NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
I bought this car in October of 2000.
This will be a sort of stream of conscience mixed with memories of the car through my ownership and I will post pictures I might find from the past years. Some are embarrassing, some are pretty neat. It may seem disjointed times, but this thread and subsequent posts will try to just show the events that influenced my reasons for what have done to my car.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pics from a computer crash back in '05. Some will be photos given to me from friends. I know I have them, but I don't know their location at the moment. I started looking for my Miata around April of '00. I was originally looking for a RWD coupe. I considered a 240sx, BMW 3 series, and a Subaru 2.5RS. I even looked at other classics, like a Datsun Fairlady for the 60’s. It was to be a second car; something I would put away in the winter months had recently relocated back to west Michigan. The Miata sort of popped into my head from a soon-to-be good friend met through a car club. He had a white '94 r-pack. I knew I wanted a LNC, mariner and I looked for months. Fortunately, one finally popped up in early October, owned by a young professional couple. He was a marketing executive, she was a surgeon, so I had a good feeling it was well cared for. It was sitting in the garage, collecting dust. He was about 6'8" and couldn't kit in the car. She couldn't take both boys with her in the Miata. It had 38,xxx miles on it, B-package with Mazdaspeed stripes. He had bought her a Porsche cabriolet "so the kids could fit in the back seat" as replacement. I nodded in agreement, but rolled my mind’s eye.
I took it home the next day and installed a Borla exhaust.
I drove to the beach the first day I owned it in October 2000:
http://i.imgur.com/1Br0MPk.jpg
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
I had a bad rattle from my hardtop so I looked at the rear feet. All the gaskets are intact, but I had about 3-4mm of vertical slop. I want to remove the Frankenstein bolts, but I know there is thread lock on there. Not wanting to break off the weldnuts, I left them alone and fiddled with the landing plates under the caps of the feet on the back of the hardtop. I loosened the bolts and flipped the plates over. I also added a washer to each bolt under the landing plate to take up some of the vertical slop. It worked! No more low RPM buzzing around that area.
I am waiting for the previous owner to complete his move to get the rest of the car's stuff back and start rebuilding the spare engine. Should begin soon. I would like to send out the MSPnP to get it checked over so I can convert to the COPs I built a couple years back. :)
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NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
I found a great write up by Adam to help me wire the LED strips to the OE lighting here:
http://revlimiter.net/blog/2013/03/let-there-be-light/
Thank you, good sir!
So, I tied in the leads to the driver's side light switch. It's a 3-way, meaning the LEDs will either be off, switched on, or turn on when the doors open. Exactly how I was hoping these to work. Now, I just need to lay in the strips and wire them to the leads I added. :)
Attachment 14413
The green wire is connected to the switch.
Attachment 14414
The red wire is 12v. This is for an illuminated mirror, if I retrofit one. I will cap this off until then.
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
The LED and reset for the WbO2 is mounted in a blank on the lower left. Most people think it's an alarm indicator.
Adam's research to find red bulb covers resulted in a fantastic effect when paired with red gauges. The incandescent lights really give the gauges a softer, glowing light versus the LED replacements.
I ordered the red bulbs for the center combo switch plus an extra for the A/C button, should I find myself wanting to do that one. :)
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NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
Had the bumper cover off tonight to replace the air diverter panel. The original one was notched years ago to accommodate an intercooler on one of the turbo configurations I ran. It had taken a few hits over the years since and was no longer structural. It literally dropped out in 3 pieces. No bueno, especially for cooling.
With the bumper off, I also took the heat gun to press out the sag in the cover right in the middle. Just a few minutes and some upward pressure took care of that.
Attachment 14547
Attachment 14548
Everything is buttoned up, the bumper is solid and no longer flopping around.
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
A little progress today. I removed the old rings and cleaned the pistons. Afterward, I weighed out the reciprocating assemblies. They are all +\- 2 grams of each other. I will zero them out now that I know where the min an max are. For stock parts, this is really pretty good, but I have the means, so I will.
I am putting together a coolant reroute. Reverend Greg is local to me, and is building a spacer for the back of the head and a front block off plate. I will use a Kia neck and Escalade hose with a CSF aluminum radiator.
I *might* shave my built head when we pull it. On a stock block, I am around 10:1, based on compression tests. A little more would be nice, just depends on time.. The other option is to clean the stock head and chuck it on there and do the extra work to the built head later.
Anyways, pictures:
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...psrrbeodag.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...psuasmohcg.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...psnmtgoaot.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...psspjw8mel.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...pszgil1dlx.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...pswqctdmjl.jpg
http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/f...pswypeorit.jpg
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
Well, shit just got real.
Started the car to head home from work, idle was crazy high. Figured the IAC was flaking out. Got about a 1/2 mile away and the car drops two cylinders, bucking, the AFR pegs pig rich. So, I pull into a parking lot and the car stalls.
I get towed home, look for obvious issues, broken wires, etc. I get it fired again and it is dumping fuel. Pull the plugs to let them dry, all are wet except #3. I call it a night.
In the morning, I give another once over, check the ECU, no corrosion or moisture. I fire it up, it runs right away and is starting to smooth out, then it gets up to temp...
http://youtu.be/mQN7QOWGWQM
Steam out the pipe, oil smoke under load. Head gasket appears to be toast.
Already assembled the ATL Miata super team. Engine build happens Friday. Putting a known, stock head on the rebuilt block, putting it in Saturday/Sunday with new clutch, fresher transmission. Gonna throw down on her til she runs good. I will tear down the current lump, including the built head and see what happened. Maybe I will part it out and get a bp4/5.
How many licks to get to the center of this tootsie pop? A little over 180k hard-driven, thrice force inducted, countless hours of track time, and 23 years. :)
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NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
3 Attachment(s)
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
Car is on the ground. New motor, trans, and clutch are in.
Brief overview. Today we built a complete engine, pulled the old motor and trans. Installed the new stuff.
Tomorrow I will button it up, I think it will be done around noon.
Attachment 14819
Attachment 14818
Attachment 14820
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
Taking this full-retard.
While I am in there, I am going to replace the heater core, insulate the tunnel, fire wall, and floor. I will power wash the carpet, add sound deadening to the rear bulkhead, and re-route the aftermarket stereo wiring. I will also re-do the aluminum tubing for the fire suppression system.
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
Thanks.
I bought the deadener on Amazon a while ago. I had 3 tiles (3sq ft), used almost 2. I am planning on more, but still mulling it over.
The tasks now are primarily replacing the aged foam strips used as insulation and such. I will wash and dry the floor pans and bulk heads. The harness should be available this weekend.
I will install that, place the dash in the car and do a dry run to test the harness install before anything else.
When the harness checks out, I will insulate the interior sheet metal and begin to put the interior together.
I am thinking about removing the rear humps on the seat mounts for more rake and low.
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NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
Harness acquired!!!
Super-nice local guy, extremely clean harness. Only damage is the driver's side headlight connector. No big deal.
I compared the ECU harness wires immediately upon returning home...EXACT match!
Attachment 14920
Now the hard work begins!
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
Dash is back out.
Popping the main fuel injection fuse (30A). Had to isolate the issue. Essentially, we solved the engine issue, but not the original cause that took the old motor out.
Pouring over the wiring diagrams, previous experience, mitigating circumstances, we narrowed the issue to the circuit controlling relay. It's a bit of a complicated circuit array, nearly impossible to test, but it triggers fuel and timing while related to charging and SRS.
Deductive reasoning is the heavy rains that day the car went south caused the alternator's voltage regulator to spike. No belly tray didn't help. 180k on the original alternator, it just spiked a bit and took down the relay. That messed up the car's ability to fuel and ignite properly.
The new motor runs, but load on the engine while in gear pops the fuel injection fuse and kills the motor. The injectors, ISCV, CAS, fuel pump, even the coils, all trigger from the white/red wire in the harness through this relay.
So, I will order one, after replacing the alternator yesterday. $85 part. Hoping this finally solves it.
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
Appreciate the sympathy. It has been rough.
On the positive side, the car *should* need very little for a long time. :)
I had a suspicion initially back in August about an electrical issue. If you look at the diagrams on the 90-93, there is a wire (white with red stripe) that is common for the injector harness, CAS, ISCV, alternator, fuel pump, ECU, and ignition. I know on my original harness, I had tapped into it various times for various electronics; Link ECUs, Bipes ACU, J&S knock sensor, etc. I didn't realize the full interconnection of that wire or how it worked in the car. I am not good with electrical issues.
The repairs just snowballed into a lot of people wanting to help and it was a highly complex shotgun approach, in hindsight. I am not complaining, because a lot of people sacrificed time and money to help me and I appreciate every bit of that. It was just the wrong approach and should have been handled differently on my part. This was such an unexpected catastrophic failure, that in all my years owning the car, I never experienced or expected the car to do this. :)
NA6CE 1992 Form vs Function Build and History
Relay arrived and I installed it. Car runs. I drove around the neighborhood to test and load the systems. It is in a state of disassembly, so I started putting stuff back together. Dash is in, most of the centerstack, rear carpet.
I blew the meter fuse, so I stopped to diagnose. I think I solved it. It sort of startled me because on the test drive, I looked down and the oil gauge, among others, were not working.
In this whole process, I also replaced the amp. The new one is much smaller in size, but not power. Because I only run the front speakers at the moment, I bridged the amp, so I have about 150w running to each speaker. It is excellent and I am very pleased. The passenger seat also now has full travel.
Hope to button up the car tomorrow or Wednesday.
:)