Well she drives! Took her around the block once to see if it drives alright and it did great besides a lot of smoke coming out of the exhaust. Not sure how oil suddenly got into the headers but I'm hoping it'll burn off and it isn't a more serious issue.

I'm running open loop and that seemed to take care of all the weird throttle issue I was having. The only issue is a slightly higher idle.

Might have a vacuum leak. I adjusted the idle screw until it was a half-turn open and it held pretty consistent around 1200 rpms. I just don't want it fully closed from what I have read. Need to check all my intercooler piping to see where a leak is forming. My guess is the throttle body connection. Due to the flyin miata silicone tubing being so thick a 2.75" clamp won't fit and a 3" is too big so I'm using a worm gear clamp and it will only tighten so much.

It shifted perfectly and the clutch engagement is like butter. No stumbling or hiccups or any odd issues. Didn't floor it since my alignment is really messed up. Hopefully I will have time Friday to get one done and I can start finessing out some of the issues. Holding AFR at 14.5 at idle with no dancing. Oil pressure is oscillating a bit though. Both fans came on at 190º.

One weird thing is I am getting a lot of oil in the catch can. I've emptied about 2 cups worth of oil out of it since I first started the engine up a month ago. Is that normal for idling or not?

I wonder if that kink I had in the oil drain line is worse than I thought and is causing the smoking issues. I have a new braided line sitting in a box, so I may put that on and see if that is the issue. Can't imagine a blown head gasket already.

That shouldn't happen on idle. You want as straight and free flowing run for the oil drain kinks definitely wont be helping

that's a lot of oil in a catch can...

PCV valve could be shot after being upside down. Check that too.

2 cups in the catch can? Seriously? Assuming your PCV checks out, that's reason for concern. That and the smoke.

Glad your back. We were having withdrawal.

Did you fire it up after you got it back to make sure the thief that joyrode it didn't grenade the engine?

^This...

Link for you. In your neck of the woods too.

Mazda engines & short blocks

Yeah even drove it for a little bit, no problem. Going to check the pcv valve first, then the oil drain line, and then potentially worry.

Didn't smoke, barely at all, in closed loop idle is the odd thing.

Also my timing advance came back in open loop idle. It never deviated from -2 to 0 in closed loop but in open it it was 26 in wue, and held steady around 6 upon normal idle.

What's your timing map look like at idle? Also just vent both sides of the vc to vta and throw the pcv valve in the trash. I hardly ever have oil in my catch can and if I do it's after months on months on months.

Is VTA smart right now with how much blow-by I have at the moment?

Would the PCV from the 1.6 VC work on my engine if I do need to replace it?

Sorry for the questions, just at work and don't have time to research till tonight.

Damn it, I'm getting nervous that this is a bigger problem than I thought.

Yes, all '89-'05 PVC valves are the same size afaik.

Blow on both, see if one is no longer a one way valve towards the intake manifold.

Pcvs don't just fail.

Well the smoking issue wasn't a really big deal, just took a little bit of problem solving(I.E my brother and his BIL figured it out((mad love yo)). It was sucking oil through the VC into the catch can and throwing it into the intake manifold. Hence the copious amounts of smoke.

After I disconnected the catch can line from the I.M. and plugged the I.M. hole, it not only ceased smoking but the engine ran smoother and the rpms dropped at idle as well. So I put a filter on the IM line and called it a day for now. Not sure why the VC was getting so much positive pressure to suck oil into the I.M. but it isn't doing it anymore so...yay.

It is running great, but since it is Saturday, I can't get an alignment and mess around with it more.

One thing I need to figure out is why it is getting an overboost/fuel cut around 4-5k rpms. When I accelerated in 3rd it hit a wall pretty hard and I had to shift to get the engine to respond normally again. Going to look into that a little more.

Also my MPH gauge is working as well, which is nice. Lots of rattles that I need to track down, but I think I am on the home stretch now. Monday I'll get an alignment, and by then hopefully track down the overboost protection problem.

Much love again, to my brother and Chris.

I wants videos.

Because catch cans are silly if you don't know what youre doing or have a real reason to run one...

I will when I can solve the boost cut off issue.

Brain I agree now that I've read up on them a bit, I only installed one due to the car previously having one. I installed it the same but something must have changed. Oh well. Problem solved.

You're alive!! I was wondering.

What is the MS's RPM limiter set to?