Jeez dude, did you really need to quote the entire friggin' post just to say that?

 

Yes

Im at work I just hit the quote button and reply, if I could do it all over again would I still quote the whole thing, yes. Are you a douche? Yes

 

Yea it's a bit much to roll through lol...

I know, I have the manifold gasket and it will work. The holes are wide enough so basically they are just too "tall". I'm more worried about there not being any relief cuts... but it is beefy so maybe it'll be alright.

 

Sooo Im worried about rebuilding this turbo and needing it balanced. Any recommendations? I've seen people mark all the parts so they can be lined up when assembling I guess that works? Any other ideas or any shops they recommend to send it to for balancing would be appreciated, thanks guys.

 

Curious about the rebuilding as well. Please document what you do. We need to rebuild my friend's 15G sometime.

 

i had pureturbos.com replace a bent compressor wheel with a billet wheel on my 2560r. no complaints, turnaround was reasonably fast as well.

 

I scribed(nice sharp clean scribes, not a fuking chisel tip sharpie) every little piece on my 13t, and reassembled with a magnifying glass, myself. 1k + miles and 1 track day so far. yolo

 

I will confess. I did not mark my wheel and nut. 10K miles and up to 210kPa with no issues.

Yes, I should have, like Sean did. And so should you. That will get you pretty good. In fact, if you send the wheels and shaft out for balance, you still have to dismantle it to assemble it into the CHRA, with the same marking procedure. It's just that things are clean at that point.

 

Ok that's what I'll do. I'm confident I can get it pretty spot on but wasn't sure if "pretty spot on" was good enough. Hopefully I'll have the time to rebuild it Sunday. I'll let you guys know how it goes. (Hopefully I'll have MS installed today after owning it for nearly three months)

 

This is the only pic I could find from wehn I did mine.

scribe mark around 2 oclock, and I chose to mark it right at the end of that balancing cut as a backup.


The nut and shaft were marked as well. The rebuild kits come with a new nut, but I reused the old because microgram balance bro.

 

Boost Lab rebuilds and balances turbos. Kirk is a good guy.

Boost Lab

 

im going to do it myself... at this point mostly for braggin rights lol

 

Two months and I've made negative progress. I'm losing more oil now than before I did the timing kit, and I'm worried something isn't right with the cooling.

When I drive it hard/on a long trip it smokes when I come to a stop. Its smoking from the rear of the engine. drove it on the interstate ~80mi round trip and it did fine smoked like crazy though when I got off the ramp and hit a light. I thought it overheating but my gague shows normal. I ordered a new tstat and drove it one day (approx 20 miles) with no tstat and it ran great and didn't smoke. Put the new one in today and still no smoke but still seems to be running hot.

Ran the car a bit hard and left it idling when I got home. Took the rad cap off and filled it to the brim (lost some when I changed the tstat), coolant level did not change while idling. Fan kicked on and stayed on and no noticeable flow in rad. About 10-15 mins later car started ticking and still no flow in the rad. Oil level was spot on and fan was running the whole time.

I'm hoping my oil leak is the valve cover leaking and or the rear main seal... which I'm going to replace when I can get someone to help me change the clutch.

Haven't installed MS (need help finishing the harness) and haven't rebuilt the turbo. I changed departments at work which has put me on a new schedule and we've move houses... been doing some side work too.

I want to make sure everything is 100% before I start changing stuff and or adding power... I just don't really know what to do

 

I read through the thread and I didn't see it...but have you ever done a compression test on the engine? Is the smoking bright white smoke, or "blue" smoke?

 

Hard to say, it's very faint most of the time... it's not black smoke and it's not pure white like steam. So I'd say blue-ish. Haven't seen any smoke the last few days but I still get a faint smell of burnt oil.

I haven't done a compression test... it runs and pulls good and we took it to Chattanooga and back and got 31mpg with the ac on. I know that's no replacement for a compression test but the engine seems healthy.

I'm meeting a guy from the forum tomorrow and gonna talk with him. I've also got a friend with access to a hoist and lift and we are talking about pulling the engine and replacing all the hoses and what nots...

Just frustrating having it a whole year then starting to have issues now. That's life I guess though.

 

Blue smoke is due to burning a tad bit of oil. Generally, it is the valve guide seals or the piston rings. Just watch the engine oil level to make sure it doesn't drop too far, and check the spark plugs at some point to make sure they don't foul up.

Not too big of a deal at this engine's age if it is happening. As long as it is not billowing out a huge cloud of blue smoke, it isn't a big problem unless you are trying to pass emissions. I wouldn't lose sleep at night to be honest.

If you ever see very thick and bellowing white smoke, that is a red flag. That is coolant going into the combustion chamber. Usually a head gasket, could be cracked engine parts.

 

Well that's a relief... a bit. Another guy said something about piston rings also. He said some times thrashing on it will "unstick" them. Not something I'm keen on doing but I did hit red line twice in the way home and it didn't smoke any I could tell. I'm going to check into replacing valve guide seals, if its not a huge PITA I'll do it. I doubt piston rings are something I'm up to tackling...

Thing I'm most worried about now I guess is how much oil I'm putting in it. I've been driving it a bit gingerly last couple weeks (just in case something major) and it hasn't used much oil. But I drove it to Paducah (city about 40-50miles away) three times in four days and it's needed about a quart added to it. Seeing how it only takes about 3 (ish) it's got me nervous. (And T6 Rotella isn't cheap)

Turbo-do list:

• Finish MS ecu harness (three wires left... where do they go!)
• Install MS/tap oil pan
• Get it running/idling DECENTLY (with AC)
• Replace injectors (repeat last step)
• Clutch/flywheel/Rear main seal
• Coolant Reroute
• Catch can/oil filter relocation install
• Rebuild turbo
• Wire up tombstone (switches/second 12v plug)
• Mount intercooler
• Test fit IC piping
• Ready for turbo install?
• Break weak *** punk bitch NA6 diff
• Install Na8 diff
• VladiTune (probably)

Maintenance/optional list:

• Try not to break stuff
• Valve guide seals
• MT.net stickers?
• Shifter Rebuild
• Rear bumper cut
• Quieter muffler
• Fix license plate lights
• Re-aim headlights
• Install fog lights
• Engine dress up
• Paint wheels
• New wheels -_-
• New horn (mine sometimes doesn't work)
• Fix hyper flash
• Install radio antenna
• Small subwoofer install
• New door cards
• Remote start?
• Handbrake delete?
• Trunk light install
• Hood strut install
• Interior lights
• Modify/lower DS seat
• Proper Roll bar
• New seat belts
• Smaller steering wheel
• Wiper sprayer bottle delete
• Fix cosmetic Deer damage
• Finish "custom" front turn signals
• "Custom headlights"
• Third brake light flasher
• New door window trim
• "Custom" center console
• Revlimiter gauges
• Tablet install
• Front lip
• Spoiler
• COP/Sequential upgrade
• Better brake setup
• Single wiper mod?
• Hood vents?
• Fender flares?
• Torsen
• Fuel pump
• New paint?
• Make list smaller
• Add stuff I forgot

Most of that in no particular order. If I'm going to set a deadline might as well make a list.

Edit- at this point I might as well check into renaming this thread and having it moved...

 

Couple things. First, sounds like you're not bleeding the coolant system. Any time you replace the thermostat you need to raise the opening of the coolant system to the highest part. Usually it already is, however with a front radiator like the Miatas, it's easy to be doubly sure and just raise the front end a little higher. Then buy something like this:


attach it to your radiator, and fill it till the bottom of the straight section of the funnel. Start the car, and although the coolant will expand as it heats, it won't overflow. You'll know when your thermostat opens when the level suddenly drops, your upper hose gets warm, and eventually your upper intake will be hot too.

Secondly, and kind of more importantly, if your engine isburning a quart of oil every 150 miles (or even 300 miles if you meant 40-50 miles one way), that engine is in SERIOUS danger, and is NOT ready for a MS much less a turbo.

I italicized burning, because we're talking about piston rings and valve seals, yet you mentioned a valve cover and rear main seal. Two very different things. 90% of the daily driven Miatas I see are in need of a front main seal, cam seals, and a valve cover gasket/CAS o-ring. Nearly all 1.6s can add a leaky head gasket and oil pan to the mix.

 

I don't see what I need that for... but given its only $20 and you probably know what you're talking about so I'll do it.

I italicized probably because I'm still a young smart *** and you're only 62.

I am also dripping oil from (I'm 99% sure) the rear main. It was leaking form the front main as well but I replaced every seal on the front (along with valve cover, and coolant stuff) when I did the timing earlier this year (beginning of summer). The smoke is not coming from the tail pipe its from the engine bay and its very faint usually. When I come to a stop, if I pop the hood it all goes away and will stay away even if leave it idling. Sometimes it doesn't smoke at all. Those trips were 80ish miles round trip and it didn't smoke on some of them... some it did. Also, oddly I think, it never smokes while idling, as in, if I leave it idling for 30 mins (which I have) it will not smoke.

I will absolutely do the CAS ring (forgot all about it), I'm probably going to pull the valve cover off again anyways. If the valve guide seals aren't out of my scope I will do those as well. I've heard dropping the pan on this car is a pain... I don't see how but I haven't spent a lot of time underneath it really. I will likely replace the pan gasket as well, if I do end up pulling the engine will do the pan gasket for sure. I don't think I'm up to doing a head gasket. I will research it and check into what's involved but that is something I will likely want supervision to do, ditto on the piston rings. I'm not afraid to work and I'm not against doing maintenance. I am, however, lacking knowledge and experience which means confidence as well.

I do appreciate all the help and advice, thanks.

 

The coolant funnel is really only necessary if you've replaced the thermostat. You can just fill it, run it while it overflows until the stat opens, this just makes all that process cleaner. If you're confident you've removed all the bubbles and your car is not over heating, you really don't need it unless you plan on replacing a lot of thermostats.

RMS is fairly easy to diagnose. If there's oil coming from the weep hole at the bottom of the bell housing and no where else above it, it's the RMS. If it's higher up on the bell housing, it's most likely from the valve cover or RMS. Make sure you clean your valve cover gasket surface really well, and RTV the six corners. If you're ever in doubt, brake clean the crap out of the entire engine, so there isn't any evidence of oil. Then go for a drive, doesn't sound like it'll need to be a long drive, and then look to see where it's leaking.

Resealing the oil pan is best done by pulling the engine. Its a fairly simple process, but like the valve cover, can be easily done incorrectly, despite using new parts. The baffle, pan, block, oil pump pickup flanges, and bolts all need to be incredibly clean and free of oil. RTV the entire surface, place your gaskets on each end, place the baffle in, put down another bead of RTV, bolt the pick up tube on, then slowly snug down the oil pan, torquing to spec eventually. One of the reasons I prefer to pull the engine rather than drop the subframe and do all this upside down, is that the transmission will be off, and it's a great opportunity to remove and reseal the RMS plate.

Head gasket is also fairly easy, once you've replaced everything to the point where you can clearly see that there's no oil on the cast aluminum head around the intake or exhaust manifold flanges, you'll see oil on the block below the head. It's not really any easier to do outside of the car, besides having easier access to a few of the bolts.