<p><img src="http://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.miataturbo.net-vbulletin/720x540/80-13469_401738279023_596899023_426224_1_57efcf12c769 1b22fbec0e5e6f25e04bb25e474b.jpg" title="" /><br /><br />&nbsp;</p>

 

Pretty. The engine paint I used when I first had the block out looks fabulous still so I'm not going to waste time/money on sandblasting/powdercoating.

 

Dammit! You still haven't found out what those pieces were from. It is going to drive me crazy until I know.

 

I haven't a damn clue rleete. I've gone over every piece of anything connected to the engine trying to figure out if it could have come from that or not and nothing makes sense, or at least nothing has a ball bearing type "surround/cage" that it could have come from.

Trust me, it is driving me nuts as well. I hate mysteries.

Tell me this is normal...please, it has all the irregularities of something not designed to be there...

 

<p>Yes, that is normal. Threads about it pop up every once in a while with people freaking out.</p>

 

I about lost my **** for a second there. Seems like they could have made that hole a little smoother

 

<p>I think its funny. &quot;Lets scare the **** out of everyone who opens this engine for the first time&quot;</p><p>I would totally do **** like that.</p>

 

Man, I love this build... Read every page. What about going with the "left in" theory on the mysterious parts?

 

Ha. That hole has freaked out dozens of people over the years. I can just imagine the engineer doing it on purpose, and giggling every time he thought about it.

 

I'm guessing it is just an oil return hole? My dremmel hand is getting itchy haha.

So I have ARP head studs and ARP2000 bolts for the rods. Any reason to get ARP Main studs as well? Looks like they didn't see a point when they originally built the motor but maybe they didn't want to line bore the block?

 

1. obtain running stock junkyard motor
2. dump it in
3. turn down boost
4. drive car without problems
5. give curly 6 months to rebuild the 'nice' engine
6. swap back when curly is done

bummer about the car- hopefully it gets up and running again soon

 

More like wire wastegate open. Even on 7psi springs the EFR has made very pretty ventilation carnage.

Was it 99MX5 that blew his block on startup?

And now that I know the block and crank have no wear, and are easily reconditioned, a rebuild will suffice.

 

<p>Ship to TSE for build?&nbsp;</p>

 

You don't need a line bore for ARP main studs. I put them in with drill set to 5 ft/lbs with a tiny bit of the ARP ultra-lube, then torque the nuts to 60 ft/lbs, with the lube on either side of the washer and on the threads.

Generally if you put the lube on the stud, it'll get on the bottom of the washer when you slide it on, then a tiny bit more will get the top of the washer, and there's plenty left to lube the threads for the nut. This is also why you do an oil change after ~20 miles of driving.

To give you an idea of how much lube I use, ARP sends 2 packages with any of their stud kits. 2 packages will do the entire engine, which includes the cam bolts, head studs, main studs, and MBSP bolts. Which is everything (I think) I use the stuff on.

 

Amazon had a really good deal on their Ultratorque lube a couple months back and I got a 10oz container of it for like $15. Figured it can't hurt when I need it, and can when I don't have it.

Trying to get a lot of this crap done so that when I do get the block back I can just slot it all in and get it ready to assemble.

Looking for some of these gaskets on the oil pump to rebuild it/change the seals/gaskets. Until I can find them, I won't go to crazy on the oil pump.



Block in real good shape



as are the crankshaft bearing caps



Finally got the water return all cleaned up and the rust off the nipple



Oil intake pipe cover thingy and bolts



Rear main seal seriously degunked(it was bad)

 

Mixing manifold nipple is pressed in steel. Paint it!

Also make sure you mic the crank and plasti gauge the oil clearances.

 

I had the head machinist mic the crank for me to make sure I was ok using standard sized bearings

1.9663" on the main bearings
1.7691" on the rod bearings.

but yeah when I get everything I'll figure out how to use the plastigauge

 

Hnnnnggghhhh oh god that felt good to figure out.

Thank Bryan, no, he didn't figure it out, but he gave cause to an errant thought path that brought me to the conclusion.



After cracking the 2860 CHRA (holy **** ***** that C clip was a challenge)

And parsing the volcanic ash that was my turbo...hello Mr. random ball bearing, what are you doing out there!



Opening it up further I found the bearing races in pieces. Sitting in the oil pan for who knows how long must have turned them black.



I'm gonna go out to eat dinner tonight in solving this mystery.

 

WOW !!

I think every single one of us would have wondered about this for the rest of our lives otherwise.

Very cool (and disturbing that all that crap made it into your engine)

 

Which leads me to believe this was the cause to all my engine issues since getting the EFR setup.

Although, where the bearings are, the only path they could make it to the pan is through the oil drain line. So maybe all that **** didn't touch anything in the engine.