I just want to throw it out there that it wasn't me that got crazy on that bolt. lol

I found receipts for the machine shop labor, engine, head etc, and the RE-11s I bought at costco. Shoot me your address again and I'll put them in the mail to you. I'm sorry I don't have more receipts.

I don't have the specs for that hose. It was some place online that will build them to your specs.

This has taught me that i need to keep my receipts for my builds. :vash:

I know, I'm glad my Impact wrench didn't break it when I removed it!

Small update.

Pulled the clutch/flywheel/pressure plate off and mounted it to the engine stand. I may end up pulling the front and rear subframes tonight, we'll see. Been a long weekend; I want to relax but I know it needs to be done.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382927523

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Driveshaft condition, looks normal thank goodness.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382927523

While the transmission is out I'm going to replace the throwout bearing since it's starting to wear out. Also replace the slave cylinder and the gaskets around the transmission. I found oil weeping out in a couple spots, not bad, but a little.

Also taking the turbo/manifold/downpipe to a machine shop sometime this week to get them machined level and replace all hardware with inconol from Trackspeed.

Replace some gaskets on the engine, replace the water pump, add a damper to the engine and change the timing belt as well.

Might as well do a full refresh while it is out.

Now you can put that street disk in if you want.

Considering it, but now that I have gotten used to the clutch it isn't an issue. Finally found the "feathering" point.

Do any of those Poly bushings you have in the "box-of-many-things" need to be installed? I remember you mentioning you hadn't put them in the diff mounts?

*edit* also I found out why I was having idle issues. The pipe going to the intake manifold had a puncture in it, not sure if that caused it but it might be a reason as to why it was struggling.

I put poly in the diff mounts. Ball joints I think may have needed them. I think the rear sway was needed one. I think I had one poly and one rubber on hand.

I like the 6-puck, but if I were going to dd it I would probably go to the street disk.

Subframes/exhaust/PPF/brake fluid drained/rear trunk lid(undamaged)/rear bumper(undamaged)/tail lights all are off the car. Thank god no one uses this house during this time of the year...the parts have taken over!
:eek3:

So all I speculatively have left is wiring, the dashboard, and the front headlights and this shell is gone!

I hope...

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382958074

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I want to thank you guys for the help(again), google, Haynes manual, and lots of trial and error.

Time to collapse...

Also, it isn't fair how easy it is to remove the suspension on these cars. Fucking germans and their over-engineering of VW's.

You are a machine! Well, you have certainly been able to inspect all of the work that was done to the car.

Damn, I go back and look through the pictures and still can't believe it it even though I'm seeing it.

Good work. Find a clean straight shell, don't settle.

This exactly! You have baller parts, now you need a baller shell.

I'd be looking for something lower mileage, no body-damage, good paint and interior, etc.

The 90-91 cars often show up with a busted short nose crank in a decent shell. A few years back I could have gotten one for about $1500. The whole car was mint except for the short nose issue.

Yeah after all this work and the future work of removing the donor car parts and then replacing them with these parts is making me want to find a very clean shell so that I don't have to do any paint/rust/dent repair to that car.

Once the wind outside stops going plaid I'm going to drag the parts that are a little nasty and power wash them...thank god I have a 3700 PSI pressure washer!

This is sort of how I feel at the moment, I truly wish I was a machine, then I could keep going and going...
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1382980544

and then a beater shows up on craigslist with a hard top for 900...and then the mind remembers that he has a friend in Northern Utah that owns a Maaco and actually does a good job with paint.

Link? With hardtop it could be worth it, depending on how much of a "beater" it is. Cars that need paint never really bothered me, ones that are wavy down the side of them due to door dings and poor care drive me nuts. My miata for instance needs paint (badly), but the body is amazing. really not much bodywork needs to be done before I paint it. My integra on the otherhand is probably past the point of no return. It has no "major" body damage, but 100's of dings and imperfections which would drive me nuts if i were trying to build a "clean" car. That teg is PERFECT for what I use it for though.

Fixer-upper 1994 Mazda Miata. Runs, but needs work. Looking to sell!

It really isn't that bad now that I look at it.

Worth looking into, IMO. It's 10x better than the other heaps for sale you've found. I'm concerned about that trunk to rear 1/4 gap, looks not right to me.

otherwise hard to tell how good or bad the car is without seeing it in person.

If it is bad I have the trunk latch/trunk lid/bumper from this one that are in perfect condition...well albeit some scratches.

When you see a Miata with a hardtop for under $1k, you buy it first and worry about what to do with it later.

Good point...talking to him now. If he responds or hasn't sold it that is!

Yes, this. Go buy it now assuming the hardtop doesn't have a hole in it or something like that.

As long as the rear 1/4 itself is straight and the cause of the mal-alignment is the trunk lid itself.

but the fact of the matter is, that is a $600 hardtop with a $300 miata attached. Go look at it nao.

Waiting on a reply from the seller. No number was given with the ad so it is a waiting game of emails. I left my phone number just in case. 10 hours away but if I fix the cooling issue and the battery ground it should drive home ok.

Pretty sure it would just need new coolant for an issue like that correct?

Sounds like it could work, as long as you have AAA coverage on it. Then if you blow up 100 miles into the drive back you could just get towed the rest of the way :bowrofl:

Honestly though, you could probably fix it and drive it home. Just really depends on what exactly is wrong, the condition of the car, etc. That's a long way, so make sure you get a ton of detailed pics of the shell so that you don't get there and find a POS.

"The cooling system needs work. It was in working order only two days ago, but just yesterday had a problem and steam came out from behind the engine. Note it was steam, not smoke. It has not been run since, so the engine will not have been affected."

I'm guessing the coolant pipe popped off the engine block. So probably just need to replace the rear temperature sensor and put a new hose/clamp on the block.

The battery ground corrosion is an easy fix.

IDK what you would have to pay to get it shipped to you, but like Fireindc said, it's a $600 hardtop on a $300 Miata. And even if the engine is overheated and warped to shit, you can get $150 for the 5-speed and $150 for the (presumably open) 1.8 diff. So that's your $900 before you even start a serious part out.

If the seller does contact me I got a quote for around $4-500, which is about what gas/ticket/parts would cost. So I think especially for peace of mind(and I have no time) I'll just ship it to my house and commence the stripping.

Rear heater hose going out is pretty common, the CAS o-ring leaks oil onto the hose, and that's the one that usually leaks first. Happened to me right after I got mine.

I felt it was pretty close to sacrilege to put filthy parts on a new shell so I broke out the power washer and purple power and went to town. Couple rust spots I need to put some POR15 on to kill it before it gets worse.

Turned out better than I thought it would.

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On a 1.6 . . . cursed water plug! Look it up. Happens all the time.

I'm guessing if I get the Inconol manifold stud kit from TSE I'll have to drill the holes wider for the M10 bolts to work with the ARTech manifold correct?

If so I'm going to wait to send the manifold and turbo to the machine shop to get them milled flat until I get the stud kit from them. Or can I just tell them the bolt size and hope for the best...

They should be able to drill and tap without having the studs. I think the stud kit is 10x1.5, just tell them to drill and tap for that and you're good.

I could strip the goodies off mine and sell it for ~$2K with HT...

I'm hoping it wasn't one of those craigslist ads that the person forgets about. Still no response.

Just inspecting the turbo before I decide to do work on it.

oil feed looks a little gummed up
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383085467

Small amount of oil on the face
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I put those receipts in the mail yesterday.

I must say, it's a bit nerve racking to have every inch of your build inspected by the world. I hope no one is thinking "Holy sh*t, who did you buy that from?" Lol

What's that little hole near the oil feed next to the x 3/4?

No doubt, your build is going to be badass!

David I don't want to imply that you are to blame for anything either. Any problems I find or have found I don't blame you for. Shit happens.

The hole is just the bolt hole for the oil drain bung connection.

There was a lot of build up on the banjo bolt and banjo housing for the oil feed line. Cleaned it up with a pipe brush. Think I may pull the compressor wheel off and inspect the inside to see if there is a build up in the turbo as well.

wow. this thread was a roller coaster.

I was mostly thinking "clean car . . . well done." Plus, the mythical SD coilovers!!

Sent the turbo and the downpipe to the machine shop today.

Plan of attack is this:
-Mill flanges flat
-mill exhaust manifold flat
-Drill out exhaust manifold turbo flange to M10x1.5 to accept TSE Inconel studs
-chase threads on the rest of the bolt holes to clean out oxidation
-drill out broken bolt.

Question on the turbo though. On the bottom of the ring covering the bearings where you see the grit. It sounds like there is quite a bit of sand or dirt in it when I spin the spacer.

Should I get the Garret repair kit to disassemble and clean it to ensure there is nothing nasty in it? Is this something I myself am capable of doing or should I send the turbo to a shop to rebuild it?

Or am I just being too nervous? Just want to make sure I don't have to worry about this stuff in 6 months or so.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383171913

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Also a question to those who are much smarter than me. Why is there a 1.5" block on the downpipe separating the wastegate dump from the turbine? Better flow for the down-pipe? It is a divorced downpipe so that is what makes sense in my head but seeing as the flow convergence shouldn't affect it that much I still can't see why the extra effort is needed to separate the two.

What turbo is that that you have? BB or journal?

The DP thing is to keep the gasses separated until they re-join later down the stream with less turbulence near the spinning turbine wheel/housing.

Garret 2860RS. Dual ball bearing.

One does not simply "rebuild" a dual ball bearing turbo. Clean it up while you have it apart as best you can and run it.

That is what I figured as well, I didn't even want to think about attempting it considering the little I know about diesel turbos and VNT.

The 1.5" block might also be there to avoid interference. There have been cases with SG downpipes where the wastegate either didn't open all the way or would stick open due to interference.

In anycase, when re-assembling, always check for free movement of the wastegate arm once the downpipe is bolted to the turbo.

If it were journal bearing the rebuild would be easy. BB turbos are pretty much sealed and if they fail you have to replace the entire CHRA (i think).

The good thing is that there is no shaft play or bad noise when I spun it with my air compressor(I know laughably low rpm's won't give a good indicator) so I think I'm just being overly cautious as usual.

Coming from the VW world makes you a paranoid person when it comes to your car. Inclement doom is always around the corner.:vash:

German cars FTL.

My TDI has been really reliable surprisingly. Probably because I actually maintain it unlike most VW owners. I think most of the issues people have with das German cars is they don't do preventative maintenance.

Coming up on 4 years with only regular maintenance and no other problems. The 48 mpg highway and 45 city makes up for any headaches.

Driving the Miata back from Alabama I was laughing at how often I had to fill up. Around 250-270 miles a tank where is on the Jetta I normally get 600+.

Question on maintenance while we are on the topic. Seeing as he built the motor 15k +/- ago, is there anything I should replace while the engine is out and the transmission is out as well?

I'm thinking
-throwout bearing
-rear crank shaft seal
-head gasket
-water pump(and guessing consequentially I need to do a timing belt change if I replace that?)
-fuel filter
-Harmonic Damper(not sure on this, mixed reports on needing it with a billet oil pump in place)
-Transmission input gasket

Since I am getting the exhaust manifold milled flat, will I need a new gasket for that or can I run without?

Sorry for the questions, I am searching, just a lot of contrasting opinions on such matters.

The oil pump is stock, the gear is billet. Just want to be clear that it isn't one of BEs blueprinted setups.

No gasket between manifold and turbo. I would use a new gasket between head and manifold

From what I have read, the harmonic damper and billet oil pump (or just gears whatever) are not an either-or. But that's for track-heavy cars, whether you need either for the street depends on who you ask.

Talked to Dave and while I am probably going overboard with milling all the surface flanges flat, the main cause of the leak is the Actuator for the IWG.

Should I get a direct part # replacement from Garrett or replace it with a rebuildable model such as a Turbosmart or Merkur Depot?

Prices are about $80 for the Garret OEM Actuator and about 150ish for the Turbosmart. But...one is rebuildable.

May have a prospective shell I am considering, it is much higher than what I had planned but it also has a fully built track chassis with Spec Miata roll cage, color matched hard top and too many other things to list done to the chassis. The paint and everything else on the car is in very good condition and it's white as well!

I'm tempted to blow my frugal budget and think about it but I will wait on the final word from the insurance company before I loose my head.

Well since I'm waiting on the insurance company to give me a figure since I am waiting on some receipts from DJP(mail from AL-UT is slow) I thought I'd do all the maintenance that is harder to do with the engine still in the car.

-Milling turbo flange/manifold flange/downpipe flanges flat
-Inconel 10X1.5 studs for the exhaust manifold
-Motul Radiator Additive(cheap)
-Transmission Seal and Gasket Kit
-Mazdaspeed motormounts(mine were hashed)
-Exhaust and intake manifold Gaskets
-Pilot and Throw-out Bearings(mine was making bad noises)
-Valve Cover gasket
-oil/fuel filter
-Hawk HP+ pads(didnt get rotors since mine are in good shape, just gonna lightly surface sand them)
-Amsoil MTG synthetic transmission fluid
-Amsoil Severe Gear Synthetic 75W-90 diff fluid
-Amsoil synthetic grease(for poly bushings, thank god for zerk fittings!)
-New Internal Wastegate Actuator for the Garrett 2860rs Disco Potato(mine had a slight leak and they aren't rebuildable)

Also going to sand some of the rusted areas on the subframes and put a quick lick of paint on it.

Got some insanely good deals on all that but it was still a little pricy. Unfortunately since I spent all week researching what to get it probably all won't get here before the weekend. The car is at my parents house 45 minutes south and work has been ramping up getting ready for the holiday season(bakery) so no time to go down and wrench.

I know most of you think I'm probably crazy for getting so much stuff that probably isn't necessary without a shell to put it in; but I'd rather do it now with the engine on a stand and the subframes/transmission out of the car.

Should I pull the oil pan off while I'm at it and inspect it for contamination?

If you are going to run a street pad, then I'd try the pbr ultimates, you should have some in the box of parts. If looking for something useful onthe track, then skip the hp+, the ones on the car were the left over carbotechs after two track days.

Never again would I try to run a double duty pad. If rather run a race pad on the street than a street pad at the track.

Moved this to build threads finally.

I'm thinking of a title, something like "Buy, flip, sell!!"

I like it. I was thinking of the "Bi-polar Miata" but yours flows better....

Well after talking about that race shell m going to try calling this guy who is 4 hours away in grand junction. It was just repainted...wait for it...white! Due to circumstances he is selling for $1k. 90' with 120k, new soft top, new paint, body looks straight. But being a CO car I'm a bit worried about rust.

No hard top but I don't need one at the moment and at $1k with new paint and a good interior I'm going to give him a call. I've literally looked everywhere for a decent shell and hardtop for a reasonable price but either they are beat to shit or the owners believe that since Miatas are made of Unicorn tears it adds $2,000 to the price.

Good point on the pads Dave, I was just getting them to drive on the street till I could put some wilwoods on. We'll see.

Now that it is more or less locked in, here is the car.
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No panels look off and even if the interior isn't that good mine was undamaged from the rollover so it will transfer over.

Plus that paint looks good! No rust either. The guy bought it to put a 302 into it but has some financial harships hit and needs to sell it fast so I was able to talk an additional $200 off the asking price.

Looks good. clearly a re-paint (see rockers), so check for rust, and body filler (with a magnet). Although if it was an original crystal white or whatever the paint code is, they had huge paint chipping problems - so it was likely repainted because of that.

It has the classic front bumper deformations on the left and the right - when you get it check and make sure the bumper supports are installed there.

Still looks like a damn decent deal assuming no rust or body damage underneath. Glad you found a nice shell that doesnt need paint or body work. Trust me, you don't want to have a badass running shitty looking car. Ask me how i know. LOL.

Thanks for the heads up and I agree on the shit looking paint. After looking at 100's of paint flaking/clear coat burn through and scraped Miata I'm starting to wonder if people who own these cars don't believe is washing the car and or waxing.

But I was raised by an OCD father who believe in washing and waxing 2 times a month. His 1987 Porsche and 2000 tundra look brand new. Never understood the not washing/waxing your car thing. It takes maybe 1.5 hours at most to do. So easy.

I wish I could have found a blue body like yours Fire. They look so damn good with a color matched hardtop. I have the front bumper supports from mine in case these are missing.

I did the math and even buying a hard top separately I'm still coming out ahead not having to sink another grand into paint.

Plus I'm pretty sure the insurance settlement will get me a new hard top...I was pretty adamant about them including that in their calculation for worth.

Guy restored mustangs so I hope the "it has no rust" statement is true.