells me that in his dream world, he would like to completely strip it and make it a strictly track car, Spec Miata. but he just doesn't really have the time or the extra money it would take to do it, and for his age it is getting harder and harder to get under the cars (lol). He is really hesitant about selling it. He had the car for a while and I could tell he is really attached to it. He said he would have to think about it, because of the condition it is in, and it being my first turbo, he just didn't want to have that[him selling me the car] on his shoulders if I get hurt in it. I ask him if it will start up since it has been sitting for a year, and with no hesitation, he tells me, "First try no problem.". He tells me to come back next weekend so he can pull it out and clean it up a little so we can sit in it. (I failed to take pictures of what it looked like when we first opened the door) Sure enough, I go to his house the following weekend and he has it idling waiting for us to take it out. He said it started first try without any problems. Oil looks brand spankin' new(he just changed it before it sat for a year). We take it out, have a little fun in it. Drives perfectly. We get back to his house and sart talking about the car again.
Then the magic words that I thought I'd never hear... "I'll sell it to you as is, for $1500." $1500 for a perfectly working turbo car with extras. Of course I wouldn't pass that up. I didn't have the money at the time, but he let me take it to my house (almost an hour away) so I could work on it and clean it up. It needed a lot of cleaning. 2.5 Months later, I give him the cash and he signs over the title to me. :D I was so excited.
*Problems*
(read the last few sentences of previous paragraph to understand what the two months means)
Within that two months of having it, I would just drive it up and down my street (dead end street, never any traffic) just to get used to how the turbo felt and how the car handled and drove. Had absolutely no problems. I get it all legal(registered, etc.) and then the problems start.
**Starting problem #1**
I have some friends come over to look at it, and we planned on driving around throughout the night, but it wouldn't start. After an hour of trying to figure it out, we trace it down to it being my coil pack. So I get one from Project-G (best place to get anything Miata), I replace coil pack, try to start it.......and then [on the phone with Uncle] my Uncle tells me it sounds as if I've swapped the two plugs on the coil pack. So I take it back off and swap the two plugs and BOOM, starts like a champ.
**Starting Problem #2**
I drive it for about 8 hours... took my friend out to Chilis, we start to leave and the car doesn't want to start. So she has to call her Mom -__- to come pick her up. After the 4 hour wait in Chilis parking lot at 1:30am for the tow truck and the $120 dollar tow bill later, it gets to my house. I have a couple friends come over the following weekend to help me figure it out. After going through trial and error, we trace it down to it as the Fuel Pump Relay. So I order two from Project-G (really guys, they are the best). I ordered two just in case it went out again, or maybe I might need it way down the road. Who knows, I like having back ups.
**Starting Problem #3**
I drove it around all day after getting it started again. Just to make sure it wouldn't leave me stranded at night. I decide to take it to the USF car show. Having fun all day, having fun showing it off at the car show. Decide that I want to take it through some back roads to cruise around on and I have a couple friends come with. We drive all the way out to this road(sorry, cannot name road), having fun going through the twisties (I'm taking it easy cause I just got it started). We decide to park in this open field near the road to just chill and talk. an hour and a half later I decide to go home, get in and no start. One of my friends has his multi-meter with him. So We spend about 2 hours trying to figure it out. We couldn't really come to a conclusion, and being on the side of the road, we didn't really have all the tools needed to figure it out. So I have my friend pull me to his house so my tow bill isn't too bad.. $130 later. I get it back to my house.
-Almost one whole year later of it sitting in my parents drive-way-
I decide to save up some money and have our club electrician/mechanic (Jeff Helms) come figure it out. It took him about 7 hours to get it started. So... Excited!
-List of Problems That Needed Fixing-
•He[Jeff Helms] re-wired both of my piggy backs to the ecu, cleaned up the contacts, re-soldered it all, made it look beautiful.
•Found out that the starting problem was caused by the ignition switch. The part where the plug plugs into the ignition, it had dirty contacts, the pins were loose. He tightened up the pins and cleaned contacts.
•Injector Number 3 wouldn't work, we did typical diagnostic procedures to figure it out. It is the connector that is in the plug that connects to the ECU. (currently working on it, car runs fine, as long as you don't move the ECU.) We plan on de-pinning that pin and swapping it out with a different pin. If that doesn't work, we'll de-pin another plug, and swap the wires into that plug.
-Misc-
We [Uncle and I] cannot figure out why the paint did what it did. He said he painted it, it looked really good for about a year, and then it started spider cracking and getting rough and stuff. Mainly where the sun had hit it throughout the year. Around the bottom of the car, where the sun didn't really hit or bake, it doesn't look bad. Odd.
This setup was on a previous Miata, that Miata has been on the dyno and was rated 200rwhp @ 8psi. This Miata has not been on the dyno, but we assume the numbers are the same.
-End Goal-
•MSPNP
•Garret T28
•slowly gather parts to build engine up
•Volk TE37V Bronze, probably 15x8
•Have prestine interior
•wire tuck, clean up engine bay (after paint job and MSPNP)
•new paint job
•misc exterior pieces
•misc interior pieces
-Goodies-
•Completely re-built head. Less then 1500 miles on it(as of 01/12/2013)
•Koni Yellows with Racing Beat springs. 12"F, 12.5"R
•15" NB five spoke wheels wrapped in Dunlop DZ101s, one Falken 912 and one General? tire. (Will be buying brand new DZ101s to replace them all.)
•NB light purple top injectors
•Custom built 3" exhuast
•Walbro 255
•Garret T25 at 8psi
•FM Voodoo Box (Fuel Management)
•Bipes ACU (Timing and Knock Control)
•Boost guage [tbn]
•Water Temp guage [tbn]