Whole lotta Miata

[ScottyB]

its all nuts and bolts, don't be scared. all you need is to take your time, and you've got the MM toolbox if you need it right?

first time i changed the oil it was scary. same with bleeding the brakes, installing struts, exhaust, etc....it always seems over your head until its done and it works.

[Senor_Taylor]

It has begun. To be continued some time. Lot of hours at work between now and mid next week.

[Senor_Taylor]

I need to sleep on this one. (Well, a lot of sleep). I keep going over in my head and I want to do it, but I don't want to end up with a mess and have to hand it over to someone else. I just know that I won't have any time starting monday. (Class 8-1 and Work 4-close, the working weekends).

We'll see.

And the MM toolbox is MY toolbox. All the hoses seem fine. I'm tearing it down to see what it is. It HAS to be the water pump. I can't imagine what else it could be. Let's just hope I run into some money and can buy the parts. Still plan on doing brakes and tires tomorrow night after work and if I have extra time before work on Sunday, I'll keep tearing stuff apart.

[Evan]

water pump / timing belt is about as easy as they come on a miata. its just a lot of pretty easy steps. except actually lining up the belt, that part is a PITA. buy the alingment tool, they didnt make that when I wrenched on miatas and would have made the job much easier.
its a non interference engine, so at least you cant break anything if you mess up

and make sure all the plastic cover bolts are snugged down. i shredded a belt once because a bolt came out and rattled around tearing up the belt.


btw, didnt the previous owner say it had a new water pump on it, or was that a different car

[JPolen01]

Oh man I hate to say it but we told you so

[Senor_Taylor]

You hate to say it but you still say it? I knew what I was getting in to. Buying a more expensive one was not an option. End of discussion. I'm focused on getting it fixed now. When I get home from work I'll make my plan of attack.

[WRXtranceformed]

Relatively cheap lesson in buy once cry once. At least you have a good attitude about it and hopefully can get it on the road soon!

[Senor_Taylor]

I appreciate everyone's encouragement on this. I sure need it. I'm not sure how often y'all have done work outside in the dirt, but it sucks. It's hard to get motivation with you're covered in dirt and rocks and sticks and bugs whenever you're working and the ground is uneven. I can't wait until I have my own house and have a garage or at least a paved driveway. At least I have an absolutely killer tan from being outside all day for the last week. Also, I guess it's good for me to learn how to do it, so this will be a net positive in the end.

One success from today was I took apart the shifter and sucked all of the old gear oil out and filled it with some of that expensive ass Redline I had from when I did my Truck's diffs. Shifts are SO buttery smooth now. That test drive is when the water pump went bye bye.

[Senor_Taylor]

This is on RockAuto. Seem okay?

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=3068475&cc=1190898&jnid=466&jpid=14">http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinf ... 66&jpid=14</a><!-- m -->

[*insertusernamehere*]

Its funny..i remember when my accord needed a timing belt i was excited to try and do it on my own but my dad wouldn't let me haha. Still haven't done one, did my clutch instead. It's daunting but when you're done , you're gonna feel like the manliest manly man ever to cross the face of the earth.

I need to sleep on this one. (Well, a lot of sleep). I keep going over in my head and I want to do it, but I don't want to end up with a mess and have to hand it over to someone else.

I think you should do that. Just go read a shit ton, give yourself a little more time than you think you'll need for the work. Get all the tools you'll need, get started and stay positive. I feel like working on a big project is almost like painting, you gotta prep really good if its gonna work out so make sure you know whats going on before you jump in. Oh did i say stay positive? lol

[Sully]

One success from today was I took apart the shifter and sucked all of the old gear oil out and filled it with some of that expensive ass Redline I had from when I did my Truck's diffs. Shifts are SO buttery smooth now. That test drive is when the water pump went bye bye.

Wait, what? The gear oil you put in your diffs is the same rating as the miata trans fluid?

[Senor_Taylor]

Nah, I refilled the "turret". It's a box full of gear oil that the shift linkages are in. My truck's diffs use a GL5 oil, which is fine in the turret, but the Miata gear box needs GL4

[V1GiLaNtE]

[quote="*insertusernamehere*"] It's daunting but when you're done , you're gonna feel like the manliest manly man ever to cross the face of the earth. /quote]

Queue Jake to the "I AM ALL THAT IS MAN" pic from when we pulled your e30 driveshaft apart in PRun..

Ahhh good times.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Nothing wrong with working outside, I did my first turbo swap outside; actually how I met mike damico and became friends. Don't be in a hurry to grow up, every year gets better but the ride is the fun part.

[Senor_Taylor]

THE FUCKING ROTORS ARE TOO SMALL. WHAT THE FUCK.

[Senor_Taylor]

Okay. Today's events:

Got my plates in.



Found out that I have the NA8 brake pad brackets so I need different pads and rotors... Not sure what to do with these ones I bought.

Then I tore down the motor. Took off the belts and pulleys, valve cover, crank pully, timing belt, cam gears, and finally THAT MOTHERFUCKING WATERPUMP. No pictures as of yet because it got too dark, but I do have this.




I guess I'll find the parts tomorrow and put them in... sometime. I've kind of run out of time to be messing with this.

[ViPER1313]

My bet.... All that "rust" in the overflow tank was stop leak (bars hg repair looks a lot like rust...), and now that it's gone, you are finding some leaks Stop leak also tends to eat water pumps. Just hope it wasn't head-gasket stop leak. You should flush the hell out of everything before putting a shiny new part on there.

[Senor_Taylor]

I've already flushed the coolant 8 times. All Coolant coming out is nice and clean. Trust me. I've seen it all coming out. Looks like I won't be able to get to this until Tuesday.

I think I need a new o-ring for where the thermostat housing connected to the water pump but I can't find it anywhere. Doesn't seem to be in the water pump kit either.

Also... uh... we kind of didn't mark the timing belt. I'll try to use the factory marks when I put it back together, but the factory marks didn't match up with the way the timing belt was on there before. Just realized I took a picture before I took it off. The E on the left and the I on the right didn't see to both be at the top at the same time. They seemed one tooth off.

[navin]

Good job on not being a pussy and doing the work. If you are still a little unsure, maybe see if there any miata people in your area that might be able to come by and lend a hand?

[Senor_Taylor]

Miata people in your area

I've probably seen a total of 10 Miatas in my life around here. I didn't even know what a Miata was until I joined MM. There are no Miata people around here. If it was a Mid 80's Chevy K1500... well that's a different story.


I've been reading a ton on it. I think as long as the alignment marks are correct, I can get it timed. Either the alignment marks are wrong, or the engine was terribly off-time before. My main concern is there's a gasket on the thermostat where the housing connects to the block. I can't seem to find anywhere talking about replacing that. And also I don't know how I'll get the crank pully torqued back on...