The Engine

	The built short block arrives in a big crate from Flyin'Miata in the US. Includes: 2L stroker kit (billet Moldex crank, Carillo rods, Wiseco pistons), new oil and water pumps, new seals etc.
	Another view of the 2L short block!
	Short block is being finally assembled here - timing belt pulleys etc being installed. The oil filter threaded rod is also about to be shortened (with blue cap on the end). In stock form the Mazda BP 1.8L engine has a water oil cooler under the filter - we won't be needing that as the new FM twincooler radiator has a built in oil cooler. Note: in hindsight I would not do this, leave the stock oil cooler in place, shortening the threaded rod actually caused a fair bit of hassle - the oil lines that FM supply with their dual radiator no longer reached the oil cooler! In the end they had to be ditched and some new oil lines purchased from Goodridge. Oil lines and fittings are from the 811 range.
	Love the look of the newly assembled engine. It's a shame to close it up and turn the key (well almost!).
	The cylinder head is being built in the UK and is back from the machine shop. The pictures do not do it justice. The headwork included new performance valve springs, titanium retainers, aluminum washers, 1mm oversized valves for both exhaust and intake, cc'ing chambers and port matching of the gaskets and manifolds. Oh, and the combustion chamber diameter was increased to account for the overbore of the cylinders. Final CR is 8.8:1. Flow figures and other details will be put up soon.
	Shot of the combustion chamber looking towards the exhaust ports. Note the custom guides. There was 3 thou of clearance on this side, so instead of getting stock guides, which will vary within the rather large OEM specs, custom guides were made to ensure less than 1 thou' of play.
	Shot of the intake ports.
	Exhaust ports again, this time looking deeper into the bowl and port.
	Deeper into the exhaust ports.
	Looking into the intake ports.
	Aluminum spring seat, chrome silicon steel spring and titanium retainer. The titanium retainer's light weight means there's less reciprocating mass. The higher spring rate means the valves are better controlled at high engine speed but without the drag and extra stress of a too-stiff spring. As an added bonus, they also allow for greater lift (12mm or 0.472") which will be useful when I get around to new cams! They are designed to allow engine speeds of up to 9000 rpm before valve float.
	Here's a photo of an FM intake valve. The valves are heavily backcut and undercut for improved flow. They are black nitrided for extra hardness and durability with low friction.
	Here's my trusty old 1.6L engine - 116k miles with nearly 60k at 15psi of boost. This engine made 263bhp at a dyno day before the water/methanol injection was added and the higher flowing GT2860RS (replaced the standard FM big ball bearing turbo or GT2560R). The secret to long life is good engine management and tuning along with regular synthetic oil changes. The engine and turbo kit is now doing service in another car.
	Well here's the old engine being removed. Careful with the paint work!
	Here's the new engine installed. It actually took about a weeks worth of work between the old engine being pulled (above) and getting the new engine plumbed in and wired so that the TEC3r ECU had control of everything. Fired up first time, but it was a pretty nerve wracking moment.
	Another shot of the engine from the passenger side.
	Adjustable cam gears - allows for changes to overlap etc. The cam cover has been cut away at the front here to allow easy adjustment and it looks pretty cool as well!
	Close up of the FM exhaust side adjustable cam gear.
	I chose to dump the 1.6L thermostat housing which incorporates a thermostat switch for the radiator fan. It looks untidy! In its place I installed a new 1.8L housing and handed control of the fan over to the TEC3r. I will link the wiring diagram for this modification here as time allows.
	For the TECgt to be able to run the injectors in full sequential mode (rather than phase sequential) a CAS from a Mk1 must be installed to tell the ECU when TDC No. 1 occurs. The TECgt relies on a 60-2 toothed crank trigger wheel for its accuracy (worst case +/-0.25 degrees of engine revolution at 20,000rpm), but this won't distinguish which cylinder (No.1 or 4) is at TDC, hence the cam angle sensor. The Mk1 CAS just slots into place, the Mk2 camshaft still has the notch for it. Remove the plug and insert CAS. This setup has now been replaced by a hall sensor mounted towards the front of the engine.
	The crucial element to making a modified car as reliable as possible is good wiring. Cover all wires, use good quality crimps and weather proof connectors (the ones with the silicon seals). 9 times out of 10 a breakdown or poor running is due to bad wiring. Solder is best avoided as it tends to attract corrosion and can lead to fatigue failure of the connection.
	Long ago I got pretty fed up with changing stock fuel filters. They are under the rear wheel arch and require the car to be on stands to change and lying under a fuel filter is not a great place to be as you inevitably spill fuel over yourself. I've by-passed the stock filter with some fuel line and installed a K&N high flow filter in the engine bay where it can be easily got at. As a bonus it is high flowing and cleanable.
	Hidden in this picture between the intake manifold and cam cover is a Vishnu high flow, balanced fuel rail. A Vishnu rail (for a 1.6L) reduced my injector duty cycles by almost 10% when installed on the previous engine at the same AFR. Why? Well the Mazda MX5 number 4 cylinder runs lean on high power turbo cars, so to get the fuel right in that cylinder the others must run rich. An alternative to a balanced rail is to use the injector trim option of the TEC3r, but this would require an EGT probe in each exhaust runner. This is a little more work IMO.
	Picture of the new oil cooler lines. These are from Goodridge.
	Here's a picture of the new turbo on the car (custom Garrett GT30R). This has been installed as the GT2860RS will not flow enough to make 400bhp.
	This is the stock FM2 air filter and intake pipe. My feeling is that this may be a little restrictive for 400bhp so I have installed a new filter (below). Another factor was weight, the new filter and intake are very light!
	Here's the new filter and intake hose. Rated at 450bhp, enough for my needs.
	Another shot of the new ITG filter.
	New ITG filter in place. This took a lot longer than I expected, it would not fit in the FM cold air box, so I had to fabricate a new one, the Blitz boost control solenoid was mounted to the back of the FM cold air box, so that had to be moved and a new bracket made to hold it and finally there was interference with the pop up headlight motor. It is still up against it, but careful trimming of the Samco hose has made it bearable now.
	Another photo of the engine bay with the new ITG filter installed. The new cold air box is more clearly seen here, not as nice as the FM one (that is now sat with the intake piping and filter on a shelf in my garage), but does the job. Also more clearly seen is the blitz boost control solenoid and its bracket (far right just behind the cold air box). I suspect I'll be doing that cold air box again.....
	Comparison showing VICS working normally and VICS switched off. Boost is 11psi - works surprisingly well doesn't it?
	Engine bay as of November 2006. New BOV, new IC pipes and the FM heat shield in place.
	New stainless steel IC pipes. 2" diameter, good for 400bhp by my calculations, and backed up by a major pipe manufacturer (supplies F1, AF1, rally teams etc) and Corky Bell of Bell Engineering suspected the same. Not a guarantee of the pipe size not being a restriction, but good enough for me. I don't like the 'step' in size just before the throttle body, so I suspect that this pipe will be done again.
	My answer to smoothing out that step and any boundary layer separation and hence turbulence.