I replaced timing belt and front/rear oil seals. Compression cold is around 160 in all cylinders. I did notice that 1 and 4th cylinder is firing correctly on 2 revolutions of crank, but 2 and 3 are firing on every revolution. That seems odd. I tested this with 2 good ignition modules.

 

Did you have the cam sprockets off?
Did you switch the connectors for the coil packs?
The firing order is 4 1 2 3 from passenger to driver.

 

Ok throwing this out there cause I did this when swapping my head...cranked cranked cranked tried to backfire I had the correct firing order for the 1.8 but when i reinstalled the coils I got the actual coil plug connectors installed backwards thus changing my firing order to the order of a 1.6 so i swapped the order and it fired right up.

So instead of being 4123 its now 3214

To much of a pain in the *** to try and flip the connectors back to where they were than to flip the plug wires themselves

 

I have the firing order correct (4123). coil connectors are correct also. I am going to check the clutch this evening. I'm thinking maybe the clutch is not disengaging. I will make sure the slave cylinder is working properly. The crank is real slow.

 

put in gear.... crank lol

 

Just for reference, the coil connector with the blue tape goes toward the passenger side.

 

Correct. I double-checked the coil pack connections. The only thing else I can think of to check is the clutch slave and make sure it is working properly. The clutch I replaced wad worn significantly. I also replaced the flywheel and pressure plate. I am going to bleed the clutch slave and make sure it is working at peak performance to rule the transmission out.

 

You need a good strong battery to start a miata. I like to keep a charger on it the whole time I am doing compression tests, etc.

As long as it's cranking, the clutch is probably fine.

I noticed something in your pics that look different than mine. When mine is set at tdc the white marks on the cams point up and are on the I for intake and the E for exhaust. The only thing I can think of is the sprockets were switched accidently and you have the ex on the in? I'm not sure if that would be close enough to let you build 160psi compression though?

 

Cam gears are identical and can be put on either cam as long as they are oriented correctly.

 

Right. The pin on the intake cam should line up with the I mark on the sprocket and the pin on the exhaust cam should line up with the E mark on the sprocket. It appears like the lobes look correct so they probably are installed correctly, but it seems as if everything else is right too, so why no start?

I'm intrigued!

Are you sure you checked the injector connectors and they are indeed orientated right and are plugged all the way in?

 

When I am trying to start the car, it will have a loud bang like gunfire sometimes. It try's to start and then bang. It never starts. Just to confirm. 99 miata head bolt torque 60 ft/lbs. Correct?

 

Is the cas plug pushed in fully?

My thoughts are check to make sure you are getting fuel into the cyls
and check for compression (think you have and also think its been mentioned)

 

Make sure fuel lines aren't switched. Will cause the exact same symptom. Pressure line goes to the front of the fuel rail.

Maf plugged in? Air intake tract all in place? Car can't run without knowing how much air is there.

 

Fuel lines are correct and MAF plugged in. I know fuel pressure build up to the fuel injectors, but not sure they are firing.
What is the best way to tell if fuel is getting to the cylinders?

 

After cranking, pull the sparkplugs to see if they are wet with fuel. If not, put a noid light on the injectors.

 

Looks like they are getting fuel. I am at a loss. The car ran before I did the work. It turns over and sometimes sounds like it wants to start, an ocassional loud pop/bang. My first thought was timing off, but it is not.

 

Do you think I could get any codes using an odb ii while trying to crank it?

 

The timing wheel on the front of the crank is on backwards.

Remove accessory pulley, flip timing wheel over, replace and enjoy.

 

Classis cps misalignment. Loosen up the CPS, and move it slowly backwords and forwards while someone cranks. I had this problem all the time when doing SR20 swaps.

 

This could very much do it. Below is a picture of how it should be.