Scott's 1988 Mazda MX-6 GT

Care to post a picture of the proportioning valve? It's on the firewall down and towards the center of the car from the master. I'll be able to tell you from that of it has ABS or not.

Will see if my Dad can snap one this weekend. Car is still in NC until potentially Memorial Day. I want to work on this car!

You're going to cry with happiness when you see how easy it is to work on, too.

Except for the alternator placement, everything is engineered REALLY well.

Should I remove this FPR as well when I pull the timing retard and additional injectors?

I'm not sure how this is connected and what the stock FPR consists of. Thoughts?

Yep that needs to go. Completely unnecessary with a stockish turbo. I shudder to think what the afrs were like on this thing under full boost.

Stock fpr should still be present. Just make sure it has vacuum/boost reference.

In reply to Swank Force One:

VAF Relocation? Explain? Couldn't get a concise answer reading through MX6.com. What size interfooler piping? I'm looking at ebay kits that come with the fmic and universal piping. After looking through your build thread, it seems that those kits would workout well.

Hope this thread can help others on GRM that are on the fence or hoping to buy into the F2T craze that seems to be sweeping the site. I'm going with the "SFO State 1" setup, which seems to be stupid simple that can create a lot of fun power. I will outline that setup as I continue with the car.

On an impatient note, it looks like I will be waiting until Memorial Day to bring the car up north.

Don't re-locate the vaf. Leave it pre-turbo. I use 2.5" piping always.

Post-turbo vaf is supposed to keep it from stalling with a vta bov. But, the vaf wasnt built to hold boost, and stalling isnt an issue with a good bov.

Yeah, don't relocate it... The F2T swapped MX-3 I have had the VAF pressurized and blew the plastic lid off the VAF causing a boost leak. Welcome to the club!

Car is up north now. I didn't realize that the tires are bald in the front and it has a test pipe instead of a cat.

Also, it looks like I have two BOVs?

This one is post turbo pre intercooler.

Looks like that might be the factory one.

Was able to get to work on the car for maybe two hours yesterday and decided that the "extras" needed to go. For good. Car has HKS Additional Injector Control (AIC) with two injectors in TB elbow. Seems to be some sort of auxiliary fuel pump that needs to go as well.

Check out this custom cold air intake.

Some of the rat's nest of extra wiring.

Also found out that the factory ECU is untouched, which will be getting an EPROM chip/socket before going back into the car.

You can see the relay (with the shiny bracket) and the clear plastic thing to the right. I believe the relay is for some sort of alarm, and the clear thing some sort of car audio equipment I assume. The car has been wired for a sub/amp at one point (which I am removing).

My phone died before I could snap any more photos, but the factory ignition system is all still intact along with the wiring for it. I need to get a new coil to dizzy plug wire since the Crane ignition uses a different plug. Also, the Crane ignition retard is well...retarded. Most of the wiring for it is wedged tight beneath the seat, so I will have to remove the seat to get it out.

I still have to remove the remaining Crane wiring, remove the actual injectors and mess of fuel lines and vacuum hoses, the aftermarket alarm, and amp wiring. Not too big of a deal I suppose. Who knows when I will get the time to work on this car again. After getting the car up north I realized that the front tires are shot (won't pass inspection) and has a test pipe. I'm going to clamp on a high flow cat and order some used front tires from ebay to get back on the road. An ebay intercooler and piping will go back on the car, and the mess of intercooler piping will be removed.

Thanks for looking,

-Scott

I also ordered a new clutch slave/master last night from amazon in hopes to fix the slow clutch pedal return.

Things are about to finally happen for this car. I've slowly been working on a few things to get it road/inspection worthy. I removed all of the "mods" in the way of the HKS additional injectors and CRANE ignition retarded retard system, and am slowly taking the aftermarket alarm and sub/amp wiring. The car will be running on the stock fuel and ignition system for the first time since the 90s.

So far I have ordered but not installed a new clutch slave & master, new plug wires (NGK), high flow cat, dizzy o-ring, chip and socket for the ECU to eliminate fuel cut. I need to order brass shifter bushings as well.

Big score yesterday was a set of EVO 8 Enkei wheels from Craigslist for $100. Yes, $100. I was shocked. Nearly new Hankook V12's with a little more worn coopers in the rear. Both Max Performance summer tires to replace those gaud aweful Prime wheels on the car with worn out all seasons.

Hoping to get going on this after the 4th of July. I'm so damn'd busy right now it hurts.

Those wheels for $100 is unreal. Amazing score sir, I had an 89 626 gts that I loved dearly. Good luck, I'll be following along.

Sweet! Glad you're enjoying it! I've kinda given up on finding one of these anytime soon, so I will just live vicariously through your build thread.

I was able to take and hopefully pass my FE exam yesterday, so this car will be getting some much needed attention finally.

After working on the car one night last week, I realized that the EVO 8 wheels will not fit on the car due to rubbing the rear strut assemblies. I'm adding 10mm spacers with 50mm wheel studs, but I'm still afraid that may not be enough wheel stud. I need to investigate a bit more.

Hoping to install "chip", shifter bushings, and get the cat back on the car next week to fire it up for the first time in a while under the stock ignition and fuel system.

After pulling off the wheels, I noticed that the ball joints and tie rod ends are shot, along with both front and rear sway bar bushings and end links. I've got just over 200 dollars worth of crap sitting in my eBay cart that needs ordered bad, but I need to sell some more Focus parts first.

Got the car mostly back together last night. I have removed all the non-sense and put in a new dizzy o-ring and NGK plug wires. I am waiting on a de-soldering tool to make it to my house from eBay so I can chip the ECU and start back up. I still need to install the CAT, shifter bushings, clutch master and slave. I'm getting closer.

The wheel situation has me nervous. I have the EVO wheels that I want to use badly, but the rears are hitting the strut assembly and they are going to require some serious spacers. I will probably have to roll the fenders...a lot. Will likely go this route, but for now I'm focused on getting this thing running again.

Don't try to order balljoints separately. Just get the front control arms from rockauto, they're less than $50 each, and also gives you new front bushings already loaded. Also gives you new sheet metal to help the whole "endlinks tore through my control arm" problem.

For endlinks, no sense in getting stock replacements if you can help it. There's energy suspension part numbers out there somewhere, and they're cheap. Addco endlinks are cheap too, much as i hate the company, they're a good buy. Think it's something like $15/axle.

Yeah I'm not wasting my time on pressing balljoints. Found them on eBay for 43/side for new control arms. Will go that route most likely. Good info on the energy suspension links. I will try to dig up the part numbers.

I started the car last night on the stock ECU before removing/soldering in the chip. Since I had removed a ton of stuff and put things back to stock, I wanted to make sure the car would start before messing with the ECU. Cranked up like a champ and ran smoother than ever. The add on crap made the car run horrible. It was the first time running on the stock ignition/fuel system in what could be close to 20 years. I then started chipping the ECU, but ran of time before I could solder in the socket. Was my first time working with a de-soldering tool. Pretty neat actually.

These cars are interesting. Looks like you scored on a clean example.

In reply to smog7: Thanks. This one is extra nice, and I'm about to work all the bugs out.

Spent Monday night soldering the new chip in. I was surprised how fast/easy it was. You can see the de-soldering tool I used as well. $4 shipped from eBay. The car now runs great! Can't believe how rock-steady the idle is. Still waiting on the cat to come back from the muffler shop.

De-soldering tool:

Stock chip removed:

Socket installed:

Socket with chip:

Nice progress! Possibly silly question, but where did you get the dizzy o-ring? would a local flaps have em and just find the size I need or is this something with a part number?

Thanks!

DuctTape&Bondo wrote: Nice progress! Possibly silly question, but where did you get the dizzy o-ring? would a local flaps have em and just find the size I need or is this something with a part number? Thanks!

The o-ring is unavailable by itself from any auto parts store, including Mazda dealership to the best of my knowledge.

I just went to harbor freight and bought their SAE and Metric huge o-ring assortment boxes. Was like... $12 for both or something. Found one that worked. And now i have many spares.

In reply to Swank Force One:

Thanks Ben, that same idea occured to me but wasn't sure they were ok to use.

In reply to DuctTape&Bondo:

I got mine (OEM Mazda) from eBay. Must be a common Mazda sized O-ring because it fit a wide variety of Mazdas old and new.

$9 shipped from eBay. Mazda part no. F20118201 is what I got. I have used the parts house o-rings in the past on my Miata with no issues.

When will we see updates on your car?