Comitatus

For those of you that don't know, I cracked a front plate on the dyno last summer. So to bring everyone up to speed, here is some info on the changes I've made over the past year. The following post was made on one of my local forums:



Ok, in an effort to keep others informed...I decided that I want to show some progress/changes that I've made over the winter.



Last summer, after a mishap on the dyno resulted in a cracked front plate; I decided that I wanted to build the motor myself this time, as I like to do most of the work and I only trust a very limited number of people to work on my car. While the motor was out, I wanted to make some changes to take precaution and hopefully to prevent mishaps in the future.



On to the changes...



Motor Build - New S5 Turbo front plate (obviously) and I used almost everything that I had from the previous build since it was all still new. I did replace an S4 Turbo housing with an S5 one. I no longer have mismatched rotor housings. Replaced the RA 2mm seals with Atkins. Replaced the RA Teflon O-Rings, and this time I used all ALL Mazda OEM soft seals/O-rings.



Just after pulling the motor. Began cleaning things up and started removing old wiring.





Notice the Difference in the 2 housings. S5T on left, S4T on right

Comitatus

Sold my Haltech E6X and replaced with an E8 unit. Thanks to my my buddy Ron (Fishey) for helping with the wiring and teaching me to solder correctly. I removed the dash to take out the Heater Core, Blower Motor, etc..and did some cleanup behind the dash. This gave me plenty of room to do a nice, clean install of the Haltech. I didn't want to see any wiring in the Engine Bay, so we had to get creative.



Just after removing the dash and components. Started diving into the wiring to get things cleaned up/organized.

Comitatus

Thinking that the stock coils and an MSD wouldn't be enough for my needs, I decided to run a custom coil setup. I also wanted to run a Direct Fire Sequential setup. So, I did some research on which coils would suffice, and took a recommendation to pursue these BMEP IGN-1A's. They will supposedly light anything you can throw at them. I made up a bracket and used some hardware to create a nice little setup. I contacted Magnecor and had them make me a set of R100 10mm wires for my setup.























Decided to run dual solenoids to control my dual wastegate setup, instead of 1 solenoid controlling both. Having 1 per WG is the proper way to do it, so I fabbed up a bracket and this is what I came up with.







Here are a few pics from re-routing the fuel lines.

Comitatus

Latest shot of the engine bay.







It's a bit dirty from the work that was just performed. So don't mind it...



I just finished reinstalling the manifold, DP, etc. I had 2 EGT bungs welded onto the manifold to aid in a better tune this time around.



Notice a the changes/upgrades:

-Individual Coils w/ Custom Plug wires

-Eliminated ABS, and ran New Factory Non-ABS brake lines

-929 Master Cylinder

-Dual Boost Controller Solenoids - 1 per WG

-Heat shielding around LIM, and Oil Return Line

-Jazz Coolant Catch Can

-Jazz Vented Oil Catch Can (Can't be seen in this pic)

-Re-Routed Braided Fuel lines

-4" Intake Elbow on Turbo (test fitting the cheap filter for size, will order K&N shortly.



Here are a couple teasers of the Front Bumper installed with the CF hood.

Comitatus

And now this:



Here is an update for everyone.



The last week and a half was probably the craziest that I've had in a long time.

The dyno tuning date was set for April 12th. My buddy (Fishey) and I drove down to meet Chris Ludwig at Automotion in downtown Louisville. Let me preface the rest by saying that the folks at Automotion are very professional and friendly. It was a breath of fresh air to be working with people that were not only car enthusiasts, but genuine people as well. I can see why Chris has developed a good relationship with them.



At about 8:30 am, the car was strapped to the dyno and Chris began to work on the steady state tuning. Everything went very smoothly for about 2 hours as Chris worked his way up through the different load and rpm ranges. Shortly after, I heard the car shut off, and I saw Chris getting out of the car so I came over to find that oil was everywhere, and I then see the cause. The oil filter pedestal had broke in half! Turns out that the pedestal that I had purchased in a GB a couple years ago was a 2-piece design made by "MRC Manufacturing". Turns out that this design had been recalled due to a reported "failure"(hmm, wonder what that was), and urged people to send them back in for an upgrade to the now produced 1-piece design. After inspecting the piece, it was indeed a really shitty design, and the manufacturer and designers should be embarrassed to produce that kind of quality on something considered to be a critical element. So at the time, I was out the time and money spent for the trip down, and incurred a "dyno cleanup fee" for dumping oil all over the dyno (THANKS MRC!)



So we called it a day until I could get another oil pedestal. We re-scheduled dyno time for 8:30am on the following Friday, the 18th. During the week, Chris spent some time to drop the tranny to check the clutch/PP/flywheel for any oil that may have found its way through the inspection plate opening. I took the day off work on friday and made the trip back to Louisville on Thursday evening to replace the oil pedestal with a new unit, and help Chris get the tranny back in. We got everything buttoned back up, and without any leaks, we went out for some road tuning and to get the maps setup for doing boost pulls on the dyno the following morning.



We worked out way up, and eventually did about 10-12 boost pulls on the 11.5psi gate springs. Let me tell you that the car had never ran so smooth. Everything felt great while cruising and pulled very nicely doing the boost pulls that we did. The car was definitely ready to get into boost on the dyno. I was VERY excited and felt good about the following morning.



After we survived the 5.2 scale earthquake that rattled the house like crazy, we made our way to Automotion on Friday morning. The car was strapped down around 8:45, and after some laptop setup, Chris started the car to make the first boost pull. I backed away from the car, and Chris because going through the gears to eventually get into 4th. I sat down and plugged my ears to negate the effects of the dual 38mm wastegates dumped to the atmosphere. I was watching some of the gauges as the rpms climbed, then time pretty much stood still in my mind as I see a nice tall stream of oil shoot from the engine bay, and all over the car. Again, the car was immediately shut off, and my head drops immediately as I knew exactly what happened...



Yep. Another cracked front plate.



Aftter a 2 and a half hour ride home in a tow truck, and a few days to ponder, I'm still stuck wondering what in the world could have caused this. I thought that I had taken all the precautions/steps necessary to eliminate this from happening, but obviously that wasn't the case.



Boost was still on the gates, holding a steady 11psi, AFR's in the low 11's, temps and everything else...A-ok. What in the world caused it to detonate and crack my plate? Why was it fine the previous night, and not in the morning?



For those of you that don't know, this is the 3rd time that I've cracked a plate. 1 rear, and 2 fronts. I don't know what else to do, and I'm seriously considering selling it all, and stepping away from the scene. It definitely sounds like I need to take a hint.



I'll try to get some pictures up of the carnage.



Chris Ludwig, I cannot thank enough. He is an amazing tuner, and I appreciate all of his help and knowledge that he has passed to me. He took things very seriously on my car, and I could tell that he wanted everything to be correct. We are searching for the cause and hope to come up with something.





CLIFF NOTES:

Shitty designed Oil filter pedestal broke in half on the dyno, causing oil to go everywhere. Stopped tuning until we could get it replaced. Lost time and money in the process.



Following dyno session, for no rhyme or reason, front plate cracked on the very first pull. Low boost, 11psi, 11 AFR, temps Ok. No clue as to what happened. Looking for answers.



Might sell everything, and get away from the game.





In closing...I suck, and I'm 0 for 3.

j9fd3s

pics of front plate?



misfire? how much power does it make @11psi?



that really sucks, btw. must be something fairly serious to be breaking plates?

Comitatus

Looks just like the last one (this pic is from the other thread):





No misfire that I know of, it was too loud for me to hear. I know Chris had his ear protection on, so I don't know if he could hear anything.



Probably mid-300's at 11psi, give or take.



One part in question right now, is the Mazda Racing 6-rib pulley. I'm going to compare the timing marks on it to those on the stocker.



I just don't see the timing being that off, because the car ran fine to that point. Even the night before during the same pulls on the highway, no issues.

fc3sboy1

i have a cracked rear iron on my 13b re , its cracked in 2 spots around the rear upper dowel pin just under the oil pedistal. i am running the dual belt pully from mazdatrix and always wondered if the timming marks are correct as now and then there is igntion break up and my egts do not follow the same pattern as the a/f . i knoticed the marks are off slightly to the keyway from the stock hub. wonder if i have the same issue you do , motors aint cheep to build for stupid hundred dollar pullies being machined wrong

fc3sboy1

also to add my engine is studded to prevent this sort of thing

Comitatus

Your motor was studded when you cracked it? That's some serious detonation...



I can see if the pulley makes the timing considerably off, but only being a couple degrees wouldn't make a huge difference. Maybe I'm wrong, though.