Today was an abrupt day. Portland was having one of its bi-polar moments, hiding its inner workings behind glimmery sunshine and bouts of dim grey rain.

Here's a quick list of the mistakes I made:
I impulse purchased a 2 thousand dollar 1990 Miata.

Here's a list of problems with the Miata:
Expired tags
A welded diff
A turbo with no engine management

Here's a quick plan
Step 1: Take the car to a professional so I can get some general direction. Basically, get a pre-purchase inspection... Post-purchase.

Life Goals
> Get the car in a healthy autocross tech passable state
> Fix turbo setup
> Get a job as a software engineer

Here's the current short term plan for the items I plan to deal with. (In priority order)
> Exhaust leak in Cabin! Do I drive to the shop with an oxygen mask? Or perhaps a snorkel to the outside world.
> A fire extinguisher.
> Carbon Monoxide sensor in the car.
> Fix Misfire
> Rivet down distributor
> Bypass turbo somehow
> Power Commander
> Injectors
> Add intercooler
> Return turbo opposite of earlier somehow

Also:
> Replace the Welded Diff with LSD (This one is a do whenever I can get a good deal on one)

This plan will probably change as I learn more/ you all tell me I'm doing the wrong things with my life.

Here is everything good with the car
Starts
Is Blue
goes woosh so has blow-off valve, has a wideband sensor.
1.8 swap


Pictures:

Engine bay... NO Intercooler.

Garett Turbo Wouldn't mind some identification help . Rusty manifold.

Flyin' Miata was involved in making this mess

Stuff I don't understand

pretty blue


As you can tell from my very technical and strong understanding of car things I have an amazing understanding of what I'm doing.
/s

Looking forward to this. Maybe my dorky little checklist oriented method of dealing with this will help. Maybe it won't. Can't wait to find out. This thread is pretty much going to be a diary of this car and its life.


Extras:
5/17/2019

Looking through the extra parts that came with the car. There's a voodoo box, and a fuel pressure regulator (not installed in the car). Not as good as some proper engine management, but nice to find those.


So I compression tested my car and I think I burned out the coil pack. Now the question is.. Do I do a coil on plug conversion?

 

Saw this on CL, cringe worthy for sure. $2k isn’t terrible if you don’t mind some upkeep.

Welcome BTW, I work at a reputable shop, love me some PPIs

If thats the actual HKS kit it’s not terrible besides the stock exhaust. My guess is the PO got it with the JDM motor he put in. You almost definitely have a large amount of maintenance to do judging from the color of the brake fluid, you might consider selling the kit and running NA till you can afford an ECU to take advantage of the 1.8, and then adding the turbo kit once that software engineering job is obtained.

 

Also, as far as the exhaust leak goes, assuming it's the usual exhaust coming up the tunnel and the PO hasn't just aimed the tailpipe directly into the cab, just go to the exhaust shop with the windows down and the HVAC set to outside air.
Or just go with the roof off if you're really paranoid.

It's only really going to be a concern if you're sitting stationary in the car with the windows up.
Once moving very little exhaust will actually go into the cabin, and yeah, with a window down yo'll have fresh air coming in anyway.

 

At least you have a 1.8 engine swapped into it. Disconnect the wastegate actuator can and let the wastegate arm flop open and you should be able to drive it safely as long as you wish. It will keep it out of boost until you have an ECU.

 

I lol'd.

 

Be careful with the exhaust leak! Many years ago I drove my Bugeye Sprite back from a service shop that had ripped the exhaust off test driving it. I also figured, it's an open car, all that fresh air all around me, eh? About 10 miles later, on a busy 3 lane each direction road, I noticed I was falling into the steering wheel, as in passing out, and cut the wheel across traffic to coast down a side road. Turns out our lungs seal out the carbon monoxide, and will find it, even with all that great fresh air in the way. Granted, I had a huge exhaust leak, but none the less there is no warning you are getting gassed.

 

Worse than I thought


Goal one is to figure out what's causing the misfire.
I already replaced the iginition coils and coilpack. Time to test the injectors.
I did a compression test earlier and found all the cylinders to be around 120 ish (BAD) but even ishly bad. I'll redo the test to make double sure.
maybe it's the melted ignitor or the cloged cat. OR maybe it's got something to do with the cam angle sensor. I can't be sure. time to learn and time to test.

I'm also getting a megasquirt 3 pro pnp maybe it can tell me something about the car.

 

Get the car running well BEFORE you put on the new ECU
Otherwise you'll be trying to tune around broken **** at the same time and trying to work out why it's broken.

One change at a time, otherwise you'll just endlessly be chasing problems and trying to work out if it's still the original cause, or a new one from some issue with the new bits you put on.

 

Have you done the basics like a good oil change, fresh plugs and wires and general tune up things? I would see about tackling some of the elements on your list of broken things. Regarding the car only running on 3 cylinders. You need fuel, air, and spark. Verify that you are getting fuel. If the compression is uniform then you are likely getting the air component. If you have fuel going in and it's not running then look to spark. The car looks like it has a 1.8 swap on a 1.6 chassis. Don't know which injectors they went with or if they connected it correctly. I'd investigate the injectors myself. 1.6 cars (with slim exceptions) ran in batch fuel so the computer controlled 2 injectors at a time. I would look at the engine harness and where it connects to your misfiring cylinder.

 

I did the inspection, if it was a bad new coil, It'd be on 2 cylinders, not 3. If compression is 120, it's probably just the injector. I didn't ohm test it. They're OEM 1.8 tan tops.

2yan, I have a bunch of 1.6 injectors you're welcome to come grab one and throw it in. It'll get it running on 4 cylinders, verify it's just an injector, but obviously it's ~15% smaller so it's only for testing. Or just ohm test between the two pins. If it is just the injector, you could also put some FF640s in, your MS, and start learning how to tune it, I saw you already have the WB in.

With every turbo miata there's always two halves of the car. The Miata part and the turbo part. Unfortunately your turbo needs some leaks fixed, an intercooler, big injectors, ECU, and exhaust. The Miata itself isn't too bad, what used Miata doesn't need wheels/tires/suspension. Do that, rip out the AC for better cooling, replace the MC and bleed it/clutch, and you'll be good for a while hopefully.

 

I think I have a set of 1.8 injectors lying around. I'll take a peek. Also be advised that the ECU I sold you has header pins jumpered for sequential fuel and ignition. It's a 5 minute job, but just don't forget you need to adjust them to suit your application. LMK about the ignitor also. I have one I could hack out of you need one.

 

i should have both 1.6 and 1.8 injectors too

 

Man, you should bring a truck up to my place. I literally have everything you need. I even have the rest of the AC system if you want to restore it.

 

I know this isn't SOP for classifieds, but I'm parting out a whole bunch of stuff you might need, and I know you're coming up here in a couple weeks. LMK if you're interested. I can always throw up a FS ad if this makes the mods grumpy, and some of this stuff you can just have. Maybe Curly can pipe in and tell you what's most important. Based on the list of issues above you might want:

Wheels/tires
OEM brake components
Intercooler setup plus a bunch of extras plus a custom hacked up undertray!
Both stock and FF640 injectors
Basically new heater core hoses
AC components
Coil ignitor
D585 COP setup
LSD swap 4.1 type 1

 

Oh yeah, and bolts. Gonna want those.

 

Hey All,
sorry about the inactivity.

Status update:
Shortly after I took it to AR auto, I suspected the misfire was a messed up injector.( I used the screwdriver stethoscope method to listen for a lack of ticking). It looks like Curly mentioned that on this forum, I probably should have just logged on and saved myself the time.

took it to a close-by shop to have them swap it. I told them **NOT** to rev up the car because of the lack of engine management. I was concerned that it would run too lean and seize up.
The shop calls me one day later and tells me "the engine seized up out of nowhere" And that they couldn't turn the crankshaft.

That kinda really threw a wrench in morale, I thanked them for their help, got the car out of their shop and it's been parked for a while and I've been hiding away from this forum.
I'm back now and reinvigorated to do something.

A friend I met from AutoX ended up buying the megasquirt for his Miata.

I am now sitting on a Miata that needs:


- Engine
- Suspension
- Differential
- Tires
- Exhaust
- And More

And boy do I feel futile about this project.

 

Ah ****, that sucks, sorry man. You might consider a donor motor, maybe a VVT? Get it running properly on MS, put the turbo on the shelf for a bit. Get some tires and a test pipe at the same time. I have a cheap 1.8 header and intake available to get you started, but the engine and swap are the expensive step.