edit nevermind, I'm retarded, they're the same size as the ones I took out of the engine, which were fine.

If you have an 01+ engine (I think) Its a different thrust bearing

I was just idling thinking about bearings and washers on the way to work and I suddenly had a moment of panic, that's all. Probably residual *ohshit* left over from yesterday's bearing issue. Everything is fine.

This is a 99 engine. I rebored/honed the cylinders, went to arp main studs and had it align honed, had the crank polished and everything generally cleaned up. Replaced all bearings with fresh ACL bearings.

Annoying, neither emilio nor fm have any oil squirters for sale.

It's a sign not to run them. :)

I thought a lot about this and since I'm basically just replicating my last build I'm going to keep them.
Benefits
-cools the piston
-lubricates the wrist pin

Drawbacks
-lowers oil pressure (never been an issue and I'm going to an upgraded pump anyway)
-heats up oil (never been a problem since I already run an oil cooler and was consistently running under 200F oil temps under heavy load)
-oil consumption (never been a problem)

So basically this mod is addressing problems I don't have and raising the chance of detonation. I like having nice cool combustion chambers.

Admittedly I could start running E85, but I'm already dialed in fine with 93 octane and E85 is a huge pain in the ass to get here.

About to order the oil pump and the harmonic damper.

Now that having the engine done is realistically a few UPS trucks away, I think it's time to start thinking about smaller stuff.

I was going to do the rear main seal and the front main seal and use Right Stuff for the oil pan, oil pump, water pump and thermostat housing. I am going with a new head gasket and new timing belt as well.

Anything I'm possibly forgetting as far as small stuff that will be annoying if I forget?

Fuuuuck, harmonic damper is backordered. Everything else is already on the fedex truck tho.

Buy an ATI Damper instead.

I thought the 949 one was better, cheaper, lighter, etc, etc. Was I misinformed?

949 is cheaper/lighter. ATI is a better damper. IMO. I run an ATI. Look into ATI dampers and how they work if you want to know which is a better damper.

Has anyone actually tried both?

Welp, A huge pile of shit has apparently arrived just in time for the weekend.

My wife just signed for a package from some guy named emilio in CA. Head should be going on this weekend.

Retarded question time:
1) the picture below, is that where I put the gasket material?
2) at the bottom of the oil pump, is there a special gasket or do you just put right stuff there too just like the rest of the oil pan?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1455336627

I just put grey RTV on every surface that the oil pump contacted the block. Right or wrong, it no leaky. No gasket for the oil pump to block connection.

Yeah no gasket.

I'm being extra careful because I still have nightmares about the water pump replacement I did 10 years ago. I did it three times and it still fucking leaked. Then I realized that the shaft on the replacement pump was leaking. Trololo. The upside is that my timing belt alignment game was top notch afterwards.

Is there a rubber anything that goes between the round part of the oil pump and the oil pan?

Not sure what part you are asking about.

The half moon part under the crank. The bottom of it has a channel where it seems like it would meet the oil pan. is it just lots of Right Stuff or is there anything rubber that goes under there?

Dude. You need to buy a manual and read it if you're putting a motor together and don't know where all the pieces/parts go. Not trying to be a butt about it, but if you're guessing along the way you're going to miss something.

Yes there's a seal that goes there. And RTV it too on the corners.

Is there manual for this that isn't complete shit? Back a million years ago I relied on a manuals but I eventually found they were pretty much all awful. I tend to use google for everything these days.

I've taken apart and successfully put together everything else on the car at least once, so it's not a completely shitty approach. Also, so much of my current build is aftermarket stuff, I just follow the specs of the parts anyway.

But yeah, I would appreciate guidance.