Hbwiggins

Started at the back of the car last night. I had a buddy come over that is a super good expert in making tubing, exhaust, welding aluminum, etc... We got the pipe feeding the turbo built and tied it into the wastegate.

After that, we went to the front and started coming back with the cold side piping.

That is a lot of stuff to stuff into a small space! It looks like it will work great!

Hbwiggins

I made a little more progress but no pictures tonight. The drive by wire gas pedal is now mounted! I also got the heater hoses hooked up with provisions for the comp turbo. Trying to keep making steady progress...

Gator Bait

Are you planning to ceramic coat the exhaust and boost pipes? Especially where they are in close proximity? The work looks great. When done, unbolt it and ship it to me please.

Hbwiggins

I am planning on wrapping the hot side. Where it is really close (really just one spot) I will probably add two layers of wrap. I also have some cerakote coating for the manifolds and the turbo exhaust housing to hopefully keep them looking good. I hope that will be enough to take care of any heat problems.

My exhaust/tubing guy is supposed to come back over tomorrow night and saturday to finish that up.

I REALLY NEED A RADIATOR! It was supposed to ship last Friday. It would be awesome if it showed up tomorrow!

I also got the Dash mounted. I went back to my stereo installer days and made a plate to put the Holley display where the OEM gauges went. I really like the OEM gauges but I think this thing will be OK. We will see when I get it turned on.

Hbwiggins

OK... I need an opinion. That holley dash is fairly big and I didn't think I would have room for anything other than that when I mounted it. Looks like I could put two 2 1/16" gauges in there. One on each side. That dash is going to show me everything I "need" to see but I wouldn't mind having two regular gauges in there also. Thought about doing a fuel level and something else... What you think?

Gator Bait

I was thinking the same thing when I saw this. There are some small multi- guages you could go with. I would likely go for one with fuel level and coolant temp and another with oil temp and oil pressure. Though I would be tempted for a boost gauge as I prefer analog/sweep gauges. I haven't seen the Holly to see its display options though.

Hbwiggins

Finished the hot side! Just have to pull it back down and do final welding after we get the cold side done.

Hbwiggins

Now that I have the exhaust and charge tubing built, it is a good time to pull it all and do some more lizard skin Insulation and try the cerakote stuff on the exhaust manifolds and turbo housing. This stuff turned out really nice and I have plenty left out of a pint so I think I'll do the entire exhaust also. I'll probably still wrap it but it can't hurt. I don't want to deal with heat!

Hbwiggins

Ordered a Boost gauge and Fuel Level gauge from speedhut. I liked the way they look at night.

Gator Bait

Nice. I like the red dials.

charchri4

LOL I didn't even notice the red dials just thought how happy it is to need a boost gauge!

SupaDupaSteve

Is that ceramic a powder? Also, what do you think of the lizard skin? I've been contemplating it for my tunnel. I also noticed there's 2 different kinds. One for heat and one for noise

Hbwiggins

That stuff is not a powder. It is a type of paint. Cerakote Coatings. A painter buddy told me about it. You are supposed to heat it to 2000 degrees and then dip it in water and it not discolor.

I bought the Ceramic Insulation stuff from Lizard Skin. It is supposed to do good with heat rejection. I like it so far but I haven't driven the car yet. You can spray the sound deadener over this stuff. I wanted to do that also but I just couldn't justify the extra weight. I can also spray the inside of the car after I get it done if I want to add it later.

Hbwiggins

I have been making more progress lately but just not posting pics. It is to the point where most everything is fabbed up and I am down to wiring and the small details... Hopefully my radiator will ship today. I also ran into an issue with the 02 sensor bungs I put into the pipes coming right off the manifolds. Turns out, I have to read the O2 directly AFTER the turbo. Where I had it would make the sensor read incorrectly and probably kill it with heat sooner rather than later. That got me thinking about EGT's so I picked up a 0-5V egt sensor that I can wire directly into the Holley system. This way, I get warnings, gauges, etc if there is a problem. I'll drill and tap an o2 sensor plug to hold the pyrometer and stick it back where the 02 was going. I was fortunate to have the 02 sensor wires off the main harness be long enough to reach to the back.

Underdog

Freaking fantastic! I love following along with this!

charchri4

WOW that is truly a work of art!!!

Hbwiggins

Thanks for the thumbs up! I received my gauges from speed hut today. I spent a few minutes getting them mounted tonight.


I also got my AC fittings back so I can mock up the hoses. I found a local AC shop that welded hose ends to my cut up miata hoses. I have to take them back to them tomorrow to get them crimped. In my opinion, these guys did a really good job of putting the ends on. He just tossed me the entire roll of two different size AC hoses, told me to make them up like I wanted and bring his hose back when I got done. Pretty cool guys.

Hbwiggins

Finally got my radiator! Looks good so far. The location of the tube that goes to the coolant reservoir has me a little concerned. I think it is right where I wanted to come through with a charge tube from the intercooler. I'll know tonight when I mock it up! Other than that, (which wouldn't be a problem with a regular LS miata) it looks great!

Hbwiggins

I got the exhaust pressure sensor installed. Its just a 0-100 PSI pressure sensor but you have to isolate it from the heat of the exhaust. This should work.


EGT sensor


Underhood pic... I ended up moving the coolant bottle but this is a picture of it before.

Hbwiggins

IT RUNS! I'll get some pictures and video up tonight or tomorrow. I have been trying to get all the little stuff finished up before this weekend. I set an appointment for my alignment guy tomorrow morning at 9:00am. I figured that would FORCE me to get it ready to drive over there. I still have quite the list of things to accomplish tonight but I HOPE I can make it...

Had a few crazy issues... On the Holley EFI stuff, on their wiring diagram, it shows a wire that feeds the transmission +12V is to be tied to a "switched 12V" source. I did that. Tied it to the ignition wire. Well the car doesn't want to turn off once started. Further in the instructions (not on the wiring diagram BTW), in the "Notes" section it says don't tie it to the ignition source or it can feedback voltage. Got that fixed but then....

My throttle won't go past 25% open. There is no adjustment because it's drive by wire. On the Drive by wire harness, it has a red/white wire. All the other red/white wires go to ignition. That's where I tied this one. After digging further into the diagrams, it shows this particular red/white gets tied to the brake pedal so it can kill throttle when you hit the brakes. No thanks on that option! Clipped the wire and 100% throttle!! Funny part is the transmission harness has a brake input. The wire is grey. WHY NOT USE THE SAME COLORS?

One last issue... Wiring up the AC. I got everything wired for the AC. Jumped out the pressure switch to make the system think it is charged, then went inside and turned on the AC. I heard something pop outside. It had blown a fuse. I felt that I had it wired correctly but started second guessing myself. I ended up tracing down all the wires and checking voltages and it all looked good. I unplugged the compressor, put a new fuse in and it worked perfect. Plug in the compressor and the fuse blows! Turns out the compressor clutch coil (NEW GM COMPRESSOR) is shorted. I metered it and got .1 OHM. That's a dead short. I have another one coming that will HOPEFULLY show up today...
All these are normal little issues that you run across. There is a lot of new/rebuilt stuff I am dealing with and it is to be expected I guess.

Fun times!

Underdog

Excellent! Congratulations and great work tracking down those little nits. Appreciate all of the updates!

ItsAllRigged

Nice work! We'll be waiting for the vids. Im anxious to hear what this beast sounds like!

shawn

i give up. lol

AliceSML79

this is a cool build. i always wondered if i could drop a ls3 crate in my 06 and keep a auto. this build has that and a turbo. but with as handicapped i am id have to have someone like flying miata build me a automatic ls3 out of my 2006 since my injury prevents banging the gears myself. maybe one day ill get it built now how can a girl earn 40k to get a ls3 miata made, LOL

V8droptop

5.3+auto on the cheap could probably done. Seen a number of 5.3 swaps on LS1tech, check out their hybrid section. There is almost as many there as there are here.
Conversions & Hybrids - LS1TECH

Nice work on sorting the turbo project mate! Can't wait for you to get some crusing vids.

Is this making it to the Mitty??