9 replies to this topic

[Jeff Lyon]

I have talked to a number of you that have 1.6 SM's about my TurboSM project. I thought I would give you an update. I had the car on the dyno at EGR last night and it made 199HP at the wheels with 9 pounds of boost, 153lb/ft of torque. The injectors I chose are too large so it was running way too rich at about 10.8:1 so there is more power to be had.

With the right size injectors and a good tune I will be easily able to hit my target of 180 - 190 rwhp with 8psi of boost which should be plenty reliable. We will be running the car down at the Miatas at Mazda Raceway event this weekend if anyone is foregoing the SCCA season opener and is in the area.

I have info on the project here http://www.onestopra...urbo-spec-miata and will be adding more pics of the turbo install next week.

Jeff

[Glen McCready]

This looks like a great project. Too bad I saw the post after committing to go a different direction with my 1.6L shortly... but then I'm not sure 9# of boost on my 145Kmi 1.6L would stay happy for long...

[Rob Burgoon]

Glen, you're not missing out on much. This project has a pretty rocky road ahead.

[Dan Cooper]

Glen, you're not missing out on much. This project has a pretty rocky road ahead.

Always the optimist....

[Ron Alan]

Better than the last name he was called by someone on this site

[Rob Burgoon]

Heh, well, the OP is certainly not pessimistic, but he's in for some pain I think.

Here's a list of things that "turbo miata guys do wrong" by the guy that swept ALL of the doorslammer classes from E2 in this last 25 hour (949 Racing). Making a turbo car reliable is a big undertaking.

Take it with a grain of salt though, much of it won't apply to OP's build or goals.

Stuff Miata track turbo guys do wrong

• No hood vents
• Hood vents in the wrong location, i.e behind #3 cylinder
• No full coverage undertray
• Radiator core not 100% sealed for air leakage around it
• No reroute
• #6 or #5 plugs
• Stock coils
• NA batch fire ignition
• NA6 batch fuel
• Pump gas of 92 or lower octane
• Non-Inconel manifold studs
• OTS BEGI or FM manifold w/o turbo support brace
• OEM Garrett internal wastegate and >10psi instead of VTA
• Too small VTA BOV
• Intake pipes without beads
• Intake pipes held on with ordinary worm drive hose clamps
• Throttle plate not epoxied
• Solid motor mounts broke other stuff on car
• OEM diff mounts - broken exhaust
• No V-Band in DP
• OEM Rods
• OEM pistons
• OEM oil pump
• No clutch bypass for starting leading to toasted thrust bearings
• No oil cooler
• No trans cooler
• No diff cooler
• 5 speed transmission (went through at least four I bet)
• Rubber lines for turbo oil and/or coolant
• Restrictive tube/Fin I/C from big name American company instead of superior Chinese Bar/Plate off ebay (who knew)
• Piggy back ECU
• >13psi with NA cam/crank angle sensor + ragged edge tune = det
• No WB02
• WB02 in wrong place
• No EGT
• Coolant temp sensor at front of head
• Heater bypass w/o restrictor
• OEM 16psi rad cap instead of 19psi Koyo/Stant
• Too few/misaligned exhaust hangers = cracked DP
• Bad welds, cracked DP or exhaust
• 5th injector in manifold
• RX7 460cc injectors
• RC engineering injectors
• No det cans used during dyno tuning
• Boost turned up after dyno, then raced
• Boost turned up way past highest efficiency island on compressor map
• Zero safeties built in to ECU (overboost,EGT,WB02,coolant pressure etc)
• Insufficient heat shielding for heater hoses, master cylinder, trans tunnel
• More than one change in intake pipe cross section dimension between compressor-I/C or I/C- TB.
• Under drive pulleys
• Road tune only for WOT/peak boost only (no steady state part throttle dyno tune)
• $25 junkyard turbos
• Non-water cooled turbo

Non-engine stuff done wrong

• Koni yellows with GC coilovers
• Spec Miata suspension
• OEM rubber suspension bushings
• NA6 diff
• Open diff
• more rear camber than front
• Anything less than 9" wheels
• 205/50/15's
• Zero front aero but tons of drag/lift inducing cooling holes in vain attempt to stop overheating
• No wing
• No hard top
• Bolt in cage
• NA8 brakes with Hawk Blues
• OEM bone stock hubs
• OEM end links
• A/C components still in car
• >2400lb comp weight

[dp35]

Some people might not be aware that the OP built the engine that won the 2010 Spec Miata NASA national championship.

[Alberto]

Some people might not be aware that the OP built the engine that won the 2010 Spec Miata NASA national championship.

I can respect that. However, building a motor and prepping a turbo powered car for reliable race usage aren't the same thing.

It took me a couple of years of development to build a workable engine cooling, oil cooling, air cooling systems on my turbo rotary. Not to mention ECU tuning, fasteners, hoses etc that couldn't handle the heat associated with aggravated heat cycles from the turbo charging and running balls out on track for 30 min sessions. None of the off-the-shelf crap worked well enough to handle 30 minute track sessions.

I wish Jeff well but build info does not equate to feasibility in a race environment. I do look forward to seeing results though.

[Rob Burgoon]

I can respect that. However, building a motor and prepping a turbo powered car for reliable race usage aren't the same thing.

It took me a couple of years of development to build a workable engine cooling, oil cooling, air cooling systems on my turbo rotary. Not to mention ECU tuning, fasteners, hoses etc that couldn't handle the heat associated with aggravated heat cycles from the turbo charging and running balls out on track for 30 min sessions. None of the off-the-shelf crap worked well enough to handle 30 minute track sessions.

I wish Jeff well but build info does not equate to feasibility in a race environment. I do look forward to seeing results though.

I think his blog or one like it was used for a joke among some of the guys that have done turbos. No doubt Jeff will have fun with his project, but you're right Alberto. The smart move would be to do some more research and expand the budget.

[Rob Burgoon]

Some people might not be aware that the OP built the engine that won the 2010 Spec Miata NASA national championship.

Don't really matter since his blog tells us clearly what sort of path he's on. Not necessarily a bad thing though, sometimes you can learn more by doing things the hard way.