In a belt-and-suspenders move, I purchased the timing cover oil baffle from KPI when I was buying everything else. I didn't read the web page description well enough.

Emphasis my own. "aftermarket oil pans" includes the KPI oil pans.

I'm actually not entirely certain why the oil pan matters. Properly trimmed, the baffle should simply fit the area behind the timing cover. The flange of the oil pan would, at best, push the edge of the baffle up into the timing cover.

Here's my before picture.


And here's the after-trimming picture. I ended up with a little too much gap in a couple places, but there is no interference and I'm pretty sure that the oil pan flange covers the outside edge gaps anyhow.


I thought I'd at least get through mounting the oil pan yesterday, but I ended up doing many, many test fits of the oil pan to ensure clearance. As you can see here, the old oil pickup was definitely hitting on the bottom of the sump. This probably contributed to the weld failure and oil pump self-disassembly.

The long rub mark in the crossover area is from the pan rubbing against the windage tray.

I spent quite a few hours applying dykem to the pan, test fitting, checking, and massaging the pan. I'm still not done. I haven't been out to the garage yet today, but I hope to wrap this up. I'm confident that the oil pickup is not hitting the bottom of the pan now and that the oil pickup tube is not hitting on anything. At last check, there was still some interference between the windage tray and the pan. Once I get that fixed, I'll clean the pan again and pop it on.

Looking at the flange lately, I'm disappointed in my old self for accepting this part back in the day. It is really unimpressive.




My Fluidampr arrived from KPI today. I emailed them for an update earlier this week, more than a month after I paid for it and three weeks after the last update. It just so happened that it got shipped out the same morning my email arrived in their inbox. And with that, I'm hoping to be done purchasing parts from KPI.

 

I sometimes wonder if I'm being over-critical of KPI. Maybe I'm frustrated at things that are just inherent in the aftermarket auto parts world. But I keep coming back to the fact that there are other vendors who do both the engineering and customer service better.

I'll take your feedback - am I being a whiny little bitch, or is my irritation justified?

 

I think we are a bit spoiled by a few really good vendors in the Miata community who do both the engineering and customer service ends of the job very well. I also think KPI might have grown a little too much, too fast. Balancing the line between the community screaming "take my money" and getting things perfect is a little hard when you're moving fast. As a counter, some of the threads I've read dealing with the V8R LFX swap have documented a lot of post-sale engineering that was required of the customer to get things right, so KPI isn't alone.

 

It's done. I've smacked my pan around as much as I can and I'm pretty confident there isn't any significant interference between the pan and anything else. There was no interference I could find with dykem, but the last few tests didn't involve me torquing the pan down to the block.


The pan is on. I've used three cans of brake fluid cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I hope it works out.


I measured the capacity of the oil pan while I had it out and off. 6 quarts to a point where I don't think it'll get picked up by the rod ends. Given the interference between the windage tray and the crossover part of the pan, I went with the assumption that there shouldn't be any measurable amount of oil above the crossover.

Maybe I can get the transmission connected up to the engine this week between my work hours..

 

This one is really tough. As a business owner, unboxing the K-Power swap completely blew my mind. The number of engineering problems that needed to be solved is wild. But IMHO what's even more amazing is the diversity of the solutions used (needed?) to put it all together. Sometimes, with this kind of product, the engineering is actually the "easy" part. The complexity in the supply chain, manufacturing project management, etc. needed to actually ship and support this kit must be a huge challenge. There are bespoke machined parts, stamped parts, welded parts, cast parts, electrical wiring, several different kinds of metals, along with OEM parts from several other cars involved. Every permutation of those things likely requires a different supply chain, manufacturing skill set or partner, quality control process, etc. If any one of those pieces falters, the customer experience suffers. And the customer expects something that "just works." They have no visibility into all that, and typically don't (and shouldn't have to) really care.

Contrast that to some of our other favorite folk. Super Miata/949 makes a ton of different parts, but there are few integrated assemblies and even those are comparatively simple. 9Lives basically has three manufacturing processes for everything they do: the extruded airfoil, the CNC router cutting aluminum or plastic, and TiG welding. None of their products have moving parts, and they have relatively simple integration to the customer's car. The simplicity and elegance of the 9Lives business model has always impressed me. Compared to KPI, they're (comparatively) free to focus on execution and customer experience.

Is that a valid excuse for KPI? No. But as someone who appreciates both the engineering and the business side of this stuff, I do have a healthy dose of sympathy for the challenge KPI took on to bring this to market. It is high on the scale of, "I can't believe this works at all, much less that is is a viable/sustainable business!"

Neal

 

Cool build man. Good luck on getting it running again soon! Looks like you've dealt with quite a bit! It did seriously cross my mind to go down the K swap path, but ultimately it didn't make sense for me. Hopefully my car can be reliable on track.

 

Just a note to myself here since these popped up in my Amazon browsing...

I haven't had any issues with the poly motor mounts delaminating, but I've definitely heard of others having this issue. One option would be to replace the engine-side mounts with solid mounts and then weld together new subframe-side mounts that provide a poly bushing around the engine mount through-bolt. There isn't much clearance around the through-bolt on the poly mounts, but since these solid mounts do away with the added bulk of all that poly, it might be possible to fit a tube+bushing within the ears...



The picture of the generic mounts do a much better job of showing just how much room there would be around the bolt.

 

I received my order of M10 JIS bolts from Belmetric yesterday, which makes me nerd-happy. In addition to a variety of sizes of M10x1.25 bolts with flanges and small hexes, I ordered some exhaust nuts and some M8 lock washers.

I'm replacing the M10x1.5 hardware that holds together my exhaust with the "correct" JIS fasteners, which required special copper-plated lock-nuts. I am going to try and retain the studs that hold the exhaust to the head this time around, so I have M8 copper-plated lock nuts for those. And finally, for the intake manifold, in addition to Loctite, I'm going to try out these Schnorr washers. I'm not sure whether they're the belt or suspenders of this approach, but they're insurance. I bought enough to try them out on some other M8 fasteners as well.

Have I mentioned that I'm neurotic?

 

Hey kids! It's time for another...





Good idea: using green Loctite to affix the special-order dowel pins you had to buy for $10/ea at the local Honda dealer because your engine came with the wrong dowel pins (despite being an auto) and you can't find the ones that were on the previous engine. They are now more-or-less permanently attached to the KPower adapter plate.





Bad idea (not pictured). Using green Loctite to affix the funky dowel pins for the Miata transmission to the KPower adapter plate before installing the flywheel.



The clearance between the flywheel and the adapter plate is so close that these pins must go in last. So out came the torch, a variety of curse words, and some gentle prying. The second time, after installing the flywheel, I used superglue to hold the pins in place. And promptly glued my fingers together. Thank goodness I had brake cleaner right next to me and a can of acetone not too far away. And yes, I do find it concerning that brake cleaner didn't do as good of a job as the acetone did. Yikes!


If there's one thing that working on my 928 has taught me, it's that if it's German, there's a special grease for that, and it's going to be expensive. This is the preferred grease for clutch splines and throw-out bearings on the 928. So the Miata transmission and KPower throw-out got a very thin smear of this $$ stuff.




New clutch friction disk from our friends at SuperMiata. Thanks for the great service and quick shipping Ed! @turbofan




That special euro grease must be magic because for the first time ever, I managed to stab a transmission onto an engine on the first try. This never happens to me. Proper California wrenching footwear required.




The engine and trans are finally in. Woot.




As I was installing the PPF bolts and checking the PPF height, I noticed a lack of clearance between the oil pan and the steering rack. Son of a biscuit! So the PPF bolts all got loosened and the engine mount bolts came out so I could lift the engine up just enough to sneak a file in and nibble away at the rack.




There's now clearance. Not much, but some. I'll have to watch this for settling or shifting.




So that's a weekend's worth of progress. The engine is in and isn't currently hitting anything...yet. There's still a million things to do before the NorCal event on 10/12-13, but I feel like there's a chance I can make it. Please cross your fingers for me!

 

Always here for an episode of good idea bad idea.

 

As another engineer who occasionally over-thinks, couldn't you have just installed the flywheel first and then the adapter plate second to save the pain and misery of your loctite reversal process?

 

After a concerted effort to find fault with your logic:

I suppose I could have, but the adapter plate bolts were already set in with orange Loctite.

Yeah, that's it. That's why I didn't think of your approach...

 

Well, I won't be driving at the October NorCal event, but I'll still be there to do tech inspections. Nothing wrong, just ran out of time.

The engine is in, the electron mover is installed, as is the flywheel spinner, the suck log, and the blow funnel.

I really hate the suck log. It sucks to bolt up. I strongly recommend to anyone doing a swap like this that you grind away the pump housing bracing like I show in this post. It made a world of difference.



The bolt that holds my ground strap to the engine got the belt-and-suspenders treatment. No bad connections here!


The intake manifold bolts got Schnorr washers and Loctite. Note that these washers must be installed in the correct orientation. Loctite not pictured.
https://www.schnorr.com/serratedsafetywashers

 

Thread title is accurate.

 

Accurate! I hear "belt and suspenders" every damn day at work.

 

the suck log sucks infinitely less to install if you use the slightly more sucky fixed pulley for the electron pusher rubber drive device.

.....that was painful to write

 

You're only figuring that out now??? What finally gave it away?



That was hilarious to read, thank you for your effort! Hopefully I won't have to screw with the suck log again soon, so I'll prefer the less-sucky pulley configuration I have now. Having swapped alternators trackside, I gotta say that the ease of removing and installing this belt with the stock tensioner is glorious.

 

It's been a while, but I've been making progress. Remember how I removed the support that holds the hood latch, so that I had more room to swing the engine in?


It's now time to put it back. Here's a picture of the places where I drilled out the spot welds.


With the help of a copper backing plate, I was able to MIG the holes closed. It's not pretty, but it's metal.


I spent way too long aligning things and setting up M6 riv-nuts to hold the bar in place.


Everything lines up and the result is very stout. Woot.


I made a list this morning, hoping to get the car started today. I didn't actually get to start it, but I made a bunch of progress...


Current-ish status.


Checklist progress:


Worth noting, the Fluidampr is an underdrive size, so a different belt is needed than the one that KPower lists in the K24Z3 installation guide. I found a belt number in the K Swap Miatas Facebook group. It'll be here tomorrow and if it's the right size I'll share the part number.

 

Getting closer...

I'll be interested to hear if the Fluidampr makes any noticeable difference in NVH.

 

Two steps forward, one step back. But that's still progress, right?

I don't have much hope that the Fluidampr will make a difference that I can feel, but I do hope that it'll slow down the number of things that shake themselves loose. That and the Loctite. And the lock washers.

So the belt that fits the K24Z3 with a Fluidampr is 7PK1320, as foretold by the Facebook posts. That's the metric nomenclature. The "English" belt nomenclature is 520K7. I'm not sure what else this belt fits and Bando seems to be the only


I really appreciate the simplicity of the belt on this engine.

The auto-tensioner has an indicator for belt tension. As it sits now, this belt is perfectly in the center of the range.

I got the last section of the exhaust bolted up, so the next thing to tackle was the cooling system. I found some loose clamps. That got most of the leaks...

However my Koyo radiator is showing its age. There seems to be a pinhole leak in one of the tubes.



So there it is. I've got another Koyo stored somewhere around here that I bought used off Craigslist. But it is Orange November and a SuperMiata crossflow would be a solid upgrade.

Going to sleep on it. I'm really trying to limit my spending, but ... I really do enjoy shiny things...