It's been a while since I updated, and not much has changed I guess. I have my new engine mostly assembled and the old engine mostly disconnected from the car. I grabbed a 6 speed for an okay price yesterday. I guess ill just attach whatever pics I can find.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...63633332dc.jpg
Lots of storage space under a miata on jackstands
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f879aac121.jpg
test fitting my JoeFis intake, need to cut down the straight pipe.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...329c48b98d.jpg
Valve cover is finally on
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...fea03d4bb2.jpg
Oil pan is finally on
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9e359f4493.jpg
Couldn't live with how dirty the square top was when I got it so I hit it with some rustoleum "Aluminum" paint.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b7f2cc2f1a.jpg
Test fitting skunk2, need to shorted one or two bolts.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4cdfe1f501.jpg
Mostly disconnected engine from chassis. Ran out of time because of date night with my wife and was out of town last week so it's just been sitting, taking up my 1 car garage :/

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a18ee88dcb.png
I also bought a Honda Element to play with, weird, I know.

How does one "play" with a honda element?

HAHA!

Well for one thing, all my other cars have summer tires on them, so we took it to Lake Tahoe over the weekend... But it's been fun, I like it for it's versatility. It's stick shift, and Honda went to the liberty of K24 swapping it for me already. It has 211k miles on it so it's definitely a "beater" which is kind of fun in it's own right. I used it to pick up the 6-speed yesterday since it has plastic floors instead of using the Golf R.

Also, It's kind nice to have a car where the "projects" are short little 5-30 minute affairs instead of multiple days. Going over speed bumps at the listed speed instead of a crawl is kinda nice too. At some point I may get wild and try to build it into a dedicated camping vehicle, with a "built in" kitchen in the back or maybe a sleeping platform, although the latter seems less than useful since we are a family of 3 now...

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...806e97afb4.png
Things were pretty iffy, even with the HF hoist extended all the way out, it was humping my bumper pretty hard
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e00b502ae0.png
Yes, free of the car!
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...f573e859b3.png
Look at all that room for activities
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...551957a027.png
Hole Shot!
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ef814edbb6.png
I had to push the hoist all the way to the wall to be able to set the motor and trans down, whew. This is with the Miata only millimeters from the garage door in the back.

Got the engine and trans out today. It was as sketchy as I thought it would be, but the load leveler came in handy for sure, I was in a tough spot working on it by myself for a while but luckily my father in law came by just in time to help spot me as I lifted it out of the engine bay.

Gotta swap over a few things, and throw on the 6 speed and reverse it back in.

So last night I test fit my NA8 EGR valve on the Squaretop, because my understanding was that it would need modification to fit, but it clears like it was made for it, which is awesome. The EGR tube placement is a little far from the exhaust header but I think some finessing with the BFH will make it work fine. It's a relief because my hope is to pass smog with this setup.

I test fit the VICS just to see and there is definitely interference. I also stumbled upon a website that sells spacers to use for this exact purpose, and it certainty seems like it would work.

https://sillyslowmiata.com/products/...ata-egr-spacer


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ec8a1a69c6.png
Squaretop
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...431a712d3e.png
VICS
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...92458e3d0a.png
Tube Placement

A year with no update
 

Well the move threw off all the momentum I had in finishing the car, but my new garage has a lift which is killer. I just had to, insulate it, cover the walls, paint, clean, hang lights, etc before I allowed myself to enjoy it but now my miata checklist is nearly done!

So the engine is running, it made 143hp/127lb ft on Blacktrax heartbreaker dynapack. I think a stock NA8 makes about 100whp on the same dyno.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...402bf7cdb8.png

Super flat torque curve, @twibs415 really worked his magic on the head to eek that much power out without cams or valves. Super happy with it. Here is a video on the dyno.