2013 Mazda5 BT build thread

[white'swhiteMPS]

awesome!

[sac02]

Originally Posted by ztnedman1 How much power you looking for? Boost? e85? Looks like you are spending a lot of time to get this done properly. Kudos. Can't wait to see what kind of power it makes.

The engine is not built, and I don't have LSD (at the moment), so I'm keeping the power levels reasonable. Aiming for 250-260 whp. Not huge numbers, but a nice bump from the stock 157bhp. I know this may disappoint some people who were looking forward to a 450whp monster, but my goal is just to take it from "gutless" to "quick", and maintain driveability and reliability.

8-10psi, and 93 octane (no e85).

[daafisch]

Not every turbo build needs to be 400+. I just like that you're doing it to your 5.

[Hal]

I just wish they would make a Mazdaspeed version of the 5. I would buy it immediately.

[sac02]

July 18.

Basically the only thing left before it is ready to start is installation of the intake pipe (easy), and fabrication of a battery tray for the smaller battery I decided to buy today.

Other than that, it's just putting the car back together (cowl, bumper cover, fender liners).

Today's pics:


This trapezoidal shaped protrusion on the driver's side of the radiator support has been a royal pain in my ass. The corners at first had flash from molding that were cutting my forearm - now that I've sanded them smooth, it's just the pointy corners of it that press into my forearm every time I reach into the driver's side of the engine compartment. I have this nice bruise that hurts like hell - the outer ring is bruised, but the inside is hard as a rock, and exquisitely tender and painful. If I were a smart man, I would have taped some foam to this thing days ago. I am not a smart man.




3" cutoff wheel has been stationed here next to the vice pretty much the entire time. I have used it WAY more than I expected for this project.




Getting setup to extend the wiring for the O2 sensor.




Finished product:




Here's the routing on the passenger's side:




And here's the routing on the driver's side. Looks like a good stock wire routing job, if I do say so myself. (if you're having trouble seeing the wire, look for the corrugated tube running down the length of the fuel rail, then under the vacuum hoses, behind the coolant hoses, and connecting to the black and grey connectors at the bottom of the pic.)




Here is some detail/insight on why this is taking so long. Take this wire run for example. This green wire is from some sensor in the transaxle (reverse switch? temp? speed? I don't realy care...), and connects into the wire harness on top of the transaxle. But as you can see in this picture, I've run a water line for the turbo in this vicinity, and it is both physically touching the wire, and putting some stress on the wire by forcing the wire out of its natural routing.




So we add corrugated tubing as a protector.




We also move this clip position a few mm to get a bit of slack in the wire. (You can see the indentions on the foam where the clip was positioned previously)




And VOILA! A wire routing that won't burn down your pride and joy - because it does not have any stress in the wires, is not actively touching any other parts, and is protected in areas that have potential for touching. (there's actually about 10mm of clearance between the wire and the metal bracket at the bottom of the picture, it's just the angle that makes it look like it's touching.)

Also note the 5/8" heater hose wrapped around the 3/8 water hose, as a protector where the water hose touches the aforementioned metal bracket.

[1cms1]

Fire it up!

[Pu Manchu]

Originally Posted by sac02 I am not a smart man.

that doesn't bode well for the rest of us..

[BlackFlag]

Great thread! Fire that bitch up and take a vid

[NCspecV81]

are you able to use a speed valve cover out of curiosity?

[Z32_MS3]

Cant wait to see the finished product!

[sac02]

Fluids in, battery connected, ready to start...

It's going to be loud - I have no exhaust behind the downpipe at the moment, lol.

No vids of the first start, I'll be on alert for any leaks or other abnormalities. Maybe the second start...

[sac02]

Pictures first, status update second...


With a sharp drill bit and a steady hand, you can make some decent chips. But damn I wish I had a drill press.




One issue I have with this car is the wimpy horn. So I added a second "low tone" horn I bought on Amazon for 20 bucks. Makes a huge difference.




I made a battery tray out of some scrap aluminum I had laying around, I need to make it thicker though. I made the battery tray because I decided at the last minute to get a smaller battery. The intake fit with the stock battery, but it was cramped, and things were rubbing, and it was altogether not ideal.




Fluids ready to go in the car.




So.... the status update.

I'm not drinking the celebration beer I bought yet, let's put it that way.

When I first started the engine, it ran rough (very rough) for about a minute - it would stumble and almost die, then surge up to 2k rpm, backfire, etc. Eventually after about a minute it did die. I restarted it a second time and it only ran for maybe 15 seconds.

Then I turned on the data logger and tried to start it a few more times. It would only run (poorly) for a few seconds at a time.

So I'm looking at scraps of data for three failed starts, trying to figure out what the issue is.

But I am paying for a tune, so I'll try to talk to my tuner tomorrow (even though it's Sunday) and see if he has any insight.

I should note - I was running the car without an exhaust after the downpipe. I wouldn't think that the missing rear section of exhaust would cause such issues, but I've been wrong before.

[Bob-o]

Sounds like a vacuum leak? Have you been able to do a boost leak test?

Also does the intake incorporate a stock sized maf housing?

[Easter Bunny]

It can't be the down pipe/ o2 sensor the Ecu doesn't switch to those until the motor has reached a preset temperature.

"Shouldn't be"

[sac02]

Victory Beer:



(Omegang Three Philosophers Quadrupel Ale)

[SofaKingAwesome]

Success?

[sac02]

Si. I'm pretty happy at the moment, tbh.

Currently idling normally, 0 psi boost. add boost after getting MAF and MAP calibrated.

Sounds mean(ish) with no exhaust though (open downpipe) LOL.

Putting all the parts back together right now (bumper,etc.).

[dark_matter]

@sac02; so what happened to the 1st startup? What was causing it to run rough?

[SofaKingAwesome]

Video mofucka!

[sac02]

Originally Posted by dark_matter @sac02; so what happened to the 1st startup? What was causing it to run rough?

Pleased to say it was NOT my issue. It was the tune. Tuner screwed up and wrote the file using 440cc injectors, I'm using stock (242cc) for now while running zero boost, then going to 550cc when I start adding boost.

[Cevaes_64]

#inbefore my speed got beaten by a minivan

[Pu Manchu]

i bet it sounds much like a ms3/6, in 4 vids

[torquemaniac]

Very interesting build...and I thought going big turbo with my CX-7 was crazy

If you have trouble with your tuner, I know a local tuner that can tune almost all Mazda from 2004+ with Mazdaedit

[sac02]

Tuner got me a new file this afternoon with the correct injector sizes, and the car is running well. On the one hand, it bugs me that he was late delivering the file, and that it was incorrect. But on the other hand, he did go into the "office" on Sunday to address my issues.

No videos yet, sorry.

I cut and welded up a dump pipe on the exhaust - it's not any quieter, but at least it's not going to melt my floorboard out from under me. I'm going to stop by the muffler shop tomorrow and get them to make a mid-pipe.


The pile of parts begins to get smaller, as they go back on the car.




Loading tunes and logging data. Just kidding, I'm cruising MSF.




You gotta look close to tell it isn't stock.




I don't know if Mazda put this cutout here on purpose for a hand-hold, but it sure is convenient when installing the bumper cover.




A couple shots of the suspension, because why should the engine get all the glory?





Everything back together. "Hey kid, you wanna race?"

[daafisch]

Oh look, someone else running K4R's!

[iiiicoryiiii]

I can't wait to see this van in action. Video's of start up when you have time please!

[sac02]

Originally Posted by daafisch Oh look, someone else running K4R's!

They're inexpensive, light, wide (for me, coming from 16x6.5 wheels), attractive (enough), strong (enough), and easy to clean. What's not to like?

[Easter Bunny]

Your going to need something wider I think.

[SpencerC]

Yes, solid build thread for a question that I can't even tell you how many times I've been asked!

Actually I can, I've been asked twice if you can do a MS3 to Mazda5 conversion. Ha.

Looking good!

Let's see it RUN!

[sac02]

Originally Posted by Easter Bunny Your going to need something wider I think.

No doubt that traction will be a serious issue, but I'm not sure going up from 225's to 245 or 255s is the answer. I suspect my next project (that I've already been researching) will be an ms3 trans or a Quaife installed in my trans.

[Easter Bunny]

Ahh forgot about being one wheel peel. That will be a bigger issue for sure.

[sac02]

I was creating an imgur album this morning, and realized I didn't include a completed shot of the engine bay.



Apologies for the shoddy battery tie-down - it was a piece of scrap aluminum angle that I happened to have laying around AND it already had a 1/4-20 threaded hole in the right place! I'm going to replace it with something more attractive in the near future.

[iiiicoryiiii]

How is the PCM mounted? Looks like it's just hanging out on the fuse block

[sac02]

Originally Posted by iiiicoryiiii How is the PCM mounted? Looks like it's just hanging out on the fuse block

It's mounted at a slight angle on purpose
1. to keep as much stress as possible off of the wires, and
2. to allow some airflow to the aluminum underside of the PCM (which is intended as a heatsink, it gets hot in use).

[iiiicoryiiii]

Excellent! Do we have video of this awesome build start up, and or driving yet?


EDIT: Would it cool more efficiently if the PCM was flipped over the other way? Would there be more surface area to adhere to that was as well?

[sac02]

Not yet. Probably tonight.

edit:
It would cool better, yes.

The issue is that the wire harness doesn't have much more slack available before the wires start to be potentially stressed. I could flip it over, leaving the wire in the same routing (pivoting about the wire), but then it would be kind of janky because the PCM would be hanging halfway off of the fusebox. There is just not enough slack in the wires to simply place it upside down in the same location it is in currently, since the wires would need another 10mm to run up to the top of the fusebox.

I have considered moving it to stand vertically in front of the battery. There is space, and the wire routing would support this placement, but I would need to make a bracket, which I don't have time for at the moment.

[kornybun]

Front page of Reddit. Nice!

[Vansquish]

Originally Posted by sac02 It's mounted at a slight angle on purpose 1. to keep as much stress as possible off of the wires, and 2. to allow some airflow to the aluminum underside of the PCM (which is intended as a heatsink, it gets hot in use).

i would get rid of those "Command" strips and replace them with 3M Dual-Lock instead. The Command strips don't seem to hold up too well to heat in my experience.

[Adam is so pro]

fucking awesome

[Jebus]

Even saw this on Reddit today....