While the oil pan is on the shelf (and nice & clean) I want to go ahead and weld on an oil return fitting. Trouble is, I can't quite decide upon the best location for it. When all is said & done, the car will have A/C installed, and the problem is that it's been so long since I've seen an A/C equipped Miata, I honestly can't remember exactly where the compressor and its mount go relative to the oil pan, thus I can't really judge the best location for the fitting.

I've searched and searched, and come up empty. Does anybody have a clear picture, preferably out of the car, of the hot side of the assembled engine, with the A/C compressor itself installed?

 

 

Thanks, couldn't remember where to find those.

So it appears that the compressor does not extend further downwards than the depleted-uranium mounting bracket which it sits on. That's a usable reference point.

Should just be a matter of measuring how far aft the hole can go before interference with the subframe or engine mount becomes an issue.

 

The early brackets are much heavier than the later brackets. Steel vs aluminum from memory. See if you can score a later one.

<edit> is this for your b6 or bp?

 

factor in the fittings, I can barely squeeze the line on there and clamp it.

 

BP. The motor didn't come with an A/C bracket, so I'll be using whatever one comes on the as-yet unpurchased car. Didn't realized they'd changed the construction to aluminum- that'll be nice.


I'll most likely be doing braided S/S on this one, just like the current one, with an AN fitting welded to the pan. Might be best for me to just go to a used car lot and inspect an NB in person.

 

This is how it's done with the motor out of the car. Much nicer, but impossible with motor in car. Only thing to watch for is the motor mount.



This is how it's done with the motor in the car. I'm picturing the complete oil system as installed by Bell Engineering.

Hard to see, but this is the oil feed going to the original oil pressure sensor port. Could not get good pic thru the intake mani.


The oil feed travels towards the front of the car along the cold side, then turns towards the hot side at the front of the motor.



Kick *** Bell distribution block. Relocated oem oil pressure sender circled. The other lines are water.


Drain coming out of CHRA









I never knew that there was a leak there until now. It's obviously extremely minor--doesn't drip or anything. Maybe Bell didn't use any thread locker.

 

Ben, thanks a lot. Feed is not an issue, but that first picture answered a lot. (I remember seeing it a long time ago, but couldn't find it now.)

If the drain location as shown (just aft of that cast rib in the pan) does not hit the motor mount, then that's where I'm putting it.

 

Joe, I know you've seen plenty of pictures by now, but I used a MazdaSpeed Miata oil pan on my setup, you can see where Mazda put the drain (basically right in front/on top of that rib), which of course works with A/C and motor mounts. But you can see the motor mount as well, which makes me think that the location in the picture above may not be a good idea.



View inside the pan (you can see the oil drain inlet on the right side):

 

MS makes a pan specifically for turboing Miatas, or is that for the MSM or something else?

 

I'm sorry, meant to type MazdaSpeed Miata.