They're free floating pins, if you remove the retaining clip, they're supposed to come out easily.

Just wondering... do you actually know what knock sounds like? Or did you just "hear" something that you thought was knock and decided to pull your motor? Your bearings look OK from the photo, you wrist pins are fine so I'm starting to think you don't really know what you're looking for.

Allow me to clarify. By "knock", I don't mean detonation. I know what that sounds like. I am hearing a knocking sound that is confirmed to be coming from the bottom end with a stethoscope. Did you listen to the audio file I posted?

Just ignore that shit and run more boost.

Updates?

Not really any updates to speak of sadly. The motor is currently in pieces sitting in the garage.

How much did the turbo run you and from where?

The turbo was $1546 shipped from Himni Racing back in August.

I'm looking to pick up a 1.8 motor or shortblock to throw in so I can drive around while I have the 2 liter disassembled. VVT would be awesome for future-proofing it.

I had the crank checked at Pete's cranks. Its going to need some machining because the original work done on it wasn't of very high quality, but it will only be worth it if I know the block is OK too.

Bryce, I'm curious about what work was done to the block. Are you still planning on reusing the internals to create another 2 liter?

Yeah, the pistons and rods look good, and the crank can be worked with, so the only unknown is the block. If the block turns out to be bad, I'll get another and continue with the 2 liter pwnage.

I just pulled the trigger on a complete 04 VVT motor with 89k miles on it. I'm going to toss it in the car and drive while I rebuild the 2 liter. When the 2.0 is complete, I'll swap the VVT head over and upgrade to MS3X so I can utilize the VVTeez.

can i haz the 04 bottom end when you are done :)

Sure!


Tuesday started with this showing up in the back of a truck:
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330672529
It's an 04 motor out of an automatic with 89k miles on it. Pretty clean on the exterior and fully dressed.

I immediately got to work at 'making it mine'.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330672529

Got the motor in the car, then I realized I didn't feel like drilling holes in the intake manifold to mount my 1.6TB. After that, I realized I have a perfectly good 99 intake manifold with my 1.6TB already mounted. It would have been nice if I swapped IMs before I put the motor in, but oh well.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330672529

I use the 1.6 evap purge control solenoid to control the VICs actuator because its easier to get wire terminals onto the connector.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330672529

Just about finished. Now where do I mount those coils?
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330672529

Ghettofabulous. I had to trim the spark plug wire boots for them to fit into the bores of the cylinder head. Somehow, this doesn't contact the hood.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1330672529


Motor made oil pressure just cranking it over, unlike the 2 liter. I plugged the CAS in to start it, same fuel injectors so it so my cranking settings should be close enough. Then I realize the fuel pumping isn't coming on at all. Not even for the priming pulse. I remembered that I unplugged the fuel pump relay a few months ago for some odd reason. Oh yeah! I was working on the sound system and didn't want to shoot fuel all over the engine bay with unplugged fuel lines. Now for the irony: When I plugged the fuel pump in, fuel shot all over the engine bay because I forgot to tighten one of the fuel lines.

Fuel pump issue resolved. It started right up but idled at 2,500 rpms. Woops, forgot to move my EGR blockoff plate back to the 99 intake mani. All problems are resolved and I take it for a shakedown run only to discover I have a steady drip of coolant from the radiator.

Looks like the radiator has sprung a leak sometime in the last few months. My current radiator is a 4 year-old radiatorbarn.com twin-row all-copper model. I'm not sure that I like it because the fittings are quite flimsy and the black paint they coated it with is flaking off. I looked and don't see any all-aluminum stock-sized replacement radiators. I'm not interested in anything larger than stock because I haven't had a problem with overheating with the stock radiator and I won't be tracking the car anytime soon. I also love having so much space in the engine bay with two ebay slim fans. Are there any stock-sized all-aluminum radiators?

Turbo plans:
I'm thinking about selling my S4 manifold and downpipe together because the downpipe isn't going to sell on its own. I'll have the hotside parts fabricated by either Abe or Powerfab here in Houston.

I need to upgrade to MS3X so I can utilize VVT and get rid of the stupid CAS. Should I go turbo or upgrade to MS3 first?

Go with the MS3x first before turbo.

Just ordered a TYC branded radiator that, according to the reviews, is actually a Koyo.

I posted up the manifold and downpipe for sale. Proceeds from that will go towards MS3x upgrade first.
Lars, I have bookmarked a few of your posts regarding VVT control in an NA, thanks for being awesome.

Time for some Megasquirt questions.

I'm about ready to order the parts to upgrade to MS3x. My current setup is a piggy-back Brainy-built MS1 with boost control running my VICs solenoid. I modded in a fan control output when I did the coolant reroute. Idle is still being controlled by the stock ECU. In fact, idle is the ONLY the the stock ecu is doing.

I also have a set of LS1 coils and VVT coils. I've been reading about this non-stop for the past few days and it still isn't clicking in my head. If I wire in the VVT coils right now, how do I get a tach signal? I'm about to head to radioshack for a couple resistors and an npn transistor because I think that's what I'll need for a tach driver for MS. Would I still need to make a tacho out circuit if I go to MS3x?

I want to convert to full standalone. I would still need to get the IAC control mod kit if I upgrade to ms3x, right? http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/p...t39-p-134.html

For AC control, I just need to wire in a relay that can be triggered by MS for WOT cutoff. Anything else needed regarding AC and ms3?

Nevermind. Found a good source of info on the msextra site. Specifically Here

MS3X parts are on the way.

I plan on using the X board for the NB CKP, CMP inputs, IAC control, tach output, and all fuel injectors and ignition coils.

The majority of my spring break was dedicated to:
MS3X upgrade
Sequential fuel wiring
LS2 truck coil installation
Sequential spark wiring
VVT wiring
99 throttle body swap
Appeasing the GF
LOTS AND LOTS OF READING

I've spent over 24 hours reading about and working on the car this week.

I'm now on my fourth input circuit on Megasquirt. FML because I lacked the foresight to build the NB input circuit the first time around. I started with the standard NA Opto input circuit, then went to the standard MS2 /opto?/ input circuit, then back to the NA Opto input because the CKP signal was inversed compared to the Expander cam input, then on to Frank's version of Abe's input circuit layed out using the traces on the mainboard (vs using the protoype area) once I realized I can't use the NB sensors with the opto input circuit.

Harness modification. Added wires for full sequential, VVT, Tacho output, and idle output. I'm using spade connectors and found that the key is to crimp them with all the clamping force in the world, otherwise the wire will fall out. They use these things on airplanes, and they are a pain to disconnect. I may add some kind of single connector for the extra wires to go between the MS harness and car wiring. The center ECU connector will work, but I need to get more pins for it.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1332319845

Modding the MS. This is my latest input circuit. Dunno why I didn't take pictures of the first 3.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1332319845
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1332319845

Frank's version of Abe's input circuit is pretty cool. It allows me to keep my precious prototype area, even though it is mostly empty. I built the whole circuit, even though I'm not using it for the CMP currently, so that I can use the Expander cam input for VSS in the future.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...7&d=1227910397

MS installed, open top for adjusting the VR conditioner pots on the expander.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1332319845

When I put the 04 motor in, I used the 99 intake manifold. My Bosch TPS sensor wouldn't fit on my 1.6 TB with FM spacer because the VVT head is wider on the intake side. I have been driving around for a week or two without TPS accel enrichments. Now I got a hold of a 99 throttle body and installed it at the same time I swapped over to the NB sensors.

While tuning the new idle valve, which took hours, I noticed the car was losing sync at 4k rpms. I did a couple searches and utilized the sync error logger and found that I needed to adjust the VR input pots on the expander board. It took a half turn clockwise from the recommended settings to fix the sync issue.

I used a TV wall mount bracket to mount the LS2 coils. I will find a new way to mount them in the future but it works for now.

MS3... is FRACKING AWESOME!

I've been running MS1 since 2008. I would say MS1 is ham-fisted caveman technology, and MS3 is a space laser.
My off-idle hesitation is gone, and I'm not even running any accel enrichments yet. I've barely tuned the VE table and it is running better than it ever has!
There are so many more charts and tables and it will take awhile to get used to where everything is, but I love the extra magnitude of control I now possess.

Here's the motor as it currently sits. I will put some corrugated tubing on the new wiring soon.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b2...a/DSC_0594.jpg

All of this was in preparation for VVT control. I have the solenoid hooked up, but the feature is off in TS right now. I'm running the latest beta firmware and TS. I'm a bit confused though. Do I need to jumper a flyback diode to S12? I read that the flyback from the VVT solenoid can toast the driver chip on the expander board due to the amount of flyback. My understanding of the concept of flyback is non-existent. All is ready, I just need to flip the switch for VVT control, then I can change the thread title, lol.

For some reason the idle control likes to peg the idle valve at full open, 80% PWM, instead of going into closed loop. It seems to happen randomly, up to every 5 minutes of driving. I'm still trying to figure out why it would do such a thing.

Sync loss is still happening. Time to turn R11 a little more.

I managed 28mpg on a trip with 30% highway driving. Cruise AFRs were only around 14.7 too. I have a feeling this will make a good hypermiler.