Relief valve on pump sticking open, '99 style thrust bearing fell out, pickup tube sucking air at gasket to oil pump, oil thinned out from fuel or water dilution, VVT mechanism came apart internally, and maybe other things. I don't know how many of these might apply to you.

all good points to check. Thank you, I'll dive into it after work

I had the pressure sensor wire fail in a scarily intermittent fashion. Check the wire for any brittleness or other feeling of potential failure.

If it's not a mechanical sender then make sure you have cleaned your grounds. A poor ground connection can make the range appear high or low

Check the dipstick first. Most common cause of no oil pressure is no oil. :)

--Ian

There is enough oil, it smells a bit of fuel but it is clean, no flakes or shinies, so that's good news. Can't buy new oil until tomorrow but I installed a new oil sender and gauge while I was in there. but god I hate removing/installing the intake manifold. Also checking the pistons with a bore scope tomorrow. If that doesn't fix it I'm pulling the engine to check the pan if a squirter or oil pickup tube came loose.

Found a break in the oil sender signal wire. Which would explain why the gauge showed variations in pressure when it's an on/off gauge.

That is good news.

Got pulled over for the umpteenth time for no reason other than "just checking in on you" and this time by an unmarked police car while I was just cruising. I was getting so worked up and annoyed until I noticed that it was a buddy of mine teasing me since he knew how much I have been pulled over without a cause.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...073596bd73.jpg

I've finally hunted down all oil and water leaks. it was never anything substantial, just drips here and there but enough to annoy me. I'm afraid my clutch isn't holding up to the driving but I'll drive it like it is since I'm planning on going with the ZF transmission this winter so a clutch change now makes no sense

Then today I also went a bit off road since the summer seems to be finally arriving
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4212f3b289.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ea6a7997a8.jpg

Why would they hassle you? No sports cars over there? Are you the shiny toy for the cops to play with?

What happened to all the trees? Cut down to make boats a few hundred years ago? That's what happened in England.

No idea man. Lots of sports cars and motorbikes, but for some reason the way mine looks must strike them as a street racer or something, even though my friends comment on how they could never be as calm behind the wheel as I am. you know how you get a tiny sting of nervousness when you're in a normal car and a cop is behind you? Now imagine that literally every other cop you saw pulled you over. It was that bad last summer and I was getting stressed just seeing a cop car.

But there were supposedly trees from shore to mountains when the settlers arrived but now the status is such that we have a joke that goes like : "what do you do if you get lost in an Icelandic forest? you stand up"

At least it gives us an unimpeded view of the landscapes. This was the view out of my hotel window last weekend. And a hot tub there in front of the boat.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...310b793534.jpg

England was similarly deforested. There's species that are extinct because of it, like beefwood.

You should have your buddy the cop tell his friends to leave you alone. They almost all know each other.

Drive through windows are stupid high up

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...2620ca7f42.jpg

But we always have a workaround

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...79018c6ede.jpg

Love all the updates man. The car looks great. Nothing like a well sorted turbo miata that you can just.. enjoy. It sounds like a nightmare with the police there. Funny enough the police don't even look twice at my 1990 miata here, they just see an old car and assume it can barely reach the speed limit. Modern cars are so fast.

yeah, They've left me alone this summer so far so I'm hoping they've gotten used to me lol. And yes, new cars are faster than you sometimes realize. I found a small rust bubble on the right wheel arch. I'm gonna get it sorted, I still got the paint since we got it repainted so it will be easy to fix ASAP

It looks beautiful. Good job.

today brought a weird problem. It started but just died immediately. I finally got it to start and noticed that oil was sputtering from the valve cover to the firewall.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0955bc36ee.jpg



Turns out the exhaust cam cap was just gone!
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...bd2204f687.jpg

You guys know that I am not exactly in parts nirvana, so I improvised and went to draw up a cap and 3d printed it
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...1239328341.jpg

But just to be sure I called the dealership while I was printing to check if they had it. While I was on the phone with the rep I spotted it on top of the transmission!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a4e98f0b11.jpg
Plugged it back in and she started right up. now I'm just curious why it popped out, and funny how it affects enough for it not to run.

Edit : New cap came out great

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8ec2bce88c.jpg

Crankcase pressure too high, maybe. Or it just came out.

Show me some pics of the ventilation setup

I'm betting on just working itself loose over time since it's just pretty soft old plastic. Exhaust side is vented down to the ground since I haven't yet set up a catch can. I know it's not ideal but it'll do for now. Just gotta find a good place to mount it

Double post yay