Well my car works great, when it starts. My s5 engine swap is just plagged with problems, the main one being it is nearly impossible to start. Theres a bad water thermosensor, the inability to maintain fuel pressure overnight, etc.

I got stuck in a parking lot today, and I cranked the thing so much that I noticed a VERY wierd smell. On the next crank the starter sounded like it was spinning but not engaging with the flywheel. SO presto, I blew my starter motor that is less than year old.

I'm seriously looking at going to a carb, as all this **** is insane. I was thinking of a holley kit from racing beat, but what kind of gas mileage would i be getting with these kits on. I cant imagine it would be good.

Any words of wisdom from you guys would be greatly appreciated.

 

how about a aftermarket EMS?

 

Yeah but that would be as expensive as a carb, and I would still have all those vacuum lines etc. I just want my car to be a reliable FUN daily driver.

However EMS is a possibility, how much does it cost, and more importantly how long would it take to install? I need to have my car running by the end of september, which is when I start college.

 

If it's as much as a carb swap there is really no reason to not use a programable EMS. Plus if it's your daily driver you will like the fuel economy the closed loop will give you.
I payed right at about 1k for my whole system, Haltech E6K. Included all sensors and wire harness. With it you can toss ALL the vacuum lines in the trash (except the MAP sensor line). You will be able to toss the AFM in the trash also or better yet, sell it. It took me a while to install because I was lazy If I were to do it again I don't see any reason to not have the car converted in a weekend.
Go to HITmans site and look at his setup tips section, you will realize how easy it is to install. To be honest if you got a S5 setup running in your car the haltech would be a breeze!

 

Wait - your starter motor blew, so you are looking to switch from EFI to carb? What does one have to do with the other?

 

The starter motor went because he cranked on it too long because of the no fuel pressure from the bad S5 water thermosensor.

 

fuel pressure or not, max recommended starting crank time is 15 seconds or a motor could prematurely wear and/or overheat. The motor is independant of the fuel system and should not 'blow' if cranking for 15 seconds or less, irrespective of whatever is causing the engine to not 'catch'.

 

well the reason why it blew, is 30 plus cranks right after another. And the reason why I was saying change to carb was because of all the little gremlins I'm having in my efi system that is leaving my car undrivable. All the vacuum lines and sensors. The thing should start the first time, every time.

However, going with a haltech is sounding like a REALLY good idea. Besides the time and money installing it, how long does it take to tune the thing? I've never had to tune an EMS before.

 

although the Haltech is way above the stock fare ... i think you should tough it out and get the car together with the Mazda stuff simply because you've come this far. just my opinion ...

just an aside, have you done anything to you electrical system to improve it's reliability (e.g. better ground wires and such)? just a thought in case it helped accelerate the death of your starter ...

why don't you find out who's done complete Gen II swaps and see if anyone in your area might give you a hand. off the top of my head, i believe there's a guy named Redwood that did a similar swap ... i can't speak for him, but you might want to shoot him a PM - i think he's in WA, too.

chin up, dude.

 

well my bet is my problem lies in the water thermosensor. The ECU gave a thermosensor error code, the car runs like a bad thermosensor, and the voltage is out of wack on the sensor. So I have a pretty good guess that it's the sensor.

The one thing that really drives me on was the brief time I got to really drive the thing. Its the most fun thing I've done in my life. The thing is amazingly fast for an N/A, and most of my firends were in shock at how fast the thing was. Because my car is really **** brown their even calling the speeding piece of ****. LOL I've got the best sleeper in town!

I'm now hell bent on getting that fuel injection to work. Thanks guys!