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So i started another build thread on here ages back, but that thread sucked and the car didnt even work so im going to do things right this time. Honest.
Here she is. 1996 Silver NA, about 80k on the clock. Pretty clean with zero rust (unlike my last mx5) with the only mod so far being the BBS RA's donated from a friend's mk2 golf build. The car came with some godawful massive offset 16's on so with the bbs's i can at least turn the wheel now (no ps). Took her for a dyno run at skuzzle motorsport to get a baseline.
Beast eh. Completely standard, but decatted 1.6. This car is my daily driver and only roadworthy car. I drive 80 miles a day for work and use her for everything...
I spotted a VVT lump with everything on it going cheap semi-locally so i jumped on it and picked it up before work.
The plan - To run the 1.6 while slowly rebuild the VVT engine with ebay rods and strap a turbo on the side with a custom manifold, and figure out the rest along the way. I want to run somewhere between 225 - 300whp. A little greedier for just driving around, more sensible for the trackdays. If the 5spd blows ill find a 6. Ive never built an engine before so this should be a good learning experience!
That WAS the plan, up until my half built intake from the old build, mixed with some classic british weather (with k+n bolted directly on the end of the intercooler) water injected the 1.6 to a pile of bent rod death.
Remember what i said about daily driven only car? Yeah. PANIC. This means my convienently recently aquired vvt lump is getting built and dropped in right fricken now.
Last edited by sparkybean; 10-22-2016 at 06:43 PM.
Pulling the engine out was nothing out of the ordinary. Went as follows.
1. Start unbolting ****
2. Forget to undo crank pulley bolt
3. Swear at seized exhaust fasteners
4. Swear at rear subframe brace bolts being friggen tight, waggle exhaust out somehow.
5. Wonder what that fuel smell is. Realise that fuel is spilling out the feed pipe ruining engine bay paintwork
6. Drain coolant onto floor entirely missing drain pan
7. Wish you disconnected the battery a few steps earlier, especially considering all the fuel you haven't yet cleaned up.
8. Break your best 3/8 drive ratchet trying to undo engine mounts
9. Begin lifting engine. Distract yourself from inevitable fiery death from earlier fuel incident with gearbox oil spill on driveway
10. Question the tensile strength of ground strap
11. Smash gear lever onto bulkhead-trans tunnel seam
12. Worry about jaunty angle engine has to be at to exit engine bay, question nylon rope
13. Wish you didn't set the car so high on the axle stands
14. Wish you took the bonnet off before starting all of this
15. Wish driveway was smooth so piano-wheeled engine crane rolled smoothly
16. Scratch paint on front bumper
But yes. After that shambles the 1.6 came out. I pulled a few things from it for the 1.8; Fuel pressure regulator, crank pulley, alternator, thermostat housing, few other bits and bobs. Took the 'bent rod' picture in the video above while the sump was off. Rolled the car back to her spot outside the front of the house...
Looks like shes on stilts now. The 1.6 was loaded onto the trailer ready for disposal. Next I started on the VVT build. My only real trouble in the stripdown was removing the crank pulley. The old 'rope in the cylinder' trick (actually trailer electrical cable) got the job done. After that the engine just started falling apart:
Bit rusty around the lower timing gear. Will clean that up
Couple of spoilers in this picture.. Flyin miata clutch and ig motorsports radiator. Dark outside now
Struggled with these bolts without an Edrive socket. Will replace these with allen head bolts come reassembly i reckon.
"If some is good, and more is better, then too much must be just right" Adequetly describes me using a siphon fed underseal gun filled with a gallon of white spirit fed at 80psi in a 2mx2m room to try and blast grime off this engine block. It was a bloodbath, and im sure the fumes took about 2 years off my usable lifespan doing this, but the engine is now clean. So, on with the build...
Specs gleaned from factory service manual. Not sure yet as to how i want to gap my rings. Any suggestions on this would be really appreciated.
That brings things up to date. I managed to beg/pester/glean sympathy from my boss so i have a week off work to get this thing on the road again. Turns out i missed the line in the engine building thread about thrust bearings being different on the bp6d, but im not going to let that slow things down. Its going to be nonstop work until then anyway.
Ta. Ian.
Last edited by sparkybean; 10-22-2016 at 07:42 PM.
Ecu is a microsquirt. Chose that because its one of the few microsquirts which you dont have to worry about version numbers, soldering, jump wires and DB37 connectors. Its a sealed ecu with a nice ampseal connector, and it costs WAY LESS than any of the other offerings available from anyone in the uk. Mine ran the car great for about 6 months and ill stay with it until i run out of I/O.
Progress!
These arrived a little while ago, finally getting to put them to use...
Ebay connecting rods, from 'max speeding rods'. They cost me under £200 delivered.
No other nice bits going into this engine, just the conrods. The rest of the engine build was the typical: rings, hone, bearings, gaskets, seals.
This was my first 'proper' engine build, it probably shows from my shambles of a spec sheet. Turns out there is only so much you can measure without nice micrometers and a dial bore gauge. The FSM did give clearances though so the little kit i did have (plastigauge and feeler gauges) got me by on the critical stuff.
Mains and rods came out a little on the wide side, i suppose that means i'm going up a grade in oil thickness. The piston rings were out of spec out-of-the-box as well, which i suppose would have been annoying had i not decided to go turbo. Factory spec says between 0.15-0.3mm for end gap and i ended up with around 0.4. The old rule of "ring gap is 6 thou per inch of bore for boost" equals 0.5mm on this engine so i guess not worth worrying about.
Also tapped the oil drain in the sump while i was at it. Damn its thin, about 3mm. Ill probably epoxy/chemical-metal a fitting in because i know if i dont i'll go to fit my oil drain and itll round off. Tapped to 1/2bsp and put a bung in for now. Also tapped a hole for an oil temp sender - ill use the 1.6 coolant gauge sender here (1/8bsp). Also learned you can use a 12pt socket to turn taps, how cool is that!
In the UK we have relatively lax emissions rules. Sniffer test on whatever is older - engine or the car. So if you put a new engine in an old car (ie, this build) you get to remove all the emissions kit from the engine and take the cars emisisons test. Byebye EGR! (it remains to be seen if i can pass emissions without a cat...)
Another pic of those injectors. Aint they lovely? Flowforce 610cc/min, flowmatched within 1%. Had to find a 99-00 fuel rail to convert from returnless to return-style fuel system. Bending the 90-93 fpr return pipe to get it to fit was fun too.
The blanking plate for the rear coolant port is in preperation for a coolant reroute. Tried to pull the steel port out with fire and stilsons but it wouldnt budge so had to break out the grinder. I tapped a 1/2bsp-16mm hose barb into it (this goes to the heater), and the blanking plate will eventually be replaced with the kia water neck and a thermostat and routed to the radiator. Coolant temp sender threaded right into the hole above it which was nice!
Then spent ages ignoring the vvt swap thread by trying to make the 1.6 alternator fit the vvt engine, in an attempt to avoid buying a 1.8 alternator. The V-belt alternator and water pump pullys fit the vvt engine, but the V-belt crank pulley would only fit if i removed the protege 36-1 trigger wheel. And to run the engine without a trigger wheel means id need to fit the 1.6 cas to the end of the exhaust cam, and id sold that long ago... Needless to say the 1.8 alternator is now in the post.
Also tapped in a coolant out port for the turbo. I also went to drill into the blanked off oil port but after about an inch of drilling and wondering 'is this going to break through any time soon' Found this image and gave up...
Only other minor drama was breaking my crank sensor, had to epoxy that back together.
Finally, its a massive pain in the rectum when you run out of brake clean/blue roll/need parts/need food and your only car in in bits right in front of you. Also a pain when, being the only car guy in the family, everything the family owns with an engine seems to break on your last remaining week of holiday. The struggle is real.
10-22-2016 | 06:01 PM
Britfag noob builds a VVT turbo mk1
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