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How much horsepower does your dad get?? :teehee:
About 150hp [emoji3]
Now that winter's icy cold grip has finally relented, I was able to get some more work done on the Miata this weekend.
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Empty engine bay. Note all the tags to identify various hoses and plugs and what not. Rubber caps keep fluids in and foreign objects out.
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Old 1.6 engine and transmission are out.
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PS delete and AC compressor brackets swapped over to new motor
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1.6 oil pressure sender unit swapped over to new motor. 1.6 cars have true oil pressure senders, but all 1.8s - aside from 94s - have idiot lights turned into gauges. Hence, you’ll want to install your original oil pressure sender in place of the 1.8’s oil pressure sender. Your original sender is pretty big, whereas the sender on the new (post-94) engine is pretty small, but they both use the same spade connector and thread into the same place in the same manner.
I also deleted the NB knock sensor (blind hole right above the oil pressure sender) because whatever sticky black goo the microphone was potted in was leaking all over the place. Maybe one day I'll buy a new knock sensor and figure out how to configure the Megasquirt to use it. Basically, you have to tune the filters to detect knock (vs. normal combustion events) and then create a map to pull ignition timing when it detects knock.
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Flyin' Miata ignition coil relocation bracket and M-tuned coolant reroute fitting installed. I used an OEM gasket instead of the M-tuned supplied sticky foam gaskets since I had plenty of access and could ensure the surface was immaculately clean of all old gasket material. I imagine doing this install while the motor is in the car would be quite a challenge and the sticky back gaskets would be useful in that case. Time will tell if I made the right gasket choice. Here's hoping for a lifetime free of coolant leaks!
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Side view of the M-tuned coolant reroute fitting on back of head. I also installed new temp sensors. The small sensor is for the instrument panel temperature gauge and came with its own thread sealing paste applied from the factory. The large green sensor is for the ECU. I wrapped the threads in Teflon tape to seal them from leaks. The Megasquirt EMS will also use the green sensor to monitor coolant temps for radiator cooling fan control instead of the thermistor that 1.6 cars originally had on top of the front thermostat housing that's since been removed.
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Longer screw for Flyin' Miata coil bracket wire harness clip. The screw supplied by Flyin' Miata was too short to engage the nylock feature of the supplied nut. I used a longer screw that would fully engage the nylock so it won't vibrate loose.
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Original 1.6 ignition coil signal wire configuration.
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New 1.8 ignition coil signal wire configuration. When doing this swap you must reuse your 1.6 coils, as the 1.8 coils aren’t compatible with the 1.6 electronics. The easiest method is to simply bolt your 1.6 coils into the Flyin' Miata ignition coil bracket, which will allow you to bolt them to the 1.8 valve cover. Most plug wires won’t fit with the coils in their original orientation, though - from left to right, the 1.6 plug wire order is 2-3-4-1 and the 1.8 order is 1-4-2-3 (1 being the front spark plug). By swapping the signal wire between the two coils, you’ll match your 1.6 coils to the 1.8 plug wire order and your plug wires will work (all 90 - 00 plug wires are the same). There are two wires (underneath a plastic cover) on the bottom of each coil. The power wire is red, and you can easily tell that the wire goes to both coils. The other wire is the signal wire. Swap those signal wires and use the correct (1.8) plug wire order.
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1.6 plug wire order. Looks like #1 and #4 were actually switched at some point, but it doesn't really matter much since the ignition system is batch fire wasted spark. I actually prefer this routing as it looks cleaner and more organized and I don't like it when plug wires criss cross-each other as that increases radio frequency interference and the chances of arcing between leads.
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1.8 plug wire order.
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Servicing the new transmission on the workbench. The goal was to swap the Toda Racing flywheel and nearly new clutch from the old motor to the new one and give the new transmission some new seals front and rear.
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Transmission front cover with new oil seal installed. Note correct seal orientation. When fitting the new paper gasket it helps to smear a thin film of oil on it so it sticks to the transmission gasket sealing surface while you reinstall the front cover. Don't forget the little oil shim (not pictured here). I also grease the front cover snout so the throwout bearing slides smoothly and the clutch fork pivot and the transmission input shaft splines. FYI the NA clutch fork boot is not the same size as the NB clutch fork boot.
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FYI for comparison purposes. The 1.8 (NB1) engine mount bracket on left vs. 1.6 (NA6) on right.
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Garage Star alternator pulley installed. The alternator/water pump belt must be tensioned properly and you'll need an impact driver to remove and install the nut that affixes the alternator pulley.
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New 1.8 motor and trans ready to go back in.
:popcorn:
"Baby steps to the elevator Bob." Spent the weekend with my dad working on the Miata. Tasks are slowly but surely getting crossed off the to-do-list. To keep things organized we've got a spreadsheet on Google Drive that we both contribute to that lists all the parts details and all the tasks that need to be done so that my dad can chip away at it while I'm not there. The list so far has 177 tasks and it just keeps growing as we think of more things to do and document. Many tasks are very broad like "Label everything in engine compartment" or "Install BP engine and transmission," while others are very specific, like "Remove the 10A "ST SIGN" from the engine bay fuse box" and "Enlarge the alternator power stud ring terminal to 8mm / 5/16” to fit stock power cable to 1994-97 alternator."
Because it won't ever get any easier to pull the rear diff than right now, we decided to pull it to replace the OEM rubber mounting bushings with Energy Suspension polyurethane differential bushings. Many people wonder about the negative effects on NVH but I'm not worried about it at all. This car is meant to be an exciting weekend toy/back road carver/ track car, not a soft daily driver.
We tried at first to do the differential bushing install with the diff still IN the vehicle per http://www.mazda-speed.com/forum2/in...c,17487.0.html but it just wasn't happening for us. So I unbolted the exhaust and the axles from the diff so we could get the diff out and someplace easier to work on. I used a coping saw to remove the inner rubber part from the bushing. Then I used a hacksaw to cut the outer shell of the bushing followed with repeated hammering with my air chisel to break up the outer shell and push the bushing out of the aluminum diff housing. It was a royal pain as most people can attest to. No wonder it took me all these years to build up the ambition to tackle this task. I don't know why the Energy Suspension Installation instructions 90-05 Mazda Miata Differential Mount Bushings say to remove the rubber from both sides of the OEM differential retainer washer. It seems you only really need to remove the rubber from the upper part that makes contact with the poly bushing. But monkey see, monkey do. The propane torch didn't do anything to help release the rubber bond. It just made lots of smelly rubber smoke. I ended up using the Dremel oscillating cutoff tool with scraper attachment to cut the old rubber off the steel retainer washer. A quick clean up with the wire wheel and some brake clean and then 3 coats of Rustoleum spray paint. Left to dry overnight. Ugly but effective.
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Energy Suspension polyurethane differential bushings installed
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Rear differential support brackets modified for polyurethane diff mounts by removing rubber pads and then painting black.
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Bottom half of polyurethane diff bushings
All new clutch hydraulics were installed thanks to 949Racing SuperMiata Clutch Hydraulic Overhaul Kit. Swapped speedometer gear and gear housing from old transmission to new one (mechanical vs. electric). Installed Weather Pack connectors to adapt the NB transmission reverse and neutral switches to my NA chassis harness. I should have keyed the connectors to make installation brainless. Oh, well. The really short wire goes to the neutral switch, the slightly longer wire goes to the reverse switch. Deleted charcoal canister and the hard coolant line attached to the chassis (NA have 2-piece lower radiator hoses, NB have 1-piece hose).
We also modified the stock steel fuel supply and return lines with tube nuts, tube sleeves and 37* flares. They should be good for many hundreds of psi. No wimpy compression fittings here. Then we've got Earl's AN -5 to AN -6 adapters. Once the ITBs are installed we'll make the custom AN -6 flexible fuel hoses using nothing but the finest Aeroquip Starlite Nomex covered fuel hose and Aeroquip swivel hose fittings. Common wisdom says fuel pressure gauges don't last long when attached to directly to the motor/ fuel rail, so I might remote mount it to the firewall to reduce vibrations. We'll see. The fuel lines are temporarily capped to keep debris out and to reduce the smell of gasoline vapors in the garage. I know the V8 guys recommend cutting the fuel lines much further down, but I wanted to keep as much of the OEM hard lines intact as possible. The further down you go there is a rubber coating on the hard lines that would need to be removed. Also, the flexible lines are more vulnerable than the hard lines. With all the bends in the fuel lines there is just barely enough room to fit the tiny Rigid pipe cutter to cut the line and also fit the 37* flare tool with the tube nut and sleeve slid down. The flare tool left teeth marks on the fuel line that needed to be sanded out in order to slide the tube sleeve back up and even then it too some brute force. The plan is to keep the stock fuel line plastic separator and mounting bracket.
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AN tube nut and tube sleeve for fuel hose hard line goes like so.
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Fuel lines modified and temporarily capped
Finally got the new engine installed. Now beings the process of hooking everything back up so that it runs.
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Engine going in
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Engine is in
Love to see this one updated. Your Dad must be so happy that you are building him such an awesome miata.
Progress continues. We test fit the ITBs with the motor in the car. I think we can orient the R-134a adapter fitting on the low pressure line so that it's pointed downward to get the clearance we need for the air filter. I really want to keep the AC because I like hardtops and being comfortable in the summer heat. If it was a race car only I'd pull it but my goals are to keep the car livable on the street. Down the road I may end up making new custom AC lines with the Aeroquip stuff just so that it looks nicer but I want to get the car running ASAP so for now I'm hoping to make it work as-is. Haven't decided yet whether or not to relocate the windshield washer bottle to the cowl area using the Suzuki Cappuccino / Nopro setup like YellowYata did in this tutorial. I'm not sure where I'm going to mount the Golden Eagle vacuum manifold block but it can go either on the firewall or in place of the OEM washer bottle like Stoly did.
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Also fit the AWR heavy-duty sway bar brackets, Racing Beat 1.8 solid front sway bar and 12mm OEM rear sway bar with new Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings. The bushings came with my kit when I did all the control arms a few years ago. I'm glad I held onto the sway bar bushings and was able to find them again in my messy garage. The FM 1.6 front and rear sways will be up for sale soon. Now we have the necessary clearance between the sway bar and the AC compressor and the setup is ready for next year when we install a Xida 550/350 coilover setup.
Also got some new brake pads and some libations courtesy of my old friend thebluepotato.
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that Maruha Life yO :teehee:
Wow, this thing just gets better and better. (y)
Thanks for reading my project updates. Yesterday I ordered ITG Filters Megaflow Performance Air Filter JC50/75 and a JC50 Blank Aluminum Base Plate. My air horns are 50mm long and ITG say there must be an absolute minimum gap of 3/4" (19mm) or preferably 1 1/4" (32mm) between the end of the air horn and the underside of the top of the filter. So with the JC50/75 I've got 25mm clearance, which is more than the bare minimum but a few mm less than ideal. Obviously the JC50/100 would be even better but I start running into clearance issues between the filter and the hood, shock tower, etc. The aluminum baseplate should be easier than the steel version to mark and drill to fit to my ITBs.
Very Nice, and I bet the bourbon it too!!!!!!!!
Such a great build, can't wait for some videos of it up and running! :drinkto:
After 8 months of patiently waiting my D-Technique M2-1001 front bumper has arrived from Japan. 1 of 1 in the USA.
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