1.6 Liter trouser snake.
#1
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I picked up a miata and it sound like it has valve train chatter. What do I do? Simply replace the timing belt? The head? Engine rebuild? I am an experienced engine builder, just looking for a little experienced insight to start up my pile of parts. The car also overheats and seems to use coolant, so head gasket, right? Maybe I replace the head and hope its not a rod knock. It is fairly quiet at idle and at certain rpm's, extremely chattery at others.
#2
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You're experienced, but you're looking for some experienced insight. Wouldn't that make you... Nevermind.
Sounds like you bought a not well taken care of turd.
If you plan to save it and not spend to much, do a tune up. Maybe a compression and leak down test? I'm sure you did that because you're a pro engine builder.
I'm also sure you know rod knock from lifter tick. Take the cams off and clean the lifters. They get gunked up and sound like **** after a while. These engines rattle and make a bit of noise anyway...
Run it till it blows up. Buy a $400 replacement engine.
Sounds like you bought a not well taken care of turd.
If you plan to save it and not spend to much, do a tune up. Maybe a compression and leak down test? I'm sure you did that because you're a pro engine builder.
I'm also sure you know rod knock from lifter tick. Take the cams off and clean the lifters. They get gunked up and sound like **** after a while. These engines rattle and make a bit of noise anyway...
Run it till it blows up. Buy a $400 replacement engine.
#4
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Do Not build a 1.6
Do keep reading this site for it's excellent advice.
Do Not keep asking us what you should do.
Do search and read the build threads to find out what you should do.
If you, an "experienced engine builder," can't figure out what is wrong when you are standing in front of the engine looking at it, how are we, several hundred miles away, supposed to know? If your engine is broke, take it apart and see what's broke. This ain't rocket science.
Do keep reading this site for it's excellent advice.
Do Not keep asking us what you should do.
Do search and read the build threads to find out what you should do.
If you, an "experienced engine builder," can't figure out what is wrong when you are standing in front of the engine looking at it, how are we, several hundred miles away, supposed to know? If your engine is broke, take it apart and see what's broke. This ain't rocket science.
#5
Elite Member
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I'm probably going to have a 1.6 for sale with trans in a month or so for $250 - $300.
Oil pan dropping isn't possible with the engine in the car. Unless this thing overheated, or ran out of oil, i doubt the bottom end is bad.
Listen to stevie^^
Never heard of Peaker Services, Inc. I don't think.
Oil pan dropping isn't possible with the engine in the car. Unless this thing overheated, or ran out of oil, i doubt the bottom end is bad.
Listen to stevie^^
Never heard of Peaker Services, Inc. I don't think.
#6
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I picked up a miata and it sound like it has valve train chatter. What do I do? Simply replace the timing belt? The head? Engine rebuild? I am an experienced engine builder, just looking for a little experienced insight to start up my pile of parts. The car also overheats and seems to use coolant, so head gasket, right? Maybe I replace the head and hope its not a rod knock. It is fairly quiet at idle and at certain rpm's, extremely chattery at others.
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#8
Boost Pope
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Yup, they do that.
Being an experienced engine builder, you are no doubt intimately familiar with hydraulic lash adjusters (HLAs), aka hydraulic lifters.
The HLAs used in the early Miatas are notorious for being noisy. The clattering tends to most most pronounced when the engine is cold, or is warm, or has just been started, or has been running for a while.
On my current car (a '90), the HLAs let me know when it's time to change the oil. For a few thousand miles they will be tolerable, then they start sounding like a cement mixer filled with hammers every time I start the engine. Change the oil, and they quiet down again.
There are all sort of different folk-remedies for this, ranging from disassembly and thorough cleaning of the HLA to running various concoctions of kerosene, Seaform and unicorn tears through the oil system.
Turn up the volume on the radio.
Being an experienced engine builder, you are no doubt intimately familiar with hydraulic lash adjusters (HLAs), aka hydraulic lifters.
The HLAs used in the early Miatas are notorious for being noisy. The clattering tends to most most pronounced when the engine is cold, or is warm, or has just been started, or has been running for a while.
On my current car (a '90), the HLAs let me know when it's time to change the oil. For a few thousand miles they will be tolerable, then they start sounding like a cement mixer filled with hammers every time I start the engine. Change the oil, and they quiet down again.
There are all sort of different folk-remedies for this, ranging from disassembly and thorough cleaning of the HLA to running various concoctions of kerosene, Seaform and unicorn tears through the oil system.
What do I do?
#11
Cpt. Slow
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I'm glad you found your problem, because you seriously pointed at a cloud in Michigan and asked us if that meant it was raining in France. Kudos for using your expert engine building knowledge to find the issue though.
#16
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Thanks, Tom.
Remember the good old days of, say, last year, when people worried about the Yankees hitting too many home runs and not enough singles?
Yeah, this team should have such problems.
Simply put, scoring runs hasn’t been such an issue in the Bronx since the bad old days of the early ’90s, when Buck Showalter was just beginning to change a culture of losing and fans were chanting derisively about George Steinbrenner.
Suffice to say the warm and fuzzy feeling everyone had for these gutty, gritty, replacement Yankees is wearing off fast. Actually, the fans never seemed to buy in anyway, judging by a signicant decline in TV ratings, so maybe they were ahead of the curve on this.
In any case, the lack of offense is becoming more alarming by the day, and so far the return of Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis hasn’t provided any type of instant jolt.
After Sunday night’s rain-shortened 3-0 loss to the Red Sox, in fact, the Yankees have gone nine games without scoring more than four runs. No surprise, they’ve lost seven of those nine, averaging just over two runs per game during this stretch, as their record has fallen to 31-25.
OK, so every team slumps, but this is more than a cold snap. After 56 games, or more than one-third of the season, this team has scored 223 runs, a total that ranks 11th in the American League.
On this pace the Yankees would score fewer than 670 runs, a stunningly low total for a franchise that has often bludgeoned its way to division titles over the last couple of decades, beating up on mediocre pitching even in years when the team didn’t hit nearly enough in the postseason.
In fact, the lowest total the Yankees scored in the last 18 years was 789 in 2008, the only season they haven’t made the playoffs since 1993. You have to go back to 1992, when the Yankees scored 674 runs in Showalter’s first year as manager, to find a team that compared to this one.
The Yankees are still hitting their share of home runs — their total of 63 ranks sixth in the AL — but power isn’t carrying the offense as it has in recent years.
Obviously all of the injuries have played a major role in the lack of offense this season, and there is plenty of time to change the projections. If and when the likes of Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, and even Alex Rodriguez come back to join Teixeira and Youkilis, this team could still have plenty of thump.
But now you have to start wondering what the state of these Yankees will be by that time.
Can the pitching continue to keep them at or near the top of the AL East? Now that Vernon Wells has stopped hitting, Travis Hafner has cooled off and Lyle Overbay has taken a seat on the bench in favor of Teixeira, who is going to get the timely hits that allowed the Yankees to survive so nicely over the first quarter of the season?
Let’s get real: Yankee fans would have signed up for being six games over.500 at this point in the season, considering all of the injuries, but the run differential of plus-15 tells you how small their margin of error has been — also how crucial the bullpen has been to their record of 17-10 in games decided by two runs of fewer.
Suffice to say that this last week or so has changed the feel of the season rather dramatically.
Maybe that’s why it was so quiet at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night when the Red Sox got to Hiroki Kuroda for single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.
Yes, before the rains came the fans seemed to understand a 3-0 lead was quite a mountain for this offense to climb, especially with Sox righthander Clay Buchholz living up to his numbers this season — now 8-0 with a 1.62 ERA.
It didn’t help that Teixeira struck out twice, bringing his total of K’s to seven in his first nine at-bats since returning from his wrist injury and making his season debut on Friday night.
You had to expect some rust, of course, and Teixeira has only a single and a walk. Nevertheless, even that small sample can’t help but raise concerns that the switch-hitting first baseman might get off to his typical slow start — even if his season is beginning in June rather than April.
Likewise, Youkilis has returned from his month-long absence due to a back injury all too quietly — 1-for-9 after a couple of routine ground-outs on Sunday night.
And so the narrative is changing quickly for the Yankees. Warm and fuzzy suddenly feels more like cold and panicky.
Remember the good old days of, say, last year, when people worried about the Yankees hitting too many home runs and not enough singles?
Yeah, this team should have such problems.
Simply put, scoring runs hasn’t been such an issue in the Bronx since the bad old days of the early ’90s, when Buck Showalter was just beginning to change a culture of losing and fans were chanting derisively about George Steinbrenner.
Suffice to say the warm and fuzzy feeling everyone had for these gutty, gritty, replacement Yankees is wearing off fast. Actually, the fans never seemed to buy in anyway, judging by a signicant decline in TV ratings, so maybe they were ahead of the curve on this.
In any case, the lack of offense is becoming more alarming by the day, and so far the return of Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis hasn’t provided any type of instant jolt.
After Sunday night’s rain-shortened 3-0 loss to the Red Sox, in fact, the Yankees have gone nine games without scoring more than four runs. No surprise, they’ve lost seven of those nine, averaging just over two runs per game during this stretch, as their record has fallen to 31-25.
OK, so every team slumps, but this is more than a cold snap. After 56 games, or more than one-third of the season, this team has scored 223 runs, a total that ranks 11th in the American League.
On this pace the Yankees would score fewer than 670 runs, a stunningly low total for a franchise that has often bludgeoned its way to division titles over the last couple of decades, beating up on mediocre pitching even in years when the team didn’t hit nearly enough in the postseason.
In fact, the lowest total the Yankees scored in the last 18 years was 789 in 2008, the only season they haven’t made the playoffs since 1993. You have to go back to 1992, when the Yankees scored 674 runs in Showalter’s first year as manager, to find a team that compared to this one.
The Yankees are still hitting their share of home runs — their total of 63 ranks sixth in the AL — but power isn’t carrying the offense as it has in recent years.
Obviously all of the injuries have played a major role in the lack of offense this season, and there is plenty of time to change the projections. If and when the likes of Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, and even Alex Rodriguez come back to join Teixeira and Youkilis, this team could still have plenty of thump.
But now you have to start wondering what the state of these Yankees will be by that time.
Can the pitching continue to keep them at or near the top of the AL East? Now that Vernon Wells has stopped hitting, Travis Hafner has cooled off and Lyle Overbay has taken a seat on the bench in favor of Teixeira, who is going to get the timely hits that allowed the Yankees to survive so nicely over the first quarter of the season?
Let’s get real: Yankee fans would have signed up for being six games over.500 at this point in the season, considering all of the injuries, but the run differential of plus-15 tells you how small their margin of error has been — also how crucial the bullpen has been to their record of 17-10 in games decided by two runs of fewer.
Suffice to say that this last week or so has changed the feel of the season rather dramatically.
Maybe that’s why it was so quiet at Yankee Stadium on Sunday night when the Red Sox got to Hiroki Kuroda for single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.
Yes, before the rains came the fans seemed to understand a 3-0 lead was quite a mountain for this offense to climb, especially with Sox righthander Clay Buchholz living up to his numbers this season — now 8-0 with a 1.62 ERA.
It didn’t help that Teixeira struck out twice, bringing his total of K’s to seven in his first nine at-bats since returning from his wrist injury and making his season debut on Friday night.
You had to expect some rust, of course, and Teixeira has only a single and a walk. Nevertheless, even that small sample can’t help but raise concerns that the switch-hitting first baseman might get off to his typical slow start — even if his season is beginning in June rather than April.
Likewise, Youkilis has returned from his month-long absence due to a back injury all too quietly — 1-for-9 after a couple of routine ground-outs on Sunday night.
And so the narrative is changing quickly for the Yankees. Warm and fuzzy suddenly feels more like cold and panicky.
#19
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(note: sorry about the deletion of this image, it was an accident. When I spam-banned kidkhaos, the forum software automatically nuked this thread, since he was the one who started it. I un-deleted the thread, but the image attachment was lost.)
Last edited by Joe Perez; 06-04-2013 at 02:57 AM.