Just called Moroso, they said BAR/CARB told them they didn't need one for the product because its not VTA. Ol man smog shop says I have to remove it. :facepalm: These guys are scared to death that I work for the state and I'll going to bust them. Jesus christ.

They just told me I couldn't use the stock one because "it does not look stock" (it does have a check valve in it leftover from the Rotrex.) I chopped a piece off the line from Moroso and they said its not "emissions rated hose" so I had to SHOW THEM it straight up say "Goodyear Emissions/Fuel" printed right on the hose. Frustration level is rising.

Just tried to fail me on visual again because of aftermarket gauges...

Find another shop, this guy has it out for you.

--Ian

I had to walk them through how the gauges were hooked up, they were worried I had hacked a bunch of shit into the factory harness to get the gauges to read correctly. To his credit, the guy at the shop said he was impressed with my wiring job and apologized for questioning me on it.

I eventually passed so I don't care. Time to move on with my life. :laugh:

Ehh, I'm not so sure about that. I honestly feel bad for these guys because the state has made them this paranoid. The old chinese guy I used to take my cars to went insane so I stopped going there as well, and for the exact same reason.

What makes better is that I went to this same shop with these same guys 2 years ago, they even pulled me up in their system. My Dad takes his vehicles there and I take my wifes Escape there as well so its not like I'm not a known entity. Its just so bizarre.

CA or OR? Can't remember your location (other than distant past, which, clearly, is not your location or you wouldn't even be doing smog).

The one with the bigger left coast. ;)

nazifornia

50 years ago, Nazifornia was paradise. WTF happened?

Hippies

I've got your spare mixing manifold at my place now. Thoughts on what you want done with it?

Winning! Big thanks to you and Ian :bigtu: I figure we can chop it off and rotate it about 30° downward to make it clear. Of course I'll need to wait until the manifold gets back from Swain, but I expect that to be around a week or so. I still want to take you up on the garage space thing, if its not occupied by a Forester of course.

Subaru gets better gas mileage without a BP in the back :giggle:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1419034968

I had to remove the head so I could lift the shortblock out of the car. Damn iron block weighs a ton!

dat subawu doe :love:

This. I don't plan on owning a Subaru anytime soon, but every time I see a clean bug-eye WRX wagon I want one.

My dad taught me to drive in a 2002 WRX wagon when we lived in Kansas. Much fun was had on perfect(absolutely perfect) farming dirt roads. Sadly my sister killed it during the winter on some ice.

Awwww yisssss
Mine is an 04 so I think they call it a "blob eye" but I believe the underpinnings are all pretty much the same? Close enough though. I don't know if you made it as far down as Salinas when you were in town, but all that crazy ag land out here? I work out and around that stuff from time to time. I'm not sure if I posted it, but I have pics of the 6UL/225RS3 combo on my car absolutely packed with mud from a field. The Miata is not exactly the optimal car for the conditions :giggle:

The Subaru on the other hand is glorious. When its time for new tires I'll probably look for something a little narrower and a little more "all season" than the BFG Comp2s that are on there now. And yes, I fell in love with it the first time I drove it. I had test driven probably 5-6 other WRXs before getting to this one and they were almost all either significantly molested or abused in some way that made me disinterested. This one had been modded in the past but returned to stock, and tuned by the Hand of Vlad. It was overall cleaner than the majority I'd seen and while I thought I knew what to expect, the tune made it pull quite a bit harder than any of the other ones I'd driven. The test drive was so short I think I wierded him out when I said I'd take it :)

Funny story, I was actually dead set on a TDI VW but couldn't find one when someone suggested the WRX. I regret nothing!

It was a pleasure tuning it:D
Even more a pleasure knowing it was going to someone that was actually going to not "stance" it or something equally retarded.

Progress? Update? Whatever.

• Head is ordered. I should see it some time next month. Yay!
• Manifold is with Swain. It's been longer than expected, but I'm not going to worry about it until after the holidays.
• Shortblock is now in my garage.
• Acquiring engine stand tomorrow.
• Disassemble ALLTHEEGNINES!

If all goes to plan, I should have things disassembled enough to get the block, crank and big ass pile o' parts to the machine shop next week. If ther are not ridiculously busy I should have a forged shortblock ready to go before the head gets back.

I had initially considered assembling this myself, but I think I'm going to pay someone to do the critical assembly for me. I don't have the cash to do this all again should I completely fubar something, so I'm happy to pay someone for their expertise. From my reading, crank and rod bearings should be fine with the factory spec but I need to figure out what to ask for with regards to end gaps on the Wiseco XX rings and PtW on the Supertechs.

Rings:

In Emilio we trust, thus, Wiseco says the following:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1419047619
Frequently Asked Questions - Wiseco Piston Inc.

So with my 83.5mm bore, Wiseco's numbers come out to...

83.5 / 25.4 x 0.005 = 0.0164 top ring
83.5 / 25.4 x 0.0055 = 0.0180 second ring
83.5 / 25.4 x 0.015 = 0.0493 oil ring

So that's pretty cut-n-dried. I would assume slightly larger is better than slightly smaller but its not something I'm going to be overly concerned with.

Piston to Wall clearance:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...c-dscf6037.jpg

Right there on the paperwork from Supertech, Min. ‎Ø Clearance: 0.00276

So that's MINIMUM clearance. I need to figure out exactly how much clearance I should be shooting for here. I'll continue reading and PMing people to see what I can find, but this is the one that is going to keep me up at night :ugh:

I'm going to leave this here: https://www.miataturbo.net/engine-pe...earance-51070/

Fuckery notwithstanding, there might be some good information in that thread. Both Sav and Hustler are quoted at "right around .004" and "I'm running .004" respectively. The thread is also 4 years old now. Quite honestly that sounds big. Like, Soviet's cold Wiseco slapfest big. I'm not building a dedicated racecar motor (believe it or not) and I feel like I'm going to have a lot more cold start cycles than a full blown racecar would. Le sigh. Must keep reading and make informed decision...