Fuck man, that sucks. So many hours :sad2:

If the rings didn't seat correctly and you were sucking that oil, the plugs will show it. Pop the cam caps and check the journals for bearing fragments. With any luck, the 4W head might be OK and we can put you on any random 1.8 shortblock. Emilio sells single Manleys so a set of rods might be salvageable. Wiescos or Supertechs in that block? I didn't see the pistons when you had them out, but I'd imagine they would also be usable. Want a hand with the teardown? Just let me know when and I'll be there.

Provided its not the weekend of the 7th or the 14th... ;)

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! :vash:

WTF happened?

--Ian

Badness :(

So yeah, pretty sure it's a spun rod bearing.

Entirely my fault >.<

/begin saga

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1422818462
We got up early and I broke in the motor by driving it to the track. I did my best to vary the engine speed and do plenty of engine braking, but it was 70ish miles on the freeway. Big thanks to Pat for driving behind me while I varried the speed from 50 to 70 and back for an hour or so, I'm sure it was quite annoying. Around Morgan Hill it got super foggy and wet and my hands were cold enough that I was happy I didn't have the shift boot on as I shoved my hand in the transmission tunnel :p

I got to the track and changed the oil right away(I couldn't get the filter off, so just an oil change ). This is where I made my first (second?) mistake. I didn't check the oil level before I changed it.

I ran the first session which was my first time in the full track point by group. It went pretty well. A lot of pointing people by but it was nice to not worry about where I was pointing them by at :). The car felt good. Pulled pretty hard, and while the s-drives felt ok they certainly arn't nt-01s! I had a little off track excursion between 8 and 9 right at the end of the session, but I was able to drive out and the only damage was a slightly bent fender stay that made the fender wear the tire a bit. A few minutes of yanking on the stay and all was better.

My GF went out for her first session a bit after that and I rode with her. She did well (came in to 11 hot but kept it on the track on her first lap) and the car seemed fine too. EO2K showed up after that and we noticed that I had forgot to put the dreaded ac pump mounting bracket bolt in so there was a bit of oil on the bottom front of the block. I checked the oil level at this point and it seemed fine.

We each did two more sessions where we had a session between us and were having a dandy time :party:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...pslja7p4mj.jpg

Then after lunch we had a back to back session. I was driving in the second session and noticed that I was getting a fair amount of smoke out the exhaust on heavy acceleration and then a lap or two later I heard some odd noise on the hill between 5 and 6. When it made the same noise on the next lap I pulled off.

Once off the track, without the ridiculous wind noise, the noise sounded like rod knock :( I checked the oil at this point and it was barely(if at all) on the dipstick. A quart and a half later I drove it around the paddaock and the back roads to check out the noise without a helmet on. It only made the noise when letting off after free reving and under heavy load.

Obviously the track day was over for me and my GF at this point (we only missed out on 1 or 2 sessions each). When cleaning up I emptied the drain pan in to the old oil bottle and only got 2.5 quarts out. Had I checked before the first change I would have caught the issue then. My parents live about 30 miles from MRLS and since the noise was pretty mild I decided to try to drive it to their house.

About 10 miles from the track the noise was was so bad I just pulled off and called AAA and had them tow it home.

/end saga

So here's my list of mistakes that I expect lead to this:
- Honed a block that was known to have blow by issues before (this was a calculated risk at least, and I replaced the rings).
- Broke in the motor by driving it to the track on the freeway.
- Didn't check the oil level before changing it the first time.
- Didn't change the filter at the first change. Which means I over filled it by putting in a gallon of oil, which lead to the level being fine two sessions later, when it was obviously consuming oil.
- Didn't check the level between every session (this is possibly the dumbest mistake I made as I could've at least caught the issue and I know that I should do this).
- Decided to drive it knowing there was something wrong (I suspect the rod is trashed now, listening to the noise).

I'll pull the motor in the next week or so (with Pat and EO2ks help most likely) and do a full tear down to see what's broke.

I'll add some pictures later, mostly just a nice sunny 70* Juneuary track day :)

Is it worth it to do a Blackstone report and see what they tell me?

I still feel like it was hemorrhaging oil between the pump and the block. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense. There were two sizable drip spots of oil over on the concrete pad for the fuel pumps that corresponded to where I revved it up, and I had said earlier that it smelled oily when you let me ride along for that session (BTW thank you again :) )

Check this:



Notice how the leak really starts cranking out the oil under full throttle? I think she was slowly bleeding dry and we didn't see it in the paddock. You said yourself the block was wet on the drivers side, and I bet we'll find the subframe and pan are pretty wet too.

Your positive attitude in the face of such frustrations is admirable. You KNOW I don't handle shit like this as well as you do.

I'm super glad you guys had a good time out there though, that's exactly why you started the project right? I know that GoPro was running, lets see some video. :bigtu:

(scuttles off to go buy M8x1.25x45 bolt...)

Also, I know you need to make an appointment for that thing before the end of March. If you don't have a motor lined up by the end of Feb, we can pull the engine out of my car so you can get your tags. We'll just have to work out a weekend where I can get a ride home and I'll have to leave my car at your place. I'll mark my calendar to harass you about this near the end of the month.

I think I just need to stay out of the Exocet. Nothing good happens when I'm in the car. Geoff took this way better then I'd have ever expected. I don't think the traditional shrug of the shoulders even happened.

I'm going to be a bit of a contrarian. I think the rings may be fine. You're for sure leaking oil, but I wonder if you're burning it. All the smoke I saw following you (should have mentioned it) was black, not blue. It also smelled like it was running pretty rich. I wonder if Blackstone would find gas in the oil.

Let me know if you need a hand tearing down/rebuilding. No autocross/track for me until March if you need an engine.

So, uh, I'm the former owner of both that block and that Exocet frame. Just wanted to say congrats on the build and I'm sorry to hear about the block. That short block needs to die in a fire. :(

As for the shitty steering rack mounts, you can blame my diesel-mechanic brother from the east coast. The frame erroneously came from the UK with RHD mounts. Mike did a "there I fixed it" sorta thing. I won't claim to be super-handy now, but I was much worse back then. (2012?) He did most of the build for me over a 2-week vacation. Fast and loose.

Told you it wasn't the rings (which I'm quite positive I installed correctly BTW). As near as I can figure out, that shortblock is cursed. :dunno:

And
Sounds like I should just make it a coffee table :p

Ah, I vaguely remember that now! I've removed the rude welding comments from my other post. Help from a friend/family member is much different than MEV doing a poor job at what they are paid to do.

How's your exo going! We really should have a bay area Exocet meet at some point :)

I have one of these I could loan you:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1423071465

You know, to help dismantle the bottom end after we pull the head :party:

Oh, mine is done. (But it arrived from Racing Analytics in a done shape, more or less.) I've been working on making it safer / legal on the street.

I had TC Design install a fuel cell, remount the seats, and fabricate an exhaust. I've almost finished redoing the lighting, front and back. (Haven't mounted the new front setup yet, but it's pretty sweet except for blocking hood removal. :( ) I trimmed a lot of the the wiring harness. Installed a radiator shroud that is thinner than the old stock fans, hopefully leaving me room for proper isolation mounts. I think the current radiator is cracked due to virbration and not holding pressure, though it might be the radiator cap. Installed a wink mirror and some better side mirrors that I'm still not happy with. Replaced the corded R-comps with some Z2s. I'm most of the way through the CA DMV crap that I started last June. The BAR station forgot to call me back about a month ago. I visit them again next week to get my stamp / plate / whatever, then it's back to the DMV for proper plates. (Assuming they don't realize I never got the brake and light inspection.) The brakes (01+ sports w/ carbotechs) are ridiculously touchy and need to be downgraded. The suspension (spec miata) is way too tight for such a light car and needs to be replaced.

So lots of little things. But I'm tooling around on the streets of Mountain View on my operating permit without fearing for my life. I took it up Mount Hamilton a couple weekends ago and proved rather definitively that an S2000 simply can't keep up with it on the twisties.

Not a great photo, but gives you an idea:

https://scontent-2.2914.fna.fbcdn.ne...85&oe=554AC3B9

If you decide you want to build an engine with > 84mm pistons, I have a block taking up space in my garage. I think an FM stroker would work great in an Exocet!

--Ian

Liking the color, fuzzynerd.

I did a compression check today. 1,2, and 3 all around 170-180. Cylinder 4 at 60 :vash:

I added a bit of oil to each and that only brought 4 up to 120.

So the motor got pulled and torn down and this is what I found in cylinder 4...

Attachment 184366

More carnage pictures later, time for bed now, but I thought you all might enjoy the "heat treated" rod.

I'd be taking a serious look at the crank after seeing that.

The crank is also garbage. Not only is the rod bearing surface all mangled, but the crank also shows some nice blueing :party:

More carnage pics
 

It might be a bit hard to tell but the crank is also blued.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1424666471

Some bearing material on the pickup.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1424666471

Girls love the gold flecks in my... Oil?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1424666471

I'm gonna go with an oil passage somewhere being blocked that cause the previous failures in addition to this one.

bummer man

Isn't that the pan you just tried to give me? :giggle: