1994 Miata MPG project B3 STEALTH MK II

Whelp, I have done absolutely nothing to the Miata accept for adding air to the left rear tire. A few weeks ago the weather was nice enough to take the little car for a spin. Wow, I really miss this car and I cant wait for winter to be over

This years winter projects are mostly home improvement and robotic stuff, however about a month ago I put together an instructional video on the EDIS ignition system. The video is a departure from my normal halfass productions and came out surprisingly well. What makes this video different from the rest is I actually paid real money for the voice talent. The voice over was through Fiverr and set me back $60.00.... not to shabby.

Anyway, I produced, directed, wrote, edited plus did the photography and animation. Take a lookie

https://www.youtube.com/embed/vUkbrxUccwA

Stay tuned!

Robotics? Can you get that pair of Arduinos out in Jackson for me? The guy doesn't get back with me.

Sorry about the tangent- your project still rocks. I still have the fantasy to doing a gear ratio and FDR change in my '99. Which would lower my 70mph engine speed by 1000rpm.

Throw some snow tires on it and go drive it! I bet it's a riot in the snow.

Nice video and nice Prometheus and Bob reference.

I dig the video. Probably one of the best Megasquirt-related videos I've seen.

In reply to alfadriver:

No problem, I can pick up the boards for you. I just sent the guy an email and will try to pick 'em up tonight or tomorrow.

simon_C wrote: Throw some snow tires on it and go drive it! I bet it's a riot in the snow.

Best. Snow. Car. Ever.

My '91 with a huge FM front bar was the best winter car I ever had.

I would skip over the Subarus in the harem to go play with that thing in the snow, even though it didn't have a functioning thermostat (and therefore heater) for the first month of my winter driving.

Almost a letdown when the snow melted and I had to drive on surfaces with grip.

In reply to simon_C:
So tempting

This particular Miata is from Arizona and is rust free. However, back in the day I used to have a very rusty '90 Miata that I used for a winter beater. The fun factor is raised exponentially when zero berkeleys are given.

Whelp, I reckon its time to update this project.

My story begins with me cleaning out the garage. The stereo was cranked to 11 pumping our some epic Kid Rock tunes when suddenly I discovered a bag of injectors....... OH E36 M3!.... I completely forgot that I had pulled the EV6 injectors and put the original EV1 injectors back on the engine. Hmmm, cleaning the garage can wait... I need to sort this out right now.

FLASHBACK I had pulled the EV6 injectors last summer when I was troubleshooting a high speed stumble. The stumble was eventually traced back to the GM DIS ignition system and I have since replaced the GM DIS with the Ford EDIS.

Now back to the story...

OK, here we have a set of EV6 injectors and some gear to measure flow and lag time. Because I'm sometimes a moron, I somehow lost all the setup info for the EV6 injectors. Specifically I cannot find the lag time data anywhere in my notes. The process of measuring this stuff is somewhat simplified because I have the device formally known as Mr. Fusion (the weird looking thingy with the mason jar attached.)

The upper intake manifold needs to come off to gain access to the injectors. This procedure takes less than ten minutes and I probably could do it with my eyes closed while standing on my head during an earthquake. needless to say I have done this many times...

The device formally known as Mr. Fusion is fitted with an EV6 injector and the process of data gathering begins. Deja vu?...actually this picture was taken a year and a half ago when I originally fitted the B3 with the EV6 injectors.

Tuner Studio has a feature that allows for testing injectors. When in the test mode the fuel pump an be switched on and the injector pulse width can be adjusted. The find the lag time, the goal is to keep reducing the injector pulse width until no fuel sprayed. The lag time (dead time) is also directly related to fuel pressure. Changing fuel pressure will also change the lag time. For this experiment I recorded the lag time plus injector flow rate for three different pressure settings. The reason I took three different reading is these EV6 injectors were designed to run at 60 psi. The flow rate at 60 psi may be too much for my application so some some shenanigans with fuel pressure will be needed.

At 60 PSI the EV6 injector overwhelmed my measurement gear....

No worries... the excess fuel was pored into a second beaker...

OK, this time I'm posting my notes online so the future Doc Brown doesn't have spend time looking through notes...

Engine all back together and running again. The Megasquirt was updated with the relevant info and the fuel tables were modified to get the engine started....

...hokay, this is a bit of a setback. The battery on the notebook is completely berkeleying flat. It will not hold a single electron.

The shakedown ride and the rest of the story will have to wait until the new battery from Amazon arrives.....

Stay tuned!

I reckon its time for a project update. To begin with the new injectors made absolutely no difference in performance or economy. Meh

The car continues to get 45+ MPG however if driven aggressively the MPG's will drop to 41. I seem to drive more aggressively lately

Alfadriver posted a link for a local Miata in the $2017 Classifieds ..... and this happened.

This is a 2000 SE with a six speed and 3.90 Torsen. The car had 41K miles on it before a tree fell on it a few days ago. The plan is to harvest the 3.90 torsen and the leather interior for the B3 project. At this point I'm also thinking about swapping in the 1.8 ... we'll see.......

This is the good side of the car...

more dents....

According to the internet the NB interior will fit in an NA. The leather interior isn't perfect but it will be just fine.

Harbor freight engine hoist put into service and the windshield frame was bent back to an almost perfect angle.

After a few hours of unbolting all the damaged body panels and vacuuming up a metric ton of broken glass... the car is somewhat drivable
Three words....Torsen berkeley yeah!

Stay tuned!

It's a nice score when you parts car can still do a burn out even if its on gravel.

In reply to RossD:

Yeah, this definitely is a parts car... Wow this thing is really berkeleyed up from the tree falling on it. The drivetrain is perfect but everything else is bent. The weight of the tree buckled the firewall enough to snap the heater core mounts.

Salvageable parts are being salvaged

The leather interior was pulled and everything cleaned up nicely. I'm worried that this interior is too pretty for the B3 Miata.

.... A year from now this picture will make more sense................

Stay tuned!

It already makes perfect sense. A blower on a 1.8.

What, did you think we never played puzzle games before?

Want to sell the taillights from the tree victim? My new to me NB has some eBay special clear taillights and I really want a stock set.

In reply to untchabl:

LOL, the vultures have landed....

Yes, the tail lights are available. How does $60.00 sound for the pair? Shoot me a PM if interested.

.....pulling the Torsen.

There are plenty of online resources that explain how to pull the differential out of a Miata. So I took a few moments to watch a couple of videos and felt this was a simple project.....

Let's look at some pictures.....

Uggg.... rust. Rust makes simple projects not so simple.

Speaking of rust, this is what I found when the tupperware was peeled off. I wonder how much of this is due to the tupperware?

...anyway, according to the internet the axles will pop out of the differential with a screwdriver.... Sure enough it popped right out! I love it when the internet gives me the right answer.

Ho lee phuck, this little b*stard took an hour to remove. This thingy is pressed into the PPF and needs to be chiseled out...except I ain't got a chisel...... Vice grips, screwdrivers, torch, BFH, and a lot of swearing and the part came out....

....and there it is folks, the coveted 3.90 Torsen.

stay tuned!

Since the vultures have landed, can i be one?

The rocker covers.....

Selling or keeping? Same with tbe spoiler.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

No problem, being a vulture is the GRM way Keep in mind that I'm lazy and wont ship big heavy things like the transmission.

Anyway, the rocker panel set (tupperware) includes the side skirts and the rear bumper 'mud guards'. Also included are plastic thingies that the rocker panel covers mount to. Be forewarned, you will need to drill holes in your rocker panels. The trunk spoiler will also require drilling holes. I can supply a template for both the trunk and the main rocker holes. GRM price for the rocker set and trunk spoiler $180.00 shipped.

Hmm....

Do you take PayPal?

Edit: definitely want. Just a matter of paying for it from a few states aeay.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

Yes, paypal is fine. If you want the stuff I'll go ahead and get it boxed up and I'll send you an invoice. It will take me a few days to get the box and pack stuff... figure the soonest it could ship is Monday.

no problem, just let me know! thanks, doc!

Doc Brown wrote: In reply to untchabl: LOL, the vultures have landed.... Yes, the tail lights are available. How does $60.00 sound for the pair? Shoot me a PM if interested.

I'll take them. Sending a PM now.

Fascinating.

This is the type of stuff that keeps me coming back to GRM. I really wish I had the attention span to document and test this many different things with one vehicle. I find myself getting bored and not wanting to take the next step unless it makes a dramatic change in either aesthetics or performance.

Keep up the good work! I still want to see a turbo on the little motor before you put the 1.8 in it.

........and engine hoist dangles the still beating heart in front of its prey.

Stay tuned!