CHECK

Now that's she mine again she's not going anywhere.

When my brother ran that one out of oil in Fall '07 I offered to buy it from them cheap. My mom wanted a grand, so I told her to pound sand. After a year of paying storage fees she fell behind and changed her mind. I told her I'd pick it up, but that whatever I trailered to my garage was mine...so strings attached. Cheapest turbo platform score ever.

The first motor I put in it was a $150 CL find...the second one was hustler's old beater.

I am forever thankful to everyone that has helped me out along the way...and hope to pass the favors along when I can. I had sold my literbike right before my mom offered the Miata back to me, and had thought I'd never know the joy of a fast, fun vehicle again. At least this thing keeps me awake during my longass commute to school.

 

I'd make my brother pay a non-refundable motor deposit next time he asks for the keys.....Then don't give him the keys, just take the money.

 

I learned that one the hard way.

 

Ouch...what kind of bike was it?



Mike, my brother not only drove to Dallas to pick up the motor, but busted his butt with me all the next weekend to get it swapped in. He's officially absolved of all grudges...and he was the first one I handed the keys to after the swap.

 

Thats unfortunate it happened, I know the feeling as mine hit south last weekend.

In my case I learned to always use the stock harmonic balancer.

Let see some pics of the mayhem...

 

At least your motor died with honor (WOT and under boost). My brother's first built motor died idling (piston kissed intake valve) at a red light!

 

i have a 1.6 sitting in my shed that you can have if you want it

 

Thank you captial obvious.

So how much more postwhoring are you going to do around here?

 

I'm still on my first Miata, first engine, first trans. Knock on wood...

 

I am on my third, however I have more skills now.

 

+1. Buiding an engine for more boost, not because the first failed.

 

Teaser!!



You can't see it, but the dip stick is still installed in the oil pan, however the rod/piston/whatever esploded blew that part right off the pan. ****. If you look between the motor mount and the coolant hose you'll notice some red... Parts of the block. Other parts were also found on the A-Arm just below the center of the picture..


I took a lot more much higher quality pictures on the dSLR but haven't had time to convert them from raw to jpgs..

Had to take off this morning down to Branson Missouri for the 4-State QRP Conference so I won't be working on it until probably late sunday afternoon or Monday evening.

Decided I'm going to take this opportunity to make some major changes to the car.. Have already removed the power steering pump and will make the FM Rack modifications next week, going to install my coolant reroute on the new motor we'll be installing, and *gasp* finally removing my AC. Taking the AC off is going to be a hard one, but since I honestly don't drive the car every day I'll probably live. Parting together an oil cooler, godspeed radiator, and hopefully a Megasquirt3 in a couple weeks.

Going to ditch the weld-el log manifold I've started to build a bottom mount unit similar to the fantastic AbsurdFLOW!!! unit since now I'll have all the room on that side, there is really no reason not to.

The turbo stuff will have to wait maybe a month or so, but the rest of it can be done soon as possible. Wish me luck, can't wait to get some *real* power

 

That looks familiar. Mine also blew cylinder #4 and ventilated the block in the same location. Too much boost on the stock rods.



Welcome to the club. Not sure if it is the Too Much Boost Fail Club or the Awesome Engine Destruction Club but welcome just the same.

 

My condolences, but also GL on the upcoming build. I too have something in the works after a LOOONG hiatus

 

You people are scaring the **** out of me.

On a positive note, that is a tough oil squirter!

 

Did I miss something? You did all of that with 8 PSI on a JRSC?? WTF?

 

With 6psi manifold pressure intercooled and I doubt the boost had anything to do with it really. Maaaaybe but I dunno and probably won't ever know what really happened. Wondering how much of the rod and piston are left inside the crankcase...

 

I won't be suprised to find a locked rod to crank or badly scored bearings. The only time I've seen a rods break are due to siezed bearings, loose piston pin, or severe detonation that bent the rod. Going lean on alcohol with BIG boost numbers does interesting things. It will be neat to see what you find.

 

Is the head salvageable when you break a rod, or does the piston do too much damage?

 

all depends on how it happens our motors are non interference but if the piston goes sideways in the bore etc and continues up past the normal point it would probly do some damage. There is no 100% answer to this for all motor failures sorry.