thumpetto007

iTrader: (15)

So I thought I'd finally share a picture or two of my miata.

I made a poor decision buying this particular, it had so much wrong with it, the original owner did zero maintenance, and somehow shifted like a moron, because the synchro are messed up.

I did water pump, timing belt, plugs and wires, coilovers, swaybars and endlinks, brakes and lines, clutch slave, master, and line, and put in a flat top manifold with phenolic spacer.

Still needs clutch (slipping) new trans or rebuild, megasquirt, a/few gauge and wideband module, maybe injectors and a tune on e85...

Super fun to drive now though! I love when my whole body feels the cornering forces, it is ecstasy.

anyways, here it is...

18psi

iTrader: (76)

I can take more pictures of it in my back yard lol

Erat

iTrader: (5)

Seeing this makes me almost want a hardtop for my teal 01.
That looks pretty good.

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

Welcome, thumpetto007. Check out the Miata Gallery and post up some pics!

jestmaty

Not to thread jack, but a little fuel to the fire.... hardtops ftw!

boner by jestmaty, on Flickr

thumpetto007

iTrader: (15)

Dang, I already had a hard time deciding if I wanted the lower trip pieces... looks good, like super sexy...Pretty much the same car lol except the trim!

How much lower does that front lip sit than no lip at all? I've never scraped the front before but I think i would scrape for sure. I don't like scraping/hitting the car on anything, and I'm really not that low, but I still bang the frame support on stuff occasionally.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

It's only like half inch lower. If you hit the frame on stuff at your current height, you need to learn to drive more careful lol

Erat

iTrader: (5)

I could do without the trim, it's just more places to hold moisture and salt. I would have a hard time not buying a teal hardtop though, that looks really good.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

We're in CA.

404: salt and moisture not found

18psi

iTrader: (76)

Moving this to Build thread section so I can upload pics of the various stuff it's about to get done
@thumpetto007

Finally started working on this thing a little bit.
1st thing first, I drove it and confirmed that the synchro's in the trans are fine, and feel like any other 6sp I've driven.
The clutch, however, is completely toast, and I think there's a leak from rear main seal and/or trans input shaft seal


OP bought a FM happy meal with 949 racing light flywheel, some OEM replacement engine mounts, and a rear main seal. Some parts are here already, some on the way still. OP is also having me install the Rev built MS3 basic with wideband module and AEM Uego for him, as well as tune the car, and do a bunch of other random things.

codes the car threw before I disconnected the factory ecu





wideband install

found a spare plug to cut open adn replace secondary o2 with wideband so it looks OEM


routed the wiring OEM like as well, and mounted the connector behind the heat shield so it's protected

18psi

iTrader: (76)

wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too tired to type everything up.
the pics are all labeled with comments





Lift shot





leakzors from trans drain hole





downpipe support bracket bolt was broken off and missing





bellhousing completely caked with oil and grime





rear main seal leak evidence





Slave cylinder is TRASHED





slave cyl trashed





slave trashed





top of trans pretty grimey too





Clutch is GOOONE





TOASTED clutch





hot spotted and completely trashed pressure plate





chunks missing from pressure plate





chunks missing from clutch





flywheel hot spotted





FAIL FAIL FAIL





leak





rear main and moon seal appear to be leaking





lots of oil everywhere from leak





rear main and moon seal grimey





cleaned it up





cleaned it up MOAR





cleaned it some more





squeaky clean and degreased





flyin miata rear main tool for the win next to old and new





rear main installed





we hit it with a light film of sealant, and also put some on the moon seal to help it





949 flywheel goodness





flywheel installed and cleaned





fm clutch cleaned





fm clutch installed





noticed an oil leak from where the ac ompressor mounts





close up of compressor leak





old mounts vs new





cleaning the disgusting trans bellhousing





more cleaning the disgusting bellhousing





lubing up all the fork points





back together





back together





new clutch slave installed





new clutch slave





new mounts and clutch slave

thumpetto007

iTrader: (15)

Damn, I got sexually excited when I saw that flywheel.

I bought that Slave cylinder in August 2015 from FM... yeah. real quality piece.

I think my compressor has been leaking this whole time, could it be from that?

Thank you for spending the extra time cleaning everything and doing a quality job.

18psi

iTrader: (76)

the leak at the compressor is likely from the bolt that holds the bracket that holds the compressor. if it's loose oil will get out from the block and run down the engine.

the slave was hosed, it was sticking, and the boot was torn, and it looks to have started rusting. replaced it with the local auto parts brand

as you can see from the rear main pics, rear main seal was leaking. took care of that.
but it also kinda looked like the half moon seal was leaking a little bit too. Not sure. we cleaned/degreased it and put some sealant on it, hopefully that works. cause I'm not about to yank the oil pan on this thing.

the clutch...oh brother. whoever installed it is a moron. bearing wasn't even pressed into the flywheel. and as you can see the clutch disk is completely trashed, and so is the pressure plate and flywheel. all good now

had to adjust under the dash for the new clutch too. per FM instructions. it's all tight now, and engagement point is pretty good. the car drives so much better. revs fast too

we were going to fabrication your stealthy maf delete tube but didn't have time. the diff bushings also arrived way late, like late noon, so didn't get to those either. lots of little things to do now, but progress is made

PS: no more squeaks

thumpetto007

iTrader: (15)

WOOOAHHH IT'S NOT STEALTHY IF YOU POST IT IN PUBLIC!! lol

Thank you and the car gods (mostly you) for no squeaks!!! I always felt like trash when I'd roll up, winkin at some chick, and the damn car is squeaking. IT WAS RUINING MY GAME ahem... in all seriousness, i really do troll for chicks in the miata.

Were the oil pan bolts tight? I'm guessing it would also be difficult to tell, since the rear main was leaking... lets just hope! I won't be pulling that oil pan any time soon.

I bet the car shifts sooooo much better! I cant wait!

btabor

iTrader: (3)

While you were there, did you change the input shift seal? And did you put sealant on the flywheel to crank bolts before reassembling it?

Braineack

iTrader: (62)

lucky that pilot bearing didn't fall out...

thumpetto007

iTrader: (15)

^yeah! I couldn't believe it! I mean, I've only owned the car for like 10,000 miles, but I drive pretty hard!

18psi

iTrader: (76)

No, it was fine.
And yes, not sealant but locktite. I put locktite on fw and pp bolts every car

18psi

iTrader: (76)

alright more progress today.
made some really strong and OEM like steel mounts for the megasquirt. found a spare bottom bracket and used it, and made own top bracket. this is the PROPER way to install this thing (as is the singular bracket, but it's way too expensive), not stupid zip ties like most places tell you to install it.

started mockup of mounting brackets



comparing the giant MS to small OEM computer





comparing ms to oem




OEM bottom bracket installed




installed OEM bottom bracket




modified OEM bottom bracket




custom top bracket




finally installed this giant thing
what a pain in the butt workign under the dash lol



installed like OEM




routed the MAP line along the firewall so it looks OEM





teed together the MS and cruise control vacuum lines so it's clean and simple





deleted this ugly cruise control vacuum line that ran across the whole engine bay. pulled stock ecu


Then we made the super secret maf delete
Found a spare MAF at my bro's shop




hollowed out OEM maf





spare OEM maf


There's still wiring to clean up and route, as well as various random things to do before I start tuning on Monday: like set up the MS/TS/Project, do timing sync, bla bla blah, but:

She fired right up

thumpetto007

iTrader: (15)

Woo! Finally, the driveability will not suck for the first 10 minutes of running!!!!

Thank you as always, for taking the time for proper installs and photos! Also for replacing that ugly vacuum line, lol... it was on my list of little things to do!

That ecu doesn't change foot clearance, does it? It sure is a big boy.

I cant wait to see the gauge install! Oh, and I'm not sure if the A/F gauge comes with different color faceplates, but please use whichever one matches the other gauges best.