I have no idea what you're talking about.

 

That's just raw aluminum that I've yet to spill anything on or touch with dirty fingers. Let's just say that I'm building my own "rental" and the goal is to keep it within Miata Challenge street class rules. This will be my "rental" and at the least it will make me a better driver, I can live with that.

 

This just in: I can't read :(.

TIL N/A NA

 

in for updates

 

Very nice. I don't remember my VVT actuator looking that clean. Next time I have to do a timing job I would like to go this route. I think I will powdercoat that actuator though.


No timing plate?

 

No need for it.

 

? Why not? I though you can't remove the timing plate without pulling the cam gears?

 

I'm a bit lost, what exactly are you getting at?

 

When the crank is at TDC, how do you know the cams are in the proper position without the marks on the cam backing plate?

 

There's several different ways to degree a cam. Far easier though is to just put the plate on and set it up to get it oriented correctly and remove it when you're finished.

 

It's so slow I'm not sure if it's broken or just stock.

 

So sad to see that beautiful snail gone *sniff*

 

Another day of driving and another new problem. Any ideas on what I can do to get it to stay at operating temperature or even heat up a bit faster? I'm running a bigger radiator and an M-Tuned coolant reroute. It takes forever to heat up and on the highway it won't stay at a normal temp. I've thought about covering up a portion of the radiator, but I thought I'd see if there were any other suggestions out there.

 

I had one of those cheap grills and put duct tape on it. Worked like a charm. Only covered about three quarters of it of course. Maybe a hotter thermostat?

 

You can put a hotter T-Stat for winter conditions, or you can just cover 50% of your rad in the cooler months. The reroute really works well

 

Guess I'll start by covering up a portion of the radiator.

 

Or trade your rad for a crappy stock one

 

Can't do that, I'm going to need this one someday.

 

Are you till using the "mixing manifold" or is that eliminated? I do not use a mixing manifold on my turbo car so I have a restricter built into the heater core feed.

If you're trying to put all the water in the system at 200*f and keep it there you're not using the cooling system properly and you're going to fail...been there, done that. If I could do it again I'd keep the mixing manifold and use a ball valve to close it for the track.

 

I'm not using the factory mixing manifold, what I do have is a similar smaller piece that started life as the part that Begi sells to rotate that fitting 90 degrees. I don't have any restricter built into the heater core feed at this time. When I put the freeze plug in the front of the engine, I just extended that small line from the oem oil cooler that would normally go there and routed it to prior to the water pump hoping this would help keep temps up a bit.