Bought not Built

That's really awesome, I don't know whether to love or hate that muffler but it is definitely novel! I think I'll go your route and just grab some piping from Autozone, mock it up and either take it to a shop or have a buddy with a harbor freight welder give it a go. Thanks for the information!

 

So my Tial 44mm EWG came in, can't wait to get it up and running in a couple of months. Since my BNR S3 is IWG, do I just need to uncap the vacuum port, or will I require a blocking plate to prevent armature movement?

 

The hose that was on the old iwg will now go to the new ewg's bottom port. Cobb iwg bracket to keep it held closed.

 

Thanks - found one BNIB for cheap on FB Marketplace, should be here in a couple of days. Final step is to source the dump pipe.

 

Been a bit since my last update:

I LIVED BITCH

Car still goes strong - did my 2-day track event in early September, had a fantastic time and only lost one IWG c-clip, which meant my IWG was stuck open, leading to no boost on the tail end of me 3rd session on the last day. Thankfully, we were able to safety-wire the armature back on, and the car chooched all the way through the rest of the day.

Post-event thoughts:

• Not 100% sold on the effectiveness of the hood vent; I was definitely balls-to-the-wall throughout the entire event, pushing the car way harder than I ever have for a much longer period of time (100 minutes each day), and as a result my temps were a little higher. This time my coolant reached a max of 223 in some sections, oil reached ~235, which is only 5 degrees higher than before, so I'll call it a win. All in all, not excessive heat, but higher than when I had my normal hood on there for an event.
• Tire width continues to be a limiting factor for me; I dominated my Novice group both days with the exception of a C7 corvette, and was bumped up to Intermediate for all future events (thanks WDCR SCCA), but 225s kept me from holding more speed through the corners. Tires are awesome, I'm definitely in love with the RT660s, but I need 235s+ next year.
• BNRS3 power band is still awesome.

Go-Dos:

• I noticed my HPFP Actuals were always right above 1600, and with a new FPRV I'm pretty sure I either need new internals or my ITFP is really struggling. I got a BNIB AEM 340 for my ITFP to go in this winter, and I might get new HPFP Internals as well since these are pretty old and may or may not have some level of scarring.
• My timing cover is absolutely pissing oil, the RTV that it was originally put on with seeping like mad at the bottom, so I need to figure out what I need to do to pull it off and replace with a proper gasket, so expect more questions on that soon. Timing chain stuff is probably just fine so likely a new gasket set and crank pulley items.
• Pretty sure my Control Arm Bushings in the front are angry at the abuse, so I'm going to pull them off this winter and throw in Polys from Damond.
• Will be having a friend who has a shop nearby liquify my spacers so I can finally change my brake rotors and put in new wheel bearings on all 4 corners since it's probably about time.

I'm also open to suggestions on anything else I might be missing since the car is getting a lot more abuse than it has before.

Tracking really beats you up, but it is so worth it.

 

Good stuff! The hood vents do make a difference. You might not be able to tell being that summer is basically over.

 

You definitely want more tire. 225 to 235 will be marginal. If you can just go straight to a 255 just do it. Keep the 225’s in the rear.

 

Yeah with the ducting all in place and the front pretty well sealed up, it could be that I'm just pushing it way harder than before so it would be much higher sans vent.

My 225s still have a decent amount of life left in them, probably another couple of track days - Figure I should try and kill them off and look at what tire size I can reasonably run. I'm not certain 255s would fit in the front, wheels are 17x8 or 8.5 I think?

 

Oh definitely not. You can maybe get away with a 235 at most. I wouldn’t even bother with a 245.

you want at least a 9 wide for 245/255. Ideally 9.5 wide.


Keep the 225’s for rears and go 235 front. It ain’t much of a stagger but every bit helps. Either that or wider front wheels and 255

 

Took some time to toss in an AEM 340LPH ITFP today at a whim; picked it up cheap and new, came with an EOM filter and tank O-ring.

Overall not a bad job by an stretch, one piece of advice - Rent a tool to rotate the locking collar; it's way easier than trying to tap it in tandem with a friend and some screwdrivers. You also won't bust off a couple of fins like we did.


The old Filter vs. New

Old Pump


Sealed up nice and MINT with Gorilla Tape - it's probably going to rust more but it was already really groady so no real loss there.

 

Looks like I spoke too soon - I took the car out to grab some groceries and test the fuel pump, and lo and behold the car drove great all the way to the store. Parked it, came back out, car won't start - no fuel.

Background: I can hear it prime (sounds like a weak prime), and the HPFP reads a max of 20. Go to crank it, spark but no fuel. I had also noticed when we finished putting it back together on Sunday the in-tank only pressure read at 45, which in hindsight now seems low.

I pulled off the cover and reseated the plug and checked there weren't any kinks in the hoses, all looked square.

Curious what might have fallen apart in the tank, I was pretty thorough with making sure items were clipped back in, power works on both the fuel level gauge and the pump primes so I know the plugs are still in place. My only thoughts are that either the hose inside the basket got kinked, or the fuel pump is busted.

Regardless, it's coming back out soon to re-check my work; if nothing is obvious, I will swap back in the old pump and make sure that still works the same, then re-try the AEM. If it continues to fail, bad pump.

 

And just like that, I think I figured it out - the below picture is a tiny basket that goes on the outlet from the pump, above which sits an o-ring. When we pulled out the old pump, it didn't even occur to me that it needed to be transferred over since there aren't any good guides and none of the videos I could find mentioned it.

I'm 99% certain that because this positioning piece isn't there, the o-ring was simply pushed down the tube, rather than being put into place, hence the poor pressure on Sunday, and now it finally worked its way out of that prior position and now the pump is making no pressure because there is nothing to pressurize.

 

When I went to an aftermarket ITFP, I wound up having to double up on the o-rings, as the pump itself kept pushing the oring further up and not sealing properly. I think this behavior was also seen by VashEXE in his build too.

Funny thing, I have the entire fuel basket (genwon 3) just behind me on a toolbox, disassembled.

 

Do you still have your OEM pump assembled with that piece on? I'm fairly certain that is the culprit but would be curious to see someone else's in its natural state.

I'll go check out Vash's as well. (Edit, here it is, sounds suspiciously like my problem: Died while driving. Will not start now. | Page 2 | Mazdaspeeds.org, The New Era in Mazdaspeed, CX-7 & Ecoboost Forums!)

 

If you're asking about the little wavy plastic bit, yes you need that. It keeps the o-ring from sliding down the pump and breaking seal.

 

That's definitely the issue then!

 

Yeah if you installed the pump with one o-ring and did not use that wavy bit then you'll probably find the pump very easy to uninstall from the basket, in which case, the o-ring walked down the outlet shaft and unsealed.

 

As expected, that was the issue. The o-ring was at the base of the outlet neck on the pump, swapped in the basket -> o-ring on top -> fuel pressure at KOEO is 64, no more issues.

 

Collecting parts to get my wheel bearings swapped out this winter - currently have Timken bearings and retainer clips, don't think I will need anything else for that? If there is anything I should look at replacing while they are being worked (all 4 corners) let me know.

Also on the agenda this winter is:

• Powerflex bushings on the control arms
• Powerflex rear trailing arm bushings
• Timing Cover re-seal (Cometic gasket already acquired)
• Source some better lug nuts
• Buy new spacers that won't become one with my brake disks - looking in the same range, ~10mm on all 4 corners
• ^in the same vein, having those removed at a shop because I don't have the tools to remove them myself - good chance to finally put on my new brake disks.

 

Winter Update!

Everything is done, basically finished for the winter aside from getting a new alignment and picking up new spacers when I find a set I'm comfortable with. All-in-all probably spent upwards of 60 hours just cranking on this thing, fighting stuck parts and drinking beer.

• Trailing Arm Bushings were 100% shot, flopped around like a wet noodle when I pulled the arm down, fell out with a stern look, and then I used an air hammer to punch out the bushing casing. If you have never touched your trailing arm bushings, they need to be done, no question. Had a nearby shop put in some used Powerflex bushings I got for cheap on the FB.
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• Hubs on all 4 Corners are now new, with new bearings. The fronts proved way more difficult than I thought, had to have a shop press out the passenger side hub when every tool at Autozone would rent to me failed to do the job.
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• New Axle nuts, new spark plugs.
• I picked up a Koyorad on a whim, again from FB (same seller as the PowerFlex bushings), in tradition with this car being mostly used parts. Surprisingly easy install, fits better than stock, only had to remove the undertray to complete it all.
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• Brand new front control arm Powerflex bushings and OEM ball joints, installed by Damond Motorsports, very nice, very well packaged too.
• Resealed the timing cover, which was extremely gross. Cleaned up all around, retorqued that big crank pulley bolt (not fun), and the car hasn't slipped timing yet so that's cool, and I don't see any leaks yet either from the new gasket so that's also cool.
• 

Finally, I bought an extremely clean 2012 Lexus GX460 with 99,000 miles as my daily vehicle / racecar tow vehicle since my wife has fully claimed the CX-5. This car is almost as clean as it was factory, with obsessively organized receipts from the previous owner every 5k miles for dealer visits for oil/ recommended services, a wool wax underneath for rust protection, and brand new tires. I might be more excited about this car than everything I did to the Speed; it is a joy to drive, dead reliable, and comfortable as hell (did I mention extremely clean?)


Not sure I'll get around to much else on the Speed this winter, though I might sum up the courage to try and do the EWG, but that might be a mid-summer thing at this point, I don't want to mess up the state it's in.