@Shibby has an abundance of the small countersink bolts. His stripped out and he bought one of those bags of 100 from McMaster or somewhere.

He may still have some

I do, but I wanted to run them myself first to make sure I could recommend them. They use a Phillips head drive.

I was going to order some from a local mazda dealer, but I'm not going to be home till saturday afternoon and they close at 3 on saturday and are closed sunday. Ordered 6 of the screws and the gasket from priority mazda. Hoping it gets to me by saturday with the upgraded shipping.

cover up/hide mistakes? I don't, and neither do most of the regulars.
10 years ago we didn't have even half the parts and technology we do now
10 years ago we didn't have even half the documentation and step by steps we do now

So with time the excuse for errors becomes less and less valid, and more just about being careless.
I'm just sayin, the amount of times now that "this has been done" you should be able to do it downright flawlessly. But posting about it is definitely a good thing because at least some other n00b will hopefully learn

I mean... At this point, I'd hope that you and some of the regulars have been making less of them which makes given your familiarity with the platform. Like you just said, you and a few others have been doing this for over a decade. The only thing I'd done to my own car before starting this a year ago was swap to the spare wheel when I got a flat. I legitimately bought my first wrench in grad school... not counting the tools I had for working on cycling ish.

I've done a few intubations. Watched a bunch of videos and read a ton of shit about doing it before I got there. Doing it myself for the first time? Totally different process and I felt super unfamiliar with everything so asked for some literal hand holding. Do them a couple of times and you understand what you're supposed to be doing and it becomes a bit easier. Still terrifying, but you learn how to adjust and go from them. Sure, this is a completely different level of risk, but the concept is the same. If reading taught you everything you needed to know, then there'd be no place for apprenticeships. Everyone literate would be an expert, though that's seemingly not how things work no matter how much some people try to convince themselves of it (anti-vaccers for example). Book learning vs. experiential learning and all that.

Point being, yes, you're correct, there's definitely an element of carelessness, no doubt about it, alcohol certainly 'helps' with that part and I often forget how big of a goddamn lightweight I am until I finish the first treehouse when trying to do something and end up deciding it's a better idea to go to bed instead. There's definitely a learning curve and something to be said for repetition. There are vendors here that make kick ass parts that end up mis-calculating things and having to redesign parts after real world shows compatibility issues (the V8R mounts for instance).

At the end of the day, I'm grateful that there are folks out there to kindle a newbs interest in cars and working on them. And I'm hopeful that my mis-steps will save someone else the trouble at some point and glad that it leads to some (mostly) good natured ribbing. Thanks again for your help!

Good ribbing huh? I'm sure you've got somebody's attention.

the ribbing is for your pleasure

Ok, that was funny

I aim to please

Aim it over there, please.

Over where? My dipstick doesn't reach that far.

Got an FM heatshield from @Onyxyth. It's fantastic.

Say hello to my new best friend!

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...22b22c35e1.jpg

he should have drawn directly on the shield.

Don't worry, I'm going to treasure it forever. Maybe I'll put it on my dash. That's as perfect a dickbutt as I've ever seen.

lol!

I was considering drawing it right on the shield, but decided against it. Maybe you can get it engraved.

9 out of 10 doctors would recommend against putting your buttdick directly on a heat shield. That 10th doctor though... Well, he's a different story...

Has anyone had issues with VVT, EBC, and the Idle valve taking the same frequency? My car won't start if I turn on VVT because I get an error that the frequency is in use and causing an error. I can screenshot the error message and post it next time I trigger it.

Do I just have to change them to occupy different frequencies or is the issue coming up because three things are trying to take the same spot? Never had the issue with EBC and Idle valve so not really sure how to fix it.

What is your vvt, idle, and EBC connected to on megasquirt?

From this very thread.

What output are you using for VVT.

VVT was spliced into the CEL.
I'll post the error message in a couple of days so there's a bit less speculation on my end regarding the error. What I do know is that if I turn the vvt on and burn the changes, the car doesn't start the next time.