Scaxx

Well it idles now, afrs are just high 13's at idle, oil pressure is rock solid. After doing some more reading on idling with the ecu I decided to try cracking the throttle a little because the throttle plate might not have been letting enough air past. I put it at 2% open and then reset the tps so that it thought it was closed. After I started it up it drooped down a bit to about 500 and then the computer picked it back up and held it steady just below 800. I think it's just about ready to drive. Of course the next 5 days are rain. But either way, I'm feeling good about it and there don't seem to be any weird parts with the tune this time.

Scaxx

Good news: It idles really well, I was able to burp the cooling system and cure the ceramic coating on the headers. Bad news: the starter must be misaligned or something now because it's grinding. Not sure how that happened, there's a couple bolts on the plate that could have come out which would make things loose, kinda hard to explain without pictures. The other possibility is the flywheel, but like I said before, I was very careful and made sure to torque/loctite everything when I put the clutch together. Maybe I was less careful than I thought though. It is possible I made a mistake. I'm hoping I didn't and if I did I'm hoping nothing is damaged.

Other than that though the tune is slowly getting better, the learn function on the computer is really cool. It was having a really hard time idling when it first got started and if you blipped the throttle at all it would try to drop down to about 400, after a couple minutes if you blipped the throttle it returned right back to where it was supposed to be. Definitely learning a ton with the tuning, pretty fun stuff. Also got more of my interior together, finally made some brackets for the switch panel so it stays in one place. I really really need a new steering wheel lol, I guess it was just never a priority since I was busy buying stuff to get the engine in the car. I'll upload a video of it later with it idling in my driveway, sounds pretty decent. A cam would make it sound better though haha

Scaxx

Not too exciting of a video, but here it is

OGRacing

iTrader: (1)

I'm disapointed. How did you get Kirkey seats and not order the Tweed covers... :(

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

ahhh sounds sooo goooododdddddd

Scaxx

Wait aren't those the tweed covers? The kirkey actually came out of my current daily when I bought it, this fat mother ****** was daily driving the car (with a blown headgasket) from maple valley to Everett every single day. For you non-Washingtonians, that's through the worst traffic in the state and a solid 50 mile drive. Honestly though, if anyone has played GTAV the dude I bought it from was a spitting image of Michaels son. No way I'd drive a solid 3-4 hours a day on an aluminum seat, dude was a dumbass. That said I figured the kirkey was better than a stock seat so I threw it in Audrey, it's also seen my driving simulator as well as our lemon, at least I've gotten some use out of it! I'll probably buy an omp one of these days, or at least when I have some actual money.

Thanks turbofan, one of these days I'll be able to take a WOT video. It sounds pretty gnarly when the throttle is blipped, although a bit loud

This is pretty much a perfect image of the dude I bought Brad off of:

Scaxx

Alright so here's a fun one. I pulled my starter, on the very tip of the pinion there's some small damage, but less than I expected. The flywheel also has a little smashing going on but not a terrible amount. However, looking at the pinion it appears that the starter was originally fully engaging. There's clean metal about the width of the flywheel which means at one point it was fully engaging the flywheel. Which also makes sense because after I drove the car for the first time the starter sounded strange. Much more whiney like the starter wasn't engaging as much. Then the other day it grinds and won't engage. So there's two options I guess, the first is that the starter died for some reason and the solenoid isn't pushing the pinion out far enough. The other which doesn't seem very likely and I feel like I would have noticed is that the flywheel is getting further from the starter. I feel like there would be a lot more noise if the flywheel bolts were backing out but maybe not. I guess I could pull the trans and see. Really didn't want to do that

Opinions? Ideas?

Scaxx

I'm gonna try adding a shim to lower the starter, apparently, the teeth might not be meshing right. I took the starter out to the driveway and jumped the solenoid, the pinion shot out all the way and spun well so I think the starter is fine. Really crossing my fingers on shims. I thought the only place it would need a shim was front to back, I didn't realize it might need to be shimmed down as well.

OGRacing

iTrader: (1)

American engine's starters need shims.... #merica`

Scaxx

Found that out the hard way lol

Gonna finish putting in the starter on saturday and hopefully drive it Sunday. Third times a charm?

Also might have a surprise for you guys tonight, we shall see.

Mobius

iTrader: (2)

Surprises. #win

Scaxx

Well I just came as close as possible to stealing a miata without actually stealing it. Picked up this smurf with 100k on the clock for $850. Also for people not from the northwest, miata prices are nasty high here. Came with a racing beat header (real), koyo 36mm radiator, tokico shocks, sport springs, hard dog roll bar, nice aluminum strut bar, custom subwoofer enclosure for the rear (the guy did audio stuff professionally). He also modified it for power locks (including the trunk) and power windows as well as extra tweeters in the door. Really really solid car, the catch is the drivetrain is out of it because he pulled the engine for a valve seal and was gonna send the engine to a shop to have it done since he didn't know how. Never got around to it and the wife wanted the car gone. I'm gonna put the car back together, make sure it's actually the valve seal that's wrong with it and then my parents want it. My mom's pretty excited about the car and I'm planning on trying to make it a really comfortable car to drive around. I'll add a bit of heat/sound deadening and make sure the car drives real smooth. My dad's pretty excited as well since he hasn't had a sporty car since his last original mini cooper which was in the 80's. Won't be any crazy modifications but there will be some fun ones so they enjoy the car more but not so that it ruins the drivability at all. Should be a fun project for me and I think they'll really enjoy the car after I'm done with it.

I'll take more pictures tomorrow but here's a couple, manual steering rack as well which is cool!

Scaxx

Drove the miata 1.67 miles today, shimmed the starter down and it worked great...at first. After we took it out it started doing the exact same thing, starter started grinding. Really pretty frustrated because it's definitely not the flywheel which means its just the starter. I may just get a stock starter for a while cause I'm pretty fed up with the starter not working.

As for the drive, went really well, afr's were good the whole time, oil pressure was good, sounds ******* amazing and god damn it moves at part throttle. My girlfriend went on the drive with me and she had a blast which was good. I hardly even got on it until the very end but man it felt good to drive. It's so much different than a stock miata since the gearing is totally different, I can give it hardly any gas in 3rd and I'm already going 30. Apparently, my dad was driving behind me when I gunned it a little bit and the miata disappeared up the street haha

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

Sounds like it's ready to go to MRLS next weekend then?!

Scaxx

You can count on it haha

Scaxx

So today I bit the bullet and went and picked up an oe starter and put it in. Of course with the kooks headers that proved to be more difficult than I had planned and ended up taking me a while. Just like with the other starter it started right up, except after I drove it, it still started right up.

Holy **** this thing is bonkers. I'm short shifting the **** out of it because my tach still doesn't work and so I'm just going off the sound which means I'm shifting pretty low. I'm also using hardly any throttle most the time, I thought I gave it a decent amount and my buddy said I gave it a whopping 31% lol. We took it out for 12 miles and then since it was getting dark we put it back in the garage but man, that was the most fun in 12 miles I've ever had. I just can't get past how ******* fast it is. Sorry if I sound like a broken record, just really damn excited. Can't wait to continue driving this thing.

Also as of today I'm deciding to become a site supporter, I think it's about time.

Scaxx

Car is continuously starting without grinding, really big ******* relief to hit the starter and not just hear gnarly *** noises. Made it a solid three blocks before I got pulled over today. The cop and I were passing each other at a four way stop and as soon as I passed him I saw him throw it in reverse so I just went ahead and pulled over. Turned out he was really into miatas and had three of them lol, he told me to put a hood on it before driving it any more because apparently that's a law, and to at least put the headlights back in until I have the led's set up. He also warned me that my exhaust might get me in trouble which I kinda already knew but I'm planning on making a different tip that has a reducer inside so that I can throw the other tip on and have it be quieter for the street. Really nice guy and he ended up checking out the car for a little bit.

I ordered aerolatches and they get here tomorrow. (amazon prime free one day shipping FTW) I have a midterm on Friday but I figure I can try to install them friday afternoon and maybe drive the car some more, we shall see. No weird vibrations or noises yet (knock on wood) although I forgot I had a lightweight flywheel for a little bit and with no interior the sound of it certainly scared me. Also, I understand why people say first is useless now.

farpolemiddle

You the dude selling the Roll bar on CL? I want it. Drive it to me in Portland so I don't have to go there.

Scaxx

That ain't me! I wish I had an extra rollbar lying around haha

OGRacing

iTrader: (1)

ahh young love. i remember those days.