Oops! I Did It Again
 

Issue 1) I've been rather unhappily watching my white '90 track car become increasingly unusable on the street as it moves more towards full racecar. It's definitely the right thing to do for track use, but I was losing the ability to just putz around locally when the weather is nice which is sooo much fun in the Miata. With a full cage going in I really shouldn't drive it at all without a helmet. https://www.miataturbo.net/images/smilies/tear.gif
Issue 2) I've been amassing this pile of perfectly good NA parts as they come off of the white miata. I don't like seeing them just sit in storage, but they don't have a place on a track car.
Issue 3) I've been looking for parts to build out a BP4W engine for the aforementioned track car to go with a screamer BP4W head that I bought from sixshooter

So I've been trolling the local online resources looking for a reasonably priced engine when I came across an ad for a red 1990 Miata, owned by a guy who used to autocross, who had swapped in...wait for it...

a BP4W engine(!)

The car had been parked for 5 years. He had to move in the next three weeks and was doing a fire sale on the car. I called my Boss, took half of the day off, hooked up the trailer, went to the bank, and bought the car within hours of the ad being posted. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect fit.

The plan is to make this the street car first and foremost, and probably do some autocross with it as well. The AC is long gone so it's not going to see much use in the worst part of summer, but for the rest of the year, yeah baby!
Future plans are to pull the turboed 1.6 out of the white track car and move it into the red miata, and to take the BP4W out of the red miata, build it up as a turbo-ready engine, and drop it in the white miata. Then it's zoom zoom on the track and in town.

Pictures!
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...089076fae2.jpg
Picture from the Ad - the car had been sitting for 5 years
Happily the tires all held air so we were able to air them up and with the help of two of my sons who I press-ganged into service we were able to push the car onto the trailer. Well, after we got the car to the trailer!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6e007ff500.jpg
Another Picture from the Ad
Lots of NB upgrades! A Nardi wheel, NB seats, Kosei wheels, an extra set of wheels and tires, and best of all a BP4W engine I needed to upgrade my track miata.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a99b8715c7.jpg
Yet Another Picture from the Ad.
It's in rough shape, but still worth saving in my book!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...aaa4eed2ba.jpg
The Last Picture from the Ad
We had to get the car past this thorn-filled mesquite tree to get it through the gate. A fair amount of trimming was required before we could even open the gate. We ended up just pushing the car past the branches for the most part - it's not like we were going to damage the paint any more than it already was and the owner liked having the mesquite block the view of the back yard so the city didn't hassle him as much.

Brought the car home, then left it on the trailer in the front yard while I ran off to a track weekend with Zak et. al. in my Plan B car since my white track miata is still in the shop getting a full cage installed.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d8fe959fea.jpg
On the trailer waiting for the shop to open
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d0369b2f72.jpg
Another trailer shot

I couldn't open the hood all of the way because of the tire rack on the front of the trailer, but I lifted it up as far as I could, stuck my phone inside, and snapped random engine compartment pictures of randomness.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9eb456e1b6.jpg
Engine Shot 1

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...44a08316b7.jpg
Engine Shot B

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5c781779e1.jpg
Engine Shot Tres

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...74b0ebabd3.jpg
Engine Shot Net

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3b7eb64380.jpg
Engine Shot Ω

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6d53412185.jpg
Engine Shot 'Leventy-teen

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f7df2faa29.jpg
Engine Shot Bob

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...457f17cf6a.jpg
Engine Shot µµ Ima Cow Bruh

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7b040e4c80.jpg
Engine Shot One Beelion

The following Monday I hooked the trailer back up to my Trusty Flex and Towed The Red One to The Shop, aka Carmel Automotive. I asked Jeff to see if the car (particularly the engine) could be saved, and to please, Please baby the snot out of the engine since I needed it to be rebuildable for future installation in the white track Miata.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e720d7b55b.jpg
Just can't wait to get on the road again
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d3922b5802.jpg
An all-too-common-shot: At the shop

Jeff's shop is pretty busy and I just dropped this on him with little notice (heck, I'd only gotten the car three days prior) so we both knew it would be a few weeks before anything happened. "You'll see it work it's way closer to the building over the next week or two," said Jeff, "and then we'll be able to start on it."
The next day Jeff sends me this video:


"Yeah, we oiled up the cylinders with some transmission oil, hand cranked it a bunch of times, and got it going by squirting starter fluid in the intake. It runs! We didn't run it for long obviously."

I dropped by the following Saturday with a bottle of Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and an orbital buffer to see what I could do with the paint. They already had the engine compartment cleaned up, "Oh, we hosed that out first thing," had started to replace the timing belt, were prepping to fully flush the engine, replace the radiator (I had one in storage) and the master cylinder (the replacement was already there and sitting in the engine compartment), etc. etc.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...efc1cb55ea.jpg
Work In Progress!

With my considerably more limited skillset I just went after all of the brown-instead-of-red-bits on the car with the compound and the orbital buffer.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d85c8b1829.jpg
I didn't take any before pictures of the left side of the decklid so here's a before picture of the right side
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...94a9f0e1c3.jpg
Well it's doing something at least!
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c9c3431133.jpg
As good as it gets (for now at least)

Two business days later
 

I finally got the insurance sorted and all of the paperwork ready yesterday, made an appointment with the Motor Vehicle Department this morning and went and got the title transferred for the red Miata. Historic plates with 5 year tags inbound.
Then this afternoon Jeff sends me this video:


They've already got the replacement radiator in, started flushing everything out (it needs a LOT of flushing), put in fresh water and gas, cleaners in the oil, new fuel pump, etc. etc., sorted a ground issue and the car is running on its own already.
Madness!!

I've flipped a couple of these so far, the money is barely there after it's all fixed, but I much prefer it to all the part-outs I see online.

Having a shit ton of random spares everywhere, especially hardware, really helps. Nice find on the BP4W, that's a great upgrade. How did they wire it? Looks like the entire NB harness was used.

You're spot-on Curly - they used a '99 ECU and harness with what is reportedly an '01 - '05 harness. According to the previous owner it was a real headache getting everything working properly.
Future Me here, I touched base with the previous owner again and he thinks they were given a harness from an '01-'05 car which is why they had such a tough time getting everything to work. Previous information modified. By the time they were done they did get all of the gauges and lights working properly.

Jeff at the shop said several of the gauges aren't working (like the gas gauge), so once the car is roadworthy again that's something I'll get to tackle. Since I'm planning to put my current 1.6 in the car in the future, I could buy another aftermarket ECU and set that up as part of the engine swap or move my Megasquirt with the engine. If I go either of those routes I'll need to decide if I want to get another Megasquirt or go with something more popular with the local tuners like a Haltech. There's definitely an appeal to staying with the same solution for both cars, but I don't know if that's the wisest solution in 2026.

There’s two ways of doing it, one is transfer the entire harness and adapt plugs along the way like tail lights and headlights. The other is splicing just the engine harness into the NA bay, which is still a lotta work but it’s my preferred method. If it’s just racecar, you can trim it down to 1-2 big DT plugs and even make it removable. Where’s the ECU? That’ll tell you how they did it.

if I had to guess, the gas gauge is a rusted float.

Sweet dude! This was a fun read already, I love to see a good revival! I'll dig out those sport brakes and send you a pic this weekend.

I've been debating picking up another NB to throw all my spare parts at, glad to see I'm not the only one! Looks like she shined up decently.

Do you know if the heater core was leaking? I see they bypassed that.

Howdy SimBa! I'm beyond thrilled to have a street-friendly Miata, honestly. I've got space for both and they're dirt-cheap to insure and register, so why not? The paint is going to need a lot more attention but I think I can get it to a "bearable at 20' state" with a little more time.
And it's funny you should mention the heater core because I asked Jeff the exact same thing. He said it was really easy to do a pressure check and if it doesn't leak then we'll hook it back up again because Street Car.

Since it's really helpful to know what was working before the car was parked I reached out to the previous owner to find out - turns out it probably has the wrong engine harness. (I think he might have already told me that when I was there loading the car but there was a lot going on and I am a bear of very little brain under the best of circumstances.) Here's what he wrote, "The guy I got the engine from gave me the wrong wiring harness. I think it is from an '01-'05, not the '99-'00. We had a hellofa time getting it to run, but finally did, with all sensors functioning and only what was needed. If you could find the right engine-ecu harness, it would all plug in properly, as those two years are the same.
As for the body and accessories, it all works off a separate harness, so you should have working lights, turn signals and gauges. The horn does not work, though, and if you hook it up it will blow constantly. That was my fault when I pinched the wire changing out the steering wheel. I disconnected it at the horn. Otherwise it should all work fine."

Since I'm now Future Me in relation to my previous post, I've updated my earlier response to Curly to show the correct harness information.

You Rock Fire! Thank you!!

Oh, here are a few updated pictures from yesterday afternoon. I dropped by the shop to put on the temp plate and drop off the insurance info. Jeff said they ran the car for a while, then it shut off and wouldn't start again. He says it sounds like a fueling issue so he'll check the fuel filter after they get it up in the air. He and I had already talked about rust in the fuel tank potentially clogging up the fuel sock - he said the tank looked really clean so he didn't think that was going to happen. Guess we'll find out!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...36d65e2107.jpg
It's Official!
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...43ca6f6e58.jpg
A more-or-less functional engine. More Less at the moment. >.>

Sick Sweetheart
 

Fully half of Jeff's garage space is currently taken up with long-term projects at the moment. I told him his place was starting to look like Hollywood Squares.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1820ad532c.jpg
Host, "According to the IRS, out of every 10 Americans audited, how many end up paying more taxes?" Paul Lynde, "11"

I visited the car at the shop last Saturday to install some new (to me) taillights I had picked up on Facebook Marketplace. Jeff had replaced the fuel filter which he said looked amazing - it was some sort of solid-brown color that oozed small amounts of dark fluid when forced. Mind you, one of the first things they did was pump all of the old (and reportedly Very Bad Smelling) gas out and put in fresh. Jeff said the car now took about 50 attempts to start, but once it got going it would run...until it stopped running and wouldn't start again. We discussed the rust in the tank thing yet again - he still doesn't think it's tank rust. I'm happy to let him continue troubleshooting. He's been doing the majority of the work on the car because he's constantly interrupted to manage the business and he knows it's fine if he loses track of what he was doing and forgets stuff on my car. :p
"Go start it up" he said.
I get in the car, turn the key and vroom! Starts right up. Jeff looks a bit surprised it worked on the first try.
"Now, this pipe leaks coolant so we can't leave it running too long, but take it for a quick drive around the parking lot." Apparently Jeff has taken it for a few drives himself and the tires are impressively flat-spotted. "I hope you've got spares!" Oh yeah, as it turns out I've got no shortage of old Miata tires on wheels at my house. Both cars came with extras.
"Um, Jeff, I'm getting a pretty strong gas smell here."
"Yeah, yeah, it's fine, just back it out."
I back it out.
"Um, Jeff, I'm really smelling a lot of gas. What's all the fluid on the ground where I just backed out?"
"Oh, that's just coolant from the pipe that's rotted out."
One of Jeff's junior mechanics walks over and inspects the substantial trail of liquid the car just left behind, "You...might want to shut the car off. That's gas."
(I shut the car off.)
That's how things are going with the car at the moment. Nothing terrible - just lots of things to fix. In some ways it's kinda nice - they're going to have to pull the intake manifold to get at the fuel leak, and I've got a square top coming from Yossi this week - good excuse to get that in!
Anyway, I installed the new/used taillights, verified they worked without setting the car aflame, got the updated list of parts to track down (thank you Sixshooter for selling that headlight assembly to me!) and called it good.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...42e80362e1.jpg
Work in Progress. I think the car is a total cutie, even in the rough condition it's in now.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1f38291528.jpg
New/Old Eagle Eye Taillights. I let Jeff pull the car back in. Note the lovely trail of fuel.

For me at least, working on this car has been interesting. It starts right up when I ask. The taillights were really, Really easy to unscrew, unplug, and replace. Nothing binding, Everything else I've done to the car has been met with startlingly little resistance, which is unusual when I'm working on a car. I am happily personifying the car and saying it's really loving the attention and cooperating as much as it possibly can. So far it's been an absolute sweetheart to work on.

On the way home I dropped by storage and pulled out more stuff that will/might be useful for the car. I'm really glad I took the time to clean and carefully put away the soft top from the white miata - turns out I need it! Hmmm, I guess I'll need to order a new rain rail too. I wonder if the cheap-o ones off of eBay are any better or worse than the more expensive ones...
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...452efb6c93.jpg
Moar Parts!

Those tail lights actually look pretty sweet on your ride! Typically not a big fan of the clears.

And I haven't forgotten you! I have those brakes in the shop, just had a busy weekend into a busy (so far) week!

A tale of two taillights
 

I was just happy I got something that would work for $40 (although it appears they're only $80 new.) I had initially planned to throw them on my white track miata whenever it decides to come back from getting a cage (it's been just over a month now with a few more weeks to go, reportedly), but the stock taillights make the back end of a red miata look seriously monochromatic/a bit bland. These break things up a bit without overdoing it so they may end up staying. Or I'll win the lottery or have a rich relative pass away and swap them out for some o' them-thar newfangled LED taillights.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...3f39f47da2.jpg
Before and after (even if the lighting is different (pun intended))

Whenever you get a chance is fine, Fire! :D The car can technically function as-is (or with my old stock calipers) for the time being but I know I'm going to want better brakes once the turboed 1.6 goes in. Before is good too though - I do like me the Good Stops. This one isn't going to need the super high-dollar big brake kit though - I'm not hitting right-angle turns at the end of a 110mph straight like the track miata does.

Huh...if that's going to be my actual historic plate number then it looks like I need to hook up with a doctor...

Jack be Limbo
 

Ok now we've finally hit the car-in-limbo state. Nothing much happening to it other than amassing a small mountain of parts. Jeff is talking about maybe doing stuff to it today or tomorrow.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d33284f64b.jpg
Very much a work in progress
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...db885d5347.jpg
Some of the stuff piling up. That's actually a repurposed good-win box, but I do buy stuff from them. And Flyin Miata. And Supermiata.

Oh, as you can see that is what my historic plate reads, so it's official - I need to hook up with a doctor so my plate is accurate. If you know any eligible female doctors who like meagre-moneyed-motorhead-morons please put in a good word for me.

Since there's no class on Saturday for a change, I might spend the morning at the shop doing some of the cosmetic stuff I'm capable of. We'll see.

I've been making halting progress on rebuilding the replacement soft-top from the track car - Had to drill out a few rivets as I figure out the process - typical first-time-blues. I'm just hoping I put the rain rail on the right way because that's a lot of speed rivets I'll be pulling out if I got it wrong!
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bc91abaf01.jpg
Even with the reference videos I have no idea what I'm doing
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...921e1e9e92.jpg
The top is obviously used but it's in much better shape than the one that's currently on the car.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...cd3cd7c631.jpg
Welp, I hope that's the right way to put a rain rail on...

For those sharp-eyed-viewers who pored over the pile of parts in the trunk, yes that's a square-top manifold. I looked around for a good source of them, talked to some forum members, and ended up ordering one from Yossi - figured I'd support a fellow board member and all that.
Decent price, really fast shipping considering it turns out he's in the UK, and packed Really Well. Like, Staggeringly Well. It looks like he used an entire roll of bubble wrap to pad the thing in the box. Here's a picture of just the bubble wrap he used, next to the square top for scale:
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8e0816093f.jpg
That's-a-lot-a-bubble-wrap-a!

It even came with a bonus throttle body! It's a little beat up, but hey, free throttle body.

Unfortunately, a week later I got a text message from Fedex that I owed duties on the package. Well, nuts, off to the US Gub'mnt site to see how much they should be charging:

..."Pursuant to Executive Order 14309 of June 16, 2025 “Implementing the General Terms of the United States of America-United Kingdom Economic Prosperity Deal,” 90 FR 26419 (June 23, 2025) imports of automobiles that are the products of the United Kingdom within the tariff rate quota are subject to an annual limit of 100,000 automobiles. Executive Order 14309 also provides that the tariff rate quota shall be adjusted for calendar year 2025 to reflect the May 8, 2025 operative date of the US-UK Economic Prosperity Deal General Terms. Thus, the quantity for calendar year 2025, based on the operative date of May 8, 2025, is 65,205 automobiles.
Beginning January 2026, the quota will be administered quarterly pursuant to the Annex guidance published in the Federal Register. The 2026 Quota Bulletin will be published in December 2025.
Imports of automobiles within the tariff rate quota that would otherwise be subject to a 25 percent tariff under Proclamation 10908 of March 26, 2025 “Adjusting Imports of Automobiles and Automobile Parts Into the United States,” shall instead be subject to a 7.5 percent tariff under Executive Order 14309."

Am I reading that right? Let's check with google.

"In January 2026, the duty rate on eligible car parts imported from the UK into the United States was 10% for parts intended for use in UK-manufactured vehicles.
This reduced rate was part of a specific trade arrangement (the U.S.-UK Economic Prosperity Deal) that took effect in mid-2025, lowering the previous, higher punitive tariffs on qualifying automotive components.
Key details regarding the duty on car parts in January 2026:
Reduced Rate (10%): Under the U.S.-UK Economic Prosperity Deal, eligible automobile parts for UK-produced vehicles were subject to a total tariff rate of 10%.
Eligible Parts: This rate covered specific auto parts (such as engines, transmissions, and electrical components) for passenger vehicles.
Quota System: Beginning January 1, 2026, a 100,000-unit annual tariff-rate quota (TRQ) was implemented for automobiles. The reduced 10% tariff for auto parts was linked to these in-quota vehicles.
Import Procedures: U.S. importers were required to use specific HTSUS codes (such as 9903.94.32) to claim this reduced 10% total duty rate.
Parts that did not meet the criteria for the UK-origin trade deal, or were imported in excess of the annual quota, were subject to the higher 25% Section 232 tariff."

Ok, should be 7.5%, might be 10%, and worst case 25% because legalese. Hope it isn't 25%.

I reach out to Fedex to see how much I owe:
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bbfbd319a6.jpg
WHAT?!?

That's 64% of the total cost for the part, including shipping! Plus a nasty little dig from Fedex because of course there's fees when they have to do A Thing. Tried to get to the "Dispute" button - you have to have a fedex account which requires giving them a credit card number. Wait a minute here...I see where this is going. Since the motivation for pretty much any company goes away as soon as they have your money I'm disinclined to give them my credit card number. Plus I don't like having companies store my card information anyway - I do IT Security and I'm becoming increasingly paranoid as I see the insanely staggering amount of fraud and hacking attempts virtually every business encounters every day. *Sigh* Ok, plan B: Does Fedex have a number so we can talk to someone about this? Nope. The number I called was for Canada. There isn't one for the US. The nice guy on the line gives me an email address to use. I send an email - here's the response:
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b87beb9c9c.jpg
We'll get back to you in a few weeks. Like 3 or 4.

Right. Not looking good there. Well, it looks like the big problem was that customs charged too much - that isn't Fedex's fault anyway, and they were nice enough to pay the fees in advance so I could get the package faster. What to do...a bit more research comes up with another proposed solution - reach out to the shipper and ask them to fix the paperwork. I send a note to Yossi to see if there's something he can do on his end.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4afebb79db.jpg

*Sigh* Pretty sure the trump tariffs aren't at 65% based on my research. Anyway, no help on that front.

So that's how things stand currently. Looking at paying a total of $537 for a square top manifold thanks to a bureaucratic screw up. I'm a bit surprised at how much that upsets me. Guess I won't be ordering parts from outside of 'Murica for the time being.

Deep Breaths, John, Deep Breaths.


Ok! Here's today's mystery picture:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...691e61646e.jpg
I wonder...

The previous owner mentioned he had made some suspension changes because autocross. I can't get the car in the air at the moment and it's not easy pulling a wheel when the car isn't even at my place, so I took a picture of...um...I think it was the front passenger's wheelwell. Anyone want to guess what shocks those are? I'll find out eventually. :dunno:

I'm going with Konis on Eibach ground control coilovers. Improperly installed, may I add, since you are supposed to take off the spring perches and install them with special aluminum collars that allows the coil perches to slide down further.

They will work like that, but your ride height will be limited.

And re:tarrifs, welcome to the club. This shit is fucked, my story is similar.

Bought a plexiglass spoiler, AKA a piece of plexiglass cut into miata specific shape from CZ (AGR Fabrications). $180 got it to my door! Great deal, and a nice piece. The package is 7.5lbs, relatively small and flat. It comes right in, then a week later I start getting letters from Fedex that I owe them an additional $110.

$110 for.. a cut piece of plexiglass and some basic hardware? Lunacy. I did some similar research to you, figured for the item that tariffs should have been much cheaper, maybe closer to %25. So I submit a dispute request with FedEx (there's an email address you just send an email to), they get back to me with:Seeing as they are going to charge me a $100+ fee, I backed out of the dispute. Honestly I don't have the drive to properly research and make my case, and in the end I feel like I'd probably lose anyways and get stuck with more fees. Now I'm debating if I even pay them, to be honest. Feels a bit like extortion.

@Fireindc Yeah, you definitely called it regarding the tariffs! Since we're talking about bureaucracies, I strongly suspect the paperwork didn't have the right code, or the checkbox in subparagraph 13 wasn't properly marked with blue ink, or, well, you get the idea. I'll wait for Fedex to do their thing, but I'm Very Much Not Optimistic.
In other Fireindc news, I found an adjustment knob for Koni shocks in the center console so it's looking likely that he accurately identified the shocks from the small sliver visible above the tire. You guys are so good it's scary! I'm glad you're on my side! O_O

Visited the car on Valentine's for an hour or so...
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bdb1f8ec3a.jpg
It's even the right color for Valentine's!

...Jeff and crew had gotten the square top intake installed, fixed the impressive fuel leak, and patched the coolant leak with the line I brought from storage. Unfortunately (and quite Unsurprisingly) the mounting bracket was in a different place on the 1.6 engines so he's ordering a proper one with the bracket in the right place. In any case the car runs without dribbles currently so I got to start it up and let it happily burble for a while. The RPMs eventually started to cycle lower and lower until it died - Jeff poked at something emissions-y and thinks it's being caused by that. I dunno.
In the hour I had before they closed I installed the rear view mirror from my white miata (which is getting one of those goofy 4-panel ones I picked up for cheap from Amazon - the rear view mirror from the red miata was completely missing so it was easy to throw another stock one in), installed the lower bulkhead cover liberated from the white miata (this one is pre-trimmed for the roll bar that I'm moving from the white miata as well) and installed a set of chinesium LED headlights I picked up for kinda cheap from Amazon.
"You got more done in an hour than we did all week!" Said Jeff
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e8e4cb3d16.jpg
Square Top Intake Manifold Installed!

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...00cb7aa66a.jpg
Chinesium LED Headlights

"What are you going to do about the parking lights in them?" asked Jeff.
"I'm going to ignore them," I replied, "Since the car isn't wired to use them and I don't care that much."

Since the passenger's headlamp motor is still broken (thank you Sixshooter for the inbound replacement!) I hand-cranked the light open to do the replacement - no biggie. I confirmed the headlights light up so it seems we're good to do in the lights department.
Jeff is thinking the car should be street-ready by end of week - he wants to get the proper pipe installed, get the coolant reroute I showed up with installed, and relocate this fat wire bundle that is currently dangling right in front of the pulleys. O_o For my part, he asked me to bring the other set of wheels I got with the car that have tires that aren't horribly flat-spotted:
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b1eb9718d0.jpg
Cleaned (mostly)...

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1e463d551a.jpg
...and ready to go
So that was part of Sunday. Nice enough wheels and tires, even if one of the wheels is missing it's hub-centric ring. Just for giggles I checked the date codes on the tires - 10 - 12 years old. Should be fine for kicking around town but I don't think I'll be making any long trips on the highway with 'em.

Finally, I got annoyed and starting digging through multiple videos to make sure I was setting up the replacement convertible top correctly. On something like the sixth video I finally found someone who A) filmed during the DAY so you could, I dunno...SEE STUFF and B) Seemed to actually know what they were talking about regarding rain rails rather than "conveniently" neglecting to show and/or mention them. Had I installed the stupid rain rail backwards? Of course I had. On the plus side it turned out to be really easy to remove the speed rivets I had painstakingly pounded into place because they were so flimsy. The trick was I didn't know what size they were so I couldn't just order replacements. I managed to cram a trip in to Ace Hardware yesterday evening before they closed, only to discover they didn't have speed rivets in that size. They did have chicago screws though. Lovely, heavy, high-quality brass ones. So, $40 later :burncash: I had some really pretty, properly sized substitutes. I was just going to put a few on to verify fitment but then they were all done and it was after 10pm. I went ahead and threw the last four rivets on since that's all that was left, and presto - convertible top ready for use.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5634b60056.jpg
The Rain Rail is Backwards >.<

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...de9cb1c210.jpg
Properly oriented Rain Rail, now with Chicago Screws

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...79b4633dca.jpg
Ready to go!

Progress, albeit halting. Sixshooter and Fireindc's care packages arrived safely - thank you both Sooo Much for selling me those parts! Six had thoughtfully included an extra passenger's side motor since we knew that one was failing (and getting super-hot in the process) so last Saturday I was back at the shop swapping in the new motor to see if it was just the motor or if I'd need to swap out the mechanism as well.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d0da22c2f2.jpg
The Moment of Truth...

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0b9ce3c46c.jpg
BOOM Baby!
I am Very Happy to report it was just the motor. I now have two fully functional flippy froggy headlights on my red Miata.

I added Fire's sport brake parts to the trunk-o-goodness...
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e68c57eb4b.jpg
Sporty! Brake-y!
...and Jeff's guys will get them swapped in as time permits.

Unfortunately the car still dies under load. Jeff tried taking it for a test drive around the block with the white wheels and said it was a nerve-wracking journey because he didn't think the car was going to make it. It absolutely won't run under any sort of significant load. "Do you know where the OBDII port is on the car?" he asked me.
Wait, What?
...Huh...
Come to think of it, if it's an NB1 engine and ECU, it should talk OBDII, shouldn't it?
After some research, emailing back and forth with the previous owner, and taking cell phone pictures of the underside of the dashboard, it appears they swapped in an NB1 ECU and engine, munged in what apparently is an NB2 engine wiring harness, and kept the 1990 NA dash harness which doesn't have an OBDII port.
Sorry Jeff.
"That's Ok," he said, "I was just trying to use the easy button."
Diagnostics will continue, again, as time permits. Poor little car.

I checked on ebay and a 1999 engine wiring harness was a whopping $85. Considering just how rasty/nasty the wiring harness currently in the car is, I bit the bullet and ordered it. It's sitting in my garage now - the plan is to swap out the harness when I get the car back if Jeff doesn't decide it needs to happen before then to address whatever is preventing the car from running properly.
I also bought a set of poly bushings for the back half of the car from Sixshooter - I supplemented them with a cheap set of poly bushings for the front half from ebay since I was spending myself into the poorhouse anyway. More stuff to put in the car once it comes back. I'm totally using the press at Jeff's shop though. Lucky Future Me.

Oh! There's a bit more on the tariff saga too. After texting me repeatedly and not getting a reply Fedex obligingly sent me a letter asking for the money along with a copy of the associated paperwork breaking down the charges. Verrrrry informative, that paperwork. After a few hours of research crammed in between doing tickets at work I determined the following:
1) Yossi was spot-on about the paperwork - there wasn't anything to fix.
2) Whoever processed the paperwork on the customs side, however, was...what's a polite way of saying "a blithering idiot"...eh, whatever. A Blithering Idiot.

Off goes another letter to Fedex:Fedex wrote back the next morning:So! If nothing else I don't have to pay or even deal with this for a few months and Fedex is going to stop nagging me.
It'll also be interesting to see how the tariff that was overturned unfolds - technically Fedex is supposed to get refunded that money and from what I'm reading they don't have to give it back to the customer at least the way things are currently. We'll see how many lawsuits pop up to change that. :drama:

The engine harness won’t do you much good without the chassis harness, dash harness, and charge harness. OBD2 port is in dash harness, which connects to the chassis harness, and then the engine harness. ECU is then powered through the chassis harness which plugs into the main fuse box in the charge harness, so you sorta need it all. Then your frog lights won’t work though.

or, you can run the single k-line wire to a $5 OBD port, give it power and ground, and be done.

Well it's already got that incorrect NB2 engine harness hooked up now, and it's u.g.l.y. Random wires routed randomly through the engine compartment in random routes of randomness. Here's a picture.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...5ef88a1997.jpg
A sampling. There is much, much more.

I'm figuring it would be hard for Future Me to make things worse with a do-over for the engine harness at least. I wasn't expecting the OBDII port to come with the engine harness anyway (since it's supposed to be under the dash) and wasn't going to try messing with the dash harness since I'm using the NA gauge cluster and didn't want to take on trying to sort that with an NB1 harness but (quite unsurpringly) Curly raises a Very Valid Point Yet Again - It's really easy to add an OBDII port to an ECU that has an OBDII output (which the ''99 ECU absolutely does!)
Brilliant Suggestion Curly! Thank you!

So that was Saturday afternoon. Dug out the ECU in the passenger's footwell. When Jeff got a look at how it was wired in he said, "That's it. I quit."
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...afcb197271.jpg
(He didn't quit, fortunately.)
Wired up my spiffy new OBDII port to battery power, ground, and the k-line as specified by one of the copious amounts of internet research, many wrong answers from AI, and a quick perusal of the shop manual the PO had graciously provided and...
...nothing.
Ok, in the above picture, see that mysterious bulb peeking out from under the carpet with a random white wire disappearing at the bottom of the shot? The white wire was stripped but not connected to anything. Jeff suggested connecting it to ground (the light green wire at the top left with the tap on it goes to a valve cover apparently) so after we did that the OBDII scanner would at least light up and, you know, scan.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9cac8350f4.jpg
Slight Improvement

What codes did it pull?

Nothing.

What status did it show?

Nothing.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...6eda173c56.jpg
Nada. Zilch. Zippo. Maybe taking a zippo to things would be an improvement at this point...

Tried a different (dumber) OBDII scanner - still nothing. Tried other wires.

Nothing.

"I'll start tracing the wires from the ECU next week." said Jeff.

Jeeze man! I have a nb2 sitting in my yard that was full harness swapped from a nb1 (for some crazy reason) with a nb1 motor in it. I haven't even tried to get it running yet, since I know it's a project and other things are taking precedence. But I hope it works out better than this! At this point wiring in a standalone might be the better option.