Project: 1995 Miata

[Jake]

I was getting a CEL for the EGR valve. A lot of people take the valve off and de-gunk all the carbon, but a new one was "only" $85 so I figured I would just do that. Joey and I replaced it yesterday. This is the old one:



Yep, nasty. A lot of people who do this 95 --> 99 swap have issues because you need the NA EGR, but it doesn't fit properly on the NB intake manifold due to clearance issues. Well, I got lucky with my AutoZone parts run and this EGR is for the '95 but fit right on. Sadly, the CEL didn't go away. One of us, however, had the thought to check the myriad of vacuum hoses to make sure they were all plugged in right.

Some quick Googling and we figured out that the EGR vacuum lines were in fact plugged in all wrong. Got most of the lines sorted out (I hesitate to say "all" because I'm sure something is wrong, given my luck) and hooray, the light went out. It seems to idle/run a bit smoother -- hopefully a given, considering I had all those lines in the wrong order.

Who knew following the vacuum diagram under the hood would have benefits?!

Also, I took my old boxspring to the dump. It wouldn't fit in the ST or the GTI, and their paint is too pretty to throw it on the roof. So, Miata to the rescue.