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Stoly
12-22-2011, 12:17 AM
Scrat 10-07-2010

Back Story:
Born and raised as a car nut. Between my two brothers, myself, and my dad, we went through 100 cars in a 100 months. Mainly old hot rods or varying versions of rat rods but we always had a thing for English cars. A slew of Morris Minors, Austins, a Bug-Eye Sprite, and even the Triumph Spitfire I drove between high school and college all called our driveway home at one time or another.
I knew exactly this much about the Miata before I bought it... It was a convertible that Mazda made. And that was all I knew so I am the true convert story through and through.

"Speed turns me on."
The girl I was courting, who has since become my girlfriend and will soon be my fiance, said the line at a party we were at on Valentine's Day '09. I had been saving up for a toy and knew I wanted a '67 anything, '73 anything, or '91 anything. So, on a whim the day after, I purchased our '91 Miata that had a turbo already installed, leaked oil, gutted HVAC, and a set of stock daisys with rotted tires.
I promptly went down the block and bought a set of 17's. :fp:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4106/5060072429_ec6934190b.jpg

Like I said, I knew nothing! But, we knew enough to name him 'Scrat' after the character in 'Ice Age'. Squirrelly on the road and just ugly enough with the paint and dings to be a modern day rat rod of sorts.

Engine bay when we got him...


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/5060654258_e539d8a647.jpg

So, first bit of good luck was the fact that it is a long nose motor... Didn't even know 'long nose'/'short nose' issues existed. In fact, it took months to finally find the info! And since, I've treated this like a college education in Miata's. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself...

After sucking in two gaskets and breaking bolts each time I tried to change the gasket between the manifold and the turbo (manifold had a small warp), I decided to actually address the oil leak and while I'm at it I might as well rebuild the whole damn thing and go with an English theme. So, that's when my project really began...

Now, everyone knows that any good engine rebuild begins with stripping the interior, selling the seats, powder coating the roll bar and buying a harness bar. So, that's exactly what we did!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/5060657500_85ffd3cc0c.jpg

I basically spent the next couple of months researching and looking at what was available for the car and saving up to make large purchases. My first project driven purchase was a new VC.

Hey, I saved up for stuff but couldn't resist having things out-of-order just to feel like I was making progress. So, even before the engine is pulled, here is the $23 valve cover from a '91 Mercury Capri we picked up at a pick-n-pull. FYI, this is actually the VC in my avatar. And they say money can't buy happiness...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/5060655342_742413c10b.jpg

Next part is boring. Just a lot of research and a lot of money being spent as well as about 8 or 9 months of saving and buying. For a while there I was pretty sure my sole purpose in life was to make sure Emilio got my money once I got paid...



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Stoly
12-23-2011, 04:32 PM
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Here's my valve cover before and after powder coating / pinstriping ... '91 Capri VC with all the unneeded holes filled in and the original bung holes filled in as well. Had two new bungs added on the exhaust side for an oil catch can and then had powder coated "Bengal Black". It was powdercoated and painted by Eastwood (well known pinstriper in south Texas)

Part Two:
The engine. There was a brief moment where I wanted to go with a bigger turbo or even a V8 but one look at the IRTB set-ups and I was hooked! So, eventually, we ended up with the following components from the top down for our little 1.6L...


-Joy Fast VC dress up bolts from Rev9
-TODA Racing adjustable cam gears
-Gates Racing timing belt
-Integral cams... Stage 3 intake and stage 2 exhaust
-All new valves, springs, guides via 949Racing
-Cometic head gasket but only after buying a Hussey Racing copper head gasket which would have certainly leaked...
-Racing Beat exhaust header
-79mm pistons 10.6:1 pistons and rods via 949Racing
-New bearings, polished crank, and a bunch of labour at Miller's Automotive.
-ARP main bolts and head bolts
-OEM oil pump, water pump, gaskets, thermostat, all new plumbing, and a laundry list of other small things from the dealership.
-Bosch alternator
-Rebuilt transmission and SPECS stage 2 clutch and flywheel. Thanks JSC Speed!
-New baffle, pick-up tube, dipstick, dipstick tube - all OEM
-ISC Racing oil pan powder coated to match VC.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some other pieces but you get the idea... everything was replaced and it ended up looking like this after I painted the block.


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4148/4988347812_97a3a2e20b.jpg

Dumb Luck Again!
Of course the car came with a busted rear valance and I really dug the GV tail lamp kit and wouldn't you know it, rspeed happened to have 1 left in stock! Snatched it up without even realizing how rare they were... a quick crappy rattle can paint job and wham balam...

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Jumping ahead to quiet the crowd! I learned, dammit, a bit slow maybe, but thanks to 'The White Miata', I now have 15X9 6UL's Gen II. I will be giving more money to 949Racing for black lug nuts as well as 5mm spacers for the front. And, yes, I'll be rolling the front fenders...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5060048753_b95ea25ec2.jpg


RS3's will be ordered as well... 225/45/15

There! Happy now!:D



Intake...
As mentioned, the main goal and theme of this entire rebuild was to give homage to the English roadsters of yore and nothing beats a set of IRTB's and there isn't a single thread in the IRTB catagory that is in bold for me... I've read every thread and every post and knew there was no way to not rebuild Scrat without IRTB's.

With Jimmy on hiatus, I revisted all the old threads and even PM'd some people that had been around CR since the good-ol-days of '06 and '07 to find another alternative. I'm too far in to not finish it off with IRTB's!

Anyone else hear of the three way clusterfuck lawsuit 'back-in-the-day'?!? Yeah, me either, so being told there was such a thing but that manifolds could be sourced for Jenvey IRTBs to work on a 1.6L, I volunteered my wallet once again for a depletion of epic proportions.

This is what arrived.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/5060047739_9d495a9444.jpg

Not shown in the picture is the various linkage, injectors, rails, etc. Also missing from the picture is the damn 1.8L manifold that was shipped with the kit! So, first manifold was sourced from Belgium and was the wrong one. Second one was ordered out of Japan and it too was for a 1.8L.

This is about the time the lawsuit was starting to sink in and according to urban legend, this lawsuit is why 'Weber'-style DCOE manifolds for 1.6L's are so hard to come by. Oh, and why the only Jenvey comments were from '06 and '07... I'm basically sick to my wallet and not sure what to do

freedomgli is my new hero... his posts helped me track down the last one Apex has. It was bought immediately and since that purchase, the company I bought the Jenvey's from had a manifold hand made which should be arriving today via Fed-Ex.

Bottom line... dumb luck again!

Stoly
12-23-2011, 04:49 PM
So, it was out with the old...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5060234977_7cd80c341b.jpg

At this point, every single connection had broken when disconnecting to pull the engine out. And I mean every damn electrical clip broke. There was also the issue of the old brake fluid leak and the rattle can paint job done before I got Scrat to make the engine bay a really sweet two-tone red... So, I knew I needed to yank the harness out and put a new one in which is what we did. We also painted the engine bay a speckle dark gray to mute out the bay and cover the sins...

Now before you start with the wire tuck, remember that I wanted to build a Miata the way I think it should have come from the factory and therefore, no wire tuck. The little wires you see in the picture above are to the winkers we put in and before we pulled the new harness through...

And we had a party! September 25th was the big day! We invited everyone to come over and help drop the engine/tranny back into Scrat. We baited everyone with free food and drinks which works well as a ploy!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/5060849518_243191f95b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/5060050073_c1775bb9fe.jpg

And the final product as we await the intake manifold...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4111/5060238905_cd08c0ee82.jpg

Please note that the OEM oil cap is only there as I await the GB for the garageSTAR vintage oil cap to finally go from concept to reality...



Before I jump into suspension, I'd like to thank all the sponsors. A few of the companies that have gotten my hard earned money and always treated me well...

Rev9 - Misc things but a big order in the next few weeks
JSC Speed - SPECS Stage 2 clutch and flywheel
949Racing - most of the internals of the engine and soon for more suspension stuff
rspeed - THE sexiest spark plug wires! You have to get a set of the black wires... they look like the old fashioned cloth wrapped wires and are pure sex. Oh, and let's not forget the GV tail lamps!
Planet Miata - some much needed replacement parts

Support our sponsors!

Onto suspension!

So, I was again lucky enough to grab a set of the 949Racing braces while the getting was good even though they weren't needed for quite some time. One of those purchases I made out-of-order just to feel like I was making progress. Dumb luck!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4149/5061927063_a5a3754f46.jpg

Front brace is on as well but a tough to get a good camera angle to show you but you get the idea. Also, rear sway bar delete.

Still not sure about a brace across the engine... Want the engine to be the show of the engine bay so instead I went with Boss Frog braces.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/5062538778_8c11f40673.jpg

Racing Beat front sway bar and end links.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/5062538040_f70962325b.jpg

Yes, nuts are missing, this is just mocked in until I get my coilovers.

I had a set of these via a member here and promptly resold them to a member here as well as getting rid of the ISC top hats.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/5062539610_77652006c7.jpg

Why would I get rid of a set of Ohlins?!? Well, I decided that I'm going to have Track Dog Racing replace all my bushings and do a suspension tune for me once I get further along. They primarily tune track cars with Tein and I've decided to go with a set of Mono Flex instead of Ohlins.

Now let me tell you a story about the Torsen diff you can see in the top picture... I have two words for any of you that are thinking about replacing your diff and have read all the posts here and elsewhere...

Portable. Welder.

Everything on Scrat has been a pain in the ass and replacing the diff (Scrat still ran at the time) was the first time I thought about selling him for scrap. We broke about $400 worth of tools and not all of those tools were ours. I had a 6' piece of pipe to help overcome the lack of muscle God gave me and still couldn't get the axle nuts off the damn car. We tried everything...

Finally got a welder to come out on a Sunday for $65 and even he had to torch the nuts and cool them with water twice before the air gun would get them loose... But worth it, as always, in the end... And since the car was running at the time and I wanted more top end, I went with a 3.90 gear ratio. So, we'll see how Scrat likes the diff with IRTBs instead of a turbo.

Stoly
12-24-2011, 11:47 AM
I continue to have IRTB woes... :cry:

I am, so far, 0 and 3 for the intake manifold. Kit originally came with a 1.8L manifold via Belgium and the second from Japan also arrived in the 1.8L size. Bear in mind, 1.6L manifolds were actually ordered and confirmed to be 1.6L manifold prior to being shipped. Ugh... so, the company I sourced the Jenvey's from had a manifold hand made and shipped to me. I get the call that they are going to make it and have sourced a 1.6L gasket and since they have the ITBs they will make the engine side based on the gasket and the ITB side based on their inventory. Sounds like a groovy cool idea to me. I tell him that the odd slotted hole on the head near the back doesn't need to be cut out but that the front round hole needs to be cut out with a water connection on there for me. So, the first could be considered a teaser picture of what it will hopefully look like next weekend...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/5061809921_5f544768b9.jpg

The issues are evident in this picture...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4130/5061811525_5f99202a22.jpg

Slotted hole was cut through the manifold and I was given only a pee hole for the front. Oh, wait, who cares?!? TB side of things don't line up! :angry:

So, what appears to be the last Boig manifold in existence via Apex arrives Tuesday. Please pray along with me that it'll fit and I can finally start finishing up this side of the engine with vacuum hoses, injectors, rails, etc.

Stoly
12-27-2011, 02:31 AM
WOOT!

Was out of town all last week but the Boig manifold arrived! It needed a little help from the machine shop to enlarge a couple of the holes on the engine side to fit better but all in all I'm extremely happy with the results. The last known Boig 1.6L manifold...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4133/5086090195_60f4995734.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4087/5086685692_1995c2f491.jpg

On the engine...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4145/5086655600_83316c5900.jpg

And the money shot...

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/5086656314_28bba7e464.jpg

Fitment, post machine shop, is awesome for a low production hand-made piece. The studs for mounting the TBs to the manifold will be cut down to size tomorrow and upper left manifold to head bolt needs to lose about 1/4" of length to fit. Other than that, everything fits perfectly.

Loving how much these stick out!


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5086060587_e191351bd2.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/5086061571_b7d5bc8697.jpg

Still not sure what to do with the manifold itself... My girlfriend and I are torn between leaving it alone, powder coating it black to match the VC, or having it painted crinkle black to match the TBs. If we powder coat the manifold we are going to have the BM logo area with red for the square block and silver on the B and M letters to match the VC in theme. So, there might be another round to pix later but for now I'm just happy to finally have closure on my IRTBs!