EErockMiata

I just picked up a rather cheap low mileage VVT motor for my 99. My budget for this is some what limited but with time could be expanded if it's worth it.

So... I'm kicking around idea of what should be done with this thing. Wondering if I should just do the standard tb/wp refresh and bolt it in, or if I should refresh all of the seals etc or lastly... do a coolant re-route.

I've never had cooling issues on track but it seems like now would be the time for a re-route since it's out of the car. Seems like if I'm going to do a re-route a 99-00 headgasket is a must.

Does anyone else know of a thread that lists the part numbers for all of the seals i'd need for a basic refresh on this thing?

Please use your experience to give me some guidance. Keep in mind if I manage to divert some funds on this thing I'll be able to buy a square top for it as well... which would be nice.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

How many miles on it, how long has it been sitting, and did you do a compression/leakdown test on the motor before pulling it from the donor?

Also, what are your plans for the car? race car, street car, turbo eventually, etc?

Nothing wrong with refreshing it, but if its low enough mileage i'd say **** it and run it.

EErockMiata

motor has 64k miles on it. No idea how long it's been sitting cause I'm scooping it up from a wrecking yard. I'd say it's been sitting for 6-8 months.

This is a track car that sees only enough street miles to get it to the track. Might race in supermiata in a year or so. I've got an ms3 basic that will be controlling this thing once running.

Thanks for the reply.

Fireindc

iTrader: (13)

Ah, from a wrecking yard? IMHO wrecking yard = at least pull it apart and look at it. If you are going that far, you may as well toss some rods in there and re-ring it.

cjsafski

iTrader: (2)

Wrecking yards tend to leave things sitting out in the weather. Make sure you give it a good inspection. If you can get access to a bore scope use that to peak around and see if anything got in or any signs of rust. If not and the seals seem ok just run it. I dont like pulling apart a good motor. Worst case you may have to pull it back out which is not really that big of a deal once you do it a few times.

Seefo

iTrader: (5)

probably do it all with priorities like this:

1) coolant reroute
2) rear main seal + throwout & pilot bearings
3) other seals/timing belt/water pump.

Its really easy to do the TB/WP and front seals compared to the rear. If it has been sitting around for a long time, I would probably do all 3. If it has been driven consistently, I would do 1) and 2).

blaen99

iTrader: (6)

Coolant reroute on with a VVT headgasket?

I thought that was decided to be a poor idea.

Davezorz

iTrader: (2)

NVM misread Blaen's post

EErockMiata

If i did a coolant re-route i'd do a 99-00 head gasket as well. I didn't make that clear in my original post as i look back at it. I'm thinking at this point that I would not go with a re-route unless i had sound reason to pull the head for a full inspection. At that point if I go that far I might as well do the 99-00 gasket and do the re-route.

On the other hand I know I'm going to be cursing myself later while I install the re-route with the engine in the car.

two questions:
1) is the re-route really necessary with teh changes they made to the 01+ head gasket?
2) If it doesn't I could divert that money towards a square top IM. It seems running the vics manifold on teh 01+ motor would be a bit of a waste. Opinions on this?

Dunning Kruger Affect

Are you going to turbo or keep it N/A?

I have a junkyard VVT motor in my 94, I just did a TB/WP job and flushed out the cooling passages. It's a bit leaky, but I'm not loosing sleep over it. I'm also not terribly concerned with overheating with the TSE radiator and not having a reroute.

I'll probably have Savington build me a motor within a year or so when I want to upgrade the drivetrain (6 speed + 4.3), but the junkyard motor has shown no signs of blowing up on me.

EErockMiata

This car will for sure stay NA. I do too much track work to deal with the expenses of a turbo car... and besides I'm still managing to lop 1 to several seconds off my respective lap time for each track with my measly 110whp the car has now.

Thanks for the advice/anecdotes guys. I'm picking up the motor next week from the yard on phoenix. I'll post pictures and update this thread as i go along. Plan now is to pull the valve cover and take a look, replace the tb/wp and do the front main and rear main. If everything looks good when i pull the VC i'll motor on and throw a square top on it.

cjsafski

iTrader: (2)

I would almost suggest looking for a whole JDM motor. Would come with a square top so could be a bit cheaper in the long run.

EErockMiata

good suggestion for sure Chris. I looked around the country for something that would have fit the bill and i did not find any euro or jdm spec engines for sale with mileage under 80k. I did pretty well one this one. Ended up paying around 700 for it and I've already sourced a flat top to throw on it. As long as it's in decent shape I should do OK financially. Hell... even if I have to re-ring it and have the head cleaned up I should still be ok.

I'm headed down to PHX next week to pick it up so gotta keep my fingers crossed until then.

MX5RACER

Do the rear main, front main and cam seals along with TB and WP.

At the least do the rear main seal.