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The path you’re going down KB eventually leads to a tow rig and a small open trailer.
Might as well stop fighting inevitability and bite the bullet now. Then you can swap to a 4.1 or 4.3 rear end and have more fun on track.
If budget for a tow rig is tight...I’d recommending looking into a Kia Borrego. Little known body on frame SUV with a V8 and 7k pound tow rating. Higher mileage ones are dirt cheap. If no budget for a trailer you can rent u-haul trailers in the interim.
Things to consider...
I bought my daily a little over a year ago with the thoughts of being able to tow the Miata in the future. It's an 04' GMC Canyon...certainly not ideal but its factory rated to pull 4,000 pounds so as long as the trailer isn't too heavy and has brakes it should be okay...right??? I added a K&N intake (which surprisingly adds over 10hp), Hawk brakes, and Bilstein shocks. Otherwise stock 3.5 5-cylinder crew cab
How are your control arm bushings looking after 200k miles?
Only popped 4 out so far but they actually looked okay!
Originally Posted by Chilicharger665
Thanks for the Borrego tip!
I have a 4.3 rear assembly with an OSGiken diff in it for sale, if you are indeed sticking to NA. The gearing and diff would make a huge difference on track.
Probably the route if I would go if the car was track only. In due time my friend, in due time
4000 is definitely on the low end for towing a Miata, but with a light trailer and minimal other bits you'd be within the rating. Gonna be sllloooowwww but you'll get by.
You can go shorter but those are long hours at high RPM.
I cruise on the street between 2.5k-3.5k rpm...is 4k sustained for lets say two hours that much different/worse? Obviously the wear will go up exponentially the higher your highway cruise rpm is, but I guess I'm just trying to quantify your statement. Perhaps the best way to think of it is an average rpm vs life-expectancy graph. Instead of the subjective terms of "street" driving and "race/track" driving, think of it in terms of average rpm. So including idling and such street driving would maybe be around 2-2.5k and a race car being 5-6k? So with the graph you could theoretically see how long an engine would last if you held it at 7k rpm until it blew...I wish I had the data to make it haha.
Originally Posted by turbofan
4000 is definitely on the low end for towing a Miata, but with a light trailer and minimal other bits you'd be within the rating. Gonna be sllloooowwww but you'll get by.
As long as the Cayonero can get er done within the realms of reasonable safety its good enough for me!
Decided to go with new OEM Mazda 9:1 pistons instead of the 10:1 I pulled out of the used motor. Boost is almost certainly in this cars' future. I'm sure many of you will question why I didn't go forged but with all current and future plans considered I felt this was the best option for me.
Three of the pistions weighed in at 286g and one at 287g, with all wrist pins weighing 79g. Mazda be doing the balancing for me!
Still waiting on my block to come back from getting honed and surfaced at the machine shop but I got the head back and installed/shimmed the camshafts using the Volvo springs. Intake was all in-spec and exhaust was all out of spec except for one. Used some shims out of my original head and was able to get all exhaust in-spec except for one which is only .03mm tight. I plan on rechecking the clearances within 5k miles of the rebuild so I'm not too worried about that one being slightly out.
In the process of replacing all the bushings in the front control arms I decided to replace the ball joints with Bauer ELBJ's and got some R-package tie rod ends from Mazda. Neither felt outrageously sloppy but the replacements were significantly stiffer so I'm pretty excited to see how much tighter the car feels. As far as I know they were still original parts. I'm probably going to repack my front hubs with Amsoil Dominator too.
Decided to use the Supermiata clutch and PP instead of stock Exedy. Got all suspension components installed, ready to be dropped on the ground once I put the wheels on. The front hubs were visibly toed-in pretty badily with the new tie rod ends so I visually straightended them out, hopefully good enough until I can get to an alignment shop.
I zoned out while chasing the engine block accessory bolt holes and accidentally tapped the 1/8 BSP oil feed/sensor port with and M10x1.25. Major oof . I tried to correct it by tapping with NPT...don't think it made it much worse but didn't fix it. When I try to tighten the VVT banjo bolt it backs out before getting tight enough. Without the crush washers there are more threads to engage so my current plan is to use Seal + Lock thread compound and gasket maker instead of the crush washers. I was able to tighten it sufficiently but I'm paranoid about it bursting with oil pressure so I'm going to be watching that like a hawk on startup.
Cleaned up the donor 6-speed and installed new gaskets and throwout bearing. Still need to figure out what the gear sensor is it came with, kind of doubt its for a 3.9 ratio. It's from a 2001. The gear sensor was the one thing I failed to disconnect when pulling the engine so I'm planning on trying to swap the actual gears from my 3.9 unit to the good one that came with the donor.
Got my rebuilt and revalved shocks back from Whitener Racing. He recommended 700/500 rates with no rear bar but I opted for 700/400 and am going to run either the stock rear bar or my 14mm 5x racing. Here is a mostly complete mockup including extended top hats and QA1 torrington bearings...
Hold on, what? You've got a vvt banjo bolt that won't tighten down because the threads are damaged and you're hoping sealant will hold it together? Did I read that right?
I'm not really sure how many threads are truly engaging. I can't pull it once I start threading it in but it's fairly wobbly until it gets towards the end. I also modified the banjo bolt by chasing it's threads with the same M10x1.25. But yes this is all sort of a band-aid and I would prefer to fix it properly.
What do you guys suggest? Helicoil? I've never used one of those. I don't think simply chasing with an 1/8 BSP tap will work. And going the next size up would require a reducer which would then interfere with how the VVT line feeds into the block. There are lots of options if I make a custom AN line with banjo fittings but I'm just not sure what the best way to go about is.
Checked the tightness after the sealant cured and it still slipped out before torquing down enough. Thanks for making me deal with it before I put the engine back in.
Not entirely sure how helicoils will cope with sealing oil pressure, but worth a try. The other alternative that comes to my mind would be re-threading both the block and the VVT actuator, throw away the hardline and run an AN line directly from the engine side to the VVT oil control valve.
Well I got the helicoil in and the banjo bolt torqued with the crush washers without it backing out or feeling loose. Fingers crossed it holds up to the full oil pressure.
Pulled the dash to redo the crappy wiring job I did on the wideband and install an oil temp gauge as well as wrapping it in black microsuede aka "flocking"
Dropped the engine and tranny in as a unit by myself last night, installed the slave cylinder and bled the clutch, and installed the MiataRoadster kit and felt everything out. Feels pretty damn good so far, probably even better once I get it on the road and let the Ford special sauce work its magic on the tranny thats been sitting dry for years. I was worried how the angled/raised shifter would be but my initial impression is that I like it a lot.
Just updated my tune to account for the new trigger wheel, VVT etc. and buttoning things up on the car. First startup on the rebuild should be within a week!!
Cranked the engine over without plugs and with the fuel relay pulled until I saw oil pressure on the dash, then hooked everything back up and she started right up. Small coolant leak from the heater hose and the bleed nipple on the reroute housing but I got those tightened and then set the timing while it was warming up. Spent about 25 minutes driving around revving to 6k and engine braking, everything feels and sounds real good!
The VVT port I helicoiled is holding up well but unfortunately there is a slow leak from the front right of the engine, I believe it's coming from the oil pump housing as the crank is dry but haven't had a chance to take a closer look yet. I wanted to feel the car with the new poly bushings, ball joints, and tie rod ends before throwing on my rebuilt Whitener Bilstein's so I was already planning on putting her back on stands to change those out, so I'll be able to inspect everything then. I just traded that 3.6 diff I was going to use for a header and $300 so I'll be installing that at the same time as the shocks.
Last thing I did was install this bikini top from GJR racing. I think it was only $100 on a black friday deal. Highly recommend!
01-15-2020, 04:37 PM
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. I tried to correct it by tapping with NPT...don't think it made it much worse but didn't fix it. When I try to tighten the VVT banjo bolt it backs out before getting tight enough. Without the crush washers there are more threads to engage so my current plan is to use Seal + Lock thread compound and gasket maker instead of the crush washers. I was able to tighten it sufficiently but I'm paranoid about it bursting with oil pressure so I'm going to be watching that like a hawk on startup.
