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FM was kind enough to charge me for a replacement clutch kit after mine was stolen. I keed. I keed.
So, I cleaned and installed it, once I was able to find the hole and stick my toy thing in it.
Then, my attention was turned to refurbishing the transmission. After cleaning, degreasing, and replacing seals and gaskets for all the shafts:
Wait. Where did that extra nut come from?! [Please don't be metric. Please don't be metric. Please don't be metric!]
New release bearing installed, everything lubricated, and ready for the many waiting shafts.
When jacking up the front of the engine to tilt it back, be sure to make the situation as precarious as possible. If you can manage to **** your wood at least 30*, you win by default. My wood only got cocked about 10*.
Angled for insertion.
Only 3 jacks and every scrap of wood in my garage were required to make this a solo operation.
I told my wife that lubing up the tranny is a time consuming operation. She looked at me funny for some reason. Anyway, this is how you guarantee that you can stand around and drink cheap beer for at least an hour, without interruption.
Anyway. Torqued and aligned everything. I was a bit leery of aligning the power plant frame, but it turned out to be a simple affair. Also did the normal maintenance stuff, like replacing the shifter bushings and boots.
The clutch is working well and feels good. Not loving the newfound flywheel lash; will have to adjust to that. The drivetrain shudder I was feeling is still there. Now, I'm thinking at least one motor mount or driveline bushing must be shot. Not much movement in the shifter, so I will probably start at the back and work my way forward.
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Last edited by Steve Dallas; 09-12-2017 at 07:10 PM.
I put delrin diff bushings in my Miata and it was gravy. would do again in a heartbeat. there was no gear noise at all, slop went away and shifting was precise even with the original engine mounts.
Don't have super high hopes for this, but I figure upgrading from the stock soda straw exhaust to 2.5" all the way back might perk this lazy car up a bit. So, I bought one of the last ones of this thing in the country:
To replace this thing:
Like this:
This extra bunghole thing:
(Always lube your bunghole things with copper anti-seize. No one wants and un-lubed bunghole thing.)
Allowed for this thing to be installed with that thing:
That leads to this thing needing to be bolted up:
The relocation of the rear O2 sensor thing means I needed this fuzzy plug thing, should I want to be able to drop the pipe thing easily:
So, I put these things on:
Then, crimped on these things:
Then, stuck on these things:
Then, plugged the things, wrapped with Xtreme tape to keep the things quiet, and wire tied the things to a helpfully located bracket thing far away from hot things, while making sure plenty of slack exists for movement:
Handy dandy heat shield thing reinstalled for heat and moisture protection:
Adjusted and torqued some things:
Fixed some leaking things:
Adjusted more things (poorly) with hose clamp things and zip tie things:
And finished allthethings for exhaust for now. After some daily driving and maybe a track day, I will re-torque the header nuts and install a header blanket to help keep heat off the brake things and intake things. On the home stretch now.
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Last edited by Steve Dallas; 09-18-2017 at 11:35 AM.
Maybe you already know this, but the rear crimp of a Weatherpack terminal (and most other individually sealed terminals) is supposed to be crimped around the skinny part of the seal.
Racing Beat NB2 header. That thing is a work of art. Too bad the Roadster Sport midpipe is only half as nice.
End result of the exhaust upgrade is a very angry little car. Much louder than I had hoped. To be more precise, it now has a noticeable drone on the highway that gets old quickly. It is also louder than I like at idle. It is kind of loud-cool when floored, but I'd prefer it to be more of a sleeper.
Performance improvements are there, but slight. The car actually has some throttle response now, and it really wakes up around 5,000 RPM. My butt dyno can barely feel anything otherwise. Hopefully, the new ECU and tune will make more of a difference. This is about what I expected from bolt-ons, though.
Maybe you already know this, but the rear crimp of a Weatherpack terminal (and most other individually sealed terminals) is supposed to be crimped around the skinny part of the seal.
Good eye!
I do know that and chose not to do it for a couple of reasons. The area where the plug now resides is perfectly clean, meaning it has never seen water, so I don't think it to be needed. Also, working nearly 3' above my head, while lying on my back, meant my arms felt like they weighed 1,000 lbs each, and fiddling with them was taking forever. I just wanted to be done with it and took the obvious shortcut.
Racing Beat NB2 header. That thing is a work of art. Too bad the Roadster Sport midpipe is only half as nice.
Ahh, gotcha. I bought my Racing Beat header used and it was ugly as sin. PO had it wrapped and welded in an extra bung, but it works, so no cares RB midpipe I bought new and it was beautiful.
Originally Posted by Steve Dallas
Performance improvements are there, but slight. The car actually has some throttle response now, and it really wakes up around 5,000 RPM. My butt dyno can barely feel anything otherwise. Hopefully, the new ECU and tune will make more of a difference. This is about what I expected from bolt-ons, though.
That's exactly how I described going from an OEM manifold to an RB. Its subtle, but its there. And you are right, tune will probably get you another couple HP but don't expect anything dramatic.
Racing Beat NB2 header. That thing is a work of art. Too bad the Roadster Sport midpipe is only half as nice.
End result of the exhaust upgrade is a very angry little car. Much louder than I had hoped. To be more precise, it now has a noticeable drone on the highway that gets old quickly. It is also louder than I like at idle. It is kind of loud-cool when floored, but I'd prefer it to be more of a sleeper.
Performance improvements are there, but slight. The car actually has some throttle response now, and it really wakes up around 5,000 RPM. My butt dyno can barely feel anything otherwise. Hopefully, the new ECU and tune will make more of a difference. This is about what I expected from bolt-ons, though.
A nice MKTurbo setup and exhaust will get rid of that drone and make it bit more of a sleeper.
At this point, all that remained to get the car back on the ground and back on the road was to put the engine bay back together. You all know the drill, so I'll just get straight to the photos.
I was going to make an airbox for the intake. Right. Who am I kidding? Anyway, I was going to draw an airbox for the intake and have a metal shop make it, but I decided to hit eBay first instead. $50 later, this arrived. It was gross and needed a lot of cleanup, but it cleaned up nicely with lighter fluid and steel wool. I added $7 worth of bulb seal from Amazon to finish it out. I assume it helps, but AIT is still pretty high at 20 to 25F over ambient. Header blanket might help with that. Applying some DEI heat shield to the airbox is also a possibility.
When you can't hold your potato cam level, you get crooked photos like this.
Finished and running again.
Still has tramp stamps and still needs a bath.
After spending way too much time and money on this project, I elected to spend more money and treat myself to this unnecessary, but really nice thing from Blackbird Fabworx. It should be fully splatted by bugs in short order.
Shook it out and very surprisingly uncovered only 1 problem: the new thermostat is not closing all the way, which makes it take forever to get up to temperature on cool mornings. D'OH! Easy to fix--just messy. I'll take that over most of the other possibilities.
Put a new set of NT01 tires on it and took it to the track Saturday and flogged it for nearly 3 hours. Only uncovered 1 other minor problem. The lower radiator hose clamp needed another half turn to stop a very small leak.
I would have liked to have some lap times to compare, but I have never driven this car in that configuration before, so I do not have any data for comparison. It felt a little faster, and my max speeds on 2 straights were a few mph higher than average as driven in other configurations, so maybe I accomplished a little something in all this.
No oil cooler leaks. No problems with the clutch. No problems with the exhaust. No other problems to report. No problems at all. I even seem to have gotten away with that gouged crank clusterf***. This can't be real.
One question: The shifter seems to be cocked a little bit forward of where it used to be. Is that something that can happen? Is there a remedy? Turn the shifter around maybe?
Speaking of the shifter... Even though my bushings were not bad, the shifter feels a lot better with new ones and / or new oil in the turret.
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Last edited by Steve Dallas; 09-12-2017 at 07:45 PM.
^Agreed. I had their cat-back on my track rat (only thing in stock anywhere and I needed it or would miss a paid for weekend), gorgeous and sounded great.........but damn was it heavy.
Ahh, gotcha. I bought my Racing Beat header used and it was ugly as sin. PO had it wrapped and welded in an extra bung, but it works, so no cares RB midpipe I bought new and it was beautiful.
That's exactly how I described going from an OEM manifold to an RB. Its subtle, but its there. And you are right, tune will probably get you another couple HP but don't expect anything dramatic.
Feels good to make progress, right?
How does the RB midpipe fit? RB says it is not compatible with the front NB bracing. Internet lore says it is actually the rear bracing. I decided I didn't want to mess with it and went with RS instead, since it is known to fit, but I really like RB products and would have liked to have RB all the way back.
The tuner I am taking the car to told me he has gotten up to 150 WHP on VVT engines with decent intake, exhaust, and ignition setups, and mid 130s is common. I don't have my hopes up. We shall see.
Originally Posted by shuiend
A nice MKTurbo setup and exhaust will get rid of that drone and make it bit more of a sleeper.
No doubt, but FI is still at least a year away. Building this house is going to vacuum up most of my disposable income for probably the next 18 months.
Originally Posted by z31maniac
^Agreed. I had their cat-back on my track rat (only thing in stock anywhere and I needed it or would miss a paid for weekend), gorgeous and sounded great.........but damn was it heavy.
Yeah. This car came with the dual exit RB muffler. It sounds great for a 4 banger for what it is, and like the header, it is a work of art. I don't know how much it weighs, but it certainly looks heavy. I have toyed with the idea of getting the Enthuza setup with the Magnaflow muffler everyone seems to like, but my bumper is cut for dual exit, so I am hesitant to do it. I like function AND form, and that causes me to make plenty of compromises.
Forgot to mention... The RB header plus RS midpipe plus RB muffler has a great decel burble. It actually sounds like a mini V8. That's something to like.
I definitely had an improvement with the RB header on stock ECU. I remember feeling like I could actually pass cars in 5th without downshifting. The midrange improved substantially with the megasquirt.
How does the RB midpipe fit? RB says it is not compatible with the front NB bracing. Internet lore says it is actually the rear bracing. I decided I didn't want to mess with it and went with RS instead, since it is known to fit, but I really like RB products and would have liked to have RB all the way back.
I have an NB1 and no clearance issues with RB all the way back. I know the NB2 and NB2 Sport have different bracing so unfortunately I can't call that apples to apples. Sorry :(
Originally Posted by Steve Dallas
I don't know how much it weighs, but it certainly looks heavy.
RB doesn't make anything lightweight If you are still using rubber exhaust hangers, it might be worth a hose clamp and a couple zip ties before you do a track day.
Hose clamp keeps the rubber hangar from sagging under the weight of the new exhaust plus the heat from running FLATOUT at the track, and zip ties keep the clamp from ending up in the windshield of the guy behind you if one of them slips or otherwise lets go. I broke 2 OEM rubber ones at my first trackday with the new RB stuff. I couldn't figure out for the life of me what was banging around under the car. lol.
Originally Posted by Steve Dallas
Forgot to mention... The RB header plus RS midpipe plus RB muffler has a great decel burble. It actually sounds like a mini V8. That's something to like.
I had that too with my RB stuff. Its actually kinda fun, but makes me feel very m.net to say that
Originally Posted by ridethecliche
I definitely had an improvement with the RB header on stock ECU. I remember feeling like I could actually pass cars in 5th without downshifting. The midrange improved substantially with the megasquirt.
I believe this, but its also not like its going to open things up all crazy-go-nuts. A 5-10% increase is like, 5-10hp on a 100hp engine
Originally Posted by turbofan
Are you still on the stock VTCS manifold? If not... Ditch that sucker ASAP and revel in the improvement.
^^ Absolutely this. VICS intake manifold with a properly (read:dyno) tuned crossover point will yield a little bit more in the midrange. You can control it with the ECU so its not like you can't use it. If you want to upgrade all the way as far as factory manifolds go, there is always the squaretop too.
Not a Miata, but still Mazda VTCS:
Ewww :P
I suspect almost anything is better than the VTCS.
How does the RB midpipe fit? RB says it is not compatible with the front NB bracing. Internet lore says it is actually the rear bracing. I decided I didn't want to mess with it and went with RS instead, since it is known to fit, but I really like RB products and would have liked to have RB all the way back.
It's not internet lore, it's me, for I have this thing and have done this thing. The rear 6-point NB2 subframe brace will not fit with the RB midpipe. The resonator, it is the too huge. None of the other braces give a damn. Last time I ran it it also wanted to shift around on track and knock against things back around the diff.
In order for the rear brace to work with the RB midpipe it will have to be clearanced, ie, a notch will have to be welded in. Fortuitously I have two NB2 rear subframe braces, so I'm free to experiment, but short on time.
At this point, I've just stopped running all the stock underchassis bracing anyway, except of course for the rear brace. Right now I've been running the Roadstersport midpipe and muffler, and I must say I like the sound lots. Now that the turbo is going on, though, I'm going to give the RB midpipe a try again, and pair it with my little pencil of an Enthuza muffler. We'll see how sound goes next week, I may have to run the Roadstersport setup for Laguna, but with the turbo on I really doubt it.
Edit: the other option is to take BFH and make the resonator fit the brace. This option has the advantage of not lowering ground clearance on an already low car. Hmm.
Are you still on the stock VTCS manifold? If not... Ditch that sucker ASAP and revel in the improvement.
It's on the list as something to research. What I really need to know is, if I can pass smog with the stock ECU and that manifold. I have to pass emissions every year right after the summer break in track season and want it to be as quick and easy as possible.
Originally Posted by EO2K
I have an NB1 and no clearance issues with RB all the way back. I know the NB2 and NB2 Sport have different bracing so unfortunately I can't call that apples to apples. Sorry :(
RB doesn't make anything lightweight If you are still using rubber exhaust hangers, it might be worth a hose clamp and a couple zip ties before you do a track day.
Hose clamp keeps the rubber hangar from sagging under the weight of the new exhaust plus the heat from running FLATOUT at the track, and zip ties keep the clamp from ending up in the windshield of the guy behind you if one of them slips or otherwise lets go. I broke 2 OEM rubber ones at my first trackday with the new RB stuff. I couldn't figure out for the life of me what was banging around under the car. lol.
Hose clamps and zip ties already in use. Maybe I'll add that to the narrative above. It's SOP to use those around here. Great for height adjustment and balance and to keep things from sagging / breaking.
Originally Posted by EO2K
I had that too with my RB stuff. Its actually kinda fun, but makes me feel very m.net to say that
m.net. That's where we go to foist our used junk on the rubes, right?
Originally Posted by EO2K
I believe this, but its also not like its going to open things up all crazy-go-nuts. A 5-10% increase is like, 5-10hp on a 100hp engine
My dyno should be interesting. ECU should be going in this weekend. Tune as soon as possible after that. I am taking the car to Hallett the 12th through the 15th for instructor training, so everything needs to be completed before then.
09-08-2017, 02:24 PM
Clutch my Tranny
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RB midpipe I bought new and it was beautiful. 
If you are still using rubber exhaust hangers, it might be worth a hose clamp and a couple zip ties before you do a track day.
