I did notice the errant metal shaving here and there. Those plugs tricky to pull at all?

I hope it works well. I don't want to burn this much money again any time soon.

IIRC they are just 1/8" NPT plugs with an allen hole in the end. I pulled one out of a water passage on my head and it came out frighteningly easily. I'd imagine they would go back it without issue provided they were properly cleaned and an oil resistant sealant was used.

Though you might want someone with more experience with this to chime in here.

They are just pipe plugs. Use Permatex thread sealant or old-school Indianhead Shellac when you put them back in. You could also just tell the shop you're concerned about the bead blasting and see what they say about the cleaning they did. No shop wants a pissed customer.

Normally, when I get a head from a shop, there is assembly lube on the cam lobes and journals. Yours looks dry. ??

I noticed this as well. My fancy head was delivered all lubed up on the cam journals but not the lobes. I plan on lubing it up good before first start.

Mine is like this, just hard to see in the photo. Journals are lubed up just not the lobes.

Also figured out how I'm going to mount my Meth tank and pump in the trunk.

The shelf under the trunk tension rods for a nice clean out of the way setup.

20 M6x1.0 rivnuts and this puppy and it's gonna be sweet!(Amazon Prime you evil temptress)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1433905943

Inner monologue
"I'm going to get so much assembled tonight so psyched to drive!"
...

Yeah right, it's like I forget I have a tick when I notice something isn't shiny or a tiny ignorable mite or rust.

Luckily my pops got me this to help work on his monumentally rusty VW. Why. Did. I. Not. Get. One. Sooner! No more die grinder nonsense and it halfs the time getting 90% of paint/oxidation/et al off the part.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1433946765

So I polished up my CAS and rear water neck then used a little aluminum polish to give it that nice burnished look.

Then I was about to put the pulleys from Bryan on and noticed the paint was chipping and the water pulley had some slight rust on it so I cleaned that all up and sanded with 400, etching primer, sanded, and used my favorite paint rollbar & chassis semi gloss black. I think I've used over 20 cans of this stuff on the car and it all has held up superbly(results may vary depending on prep.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1433946765

Now here is where I pause and use a little common sense. I want to paint these but I also don't want to fuck with the cam gears too much by disassembling them and losing their initial adjustment which I'm assuming is "spot on". Definitely don't want to replace with new as the prices on them are absurb. May just clean them up a little and slot them back on, they haven't bugged me this long so it is obviously "on the teetering edge of *fuck it*"

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1433946765

EO2K, I couldn't rise to the challenge, but I got all the crap my steam cleaner could pull off so it'll have to do. The slight surface rust on the block would be a royal PITA to paint so since it will be all covered up....meh.

On that note, the crank shaft has a little rust on it, but I don't want to mess with the tolerances on that...any suggestions?

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1433946765

Crank shaft: don't touch.

You don't always have to grind rust:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1433951884

Anyone see a problem with cutting off 1/2" of this off the alternator pulley? Simply too wide in this format to get a nut on the threads.


https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1433955379

As long as there's proper bearing surface for the shaft, no.

You win this time sleep deprivation...Dammit I'm an idiot.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1433965347

Wait, did you just do what I think you did?

There is a spacer there if that is your cause of concern.

You went full retard on that one.

So, you were supposed to put that spacer on first before pressing the pulley on?

Is that right?

Are you guys being deliberately obtuse?

The pulley doesn't press on, it just slides on. Fairly loosely actually. Some pulleys have the spacer built in like the first pictured one, others require the spacer which he later found.

We've been accused of worse.

Yup, for those still a little unclear the 1.6pullry has a spacer so the pulley doesn't hit the alternator body. This spacer is used for one variant of the 1.8 pulley but the one I received from Bryan has it built into the pulley so it isn't needed.

Spacer on

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1434028470

Spacer off

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1434028470

3 different pulleys with the 2 1.8 variants on the left.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1434028470