What have you done to your Miata today?

^ Awesome.

Lots of stuff ordered/received for my engine debacle.

FM stage 1 organic clutch
FM timing belt/water pump kit
Rear main seal
Front trans seal
Rear main seal
AMSOIL tran lube
AMSOIL 5w-40 engine oil
AMSOIL assembly lube
Head gasket
Porterfield R4-S brake Pads (because reasons!)

Bringing the head to a machine shop to get an estimate on a valve job.
 
I've been considering taking my spare Honda head to a machine shop for a valve job as well. Wonder if it's in the budget or not.
 
The shop I wound up going to (last night) is going to hot-tank everything, check all the intake valves, cut and grind if needed, and cut and grind all the exhaust valves (the ones I couldn't get to seal). Price is $90-165 depending on how many intake valves need doing, for a "3 angle valve job." This is kind of cheating since a single cutter can be used to cut all three angles at once! I dropped off the head with just valves in it, but that didn't seem to affect the price much if at all. The guy I talked two asked two very important questions: '1.6 or 1.8?' and 'do you want me to follow spec Miata rules for valve reliefs?' Clearly the dude knows what he's doing, and even gave me a quick tour of their shop and explained how everything worked. Very cool.

The other price I got was $195 from a smaller 'race engine only' sort of shop.

Both these prices are on the lower-end of what I found on them interwebz. $200-$300 range for a Miata head seemed more common, i.e. $15-20 per valve.
 
Ordered a set of generic 550cc injectors off eBay last week. It took them four days (two business) to get them shipped so I have yet to receive them. Did receive the set of Atlantic Design interior bags I bought though, they are very nice and have a large volume. I didn't know they ever made anything other than the trunk mount bags until I saw these on eBay.
 
The shop I wound up going to (last night) is going to hot-tank everything, check all the intake valves, cut and grind if needed, and cut and grind all the exhaust valves (the ones I couldn't get to seal). Price is $90-165 depending on how many intake valves need doing, for a "3 angle valve job." This is kind of cheating since a single cutter can be used to cut all three angles at once! I dropped off the head with just valves in it, but that didn't seem to affect the price much if at all. The guy I talked two asked two very important questions: '1.6 or 1.8?' and 'do you want me to follow spec Miata rules for valve reliefs?' Clearly the dude knows what he's doing, and even gave me a quick tour of their shop and explained how everything worked. Very cool.

The other price I got was $195 from a smaller 'race engine only' sort of shop.

Both these prices are on the lower-end of what I found on them interwebz. $200-$300 range for a Miata head seemed more common, i.e. $15-20 per valve.

Awesome. Thanks for the info. Gives me an idea of what to look into.
 
Finally got my injectors, and installed them yesterday. Managed to screw up a couple of the O-rings at the top (in the rail), first I knew of it was when I stepped into the pool of gas on the garage floor. So those came out (initially I thought maybe they were too short despite checking them before installation) and the suspect EV14s went back in. However, a couple of the O-rings on the adapters failed so I washed the garage floor again. Remember the saying when it rains, it pours? That was my day yesterday. Luckily I still had the original injectors so after measuring the new ones to ensure they were the right length, I used the original O-rings and made sure I got them in there correctly. Fired her up and she's running really well now with no sign of the AFR wackiness I had. Now I just need to locate a good facility that can rework the EV14s.

Today I picked up a a ported/reworked head from a local guy who decided to go a different route with his car. I won't be installing it until I am sure I have all the other little niggling issues resolved.
 
Gave her a good bath this morning. Back into the garage, up onto jack stands with the wheels off. Cleaned the inside of the wheels. Realigned/tightened the intercooler inlet tube, one of the clamps moved and I was getting a boost leak. Did some touch-up of paint chips, once those were dry gave her a coat of wax. Once my youngest got home from school, I employed his leg and flushed the brakes/clutch. He's getting pretty proficient at that! Adjusted the e-brake. Wheels are back on, vacuumed the interior and trunk. Scrubbed the boot cover, it's drying now. Just waiting on the wax to dry so I can buff it out.
 
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Forgot but I also finally got around to removing the yellow paint from the rear calipers. Fronts were done a while ago. I'll have to pull everything and likely use some sort of media blasting to get it all, but at least it isn't peeking out from the wheels.
 
Picked up a couple things in the last few weeks for the next fun thing:

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Mid-top boots, gloves, nomex socks & balaclava, arm restraints (open top car, no window nets, etc):

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Maybe I can get 3M Duct Tape to sponsor me!
(...riiiiight)
 
Forgot but I also finally got around to removing the yellow paint from the rear calipers. Fronts were done a while ago. I'll have to pull everything and likely use some sort of media blasting to get it all, but at least it isn't peeking out from the wheels.

Try this stuff. It's pretty crazy.
 
Picked up a couple things in the last few weeks for the next fun thing:

Mid-top boots, gloves, nomex socks & balaclava, arm restraints (open top car, no window nets, etc):

Maybe I can get 3M Duct Tape to sponsor me!
(...riiiiight)

Never know if you don't try. Might want to rethink those pink boots though...

Try this stuff. It's pretty crazy.

Thanks for the info. I'll look into it when I get around to finishing the job properly.
 
Now that's a proper color.

Took her for a drive in the Hocking Hills area of Ohio with a bunch of other Miatas. A good time was had by most.
 
Installed a Heli-coil for the ground bolt located on the front of the intake manifold. Not sure how it stripped, but when I went on the drive over the weekend my AFR gauge would blank and then reset when I drove over a rough road. Didn't realize what was causing it at first. At least now I'm bolting into a piece of stainless thread.
 
Brace for big update.

Got the head back from the engine shop after a valve job and steam cleaning:

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In prepping the head and the block for a new head gasket I was reading up on how people clean off the gasket surfaces. I didn't like a lot of what I read. Many people suggested using sandpaper, scotchbrite, and other abrasives. The thought of even a small bit of those abrasives getting into the oil sump gave me nightmares. So, after a bit of thought, I decided to use a razor blade to clean off any large chunks of old gasket, and steel wool with a little bit of ATF to clean off everything else. Steel is not going to be the most abrasive material in the engine (especially non-hardened steel in steel wool) and it will be collected by the drain plug magnet if it does get into the engine.

I then bolted the head back onto the block using a new HG and the stock head bolts. I ran up the torque in 4 steps. First, finger tight, then 20ft-lbs, 40ft-lbs, and finally 60ft-lbs. With AMSOIL assembly oil on every surface it went together without any issues at all.

Then I began re-assembling the engine.

Cams, HLAs, and a new water pump.
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Rear main seal installed with a FM rear main installer tool.
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At this point I decided to make a custom part for the coolant re-route modification. The reroute deletes the front thermostat housing, which also contains the fan switch sender. So, I made a plate that mounts the fan switch directly to the block, where the thermostat neck used to be. Right here:

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As I went about making the part on my CNC router I realized that no gasket exists that will work for this. At least none that I knew of. So, I sandwiched some gasket stock behind the aluminum I made the plate out of.

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And cut out a gasket at the same time the plate was cut. Hooray! Here is the plate (tapped and w/ counter-sink for an o-ring), gasket (before cleaning it up a little), new o-ring, and fan switch sender. I smoothed the plate's surfaces with 100grit sandpaper in a DA sander.

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I got liberal with the RTV when installing it, I was a little worried about leaks. Here is the plate installed with the cam pulleys, FM cam pulley tool, timing belt, crank timing pulley, and FM crank pulley tool all on the engine.

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With all of the front timing bits, covers, pulleys, etc installed, time for an adult beverage! The handy FM pulley tool has a bottle opener built in. Genius.

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Continuing to dress the engine...
 
Resurfaced 1.8L flywheel with new pilot bearing.

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I put the engine on my overhead chain hoist and mounted the clutch, new throwout bearing, and the transmission after it got new front oil seals and a new tailshaft seal.

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Intake on...

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Turbo and manifold on...

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Dropping the engine and transmission back into the car.

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I used a bit of belt welding wire (SS) sandwiched under an extra bolt head to keep the fan switch wire clear of the timing belt.

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I re-did my oil cooler setup to use a narrower, taller, core mounted behind the coolant radiator and in front of a much slimmer fan. I like this setup a lot more than my previous setup, which was nearly inaccessible without removing body work.

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I also installed R4-S brake pads and flushed the brake lines. This handy little device that I assembled made life awesome. It regulates my shop air to ~3psi and applies that to the brake reservoir, making flushing the brake system a snap. I did all four sets of pads and flushed the whole system in around an hour by myself, including adjusting the e-brake.

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Other details that aren't captured in picture form: I installed frog arm chassis braces, used AMSOIL MTL in the transmission, filled the cooling system with just distilled water (I am planning on flushing it in a week or two), filled up with 4.5qts of 5W30 synthetic engine oil (planning on changing oil and filter as soon as the clutch is broken in, using 5w-40 AMSOIL synthetic), and finished the coolant re-route with all home-made parts aside from the Cadillac radiator hose.

Engine fired first crank!

Last night I took the car for a test drive. No leaks of any sort (holy crap!), fans kicked on with the temp gauge just below the half-way point, and everything seems to be working as intended. *phew*
 
Last night I took the car for a test drive. No leaks of any sort (holy crap!), fans kicked on with the temp gauge just below the half-way point, and everything seems to be working as intended. *phew*

What are you using for EMS? Were you able to log / check actual temps? I LOVE your solution on the thermostat neck... want another little side job? Seriously... let me know. If you could do another one tapped for the temp sensor, that would make me a happy panda.

When I get the car back from the fabricator, I'm planning on putting all new HLAs in, which requires taking the cams off and re-timing the engine, so I might as well do that the right way as well. I'd be much more comfortable having the temp sensor there vs having it where bEGI's kit puts it.
 
I have an MS1 Hi-Res. I didn't look at the precise temperature, but the thermometer gauge read right where the thermostat opens, around 180-190. With my particular cooling setup my thermometer always reads below half-way.

Though, I really should benchmark when that happens... it would be most interesting to put a real number on it.

I will gladly make another one! Or several if there are other people who want them. I'll look at what it'll take to remake, probably with better gasket material, and PM you later.
 
I will gladly make another one! Or several if there are other people who want them. I'll look at what it'll take to remake, probably with better gasket material, and PM you later.

Very cool, much obliged. Sadly I imagine the market for people doing reroutes like this are pretty limited, but I'd love to be proven wrong.
 
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