Point taken, Vlad. Thanks for spelling it out for me. I'll probably hold out and go for a MS3x next year and swap the sensors over. Sounds like a good winter project.

Now it's spring and I'm already dying to drive this thing - so that's gonna have to wait for now. Especially because I NEED to get rid of these hideous boat anchor wheels and that's next on my purchase list. I also wanted to paint the car this year, which is only more $$ and time.

 

I know that feel.....So many mods....So little time

 

I wish I could get a 99 motor for $250.

Hell, I wish I could find any 1.8 for $250.

Hell, I'd pay $250 for a non-running 99-00 motor...

Nice find and nice project

 

Thanks! The motor is somewhat "high" mileage at 140k, but really ran better than any NA miata I've driven to date. I also couldn't believe how "clean" the motor seemed. Was probably because it was the only NB I've ever driven, but damn I can't wait to have that performance + the turbo in my NA.

I considered opening it up and going with some internals right away, but I'm going to run it as-is and if she blows up I'll go back together with some rods and a rebuild at the very least.

I'm heading up to my shop after work today to get some more work on it. I plan on pulling the oil pan, drilling/tapping it, then resealing it. I'm just going to go with the JB weld method that I used on my 1.6 and had great success with. Will update the thread later.

 

So I didn't get to work on what I had intended, the oil pan still needs to be removed/drilled/tapped/resealed. I ran into a broken bolt the PO of this motor had left me and that ended up taking up most of my time in the shop.



Went ahead and drilled into it, and this thing was STUCK. Easy out didn't quite do it at first, i ended up having to drill all the way through the bolt to releive the tension, apply a LOT of heat, and still ended up breaking the adjustable wrench I was using to turn the easyout. lol.



Finally. Thank god. The feeling of this thing finally coming lose was one of the best.



Then I went ahead and planed the flanges for my turbo and manifold to remove the slight surface rust and imprefections. High grit sandpaper + flat surface.



Sunset view from my garage. Sometimes everything just seems to work out. I love life.

 

Got this done..


And spent the rest of the time pulling my Buells wheels to fit on the new rubber. This is how it's done in a tiny space!



There should be some better updates soon. Really itching to get this done, and i just sourced a few of the last parts i need. Convertible season is here.

 

Just got these from the FedEX man.



Yummy. Excited to get them on, but they will be waiting until the car is back on the road.

They seem well made, nicely powdercoated, and well worth the $100 shipped i payed for them on the clubricer group buy.

 

Its all looking great man, props for the work. curse you for posting pics of buells though. want one sooo bad... then again... If I had a buell, I wouldn't have a Miata

 

Thanks for the props! I consider myself lucky to own both a Buell and a turbo miata. The only problem is finding time for both. The weather has been so nice, it's hard to stop riding and put in some wrenching time on the miata. First world problems I guess.

 

Wow unbelievable view. Do you live on the outskirts of town? I'm jealous of the wide open space.

I know the feeling about the bike. I just bought a brand new Suzuki and the miata is having a hard fight for my time.

 

Just keep riding then!! haha don't waste the good weather. You get a crappy weather day, then work on the Miata.

 

Thanks!, this is actually at my garage, which is a little over 3 miles from my house by road. My property is 2 acres and looks similar to what you see there.

And I've gotta really plan putting time into the car, since my time gets taken by all my other hobbies if not. I can't wait to finish this thing up and have an awesome summer DD again. So stoked! Off to put in time on the car and replace some rear wheel bearings on my Buell since I'm done with work for the day.

 

I'll be watching this build for sure, I'll be running the same turbo on a similar motor with the same MS at the same altitude haha. Is there a dyno there in Taos? I'll be down in Abq either later this month or next month to finish up my turbo, maybe I'll take the scenic route home and stop by your place. Do you live on the north side of town? You ever see a dude in a white 1g CRX with a rollbar?

 

No dyno in Taos, I have to go to Albuquerque for that. That's where the dyno results on the previous page were done. At a shop called "Motiva" in Albuquerque.

If your coming through Taos, PM me in advance. I'm always down to meetup. Never seen a white 1g with a rollbar, although there are a few white CRX's around.

 

I've been making progress, will have more pictures later. But first, I need to ask you guys a question. I just now realized on my 1.6 car there are 3 total coolant temperature sensors. There is one at the front of the motor, that is the fan switch. From what I've read since I have a MSPNP v1, the ecu should be controlling the fans off the big temp sensor on the back of the head, so i can get rid of that one.

Now comes my question. Look in this pic.



My question is about the small single wire sensor that goes to the dash, do i need to install this somewhere? I'm guessing my coolant spacer is threaded for this if so? I did not realize this sensor even existed until now. I'm assuming if i leave it off, i wont have a coolant temp gauge on my dash?

Thanks guys. Again, more pics soon.. new motor is about to drop in

 

Yes, you need the single wire sensor for the dash gauge to work. The spacer should have a threaded hole for it. The Megasquirt will do fans etc based on readings from the green sensor. You can discard the front sensor.

 

Thanks much, Oscar. I had already capped the other 2 threaded holes in my spacer before realizing this, but no biggie. I very much appreciate the guidance.

 

Nice build thread.

How far away do you live from Durango Co? I have family in both Durango and Silverton. I do not go there often, but damn I love it. I was just there in August for Hardrockers.

 

Nice garage view! I would never leave!

Nice build by the way!

 

Less than 5 hours for sure, depends on how fast you drive. A lot of canyons between here and there . I love silverton, epic powder and awesome snowboarding mountain. Durango is great too.

Thanks! I love hanging out in the garage on a nice day. Or on rainy days. Actually it's always fun to work on something that you are building based off **** you learned from the internet. Well, that and some experience I have now with the previous setup. Seriously getting a little antsy about the car now, I'm so excited to have it back.