Budget turbo miata

Love the drain tubes - engineering FTW!

The colder plugs will probably be fine once you start driving it hard. I run NGK TR6ix plugs in the truck, which are a heat range colder than stock. Since I'm near or on the rev limiter so much, I want to do anything I can to reduce the chances of detonation. I'll even add a bottle of octane booster if I know I'll be doing a lot of laps in hot weather (I know it's useless but it makes me feel better...).  I tried AC Delco R42's (2 steps colder than stock) when I first put the S/C on and they fouled pretty quickly. I wasn't driving the truck hard then though.

yea, it's hard to know on a street car. i have already fouled even these plugs once already.
track cars are much more specific on the driving style constantly

got the FMU in early. bench testing says it definitely isn't the advertised 4:1... it's quite non-linear ranging from 1:1 to 2.3:1 but it should help compared to before for sure.
it's the shiny gold thing on the left


took the stock wheels off and found all 4 calipers (and everything around them) were red! perfect ricer already


slapped "new" tires and wheels on


and ran another leakdown test.
feels like everything is going out to the crankcase (oil fill port) but what do you think of the numbers themselves? not too bad?

made a hitch since the trunk is basically useless once i put several jugs of oil, a space saver spare and my tool bag and jack in there.


Lesson: never power wash a car with old paint. bumper is now in unpainted status... luckily that is a totally ricer thing to have so it will stay white


went by a buddy's house to help out with his challenge car


and another challenge car showed up for some grilling


my to-do list is basically empty with a week to go, so im in pretty good shape.
I'm getting an annoyance on the highway where i get an EGR malfunction CEL, at which point the car gets stuck in open loop until i either rev it or engine brake it (defeats the purpose of the cruise control, which i finally got to start working again after toasting the cable a bit)
all EGR components are still there aside from the exhaust connection so I'm not sure how the ECU is defining the malfunction. OBD1 so it's hard to diagnose.
not a big deal, and it really only hurts fuel economy at this point but I wish I could fix it.
the EGR valve is cleaned up and freely moves, so it isn't a valve position sensor seeing no movement... I guess it's possible the sensor is malfunctioning too

Nice rack.

Completely unrelated, hows that oil spewing exhaust now?

last days before the trip i did some "minor" work to make life better on the road.
I was getting seriously nauseous and headachey so i decided to repair a coworker's discarded shifter boot (mine was not repairable)


and removed the rattling around perf pipe from the resonator (how does that thing get so bent up anyways?)
there wasnt much packing material left

and then the trip.



initial line up just before we entered ohio for breakfast

basically if it's red, it's a contender. the non-red cars are cheaters which we allowed because we're friends.

NB miata, purchased 6 months ago from california for <$1500, but money tossed at it to attempt to become a lemons car supposedly.
obviously the most miserable car of the trip



me checking oil, constantly.
I can return the dipstick into the tube with my eyes closed now.


ae86. full ricer mode with carbon wrap, wing, neons, rattly subwoofer, etc



mine. maybe more stickers than the last time pictures were posted



prelude. wing on wing action. lowered, and an exhaust that continually got louder as the trip continued


cheater RSX-S. guy is getting married in august so we're just happy he can come along with his beater car. stickers were a new addition.


FC. guy bought 2 rx7s. a wrecked s4 with a good engine and then a s5 with a bad engine. this is the combination

always gotta have the right look


first failure 100 miles in.
the black miata stopped the convey with a breakdown claiming significant vibrations.
his online purchased take-off R888 tire broke a belt and was no longer round.


limped it to the nearest discount tire to buy a pair of the cheapest all season tires possible.


while waiting at the tire shop, a real ricer came to check us out.... or more likely to boost his own ego to a bunch of ricer high school kids, then noticed we were all near 30 and ran away thinking we were a bunch of losers, lol.


stop at classy places for beer and food for dinner


we park compactly.


but black miata dude can't back up correctly and ruined my paintjob

the ae86 was miserably loud - had to add the fart can insert so we don't kill the car just to shut it up


prelude had some strange rubbing noise - turned out a front caliper was missing a bolt completely.
fixed it in reasonable time here


there was time for the rx7 to get a new filter while we waited


also time for some aero adjustments


the miata showing off some early morning condensation/steam in the morning
(how do i link a video?)
https://www.facebook.com/9635731/videos/10105377950206567/




found some time at watkins glen to do some sightseeing


also no pics but went to a buddy's place in upstate NY for some rallyX fun. unfortunately my worn 200TW tires didn't like the grass much so i placed a tied 4th place with the rx7 who was also on 200 tw tires. all season shod cars took the win.

cockpit panorama
i packed light but the german guy came with a whole suitcase which took up the entire passenger area.


found an amazing campsite in VT where we got 1 out of the 2 showers for the trip




we all had only the best of beers


my bumper is still pristine here


AE86 showing off the underglow


swapping to a ricer aluminum blue water pump pulley at a campsite.... turns out it was the wrong offset so the stock one went back on

wings are good trash bag holders


had to stop a couple miles down for one of the more pathetic breakdowns.
accessory belt tension was a little low after the failed pulley swap... easy fix, but a 25 point penalty for stopping the group


and then mt washington

rx7 brakes were making noises.... maybe because there was no pad left



miata gained a new sticker


traditionally we hop on a ferry for a nice break during every year's trip.
we found an hour long one across lake champlain this year


of course, no time is relaxing time when dealing with beater cars




fastener was starting to pull through the plastic wing


roofless miata with rain in the distance



my bumper could use a rainwash


little break at the ausable chasm


ice cream break after fording rivers in NY.... this was a very very wet day


https://www.facebook.com/greencactus3/videos/10108659171382953/

found a campsite at cranberry lake


woke up the next morning to a leaking tent and my sleeping bag drenched....
https://www.facebook.com/greencactus3/videos/10108662700540493/

made some friends in the morning after the rain cleared up (i ended up trying to sleep in the miata)
https://www.facebook.com/greencactus3/videos/10108662918363973/

the rx7 is smoking as bad as the miata by this point. possibly a stuck injector


in the hard rain, if i dont have AC on, the hood vents warms the driver's half of the windshield good enough to keep from fogging. a nice side benefit i wasnt expecting


more rain
https://www.facebook.com/greencactus3/videos/10108663776139983/

more breaks, at lake ontario




i dropped the roof just once for a short stint. i still hate convertibles. i don't get the point.
i quickly put the roof up again and enjoyed my AC later


things dragging is a common occurance

my car started running a constant full-rich mode so i stopped with my first breakdown penalty.
most likely stuck injector or a sooted up narrowband so i decided a hammer was the best tool for repair.


we always get a hotel for the last night so we can shower and get good sleep.
so we reserved some rooms at an Adam's Mark in Buffalo, but accidentally reserved for the next day so there was confusion.
that's okay, we classed up the hotel front roundabout for a while.



unfortunately the hotel parking garage was under construction and we did not get to drift up any ramps



we drove home thru canada so this was a big deal.
breaking down prior to crossing back into the US would cause towing home a nightmare.


aaand i managed to safely make it home, 2000 miles, ~100 gallons of fuel, ~3.5 gallons of oil.
I'm buying a coworker's spare freshly built spec miata motor later this week...

You're back! Great trip report. I was laughing at the rice all the way through.

At least you still consumed more gasoline than oil.

I've got a clean 5.3 intake in the bed of the truck and a cup full of hardware in the holder up front. Probably won't help your Miata in any fashion, but it's ready for you.

great! one of these days I'll recover from the exhaustion of the trip and maybe go climbing again!

Looked like an awesome trip, I'm jealous!

new motor


aand old one leaving the miata

i hope i put it together right


aand going in


aand in

That didn't take long. Do anything special with the replacement or just slapped it in as is?