I’ve decided to a turbo to my Haynes Roadster as there’s not a massive amount of information out there about turboing these cars so I thought I would make some notes on here in case anyone else wants to do likewise.


My car

It’s a Talon chassie with sierra running gear with an MX5 engine, when I started the build there wasn’t Talon mx5 chassis option only the Saturn plans and I didn’t like the look of the rear diff cage. The car passed the IVA test in January 2017 with a K reg age related plate so no cat which is handy, so I’ve only run it for one summer effectively. My roadster is a little on the heavy side with a full cage and steel floor and cast engine block but its going on a diet with a lighter cage and aluminium floor and a few other chassis improvements.


The Engine

The engine is a recon mk1 1.6 mx5 from Basset Down Balancing and I’ve added GSXR ITBs, Piper Cams, lightened flywheel, megaspuirt MS3 and a Westfield SDV exhaust + manifold (all for sale soon) its been dyno’d at 143bhp which is fun and make a nice sound, but it could do with a little bit more power. I don’t go on track days I just like a bit of fun on the Worcestershire Herefordshire and Shropshire B roads on my own because id don’t have any friends.

Plans

I had several plans and these included tuning my 1.6 with some head work and Jenvey ITB’s, adding a supercharger, building a mx5 1.8 engine using a mk2 head and a mk2.5 bottom end I read this was the best combination or adding a turbo to my 1.6 or the 1.8. my ideal bhp target was about 190-220bhp and after talking Dale at Bailey Performance, Basset Down Balancing and Nick at Skuzzle they all said the same thing which was to stick with my 1.6 and add a turbo.

Before I go any further I did concider other engines and gearbox’s which would be lighter and probably better but better the devil you know and all that also I had the engine already set up.

The advice a have been given was to use a TD04 turbo (from the older Subaru’s) but this is where the advice differed, one person said get an old cheap turbo and if its crap of fails then buy another cheap but don’t buy the Chinese copies, this made sense as there is a lot of old subaru’s out there, but I don’t like to take that sort of gamble. Other advice was to buy a cheap Chinese copy and when it start burring oil replace it with another this made some sense as well, but I don’t like replacing bit just because its cheap to do so. The last piece of advice was to buy reconditioned turbo, but these are about £550-700 I spoke to several companies sell refurbished TD04’s they all said their where the only ones worth buy because we test ours and balance then bla bla bla which is all probably true but it made me less confident of the refurbished turbos.

I gave up on the TD04 because of the conflicting advice and at some point the supply of TD04’s will start drying up and increase the price when it need replacing, a used one is already £200 on average which they use to be about £100 a couple of years ago. After some research on mx5/miata web sites I came up with two turbo options either a Garret GT25 or Borg Warner EFR, although the latter is a beautiful piece of kit at £1550 its outside my budget so I decided to go with a Garret GT25.

For my 1.6 engine and the space available in the chassis the GT2554r appears to be the most suitable it the smallest Garret GT25 but I’m not after huge power and space is limited after all. The handing thing about the MK1 1.6 is they have a oil and water supply on the side of the block left over from when the engine was original designed for a turbo, the most turbo need both so this is very usefull.

For the turbo manifold I’ve found this great company called Dave Fab https://davefab.com/ who make a turbo manifold and down pipe specifically for Westfield SDV’s but for the TD04 amongst other things. They have redesigned the manifold and down pipe to take the GT2554r turbo in the Haynes chassie. They are really helpful chaps well worth a call, have a look at the web site there is some really nice work on there.

To be continued…………………

Can someone recommend a photo hosting website so I post some pictures.

i did the very same thing as you in my westfield.
i have the 1.6 engine turboed with jenvey throttle bodies. i used the td04 i got mine from ebay for 85quid and it has been fine ever since. they are ten a penny on the subaru facebook pages and arent hard to get hold of at all infact i have a spare which i got for the same money. its made 196bhp at wastegate pressure youll probarbly need to uprate your clutch as the 1.6 clutch isnt the best. ive just finished a bottom end refresh with some forged rods to turn up the boost when i can be bothere to take it and get it mapped again
take alook at https://davefab.com/ for your manifold and downpipe i know someone who has one fro his westfield and its a nice bit of kit unless you already have all this stuff then ignore me lol

also if your looking for some friends lol there are quite a few people around you me myself. im not actually that far away from you in dudley

[Edited on 5/2/18 by Bunje]

[Edited on 5/2/18 by Bunje]

Good luck with the build. If you need any help or advice give me a shout, I turbo'd my kit and have helped a few others with there turbo conversions. GT2554 should spool up nice and quick!

As for photohosting try https://imgur.com/

oh and the pries you are quoting on TD04 make me realise how much of a bargain I got! £50 delivered

[Edited on 5/2/18 by theduck]

Hi

Thanks for the offer of help, I may take you up on that when the oily parts start coming together.

Engine work

The engine is back off to Basset Down Balancing to have forged rods as these are the weak point of the engine and the crank balanced for good measure. I’ve got a small oil leak at the front which is going to be looked at hopefully I’ve got a leaky seal and nothing worst. I did ask about have the crank knife edge but was told its not worth it for the kind of bhp and driving I’m doing, If I was racing a high-powered N/A engine it would help I guess. Also I considered have the sump chopped but it wasn’t worth the extra cost, I had to choose between rods or sump so I thought rods would be a better investment.


Cams

Currently I have a set of Piper fast road cams but from what I can gather they have too much overlap for a turbo engine. Some research found this post which to summaries recommends using stock cams and to retard the intake by 6º to reduce overlap, exhaust stays as stock. Vernier cams and dyno time are what's needed and a good tuner that knows what he's doing.


Clutch/flywheel
The standard 1.6 clutch will struggle with the additional power or so I’ve been told and read in many post so I’ve gone for the Skuzzle lightweight flywheel and clutch combo which is based on the dimensions of the 1.8 flywheel, it been recommended to me by several people and the price is good, the fly wheel is 4.85kg which is a lot lighter than the 9.5kg ish standard flywheel, I did read somewhere that the mk2.5 mx5 1.8 fly wheel is lighter than the other 1.8 wheels I have a mk2 and mk2.5 flywheels and they are exactly the same.

Using your current cams, but dialing out the overlap buy adjusting the timing of the exhaust and inlet separately may well be an option, gives you some benefits like the increased lift while being able to reduce overlap back to or near to stock cams level.

Sounds like a good plan and that manifold/downpipe looks like a good solution to fit it all in.

I would consider doing a coolant re route while you are about it to aid cooling to cylinder 4.

quote:

---

Originally posted by theduck
Using your current cams, but dialing out the overlap buy adjusting the timing of the exhaust and inlet separately may well be an option, gives you some benefits like the increased lift while being able to reduce overlap back to or near to stock cams level.

---

Hi

I forgot to mention I already have a coolant reroute.

quote:

---

Originally posted by rdodger
Sounds like a good plan and that manifold/downpipe looks like a good solution to fit it all in.

I would consider doing a coolant re route while you are about it to aid cooling to cylinder 4.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Charlie C
Hi

I forgot to mention I already have a coolant reroute.

quote:

---

Originally posted by rdodger
Sounds like a good plan and that manifold/downpipe looks like a good solution to fit it all in.

I would consider doing a coolant re route while you are about it to aid cooling to cylinder 4.

---

---

HI

just a hint , pick up a 1.8 mk2 engine and box , much better engine . forged rods as std and can take a fair boost in std form.
you can pick up a mot failure for around £300 . better box , bigger flywheel ( clutch ) better ecu. oh and the cranks are much better. loads of info in usa . ps if you get one ill have the steering column of you for a price !

quote:

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Originally posted by Charlie C

quote:

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Originally posted by theduck
Using your current cams, but dialing out the overlap buy adjusting the timing of the exhaust and inlet separately may well be an option, gives you some benefits like the increased lift while being able to reduce overlap back to or near to stock cams level.

---

Hi

I should have said I plan to use the standard cams and dial out the over lap, i think the piper cams have more over lap to dial out.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by bart
HI

just a hint , pick up a 1.8 mk2 engine and box , much better engine . forged rods as std and can take a fair boost in std form.
you can pick up a mot failure for around £300 . better box , bigger flywheel ( clutch ) better ecu. oh and the cranks are much better. loads of info in usa . ps if you get one ill have the steering column of you for a price !

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by theduck

quote:

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Originally posted by Charlie C

quote:

---

Originally posted by theduck
Using your current cams, but dialing out the overlap buy adjusting the timing of the exhaust and inlet separately may well be an option, gives you some benefits like the increased lift while being able to reduce overlap back to or near to stock cams level.

---

Hi

I should have said I plan to use the standard cams and dial out the over lap, i think the piper cams have more over lap to dial out.

---

Shouldnt need to dial out the overlap on the stock cam, some overlap is fine. Depends how much opportunity you have to play with it, I have access to a dyno for little to no money so for me, I'd give the piper a go first and see what it could do. I reckon setup with overlap dialed back to somewhere near the stock cam overlap it could be a nice setup!

---

Yep thats it, Piper have a really helpful page on this actually

quote:

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Overlap: The number of crankshaft degrees were both the inlet and exhaust valve are open at the same time. To calculate overlap: Add the opening number of the inlet cam to the closing number of the exhaust cam, ie the first and last numbers of the cam timing. Using our same example of the 23/67 inlet and 67/23 exhaust (usually referred to as 23/67 - 67/23), add together the first and last numbers (23 and 23) and the total (46) is the overlap. In general terms the larger this number or the greater the overlap, the hotter the cam

---

Hi
The list of parts so far is;

Spark plugs = NGK6097 / BKR7E
Injectors = RX8 Yellow - Got
Intercooler
Oil cooler = Mocal
Air box with cold air feed.
Turbo = GT2554r - Got
Turbo oil feed + water supply
Inlet manifold and TB = standard MX5 1.6 -Got
Exhaust manifold and down pipe = Dave Fab – on order
Exhaust + silencer = stainless 3”
1.8 lightweight flywheel and clutch = Skuzzle – on order
Boost control solenoid = VAG N75 from fleebay
Dump/recirculating value = second hand Forge from fleebay
Intercooling pipe work and sundries.
I'm sure there will be a few more bit but that should cover most of it.

quote:

---

Originally posted by theduck
Yep thats it, Piper have a really helpful page on this actually

quote:

---

Overlap: The number of crankshaft degrees were both the inlet and exhaust valve are open at the same time. To calculate overlap: Add the opening number of the inlet cam to the closing number of the exhaust cam, ie the first and last numbers of the cam timing. Using our same example of the 23/67 inlet and 67/23 exhaust (usually referred to as 23/67 - 67/23), add together the first and last numbers (23 and 23) and the total (46) is the overlap. In general terms the larger this number or the greater the overlap, the hotter the cam

---

http://www.pipercams.co.uk/pipercams/www/tech.php


Stock MX5 cam is about 20* so you wouldnt need to dial much out to get back to a stock amount of overlap. I'd definitely be giving that a go!

---

It can get overwhelming very quickly. I can see what they are saying about the gtx cam, but I dont think its necessary to go that extreme, I'm sure it drives well, but so do all the mx5 turbos running stock cams at stock timing.

Who is doing the tuning for you? Id maybe discuss with them what you want to achieve in terms of how the car drives etc and see what they suggest.

Hi

I'm planning on using Dale at Bailey Performance, he set my megaspuirt up and has been really helpful.

You make a good point about all the MX5 turbos out there on standard cams.

Thanks

Dale is brilliant, should be able to give you some sensible advice on what you want to achieve.

Some picture of the nice new turbo

https://imgur.com/98kGmsE

https://imgur.com/cyAy2IM

https://imgur.com/Ndk1QvV





[Edited on 6/2/18 by Charlie C]

Hi

I should be removing a few parts this weekend and putting them up for sale if anyone interested?

1, ITB's GSXR throttle bodies with Danst manifold + Pipercross 600 Series Sealed Airbox + back plate and trumpets






2, Westfield SDV exhuest manifold and silencer
3, 1.6 lightend fly wheel from Basset Down Balencing including the clutch which has only cover 500 miles.

[Edited on 7/2/18 by Charlie C]

[Edited on 7/2/18 by Charlie C]

Hi
I took the engine out yesterday read to take to Basset Down Balancing to have forged rods installed and bottom end balanced.
I found what appears to be the rocker cover gasket leaking oil at the back and front, I knew oil was leaking but I thought it was the crank front oil seal so should be an easy fix.

I've been busy stripping the car and cutting of the steel floor ready for an ali floor, before and after photos its depressing to see it in its current state.

Loads more to do, I'm also tiedying up the front end new N/S front diaginal the current arrangment was to accomodate the westfield SDV manifold.

once I have the turbo manifold and down pipe and can put my spare engine and gear box in and start working out where everything can fit or be made neater than before.

Cut the welded in floor out has been a right pain I've gone through about 20 1mm cutting disc so far.

Jesus you are busy!

I thought you said it would be on the road this year?

What make are your front cycle wings?

quote:

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Originally posted by Charlie C
I've been busy stripping the car and cutting of the steel floor ready for an ali floor, before and after photos its depressing to see it in its current state.
..]

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by CosKev3

What make are your front cycle wings?

---

I have a SC for my MX5 1.8VVT when I get round to it.

On a technical note if you add al "l" (for large, in lower case) to the end of your imgur images it makes them a better size for the forum and stops the need to scroll widthways.
Like this



[Edited on 17/3/18 by miskit]

Hi all
My turbo manifold and down pipe arrived on Friaday from Dave Fab, it all looks good.

Now I need to get on with the chassis so I can drop my spare and gearbox in to make sure it all lines up.

I finished cutting the steel floor off over the weekend hopefully this is the turning point and I can start putting it back together.

Over the Easter break I did a test set up of the manifold turbo and down pipe it all fits great.
I've nearly finished increasing the chassis triangulation just a few more bits to weld in and I can start repainting the chassis ready for new aluminium panels.

Fits nicely

I had a costly email from the engine builders yesterday it goes as follows

Hi Charlie

we have hit a few snags with the engine rebuild the engine has been running very rich which has unfortunately been bad enough to put enough fuel into the oil to have damaged the shell bearing nothing horrendous but it does need some new shells both BE And Main.

there is also some severe scorring on one of the cylinder walls which i wouldnt be happy to leave because you are going turbo.Text

The chap isnt in work today so I've got to wiat until tomorrow, it sounds like its going to be expensive. I guess it best to find out now instead of totally wrecking the engine.

I spoke to the chap realy nice guy the result is.

Not running in correctly and a lambda failure has caused blow by on the piston rings putting fuel into the oil knackering the main and big end bearings. Something has got into one of the cyclinders and knacked the bore.

Thier recomendation are
New bearing
Replacement block machining, I'm providing an exchange engine
New rings
He also STRONGLY recommend that they break the engine in on the dyno as its basicly a new build.

So thats all my budget used up for the project so the chances of being on the road this summer are loking slim.

Nearly finish the chassie triangulations and my engine should be ready next week.

The engine has had the following
Head swapped for a standard comperssion as mine had been heavly skimmed.
The block needed a rebore so that been replaced as it was cheaper.
New piston rings
New BE and main bearing
New forged rods.
The crank has been balanced with the new lightweigh flywheel and clutch
1.8 pulley with a cut down with trigger wheel
Sump has had an oil drain added for the turbo
And its being bench run in.

So mostly a replacment engine.

Pics of the chassis in progess below, i'm still waiting for the last of the rollcage part to arrive and then i can get that welded in.
The new ali sheets arrived yesterday the plan is to start rivating those on soon.
I temp fitted the radiator and intercooler at the weekend there not enough space to feed the intercooler from the top so its going in upside down and being fed from under the radiator.






[Edited on 19/4/18 by Charlie C]

Fitted most of the rollcage at the weekend, getting on with jobs until the engine is ready.

Looking good

What are the small brackets you've welded on for wiring loom to attach too?

Shame about the cost of the engine,will be a long summer having it sat in the garage!

Your old cage lives on well the front and rear hoops do,new roof bars and side bars


Description

[Edited on 30/4/18 by CosKev3]

Hi

I did think about how you’re getting on when i was working on the cage.

The small tabs are for all sorts, I've used them on other projects and I find them neater and more versatile than drilling the chassis
Tabs on the front outer edges and under the engine are for removable panels
On the lower rails brake line holder
Trans tunnel fuel and brake line clamps
top rails electrics and fuel

Yeah look good, where are they from?

They are from ebay eBay Item and are called Autograss chassis panel tabs brackets, the seller is williamsweldcraft

I collected the engine on Friday thanks to Andy and Tracy at Basset Down Balancing it look great.

In preparation of the engine going back in I’ve started to rivet the new floor, front and rear bulk heads. So far 400 rivets in and I’m about halfway through, the rivet are structural 4.8mm and they have all been done by hand which I don’t recommend.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Charlie C
They are from ebay eBay Item and are called Autograss chassis panel tabs brackets, the seller is williamsweldcraft

---

I’ve been busy
Floor, rear bulkhead, front bulk head lower and transmission tunnl riveted in by hand.
I’ve riveted the floor in one piece and cut a hole out for engine and gearbox access, I’ll use the cut out section as a removable cover to keep the underside panelled in except where the sump sticks out.





The engine and gearbox are in I’ve rested the inlet manifold and turbo assembly nothing is tightened up yet. The inlet manifold need the unwanted vacuum and coolant holes seal off.






On the bulk head I’ve cut to access hatches one for the battery and the other for the peddels, I’ve got some A5 size Kevlar cover for no other reason than being cosmetic.

There is only about 40mm between the edge of the turbo and the chassis rail, so not to tight but it might be a struggle to use a bigger turbo than a Garret 25xx





Andy at Basset Down Balancing were great you can see in the picture below the oil return they welded in, the also included a horizontal sump baffle. Also Andy fitted a MK2 1.8 mx5 pulley wheel with the aux belt drive cut off, this is had a timing ring on the back so I’m not stuck using the CAS on the back of the inlet cam. I will also need to use the 1.8 water pump pulley and alternator because the main pulley uses a different belt, ribbed instate of a V belt.





The picture below shows some of the additional triangulation I added, this also help securing the one pieces floor.


Next on the list is fit the steering column, new brack lines and refit the electrics.

[Edited on 17/5/18 by Charlie C]

I’m still plugging away with boring stuff like wiring and brake/fuel lines, nothing real interesting.

Because I stripped the chassis its given me the opportunity to fit things better neater and with greater access.

I did buy some new Mega Squirt MS3 and MS3X card looms as I could do a neater job on the re-install.

I’ve routed the cable via the foot wells to try and keep the bulk heads as clear as possible and I’ve located the battery to the N/S foot well.

I hope to get new body work in August from Exquinox, so I might get it on the road for the end of summer.

The project is still on I haven’t posted in a while firstly because no one is really that interested and secondly, I been doing jobs that aren’t based around the turbo conversion.
Any way this arrived today to me its car part porn and I might get a little over excited fitting it over the weekend. The radiator is to vw polo dimension with a deeper core and its made for Westfield’s so with a bit of fabricating of new brackets and chassis mounts in should fit nicely.




[Edited on 27/7/18 by Charlie C]

that does look like a proper bit of kit!

I’ve got my eye on one of them rads for my turbo winter upgrades.

Pretty sure some westfield owners have coolant temp issues using that set up,due to the end tanks of the intercooler blocking off quite a lot of air flow threw the rad

I've chatted to serveral westfield turbo owners who had simular arrangments but with smaller intercoolers and they didn't mention over heating problems.

Thanks for the heads up i'll keep a close eye on engine temp and ensure i have good ducting from the nose.

If be similar you mean the Radtec set up that is set up so the end tanks of the cooler don't block any air going to the radiator,the end tanks are top and bottom rather than left and right

http://radtec.co.uk/products/445/-Turbo-Engine-Package.htm

[Edited on 27/7/18 by CosKev3]

[Edited on 27/7/18 by CosKev3]

Hmm that’s a lot more cash.

Working on fitting the radiator and intercooler there is minimal over lap about 15mm altogether.

Starting to put new bits on the car, the body work should be with me by the me by the end of August.

I didn’t have a lot of time this weekend but a managed to fit the new injectors to the inlet manifold, I’ve been recommended Injector Dynamics ID1050X I believe these are Bosch injectors or associated with Bosch. The only problem I’ve found so far is the sockets are at the bottom of the injector instead of the top its an easy fix I’ve rotated the injector around so the socket is pointing to the side.

I fitted the throttle body and manifold this weekend.
I’ve blanked off the ERG and ICV firstly because these are areas where boost leak occurs and secondly because I’m not running aircon or power steering I wont have a huge change in engine load at idle and I can control it with the air bleed screw or the throttle stop adjuster.
The blanking plate came from https://davefab.com/.




I also bought the COPs from https://www.skuzzle.com/ I was a little disappointed to find that the COP aren’t denso parts for some reason I got it into my head that they should have been for the price, to be fair it doesn’t say on the advert that they are denso. Also the COPs don’t fit out of the box they need two plastic rings removing off the shaft.

I’ve been making steady progress I’ve had a few problems fitting the exhaust manifold because of holding down nut clearance issues the solution was to use K-nuts (https://k-nuts.com/) which have a smaller outer diameter.

I also used some Inconel turbo studs which aren’t cheap and one of the studs a had a poorly cut thread. The Inconel studs shouldn’t expand like normal steel studs with the aim of preventing the turbo coming loose, I’ve combined these with locking tabs and copper plated nuts.

Now the turbo is nearly bolted on I’ve started to plane the water connection to the turbo, the heater matrix inlet and outlet are conveniently placed these are 14-15mm diameter. The Garrett turbo water in/outlets are M14x1.5 threads I’ve ordered some barbed banjo unions to allow the water hoses to exit the turbo at 90°, the Garrett website indicates that the water in/outlets should be tilted at 15° from horizontal with a cold side feed lower so when the engine is off and hot the turbo will create a hot water syphon.

The big job has been fitting the new body work, I ordered new body work from Equinox and they have been great the quality is good, and I can’t fault their service. My old side panels were cut of behind the front wishbones and cut in two where the old roll cage fitted on the outside of the chassis, this had the added benefit of making the front section removable, so I could easily access the oil filter and master cylinder etc. My new side panels are in one piece and cut around the front suspension its already looking a lot neater, to gain access to the oil filter starter etc I’ve created a service hatch in the side and disguised it as and cooling vent. The vent is aluminium and was made by Bathocars http://bathoscars.simpl.com/shop.html the workmanship is great and its very light. I’ve also included a vent on the exhaust side which allows me to cut out a large whole for the exhaust and I can trim the aluminium vent around the exhaust which won’t be effected by the heat as much as the fibre glass.

The bonnet and nose I joined into one piece because the header tank is now under the nose and I wanted easy access without have to unbolt the nose every time I wanted to check the water level, also the intercooler pipes will make fixing the nose difficult as there is no space to get my hands in side the nose at the edges.

The rear tub is on and bolted in next the rear arches can be fitted and the lights and electric can start. I’ve decided to ditch the mx5 switchgear mainly because the bulky steering column cowl doesn’t look right. I’ve bought a universal switch gear from car builder solutions which I think is base on a landrover design which does dip main and indicators, the head light on side and on main is controlled by a switch which surprisingly was cheapest from Caterham cars.

The dash is rewired in and working, thank goodness I kept the loom colour coding details from when I bought the loom 5-6years ago. I’ve got rid of the MX5 stalks so I don’t need the column cowl which was bulky and took up space on the dashboard where my digi dash should go.

I’ve also change my random selection of switches to rocket switches, strangely enough I found Caterham car had the best stock and prices, I find for what I want much of the electrical and lighting pieces on the Caterham website well priced and in stock. I change the harzard switch which was a round multi pin style and worked off one relay to a 6 pin rocker, I found I had to add a relay to the ignition off circuit.

I used generic indicator, lights and horn stalk from CBS, the stalk attachment was a lot bigger than the steering column so I made a spacer out of nylon bar, I drilled the centre to the same diameter as the column and then cut the tube in half long ways to form two U section. It worked quite well and look a lot neater than the MX5 set up.
Most of the body work is now on, the seats are nearly fitted but I’ve lost some of the collars used to bolt the harnesses in I found some replacement but they were hard to find.



It took a while but the last set on Inconel studs for the turbo arrived all the way from oz, I also found some locking tabs on ebay they look like they are for a motorbike rear sprocket, hopefully they’ll keep the nuts in position.




My Haynes roadster had really poor castor and felt twitchy at speed, Matt at procomp recommended I increased the carter angle by moving the hub top pivot point back in relation to the bottom pivot point. Before Talon called it a day he made me a set of front upper wish bones which used rose joints instead of polly bushes they are the same layout as the MK U shape wishbone, as the rose joint are narrower than the polly bushes the wish bone could be slid back at the chassis bracket and shimmed accordingly. Personally, I wasn’t happy about using the rose joint in the vertical orientation many smarter people than me have warned against this because the load is at 90° from where it should be. Also the cost of good rose joint was £65+vat each, I’m not racing the car I use it un bumpy public B roads so for me rose joint don’t feel like the right option.

I had what I think was a good idea the rose joint wishbones could be modified to use bushes with the bushes welded off centre on the bush tubes to provide better castor. I couldn’t do this with the standard wishbone because they could fowl the shock springs. The bush tubes were made 5mm shorter than the standard tube to allow for shimming to balance the castor O/S and N/S. the new wish bone are about 8mm shorter than my old ones this is a good thing because the camber was limited by the old wish bone being too long.







[Edited on 5/10/18 by Charlie C]

[Edited on 5/10/18 by Charlie C]

The front suspension is on, loads more negative camber can be achieved now before hardly any could be set.




I’ve also moved the front indicators to be on the head light bracket, the bracket is from Caterham just manipulated in to the right shape.




The rear end is coming along nicely, fuel filler is now on the top instead of the side, on the side it was a right pain to fill.


I’ve also been working on the intercooler pipes trying to minimise the bends and fit everything in like the air filter and water pipes. One little problem is the angle of the throttle body, it points down a bit which means a cant but a solid pipe against it from the intercooler and I’ll need a hose with some fixability in it, I’m thinking of using a 300mm length of silicon hose which should be able to achieve the bend over its unsupported length approximately 200mm.

Do you need the TB to be on a angle for clearance or anything?

If not I would get the inlet manifold modified to get the TB level rather than use a piece of silicone

Your right a silicon pipe isnt the best solution, modifying the manifold will be quite a task I think cutting and shutting an ali pipe that runs from the intercooler to the TB into the correct entry angle might be the simplest solution.

Back on to the engine electrics, I thought I would post some information which might come in handy for some one.
Wiring the CAS to a mega squirt MS3 with MS3X card, with the plug lay flat and the clip facing you from left to right the MX5 wire colours are:
1. Black/green
2. White/red
3. White
4. Yellow/blue

There function is
1. Black/green = to ECU earth
2. White/red = 12v supply
3. White = crank position
4. Yellow/blue = cam position

MS3/MS3X connection
1. ECU earth = MS3 screened black (pin7)
2. 12v supply = switch fused live from same origin as megasquirt supply
3. Crank position = MS3 screened clear (pin24)
4. Cam position = MS3X white (pin32)

I’ve used a TPS from an automatic 1.6 mx5 (four pin) as it a variable TPS unlike the manual TPS (three pin) which is on off. The pins from top down with the TPS mounted on the manifold are as follows.

1. TPS 5v = MS3 grey (pin 26)
2. TPS signal = MS3 dark blue (pin 22)
3. Idle control switch = not required
4. Ground = MS3 sensor ground brown (pin 1 and 2)

Megasquirt MS3 and MS3X

For the COP i've been told that a capacitor isn’t strictly required but it is recommended, after a bit of searching and emailing people in the know (thanks Dale at Bailey Performance) I have ordered of these Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitors - Screw Terminal 25volts 10000uF Screw Terminal . It also has a maximum running temp of 125°C which will help as its going to be close to the COP’s, most I looked at have a maximum running temp of 85°C.

From what I understand the capacitor need to be installed between the 12v and Ground, see write up here
https://www.miataturbo.net/useful-saved-posts-8 /upgrading-coil-plugs-all-years-cop-writeup-12704/

[Edited on 8/11/18 by Charlie C]Aluminium Electrolytic Capacitors - Screw Terminal 25volts 10000uF Screw Terminal

[Edited on 8/11/18 by Charlie C]

[Edited on 8/11/18 by Charlie C]

How are you getting on with fitting your radiator/intercooler?
Im on with fitting mine which are seperate items.

This is my next big ticket item. Some pictures of the rad/intercooler fitted would be great

The radiator and intercooler are on I'll take some photos later and put them up here

The intercooler pipes were a tight fit with the top of the nose, but this was due to not being able to sit the whole lot back further the reason i couldn't move it back was the fan was hiting some addaitional cross members i've installed in the front box area, without these it would fit nicely.

Funny you should say about that, I was thinking about adding some triangulation while there is acces. I think I need all the big ticket items in place before I think about stuff like that.

Cheers

I had a lot of time off in December (leave to use up before the end of the year) so the car is nearly back together and hopefully I can get it on the rolling road next month.

The most complex part about the turbo install has been working out the routes for the pipe work.
For the water I took supply from the heater supply at the back of the engine, I’ve use the IL motorsport coolant reroute kit which diverts the coolant around the inlet manifold side of the engine and has an 16mm outlet for the heater, as there is no heater this was good for the turbo. The water re-enters the cooling system just before the water pump, I rotated the water pump inlet by 90° so the radiator pipe is now forward of the engine instead of backward of the engine originally voiding the PS pump. What was the 8mm take off from the thermostat has been drilled out and a 10mm aluminium pipe welded in which is now the supply from the form out let.
The Turbo water inlets are 10mm so I have used a reducer from the heater outlet to a 10mm aluminium pipe which runs around the turbo down pipe. The turbo inlets area about 150mm long and straight but a needed the inlet to have a 90° toward the rear of the car, I could find one with a bend in the direction a wanted so I used a pipe bender which worked a treat.
The oil lines were easier the mx5 1.6 early engines has a oil outlet at the back of the exhaust side of the block, I used a SS braided line to the turbo. The oil return was straight forward when I had the engine rebuilt a male hose fitting installed on the sump.
Where pipes/hoses are close to the turbo I added Aeroquip fire sleeve over the top just in case it gets hot.
The vacuum pipes for the boost controller took some trail and error in the end I used 6mm aluminium pipe with fuel hose links

I ordered my coolex package over the weekend.
It’s amazing how quick the engine bay fills up.

Cheers

[Edited on 3/1/19 by big_wasa]

A few more images
This is the route of the boost control vacuum and the turbo water supply


Here you can see the air filter box attached directly to the turbo and a 90° bend silicon hose from the air box to a vent in the bonnet.


Below is the water pump inlet housing rotated 90° with a 10mm pipe welded on for the turbo water outlet.


I had the exhaust welded its 3inch from the turbo, I’ve included a flexi section to take the stress off the down pipe, also the silencer is mounted by four anti vibration mounts.


A few more wires to tidy up and a steering wheel quick release boss to add.



The body work has been cleaned and is looking good, next job is to add the bonnet clips


The dump valve is on the cold side on the intercooler because it’s the first practical place to install a T peace hose and it keeps the vacuum hose length short.


Bonnet vent above the turbo, this is more for when the car is stationary and it will let the hot air rise from the turbo and out instead of pooling under the bonnet.


Three air vents in the bonnet, the one on the side is for the air feed to the air box, the one at the back is to help air flow out of the engine bay.


The back is finished apart from fitting the number plate, the third brake light is from Caterham cars.


[Edited on 3/1/19 by Charlie C]

At the weekend I started to do a final test the electrics and i noticed when the fuel pump came on there was a leak on one of the injectors, when i took the injector out i noticed the top o ring was flat on one side. Whilst I had the injector out (new set of injector dynamics injectors) I checked the length from the top o ring to the bottom edge of the lower seal and it was 1.5mm less than a set of reconditioned mx5 injectors I have spare, the lower seal on the recon injector was 1.5mm thinker, I double check the seal sizes and injector length against an old set of MX5 injector and it looks the Injector Dynamics seals are thinner. I’m probably being over careful but leaking fuel is never a good idea, I’ve used the thicker lower seals from the recon injector and the o ring (same size), so far I cant find any leaks so hopeful problem solved.

The fibreglass looks really nice quality

Can I ask if you have mounted the rad package solidly or rubber mounted ? Cheers

Hi

I've used solid mounts my suspension is not harsh and the engine is on rubber mounts so i figured rubber mounts are not necessary.

Ok thanks.

What else can i say, absolutely epic work!!!

Thanks!

I've got the car booked in with Bailey Performance on Febuary the 15th to have the ecu mapped so if everything goes ok it will be back on the road this spring.

I need to try and book the car in with Procomp to have the front alignment set up and some heavier spring on the back, when the car was on the road the rear would bottom out on sudden dips in the road.

cracking build

quote:

---

Originally posted by Charlie C
Thanks!

I've got the car booked in with Bailey Performance on Febuary the 15th to have the ecu mapped so if everything goes ok it will be back on the road this spring.

I need to try and book the car in with Procomp to have the front alignment set up and some heavier spring on the back, when the car was on the road the rear would bottom out on sudden dips in the road.

---

Hi

Sorry its the 15th of feb, the wait seems to be taking for ever.

Last week I filled up the coolant system and found a leak, it was my own stupid fault. I now know that the water pump inlet gasket can only be fitted one way and this is with the tab facing away from the pump. With the tab facing the pump the gasket is to close to the edge of the inlet casting and can’t make a good seal.

Wrong way round, tab facing the water pump


Right way around tab facing away from the pump

I was asked to take some pictures of the roll cage so I thought I would share them as we all like a photo. Instead of having hoops going across the chassis I’ve got them going along the chassis to improve clearance to my crash helmet from the bars that go along the chassis. I found with hoops going across the chassis the longitudinal bars are either on the top horizontal section and come into the passage area so the whole cage needs to be higher to avoid hitting the bar with the crash hat, or they are some where between the horizontal and vertical section of the hoop and just don’t look right.

This is fantastic! I am doing the same to my own - turbo mx5.

Your Davefab manifold - is this a log manifold?

Hi yes, it is a log manifold, I think a custom made equal length manifold could fit with the turbo lower than the exhaust ports.

I had the car on the rolling road but had a few problems which meant a full power run wasn’t possible.

The first problem was my wiring, I had wired the COP’s and the injectors in cylinder order not firing order 1,3,4,2 not a big issue but it took time to identify and fix.

The second problem was the alternator, I used a 1.8 alternator which came with an mx5 mk2.5 engine/gearbox a bought 18months ago. In turns out that mk2+ alternators are ecu regulated and as I’m using a megasquirt ms3 this is a function I hadn’t wired in, so the alternator wasn’t charging.

The third problem was the engine getting hot, this was due to the turbo coolant out let going back into the cooling system bypassing the radiator, I have a suspicion the system had air in it and taking the coolant temp sensor out whilst filling should help. This is now being re-routed via the radiator and I’m going to use a wider opening thermostat.

Four problem was my own stupid fault I hadn’t tightened one of the oil cool hoses up so the was a small leak

Fifth problem was clutch adjustment and air in the hydraulics, fist the clutch wasn’t disengaging I adjusted the push rod and then it slipped. It a new clutch so hopefully its not buggered and it down to adjustment and bleeding.

Sixth problem was there is a small water leak and the back of the head which I think is coming from a rubber bung which may have split.

Seventh problem was one on the injector seal was leaking, I hadn’t seated it right, so another lesson learnt.

I’ve put a new alternator in and found that the mk1 1.8 and the mk2 1.6 share the same alternator pivot bolt and the mk2/2.5 1.8 and mk1 1.6 share an alternate bolt. And I had the wrong bolt luckily Autolink had one in stock and it was with me the next day. It looks like I’ve always had the later alternator originally had a 1.6 V belt but my engine now runs on the ribbed belt set up of the 1.8, this could be why my engine was running way to rich and nackered the engine in the first place.

The water leak at the back of the head was due to the dash water temp sensor not being tightened up fully, I assumed as this was installed during the engine build and it was bench run that it would have been tightened up, I’m learning not to assume anything.

I’ve re-installed the injectors, this time I used loads of Vaseline on the seals and it slipped in nicely I bit tight at first but when it was in it was great.

When are you booked back in for the rolling road?
I’ve got mine running and it’s going in for rolling road on 11th March.
Where did you buy your rear long bonnet vent, I could do with something similar.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Charlie C


The third problem was the engine getting hot, this was due to the turbo coolant out let going back into the cooling system bypassing the radiator, I have a suspicion the system had air in it and taking the coolant temp sensor out whilst filling should help. This is now being re-routed via the radiator and I’m going to use a wider opening thermostat.

---

Hi

Looking at the size of the thermostat opening (it a genuine mazda thermostat ) its not very big and the turbo water supply is 10mm and a lot shorter route for the water my thinking is a reasonable chunk of the hot coolant is just going round the uncooled circuit also being on the rolling road with fans is not going to help. If the problem persists, I’ll remove the intercooler and locate it away from the radiator probably using a long short intercooler sitting in front of the head with vents in the nose.

It’s overheating because of your expansion bottle. After seeing your pics I bought a similar expansion tank and mounted it where yours is, it overheated and would not cool down.
I went back to using my VW Polo expansion tank mounted on the bulk head and now it doesn’t get hot.
The turbo return pipe won’t make a dot of difference to your temperature, you have air trapped in the system and it’s not bleeding into your expansion bottle and the water is getting hotter and hotter.
Either mount your bottle higher on the bulk head or use a VW Polo tank. You want the small top pipe of the radiator rising towards the expansion tank so that any trapped air will escape into the tank, then the bigger return pipe T piecing back into the cold bottom pipe of your radiator.
I have also used a good quality fan (Spal) and made some ducting for the radiatir from aluminium.

I’ve used a VW polo tank in the past on this car and had problems so I don’t think the tank it self will make too much difference. I have the header tank set up as you described, and the fan is good quality and is tight to the radiator.

Looking at the cooling system yesterday and noticed that the radiator air bleed is slightly lower or about level with the head rear water outlet, I’ve just ordered a swirl pot to go at the back of the cooling system to help bleed off air, it’s a small one build for a fiesta RS turbo. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try a larger swirl pot with an integrated rad cap.

The fiesta swirl pot has worked well I’ve had the engine running a couple of times and the cooling system is bleeding off air better now. I’ve not had the engine running more than 10mins yet due to an alternator problem.




I replaced the alternator and found the Voltage was still low, a bit of investigation found that the alternator was at fault. Not knowing much about car electrics, I posted the issue on here and Russbost identified the problem straight away and siad that the alternator needs a perm live and switched live with the dash battery warning lighting providing the switch live. A bit of investigation found that my Acewell dash which has a battery warning light does have not a direct connection to the alternator so I hadn’t connected up the switch live to the alternator, my dash wiring loom tail had the alternator warning light cable next to a spare perm live so an easy fix once I knew what the problem was.

I purchased a Clarke CHT857 Brake and Clutch Bleeding Kit with a universal adaptor to fit my OBP brake and clutch reservoirs. The adaptor was a load of crap, to get a tight enough seal resulted in the adaptor bowing which when tested using air pressure is ok but when brake fluid is added it leaked everywhere. I’ve sent the bleed kit back and bought a cheaper Sealey version which has a reservoir cap which I can take apart and use the parts to modify a spare OBP cap I have collecting dust.

How are you getting on with remapping on the rolling road?
My 1.6 MX5 turbo engined kit car has just been set up, he used the electronic boost controller to keep the torque at 210ftlb on a nice flat curve from 3500-7500rpm and 250bhp. Looking forward to trying it out on the track next Monday.

I’ve had a problem with the clutch which I’ve had to change, I bought a new clutch a year ago from Skuzzle Motorsport to have it balanced with the engine only to find out when on the rolling road it was dragging badly then slipping when it got hot. The problem was with the friction plate being 1mm to thick, it is a modified standard plate Exedy with ceramic pucks on one side, I assume Skuzzle motorsport had it a batch commissioned. The pressure plate was heavy duty but lacked the appropriate throw to disengage the clutch.

I’ve fitted a new clutch and found one maybe two water leaks, the inlet manifold gasket appeared to be leaking from a water way between cylinder 3&4 which is blocked off by the manifold, and the thermostat housing on the rear (Coolant reroute) appeared to be leaking. The two are close together it is possible it could be one leak making the other area wet, I decided to change both gaskets to be on the safe side. On the inlet manifold I used a paper gasket but the oem gasket is metal, I’m fitting a metal oem gasket when it arrives.

When all the problems are fixed I will book some more time on the RR. The test drives I’ve had so far have been good, the turbo spool isn’t noticeable which was my plan and that is why I when for a smaller turbo garret gt2554r, if i want more power it isnt a lot of work to swap to the GT2556r.

Its been a while since I last updated.

New clutch and master cylinder work great

New thinner intercooler is helping keep the air temp down, but I need to seal the gap between intercooler and the radiator to help the air flow.
Took the car to Dale at Bailey Performance yesterday and its all running correctly and at last its usable just need to have the wheel alignment set up properly I cant find any one local to set the toe because they say they cant get the alignment tool under the wheel arches, so I’m going to try and book some time at Procomp.

I had a couple of small problems firstly one on the TPS connect terminals had popped loose, and secondly I bought a pipercross viper air filter in a box combination and apart from falling apart the turbo sucked the foam filter in chopping the top of the foam off luckily there was no damage to the car only my pocket as I wasted my money on what is now land fill. Dale kindly found me a replacement cone filter which we made fit.

On the drive home the car feels so powerful more then I need or ever use but it does put a huge smile on my face. Not the figures mean a great deal as I’m not racing but I think Dale said that its peak power is 258 HP at the fly wheel and 225 WHP. When I get a copy of the dyno graph I’ll post it here.

Its appears to be a common story on here, I’m now thinking of selling it. I have no time to drive it no time to work on it and looking at moving house and changing my daily drive, so if any one knows of someone looking for a new toy I’m open to offers.

It’s a nice motor.

I would be interested in your opinions in it’s before and after turbo drivability.

On the 45min drive back the Bailey Performance the drivability was much better, it has double the power at the wheels so it’s a given that its quicker. Normal driving on B roads the car is a lot more positive its nicer to drive, when I pushed it a bit more the power just kept building and building like the speed. Its got a LSD and soft suspension so the rear end has not stepped out yet not that I’ve tried, the only time I had wheel spin was on a uphill start when I miss judged the clutch bighting point.

Over all with all the changes to the engine and the chassis it feels like a much better car to drive, until the suspension it set up correctly and I’ve driven it a bit more its hard to make a direct comparison but so far so good.

New air filter is on, I’ve had to move the pipe from the turbo to the intercooler and the oil catch tank. I did think about removing the catch and have filter on the breather outlets but I didn’t like the idea of the oil vaper condensing and dropping on the exhaust. I’ve also sealed the gap between the intercooler and radiator to help the flow through the radiator.

How’s the cooling package coping with the weather ? Any idea what your charge temps are ?

Cheers

The cooling was ok on the drive home from the RR
If I could find somewhere to locate the intercooler so its not in front of the radiator I would as I don’t think it’s the best idea. I’ve sealed the gap between the two I won’t be able to monitor the difference until I get out in the car next. I just don’t get the time to go out in it, its really wasted sitting the garage I think I will have to properly put it up for sale before a spend more money on it I was thinking about £6750 for it. I’ve already started planning putting cortina uprights on it (new top wishbone at least and probably bottom to do it right)

Are you getting bored of the power yet?

Hi mate

Not had a chance to drive it since coming back from yours a couple of weeks ago.

[Edited on 8/7/19 by Charlie C]

[Edited on 8/7/19 by Charlie C]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Charlie C
The cooling was ok on the drive home from the RR
If I could find somewhere to locate the intercooler so its not in front of the radiator I would as I don’t think it’s the best idea.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by CosKev3

quote:

---

Originally posted by Charlie C
The cooling was ok on the drive home from the RR
If I could find somewhere to locate the intercooler so its not in front of the radiator I would as I don’t think it’s the best idea.

---

As others have found with that rad/intercooler set up,it struggles.

Radtec set up works fine

---

I have changed the set up so it is now the same as radtec there is no difference in core sizes and flow direction. The temp was sitting between 93-83 on the road so its not that bad i suppose, I'll try a turbo jacket and see if that makes any difference.

[Edited on 9/7/19 by Charlie C]

Finally managed to get around to posting the RR print outs, Dale at Bailey performance as been great as usual really helpful and friendly also the butchers down the road do great pork pies and pasties!

The graph on the left is the original RR run with ITB cams etc and the graph on the right was done yesterday.


As soon as I pick the car up from Dale I’ll be taking pictures and putting up for sale as I don’t have the time to drive it also I need the space in the garage and the ever impending doom for redundancy. I think in the current market £7250 is a reasonable price for a quick sale.

Registered and IVA’d in February 2017 as a Haynes roadster 1.6, so first MOT due next year.
I’ve covered about 1000 miles in that time.
The chassis and wishbones are talon fabricated and welded.
The body work is only a year old and from Equinox products
The shocks are protech and are upgraded by Procomp, the suspension has also been corner weighted by Matt at Procomp
The front brakes calipers are Willwood and the rear are standard sierra (disc)

The engine and auxiliaries has cost me approximately £5000 in the past couple of years.

The Engine is a mk1 mx5 1.6 and was rebuilt by Basset down engineering last year and done about 40miles, it has reconditioned head, forged rods, balanced crank, baffled sump, welded in turbo oil return, new oil and water pumps and bench run in.
The turbo manifold and down pipe are custom fabricated by DaveFab and has a 3inch down pipe.
The turbo is a new Garret GT2254r and there is a new Forge DV.
The engine is managed by a Megasquiret MS3x ECU.
Boost controller can be activated and de-activated by a switch on the dash.
New COP’s, injectors (Injector Dynamics ID1050X) alternator, oil cooler, radiator, intercooler and high pressure fuel pump were installed as part of the turbo install.
The coolant is rerouted via the back of the head using a IL motorsport kit.

The gearbox is from a MX5 mk2.5 1.8 it is and updated design from the MK1/2 also the car was a low millage rust bucket so it’s a nice smooth gear box.

The clutch is a new Clutch Kit, Exedy Stage 2 Cerametallic, 1.8 MX5 on a new light weigh flywheel.

The front rear axles are sierra, with a sierra 3.95 LSD with rebuilt by Tracsport in Redditch.

[Edited on 8/8/19 by Charlie C]

Too cheap!

Nice car, runs like a Swiss watch, goes like a rocket!