Bought not Built

[L337TurboZ]

It doesn't necessarily need EWG but you'll have much better boost control with it. Less chance of surging.

I do recommend if you do use EWG you get valve grinding compound and apply some to the EWG and match it to the manifold. I had a small leak until I had done that but it was a cheap and easy fix.

 

[Mtnbker3531]

Ha! I just found it myself so I'm happy to share. I built one out of PVC pipe and some fiberglass last winter when I had my motor out. It turned out OK but it is kinda bulky. This one is much cleaner.

Same thing I wanted oil temp and pressure with my built motor. They also make a vent pod which I'll probably get for and ethanol content gauge this spring when I go E30

 

[Awafrican]

I just ordered one of these dual gauge pods to replace my home made one. I sent them a message and they gave a code for free shipping!

https://latenightracing.org/collection/c668w5coyqhrzkqyuuedcuvzojkjmp

Hell yeah I'm sure @Derek@LateNightRacing appreciates the shout out they also have a forum section https://mazdaspeeds.org/index.php?forums/late-night-racing.414/

 

[jdab555]

Following stuff has been actioned on:

• Decided to just stick with an Oil temperature gauge, despite some awesome suggestions above - got a universal gauge pod for $5 locally, can't really beat that, and sold my other gauge which covers the cost of my new temp gauge. Going to follow this thread here (Vent gauge pod | Mazdaspeeds.org, The New Era in Mazdaspeed, CX-7 & Ecoboost Forums!) and try to keep it all pretty clean and minimalistic.
• EWG XSPower manifold on order, hopefully it ships soon.
• Ordered Tribodyn 75w90 Trans Fluid
• Wrote down everything I need to do (it's way more than I thought once it's all down on the whiteboard)

Open Items:

• On the topic of turbo, will the BNR S3 give me a slightly later spool time than the K04 that I'm looking for, or will it be so minimal that I'll still blow the tires off coming out of tight turns? I have been thinking more about it recently, and I'm wondering if it isn't worth grabbing a used BNR S4 if one comes up for sale. I would have to increase Intake size then as well, and I'm not sure I really want that much power, but it's a question.
• Intercooler piping - I'm 90% sure I can make it work most of the way with an extra bent pipe or two for the ST Manifold, but my bigger question is on BOV/BPV. I really like the discrete nature of the Forge V2 BPV I have now. Can I just run that VTA and call it a day, or is there some restriction on why that wouldn't be a good idea?
• Bushings - the rubber in my control arms and probably some other stuff is likely super beat, I need to start thinking now about what I want to do about it - might have Damond Motorsports take the control arms while the car is down and replace with poly bushings, what else would be the most useful?

 

[L337TurboZ]

Always go for the option that can achieve the most power later on. Eventually you'll get used to the new power level and it'll get boring. So if you choose the S4 you'll have extra room for power if you go PI later on.

I ran an S3 for a while and it was fun, fast and spool time was great.

 

[gotovato]

Open Items:

• On the topic of turbo, will the BNR S3 give me a slightly later spool time than the K04 that I'm looking for, or will it be so minimal that I'll still blow the tires off coming out of tight turns?

I can speak to this specifically with TONS of real world experience.

I myself have never driven my car in ko4 form on track. From the day my car touched the track it had the gt3071r setup. I learned that way so for me it was just how it was.

I have had 3 other local Mazdaspeed owners ALL upgrade to the s3, and my Mazdaspeed6 buddy upgraded to an s4.

Everyone above reached out to me pretty quickly after their first track days with the upgrade. All of them cried so unbelievably hard I was shocked. 2 of these guys told me they can barely drive the car anymore on track and are regretting the upgrade.

the lag is noticeable. Very noticeable. Ko4 = no lag. Like 0. S3 will be considerably slower with torque delivery. It’s not a laggy turbo by any means but when compared to ko4, it will be noticeable on track.

This isn’t a problem. Literally not a problem at all.

YOU as the driver will need to adapt. It’ll take some seat time to get use to. Earlier throttle application is the short answer.

 

[jdab555]

I can speak to this specifically with TONS of real world experience.

I myself have never driven my car in ko4 form on track. From the day my car touched the track it had the gt3071r setup. I learned that way so for me it was just how it was.

I have had 3 other local Mazdaspeed owners ALL upgrade to the s3, and my Mazdaspeed6 buddy upgraded to an s4.

Everyone above reached out to me pretty quickly after their first track days with the upgrade. All of them cried so unbelievably hard I was shocked. 2 of these guys told me they can barely drive the car anymore on track and are regretting the upgrade.

the lag is noticeable. Very noticeable. Ko4 = no lag. Like 0. S3 will be considerably slower with torque delivery. It’s not a laggy turbo by any means but when compared to ko4, it will be noticeable on track.

This isn’t a problem. Literally not a problem at all.

YOU as the driver will need to adapt. It’ll take some seat time to get use to. Earlier throttle application is the short answer.

Perfect - my goal is to make it laggier so I can drive it without it lighting up the tires at mild throttle, being able to modulate boost more smoothly. Appreciate the input, that helps a lot!

 

[jdab555]

Exhaust Manifold came in yesterday, straight from the Middle Kingdom. Overall not shocked or overly excited by the quality, but again for $350 there isn't too much to complain about. Pics are in thumbnails

Notes:

• Build quality seems pretty good, welds look good externally.
• Merged area looks hilarious, pic attached, inlets actually look really good, picture doesn't do it justice since I had the flash on. May end up trying to grind it down just a little bit to smooth it out, but it probably won't affect me much since it will still be a large improvement over OEM flow-wise.
• The EWG cap wouldn't fit on with the provided clamp, so I ran over to a buddy's house and used his bench grinder to get it to fit. Seems like a pretty obvious oversight given they are already machining it down - just reduce the thickness of that top cap. @L337TurboZ had mentioned using valve lapping compound to match, how exactly do I do that in order to get it flush, just a method of grinding it?
• Came with gaskets for the turbo and head, anyone know if these are any good?

 

[L337TurboZ]

Get a tube of lapping compound and apply a coat to the manifold flange for the EWG. Then press the cap against the flange and twist it back and forth like a weed grinder.

You'll see it cuts both the flange and the cap to make them match each other.

 

[jdab555]

Get a tube of lapping compound and apply a coat to the manifold flange for the EWG. Then press the cap against the flange and twist it back and forth like a weed grinder.

You'll see it cuts both the flange and the cap to make them match each other.

Sounds pretty simple, thanks!

 

[jdab555]

Got started ripping into my perfectly running car finally, because you can't fix what isn't broken. All in all made a ton of progress, pretty pumped. Really missed doing this kind of stuff, but I'm glad I am doing it all now.

• Oil and Coolant - Drained
• Intake manifold - Off
• Oil filter sandwich plate - On (and Oil temp sensor in place)
• Intercooler Piping - Off - I am a little more concerned about this on the ST manifold now. I'm not certain how the piping will fit up past the oil dipstick, it should fit, but it will be heckin' tight. Need to mock up the manifold itself before I can decide if the old pipe routing will work.
• Turbo, Exhaust Manifold - Off - Honestly not as hard as I thought it would be, just a lot of manual rotation action to get the nuts/studs off. A few days of consistent PB Blaster seemed to make a big difference. Lines swapped over - correctly, I think.

• EBCS - Mocked up
• Mishimoto Coolant lines - Installed
• Vent gauge Pod - mostly done, might just leave it as the half-finished it is since it holds in place. Needs to be wired up.
• IM, TB, EM, DP gaskets inbound, then the Turbo and EM will go back on.

 

[jdab555]

Still trying to work out my intercooler piping scheme. Existing piping won't work given the single-piece cold side pipe, so I will need new piping for sure. I would like to continue having the hotside come past the power steering pulley, and then maybe just run a long-ass straight tube after the cold-side 180 bend. That would be easiest - I would like to see how others have done it aside from the one thread I can find from VoodoJeff.

Otherwise, have the new turbo in and on the DP, fixing to finish up all that this evening including having the Exhaust Manifold bolted up and everything on the back of the engine tight. Will do Transmission fluid and wiring on the gauge this evening too, overall super pleased with how it's progressing.

 

[Erebus]

Awesome work dude, keep it up!

For intercooler piping routing with the FoST mani, check out Mastermind's build thread, his is Genpu but he has the same thing with the long straight section on the cold side, might give you some ideas:

https://mazdaspeeds.org/index.php?threads/masterminds-build.3797/

For me, I just went reverse routing and put the hot side over the HPFP area, is a shorter runbut the main reason was that there is no room on a ms6 to go past the oil filter so not much choice really.

 

[jdab555]

Awesome work dude, keep it up!

For intercooler piping routing with the FoST mani, check out Mastermind's build thread, his is Genpu but he has the same thing with the long straight section on the cold side, might give you some ideas:

https://mazdaspeeds.org/index.php?threads/masterminds-build.3797/

For me, I just went reverse routing and put the hot side over the HPFP area, is a shorter runbut the main reason was that there is no room on a ms6 to go past the oil filter so not much choice really.

Thanks! I remember those pics just couldn't remember which thread they came from, helps a ton!

The Ultimate Ricing (lol) kit I have is pretty nice, but will only run in one direction. It lacks the capability to run down past the HPFP area, so I'll probably need to get a CXRacing kit and just fab it up.

Also on the Exhaust Manifold, the right rear (closest to driver) stud is incredibly close to the manifold, so close that I can't run a washer on the nut there, and have to go grab a small 14mm open-ended or crows foot wrench to get it tightened down. Oh well, that's the game you play saving $700 on a manifold.

 

[jdab555]

The ST Manifold is in!

For Future Google Searches, since I was unable to find any of this information readily available.

Mazdaspeed 3 ST Manifold Install Tips (With the Damond Kit):

• Getting it mounted on - The gasket will fight you the whole way, put in 2 bolts, one on each end, and find a way to get a thread or two in the head to hold it in place. Go underneath and move away the oil cooler coolant hose, and zip tie it back to the AC hardline, as well as any other associated wires that could catch on the Throttle Body. You can then muscle it into the correct position, and thread in the remaining bolts. Then mount up your Power Steering pump.
• Oil Dipstick - You will have to remove the dipstick tube in order to get the Manifold on. To put it back on, you will have to feed it in from underneath, and then mount it back in the hole. From there, I found that without making some additional bends in the tube, it will not be able to accept the stick. Make your bends, and remount. Below is the correct orientation for the mount on the Manifold. I was unable to get my sausage hands into the correct position to use the provided bolt/nut combo to attach it, so I used another zip tie.
• The hose with the quick-detach and threaded fitting is for your Catch can line. If you have a Damond Catch Can (why wouldn't you), you can remove the 90 fitting in the check valve and thread that onto the quick-detach line. If you don't have a catch can with that fitting, you can cut out the threaded portion, and use the plastic joiner fitting to combine your hoses from PCV -> Intake Manifold.
• It has been stated in the other thread by VoodooJeff, but I can't reiterate enough, put your MAP sensor, hose, throttle body, and dipstick mount all on the manifold before you put it in, because you will hate having to do it on the car. The throttle body is also going to have the plug on the passenger side, otherwise you will hit the starter trying to feed it into position.
• The symposer delete / vacuum block comes with 3 fittings. The big fitting nicely accommodates the semi-hard line with the blue snapclip well. The other 2 smaller fitting sizes are for your other pieces that require vac source (brake booster, BPV).
• The below Gray plug is a tight one, but you can make it fit per my first picture, you will have to snip the tape going to the #4 plug that holds it tight to the harness.

Very pumped to mock up my piping tomorrow, overall once I figured out what I was doing, it wasn't hard, just a bit time-consuming to get into the perfect spots.

 

[jdab555]

The CX Piping kit that I got is apparently not the same as it used to be, so the routing is not ideal for an ST Manifold. It works about 70% of the way, but needs a U-pipe, a 6-8" straight section, and a bending reducer. I have the U-pipe and reducer coming, but I cannot for the life of me find anything that is 2.25" ID in that length. Anyone have any thoughts?

Otherwise, got Trans fluid done today, Camber arms complete, EBCS plumbed, oil changed. Base map from Justin is waiting to go in, literally only waiting on piping to get our startup. Also coolant, but that takes about 5 minutes with the vacuum filler.

 

[jdab555]

Got the piping together and oil temp gauge fully wired up. For anyone using the new version of CXRacing piping, this is what you will need to complete it:

*Straight Coupler you can cut to size- Amazon.com: TMKOOL 8" Length 4-Ply Reinforced High Temp 2.5" ID Straight Coupler Silicone Hose (BLACK, 2.5'') : Automotive
*U-Pipe - Amazon.com: Ucreative 90 Degree Elbow 4-Ply High Performance Coupler Silicone Hose 2.0 inch to 2.5 inch (51MM to 63MM) : Automotive
*90-degree reduce from turbo to pipe - Amazon.com: AotoKoop Aluminum Pipe L 11.81" (300mm), OD 2.5" (63mm) Universal 180 Degree Aluminum Piping Tube Intercooler Pipe Polished U Bend Aluminum Air Intake Tube, for Direct Replacement of Engine Bay Pipes : Everything Else
*Straight pipe for over the HPFP - 2.5 Inch OD 5 Inch Long Aluminum Joiner Pipe for Intecooler turbo (amazon.com)


Car started up great, but pops codes for VTCS, EGR, and Knock sensor. Sounds really good at least.

The P0328 code presents itself in my case as 1.05 knock at any throttle position except none, even just a barely light tap at idle, and not changing at steady throttle. Took it about 2 miles around the block a few times, no dice. I was able to get up underneath the manifold and tighten it down as far as it can go, but it still presents symptoms. I pulled the knock sensor, pictures below, and can't see anything that would indicate the wires are damaged or the harness connector is bunk. Both sides look fine from the sensor to the main harness.

Would there be anywhere else that may be causing it to pop? The sensor wasn't moved at all during installation, I only routed the harness up and behind the fuel rail, not pinched anywhere. I have a new used sensor on the way, we'll see if that fixes it.

 

[jdab555]

Disregard the P0328, turns out the plug for the VTCS and the knock sensor are the same, and the knock sensor cable will reach both. It's supposed to plug into the passenger side plug (USDM).

 

[jdab555]

Got the second iteration of the tune this morning, going to hopefully take some logs tonight. Base map felt awesome, and compared to my final map on the K04 setup, flowing 25 g/s more right off the bat. New map is targeting 22 psi, excited to see how that feels. Really in love with the setup, so much more drivable with a more mature power band.

Also wanted to show off the oil pressure gauge and the new engine bay, I think they look rad. Super pleased with how it all turned out, and really happy to have found a low-dollar solution for my gauge.

 

[L337TurboZ]

That's a slick setup in the vent like that!