4g61t.org

Installed the 12" 1200cfm fan. The car still runs hot, especially on the interstate. Granted, at 75mph it's at like 3500-3800 (can't remember exactly), but I still don't get it. I made sure the fan is pulling the right direction, too.

This whole situation is really pissing me off. Mostly because since I can't really drive the car without the heat being on, I definitely won't be able to use the A/C. So now I'm thinking that I'm going to put the original radiator back in, and completely re-route the hot pipe to the intercooler. It's going to be a significantly longer pipe setup, but it will allow me to use a full-length radiator. I'm also going to install the oil cooler that I didn't have time to fabricate lines for when I did the swap. That'll mean swapping the GVR4 oil filter housing back onto the motor.

The shitty thing is that my Miata is 500mi away, and I have to drive the Mirage as is, every day, for at least the next 3 weeks. Maybe more. Fortunately, the new fan definitely works better than the old one, and with the heat on, the car stays on the C side of the temp gauge. It's just gonna end up being a sweaty month

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1989 Mirage Turbo w/4G63T
1991 Mazda MX-5 (UK spec)
2018 Hyundai I30N

are you using a water cooled turbo?

they will run just fine without engine coolant running through em, you just have to be much more diligent to turbo time the car before shut down.

bypass the turbo coolant feed, without the additional heat load of a 300 dg chunch of metal, it may runn cool enough to have the heat on in the middle, instead of full blast. it ought to get u by until you can get the miata or another solution presents itsself.

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If speed kills, then i shoulda been dead awhile ago. There is no such thing as "Too Much Power". There is no excuse for a lost race. Do you view the rev limiter as a fun limiter?or as a shift point? And we all know, more boost=more fun.

Interesting solution. I'm using the Mitsu big 16G that came with the motor, which is watercooled.

I might try that, but I wouldn't be able to do that til at least this weekend. In the mean time, I'm thinking of disconnecting my 2nd fan, which right now is only blowing onto the a/c condenser (which isn't being used). That fan is running off the same relay as the rad fan, so I'm thinking that taking it out of the loop won't split the load between the two fans anymore. Maybe that will help the rad fan pull harder.

I might also try the drifter trick, where you lift the back of the hood up by using longer hood bolts with a bunch of washers. It's lame, but at this point, anything I can do to keep the temps down is worthwhile.

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1989 Mirage Turbo w/4G63T
1991 Mazda MX-5 (UK spec)
2018 Hyundai I30N

the hood thing will work, especially if just driving around, it may get hot on the hiway, but ifi it didn't before, it wont now

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If speed kills, then i shoulda been dead awhile ago. There is no such thing as "Too Much Power". There is no excuse for a lost race. Do you view the rev limiter as a fun limiter?or as a shift point? And we all know, more boost=more fun.

FINALLY AN UPDATE, and FINALLY THE SHIT IS FIXED!

I was able to install the OEM radiator yesterday. It needed to be moved about 2" toward the passenger side of where it normally sits. Since I had previously removed the washer sprayer reservoir, there was magically 2" of room for the radiator!

I am using the OEM fan, which has a pretty good shroud built into it, as well as the OEM A/C pusher fan, both wired to turn on when the ignition is switched on.

OMFG, the shit works. The car was able to make the trip back from Orlando to Tampa with the water temp needle firmly planted a little to the C side of center. So I'm pretty happy about that. Of course, last night while testing the car, the hot pipe popped off where it connects to the intercooler. So the pipe isn't exactly where it needs to be (it was hard to get it to sit right in a parking lot at night in 39deg weather, butI tightened the shit out of it. So eventually I need to get under there and really fit that thing up right. So for now I'm trying to stay out of boost, which totally defeats the purpose of driving the car! I'll push it a little at a time though. Hopefully it'll hold.

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1989 Mirage Turbo w/4G63T
1991 Mazda MX-5 (UK spec)
2018 Hyundai I30N

Sooooooo, I haven't updated this thread in over 2.5 years!!!

In that time, the Mirage mostly sat in a parking garage. I put some 15x7 wheels with 225/50-15 tires on it, then it sat some more. Then I went to Afghanistan for like 5 months, and the car sat some more. Since I've been back, I've started the car up every once in a while, and taken it around the block, just to get the cobwebs out.

Then I decided to sh!t or get off the pot.

So here's what's been going:

I don't have much free time, nor regular access to a garage, so I'm having a mechanic buddy of mine do some work on the car. He's just done the following:

1) Got the A/C working (needed a new compressor, and a few seals here and there)
2) installed some Yoshifab front upper strut mount camber plates
3) installed an adjustable FPR
4) some other random housekeeping items the car needed

This weekend, I'm bringing him a bunch of stuff for Round 2:

1) Galant VR4 front hubs
2) new bearings for the GVR4 hubs
3) new rotors for the GVR4 hubs
4) rebuilt GVR4 calipers
5) new pads for the GVR4 calipers
6) stainless steel brakes lines for all 4 corners

Barring any unforseen complications, this round of upgrades shouldn't take too long. When I get the car back, I'm going to get an alignment, and then try to get a decent street tune (should be able to adjust the stuff with the AFC and the FPR). I MIGHT take it to a shop to get tuned...but so far I've gotten estimates of $500....which is absurd. I may just get an hour of dyno time w/wideband and do it myself. We'll see.

The tires that are on the car now are totally shot from sitting too long, so I need to replace them. I also have a problem where the driver's side rear tire is rubbing the fender under hard acceleration, and/or if there is cargo in the back of the car...and that's because the car is lowered and the panhard bar is kicking the rear end out towards the driver's side. So I need to address that. I'm either going to try to make an adjustable bar, or I'm just going to get skinnier tires...like 205/50-15s. I'd really like to stick with 225/50-15s, but if I can't manage to fix the panhard bar situation, I'll have to go with the 205s.

I'll take a few pics this weekend and post em up. Thanks for reading!

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1989 Mirage Turbo w/4G63T
1991 Mazda MX-5 (UK spec)
2018 Hyundai I30N

Sooooo....no pics yet (not much to see), but here's an update.

Got the car back from my buddy...good and bad news.

Good news: Turns out the vibration/noise I thought was from the tires being flat-spotted was in fact from the front wheel bearings being trashed! Odd, because I had replaced them in 2005, and had only put a couple thousand miles on the car since then. Fortunately, I had already planned on relpacing those bearings (and the hubs they were in) with the GVR4 stuff. So it turns out my tires are fine! The car ran really smooth on the trip home.

Bad news: The alignment is straight garbage. My buddy eyeballed it, but from what I've been reading lately, the GVR4 hubs need the steering end links to be installed upside down from how they're normally oriented. The tires squeal under any kind of cornering...there is TONS of understeer...even at really low speed. It's like driving a pontoon boat. I'm hoping that just boring out the bolt hole of the hub will allow the proper installation of the end link. If not...then I gotta start over with Expo hubs. Which means another set of bearings, and another $$$ to have my buddy install the bearings, swap the hubs, etc. I NEED A GARAGE!!!

Medium news: the GVR4 brakes feel kinda mushy (even with SS brake lines and a new master cylinder), BUT, they do eventually stop the car pretty well. I think there's some play in the brake pedal linkage, so I'll need to crawl under the dash and see if I can tighten any of that up.

Back to the good news front, the car runs awesome. I set the FPR to 38psi, and didn't get any timing pulled on a few blasts around the block. And I do mean BLASTS...this thing is stupid fast. And I'm only running 10psi of boost! I'll probably stick with 10psi until I can get the car on a dyno with a wideband, and see exactly how the car is running.

So now I'm going to take the car to a really good alignment shop here in Tampa (Cars and Concepts...they normally build BMW/Merc race cars, but they did great work on my Miata before). I'm hoping they'll be able to set the car up properly. While they're at it, I'll have them install the adjustable panhard bar I got from BATLGROUND (thanks Installer88!)...so I can finally stop cutting up the sidewall of my rear driver's side tire! (and yeah, I rolled and pulled the fender already...but it's still rubbing under hard accel...or if there is anything heavy in the back of the car).

Another positive note: my buddy fabbed up the rails on my EVO I Recaro seats...and they are AMAZING! Great bolsters, very comfortable, and come pretty close to matching the interior of the car. PICS coming soon.

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1989 Mirage Turbo w/4G63T
1991 Mazda MX-5 (UK spec)
2018 Hyundai I30N

That's all mostly good news!

Glad to see you back, or rather that you never really left, and that your car is getting some fun via the accelerator pedal these days.

Swapped to Expo hubs. IT DRIVES NORMAL NOW!!! Unfortunately, I've totally shaved two of the tires, so now I gotta buy tires again. I'm thinking of 205/50-15s this time. I'd like to improve the MPG of the car, and the 225s are probably not helping at all in that respect. I'm also running really rich. This mofo needs a tune.

BUT, I was able to drive the car to work today. It was great. Even gave a coworker a ride in it...probably broke all kinds of laws on base, but whatever. The shit HAULS ASS.

Going to try to touch up some of the 7yr-old Krylon paint job next week when I have some free time. Then I'll def take some pics. I keep forgetting to get some daytime pics of the interior. The EVO I Recaros are AWESOME.

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1989 Mirage Turbo w/4G63T
1991 Mazda MX-5 (UK spec)
2018 Hyundai I30N

Just realized it's been over SIX YEARS since the 4G61 crapped out, and it's taken until now for it to be mostly sorted out. Kinda sad, but I've been kinda busy!

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1989 Mirage Turbo w/4G63T
1991 Mazda MX-5 (UK spec)
2018 Hyundai I30N