It's been quite a while since my last post but I've been really focused on my Integra as it really needed to be in a running state before I did anything else to the 7. I came across a fueling issue up top where it was running lean around 5k and I had my injectors cleaned and basically every injector had a dripping spray pattern and were down 50cc/min which explains why it was misfiring at only a high rpm. My wideband also doesn't give the correct readings to my ecu so I had to disable closed loop idling which really isn't a big deal but I would like it to datalog for future purposes (I might switch to a different ecu when I go to make actual power on a single build). After I got my injectors back, my friends were saying how they were going up to ORP for a track day weekend which I didn't think I could make due to work but luckily it rained hard and allowed me to get my car out on the track which I never thought I would do without "proper cooling mods". Running the water/meth injection kept temps cool along with the massive amounts of fuel overrun apparently causing a lot of flames and sooting up my rear bumper lol. Water temps never got above 200F, brakes never faded, and I was able to manage my tires fairly well. The only part that sucked was that people in my run group had more modern or actual track setup cars so that was a little discouraging at first but once I got past that, it was a phenomenal day! The car handled very well aside from the tires feeling plushy and a little unresponsive. I believe the front end could benefit from a little bit of toe. I also discovered a boost leak due to the oil being recirculated through my intake system ( I never got around to putting on my catch can). It's right between the intercooler and the end of the Y pipe so the car made a solid 7psi all day lol. I look forward to upgrading this car in the long run but it's still really enjoyable in near stock state. Mazda did a pretty good job on these cars!

Does your wideband ground to the same location as the ecu? If not... you could have a ground loop offset causing the readings to be different between wideband and ecu.

That's awesome you got some track time in like that, getting out and actually beating on it like that will teach you more about the car then wrenching on it all the time!

What ecu's are you considering when you swap over?

Skeese

Edited out accidental double post.

I have my Innovate gauge grounded to my dash support bar and connected to my Adaptronic select through a serial connection. Much like my boost datalogging, it used to work and now doesn't and it really bothers me. Adaptronic always made it sound like running a serial connection was supposed to be a bulletproof solution but I guess it isn't.

As simple as the Adaptronic select is, I'm going to want more features when I go single turbo as far as datalogging and input and output control goes.

I have been considering three different ecus.
1. Haltech Elite 1500. Haltech makes some of the top ecus around and the community seems to really like them and support them and have vast amount of helpful resources. The only thing that worries me about them is the triggering functionality as it seems a lot of people have problems setting it up correctly.
2. Links PnP Series 6 ecu. It appears to be similar to the Haltech unit and looks to have a tuner friendly software and is renown for excellent hardware control.
3. AEM Infinity 506. This one only makes the list because I am using it on my integra and all of the programmable features and tables are very straight forward to mess with and gives me loads of options for precise tuning and the AEMnet and integration with their products is very nice and somewhat user friendly.

Side note, I ordered metal intercooler pipes to replace the OEM ?rubber? hoses so that should fix my boosting issues theoretically.

I highly recommend the haltech elite. I made the move from an adaptronic pnp to the elite a year ago and wish I did it sooner. You'll love the ESP software over wari, and it actually works unlike Eugene. Also, look into the CAN products haltech makes. All are high quality and connect through a set of CAN cables so there's no more ghetto wiring.

while there's nothing wrong with a serial connection, innovate products are typically crap... and given the gauge is the sending unit for the signal, that's likely the guilty part

Skeese

Re the catch can... something I learned from an RX-7 track junkie here in VA is to underfill your oil by about 1/2 quart. My catch can fills up FAST if I don't.

It will most likely be between the Haltech and Link but I have loads of time to make the decision. I'm using the CAN system on my Infinity and I really enjoy it as it's just plug in and win lol.
I definitely won't be doing anymore racing without a catch can after seeing what came out of my BOV lol. That would have been really nice to know about the underfilling. Is there a certain reason why underfilling prevents so much excess oil blow by?

I didn't know it's been 6 months since my last post!
It's such an easy thing enjoying this car in its current state. No pressure to modify along with no money as I am saving up for a trip to Japan for New Years! Not much has happened outside of ordering AEM ignition coils from Sakebomb Garage (They're only 69 bucks a pop right now so the savings are YUGE!)
I didn't buy the mounting kit or any of the wires because I am going to re-wire my engine harness when I go with a new ecu in the future.

I also bought a Recaro Pole Position without doing any research because I assumed there would be a bolt in solution for racing seats in a popular tuner car (I was horribly wrong).

Here's a video explaining the suffering I went through! Life would be easier if I knew how to fabricate better but the only way to learn is to just go in the deep end and do it! It also cost me about 4 dollars as I only had to buy bolts for the project! (Doing everything myself has saved thousands of dollars in labor over the years and I regret nothing)

Hey man, glad to see you're enjoying it! Its way too easy to get caught up in the build process with these things and not spend the time you should behind the wheel. The most time I spent enjoying mine was single turbo stock port at 15lbs.

Keep it up!

Skeese

Alright, here's the scoop. I finally got back from Japan and can finally start dumping money in to this car!
Things I have ordered:
EFR8374 with the 1.05 exhaust housing and the stainless to make a manifold and downpipe
Twin Tial 44mm wastegates
Greddy V mount kit
Sakebomb dual oil coolers
FFE fuel upgrade system utilizing ID 1050x primaries and ID 2000 secondaries
Aluminum piping to mate the turbo and V mount kit together
A MAP based controller for my meth injection as my 5v splice controller won't work with future plans

My plans:
Fab everything up because it's the same cost to do it over three times compared to buying a premade manifold and the knowledge and skill of welding stainless and aluminum is priceless in a hobby like this.
Put everything together and run extremely low boost and reassess AFRs with the new setup until I order a Haltech Elite
Order a Haltech Elite 1500 so I can have all the inputs and outputs necessary. There's no sense in running outdated technology, not to mention that the Elite has a CAN system which is so easy to use and set up
I will be making a new harness as I really don't want to cut up an OEM harness and so many things will differ from the stock setup.


The last thing that I'm trying to figure out is how to implement a 90mm DBW throttle body system. Having a working DBW system would be so nice compared to the oem setup as it would ditch the unreliable oem TPS, the wonky thermowax system that's difficult to mess with cold starts, and the complicated dual throttle plate control system. Having DBW would also mean having cruise control, anti lag, rotational idle, and other features that are beneficial to making the car better from a tuning stand point. FFE has the design for the adapter that I need, but they are out of stock and it seems they have no interest in making more adaptors which is a real shame. Elite rotary shop has an adaptor for the rx8 throttle body, but the porting size on the throttle body appears WAY too small. So I either have to make my own flange, or pray that someone makes another adapter for a DBW system or I'm SOL.

Does anyone have any leads on a DBW conversion that works with the FD UIM?

Going to a DBW throttle body you would lose the separate primary/secondary ports on the engine. Stock the bottom plate feeds the primary intake ports, the two top plates feed the secondary intake ports.

The RX-8 has a single DBW TB but it has actuators in the intake manifold to shut the secondary ports at low RPM then open them up at higher RPM.

I removed the whole thermowax assembly on my car ages ago, it starts, runs, and idles just fine cold (with a PowerFC) and warm.

Dale

If it seems to absolutely come down to it, I will keep the stock throttle body and delete the thermowax system for simplicity sake. Being able to adjust the throttle curve with the Haltech, I would think you could get close to stock driveability on a DBW system. Apparently the rx8 throttle body is only 70mm in size so I don't believe that would cut it at higher power levels. I would also like to have the ability to have cruise control again in the future and that would be possible with a DBW system.

You'll also need to step up to a 2500 elite to have enough inputs and outputs for DBW. It takes up a good number due to the required redundancy of measurement as a faulty signal controlling the throttle plate could most definitely get you killed.

On the fab note, are you going to be doing the welding yourself? I recently bought a tig setup to teach myself on to be able to weld intake and exhaust piping, been a cool learning experience so far...

I've been looking in to it and it seems that the Elite has two dedicated outputs that drive the throttle which doesn't take up any space and then it just needs two analog inputs from the pedal and two analog inputs from the throttle body which isn't really too much extra since it will basically be going from a TPS signal and an Idle valve into the new throttle body and pedal configuration. The real question is whether or not I need an OMP or not. That would mean upping to a 2500 without a doubt. (I'm still in the planning stages for which to get and I appreciate the input).

I just like the idea of modernizing an old car and simplifying it. I know it's not apples to apples, but the DBW systems on our trucks and some cars I have driven have worked out really well and I like having the tunability of the system especially for controlling torque output and boost levels. It's all in the name of experimentation. If it doesn't work, I can always use the old set up and go from there.

I'm going to attempt fabbing up a manifold, downpipe, and the aluminum to get from the turbo to the Greddy V mount. I'm not the best at TIG but I can make 4 to 5 manifolds before getting to the cost of one premade manifold and it's good to have the experience imo. I picked up a Miller Syncrowave 210 for our farm and it's been wonderful to us! Heat management is so much easier compared to MIG. My roommate and I built a racing simulator using my old FD seat to get some fab practice in and it turned out really well! If worse comes to worse, I'll ask help from a friend or suck it up and buy a pre-made manifold from Gleaseman or something but I like cutting cost where I feasibly can.

As of today, I have sent off my front bumper to finally get painted and I figured it would be the best time to put the Sakebomb Garage dual oil cooler kit on. This has to be one of the best fitting aftermarket kits of anything I've ever purchased. My only gripe is that the Mocal thermostat that is used, doesnt have a solid way to bolt on to it's mounting bracket so for extra safety, I added a zip tie. The oil temps sat around 180F on both coolers having it idle and run at 200F on the water temps. I look forward to seeing how much better the cooling will be on the whole system.

FFE sent me an email saying that they should have DBW adapters back in stock in a few weeks and my Greddy V Mount kit has to be manufactured so the big waiting game is being played right now for that before I go ahead and do anything else on the build.

I also noticed a meth leak on my intake elbow rubber plug that's right next to the throttle body. I'm gonna get a 3/4 tap and plug that hole with something more reliable before running the car again.

Well, I received the Greddy V mount kit yesterday and let me tell you. It looks like it is going to be worth every penny! So, today will begin the teardown process! Pretty much everything is going to come off the motor and my god I have waited too long to ditch the twins lol. They had a good run but simplicity and ease of serviceability is going to be very nice!

we need pics yo

Here's what ive been working on in the past month or so!
http://i68.tinypic.com/k9f01u.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/2rc4ahy.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/ktbf5.jpg

http://i67.tinypic.com/21djvkj.jpg

http://i66.tinypic.com/102upvr.jpg

Hopefully these all posted correctly.

The V mount isnt 100 percent hooked up right now because of the air conditioning stuff. Does anyone know of the right way to bend my condenser line to my my compressor line? It looks like I just need two or three bends to make it work.
Any idea how to approach this? Just heat and bend with pliers and call it a day?

I have not personally bent A/C lines, but i would not use pliers. You risk crimping the line. You could try tubing benders for brake lines if the tube is not too big

https://www.eastwood.com/triple-head...16-3-8-in.html

or something for larger tube

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Imperial...-301051250-_-N

as examples....

That's what I was thinking. I know a few shops have done the conversion for the Greddy kit and bent the lines to make it work but I've never seen an explanation on how to do it. The line is 1/2" iirc so I'll need a big bender. That's really nice I can run down to Home Depot and get a bender for that size! One of the things holding me back is my buddy is an HVAC guy and he said aluminum tubing doesn't like to bend without cracking so I've been putting off the job and have been working on the trunk set up for a bit lol. I guess I can always weld in new fittings if something breaks as it's only aluminum or at least looks like it. Still kinda bummed that the RHD AC compressor and condenser lines are radically different from the LHD models. This would be easier if it was just a race car lol.

You could try practicing on some scrap tubing (from say McMaster Carr). That said, it appears that different AL has different bending capabilities.

With a little bit of heat and persuasion, we did in fact get the lines bent to work properly and now it's a matter of getting the right O-rings for the R-134 conversion, draining the compressor, screwing on the new fittings, and filling the system with oil and gas once the car is running again.

Todays project has been working on where all of my ecu wires are going to go to when I go to wire in my Haltech Elite 1500. I have my rough draft set up but there's a possibility things will change but I believe it should work where it's set at.

Let me know what you think!

Here's the link to the Google Drive. Please let me know if it doesn't work properly and I'll see what I can do!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Y6...Wsr3o4o6TDiG7S

Haltech Basic Flying Loom
ID1050x Primaries
ID2000 Secondaries
Water Meth Failsafe wire from AEM controller is the generic channel
AEM IGN-1A Direct Fire coils
OEM Crank sensors
(EVAP Purge Solenoid frequency not set up yet)
EFR Boost Solenoid
Haltech Wideband CAN Controller
Derale PWM Fan Controller

Where do I start?

I have my turbo manifold tacked together and it landed exactly where I wanted it too luckily. Kinda waiting on welding that together last as my argon bottle is almost empty and the back purging is gonna use a lot of gas I have a feeling. I still have to put on the egt bungs and wastegate pipes too. I pie cut out two 5 degree angles of aluminum for my intake as that is gonna need a bung for the catch can. I ordered the K&N E-1997 air filter because that's the biggest one I could find that would fit in the spot and still leave a little room for heat shielding if I deem it necessary and that filter is a replacement for a 4.6L Bullit Mustang which I haven't ever heard of lol. I find it funny hacking together a rotary with a cadillac pedal, a corvette throttle body, and a mustang air filter.
Intercooler piping will probably be finished today and I would like to get a start on the down pipe before doing the wastegates.
Water meth pump is bolted to the rear of the diff subframe as it seemed like the best spot for it so if it goes bad, everything will leak at the back of the car which is no big deal imo.
My buddy came over and we decided to completely rip out my glove box and re-engineer the spot to hold my Haltech and some other wiring stuff as the oem dashboard clips to hold it in are toast and I rather replace a glovebox than a whole dashboard. Slowly but surely things are coming along!

NOW

My question is what to do about water/meth placement.

Do I run a nozzle pre turbo or on the intercooler piping just before the throttle body?

I understand that pre turbo can help out with compressor efficiency and I'm all about squeezing every little bit out of it I can. But my curiosity is whether the pre-turbo placement would affect what my AIT sensor is going to read as the sensor is going to be placed right out of the intercooler to get a somewhat accurate reading.

Anyway, things are going and if you'd like to see updates, I post more on my Instagram as I go since tinyurl and photobucket are money hoarders and I really don't feel like paying to keep up photos.

I'm finally on the home stretch of getting this car running again. I think I might make an update video once the car is started and running again. The goal is to have the car back on the road for New Years. I have run a ton of wires from the back, to the front through the passenger side fender in order to keep things nice and organized. All of my electronics are in my custom glovebox and fit SO well and I'm proud of that. Right now I'm working on playing with the Haltech basic wiring harness and implementing it in to the OEM wiring (Kind of a pain in the butt) but that is a fairly fun process. I finally got my reverse lights wired in correctly as the car is a manual conversion so that makes everything a little trickier. PDM fan controller is plumbed up and working as well and all four relays are deleted to save engine bay space. Gotta route all of the wires to the corresponding sensors, kapton tape everything together, and then measure thicknesses and order heat shrink so I can finish the harness. I also had to pull my supercore out of the turbine housing to get my last exhaust stud tightened and it was a blessing in disguise. I lost a clamping plate somewhere in another dimension and it turns out that I have the wrong clamping plates for my turbo. The aluminum housing B2 frame turbos need a special clamping plate (Has more surface area to spread out the load and prevent warpage is my guess). So that's on the way from Turblown as of this morning.

All in all, this has been a major eye opening experience of how in depth building a car can get and I can't wait to improve on future projects!

After months of hard work and persistence...The car fired up as of January 1st, 2020 at around 1:40AM. Timing sync was spot on using Haltechs numbers and it took not but a second of cranking to get the car started even with all the stuff that has changed. The DBW implementation was simple and the calibration was super easy. I have a few kinks to work out (Wiring and an oil fitting and a possible coolant leak) and a ton of the car to put back together but overall, I'm fairly excited having this thing start going in to the New Year!