Project: 1995 Miata

[JPolen01]

they poop on K1's

This. These look awesome. The k1s are just meh, I don't see why everyone loves them.

[Evan]

well damn, now I almost wish I kept them

[Mike]

those wheels looked bomb on the hatch. k1s were mad snazz on your pile too. can't really go wrong.

please remove the centercaps STAT.

[Jake]

Argh, I have an article due at work but writing this re-update is way more fun than Top Job Search Tools Of 2012.

So. Lost a bunch of updates in Forumpocalypse 2k12. Time to update what's gone on since February.

Put the Comp-Lites on the car with Evan's old Azenis. Tracked on them for a few months. Went for a spinny-time at the March VIR event, came close to nailing a wall:



Kept tracking it and driving pace car (slowly) in it. And then Joey backed it out of the garage while I was out of town so he could use the whole garage, and noticed a TON of smoke coming from the exhaust. This was back in oh, June?

I had just done an oil change, so I looked at my records (keep good ones, kids) and it had burned two quarts of oil in 100 miles. Gulp.

Did some reading and poking and prodding, and made this thread to help figure things out. Ended up replacing the PCV valve, spark plugs/wires, and valve cover gasket. SO FAR, it hasn't seemed to lose any more oil and I've put another ~70 miles on the car. It still puffs smoke when you really lay on it (at idle) -- but my theory is that there's still a bunch of unburnt oil sitting somewhere that needs to blow out, between the engine and tailpipe.

State inspection ran out in August... it needs new tires to pass, and I should probably put new tie rods on it... I think my "off track excursion almost-to-Hogwarts" kinda messed them up. So, once I do those things, you'll see her back in action. Now if only my old Civic-of-BMWs would stop leeching money from my bank account...

[Jake]

OK, updates here because I've been bad at them.

The motor is f***ed. Took the car over to Timmy at Convenience Car Care in Manassas and had an inspection/leak-down test performed on it. Cylinder 1 had 5% leakdown. The other three are destroyed. In order from 2-3-4, they have 35%, 19% and 25% leakdown. Oops.

In addition to the motor needing a ton of work, most every seal between it and the transmission is leaking. I'm pretty sure the tie rods are bent. The tires on my K1's might as well be square, and the ATS's are corded beyond belief.

SO! The plan now is as follows. Obtain a 1999 complete long block from Scott K, for a Good Price (this has been arranged already). Drop that motor in, replacing seals and clutch while I'm in there. Replace tie rods and have an alignment done. Buy tires for the ATS wheels. Clean up the paint (it needs a polish BADLY). Replace brake lines with stainless braided lines.

And then, rock out.

[xvxax]

When? I would like to come by and help/drink beer.

[Jake]

When? I would like to come by and help/drink beer.

Motor is coming home with me at the end of March. So... April sometime.

Trust me, there will be beer and pizza for those who want to help on this.

[Goodspeed]

Awesome that you got a '99 motor, that should be a nice little bump. Post up when you'll be doing motor pulling shenanigans!

Edit: forgot to ask, if the motor is coming with the boat anchor exh manifold, do you plan to replace it? $100 eBay Raceland header!

[.RJ]

Awesome that you got a '99 motor, that should be a nice little bump. Post up when you'll be doing motor pulling shenanigans!

+1

[premiershine9]

Hopefully I'll be up in your woods to work soon and I'd be more than happy to lend a hand

[Jake]

UPDATE TIME.

I've purchased a '99 motor from Scott K (thanks, Scott!) and DJ was able to get it from VIR to my house this past weekend (thanks, DJ!). I only split my pants once during the process of lifting the motor into DJ's truck. Thankfully, they were old pants.

So the motor is in my garage and it's time to start buying everything else the car needs before I can put the motor in. This is Round One. After we get the motor in, I still need to buy tires, tie rods, and have an alignment done.



I ordered a new exhaust header today (from Raceland, it was cheap) because that's far easier to put on with the motor removed.

My next order is the Big One. I'm setting up a Mazdaspeed account (allows discounts if you're building a track car) tonight, and then this order is being placed. It'll consist of...

• Clutch kit (clutch, pressure plate, alignment tool, some seals)
• Motor mount (x2)
• Timing belt/water pump kit
• Oil pan seals, front & rear
• Flywheel bolts (x6)
• Rear main seal
• Transmission seals, front & rear
• Thrust bearing/bushing/whatever it is

That's it for now. Stay tuned to watch my credit card catch fire.

[JustinG]

Stay tuned to watch my credit card catch fire.

Like any good car enthusiast...... :thumbup:

[V1GiLaNtE]

:beer: Motor swap partaaaaayyyy here we come!

[Kaan]

do you want to borrow my engine stand?

also if you have to remove the valve cover from the engine to do the timing chain set up... get a new valve cover gasket set and some black RTV

[PDenbigh]

It'll consist of...

• Clutch kit (clutch, pressure plate, alignment tool, some seals)
• Motor mount (x2)
• Timing belt/water pump kit
• Oil pan seals, front & rear
• Flywheel bolts (x6)
• Rear main seal
• Transmission seals, front & rear
• Thrust bearing/bushing/whatever it is
• Turbo and Intercooler

That's it for now. Stay tuned to watch my credit card catch fire.

FTFY ;-)

Nice job! Swapping a miata engine looks like a very doable project. Good call on doing the header and rear main seal now. What about that seal that leaks on the back of the top of those engines?

[Jake]

do you want to borrow my engine stand?

also if you have to remove the valve cover from the engine to do the timing chain set up... get a new valve cover gasket set and some black RTV

I'm getting a stand from DJ, actually.

And yeah, the TB/WP kit includes a new valve cover gasket (and some others, I think). I've been told that I need to find some HondaBond for re-sealing my oil pan. It only uses rubber gaskets on the front and back. The rest is all sealant.

[Kaan]

i can drop ship you a pimp'n fresh tube of hondabond.... but its really just a quick set grey RTV that has a "cleaner" break away when you need to pop it loose again.

[Jake]

i can drop ship you a pimp'n fresh tube of hondabond.... but its really just a quick set grey RTV that has a "cleaner" break away when you need to pop it loose again.

Well, alrighty then. If I use gray/black RTV and all the oil leaks out of the oil pan, I blame you :mrgreen:

[D_Eclipse9916]

i can drop ship you a pimp'n fresh tube of hondabond.... but its really just a quick set grey RTV that has a "cleaner" break away when you need to pop it loose again.

Well, alrighty then. If I use gray/black RTV and all the oil leaks out of the oil pan, I blame you :mrgreen:

Jake, you want to use the stuff I used on my oil pan. Its available at Advance Auto.

[Kaan]

Honda holds together their K motors with hondabond and 10mm bolts. it really is a quick set RTV with some different qualities. it gives ample time to work with it (15 minutes) but it also sets (you only have to wait 1 minute once you make the seal to put oil/pressure on it) quickly.

if you can live with the working time and wait time of normal RTV then it shouldnt be an issue.