learn me jackson racing m45 on an nb miata

My daily is a 104k mile 2000 california spec base model miata with a hard dog ace and a torsen swapped in.

I have all the federal parts (live in north carolina) of the exhaust/cats/ecu if needed

earlier today, I bought a m45 jackson racing supercharger kit. Should be home before I get back from vacation. It was last installed on a 99 by the original owner. I bought it from a friend of his who never did anything with it.

So, ive never looked at the supercharger kits before, have never owned anything boosted, and havent ever seen a supercharged car in person. Just pictures on the internet.

Which means I have a bunch of questions, most of which are searchable.

The ones that aren't, though, are listed below. Right before the pictures.

1. which version of the kit did I buy?

2. Will this work with AC?

3. What supporting mods are required? Fuel pump/radiator?

4. Whats missing from the kit other than the air filter? (have a few K&N laying around, one should fit)

5. is the power card tuneable, or does it need to be?

6. Should I swap to the federal parts?

7. Any maintenance that should be done prior to install? Supercharger oil, bearings, etc? Car has new timing belt, hoses, water pump, radiator, belts, etc.

8. any concerns with running one of these on a daily in north carolina summer heat?

9. Should I do a intercooler? Have a spare from an aborted turbo project, along with a full piping kit)

10. where can I find install instructions?

11. what am I not thinking of?

Pictured is what is coming in the box.

image1 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

image1(1) by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

image2 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

image3 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

image5 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

image4 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

image6 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

image8 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

image9 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

image7 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr

I'd drop a line to Gary at Track Dog Racing. He probably knows more about these than anyone.

I had one on my old 92.  Good fun! 

Makes noises like Luke's Landspeeder.  Happy May the 4th, BTW!

It does have an air filter!

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

Depending on the miles/history on the S/C I’d plan on oil/seals/bearings. 

In reply to joey48442 :

Did not know that was an air filter!!!

Cool!

Was this the seller trying to tell you something?

In reply to Stampie :

Seriously doubt it. He pointed out that it has an air filter!

Im pretty excited. First time having something with forced induction of my own.

Love the sound of a positive displacement blower. Had a TRD Eaton on my 2000 Tacoma. The solid torque right off of idle was super fun. 

I'm happy for you. I'm not planning for forced induction, but would love to score one of those for my 01 Miata.

In reply to Floating Doc :

I had been debating it for a while. Today i went vulture in another thread and wound up here.

My thoughts have been about roll your own turbo/supercharger, nitrous, etc. Love my daily, just needs a little more power and refinement. This takes care of half of that! 

It should be hilarious on the stock 14s with 600 treadwear tires. (Bent one of the 15s this week. Have the wheels and tires i pulled off with less than a hundred miles on them in storage which happen to be puny and hard)

Nice! Congrats on the pick up. 

Following with interest as I really want to add forced induction to my 99.

If you decide to change over from Cali spec, you might as well throw on an NB2 header instead. Supposedly they add a little power and drop some weight 

Keith Tanner said:

I'd drop a line to Gary at Track Dog Racing. He probably knows more about these than anyone.

+1. The guys at Track Dog are super knowledgeable and really great to deal with. Just watch out, they might convince you into making some upgrades.

Also, RedGT had one of these kits on an NB, and should be able to answer some of these questions.

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

It won't work. You should sell it to me. 

NickD said:

Keith Tanner said:

I'd drop a line to Gary at Track Dog Racing. He probably knows more about these than anyone.

+1. The guys at Track Dog are super knowledgeable and really great to deal with. Just watch out, they might convince you into making some upgrades.

Just be aware that the M45 was originally specified for a 6 psi kit on a 1.6. It doesn’t have a lot of headroom, so you reach the point of diminishing returns almost immediately. My advice for these is to install and enjoy and not go crazy trying to chase power. 

Would a coolant reroute or oil cooler be a good idea? 

Trying to get a handle on what all i should do.

Also: i think i want to do preventive maintenance on the blower. Oil/seals/bearings.

This stuff will all be standard m45 parts, right?

In reply to Cooper_Tired :

The Miata I took to the 2017 Challenge had an M62 blower on it and it was really nice to hoon around in. My DD is an R53 MINI CooperS and the Miata feels quicker. I was able to do a 14.72 quarter with it without actually revving it up and dumping the clutch, so I assume I left a little time on the table. While I think the car is a riot I'd probably look at a turbo if I were to want to boost another Miata. For the Challenge the car was cheap and already had the supercharger installed. If you can find a good used kit cheap, then by all means have at it.

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

I'm no expert on these kits, but my Challenge car ran about 50K miles with the M62 blower and the stock radiator before the radiator top tank disintegrated. I haven't touched the cards, so have no idea what they're doing. If I had an intercooler I would install it. The previous owner used it as his daily commuter in Detroit area traffic, and it gets plenty hot up here in July and August. Again, if I had a budget friendly aluminum rad, I'd install it, too. Otherwise, I'm watching this thread to see what I can learn and upgrade on mine.

I think Eaton figured the M45 needed service about every 100,000 miles in the Miata application.

Oil cooler/coolant reroute are separate questions from the blower. A good rad is the first thing you need. Dumping heat into the radiator isn't any use if you can't get it out again.

There are infinitely better SC options out there (even for the price). 

Check out Trackdog Racing's rotrex kit, or keep an eye out for a used one. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Ive got a 3 core aluminium radiator on the way. 

I was wondering about the coolers/reroute from a reliability and durability standpoint. As its my daily, i want to make this as reliable as gravity. Stock was designed for 97rwhp, and hopefully we will have 147rwhp.

Goingnowhere: find me a rotrex kit for under $750 and we'll talk. I got a good deal on this, and it should fit my purposes well.

In reply to goingnowherefast :

I just bought the TDR Rotrex kit and it was over 5 grand. That's a far cry from what he paid for the Eaton

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

Depending on the miles/history on the S/C I’d plan on oil/seals/bearings. 

Agreed. I had a new Toyota supercharger installed on my Toyota V6 truck and in the supercharger's 90,000 mile life (before I sold it), it ate its bearings, twice. That setup you have looks like all kinds of used, in appearance at least. Clean it up really well, while spinning everything in order to insure the bearings are good.

Performance-wise it was very impressive down low, great for towing or hauling. Toward the high end it sort of went flat, but that's only my experience.

NickD said:

In reply to goingnowherefast :

I just bought the TDR Rotrex kit and it was over 5 grand. That's a far cry from what he paid for the Eaton

That's true. Mine was 3.9K+. But it comes with literally everything down to the nut and bolt, even came with lock tight. Sometimes it pays to have an absolutely bulletproof setup is what I'm saying. Those style of blowers create quite a good amount of heat, and like Keith said that are basically capped off at 6 psi. 

goingnowherefast said:

There are infinitely better SC options out there (even for the price). 

 

Check out Trackdog Racing's rotrex kit, or keep an eye out for a used one. 

The best SC option is the one you have. M45s do not change hands in the same price range as a Rotrex - and they have very different characteristics as well. We could have quite an entertaining discussion about what the best choice would be if the budget was 5-10 times what it is, but that wouldn't help Michael much.

I got my used M62 kit for $1K and it included everything, including the Miata.