I asked my budy when we changed alternators he didnt have to change any wires it wasnt until I changed my complete gauge cluster that we had to make a jumper because mazda wires something threw the gauge cluster that will not let it charge until it see's a certain path or signal.
A Rebuild Story - A Forged MP3 Motor
- Thread starter TurfBurn
- Start date
Ahh ok... well you guys did it a little odd then... I don't understand or follow that completely as to how you got away with that as half the reg is in the stock ECU and half in the alternator... but anyway..
Update... I have the exact OPPOSITE problem now with the alternator. I ran new wires to the alternator from essentially the original sources... now it will not overcharge in the time I had it out.. but it WILL undercharge... every now and then I lose everything and she drops to like 11.6 volts... it will come back at random and be at 14.4 again and all happy... So what the hell! the reg isn't blown if it is now not overcharging... so there seems to be some kind of crazy issue still going on.. I'm going to keep fiddling with it... but maybe I will get away without buying a new alternator yet! But unfortunately now any time it starts undercharging everything goes lean and runs like crap... but then comes right back to life as soon as the charge comes back on... very strange! and again.. the Microtech has NOTHING to do with this since it doesn't go anywhere near any part of the charge system... and my system is very different from how customers would install their's.
Update... I have the exact OPPOSITE problem now with the alternator. I ran new wires to the alternator from essentially the original sources... now it will not overcharge in the time I had it out.. but it WILL undercharge... every now and then I lose everything and she drops to like 11.6 volts... it will come back at random and be at 14.4 again and all happy... So what the hell! the reg isn't blown if it is now not overcharging... so there seems to be some kind of crazy issue still going on.. I'm going to keep fiddling with it... but maybe I will get away without buying a new alternator yet! But unfortunately now any time it starts undercharging everything goes lean and runs like crap... but then comes right back to life as soon as the charge comes back on... very strange! and again.. the Microtech has NOTHING to do with this since it doesn't go anywhere near any part of the charge system... and my system is very different from how customers would install their's.
Well more dinking around tonight... never got an overvoltage charge once... but got plenty of the undervoltage charges... even with nothing at all connected I would still get that occasionally... but one thing interesting that I did learn was one of the terminals would be connected to ground... but then if I disconnected the negative cable on the battery and then reconnected it then I didn't have a connection to ground at that terminal... So I'm now wondering if when that connection happens if that is when I lose my voltage now... and I don't know quite what to do about that... what confuses me is that the alternator ran perfectly fine before the rebuild and always worked great... after the rebuild nothing as far as the alternator is concerned ever changed and yet I still have this issue!
I think I'm going to place my order with Rock Auto for a new alternator and see where that gets me... I'm frustrated that it is coming down to that, but if it fixes it then great and I'll be that much further ahead...
Otherwise.. 50 miles on the motor and no leaks or problems other than this crap!
I think I'm going to place my order with Rock Auto for a new alternator and see where that gets me... I'm frustrated that it is coming down to that, but if it fixes it then great and I'll be that much further ahead...
Otherwise.. 50 miles on the motor and no leaks or problems other than this crap!
got a junkyard alternator that will be here tomorrow for 25 bucks shipped from a 94 626 (same as 98 626... basically anything from 92-98 is the same.. jsut have to make sure you get a 4 groove alternator at 80 amps)... so that wil be here and I can work on that... also have a brand new alternator showing up on Monday... that I'll probably return if the junk yard special works fine. So anyway... that's the update for now.. hopefully I'll have news Friday night/Saturday morning.
Later!
Steve
Later!
Steve
installed the junkyard alternator that cost me a whopping 25 bucks... works perfectly and solved all the charging problems... went back to the original wiring. So great news!! I put on a few more miles.. probably about 30 or so.. .and ran perfectly for all of it..
Startup temps tonight were water at 9 degrees C and air at 11 degrees C and the car started up immediately with no issues... I'm uploading videos to the NSN server right now of some earlier stuff from a day or two ago... I'll post links and when the files complete you'll be able to get at them... the startup video has some weird noises going on which is actually a chirping belt that messed up the camera microphone... I didn't have the belts tightened properly and that is what you are hearing... otherwise there is a video of idle and also one video of a startup when the car had been warmed for about 10 minutes prior... just so you can get a good idea of how well the car actually does run with 550cc primaries on the Microtech tune...
Later!
Steve
Startup temps tonight were water at 9 degrees C and air at 11 degrees C and the car started up immediately with no issues... I'm uploading videos to the NSN server right now of some earlier stuff from a day or two ago... I'll post links and when the files complete you'll be able to get at them... the startup video has some weird noises going on which is actually a chirping belt that messed up the camera microphone... I didn't have the belts tightened properly and that is what you are hearing... otherwise there is a video of idle and also one video of a startup when the car had been warmed for about 10 minutes prior... just so you can get a good idea of how well the car actually does run with 550cc primaries on the Microtech tune...
Later!
Steve
I'm going to crash for the night.. but here should be the video links... I'll check in the morning to make sure they work or not...
http://www.nsnmotorsports.com/Mp3videos/idle.avi
http://www.nsnmotorsports.com/Mp3videos/warmestartup.avi
http://www.nsnmotorsports.com/Mp3videos/cold_startup.avi
Later!
Steve
(files are large.. about 12 megs.)
http://www.nsnmotorsports.com/Mp3videos/idle.avi
http://www.nsnmotorsports.com/Mp3videos/warmestartup.avi
http://www.nsnmotorsports.com/Mp3videos/cold_startup.avi
Later!
Steve
(files are large.. about 12 megs.)
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duMb KeoLa
Member
dude... that thing sounds amazing! so how many miles do you have on it now??? hurry up so we can see the real vids, of you kicking some ass!!!
you should put this in the microtech library thread and in the photo/video one also, im not sure if people are actually seeing this being its in this thread
looking and sounding good!
you should put this in the microtech library thread and in the photo/video one also, im not sure if people are actually seeing this being its in this thread
looking and sounding good!
I put the map for it in the library..
I have 180 miles on it as of today. I'm headed down to do the oil change and check cam clearances right now... but yes it is very much alive and runs absolutely fantastic! Hell the damn thing starts and runs better than my stock truck!
I have 180 miles on it as of today. I'm headed down to do the oil change and check cam clearances right now... but yes it is very much alive and runs absolutely fantastic!
Hell the damn thing starts and runs better than my stock truck! - :
- 2001 Pro 2.0 LX
so the alternator problem was fixed?
- :
- 2001 Mazda MP3
Idea for turfburn:
get your car running well
half way thru summer, drive to cedar point for a nice short vacation, goto the track with me and race me... double trouble
my car started up yesterday again!! I am looking forward to getting things underway
get your car running well
half way thru summer, drive to cedar point for a nice short vacation, goto the track with me and race me... double trouble
my car started up yesterday again!! I am looking forward to getting things underway
pdhaudio83 said:Idea for turfburn:
get your car running well
half way thru summer, drive to cedar point for a nice short vacation, goto the track with me and race me... double trouble
my car started up yesterday again!! I am looking forward to getting things underway
How many hours is it???
- :
- 2001 Mazda MP3
where in WI are you located
- :
- 2001 Mazda MP3
omg, if ur in madison, about 6.5 hrs 
i thought it was less
i thought it was lessYeah.. Madison...
Anyway.. checked the cam clearances tonight... there were two that were a bit tight... an 8 feeler passed easy the 9 feeler went in but stuck a bit... but my feelers run high when mic'ed so I figure those are good... and there were two that the 11 when in with some resistance but pretty easy, and then the 12 you could push in... but I think was too tight... otherwise the rest were definite 10's and 11's so in other words... I belive all the valves to be in spec still after 180 miles...
I overfilled the oil though! OOPs... so I need to drain some out... but that will only take a bit.
Later!
Steve
Anyway.. checked the cam clearances tonight... there were two that were a bit tight... an 8 feeler passed easy the 9 feeler went in but stuck a bit... but my feelers run high when mic'ed so I figure those are good... and there were two that the 11 when in with some resistance but pretty easy, and then the 12 you could push in... but I think was too tight... otherwise the rest were definite 10's and 11's so in other words... I belive all the valves to be in spec still after 180 miles...
I overfilled the oil though! OOPs... so I need to drain some out... but that will only take a bit.
Later!
Steve
I'm at about 200 miles total now with no problems or oil leaks.
In summary to date the list of "problems" that I encountered from the day the motor was in and I was trying to start it to now were:
Bad spark plugs
Leaky Fuel Pump Seal
Slight Misadjustment of Cams
Bad alternator
Bad starter
I also made one minor adjustment in fuel delivery from batch to sequential. Other than that, the car has been just fine all the way. It's a pretty short list of problems for how long it hung me up overall!
EDIT: Holy crud!!! I just looked back and found that between the difficulties and parts issues I had assembling the motor and then getting those minor problems worked out it took a MONTH to get the car on the road from when I got the motor! Yikes!
Later,
Steve
In summary to date the list of "problems" that I encountered from the day the motor was in and I was trying to start it to now were:
Bad spark plugs
Leaky Fuel Pump Seal
Slight Misadjustment of Cams
Bad alternator
Bad starter
I also made one minor adjustment in fuel delivery from batch to sequential. Other than that, the car has been just fine all the way. It's a pretty short list of problems for how long it hung me up overall!
EDIT: Holy crud!!! I just looked back and found that between the difficulties and parts issues I had assembling the motor and then getting those minor problems worked out it took a MONTH to get the car on the road from when I got the motor! Yikes!
Later,
Steve
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Kooldino said:
didn't read my descriptions I see
LOL... the squeaking sound was a loose belt... it's fixed now... The stumble after it turns over is a fueling thing... I need to adjust my after start enrichment a little bit, I've been busy with other things so I haven't looked into it.. that startup is largely untuned at this point, but obviously works more than just fine
. But what you are hearing is a couple of cylinder firings that I think are a hair lean. Cold motors do weird things though regardless... and starting it up when the temperature is roughly 45-50 degrees is enough to bring that out. Started fine again this morning and it was about 40 in the garage.EDIT: It may also be a mild voltage thing... the car voltage really drops during cranking/first start... especially since the new alternator doesn't engage the field until I rev it a little.. so the car runs a bit odd until the voltage stabilizes.. so that may have been a factor then too... but in the end it is just a minor tuning adjustment I need to take care of.
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250 miles... and 5 psi... and still running great. Tranny is being a pain though.... It's damn difficult to get into first gear at stoplights... and the 2nd gear shift takes forever... kidna perturbed! I'm using the same redline lightweight shockproof that I was using before and it still sucks! So i'm debating on going to GM/Pennzoil Synchromesh. Kinda of curious as to whether or not I'll see an improvement there... but yeah... 1-2 shift bites right now!
I'm slowly cleaning up parts of the non-boost tune on the car right now... and I'll clean up the boost part of the tune as well as work on timing in the upcoming weeks. I hope to cross 1,000 miles by about a week from today... and then I'll push boost up into the 12-15 psi range for normal driving... I'll dyno probably the end of May or early June... Then I'll be doing a few things through June and July and hopefully in August or so I'll do the big dyno at 20+ psi...
Later!
Steve
I'm slowly cleaning up parts of the non-boost tune on the car right now... and I'll clean up the boost part of the tune as well as work on timing in the upcoming weeks. I hope to cross 1,000 miles by about a week from today... and then I'll push boost up into the 12-15 psi range for normal driving... I'll dyno probably the end of May or early June... Then I'll be doing a few things through June and July and hopefully in August or so I'll do the big dyno at 20+ psi...
Later!
Steve
