'90 Mazdaspeed Miata Rallycross Project

nice. i would never do this to my 94.. but if i pickup a cheap one on craigslist...

and to the other poster about convertibles and Rallyx: he's got a rollbar, so that may be how he gets away with it. i've seen a few miata rallyx cars..

coooool

My '99 wants a turbo but she isn't running great as is so I need to solve that before the boost.

hey Keith, you talk about bottoming out. I know it was a concern when I had my '94 with lower springs and KYB AGXs but I never had a problem. I bought my '99 with lowering springs already installed on AGXs (the '99+ ones with only 4 settings). I'm pretty sure the springs are FM because the sway bars are. Even if I set the shocks to full stiff I get a loud thud when going over some bumps on the street. It sounds like someone is whacking underneath the trunk with a sledge hammer. Blown shock?

I can't imagine rallying my Miata either, but I think it's awesome. I'd love to do it with an older beat up one!

You can spot FM springs because of the close coils on one end.

I'd start by checking your battery tie-downs as well as other heavy stuff in the trunk.

E_AT_me wrote: and to the other poster about convertibles and Rallyx: he's got a rollbar, so that may be how he gets away with it. i've seen a few miata rallyx cars..

To be legal for SCCA Rallycross you need a factory hardtop, rollbars are not required.

Engine is now in and mounted up. Now it is time to collect some more parts and make it run.

On my parallel project: I've been collecting parts. I have the engine sitting in my garage beside the recipient. Now I just have to do a timing belt change, pull out the VTCS butterflies, swap the FM turbo parts over and stick the engine. Then I start with the wiring - it'll basically be an MSM from an engine management wiring standpoint.

Are you using the MSM coils? If so, how are you wiring them in or are you using the MSM wiring harness?

Yup, MSM coils. I'm also using the MSM crank and cam triggers instead of the CAS. I'll just program the Hydra as if it were in an MSM and run the appropriate wires. From the FM instructions - note that your ECU needs to be set up with the correct dwell for the new coils:

Remove Mazda igniter & plug. We’ll be re-appropriating its wires & discarding the igniter in the steps below.
Clip the Mazda brown/yellow wire & the Mazda white wire. Crimp them together.
Clip the Mazda brown wire and the Mazda red wire. Crimp them together.
Clip the Mazda black/white wire & the Mazda yellow/blue wire. Crimp them together.
Clip the Mazda black wire & run it to the black wires at the 01-05 coil pigtails. This is ground.
Secure the leftover Mazda blue wire to prevent a short- it is 12V.
Now cut the 3-wire plug from the coil harness. Take the blue wire & run it to the black/white wires at the 01-05 coil pigtails. This is 12v.
The white wire runs the coil for cylinders 1&4. Connect it to the brown/white wire at the 1&4 01-05 coil.
The red wire runs cylinders 2&3. Connect it to the black/yellow wire at the 2&3 01-05 coil.

Awesome, thanks for the help!

Regarding removing the VTCS butterflies. Do all the holes between the individual runners need to be plugged or just the ones on the ends?

Sweetness.

Are you still in Columbus?

EvanB wrote: Regarding removing the VTCS butterflies. Do all the holes between the individual runners need to be plugged or just the ones on the ends?

You can leave the between runner holes without a problem. I like to call them "balance holes" :) This just leaves one hole to plug, and the easy way is to tap it for 1/8 NPT and screw in a plug.

JFX001 wrote: Sweetness. Are you still in Columbus?

Up north a bit in Ashland for now.

Keith wrote:

EvanB wrote: Regarding removing the VTCS butterflies. Do all the holes between the individual runners need to be plugged or just the ones on the ends?

You can leave the between runner holes without a problem. I like to call them "balance holes" :) This just leaves one hole to plug, and the easy way is to tap it for 1/8 NPT and screw in a plug.

Great, now I just need to get the manifold off...probably should have done that before I put the engine in

It's much easier then, yes

I may have missed this, but are you running the factory intercooler? factory location?

Autolex wrote: I may have missed this, but are you running the factory intercooler? factory location?

And if so.... don't.

Even if you wanted to, the plumbing doesn't work. You're much better off building your own.

Sneaking in an update on Evan's thread: I still haven't installed my engine. I got sidetracked with doing other stuff over the holidays. I've fabricated hard lines for the oil drain and water feed to the new turbo, removed the VTCS butterflies, wired in plugs for the new injectors, done a 60k service on the engine, designed a new tool to make timing belt changes easier and capped off the EGR. Almost ready to stick the engine - probably Thursday.

Nope, I still need to get an intercooler and piping figured out.

Very nice project you have going here. With the SCCA RallyCross M2 class expected to be split to MF and MR, you have a great thing going with this project.

What are your plans for the rear diff? 1.8L torsen or something better? What tires are you planning to use?

Should be lots of fun. Hope to see this thing out at Nationals in 2012 in Tulsa, OK

Thanks - Jon

1.8L torsen is the plan for now. Right now I have some snow tires, I will probably be using some used Falken rally tires for most events.

I definitely hope to make it out to the Nationals.

If you want some feedback on the surface at Tulsa, feel free to hit me up. I ran their twice last year, and plan to make at least 2 events prior to nationals there if I can. It's 7 hours drive for me though. :(

Thanks - Jon

Sounds good, I was hoping to make the last Nationals but it is about 15 hours from me and I didn't have the money.

He's already got good recon info on Tulsa

<- (fastest RWD in M2 at Tulsa RXNC '11, tire supplier for and grateful co-driver of Evan's Miata)

cghstang wrote: <- (fastest RWD in M2 at Tulsa RXNC '11, tire supplier for and grateful co-driver of Evan's Miata)

^^ Nice.