Mods - 99 (BRP version) coldside in a 96

[Gord96BRG]

So I finally hit the road today, nearly 7 months after first placing an order for a BRP MP62 Coldside for my 96! We won't go over the history or reasons why I had to go this way, but in the end to make my deal work I ended up getting a 99 version of the kit that had been polished for a customer who then changed their mind. So, I had to get a 99 head to go with the kit! Little did I know that there were significant differences between the 94-97 and 99+ versions... thus most of the modifications!

Before getting to the mods to the now-FFS supercharger kit, I had to install the 99 head. I took the opportunity to clean up the piston tops with combustion chamber cleaner - here's the job half done:

http://upload4.postimage.org/268724/Choate_20060424_0031_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268724/photo_hosting.html)

I had to adapt the vacuum, fuel, and cooling systems to make the 99 kit work on my 96. The 96 Idle Air Controller has coolant lines attached, so I had to find a spot on my ABS-equipped NA car to locate this IAC where the air hoses to the pre- and post throttle body connections would be short, and could get coolant lines to it (between back of head, oil filter adapter, and thermostat housing. I ended up installing it over the passenger side shock top, after I removed the EGR solenoids and vacuum connections. Here's the IAC unit:
http://upload4.postimage.org/268746/Choate_20060524_0049_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268746/photo_hosting.html)
http://upload4.postimage.org/268747/Choate_20060524_0050_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268747/photo_hosting.html)

I had modified the throttle body and TB adapter vacuum connections before installing it - I changed both the right side elbow barbs to straight barbs, which worked perfectly for the IAC location. On the TB adapter vacuum module, I removed the large block and replaced it with a simpler tee connection - again, since I was disabling EGR I did not need the EGR connection to the TB adapter, so 2 vacuum connections to the TB adapter worked fine for me.

(continued)
Gordon

[Gord96BRG]

The bypass valve came installed to the rear of the bypass shaft. On my 96, that meant the vacuum canister wanted to be inside the ABS unit. I 'clocked' the bypass valve after discussing with Tom, so it was now in front of the bypass shaft. Unfortunately, that meant the throttle cable bracket that I had ordered from Tom would no longer fit (the older version of the kit had the throttle cable running loose across the top of the SC and cam cover; kind of messy looking). I cut up the wrong bracket and used some other angle brackets to get an interim mount, then last night built a sturdier mount. A Home Depot run snagged me an ordinary 5"x5" right angle bracket; an hour with pliers, drill, and Dremel yielded this:
http://upload4.postimage.org/268791/Choate_20060524_0040_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268791/photo_hosting.html)
This picture shows the bracket mounted, and the clocked bypass valve:
http://upload4.postimage.org/268795/Choate_20060524_0043_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268795/photo_hosting.html)
More angles:
http://upload4.postimage.org/268797/Choate_20060524_0042_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268797/photo_hosting.html)
http://upload4.postimage.org/268800/Choate_20060524_0044_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268800/photo_hosting.html)
I'm hoping that by mounting to the back of the throttle body and the bypass valve shaft area, there will not be significant vibration to cause fatigue cracking. Time will tell!

Oh, yeah - as that last picture hints at, I had to make a few changes to the vacuum manifold, as well as the vacuum barbs on the TB and TB adapter. Here's another pic of the manifold:
http://upload4.postimage.org/268824/Choate_20060524_0051_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268824/photo_hosting.html)
I had to plug one port, since the removal of EGR meant I didn't have a boost sensor requiring a vacuum signal. I also swapped a straight barb for an elbow barb, and re-oriented another elbow barb.

(continued)

[Gord96BRG]

Late in the install, I found out that the hood brace rib on my 96 would likely interfere with the supercharger on the 99+ version manifold and spacer - Tom now uses a 1/2" spacer on the 94-97 kits, rather than the 1" spacer on the 99+ kits. That 1/2" makes all the difference! I confirmed that there was light contact, then got out the drill and Dremel again, and removed a 1"x3" crown section from the offending rib. No pics, sorry.

Here's the finished engine compartment:
http://upload4.postimage.org/268837/Choate_20060524_0045_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268837/photo_hosting.html)
http://upload4.postimage.org/268842/Choate_20060524_0047_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268842/photo_hosting.html)

Along with hybridizing the 99 kit onto my 96, I also decided to use an FM Obiwan Link programmable ECU to manage all fuel and timing functions. I'm using FM's knock sensor, RC Engineering 550 injectors, and an Innovate LC-1 wide-band O2 sensor setup. The Link will auto-tune from the wide-band, so I have big hopes for tuning relatively easily! The FM Link and WB O2 introduced other complications under the hood, but not too bad overall.

For initial tuning and troubleshooting purposes, I installed a Stewart Warner vacuum/boost gauge (30 in Hg, 15 psi boost), and the Innovate XD-1 (now called the XD-16) programmable, recording A/F gauge. I'm not convinced I want those full time in the long term, so I built a mounting setup to put them on the side of the console with zero holes or changes to the interior parts. It bolts on where the removable plastic cover is on the passenger side of the centre console stack, then has a few velcro strips to hold it steady and rattle-free. I can unbolt the mount, disconnect the wiring (via the disconnects I installed), peel off the velcro, snap on the bolt cover, and it's completely back to stock.
http://upload4.postimage.org/268872/Choate_20060524_0055_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268872/photo_hosting.html)
http://upload4.postimage.org/268873/Choate_20060524_0058_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268873/photo_hosting.html)
http://upload4.postimage.org/268875/Choate_20060524_0059_small.jpg (http://upload4.postimage.org/268875/photo_hosting.html)


Regards,
Gordon

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

It's been a struggle but I have to say it sure is pretty. The ABS version of the throttle bracket will be in the mail today.

Now we need to hear how much WHP it is making. :-)

[Gord96BRG]

It's been a struggle but I have to say it sure is pretty. The ABS version of the throttle bracket will be in the mail today.

Now we need to hear how much WHP it is making. :-)

Well, it sure has been a struggle!!!! Since my last post in May, I've been fighting an intermittent, random, yet repeatable, misfire stutter. Remember, I installed a FM Link (Obiwan 96-97 version) ECU with RC 550 injectors. First, I had a problem with the Link MAP sensor unit not reading the knock sensor microphone correctly, so waited a few weeks for that replacement. I also had the misfire from the start, but that troubleshooting had to wait until the MAP sensor was replaced.

The misfire continued, and I tried replacing plugs (x4), wires (x3), coil pack, cleaned grounds, changed grounds, installed new grounds, redid every wiring connection I ever made, made a few new ones, double- and triple-checked all the hoses. That work, spread amongst vacation and waiting for parts, took the whole summer. Nothing made any difference.

I had a local Miata guru who had tuned several Links to perfection spend 6 hours with me 2 weeks ago - he's normally very calm and even-tempered, but after a few hours of testing, adjusting, fixing, and test driving inbetween each change, each time to have the misfire reappear on schedule and disappear on schedule (I had a route that made it completely repeatable), he was reduced to say "If this thing was a f'ing horse we'd shoot it!" He left after 6 hours, suggested another ground or two to clean, then turn it back to FM.

I had already done bunches of datalogs and sent them off to FM, but they were drawing a blank on this problem as well. Unlike most misfires, this one would disappear under WOT above ~5K rpm - it would pull clean and strong, then start stuttering when I went back to cruise throttle and rpm. Also, I had been e-mailing Tom off and on over the 3 months to keep him up to speed, and he'd send suggestions. All good ones, although none helped solve the misfire, until we came to an idea that the misfire might be an injector sticking open, rather than an ignition or injector not opening problem. So, I pulled out the RC 550 injectors, spliced back in the OEM connectors, and reinstalled the OEM injectors.

Went for a test drive, and NO MISFIRE or stutter!!! I drove for a while, then again on Sunday - and it is solved. It seems that one or two of the RC injectors (brand new, straight out of the box) would stick open or close too late, but only sometimes, and that was the cause of the intermittent stutter. Too much fuel being dumped in one or two cylinders, so the plug couldn't ignite the way too rich mixture. With the OEM injectors, the Link autotune function quickly got a smooth fuel map, the AF ratios are now rock solid and on target instead of jumping and bouncing constantly, and it's great... except that the OEM injectors hit 80% duty cycle by 6500 rpm! I've spoken to FM, and they'll swap the faulty set of injectors, so soon I should have reliable fueling to let me install the 115 pulley. I also need to install the new high-flow cat converter I bought, since I was quite certain that my original cat would be ruined by all the raw fuel that I was dumping when the car was misfiring.

Once the replacement injectors are in, the cat replaced, and the 115 pulley installed, I intend to hit the dyno to see what it can do... but at this point, it's just a huge relief to finally get it running well! (And it's almost a bigger relief to find that I didn't do anything wrong to cause the misfire :oops: :lol: )

BIG thanks to Tom for his time, help, and suggestions for troubleshooting, even though he had nothing to do with the components that were causing problems. He was a big factor in narrowing the problem down to the injectors, so I am most grateful. Thanks again, Tom! I owe you a Canadian beer or two! ;)

Regards,
Gordon

[99mx5]

Hi Gordon!
Great to hear you solved the problem. Now you can enjoy what you deserve after so much hard work.
:)

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Next time buy a 94-97 kit first and leave the design work to us. ;)

Glad it is all together and running. 80% is no big deal for those injectors. If they run short, the 5th injector will solve that.

[Gord96BRG]

Latest update - it turns out it was NOT a problem with the injectors, per se!

Last weekend I installed the 115 pulley and a replacement Carsound cat converter. Again, drove great, but now the stock injectors were hitting 100% duty cycle by ~5700 rpm :cool:. On Tuesday, the replacement RC 550 low impedance injectors arrived from FM, so I swapped them in straight away. Re-adjusted the fuel map, fired it up and let it warm up, then went for a drive... and damned if the f'in misfire/stutter didn't return when I drove up the notorious hill!!! Exactly the same behavior as the previous set of RC 550s, as to when and where it would misfire.

Since it's pretty hard to believe that I'd get 2 sets of new RC 550 injectors that are bad out of the box, then the only remaining possibility is that the FM Obiwan Link ECU in my car isn't happy driving the low impedance injectors. FM says that one of the main revisions to the Obiwan version of the Link (the Obiwan version is only used for the 96-97 cars, and is a much more powerful (dual processor) ECU than the other Links) was the ability to drive low impedance injectors. So, rather than send the ECU back to FM for diagnostics, I got a set of used RC 440 high impedance injectors from a local club member, and swapped those in last night (the stock Miata injectors are high impedance). Once again, drove up the notorious hill - no misfire! It was running pig rich, around 10:1 AF ratio, since I had no time to tune it yet, but still no misfire anywhere, it ran as smoothly as it did with the stock injectors. I did a quick blast down the faster road nearby, and even with 10:1 AF ratios, at 7200 rpm the 440 injectors were only hitting 67% duty cycle, so they should be fine for my setup.

FM is baffled by the apparent problems my Link ECU has driving the low impedance 550s, but I don't want to send the ECU back to them for diagnostics, I just want to drive it for a couple of days before the snow flies! Woohoo at last!

I may have a chance to get to a dyno in the next couple of weeks, weather permitting, and assuming that I can get a couple of days tuning in first. The dyno I ran on last year was a Mustang dyno, which reads about 13% lower than DynoJets. My nearly stock 1996 Miata turned 96 rwhp then, so about 108 DynoJet rwhp. Any guesses what the Coldside setup will get? (115 pulley, 99 head on 96 block, RB 4-1 header, 7700 rpm redline) ;)

[chuckerants]

My guess, 215HP?

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Depends on whether you can turn the fuel back down. You can lose a lot of WHP if too rich. If you can tune it, I would guess 220-230. There's a lot of extra WHP in that extra 500RPM.

[Gord96BRG]

I may have a chance to get to a dyno in the next couple of weeks, weather permitting, and assuming that I can get a couple of days tuning in first. The dyno I ran on last year was a Mustang dyno, which reads about 13% lower than DynoJets. My nearly stock 1996 Miata turned 96 rwhp then, so about 108 DynoJet rwhp. Any guesses what the Coldside setup will get? (115 pulley, 99 head on 96 block, RB 4-1 header, 7700 rpm redline) ;)

Got to the dyno yesterday. Spent about an hour tuning the Link ECU... the auto tune function had actually done a pretty good job tuning on the road, but we got some good fine tuning of the fuel zones. I was having issues with knock, so had to back out timing in the 400 and 500 row zones (roughly, 7 psi boost and up). I didn't have time to swap back in the Iridium -7 plugs that I got from Tom a while back, as I've had in the -6 plugs that BRP and FM recommend while I was trouble-shooting the misfire problem, so I don't know if those would have helped (by all accounts here, they would have allowed a bit more timing).

Net result, on the Mustang dyno: peak hp 166.1 whp @ ~7400 rpm; peak torque 133.8 @ ~4800 - 5900 rpm; peak boost 11.2 psi (boost kept climbing all the way to redline).

I don't know if/how those are altitude adjusted (we're at ~4000 ft), temp in the dyno bay was ~26C (75F?). On that run, I did get a knock event at ~6600 rpm which pulled 3 degrees timing, and showed an immediate drop of about 10 hp on the plot! I suspect that without the knock event, I would have reached a peak of 175 on the Mustang dyno. The 166 Mustang rwhp would be about the same as 188 on a DynoJet, and 175 Mustang rwhp would be 198 hp DynoJet hp with a 13% correction factor.

I was running A/F ratios of about 11.5 for that run. I could run leaner, but wanted a bit of extra fuel to prevent too much knock (or so that I would not have to pull more timing). Overall, it's running great now, with perfect driveability and throttle response. Next step might be water injection....

(I got the data file, but the operator messed up e-mailing me the Mustang viewer software, so I can't post a shot of the dyno run yet.)

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Those numbers sound pretty good. I would have expected higher numbers (another 10WHP, at least) from the 115mm pulley though. 11-12 PSI boost should get you there especially with the 99 head on the 9:1 compression block. Is your blower one of those that Brant "ported"? That sounds about like what Ari lost when he had the ported blower.

The BKR7EIX plugs should help with the high RPM/Boost ping.

I hope you can get the graph up so I can see the A/F charts. Do you remember basically what it was? I would be curious about the CF as well. I would hope they correct for altitude and temperature.

[Gord96BRG]

Is your blower one of those that Brant "ported"? That sounds about like what Ari lost when he had the ported blower.
Unfortunately, yes :( :x Back then before Ari's results, they advertised a 10 hp gain from their porting work. Funny how the porting service was discontinued shortly after Ari posted his results... too late for mine!

I should get the viewer software tomorrow or Tues, and I'll post the shots in the dyno results thread. His AF readings were about 1 point leaner than my wideband, but he said he'd used the sensor on a car that ran leaded gas, so it was likely going off. He offered to swap it for a new one, but I was comfortable with the readings from my Innovate WB so we went on with testing.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

I wonder if liquid aluminum or bondo would work. :)

Well, there is always bigger pulleys. I still have that 150mm BRP one sitting on the shelf brand new. ;)

Barker picked up the warranty, maybe they will replace it? Worth a call to James. Worst he can say is no.

[Zigzag]

I too would have guessed at least 10-15 if not a few more RWHP.....my 96 Coldside made 198 without the extra injector, moddified ECU and the additional headwork. That was on a 120mm pulley......The 166 seems a bit low.

[Griff]

Barker picked up the warranty, maybe they will replace it? Worth a call to James. Worst he can say is no.

Having read their statement, it seems fairly likely they won't. :(


Those figures seem terrible though, even bearing in mind the 'poor porting' and the low reading dyno.

Gord has the better compression, better head, better ECU....

Either something isn't set up right...

OR the conventional thinking is wrong.

[Banshee]

I think the numbers are right on, given that it was a mustang dyno with pulled timing. 198 corrected horses is about right.

[Gord96BRG]

I created a thread in the 'Other Dyno Runs' section of this forum, here: Gord's dyno results (http://www.fastforwardsuperchargers.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3629#post3629). Details of the runs, charts, and extra datalog info!