Half way done on a '94 install.

[tony soprano]

I only get to work on the intall in fits and starts. A couple of hours here and there between family, work, and friends. With any luck at all, I'll be completed this weekend.

Truth be told, I'd probably be close to finished if I hadn't experienced my all too familiar "mission creep". The "well, as long as I'm in here" syndrome. For example, I ended up relocating the oil filter to the firewall. I looked at the Moss kit and decided to make my own hoses. I wanted the flexibility of putting the filter wherever I wanted and didn't want to be limited by their pre-made hoses. After buying the spin-on adapter, remote filter head, hose, hose ends, and AN fittings, I realized the Moss kit is priced pretty darn competitively.

I also replaced all the small diameter heater hose that goes from the back of the block to the oil filter adapter and from the adapter to the thermostat. Not a single chain auto parts store in my area carries 5/16" or 8mm heater hose. Fuel hose *most likely* would have worked fine, but I drove all over the bay area until I finally found a NAPA with 5/16" heater hose. I should have tried a NAPA right out of the gate.

I've run into a couple of gotchas but most of them can be avoided or overcome by searching other install threads. Some of the '94-'97 install instructions are still '99-'00 specific. Also, when bolting the manifold brace to the block, the bolts used on the original cast manifold are much too long to be used with the bracket contained in the kit. Not be deterred, I used a couple of same thread pitch bolts I had, along with a couple of washers.

I told Tom when I ordered his kit that I'd keep the tech support calls to a minimum and so far I haven't had to call him yet. The forum is an excellent source of answers if you search enough. Thanks to all the others that have posted pics and other useful info on their installs.

Lastly, I want to wish our beloved USA a :happybday:

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday!

[chuckerants]

Don't hesitate to call Tom if you feel you need to.

I think he'd much rather get the, "how does this fit?", calls than the, "WTF is the problem?" calls. :)

[bambam]

welcome and like Chuck said don't hesitate to contact Tom if yaa have any questions.

Buck

[tony soprano]

Upon further review, I think one of my gotchas is somewhat self induced - unless it's another product of the '99 install instructions being used for the '94-'97 model years.

The instructions indicate that the manifold brace bracket is attached to the block with two 12mm bolts included in the kit. At this point, I have most of the small parts memorized and I knew I didn't have any unused 12mm bolts at this stage of the install. A thorough search confirmed my suspicions. :ack2: I grabbed the two original 15mm bolts used to attach the cast OEM manifold bracket but as mentioned in my first post, they are much too long for the thinner bracket included in the kit. I kludged something together with a couple of bolts and washers I had from another project.

I was sitting here making a list of a few odds & ends I need to pick up from the auto parts store tomorrow and a thought popped into my head - what are those two remaining 17mm bolts for? I walk out to the garage and take a look at them again. Even though the bolt head is 17mm, the shank is the correct M10 x 1.5 :cool: They aren't 12mm but these have to be what I thought were the missing bracket bolts! I hope. :sweatdrop:

[Mark]

Your install sounds a lot like my 95! An hour here, maybe two tomorrow. Tell the wife as she's putting the baby to bed that I'm going to tinker in the garage for a couple hours and end up closing the door around 2 AM.

I had a bit of "mission creep" too as I did a water pump, timing belt, filter relocation, oil cooler install all at the same time as the supercharger. Putting the key in that first time was a real anxious moment! I never did have to speak with Tom over the phone as I was able to find a ton of answers here. When I did post a question here, I got immediate answers!

Good luck!

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Sounds like progress is happening which is a good thing. :)

There should have been two bracket bolts for the bracket to block attachment. One a bit longer than the other. I believe the long one goes in the top hole and the short one in the bottom hole. Sorry for the confusion. Normally, I try to group the parts that go together in the same sealed bag.

Take your time with the install. It will be better in the long run.

[tony soprano]

I won't be able to work on the install much this weekend so I've been putting in a couple of hours a night after work this week. I had to back track a bit because of the routing of my remote oil filter hoses. With the spin-on adapter, 90* hose ends, and oil hoses, there was no way I could even come close to reaching the bottom intake manifold bolts. So back off came the adapter and associated plumbing. Even then, no combination of open end wrenches, sockets, and extensions I owned could reach the back two bolts. So, off to Sears to pick up a 12mm crowfoot wrench. Well, a single 12mm wrench would have sufficed but I ended up buying an assortment of 10 because apparently that's the only way they come from Sears. You can probably never have too many tools though so that's fine.

So, the intake manifold is on now and I re-plumbed the remote oil filter. A couple of things I ran into when putting on the intake manifold - The alternator adjusting bolt and the block that the belt tension hold bolt threads into, were both lightly kissing the bottom of the intake. Normal production tolerance stuff but I didn't want to put things together like that. I ended up cutting off about 3/8" of the adjusting bolt and slightly radiused the belt tension hold block.

There's also something that strikes me odd about this car- none of the fuel lines have the spring lock couplings between the hard fuel lines and the rubber hoses that go to the fuel rail. Those couplings that require a special tool to disconnect. On my car, all the unions between hard fuel lines and rubber injection hose are simply clamped. That seems strange to me for a car that was equipped with fuel injection. Is that normal for the earlier cars?

I won't be able to get much time in this weekend until Sunday evening. Still, I'm thinking I should finish up sometime early next week. I'm starting to get a little excited at the prospects of my first test drive. :cool:

[socal pat]

Sooo close. With the !@#$% manifold nuts done the rest is cake!!

[bogey]

I had to buy the whole set of crows foot (feet?) wrenches from sears also.

The NA's only have clamps on the fuel lines.

[tony soprano]

Well, I'm no closer to being finished than my last update. I've spent the last couple of opportunities I've had to work on it to experiment with re-routing the intake. I've lost count how many different iterations I've tried. It's been my experience with superchargers that the more you can straighten and smooth the intake path, the more efficient they become. Often times you can yield boost increases with no pulley change. A great example of this is the Eaton supercharged Cobras. Replacing the OEM intake plumbing and air-box is always good for a couple of additional #s of boost.

I've attached some pics of supercharger intakes I have first hand experience with, '87-'93 Fox body Mustangs. Both of the intakes below are for '87-'93 Mustangs. The first pic is of the intake that Vortech ships with their standard kit. The second pic is an aftermarket intake from Anderson Motorsports. That intake plumbing was worth 2-3 #'s of additional boost with the same pulley.

http://www.superchargersonline.com/images/productimages/v4f112-015.jpg


http://www.superchargersonline.com/images/productimages/af_0101C.gif

So, what's the point of all this? For the better part of this afternoon I worked on fitting a 3" mandrel bent tube to mate to the throttle-body. With a bandsaw, a protractor, and the ability to recall high-school geometry, this probably would have been a fairly quick job. I had none of the above. It took multiple fittings and cuts with a hacksaw, but I've replicated the turn that the intake hose takes with a 3" mandrel bent tube with the smoothest radius that will fit.

After several hours of fitting, cutting, trimming, and grinding, the 3" tubing fits against the throttle-body with a silicone coupler. I still need to clean up the fit a bit and deburr the tube, but it's pretty much complete now. When the tubing was finally fitted, I swapped back and forth between it and the intake hose supplied with the kit. I was trying to validate all the time I spent to make the pipe fit correctly. At the end of the day, I'm happy with the results but I don't know that I'd take the time to do it again! :ack2:

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

For what it's worth, 8-10 months ago we were on the dyno and made runs with the hose. Then removed the hose and installed a 3" elbow turned down. Elbow to MAF to A/F. As simple and clean as it could get. There was zero measurable difference in WHP. If the spiral hose was smaller, it might matter but, at 3", it appears to have zero effect.

[tony soprano]

For what it's worth, 8-10 months ago we were on the dyno and made runs with the hose. Then removed the hose and installed a 3" elbow turned down. Elbow to MAF to A/F. As simple and clean as it could get. There was zero measurable difference in WHP. If the spiral hose was smaller, it might matter but, at 3", it appears to have zero effect.
Heh! Tom, that was one of the iterations I tried too, a 3" 90* elbow right off the throttle-body. I had clearance problems with that configuration, so then I used the 90* elbow and the hose you supplied in the kit to put the air filter in various locations - on the driver's side where the OEM airbox usually sits, the passenger side where the coolant overflow bottle used to reside, etc. I tried everything I could think of but none of the intake routing alternatives I could come up with looked particularly clean. Also, I wasn't real keen on picking up heated underhood air for the supercharger. So, after wasting the better part of a day, I'm going to end up using a combination of the 3" radiused tubing and the spiral hose. Oh yeah, and the air filter is going to end up right about where the kit locates it. :biggrin:

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

A few weeks ago, Ari volunteered to try different variations to see if he could get an elbow and filter combination that would fit well. I think he is close. I have had the 3" elbow on my 99 for a long time with no problem but the MAF does ride on the edge of the shelf. Someday I will pull it out and see if any damage has occurred. However, Ari's long leg elbow seems to cure that problem completely. More to follow.

[tony soprano]

Not a bunch of progress since the last post. I have multiple car projects going so the Miata hasn't got much attention this past week. :mad:

I did run into an issue today that I haven't seen in any of the other threads. When I screwed the fifth injector into the manifold, the injector top (the phenolic plastic part) contacts the intake manifold before the injector is fully seated. I'm unable to thread the injector in any further because the injector top is striking the intake. Anyone else run across this? The only solution I can think of is to slightly relieve the intake manifold at the point of interference with a dremel. :eek: Thoughts?

Tom, off the top of your head, can you tell me what size and pitch the threads are for both the small and larget fittings in the VDB? Thanks in advance!

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Did you put the o-ring on the injector before screwing it in?

The large holes are 1/4" NPT and the small holes are 1/8" NPT.

[tony soprano]

Did you put the o-ring on the injector before screwing it in?O-ring you say? :oops:
Ugh, I fixated on the instruction's use of ultra black on the threads of the injector and figured that was the solution to seal the injector. I much prefer the o-ring...especially when I don't have to notch the intake with a dremel. :biggrin:
The large holes are 1/4" NPT and the small holes are 1/8" NPT.Thanks!

[tony soprano]

Tom, I'm running into the same pulley issue that eunos1800 encountered. Maybe not so coincidentally we both own '94s. Like his '94, my pulley had no factory spacer. Using the .38" spacer supplied with the kit, my pulleys look exactly like the pics he posted in the link below. That is, the supercharger pulley still rides right up against the crank pulley.

I've read a number of you posts where you've pointed out a 1/16 to 1/8 gap is required between the pulleys. Any thoughts?

http://www.fastforwardsuperchargers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5176&postcount=52

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Do you have any feeler gauges? If so, can you get any to go between the faces or are they really touching?

[tony soprano]

Yeah, they're actually touching. Pulley flange to pulley flange.

I compared the '94 crank pulley to a pulley I have from a diassembled '00 motor. The '00 pulley has a rough "as cast" finish, while the '94 pulley has a much smoother finish, which I guess would imply a stamping. I don't know if that helps any ?

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Sounds like the thin shim that is normally on the machined pulley from Mazda s missing on yours. I can fix it by seeing if I can find the missing shim, Mike's Place may have some out of stripped engines or I could see if I can get them from Mazda, or have my shop make some thicker spacers. The second choice might take awhile. Let me know and I'll do it.

[tony soprano]

Tom you're a gentleman and a scholar. Machining a thicker spacer is way above the call of duty and I don't want to stick you with that. If you have a readily available source of junk motors, I'll reimburse you. If not, I'll give Mazda a call tomorrow and see what they can do.

Just out of curiousity, I went ahead an pulled the '94 pulley off just to take some measurements against the '00 pulley I have. I hit the '94 pulley with some brake cleaner to clean it up and I can see some faint witness marks that would suggest at one point in time there was a spacer. Somewhere in the chain of ownership, it's been discarded. I threw the '00 pulley on hoping that might work. The two pulley's no longer butt up against each other but there's still not 1/16 to 1/8 clearance between the two. I can fit a .015 feeler gauge between the two.

[pumpkin]

.015 should be alright. The important thing is that the pulley is bottomed out on the back end. As long as you have any gap at all, it should be bottomed out. My 99 is .070 out, but I think my reasoning is sound for your case.
HTH
JD

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

You are correct. ANY gap is enough.

I'll see if I can round up a p/n for the Mazda shim, just in case.

[tony soprano]

You are correct. ANY gap is enough.No pulley alignment problems?

Oddly enough, the elastomer in the '94 pulley is in much better shape than the '00 pulley I have. Perhaps a previous owner replaced the crank pulley and that's when the shim was discarded. I checked to see if it might be an aftermarket underdrive pulley but it's the same diameter as the '00 pulley.I'll see if I can round up a p/n for the Mazda shim, just in case.Thanks Tom, I'll give Mazda a call too.

[tony soprano]

.015 should be alright. The important thing is that the pulley is bottomed out on the back end. As long as you have any gap at all, it should be bottomed out. My 99 is .070 out, but I think my reasoning is sound for your case.
HTH
JDPumpkin, sorry I didn't acknowledge this the first time around. I appreciate the input!

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

I could find the pulley number (11-371) but not the shim ring. Sorry. If you don't find one, call Mike's Place and ask. 602-253-1136. BTW, if you are looking for ANY hard to find parts, call Mike and ask. They buy and strip Miatas all the time.

[BlownMX5]

The shim is called a "plate, crankshaft pulley" and is a B3C7-11-408. It'll be about $5.50.

[BlownMX5]

This (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6298314) is it, isn't it?

[tony soprano]

This (http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6298314) is it, isn't it?Yup. Thanks very much Pat! :cheers2:

Thanks for looking too, Tom. I called the local Mazda dealer and got put on hold during lunch, and finally threw in the towel after ~10 minutes of muzak. Fortunately, I checked this thread before calling them back.

[tony soprano]

Just ordered it from the local Mazda dealer, $11.xx. :ack2:

It's supposed to be here on Friday morning. Thanks again for the part number, Pat!

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Gee, and Mazda is normally so cheap on parts. :)

[BlownMX5]

Just ordered it from the local Mazda dealer, $11.xx. :ack2:

Sheesh, $11? I looked it up on the Mazdaspeed site, their price is only $3.25, marked down from $5.45! Everyone should join Mazdaspeed, you're saving like 40% off of retail by buying through the site. All you need is two competition results per year and even your local autocross qualifies for that. It's a tremendous deal.

[tony soprano]

Houston, we have ignition!

Life's unexpected events continued to conspire against my spending any time on working on the Miata - my best friend started chemotherapy several weeks ago, my mother underwent two non-trivial surgeries, heavy load at work, etc. The Miata lost any kind or priority it may have had in being finished...until today.

I finished up the install today, hopped in the car, turned the key, and it fired right up. I do have a couple of noisy HLAs. No doubt because the car has sat for so long. After the engine reached operating temperature, the ticking began to subside. The check engine light is lit for some reason, I still need to set the TPS, and I need to clean up the routing of a few wires, vacuum lines, the intake tract, and decide where I plan to permanently locate the MAF. I have things somewhat rigged-up right now because I was just anxious to get it started. Still, it holds a very steady, solid idle and there were no vacuum or fluid leaks that I could detect.

The forum's install tips were indispensable in answering any questions I had. It was the goto reference instead of having to pester Tom. There are a few guys whose names came up repeatedly when I was searching for answers, because of their contributions - Bogey in particular. Bogey, many of your posts and pictures were very helpful. Thanks!

Well, time to clean up and grab a bite of dinner. I still have the aforementioned things to take care of before it's a driver, but today was a solid milestone!

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Sorry to hear about the medical problems. I will add your best friend to my prayers. My niece just started radiation and chemo last week.

Glad to hear it started right up.

[bogey]

Thanks for the complements. :blush5:

[tony soprano]

Sorry to hear about the medical problems. I will add your best friend to my prayers. My niece just started radiation and chemo last week.

Glad to hear it started right up.Tom, I'm very sorry to hear about your niece. My best wishes on her speedy and complete recovery. Things get put into perspective real quick when friends and family get sick.

As time permits, I'll be finishing up the few things I mentioned earlier to make the car driveable. I'll post up my driving impressions when I can!

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Call me if you need me. I'm here 7 days a week. :)