This thread will be both forward and retrospective. We'll make this difficult by starting the middle. With that, meet PJ, my 2005 Base Miata:

This is PJ in all his scratched and sun-faded Black Cherry Mica glory.

PJ is my project Miata. I bought him in March 2024 from Florida dealer about to send him off for wholesale. A lifetime Florida car with nearly 170k miles, he had some mechanical and appearance issues, but aside from a fender bender that impacted the driver's rear quarter he has a completely clean chassis. Most importantly, he came with a manual transmission, a Tochigi Fuji LSD, and virtually zero rust.

PJ comes to me leaking oil from virtually every possible seal, enough to even make my '99 Jeep blush. A smoker's car with ash EVERYWHERE, he has torn leather, blown bulbs, a few popped fuses, blown speakers, and shines a CEL to round out the package. But the top is new. I fix the downstream O2 sensor, reconnect some vacuum lines, and the CEL disappears.

I have PJ because my wife, in her infinite wisdom, decided it was best that my first engine build NOT be installed in my garage mistress - my 2005 Velocity Red Mazdaspeed.

She's too good for my n00b engine skillz.

I've owned my MSM for 15 years. I'm her second owner and as you see I've take very good care of her. She now has 110k miles, but my neighbors argue when I tell them it has factory paint. As much as I like to talk about my MSM, this thread is not about her - short version, FM Garrett 2560 kit with lots of added FM goodies, MS3 running E85 at about 250whp at ~5000' elevation.

PJ is the perfect surrogate. I really don't care what happens to him. So, with that, let's move on to the next post, which goes back to the beginning.

 

It's now January 2023. My MSM is rocking 250whp and is a blast to drive. But....once you're bitten by the HP bug, you're infected. My MSM build was incremental - full enchilada, MS3 (thanks, MiataDad), then the FM kit over 2020-2021. Now I wanted more, and I kept seeing posts about these fabled Kraken kits, reading about 400whp. It got into my thoughts, my dreams. I even join MiataTurbo and start reading build threads.

In a weak moment, my wife sets a budget and lets me start this project - her mistake. I start budgeting out a build to put into my MSM. I steal ruthlessly from other builds, particularly knnstr's thread here: https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...ed-msm-105430/

My plan looks something like this:

• Full Kraken EFR 6758 kit - the whole shebang
• MS3 ProPNP
• AEM X-Series WBO
• Manley Rods, Supertech 9.5:1 pistons
• ACL Bearings, ARP Studs
• Supertech heavy double valve springs
• ID1050x w/GM e85 sensor
• Fluidampr harmonic balancer
• Boundary Engineering Oil Pump
• FM Stage 2 Clutch Happy Meal
• FM Coolant Reroute with Crossflow Radiator
• Gates racing timing kit w/water pump
• Innovate Engine Mounts
• Mazda OEM hoses, seals, etc.

Rather than risk the motor in my MSM, I find an MSM engine and transmission from a JDM shop, and in March 2023 it arrives:

I wonder what's inside...


Almost like Christmas, but better.

The engine is in rough condition. It looks like it was either out in the weather a long time or, worse, exposed to salt water. The aluminum on the oil pan and transmission show a lot of corrosion. There are broken bits everywhere - intake manifold, turbo.

Broken turbine blades, anyone?

I don't need the turbo, and I figure I can work around broken bits on the intake manifold. Undeterred, I start disassembly...

 

Disassembling an engine isn't terribly difficult. I take plenty of pictures to ensure I have good information to work from when I get to reassembly. I don't know it at the time, but things like the order of the camshaft and crankshaft caps is extremely important.

In the near term, I evidence everything - good and bad. Transmission comes off, and it's NASTY inside. Wet, oily, and completely covered in clutch dust. It doesn't get better; when I go to drain it I get a gear oil latte.

Yum.

I move to pulling apart the engine. I'd already found the damage on the intake manifold (no pictures for whatever reason). I pull that off, then pull the fuel rail. The injectors were in equally bad condition, the top and base seals were disintegrating. Apparently the JDM MSM uses a different injector than the US - blue, instead of purple. I still have these if you want them.

Danger, Will Robinson.

The valve cover comes off. I find some good news and some bad news. Good news is that the head looks like it was well-maintained; no sludge, lightly ambered, and the little oil still in it doesn't look terrible. Bad news, check out the combination of corrosion and oil buildup on cylinder 1.
Gonna have to fix this.

The news doesn't get much better. I pull the head, there's rust in the coolant passages. That'll clean out when I get the block serviced. Which I'm going to need to do, since I have this:

Ohhhh s..t.

I've got corrosion in the cylinder walls. Looks like it had water in it for a long time. Cylinders 2 and 3 both have corrosion on the passenger (intake) side, easy to feel with my finger - let alone my fingernail. Hoping it's just carbon from sitting, I try to clean it with brake clean - no dice.

With the bad comes a little good - the rod bearings (and the crank bearings) are in excellent condition.

Almost perfect.

In the context of the challenges I'd found so far, the rest of the disassembly was uneventful.


Bare block ready for the shop.


Table full of parts. I was starting to get nervous about finding everything when reassembly came around.

It's now early April, about a month after the engine was delivered. I drop the block, head, and crank off at the machine shop. I ask for an inspection, aiming for +1mm overbore and hone for pistons (once they arrive), flatten block/head, balance the crankshaft, hone They tell me it'll be 2-3 months.

 

I get an update from the shop. The block will clean up at +1mm. This was true, but for unexpected reasons, as we'll find out later.

I order pistons - I want SuperTech 9.5:1 - and wait for delivery. And wait - until I call, and find out they're on backorder with an expected in-stock date a couple weeks away. I wait, call back on the in-stock date, and they're now on indefinite backorder. I swap out to Wiseco 9:1 and get the pistons a few days later.

Shop turns around the final touches quickly, I have my block back in late July. It never occurred to me to paint anything, but reading on a few forums I see all the cool kids are doing it. I decide to be part of the in-crowd. I paint the block a mid-gloss black, the head is painted in "aluminum."

Went with clearcoat on the freeze plugs. See if you can figure out what's missing...

Really like the aluminum engine paint.

I also decide - very late - to repaint the valve cover. I should have done this while the block was at the shop - but, again, I didn't even think of painting until too late. I don't have pictures, but this was a very, VERY long journey, between the powder-coat factory paint and the corrosion on many surfaces. I am unhappy with the results and have (future) plans to revisit.

Ridiculous amount of time getting to this point.


Final-ish product. For now. It has not worn well.

 

For the transmission, I ended up letting it drain for a couple days. I sealed it up, then added some old MT-90 I had in an open container. I spun the output shaft to get it to coat everything, then let it sit to drain. I did this a few times over a several days until the oil drained clear.

 

While doing all this, I realized I needed more room in the garage. I didn't have enough depth for the car and the engine hoist. So, I bought a shed from Costco and built a platform for it. Fortunately, wood prices were starting to fall when I started this. They dropped more, but I wasn't gouged as much as I would have been earlier in the year.

Base Frame, fully leveled and anchored.


Floor laid down on top of 4x8x5/16" plywood.


Walls up.


Ready for move-in


Loaded up. Rack in the back was against the back wall of the garage, giving me another 3-4' depth to work with.

 

Cool thread so far, excited to see how this all has turned out.

 

Have a cat, for your wife.

We should all be so lucky to have a partner who encourages us to acquire more cars for totally logical reasons. Congrats!

 

Painting of the block and head complete, it's time to start the engine build. Thank goodness for pictures, I was able to install the crankshaft caps in the correct order and orientation.

Yes, I did install and torque the nuts.


Next, I set about to assembling rods, pistons, and installing rings. Getting the orientation right was a pain with all the oil being both slippery and sticky at the same time. Sadly, the eagle-eyed among you will see something missing here, and I'll pay for it a little later.

Some good looking hardware.

...and installation into the block was pretty straight forward. The pressure needed on the piston top to get it into the bore was a little unnerving, I was concerned about nicking the edge of a ring until I realized there was a bevel at the top of the bore. Nice.

The last time I'll see a lot of this hardware. Theoretically.


Clamping the rods down onto the crank.

I spun the crank around, everything moved smoothly. Very exciting, it seemed to be coming together. But, then I ran into my first "major" snag. The ARP hardware stands taller than the factory bolts, and as a result it conflicts with the main bearing support plate - MBSP.

This is what happens with you lift your (nut) head too high. You clip the MBSP...?

It took me a bit to figure out what this was - MBSP - then a little longer to figure out what was going on. Great thanks to documentation from Flyin' Miata, I learned I needed to drill these out and, after a little consternation, jumped in. Not sure how I didn't get pictures, so some added written detail:

1. Line up the MBSP in the correct position.
2. Use a punch to mark where to drill a hole to clear the ARP hardware. A couple, the front I believe, will line up with a second layer of steel that will make drilling a little more difficult.
3. Get a step drill bit and a starter bit. Measure the ARP hardware to determine what size you need.
4. Drill each hole - drill bit first as a starter, then step bit.
5. Confirm everything is aligned after each hole and after finishing. Open the hole a little more if it's off-center.
6. Remove all flashing from the holes - I used a wire brush wheel.
7. Clean, clean again, clean some more. Then clean it again. Metal likes to get in the support passages. I used a lot of brake clean and compressed air here.

Everything lines up, time to install the oil pan. This is pretty straight forward, but a little nerve wracking as you need to seal and torque the MBSP, then seal, install, and torque the oil pan - all before the sealant sets. For that reason, no in-line pictures, but here's the result.

Starting to look like an engine.

Next, I install the oil pump and water pump. More accurately, I do this twice because I find an O-ring sitting on my parts bench after putting it all together. (Ends up being three times, wait for it.) Worse, the O-ring was unrelated, and such I did all that for nothing. Regardless...the engine is looking pretty cool now.

More parts!


It's at this point I realize, while watching YouTube (probably Tavarish), that I realize I missed a step. I didn't gap the compression rings. Did I mention I was a n00b?



You'll understand I didn't capture any pictures of this process, frustration ran a little high. Beyond lost sleep, it also cost me a fair price in both money and time. Standard disassembly process: removed oil pan, MBSP, disconnected the connecting rod hardware and removed the pistons. I decided to replace the ARP2000 bolts for the connecting rods even though they are not torque to yield, but they're hard to find and unreasonably expensive. I even contemplated new rods as they were available and not significantly more expensive than just the bolts.

Anyone following in my footsteps, first - don't; second - I used Wiseco's recommendations for ring gap: https://www.wiseco.com/auto/wiseco-a...bout-ring-gap/

Good news is that I caught it, fixed it, and overall not significantly worse for wear. Short block is complete, head is next...

 

Time to move on to the head. Recall from earlier posts, this engine had a lot of corrosion on it. I don't have a good picture unfortunately - aside from the one burned into my memory, but there was significant pitting around spark plug 1. JB Weld to the rescue:

Unorthodox, but it works.

After letting it cure overnight, I sand it down. It actually turns out pretty good.

Also have some of the valve guide seals here.

And now I can set about building the head. I press on new valve guide seals and slide in the (stock) valves. Rewinding a bit - again, this engine had a lot of corrosion. There was also corrosion on the valve seats for cylinder 1, and a little on cylinder 3. The machine shop re-ground those surfaces and mated the valves, so the sealing surface is as close to perfect as I'll get:

Shiny.

Next, I install the Supertech heavy dual valve springs, spring caps, and retainers. FM has an excellent suite of tools that make this easy - at least as easy as it can be. Getting the clips in the right place was a pain, and having them stay in place, was a pain in the ***.

Yes using an impact socket. No not using an impact gun.

So, this head needed the valve seats ground. That meant all my shims were going to be too small. Time to measure it all out and determine what size shims I need. Sourcing shims is getting increasingly difficult, I ended up getting a package of Nissan (I believe) shims from Australia.

Measuring shim gap on the intake cam.

Most reading this likely have done shim gapping, but for those few who haven't - while it's not hard, it's definitely a slow and very detailed process. Measure everything at least twice. Follow cam assembly and disassembly steps carefully. Document everything with high detail. And if you need new shims, get extras. I ordered an extra in almost every available size and ended up needing to use a few because of tolerance measurements in the thousandths range.


Head almost complete

And now I'll move on to assembling the long block...

 

Looking at my pictures, I now remember this:

I didn't realize I forgot to gap the piston rings until AFTER I INSTALLED THE HEAD ON THE BLOCK. I ended up needing to get a new headgasket to add insult to injury.

 

Foreshadowing?

Sorry to hear about that mess-up, but honestly so glad you caught it now. Let us know what the gaps were when you check 'em out, I'm curious if it would have worked out or if you had to file them down substantially.

 

I've learned a lot through this journey - and more yet to come in this narrative.

The rings were sized such they'd fit into the bore without pinching, gap with no more than a few thousandths. Clearly delivered from the factory to enable the builder to get the initial measurement to work from, no way they'd have worked at my power levels.

I don't recall what gap I ended up setting as that was almost a year ago, but I did follow the guidance from Wiseco for a street/track - so probably in the 0.020-0.22 range for the upper ring, slightly higher for the lower ring. Suffice to say, significantly more gap and a very good thing I did it.

 

I'm very lucky - for many reasons. This is just one of them. My wife isn't a car person - or even terribly mechanically inclined - but she is an awesome cheerleader and at least tries to be interested when I go into the car rabbit-hole.

 

It's now December 2023, 9 months into this engine build. I finally mount the head onto the short block and start assembling to top end.

And starting to work on timing.

I install the cam gears and set timing.

Looks great - but the gears are in the wrong position on the camshafts.

Except I didn't. I ended up installing the gear with the camshaft pin in the wrong place. This came to me one night as I was thinking through the build (something I've done a lot on this journey). I somehow had the exhaust cam in the correct position, but the intake was off by 1/3 rotation. Disassemble, reassemble, and it's right.

I install the timing covers. The lower covers are new but I couldn't find an upper - so I cleaned that one up. All installed using stainless hardware from RSpeed, looks very nice.

Looking very tidy.

Next, I install new intake and exhaust studs I picked up from MiataRoadster. These kits are excellent. I've removed the exhaust manifold a few times and the exhaust studs haven't budged.

Intake Studs installed.

And new exhaust studs, nuts and lock washers on for safekeeping.

So, you may remember waaaay back, one of the pictures of the block as it was being painted noted something was missing. Well...now I found it...

 

I'd picked up a full JDM-spec MSM engine and transmission. There was serious corrosion overall, with notable corrosion in cylinder bore 2 and 3. The shop had said it would clean up at +1mm; they did the work and everything looked great.

As I started planning turbo install, I realized something was missing:

Something missing - center frame.

If you look very closely, you can see a pinprick in the middle of the machined-flat area center frame. That was me making sure I'd not accidentally left masking tape over what was supposed to be an oil feed for the turbo.

This is not my block.

Long story short, the machine shop had been wrong about the +1mm to bore out the corrosion. It would have needed at least another 0.5mm, potentially another 1mm to completely clean up. Instead of making me try to return pistons (as many of you know, that's not happening anyway), they gave me a different block.

They have done a lot of Miata work in the past and had a stack of old blocks along one wall. They were trying to help me out, - they just didn't realize there was a difference. I swung by, showed them what was missing. I have great respect for them trying to help me out.

They run a great shop - and I'm on good terms with them. I'm planning my next build, and I'll be working with them very soon.

 

Oil feed kit ordered, moving on.

I modify my valve cover to expand the port on the exhaust side (as seen elsewhere on this site) and install the cover. Again, using Rspeed stainless hardware, looks great.

Red cover looks great.

And I install some orange - SuperMiata coolant reroute and full clutch kit with the sport clutch. Like many other parts, the clutch gets to come off later, too.

Look at the orange.

Deastchwerks 1000cc injectors go in, with the Flyin Miata fuel rail. I plan to put the E85 sensor on rear feed line so it's only there temporarily; the front feed line is fully sealed.

Skunk2 intake manifold.

I also test-fit the exhaust manifold (with turbo - again, this gets to come off later)​. Kraken manifold with the Pulsar G25-550 clone.​​​​​​

Just waitin' to boooooost.

We're now back at the start of this thread - PJ's arrival in March 2024. It's at this point I realize that my build will likely overwhelm the transmission. Rather than blowing it up, I decide to send it off to a shop for a rebuild. In addition to dealing with the 4th gear circlip issue, I also have them shot-peen and polish the gearset and install carbon synchros.

Delay of game while the transmission is finished, so I start work on other things...

 

I use the delay time to do some cosmetic work on PJ. I didn't document much of this, but I did get take pictures of working on the seats. The leather seats had seen (much) better days, so I picked up new leather from lseats.com.

There was significant surface rust on the seat bottom, so after removing the leather I cleaned that up. I used a wire wheel to knock off most of the rust, then sprayed on rust converter, and painted it black to limit future rust.

Cleaned up all the rust


Rust converter and paint

I use zip-ties for installation. Put holes in the seating surfaces aligned to the tie-downs in the seat foam, then thread zipties through.

Put small holes in the surface, then thread the zip ties.

Zip ties are the way to go

All done, the contrasting leather looks excellent - and looks much better than the torn factory leather.

Contrasting leather looks exceptional

 

Transmission is back - and the registration, which took 3 months, finally is complete. Stuff is about to get real.

Pulled in and ready to start disassembly.

I took the time to tag all the various hoses and electrical connections. This made me feel better, but honestly ended up largely being a waste of time.

Tagged all the hoses and electrical. Ended up being overkill.

Everything tagged and disconnected, I removed everything I could. Radiator, condenser, front bumper; plus I removed the center console and shifter assembly, disconnected the PPF, disconnected wiring guides and attachments. Finally, I removed the bolts connecting the engine mounts to the frame. Time to lift:

Engine and trans on their way out.

Surprisingly, I didn't miss anything. It took a lot of maneuvering and adjustment to get the engine and trans out together. My leveler wasn't up to the task, it strained mightily trying to make the adjustments needed to pull everything out without significant interference. Although all the guides say to remove the engine and trans together, next time I'll look at removing the trans separately to see if that helps. (Foreshadowing: it does.)

Ultimately, I end up with this:

Engine and trans removed, ready to be stored away.

As a final step, I spray the engine bay with degreaser and power-wash it down to get it clean. It looks great, ready for the new engine:

Engine bay cleaned and ready for a new installation.

 

Next weekend comes along - time to get this thing installed. First, I attach the rebuilt transmission to the block. This took a little finagling, but with some careful positioning and percussive coaxing I got it in place. I move the assembly to a new position where I can do the final build in prep for installation.

Transmission installed, repositioning for final assembly.

I pull the accessories off of PJ's motor and install them on the built engine. I learn that the JDM MSM engine uses a different mount for the AC compressor than the USDM NB2, causing a slight delay as I pull, clean, and paint that part. I might have installed it while the paint was still curing - but no one knows that. Otherwise, everything goes into place without any hassle.

I take a few minutes to do a final check of all the bolts, make sure everything is tight in preparation for installation.

Accessories and belts in place, ready for reinstallation.

...which starts the next morning. The leveler struggles, dropping metal shavings everywhere, until it eventually largely fails. I have to relieve pressure on the leveler to get it to adjust, i.e., I have to lift the engine, else it just skips threads while trying to adjust the leveler. The rod is fine, it's the threaded block that has failed. I'll remember that when I get my replacement - and lube up the threads with high-pressure grease.

Installation is a serious pain in the butt as a result, but I manage.

Built engine and transmission on the way into PJ.

To make matters worse, I mess up the height setting on the Innovate engine mounts. Twice. Had I read the instructions...but, no, instead I get a LOT of experience adjusting, disconnecting, reconnecting engine mounts as I try all. three. positions before I select the middle one and get it right. All this with a failing leveler.

The way I hung the engine on the hoist wasn't level left/right, further frustrating the effort to get the engine mounts correct. Ended up this was the only process I asked for my wife's help, to have her push on the intake side in an effort to get things to line up.

I have a ton of experience with engine mounts now, which comes in handy a little later on. In the meantime, I finally manage to get the engine in the hole:

Engine and transmission in place.

Another weekend, and I've gone from an empty hole to a mounted built engine/transmission ready for connections. This is where it gets a little tedious - especially given I need a lot of new wiring for sensors supporting the MS3. Time to get on with it.