^Made that same mistake with mine... only mine was way more than "slighly d-shaped"... it was seriously mangled. Good news is that the metal is very soft (copper?) and can be re-massaged into a roughly round form. Get it as round as you can, then use a worm-type hose-clamp on it, that will give even pressure across the surface. The factory pinch-type clamps will leak under pressure unless the pipe is very close to perfectly round. I used half-a-roll of teflon tape on mine and double clamped the ---- out of it to get it not to leak.

I usually just cut both heater hoses and replace them with new ones. Better that than mangle the soft pipes.

A ford fuel line fitting tool should work. With mine the big end is the one to use; it acts like it doesn't want to go in, but with a little persuasion it will. Then you just pull the fitting apart.

Next time to avoid much of the spillage you should disable the fuel pump and run the engine until it dies. The FSM has the procedure.

So if I want to replace the cam cover gasket, front and rear main seals, and anything important for putting the oil pan back on, what do I need to buy from Rosenthal (or preferably Amazon Prime)? Rosenthal has a number of seals, with very little description and I'll be angry if I buy the wrong ones. I get free two-day shipping with Amazon prime, but they have even less description than Rosenthal.

You need the service manual for your car. Or at least the Haynes manual. You may look at the price of the FSM and say "Holy #@#% Mobius, it's two hundred bucks!" but the answer to most questions you haven't even thought of are in there.

Since you're Amazon Prime at least get the Haynes manual. The engine rebuild section will have pictures of guys with Mullets working on either a Chevy or Ford V8 smallblock but the actual miata-specific sections are pretty good.

And for you, since it was Valentine's day, I include this link. This mazdamotorsports PDF has all the part numbers you need.

So, today's stupid question:

I spilled a bunch of oil in/on/around the alternator. It's dirty oil that came out of the engine. How do I fix it? Did I ruin it?

I did manage to kill my alternator by showering it in oil, but if you clean your properly before using it, I don't see why it wouldn't be fine. Take it apart and clean it with brake cleaner perhaps?

I managed to kink my valve cover gasket just a bit so that it didn't leak during the shake down at home, but leaked a lot at the track. The time before practise and qualify was not enough to do more then fix the leak and clean the bay, so the alternator had to keep running 20min track time while full of oil, which killed it. Don't repeat that.;)

I just hit it real quick at the car wash. Our 24v cummins alt gets covered yearly it seems.

I took the front cover off and hit it with engine cleaner, then doused it with water and put it back together. I'm not entirely sure I didn't break something while pulling it apart, but it seems to spin alright now so I'll just reinstall it and see what happens.

Empty a can of brake cleaner on it to flush it out completely (before you put the belt on, obviously).

Here's a couple quick shots of my project so far. Nothing too interesting, really, I just felt bad for not having any pictures in any of my threads for a while.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329842805
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1329842805

What do I use for sealant when attaching the oil pan? Just standard RTV? The stuff I peeled off was gray and RTV is white. Also, do I need to do any special cleaning of the surfaces first, or is just wiping it down with a clean rag sufficient? I'll be very mad if this leaks.

Probably something like this?

http://www.all-spec.com/products/821...FcFw4Aodcl98Uw

What does VTCS actually do? Is it that set of butterfly valves in the intake? Would it be a bad idea to just wire it open?

it increases intake port velocity to induce more tumble in the cylinder. really only helps when the car is cold and under about 3000 rpm (and under about 60kPa if you are boosted)

How much does it help, though? I ask because I accidentally twisted off the screw that holds the actuator on, and removed the solenoid that actuates it, and it would be less annoying to just leave it than fix all that, but if it actually makes a noticable difference during warm-up, I'll fix it.

it helps some. it also helps emissions some because it is effectively a "choke" when the butterflies are closed. less air ==> less fuel.

does your car die easily when it's cold?

My car runs horribly for the first 30s to a minute after I start it, but then it seems to run fine after that.

got a cold start up log?

Not with me, but I'll try to dig one off my laptop tonight. I worked on my cold start ALL summer and fall, twice a day most days, and never got anywhere. I think my injector dead times might be off a little or something.