Four months later, and I not only have a garage I can work in but my CNC head has arrived! Also just finished the classes I need to sit for the CPA exam, so no more homework! I might actually make some progress!

Since the last update, I have obtained the following:
3.9 Torsen from Mobius via Aidan
6-Speed Transmission

Just put in a MMD order for a bunch of gaskets and seals that will hopefully take care of my oil leak. Still have some other things I want to order, but may need to prioritize and put off some. Wife is switching to a lower-paying position, and one that requires our kids to be in daycare one more day a week. That being said, here's what is still on the shopping list:

Skunk2 Throttle body (to prevent parts ingestion through my fancy new head)
MiataRoadster Short Shifter (to shift more better, plus I'm going to need to get new boots and whatnot anyway)
ARP Head Studs (heard mixed signals regarding reusing the stockers, and they will make head install easier)
New engine mounts (either 949 hybrid or BlackBird drop mounts)

Thinking the TB and engine mounts would be more important than the short shifter and studs if I needed to put stuff off.

 

Studs will be the most annoying to install in the future.

 

Quite true. If I skipped the studs, I'd reuse the stock bolts (I have like three sets now) and revisit when/if I build the bottom end.

Based on my google-fu, the head bolts are not torque-to-yield and are therefore okay to use again. On the other hand, studs aren't that expensive particularly in light of my baller head. Decisions, decisions...

 

I fear 18psi may have jinxed me with this post. Time for a sad story.

After a couple weeks of “I’ll get started next weekend”, I realized that working on the car simply isn’t as high on the priority list as I thought. I gave up, and decided to become a credit-card mechanic. Dropped the car and a ton of parts off at a well-respected local shop to have curly do the work. Had a massive oil pan leak that I hadn’t exactly planned for, but other than that things went well. Head swapped on, car ran, just waiting on a couple more parts to come in the mail before sending the car to get tuned…

Then disaster struck. On the fourth or fifth start, oil smoke started billowing out of the exhaust. They checked it out, and there was a ton of oil in the cylinders and out the exhaust ports. So much that oil was pooling on top of the valves. Leakdown test showed pretty poor results. After a few emails back and forth with Emilio, I decided to blame my 151k mile shortblock. Fresh head raised dynamic compression, and overwhelmed my tired rings leading to the oil blow-by.

So we priced out a few different options for restoring compression, but after parts and labor simply re-ringing the current block wasn’t enough cheaper to justify the half-measure so I have a TSE shortblock on order. Going low-comp in anticipation of boost a few years from now. Anyway, that will be several weeks to build so I’ll be getting my car back, engineless. Maybe I’ll get around to installing the roll bar and a seat in the meantime. Unfortunately this blows my car money budget for quite some time, but a fresh drivetrain will mean I don’t have any big-ticket items over the next few years.

 

Makes me sad every time I look at it.

Update: engine ETA is still a few weeks out.

In other news I happened to get a surprise monetary gift on the same day that a member listed some Xidas on the classifieds. New coilovers on the way! Haven't decided whether I'll try to make my FM sways work or sell my current suspension as a complete package and get RB. Thoughts?

 

So Emilio confirmed via a post on the wine and cheese crowd forum: FM sways wouldn't really work very well. Now I need to pick out adjustable end links, since my stockers won't like my future lower ride height. Leaning toward the Flyin Miata ones, only because I think they will hold up better in my climate.

EDIT: Nevermind, looks like the FM ones don't get much shorter than stock. Seems odd, but there you go. Seems I'll be flexing my Club Orange muscle again.

 

Finally got the Xidas in the mail yesterday. No fault of the seller, just haven't been home when the UPS guy swings by.

The needle thrust bearings are pretty rusty, so I'd like to replace them prior to installing. I know 949 has them, but shipping is half again the cost of the bearings. Had I thought about them earlier I could have thrown them in with my previous order, but prior to taking the hit: is there a more economical option?

 

They're so thin, I think any coating they have on them would chip off very quickly, so they might rust right out of the box. I'd wash them off with soap and water, then lubricate with some engine oil and rotate them back and forth between two flat surfaces for a few minutes. Brake clean, then relube. Might save you some money, as I'm sure the bearings are fine and you're just seeing surface rust on the races.

I'm very excited to:

A. install your TSE engine
B. get your parts out of my tool box

Not excited to:

A. replace head (again). But supposedly I won't have to.

 

If the head ends up being the guilty part I am NOT going to be a happy camper.

I'll take one of the shocks apart and mess with the bearings, but I think New England road salt has done them in. Might have found a source that will ship USPS, which would save about $10.

 

Ah didn't know the New England part.

 

You can find Delrin ones too that won't rust.

 

There's an idea. A quick Google search didn't turn up any off-the-shelf parts, but I'm sure they're out there. If not, it's something simple enough that even I could fab something up. I'm going to give Andrew an email on Tuesday to check in on the status of my bottom end. That will give me a better idea of when the car will be going back to AR.

Ideally I'd like to get the suspension swapped prior to them taking the car back so they can align and corner-balance it. Swapping suspension is definitely one thing that I know how to do, and I'd feel silly paying them to do it for me. Time is a precious commodity for me this time of year though. Been in the office 7 days a week since the middle of February.

 

I have an FM front and stock rear. The car is well-balanced, but could benefit from more roll stiffness. I will probably upgrade to a RB front and MSM rear in the future.

I also have FM end links. At my ride height, which is 4 5/8" at the pinch welds, they have enough adjustment to level the sway bars under load. I think the rears are nearly at minimum length, and the fronts are adjusted out a little bit more. Based on my measurements, I'd say they are good down to a ride height of 4 1/2".

 

Ah, good to know. The measurement they have on their site must measure from a different location than that quoted for the stock links. Might look into them again when the SuperMiata links start making noise.

In other news: Andrew says the motor is still a couple weeks out. I'm actually okay with that, as that pushes the timeline out far enough that I should be able to get the suspension swapped out and maybe even install my roll bar that has been sitting in my daughter's room for a year. The 18th is so close, yet so far away...

 

Okay, a question has come to mind as I look forward to my suspension shenanigans. I'm planning for a ride height around 5" at the pinch welds, as the ELBJs will let me get plenty of camber at that height and make things easier to live with on the street. One thing I wasn't planning on replacing were the tie-rod ends. At that height should I be putting in the R-package tie rod ends to help with bump steer?

 

If they're old or of unknown vintage, I'd highly suggest replacing the inner and out tie rods before performing an alignment. Otherwise the alignment guy can only get it so close. Or, it'll be fine on his screen but won't necessarily hold those specs when it drives off the rack. But that's really the case with any rubber bushing car.

 

You may struggle to get enough rear camber depending on your goals.

If replacing tie rod ends because they are old, might as well get the R-package ones.

 

They're probably original. Still have stock rubber bushings, that isn't going to change for awhile. Previous alignment guy had no problem hitting the target numbers, but no idea how well the the alignment held. If any more parts show up my wife might kill me, but on the other hand I'd feel a little silly skipping the tie rods after going through the trouble of replacing the lower ball joint, alignment bolts, and going through the trouble of corner-balancing the car.

MMD isn't showing separate part numbers for the outer tie rod ends, so I may need to call them to order. Isn't there some sort of clip that I would need to get for the inner tie rod?

 

Not dead-set on that ride height in particular, just picked that number because it was mentioned in dowards "ELBJs are magical" threads here and at m.net. If I need to go lower to get enough rear camber I'll live.

 

Well, tax season is finally over! I survived mostly, and am taking the rest of the week off to work on the car and otherwise rest and recover. Today I tackled installing the roll bar that has been sitting in my daughter's room for over a year.



BIG thanks to my younger brother for the extra set of hands!

I also disassembled one of my Xidas to replace the torrington bearings. There was a fair bit of grit between the lower bushing and the shock body, so the threads are not perfect. I was able to clean a lot of the grit out of the threads, but the spring perch still catches. Going to work on it some more tomorrow, hopefully I can get it clean enough to give me the full range of adjustment.

Still waiting on one of the washer things for the inner tie rod to arrive, one came from PA but another was coming from GA and I haven't received shipping notification. Going to call MMD tomorrow to see what's up, but I'm just excited to be making progress again.