your car is breathtaking - easily one of my favorites on the board now. i love it. everything from the path you chose, to the parts you selected, you managed to maintain the integrity of the original car while mixing your own special hot sauce for it. the Infini wheels and T2 rear end be damned, i think the most "gangsta" part you got was the Pacific moonroof. it was a real treat reading through your thread. thank you.

my only question for now is how did you do your turbo oil supply?

 

Appreciate the kind words!! It all came together in the end for sure! Started with a plan of action, set a budget (albeit went over budget of course haha ) but I wanted to ensure to make things right and proper without skipping the important steps and the end goal being remaining somewhat OEM looking in the engine compartment.

For oil supply I am using a Mishimoto oil filter sandwich with a 4an stainless feed line over the top of the keg and to the turbo Center housing. Oil drain is via a factory S5 oil drain into the S5 Turbo II front cover. The oil filter sandwich also houses my oil pressure sensor for the Haltech. Oil pressure and Fuel pressure are watched closely by the Haltech and if anything deviates from the setpoints we have targeted, the Haltech is tied into the factory Check engine light to illuminate. Pretty slick!!

-M

 

@diabolical1


Oil Feeds across the back of the block to the Turbo’s center housing.

Oil feed for turbo from oil filter pedestal block, also houses 0-100psi AEM brass oil pressure sensor

 

well mission accomplished.

i saw your car in this Pictue Thread and it kinda just jumped out at me - being so clean and stock-looking, so that led me to this thread. anyway, my point is that your engine bay pics had me fooled. i thought that car was a T2 because my eye did not pick up on the missing oil filler tube, everything else was so OEM. you really need this thread to tell that's its not. that is excellent.

thanks. yeah, i kinda figured it would have been from the filter area, but i guess i missed/forgot seeing those photos. i definitely think your having the Haltech trip the CEL is a cool detail.

 

@diabolical1

Yes, getting the Factory top mount intercooler to work with the NA oil fill tube was a tad tricky, I had to shave/cut a small portion of the intercooler mount away for me to be able to spin the cap loose and fill the oil. I use a thin/long funnel when its time for oil changes, but realistically the intercooler retaining hardware "could" be loosened a tad to move it ever so slightly upwards and fill. Long term solution I may get an aftermarket fill tube (shorty style) but it wasn't critical at the time of getting everything back together.

I also considered removing the GTU decals (I even purchased Turbo II decals from Atkins) but in the end I wanted to keep the GTU decals in place as Mazda has an amazing racing history in the GTU class. adding the S4 Savanna "rotary turbo" decal to the brake light was enough for me.

-M

 

You've done some amazing work on this car!!! I absolutely love the black painted letters on the rotor housings!

 

Thank you! Still a few more things to come down the pipeline! The Turbo/power add project got me a bit sidetracked from continuing to restore the car LOL and now all the fun of boost has added a wonderful noise that's tough to get enough of! HAHA

Appreciate the kind words.

-M

 

Not much to update since i've been driving the car once or twice a month to car shows and work (back roads commuting) . I will be preparing for my yearly NC/TN mountains ( tail of the dragon road trip ) at the end of this month and really the only item on the agenda is to inspect diff and transmission fluids (both under 6k miles) and I will be flushing the brake fluid and switching to Motul RBF600.

I've added a few minor items :

Himni Racing lower arm brace
IRP high amp alternator
New flash to Pass lenses (it's the little things ! )

Also have been toying around with different spark plugs for my 6 port setup. Settled on BR9EG for leadings and BR10EG for trailing running 12 psi on E85. Car has been a blast to drive like this! I Will be running 93 on the road trip which will bring boost targets back to 8 psi via the flex sensor and fuel/boost target maps on the fly.

-M



Photo op

IRP 140 amp ALT

Just drive it!

self made thin walled socket..

 

what a beautiful car. Very jealous. Absolutly love that you have the factory radio in it still as well. Althought it looks like youve got an Aux input in it. The best of both worlds.

 

Thanks for the kind words!!! Yes I had the radio sent out to have it re-worked with new components and had the equalizer screen fixed as well. He had the parts I was very surprised! Anyway there was an option for AUX port to be installed which works wonderful with a small blue tooth dongle for internet radio. All in all the cost to refurbish the radio was about the same cost as a new brand of head unit ($225 ) I couldn't ask for much more since that's very affordable to have the OEM interior look.

-M

 

Yo, I didn’t realize I sent you a part, and also subbed (unrelated) to your thread. What an amazing ride, keeping the originality, looking sharp! Here is to keeping this thing on the road for many more years

 

Thank you! Yes I believe it was the cruise control block off plastic plate for the cluster surround. After going stand alone ECU I never could figure out the Cruise function. plus I needed the room in the engine bay for the Haltech Relay/fuse box.

-M

 

(April 1st 2023 ) : Dyno Day ! (Finally)


Well it's been a few years of driving and enjoying the car.. About 7000 miles now since I went Turbocharged. A few multi state drives and literally the worst thing I've had happen is some seepage from a loose coolant hose clamp???

This\ weekend I had the opportunity to get the car on the dyno at a local car show event and I'm very satisfied with the results. I had intended to run 15 psi but once they got the car setup and mounted I felt a bit rushed and didnt feel like holding up the ordeal so I left the laptop out of the equation and stuck with my standard 12 psi on E85. This is a stock port 6 port engine with around 80,000 miles. Compression numbers unknown to me.

The best of 3 Runs I managed 283hp at 7200 rpms and 217 Tq at 5900 rpms. My guess was 290 and my tuner guessed 275 so that's a very good assumption of HP by us both. Not bad considering I put this car together with hand tools in my garage! I would like to get the map cleaned up a bit and maybe adjust timing SLIGHTLY to see if we can cover 300 hp at the wheels somewhere between 12 and 15 psi. All in all I am very satisfied and i'll continue to drive the car and enjoy it as is a few days a month with cold AC

Setting up for Dyno Run @ Full Detail Automotive in Tampa, Florida.

First ever Dyno run.

283 HP @ 7200 Rpms / 217 TQ @ 5900 Rpms.

283 HP @ 7200 Rpms / 217 TQ @ 5900 Rpms.

 

i respect it!!!

in my mind, that's a great result. i really like the shape of the torque curve.

 

i was going to say chasing 300hp isn't the best idea, but i think you could just rev it a little higher, its still pulling
280hp is really good btw!

 

Ideally I'd like to clean up the map and tweak timing figures just a smidge to obtain a bit more usable torque across the rev range.

I'm super happy with the results from a stock port engine. She must be healthy ! Compression numbers are unknown to me and im afraid to check HAHA

-M

 

I have not made very many updates to this thread because I’ve not changed anything on the car for months, it just works ! I recently took the car for another multi state drive to the Tennessee mountains from Florida without a hitch, getting around 21 mpg highway on e85 and 23-24mpg on 93 octane.

Of course the week after getting home from the road trip, I experienced my first major issue on the way to work on a crisp clear morning , my wideband o2 sensor took a complete dump. AFR’s we’re reading full lean and the Haltech went FULL RICH. Let’s just say it was not a very enjoyable commute into the office !! I was able to purchase a new Bosch 4.9 LsU sensor from a local auto parts store and installed it on my lunch break.. eZ fix luckily! It’s been around 10,000 miles since I’ve completed the Turbo swap and aside from that I’ve been trouble free

Last week i purchased a mint condition Infini strut bar and just found some time to get it installed . It looks great !! That cheap EBay strut bar was starting to get to me..

I’ll keep this page updated as changes are made , for now I’ll continue to enjoy the car !!

-Markus


Old EBay off brand

Matching the wheels now .. !

Happy with the outcome Infini bar installed.

 

I love this build and the details that went in. I have a low milage GXL that I want to do this to.
What did you have to do for the 6 port actuators? Did you remove the sleeves, or ?

 

Thanks for the kind words! I pulled the 5th and 6th port inserts out completely and had the Turbo lower intake welded/filled and port matched.
I thought about adding the pineapple (if they are still around) or the atkins inserts since there is quite literally a wall there and turbulence is likely occurring during the intake cycle but the car drives very smoothly at low rpms. Proper timing and fuel maps in that low rpm area contribute to that for sure.

-M

 

Well it's been a minute since I've updated this thread, As of about a month ago the car has been put up on Jack stands for the first time since finishing the Turbo Swap... I finally managed to damage the S5 NA transmission to the point of failure, presumably bending the 1-2 shift fork Both of those gears are un accessible even after putting new shifting bushing in I am completly locked out of those gears. Being the NA transmission currently in the car is of unknown miles and condition internally, I have decided to go with a J O Motorsports Transmission rebuilt with REM gear polishing and a hardened counter shaft. This option is still cheaper than sourcing a TII transmission, along with the auxiliary parts needed to make the turbo trans work (Flywheel, clutch, starter and custom driveshaft.

For the small amount I drive the car monthly and the way It's driven (not raced excessively) I feel the JO Motorsports transmission was the viable option. It is expected to arrive next week so i'll be posting some pics of the removal and updating this thread with the new transmission going in. Enjoy!

-M

Removal of heat shields

Removal of center exhaust section for access

Center exhaust removed

living on jackstands... how long ?? 1 month, 2 months?? oyyyyy

 

I have confirmation the transmission has been shipped from JO Motorsports ! Jason has sent me some photos of the gearset after it was given the REM polishing treatment and also a photo of the added counter-shaft support collar. This should add a bit of support to prevent flexing under load. I plan on running Red-line GL-4 MT-90 in the transmission for 1000 mile break-in period, and draining and refilling with 2 fresh quarts of the same.

Transmission should be here Monday I already have the car prepped and ready I just need to replace the pilot bearing and im skeptical of the "universal" puller set that I ordered on amazon. Anyone have any luck with the bread trick if that tool cant do the job? LOL

Any tips to pulling the pilot without the mazda designed puller?

Thanks!

 

Note to self. This kind of work while working on your back is NOT the most fun... also.. The NA transmission is heavier than I thought! Definitely a finger crusher...

But alas, it's out and just some minor prep before the new transmission goes in. I need to pull the pilot bearing and move over a few things to the new transmission once it arrives tomorrow. The main cross member mount appears to be in good condition.

This transmission has a fairly wobbly/loose input shaft, that bearing must be pretty worn out! I'll share some more photo's once the new unit is here and ready to go in.

-M

 

JOMotorsports came through! The transmission was delivered yesterday. I had one last item on the car that needed to be finished and that's a pilot bearing replacement. I figured since I'm there I may as well change it and the seal. I can confirm that an amazon universal (multi size tips) blind bearing puller worked just fine for the job. I was a little hesitant at first after hearing the Mazda tool is a must.. But alas all is well it was removed within a few minutes and the back of the eccentric shaft was prepped for a new to install.

 

The weather has been fantastic here in Florida and i'm really missing driving the car so I did not waste much time prepping the transmission for install. I swapped over the two switches, along with installing a new speedo drive seal inner and outer as well as inspecting the clutch fork and swapping it over. I did install a new Throw-out bearing and used a high quality synthetic grease where needed. That's when the fun began.

It took me about an hour and a half to get the transmission in. It's not easy on your back. I could only use the transmission jack to a certain point and than had to bench press the unit into place hoping to stab the input shaft into place. It took me about 10 tries and some choice words. Loosening the motor mounts and lifting the front of the engine slightly really helped...

The transmission is back in the car and I will work on filling with fluid and finishing up the project tomorrow. I will be filling with a bit over 2 quarts of Redline MT-90 GL-4 fluid.

-M

 

Nice work man, i love your build.

My transmission installation experience goes into two distinct categories, with nearly nothing in between

1. Slides right in the first time, like it was magnetically attracted
2. 2 hours on my back swearing and sweating and nearly into tears.