No can do. With such a spendy motor, I didn't want to tear it down and rebuild it myself. That said, I'll definitely be doing it myself next time.

This motor felt like it had a little extra something in it. :)

???? Then how did you get pics of the piston?

Because that would be a bad thing if the shop put this piston back into the motor. BTW they cost $180 each, shipped.

I'm currently waiting on an oil pickup tube seal before I join the two halves of the motor.

Today I sat out in the 100 degree weather and cleaned house. Will be swapping in some fresh cut-pile NB carpet, seat belts, shoulder trim panels, and new top tension cables. I'll be adding Reflectix to the transmission tunnel to hopefully cut down on heat. Picked up this Hard Dog Sport M2 to coincide with my eventual plans for an NB glass soft top and hard top . Got it locally for $250. :) I have so many parts just sitting around in my room, waiting to be installed.

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It's time to show off my new cellphone's picture-taking abilities.

Should I be worried about this?
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It's interesting how "sharp" the new piston is, compared to the old ones.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...0-28163257.jpg

Roll bar installed!
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...0-28163158.jpg

Oooh! You must have burned fragrant offerings to the detonation gods that they were constantly present but did not smite thee. Perhaps it would be wise to appease them with a re-tune.

Base map, conservative timing. This did not happen with the motor in my possession. My question is will I need to worry about this causing more detonation and need cleaning up or will it be ok to use as is, without worry.

I worked on pulling the dash today. I don't want to cut my new carpet and have it end up never staying put.

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Why, on all the pistons, do the cylinder wall clearances appear to be larger on the side towards the front of the motor?

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call me when you are ready to get the motor in. I'm off for a week in two more weeks. :)

I think it is an illusion. Piston seems to be on one side of the bore because of ring tension. It does look like the pistons are a little small for their bore, but it may just be another illusion.

Can you wiggle the piston much in there bores? Are you sure ring gaps are staggard properly? DID YOU REMEMBER TO INSTALL RINGS??????:giggle:

You are the man!

I checked it under different lighting and they are definitely off-center. I can kinda wiggle the piston, but it feels like it's due to the spring tension of the ring. I'm not sure about ring gaps, because I didn't build it. Could the builder have been meticulous enough to install all rings with the gap facing the same direction?

Yes he could. (Top facing one way, and second facing another way about 30%). And that is probably the reason all pistons are pushed to one side. This is normal.

Motor is in. Now Bryce just needs to hook everything up and get her running.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...7/DSCF1557.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...7/DSCF1553.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...7/DSCF1552.jpg

We also installed a MSM wheel in my 99 sport, so that Bryce can modify my old Nardi wheel to fit on his 92.
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Update. Now.


Bryce.

Nice build, looking forward to the finish project.

Nice build, love the NB dash!

This is how it looked yesterday.
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The end of today.
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The NB wheel feels so much nicer in the hands. It's in much better shape than my old one too. Plus, it was free. Thanks Stan!

I haven't touched the motor since it was put in. :P

so you drilled the slots to modify it :)

Let me know when you want to finish buttoning it up.

But wait till it feels warmer than 13 degree with the windchill please.

Stan, your assistance is not longer required. :)

Thanks for all the positive feedback!

I cleaned out the garage to put the Miata in, so I've been working on it a lot more the past 2 weeks. This has resulted in some rapid progress.

The NPT bushing that I tapped for the CLT sensor decided to break. I ended up JB welding an NPT coupler onto it. Hopefully this will hold. If it doesn't, I should know pretty quickly.
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Interior is complete. No more crack in the dashboard. NB carpet with 20k miles on it is so much better than that loop-pile crap. The shifter boot is worn out so I opted out on that part. The NB steering wheel was easy to modify. Just one hole needed to be drilled. I also detonated my old airbag. Need to find the video of it and upload.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0084.jpg

Power mirrors. The manual ones literally rusted off! They aren't hooked up yet. Apparently Mazda didn't offer them until 93, so I don't have the harness for them.
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Fan control mod. It doesn't work though. It activates the fans anytime the key is on. I think the transistor might not be switching. I think it's showing continuity between the two legs that shouldn't have any continuity. Any ideas?
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Get a load of this. I have a boost gauge and a blow off valve, but no turbo. I decide to put the stock intake back on. This way, I can let the AIT sensor sit inside the plastic snorkel and not get heatsoaked.
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If nothing goes wrong, I'll be driving around tomorrow with an inspection sticker that expired in 2009. Gotta break in 1 cylinder, lol.

I tested the fuel system by jumping the diagnostic terminals and heard a spraying sound. Fuel is everywhere due to an o-ring on one of the injectors not seating properly. At least I checked this before getting everything hooked up to the point of starting the car. It was easily fixed though. I don't mind the 2 piece design of the NB manifold. I'd rather remove a couple extra bolts and clamps to have much more room to work on the fuel rail compared to the 1.6 design.

I had one hell of a time getting oil pressure. I had to whip out the commercial vacuum pump, aka the Prime master 5000, and pull a vacuum through the turbo oil feed while cranking the motor to get oil flow. It didn't do the trick without cranking the motor.
I tried to start it, but cranking PWs are certainly off after going from 750 to 800cc injectors and the GF was getting impatient.