two completed unrelated but related engine building questions
 

1. I can't seem to find stock piston rings for an '01 at my go to site of autozone. I can find Sealed Power rings for a 1.6 and NA 1.8, but nothing for an NB.

Will NA 1.8 rings fit in an '01?

2. I'm planning on using the below grease for my tranny input shaft, and clutch fork pivot/contact points.

Is this grease good for these locations?

No, I can't seem to find a temp for it's "high temp" claim.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1397491511

#1. No idea. Sorry.

#2. Yes, absolutely. IIRC, CRC is a store brand, but it'll do the trick.

1: yep, should fit fine
2: yep, should work

Get your rings from rockauto.com if vatozone doesn't have.

If you are buying parts from AutoZone, cross check with Advance. Simply because advance has 30% off online purchase coupons regularly, and then you choose in store pick up. I would assume that all 1.8l BP rings work across all the years.

Ok, I'll double check with advanced...

So they have 3 sets. $62, $83, and $165.

Difference is iron set, chrome set, and Standard Gap Plasma-Moly Standard Tension set.

What material is OEM? That's really all I need. Thanks y'all.

Cheap set is probably made in china.

They are all probably made in china. I'd love to discuss rings in this thread, as I've been doing a bit of my own research. My conclusion is:

iron : oem style, seats very quickly, cheap, rings will wear before the bores do.

chrome: "performance" rings, take longer to seat and are more picky to cylinder bores, rings are bulletproof and can actually wear the bores because of the hardened metal.

moly/whatever coated: typically oem style rings but with a moly coating that helps them seat even quicker/better. Not 100% sure on these, have not looked into em much.

PLEASE bitchslap me into place if I'm wrong on any of this. From my quick research most people seem to think the piston ringlands on the OEM piston are going to be weaker than even the cheapo rings.