How did the cam sensor failure trigger destruction of the engine?

--Ian

 

I'd like to know that too. When mine gets flakey it just doesnt inject fuel at all.

 

Old MS3X box, one if Crushers spares, sync loss. Burped, bent a rod. No other damage really. I decided to take the opportunity to use his car as a guinea for more boosta. Donated some additional forged and billet bits when the engine got repaired.

 

Well aren't you a fine boss to have!

Look forward to seeing this running, will continue to follow while in New Zealand. Always sucks to hear of engine damage but in this case looks like the only major loss was time.

 

Been some time since we played with this car.

Parked it for a while after MRLS. Cancelled the insurance. Cancelled the registration. Let it sit.

Bought some parts while it was sitting. Sold some parts. Trying to decide where to go with it from here. In the meantime, here are the changes.



Ditched the FAB9 COP kit in favor of a Toyota setup. We have not been able to tune it since it would not run above about 4k RPM. Also blocked off the boost control. Will just run all the boost for now and come back to it after we figure out why it does not run right.



Changed the catch can for the one from Canton Racing. The one I was using was going to go in front of the radiator but there is now a big honking FMIC there. It did not really fit in the engine bay.

Oh yeah, I sold the RS Actives and put the Jet Streams in. Well, I have put one in. Will do the other next week.

 

wow I have to say, those are the best na headlights I've seen to date

 

Love the jetstreams. Original group buy was almost reasonable at $650 but with normal price of $800 it's hard to justify them. They're still awesome though.

 

Not able to break 4K on the FAB9, or on the Toyota?

--Ian

 

+1 on boss of the year

 

It was just not running right and we we needed to eliminate some unknowns. We have done well with the Toyota COPS so we went back to them. I still have the FAB9 ones and they are PNP with my setup. So I may go back.
The other unknown was the boost control. The wastegate should have stayed closed, but it seemed like we were venting. I put 30 lbs worth of springs in it to make sure it stays closed and disconnected the controls. Hopefully we will be able to get back on it soon.

 

Updating this build thread for the last couple of years worth of significant events. Mostly it sits in my garage, where I will go crank up the stereo (after a couple of beers.)

2/23/2018 I was driving home a couple weekends ago, and the car made a horrible noise and stopped running. Tried to bump start it and there were more horrible noises. Managed to coast into a lot and park it. Tried to start it with the starter and it would not turn over. Time to call a tow truck.

Upon further inspection:


That does not look good.


This came out of the cat.



Looks like the valves separated from the stems. Lash was way off on #2. Like .125" off. There was so much trash in the intake that I threw the the IAC away. It always had a bad tick from #1 but the builder said it was nothing to worry about.

And then it sat for a year. Ditched the Rotrex. And then decided to go CARB legal.

 

12/19/2018 I wanted all the locks in the car to match. The trunk is easy, it is a direct swap. The door locks proved to be more difficult. The NB lock body is larger than the NA.

NB on the right.

Popped the trim rings off. The NA ring set inside the NB ring.

Totally disassembled.


The internals look to be close enough to the same.


Reassembled. NB key in NA lock.

The internals of the NA key. These have different sizes and the assembly order matches the key shape.

 

7/20/2020 What a long road this was. I took it to the ref for the first time in late December. I was completely unprepared. It turns out that you have to document everything. They wanted me to prove that the PCM was completely OEM. They wanted to know why it would not return a VIN number. They wanted the engine VIN to be the same year as the PCM. The hood sticker on my car states it is a CA car, so I needed a CA PCM.

So I went to a dealer. Turns out my car is a federal car. Bullet dodged since I have a federal PCM. We tested 3 different PCMs before the tech came out and stated that these PCMs would not return a VIN code for anti-theft reasons. They did state that the PCM appeared to unmodified and OEM.

I had borrowed a 2003 engine from work in order to get this project moving. So I needed to buy my own engine anyways.

I bought a low mileage 2005 engine from LKQ. Supposed to be from a good running donor car. It had super low compression numbers and massive amount of leakage from the exhaust valves. Pulled the valve cover and found chunks of oil. Looked like it had never had an oil change. But it did have a 2005 VIN plate.

Next I bought a remanfactured engine. After giving it a once over and finding it had the absolute cheapest Chinese parts used in the rebuild, I used it to replace the borrowed 2003 engine and then had the head on the 2003 one rebuilt. Swapped oil pans, and now it looks like it came from 2005. Put it all back together and get it ready for testing in early January.

Test day #2. Cancelled since I did not want to drive it in the rain. I can wait until the weather is better, right? And then everything gets shut down.

Test day #3. Virtual appointment. Mid April and things are opening back up but you have to be approved for an in person appointment. This goes well, all of the paperwork gets approved and I get an appointment slot.

Test day #4. The day before the test, on my drive home from work, the ABS light comes on. I decide to trouble shoot it that night. In the process I pull every fuse out of the car... which resets the PCM to not ready. It fails the test.

Test day #5. Everything is good to go as I left my house. I arrived at the test station to discover a pending code. We did not bother to test it.

Test day #6. Cancelled the day before since the test equipment was not working.

Test day #7. Success. Finally passed and is now considered a 2005 Miata for emissions controls. Only took 7 months. Don't know how many phone calls where they wanted me to do another virtual appointment. And then only a supervisor could schedule it. Half the time it took multiple calls to get the supervisor.

 

And that gets it about up to date. Getting it smogged is a PITA. Took it to a close by shop that insisted on testing it as a 91. Figured it was cleaner than a 91 and would pass. They failed it for not being able to set the timing. And now I have to go back to the ref, other shops won't touch it after a fail. Now about 8 months past due on that. I drive it every once and a while to make sure it stays running. Last time I put gas in it was 9/14/2021. Almost empty now, I guess that makes about 250 miles in the last year and about 750 since replacing the engine. Here are more pictures I do have an Orange throttle body, but it had a slight vacuum leak (now fixed) and I was waiting for the smog pass before swapping it back in.

 

Well, it sure is pretty. Thanks for the updates!

Makes me very thankful that I have no emissions or inspections here.

 

Man I had no idea about the dumb local shop failing it. What a bummer.

I love this car, though.

 

Nothing but admiration for your tenacity. This is one hell of a build. I really don't know how guys like you do it. I lose bolts and ****, just doing a TB/WP change. If I had a long term project half the hardware would escape and be hiding with my missing 10mm sockets, that disappear.

 

I'm interested in your miata, Michael

 

A little over 10 years of ownership. I will cut it up into smaller parts such that it can be hauled off by the local recycler.



And I MAY have used a bit too much Dynamat.

 

The new project will be more fun I think