that's what i should have done, with a new begi manifold everything else would have pretty much been a direct swap.

Sav -

Sorry to hear about the loss.

Have already sourced a replacement block or are you hoping all the damage is internal and reusing the current block?

Like Hustler, I built the motor and sized the turbo to exceed my power requirements. As long as I don't get stupid with the tune or have cooling issues, it should hold together for whatever abuse I put it through.

As soon as the budget allows, I'll start tracking the car and see how well the theory holds up...

- L

Epic carnage update:

Pretty cut and dry case of number 4 rod failure. Popped the rod, snapped it into 3 clean pieces, punched a nice neat hole in the block. The piston came up to the head, just barely tapped it (nearly no damage to the head), but it did blow the head gasket when it came up, which quickly joined the oil and coolant passages and spun all the rod and main bearings in short order.

These motors are fucking TANKS, though. I drove this motor 1 mile at 55mph with 3 rods intact. It ran, albeit roughly, until I shut it down myself. It even kept oil pressure until the end.

On the way out:
Attachment 207724

Attachment 207725

Attachment 207726

"uhh, thats not good."

Attachment 207727

Number 4 head:
Attachment 207728

There's the hole:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...r/DSCN1288.jpg

The rest of the rod:
Attachment 207729

Big end:
Attachment 207730

Small end:
Attachment 207731

4, 3, 2, 1. The rest of the rods actually look straight.
Attachment 207732

Cylinder 1
Attachment 207733

Cylinder 2
Attachment 207734

Cylinder 3
Attachment 207735

I think the head is salvageable, provided the cam bearing caps are good (doubt it). The bottom end is a throwaway.

That sounds familiar... Is there another hole under the starter?

So whats the plan Sav?
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That hole was under the starter.... the only one.

I don't want to rush a build. The plan is to source another stock longblock and just do a straight swap, keep the boost around 12-13psi, and then move my built motor timetable way up.

eBay Motors: 99 miata engine motor , 96k miles, NB to NA (item 130290719915 end time Mar-05-09 14:35:33 PST)

That would source your 99 head

Although i cannot take credit for it as Mark linked me to this.

Nick, he already knows about it :)

Purchased.

This thread is now about what I need to purchase to get the '99 motor swapped into my '94 chassis. I will keep my '94 alternator, purchase a longer oil feed line, and use my COP setup, but what am I missing?

And may or may not have already purchased it....:eek5:

Edit: Crap, too late.

Anyways, what about controlling the VCIS?

Edit2: Just found: http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread...=311587&page=1

Good time for that coolant reroute. :)

Keep the sensors and throttle body from your '94. Maybe not the dummy oil pressure sender, but the rest of them. The rear temp sensor is different between the two.

carnage indeed:eek5:

Attachment 207723

Looks like chocolate milk!

So, what you're saying is the rods are the weak point?

The 99 i just bought is from an automatic car. Any complications arising from that?

mmm... Chocolate Milk!

EDIT: haha firedog beat me to it.

You may already know this, but thrust bearing failure was prevalent in some of those motors, but less likely on the auto cars since the thrust bearing was technically unused. There's a vin range posted somewhere on m.net.

Thrust bearing shows up within 40k miles or so. This one has 96k. Good idea, though, thanks.

IIRC, that's mainly applicable to the manual cars. In any case, here's the Mazda TSB, worth checking out just to make double sure. That would sour a mood real quick.
http://www.miata.net/garage/tsb/sb00-01-014r-808r2.pdf

Fuck. It's within the VIN range, but it was an auto motor and only a few of the cars in the range were affected. I'll check the endplay when I throw it in, but I don't think it will be an issue that needs immediate involvement.