Mouglie

**** i'll quit posting, you retards don't understand a work in progress...

Ajb

Personally I think its great your doing the dash yourself. Least you have the ***** to attempt it.
Are you just changing the pistons , even the 323 turbo had thicker connecting rods and that was designed for 8psi.

silentbob343

lol that takes some *****

Mouglie

lol ok dude i say that the gauges are going to be lowered and pulled foward and i get the same comment twice. The goal is to hide them so obviously i'm not finished with it yet.

Zabac

iTrader: (39)

Mouglie, **** the gauges, that's another thread, I am concerned about your motor build, what exactly do you plan to do with the new motor. What rods are you using?
Please elaborate a little further, you don't sound like you know what you are doing, i'd ahte to see you waste a bunch of money because you were ill informed or simply don't know any better at this point.

Mouglie

Zabac, thanks for slapping some sense into me and i apologize for getting out of hand...
I'm going with:

Wiseco forged Piston 9:1 compression
Carrillo A-beam rods
FM valve spring kit
New lifters
ARP head studs and main caps
+2mm overbore head gasket
SS +1mm oversize intake and exhaust valves
port and polished head to fit new valves
mazdaspeed motor mounts
Balancing the crankshaft without and then with pistons installed...

I should have all this done by 2 weeks if i get the parts in time.

curly

iTrader: (25)

even newbs can rebuild engines, just take your time and double check everything.

make sure you have a really good (aka, calibrated/new) torque wrench, and torque EVERYTHING to specification. a machinist/assembler where I had my machining done suggested having the torque wrench in one hand and a paint pen in the other. as soon as you torque something, mark it. that way you know everything is torqued with just a quick look.

get some plastigauge to check bearing tolerances

you'll need an engine rebuild kit, if you don't already have one.

keep everything ORGAINIZED and CLEAN. can't stress that enough

get a haynes manual or something similar that actually has instructions on how to assemble the miata engine. you don't want to put your oil pan on before your oil pump for example.

sounds like you're doing the smart thing and having a shop do all the machining of course, you should probably have them assemble the head as well (springs and such, you can do the camshafts.

the hardest part for me was getting everything to seal without leaking, especially the oil pan/pump. don't forget the o-ring behind the oil pump, my haynes manual didn't say anything about it, and you'll need to pull the engine out again if you forget it.

listen to EVERYTHING we say, unless it's obviously sarcastic. hopefully more people will chime in with constructive comments if you listen to my above advice, every person who's rebuilt 100's of engines has started somewhere.

ZX-Tex

iTrader: (15)

Mouglie buy, beg, or borrow a shop manual. I used one the first time I did an engine rebuild and it was invaluable. Find a good machine shop with a good reputation to do your machining work. Find someone who has rebuilt engines to help you out. If not, do your research. Measure everything twice, check it against the shop manual. Get everything thoroughly cleaned before reassembly.

BTW depending on your horsepower goals you really do not need to sink a lot of cash into the motor to boost it. That is pretty evident if you look around here. Honestly I would consider finding a running stock motor; should be cheaper than building one. Either that or build a modest motor. I would spend the money instead on a good turbo kit and a Megasquirt. You could have triple oversize unobtanium valves and a knife-edged crank and your motor will still suck *** without a good turbo setup and fuel management.

Mouglie

Thanks for the good advice, i do own a manual which i studied over and over before even attempting anything. Every screw and bolt that came out of my engine found its way into a labeled zip lock bag to keep myself organized. Taking apart the engine seems fairly easy, its putting it back together that worried me because of the measurings and torque specs so thats why the machine shop will take care of it. I'm picking up an assebled short block from them, then i will add the simple stuff like the alternator, power steering, a/c (undecided still).
Zx-Tex: i do have a megasquirt and a turbo kit that i've been waiting to install but i always wanted to build the engine first. I have no idea what horsepower i'm shooting for but it better be over 250hp.

ZX-Tex

iTrader: (15)

Do you mean short block or long block? Short block is without the head. That leaves about 1/2 the work still. Head assembly, valve shimming, intake assembly... Even a long block will still require intake manifold assembly. Not too bad, but a bit harder than just bolting on the alternator, PS, a/c...

Plan on upgrading the clutch.

A suggestion, though it is a matter of taste... Instead of that huge rack of dash gauges, why not just get a double-din screen/pc setup and run megatune? You can display whatever you want and it will be a lot cleaner looking.

Mouglie

i like the idea of the double din computer and running megatune, the gauges have a power switch so i can turn the display on and of, i'm only useing for of the fiberglass wholes, the other two gauges will be mounted in separate location.

The engine, i'm about to meet the shop owner so we can go through my list and see how much he will charge me as far as labor and some parts that he can get me cheaper... I said shortblock, i've never built an engine but i've pulled heads of and installed them myself, i'm mechanically inclined. I can do the intake manifold and stuff like that, its just that i don't wanna go through the deal of measuring the clearance, if my clearance is of the machine shop can do something about it rather than me wasting time on it.
I'll post tonight some of his price quotes for comments...

the only quote i got solid from him is porting and polishing the head for $450.

macker

iTrader: (3)

'grats on diving in... not like people, be it hobbyist or pro mechanic, learns to do engine work on a computer simulator. (granted, if we're lucky, we start on a junk block...)

Two tips that will save you some grief... torque wrench is really only "necessary" on heads and caps, but you do need one if you're doing those. Don't waste your money on a beam type; a $50 unit will work just as well as a $300 snap-on, but even brand new, it may not be calibrated. (They can lose calibration just sitting on a shelf; drop it, and there's a good chance you just lost accuracy.) But the most important part, besides not using it to loosen nuts, is make sure you're in the upper 80% of its range. A 100 ft-lb torque wrench is next to useless at 15 ft-lb; the rated accuracy doesn't start to count until you hit 20 ft-lb.

Second? Avoid 12-point like the plague. Only time to ever use a 12-pt socket, wrench, etc., is if the nut/bolt/etc. requires it. Always use 6pt. (12pt will strip on a good day, and cause pain when it flies loose, every other day.)

Mouglie

thanks for the good advice macker,
i finally got all my parts, sweeeeeet!!! freaken wiseco pistons came with a ceramic coating on the sides and the carrillo pistons are so cool, i took everything to the machine shop last night and today i get the bad news...

"Mouglie, your crank was missing its thrust washers, by the damage cause its been bad for a while, this allowed the crankshaft to have alot of play and rubbed on the inner edges of the main caps and engine block... enough to where your whole engine is crap. You need a new block."


There goes my happy moment. Now i'm looking at the Kia 1.6 block to see if its similar... there's no miatas here in the local junk yards... :(

ZX-Tex

iTrader: (15)

The infamous #4 thrust bearing failure? I thought that was on later models...

curly

iTrader: (25)

kia engines, yummy

http://www.flyinmiata.com/projects/O...OTC_engine.jpg

I think its only the 1.8 that works with our cars. could be wrong

BenR

iTrader: (2)

For the amount you spent on the head studs you should be able to find a decent block. Do you have any spec miata racers or shops nearby? They usually have a **** ton. I've probably got a spare block laying around but it wouldn't be worth it to ship.

Mouglie

PM sent BenR.
The kia 1.8 is swappable but i read online that the Kia Sephia has a 1.6 DOHC 95-97models that have the same size pistons, timing belt, and several parts like this. Only difference is the head, but i don't know if this block has the same motor mount holes or places for brackets etc...

TonyV

iTrader: (17)

dude....CRAIGSLIST, and classifieds....Blocks are fairly easy to come by..its the shiping that kills you..

Also, dunno how crazy you wanna go, and maybe I shouldnt even suggest it, BUT perhaps a 1.8 swap is in order??

Lastly, might not hurt to get a 2nd person to look at it?

GL man...

elesjuan

iTrader: (11)

Ouch man. Thats rough. Those thrust washers are a pretty shitty design. :(

Mouglie

I did have the option of going with the 1.8L but it was a Kia engine for $300... but i can't do that since i already have all the parts for a 1.6, turbo, manifold, megasquirt, internals... etc...

I saw the block myself, it seems like it can still run and go back in the car but if you spent all this money on parts, the last thing you wanna do is put it in a damaged block...

I'm really bummed out with the whole turbo stuff, its been my goal for so long and everytime i get this close, it all just slips away. I went over my budget so i'm picking up the block tomorrow and putting this whole thing on hold for 2 more months unless i can find a block for around $200 or less....