Thanks. The limitations of these machines are sometimes a problem, but more often I'm running into my limitations as an amateur machinist :)

A few new unusual parts:

http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/lines1.jpg

(That coolant line is not nearly as crimped as it looks; I blame the camera phone.)

http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/lines2.jpg

That's a coolant pressure sensor. Hey, why not? There is also a bleed port which should be the highest point in the system if the car is on ramps.

http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/lines3.jpg

Partially visible here is my DIY A/C compressor mount. I couldn't find the stock mount and would have had to buy the tensioner since I am deleting the steering pump. So instead I spent a whole day making a mount. In retrospect this was probably not a good use of time. I need to take a better pic of it...

A few pics of the VR sensor and AC mounts
 

http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/acm6.jpg
http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/acm1.jpg
http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/acm2.jpg
http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/acm3.jpg
http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/acm4.jpg
http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/acm5.jpg
http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/acm8.jpg
http://www.boost-instruments.com/miata/acm7.jpg

This is the last piece I had to make, now the only excuse for not actually putting this engine in the car is the leaking slave cylinder on my other car...

http://www.boost-instruments.com/cman2.jpg

The strange hose routing is from when I pressure tested it. 40 PSI for a few hours with no leaks. That's AN -20 startlite hose which will run to the radiator. It really is super lightweight.

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...4-1024x704.jpg

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...1-1024x790.jpg

tits.

It may be pornography, but I love that A/C mount. Seems like it'll open up a lot of free space for plumbing relative to having the usual idler pulley.

Here's a particularly unusual part:

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...1/04/idle1.jpg

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...1/04/idle2.jpg

Any guesses what that's for?


Yeah, probably not. I won't keep you in suspense.

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/.../04/valve1.jpg

I had two reasons to turn a perfectly nice acetal cylinder into this odd shaped part. The main reason was I wanted to get rid of the thermostatic idle valve entirely. I've been running with it disconnected and I'm convinced it's screwing with my idle. So as you can see I milled that whole part off and this adapter fits in its place. The reason I didn't just block the thermostatic valve is for packaging. The front facing idle air intake was causing my intake elbow to be further forward than it needs to be otherwise, which in turn was complicating the radiator plumbing. This adapter relocates the idle air inlet to the bottom left of the throttle body.

I'm not sure acetal was the right material to use for this, but it is a heck of a lot easier to machine than aluminum and I didn't have any ABS on hand. The problem with acetal (delrin) is you can't glue it. I'm not sure how the silicone RTV I used to seal it to the idle valve will hold up.


This is the other side of the idle valve:

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/.../04/valve2.jpg

The red circle is the outlet of the PWM idle valve. The blue area is where the thermostatic valve exhausted. Funny that the thermostatic valve area is so much larger. I expect I'll have to crank in more idle air screw to work without it.


This is the only "before" picture I have. Anyone have a shot of the unmolested idle valve for comparison?

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...eccentric1.jpg

Wow, nice everything.

For your oil cooler lines, I saw you used hard line adapters. Did you have to cut off part of the oil cooler hard line bung?

Yeah, I did. They are made of surprisingly thick-walled steel.

This is the reason I needed to move the intake elbow rearward:

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...11/04/rad3.jpg

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...11/04/rad4.jpg

I still need another 1/4" or so to keep it from rubbing.

This is the fitting that goes to the upper radiator port:

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...11/04/rad2.jpg

Part of it goes inside the welded radiator tube for mechanical support. I am not sure if I want to weld this or not. I still wouldn't be able to move it very far forward without precluding any sort of fan on the right side of the radiator.

Why not move the radiator port over a bit? Woops never mind I see you already took the business to the fitting haha.

I am gonna use that port on the oil cooler too but I think I am just gonna put a rubber hose on the bung and then a hosebung-AN -4 adapter.

One question I had regarding that coolant vent port on the front of the motor-- won't the radiator still be higher if you jack the front up? I assume I don't understand something.

Yeah... the port on the front is below the top of the radiator cap. So it's not that useful. I think it helped somewhat when I was filling the coolant from empty. I have used it for pressure testing the coolant system but it is messy. I'd leave it off if I was doing it again.

This is something I haven't seen before:

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...-12-01_483.jpg

I was redoing all of the hard lines anyway and this was actually easier than replacing the stock line from the factory prop valve to the RR caliper. The hard line comes in through an existing plug in the firewall:

http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/...-03-46_990.jpg

I drilled one hole in the trans tunnel where the rearward line goes through.