dleavitt

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Me: Hi, I'm Don, and I have a problem.

MT.net: Hi Don! What's the trouble?

Me: [sigh] I prefer N/A over turbo, and if I am going to do forced induction it is likely to be a Rotrex.

MT.net: BURN THE HERETIC!

Now that that is over with: Hello, my name is Don and I've leaped head-first into Miata enthusiasm. My day job is tax accounting, which is more exciting than it sounds (at least to me), but my real thrills come with driving, wrenching, breaking, and fixing my roadster.

Here is how I found him back in November (yes, him. My wife decided that his name should be Olaf. Whatever, as long as it means she lets me spend money on parts):


Not bad for $2500. Needed a new top, and the suspension needed some work. First step though was to get rid of those wheels:


Of course, this did nothing for the looks of an already too tall Miata. Out came the wallet, and on came the FM 2.5 suspension kit:

Much better! That picture is from my first autocross, which was some of the most fun I've had with my pants on in a while. Immediately ordered some magnetic numbers though. Tape sucks.

I've since picked up another Miata that I'm going to fix up and flip, which will give me the money for this:


Okay, so I got a little excited and bought it before I technically had the money. But I'm going to have the money soon...ish. And that's what counts.

Also happening is a RS3 cat-back, exhintake swap, and some dyno time. Baseline run is happening tomorrow morning!

Braineack

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Welcome, dleavitt!

dleavitt

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Thanks Braineack!

Just got back from the dyno at KO Racing in Oregon City. 100% stock, but won't be that way for much longer.

dleavitt

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Well, this summer hasn't exactly gone according to plan. The other Miata still isn't fixed up, and my daughter decided to be born early. My MS3 is still sitting in my office. :(

In happier news: I should be picking up a NB1 engine for REALLY cheap. Guy I'm buying it from says it has rod knock, but head is still good. So instead of exhintake I'll be swapping heads. I'm thinking of getting the head refreshed before putting it on. Any performance-oriented things I should have done while it's in the shop?

Girz0r

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If you're only doing the head, a good refresh with OEM parts should be fine. Unless you wanna spend money on valves, seals, springs from supertech.

Also, since you have the head off... this would be a great opportunity to do a rear coolant reroute with the 99-00 head gasket.

Go check out Skou's thread and pickup that fine piece of CNC - https://www.miataturbo.net/miata-par...fitment-82451/

dleavitt

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Want to spend money? Yes. Have money to spend? Less so.

This will be the first time I've had any work done on an engine, so I still have a lot to learn. I don't even know exactly what goes into a full head refresh, so I need to figure out what kind of questions to ask the potential machinists to get an actual quote.

Reroute is definitely on the agenda since I have the head off. Would the gasket match with the head or the block? Or is there any difference between the NA8 and NB1 gaskets?

Edit: Learned that the engine had 127k miles before being pulled. Assuming the head looks okay, should I even bother with a refresh?

dleavitt

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Picked up the motor today. Might be missing a bolt here or there, but pretty much complete.








With 127k miles, do you think I'll want to get it rebuilt before throwing it on my 95 block? Don't want to spend money needlessly. What kind of things should I look for?