18psi

iTrader: (76)

chrom-moly OE replacements

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

"Sealed Power" or some other brand?

What about gasket kits? Do you buy a whole engine gasket kit, or do you just replace piece by piece the ones that look questionable?

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

I love all the questions being asked. I'm going to toss one in here, how did you gap the rings? did you file them by hand or do you have a ring filer? I've read somewhere recently the rings have to have a perfect flush seal when they are compressed or else they won't seal, how did you test that?

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Last time I got them it was from rockauto, and it was their "premium" ones for like $110 or so. Possibly sealed power, I honestly don't remember. Go on rockauto and check it out.

This time I'm trying something different (but similar) and ordered from some other place, and got: DNJ PR490 Piston Ring Set. Pretty sure they sell these on rockauto.com too.

I'll let you know how these work out lol

I didnt gap them. Well, didn't need to actually. Tested and measured them in the bores and they were perfect. I'll have to figure out/recall what the gap measurement was but looked great to me. Even showed it to my dad and he said they looked perfect. Otherwise yeah I would have filed them down as needed.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

You are making this look so easy. Almost too easy..

When are you slapping this thing into place ? Can't wait to see it run, getting me excited.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Thanks. These engines are seriously simple. Like the only time you can screw them up is by either being careless, or if the parts are defective. You'll knock yours out in no time and say the same thing afterwards

In other news, yes I can't wait to finish it up either. Keep getting sidetracked with tons of other crap (mainly the line of subaru's in front of my house all waiting on either parts install or tuning). But I did get the turbo oil return fitting welded onto the pan yesterday. Will probably install today. Pics to come.

viperormiata

iTrader: (24)

So much going on in this thread recently it's hard to keep up. Are you going to turbo this engine and have you decided on what setup you're going to use?

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Oh man, I'm starting to fall in love with scoobs. I'm playing with old ones, not new baller ones like you - but they are awesome machines. Can't wait to get my daily going.

Nothing beats a miata as a cheap "drivers" car though, You could make an AWD or even a FWD just as fast in everyway, but it's hard to beat the feel you get with the lightweight f/r layout.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Oh I completely agree. None of them feel like the miata. Even my corvette wasn't anywhere near as cool in the handling department.

But they do have their place, which is being an awesome practical and very fun daily driver.
lol dude nothing has changed in the past like 6 months. Initially I was going to use the ETD setup + GT2876R, and later I changed my mind and now am going with the Begi S4 setup and a disco potato. I ran the FFS MP62 Thupercharger on there for a bit, but lets not even talk about that

So to recap (for anyone else that's confused too):

-Currently car is basically stock engine wise, running on MS3x+ID1000's+DW200 tuned exclusively on e85. Fine tuning and making it run flawless. Almost done.
-Currently the spare vvt long block is getting built. Slowly but surely.
-My smog/inspection is coming up within the next few weeks to a month, for which the car has to go back to completely bone stock.
-Immediately after that I'm installing the built spare vvt long block + a full Begi S4 turbo setup with the disco potato (GT2860RS), enthusa 3", fm2 clutch, etc etc etc and getting tuned for somewhere between 300 and 350whp.

Sound good?

PS: All my cars for years have gotten modded like crazy within the 1st few months of ownership. Its also the reason I go through cars so fast - I mod em, achieve glory, get bored, sell. With this one I'm REALLLLLY pacing myself and taking my time. Because, why not? This is my 3rd miata, and 4th setup overall, not counting the dozens of friends and customers miata's I've boosted/tuned. I'm not trying to set any records, just enjoy myself.

Efini~FC3S

iTrader: (4)

As far as I know, Rockauto carries the sealed power and DNJ ones (and two others).

I've heard good things about sealed power, never really heard anything about DNJ.

Are the DNJ chromoly? Rockauto doesn't specify.

The DNJ ones are less than half the price of the sealed power ones, I'm definitely curious how they work for you.

I guess for me, I'd rather spend the $50 extra to get the sealed power ones, just because I've heard of people having good success with them. But I am a cheap a$$ ***** so, hmmm....


ALSO, you didn't answer my engine gasket set question either (similar story, Sealed Power gasket kit is $270, DNJ is $120...)

Do it.

I need bottle feeding!

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I'm not sure about the rings. When I did my research on them I'm fairly certain I found them to be chrom-moly. They're made in japan, and look and feel really solid, so I guess only time will tell. If the sealed power are much better, I'd like to know specifically what about them is better if both are chrom moly and both are made in japan.

I got some gasket kit off ebay, definitely didn't buy individually. I'll have to check, but I think its DNJ as well. My last build I used that too and it worked great. The only one that leaked was the valve cover gasket, which I later replaced with one from a local parts store.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

I too had an ebay gasket kit. I got the one that came with a mitsobishi timing belt (did my research and found this brand actually made a bunch of OEM's belts and are good), and came with the made in japan GMB water pump (also did some reasearch to discover that is a good option). Those things have been holding up great.

However, the ebay cam seals, and front/rear main seals I would NOT use. I had my cam seals leak almost immediately, they were way too easy to push in. Replaced em with OEM and all is well. The front/rear main seals from ebay dont seem to be leaking, BUT i wouldn't use them again personally - too much of a pain in the *** if they end up being an issue.

Otherwise +1 on egay ****.

What HG you using? I'm sure you are using a MLS, but did you go oem?

One more question, when tightening rod bolts did you use a stretch gauge, or a torque wrench?

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I'll double check all seals obviously. Didn't get that far yet. Probably this week sometime.
The HG that came with the ebay kit. Again - so far so good using those.
For rod bolts I used the torque wrench. They are ARP2000's, came with their own instructions and ARP assembly/torque grease.

I know the most current method is stretch gauge, but I don't have one and these called for a torque wrench (I'm guessing M-Tuned rods were made when they used the older method)

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

I'm just asking because I was thinking about using a torque wrench as well. Should suffice, it's not like you are pushing these rods anywhere near their actual limits.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

oil drain done



Next I had the mani and tb bead blasted, cleaned, and hit them up with this clear coat to make sure they don't get dirty again:


Currently they're in the oven baking/curing to make that stuff uber strong and resistant.



Btw: I removed the VTCS butterflies from the stock manifold, welded up the holes, and will be running that at 1st to see how I like it. Later I will bolt up the EUDM squaretop intake manifold

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Currently debating what I should do with my valve cover.

I'm split between:

brushed and cleared aluminum like this


or black with white letters like I had on my 2000

krissetsfire

iTrader: (1)

I like the brushed.

I purchased quite a bit of the dnj stuff. I never used the rings as i decided to go with a different over-bore. i still have them and they are chromoly. I gapped my super tech rings by hand and had trouble filing them till i picked up the little diamond files from harbor freight for like 8 bucks. best 8 bucks i tell you.... they chewed right through the rings. My rings sealed nicely and I have great compression across the board.

the dnj gasket kit is a felpro kit with a dnj sticker slapped on it. i'm not sure how the rings compare but all the dnj products i've bought are rebranded name brands. they all even have had identical part numbers. The gasket kit was definitely felpro kit.

anyway don't know if that was helpful but that was my experience.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Sweet updates, really diggin that oil drain setup.

+1 on brushed valve cover, it will NEVER get dirty and need a repaint, just some elbow grease from time to time. Every painted VC i've seen eventually looked like ****. Although they look **** when freshly painted.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I was leaning that way too until I had it sandblasted and realized it has a ton of casting imperfections and marks all over it (more so than many other valve covers I've seen, which is weird) so to brush it I'll really need to sand the heck out of it.

I'll give ita shot though. So far, the little spot I started on is a PAIN to get the spots out.
If I fail at brushing it, I'll spray it with VHT black and clear or possibly even just powdercoat it.

turbofan

iTrader: (1)

I'm a huge fan of the hammer black look like Bryan's car. Brushed looks great too though. Not a huge fan of just painted black without the hammered finish.

That said... Your/my 2000's engine bay was pretty sweet looking IMO.