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Looks awesome Pat. Really high quality work both on the car and in the individual parts.
Are you running your EWP reverse flow? Would like to revisit that at some point on my car.
Thanks! I appreciate it.
The flow is normal for now. I wanted to change a lot of stuff, but not yet.
Next round of updates will be a filled block all the way, weld the head where the water jackets meet the surface, then flow water only through the head without a thermostat. And add a liquid/liquid oil cooler to keep the bottom end cooled. I wanted to do this now, but if I take the motor apart, it's a slippery slope, so I'm keeping it a wet deck for now with a thermostat in the back of the head.
Got a video going up on Sunday with more info but the basics below.
99, 10 AE, 44K miles.
Mods are roll bar, 6ULs with RA1's, door bushing things that make doors hard to close, 500W power inverter, yellow top battery, 01 coil pack conversion that could be cleaned up but works.
Had the TB/WP/VC/Brakes done about 6 years/5K miles ago.
Needs a new top (just arrived, robbins glass defrost zippered, canvas), has a cooling leak somewhere (radiator and all hoses ordered), needs a/c fixed (not sure on that yet), valve cover is leaking badly (gasket ordered). Also ordered all the other common cheap things a miata might need I could think of.
Car had a paint job about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, almost every panel has a scratch, dent, or both. But when you back away a few feet, it does look really nice. Hoping I can clean it up and see about getting the dents PDR'd and scratches hidden or repaired if possible.
Needs a lot of cleaning. I don't think it's been vacuumed in 5 or 6 years. I know it was quickly washed before it was sold, before that probably been 3 years. Previous owner just let it sit in his garage mostly, took it out for a quick spin once in a while.
Probably will take several days to get it cleaned up, it's pretty bad. Carpets, interior, engine bay, undercarriage, engine block, they're all dirty.
Not sure what the future of this car will be yet. It runs/drives as it is, but I'm not driving it until I get the above stuff fixed. The plan is to get it cleaned up and solid, and drive it and enjoy the coming fall weather. I expect this will become a street car build, but what direction that takes is TBD. Part of me is thinking turbo it, part of me is thinking to do the full circle mt.net NA motor build. But I do want to say, this car is intended to be fun and reliable, so attention to brakes, chassis, suspension, interior, etc, things I've neglected in the past will be given attention on this one. Got a lot to learn about what parts to even consider in some areas.
Well, two weeks ago I started on the 10AE. IT ran and drove but wouldn't pass emissions, top leaked, valve cover leaked, coolant leaked, and probably 20 or 30 other small things.
Already done
I changed every fluid in the car.
Valve cover gasket
Cooling system except heater core.
cleaned for hours and hours the engine and engine bay, but it looks really good now. It looked really bad before, probably never been cleaned.
Removed 01 coilpacks, wired in 99 connectors professionally and got new 99 coils/wires/plugs installed and the wires are labels which go where on the coil pack now.
New top, even cleaned and repainted the frame. This is the worst thing ever on a miata. It's really tight, I'm afraid something is wrong, but at this point I'm going to call it ok and hope it stretches out some.
fuel filter/air filter/oil filter.
new epa certified cat installed. Old one was throwing codes, got a nice 300 dollar unit installed.
all the common cheap stuff for maintenance is done.
To do:
clean carpets
replace steering wheel
repair LCD in gauge cluster and replace green covers on lamps for backlight
fix ac. It actually has freon, so probably electrical problem, not sure.
Front right caliper is dragging slightly. Gotta rebuild or replace that. May just do all the calipers, dunno yet.
Alignment. IT has a **** alignment, really darty and makes the wheel bearings howl. That has gotta get fixed asap.
fix hinge on 99 center console
something with stereo, it has bose but i haven't figured out how to make any sound come out of it yet. I assume it sucks though.
add new fuel and chevron techron cleaner
wash car, claybar, try to improve paint finish, ceramic coat.
restore headlights (got a kit)
clean wheels.
Get new tires for stock wheels, clean stock wheels.
Decide if I'm going to keep the 15x9 6ULs. They do look nice, so maybe I will but they need new tires that dont' rub and are new.
install all the plastic and carpet pieces that go with the soft top area.
Clean and reinstall seats.
Tonight, I actually fired it back up after being down for 2 weeks. It fired up once the fuel system got primed. Unfortunately, still getting a knock sensor code. I pressure washed the engine and that code showed up. My googling shows I probably got water in the sensor and killed it. I'll swap that soon, hopefully that fixes that problem.
Pat what’s the logic with the 99 coil packs? The 01 coil packs work great but the 99s are failure prone, unquestionably the worst stock Miata coil packs.
I really like the blue top. I changed mine myself aswell and it was horrible :(
With restored head lights and a nice polish, that thing will look amazing. You want to keep or sell?
Thanks. Yeah I'd rather pull/install a motor 3 times than do a soft top. I'm keeping it for now. I want to see how much fun a stock, nice miata is as mine hasn't been stock in a long time. After a while, I expect I'll turbo it or something but we'll see.
Originally Posted by Leafy
Pat what’s the logic with the 99 coil packs? The 01 coil packs work great but the 99s are failure prone, unquestionably the worst stock Miata coil packs.
The 01 coils had to be redone as the wiring was not great, the bracket needed to be redone as they weren't tight to the head so the spark plug holes got a bunch of dirt/dust down in them. Took a while to get that clean enought to feel safe pulling the plugs.
I have had a 99 pack fail on my silver car long time ago, so yeah maybe I'm asking for it. I did this for now to put it back to stock/OEM. But I'm open to improving it for reliability. I could probably build a circuit and get some IGN1As on here, perhaps I'll do that down the road.
In fact I had to change the cat on this car even though it only has 44k miles. I bet it was taken out by a bad 99 coilpack long time ago.
The 01 coils had to be redone as the wiring was not great, the bracket needed to be redone as they weren't tight to the head so the spark plug holes got a bunch of dirt/dust down in them. Took a while to get that clean enought to feel safe pulling the plugs.
It's not just the bracket, the NB2 valve cover is different from the NB1, and IIRC the NB2 coils just don't fit properly.
I'm scared that there are too many holes in those rails; holes in the 2xsides or top+bottom to reduce weight seems like a good idea but NOT both - staggering the holes would have been better than aligning them.
Basically, "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" and the weakest links in your rails are that 90* angle where the holes align and there's NOT a lot of metal between those hole circumferences at the bend.
The first to fatigue in a collision will bend/snap the entire rail at that point.
Also, I don't believe that small radiator will be effective enough on a T/C car, even with the fan running flat-out (constant "misting" MAY help).
I am curious to see how it goes though and if my "I reckon" theory holds up; it's good to get actual results so that we all learn from them and update our thinking on these issues.
I didnt have an issue on my car with the honda rad and intercooler side by side. But I'd swapped to an MZR and sold off the BP boat anchor at that point. TNTuba is also running a honda rad and he's making <undisclosed really large horse power figure>.
I'm scared that there are too many holes in those rails; holes in the 2xsides or top+bottom to reduce weight seems like a good idea but NOT both - staggering the holes would have been better than aligning them.
Basically, "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link" and the weakest links in your rails are that 90* angle where the holes align and there's NOT a lot of metal between those hole circumferences at the bend.
The first to fatigue in a collision will bend/snap the entire rail at that point.
Also, I don't believe that small radiator will be effective enough on a T/C car, even with the fan running flat-out (constant "misting" MAY help).
I am curious to see how it goes though and if my "I reckon" theory holds up; it's good to get actual results so that we all learn from them and update our thinking on these issues.
Well hopefully I never find out how well or not well the front crash structure works. But yeah, it's intended to fold up in a serious wreck. I don't think this alloy will snap but it may fold over depending on the angle of impact.
It could be better, and I considered doing a nicer version of it but this is what I did. I didn't like running nothing, or just a single tube up front. I wouldn't run this setup on a public road without a lot of improvement.
On the radiator, I think it will be fine for 1/8 mile drag racing on methanol. But we'll see. Many people on methanol don't even run a radiator, or if they do they only water cool the heads.
I have a stock set of 15x6's that I had powder coated silver. They are in excellent condition, but they aren't chrome like the factory 99 10AE wheels.
And I have the 6UL's 15x9 in Nickel.
For the 15x9's, what would be the best street tire for long life? I want to run the continental extreme contacts. I know I can get those for the 15x6's but I don't think so for the 15x9?
I'm loving the updates, nice choice on the 10AE! One fell into my lap this year as well and I've been bringing it back to life. Love that you stuck with the blue top, I haven't put a top on mine yet (needs it), but I was planning on sticking with the OE blue as well. 6ul's look great on that thing, almost like an upgraded wheel of the same style with the nickle finish.
I'll be shopping tires soon for my daily so interested to see what people recommend. I have no input, because I've really only ever put really cheap tires or really expensive race tires on my cars in the past.
09-12-2023, 03:57 AM
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