The Reemergence: Miatapasta's new beginnings
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Love the re-used sign, and the rest of your DIY 
Freedom in ingenuity!
Freedom in ingenuity!
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2,203 Posts
Ya know, I was at the store the other day and there weren't any bolts that went up to that size. I think I have something up my sleeve though.You did catch the part about threading a bolt in, right?
They had good reviews on Amazon, albeit only 7 of them. Welds look to be in great shape. I will update if I have any issues.
Thank you! Freedom indeed! I love being able to go from concept to reality. Seeing it finished is so cool.Love the re-used sign, and the rest of your DIY
Freedom in ingenuity!
A small update:
Rspeed posted a picture of this broken tombstone on IG, and wouldn't you know, it would be perfect to use as an extension on top of the existing one for when I need more gauges in the car. They were kind enough to send it to me for only the cost of shipping.
I want to emulate how the Zoom console not only adds space up top but also sits atop the dash, like so:
But that won't be done for a while now.
I also got the Yonaka radiator in the mail the other day. The rad, fan, and shroud combo only cost $220 on Amazon, but I managed to get $40 off when applying for the Amazon credit card, so it wasn't bad at all.
Welds look to be in very good condition. Very solid piece.
I will be running the fans to come on together as I no longer have AC.
Of course you have to bend a few of the fins in the process, or else it's not a real radiator.
It's a dual core, so it's substantially thicker than OEM.
The only issue I have is that the fan cages contact the front sway bar. I will probably trim the fan cages a bit. Either that or just let it be and have it rub its own groove over time since the fans sit far away from the cages themselves.
Also the wiring has been done for the fans in this pic and they are ziptied to the fan cages as to avoid the sway bar and belts.
And finally...the cherry on top... a nice new valve cover!
Some notes on the VC as it sits right now:
-The brass barb on the DS needs to be deleted and the hole filled. (There is no baffling on that side of the cover and from what I see, it'll just 'drink' oil from this spot.)
-The plumbing on the PS still hasn't been done. This is where all the baffling spots are.
-The spark plug cover plate was sold off and I'm remaking a newer one that better fits this piece.
-It will be getting a coat of wrinkle red powdercoat.
-The exposed cam gears will be powdercoated a shiny gold color.
-It looks freakin' awesome!
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2,203 Posts
Did some powdercoating recently, no time to go into detail but I did a ton of work getting the VC to work (plumbing, barbs, filling, sanding, brackets, etc.) and got everything sandblasted and powdercoated. Wrinkle red with prismatic gold. The rocket badge is going back on the IM and will cover the blemishes.
Looks so good IMO, really excited.
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Also, side note, I ditched my random coolant reroute spacer and went with the new Hawley Performance spacer. Much nicer product, no hassles or extra drilling needed. Installed everything in an hour with the motor still in the car! The bolt up top is in place until if/when I use an aux coolant sensor.
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Theirs is the one on the left vs. my old terrible one.
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Looks so good IMO, really excited.
Also, side note, I ditched my random coolant reroute spacer and went with the new Hawley Performance spacer. Much nicer product, no hassles or extra drilling needed. Installed everything in an hour with the motor still in the car! The bolt up top is in place until if/when I use an aux coolant sensor.
Theirs is the one on the left vs. my old terrible one.
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2,203 Posts
Long time no see, CR!
Not much has changed, lol. I mean, there’s been changes in the sense that I’m no longer taking the motor apart and instead am putting it back together, but at the end of the day it’s still sitting in my garage being a nice place for cobwebs to hide out…in the muffler…under the car…etc…
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I’ve actually taken up a second project as well, as we’re doing some small renos to our house. (Hence the mess in the garage, actually...it can usually fit two cars.) Here’s the big momma I’ve been working on…made these puppies from a trio of some nasty old bookshelves from the 80s. Need to get them all aligned and the parts/doors lined up now that they’ve been moved into the house but nonetheless…
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And before…
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I am working on some security brackets for the gaming consoles and have already installed security bolts in the TV mount, so it'll be a real
bugger to try and steal this stuff if you get past the alarm system. (My buddy had some ass come in through his window while he was at work and nabbed his PS4 and laptop, so he's got me worried too.)
So anyways, for those of you wondering how to mount the coil pack on the Protégé (?) VC for this 1.8 Miata, this was my solution:
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And it’s starting to look like a motor again!
(Timing plate went back on, forgot to install it in this pic)
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You can see all of the new plumbing mocked up for the coolant reroute and the oil catch can.
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I don’t have too many photos but this is what has changed since last time.
-Header wrap removed in prep for TDR heat blanket
-VC, IM, cam gears, supercharger manifold and oil cap all powdercoated
-Oil catch can plumbed and baffled
-Coolant reroute nearing completion
-Fan wiring finished
And the still to do to get it running back to N/A…
-Replace brittle/cracking fuel injector wiring harness
-Order the TDR blanket (any used ones or sale around here?)
-Replace clutch line with straight-shot line (the braided one is vastly superior to the OEM one and is best to use with a reroute since the coolant hose gets in the clutch line’s way)
-Reinstall injectors
-Throttle body woes
So yeah, still here, just lurking more and more these days, but it’s still gonna get finished!
Not much has changed, lol. I mean, there’s been changes in the sense that I’m no longer taking the motor apart and instead am putting it back together, but at the end of the day it’s still sitting in my garage being a nice place for cobwebs to hide out…in the muffler…under the car…etc…
I’ve actually taken up a second project as well, as we’re doing some small renos to our house. (Hence the mess in the garage, actually...it can usually fit two cars.) Here’s the big momma I’ve been working on…made these puppies from a trio of some nasty old bookshelves from the 80s. Need to get them all aligned and the parts/doors lined up now that they’ve been moved into the house but nonetheless…
And before…
I am working on some security brackets for the gaming consoles and have already installed security bolts in the TV mount, so it'll be a real
bugger to try and steal this stuff if you get past the alarm system. (My buddy had some ass come in through his window while he was at work and nabbed his PS4 and laptop, so he's got me worried too.)
So anyways, for those of you wondering how to mount the coil pack on the Protégé (?) VC for this 1.8 Miata, this was my solution:
And it’s starting to look like a motor again!
(Timing plate went back on, forgot to install it in this pic)
You can see all of the new plumbing mocked up for the coolant reroute and the oil catch can.
I don’t have too many photos but this is what has changed since last time.
-Header wrap removed in prep for TDR heat blanket
-VC, IM, cam gears, supercharger manifold and oil cap all powdercoated
-Oil catch can plumbed and baffled
-Coolant reroute nearing completion
-Fan wiring finished
And the still to do to get it running back to N/A…
-Replace brittle/cracking fuel injector wiring harness
-Order the TDR blanket (any used ones or sale around here?)
-Replace clutch line with straight-shot line (the braided one is vastly superior to the OEM one and is best to use with a reroute since the coolant hose gets in the clutch line’s way)
-Reinstall injectors
-Throttle body woes
So yeah, still here, just lurking more and more these days, but it’s still gonna get finished!
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5,123 Posts
Engine bay looks so good and the red/gold looks fantastic! :icon_cheers:
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2,203 Posts
Well, it's been a long while. A really long while, lol. Life has gotten in the way... a lot. The main project is a house I am buying/fixing/renovating because of a, ah, marital status change that was unforeseen, but that's neither here nor there. But amidst everything I've managed to get...the motor completely reassembled!
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I am going to run it N/A for a while, then get it tuned on a basemap so I can get the Flow Force injectors and Megasquirt cooperating while I iron out any other kinks. I also need to wrestle with getting the correct TPS. Before the teardown the TPS was out of order and disconnected, so idle was funny on startup but it did just fine after a lap around the block. If I can get it running to that point again I will be happy.
Then it'll be time for more down time while I finally boost it.
The one hiccup I've encountered is that the coolant reroute on the back of the head sprung a leak before I even tried to fire it up. Upon reassembly, the gasket had torn when I torqued down the bolt, so I replaced the gasket along with a liberal use of grey RTV. We'll see if that works.
A final note on the VC: If you use a Protege valve cover, you won't have mounting points for the coil pack anymore. I bolted mine directly to the valve cover. Consequently, I needed longer spark plug wires. I fiddled with trying to extend the OEM wires but it turns out '93 Protege spark plug wires are long enough and will work, but you lose the dust seal the Miata plug wires had. The spark plug wire cover will hopefully keep things protected.
It'll probably be a few days before I do another leak test and if it passes, it's on to an oil change and a fresh tank of gas. Maybe it'll start then!
I am going to run it N/A for a while, then get it tuned on a basemap so I can get the Flow Force injectors and Megasquirt cooperating while I iron out any other kinks. I also need to wrestle with getting the correct TPS. Before the teardown the TPS was out of order and disconnected, so idle was funny on startup but it did just fine after a lap around the block. If I can get it running to that point again I will be happy.
Then it'll be time for more down time while I finally boost it.
The one hiccup I've encountered is that the coolant reroute on the back of the head sprung a leak before I even tried to fire it up. Upon reassembly, the gasket had torn when I torqued down the bolt, so I replaced the gasket along with a liberal use of grey RTV. We'll see if that works.
A final note on the VC: If you use a Protege valve cover, you won't have mounting points for the coil pack anymore. I bolted mine directly to the valve cover. Consequently, I needed longer spark plug wires. I fiddled with trying to extend the OEM wires but it turns out '93 Protege spark plug wires are long enough and will work, but you lose the dust seal the Miata plug wires had. The spark plug wire cover will hopefully keep things protected.
It'll probably be a few days before I do another leak test and if it passes, it's on to an oil change and a fresh tank of gas. Maybe it'll start then!
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8,696 Posts
Nice dryer hose
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2,203 Posts
lol everyone comments on it. It's the rubber flex pipe that came with the supercharger kit. The OEM crossover pipe interfered with the coolant reroute so, ya know, I get to dry my clothes while snappin nex
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2,203 Posts
That's pretty much what I did - drilled two holes, mounted a flat stock piece of metal, and then bolted the coil pack to that. Still needed about 2" of extra wire per plug though.
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52,333 Posts
That's weird...I used the same old NGK blues I'd used before. Then again, that was over a decade ago now
eek so there might be some selective memory going on there.
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2,203 Posts
I probably could have done that whole "measuring" thing before I mounted the coil pack too, lol. I mounted it to get the best clearance without thinking of the plug wires.
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52,333 Posts
What determined the coil pack's final placement for me was the lower mounting bolt (on the head). Of course, if you have a 1.6, we're comparing apples and oranges because the 1.8 has its CAS (and therefore the coil pack mount) on opposite sides of the engine.
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2,203 Posts
WHOO.
Okay. So. It...runs?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeOtV3RH4x-/
If y'all could please view that video and help me diagnose some stuff, I'd appreciate it.
Two things. First, it does NOT want to idle. At all. That's my friend holding the throttle wheel in the video. My hypothesis is the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) is baaaaad. Like, "not even plugged in because it's the wrong kind" sorta bad. So I've got a 1.6 TPS coming in the mail and we will see what that does. But even though the TPS needs to be replaced anyways, it's still just a hypothesis as to the bad idle. Any other ideas/possibilities? Gonna play with the idle screw and adjust the throttle cable too.
Second, the fuel injector closest to the front is leaking. This is despite brand new seals. What are your thoughts? One person suggested vaseline on the o-rings before installation, which I did not do. I also bought secondhand injectors, any possibility of it being a dud?
Thanks! Motivated to get it going. It needs to be able to be driven and idling by January 31st, LOL
Okay. So. It...runs?
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeOtV3RH4x-/
If y'all could please view that video and help me diagnose some stuff, I'd appreciate it.
Two things. First, it does NOT want to idle. At all. That's my friend holding the throttle wheel in the video. My hypothesis is the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) is baaaaad. Like, "not even plugged in because it's the wrong kind" sorta bad. So I've got a 1.6 TPS coming in the mail and we will see what that does. But even though the TPS needs to be replaced anyways, it's still just a hypothesis as to the bad idle. Any other ideas/possibilities? Gonna play with the idle screw and adjust the throttle cable too.
Second, the fuel injector closest to the front is leaking. This is despite brand new seals. What are your thoughts? One person suggested vaseline on the o-rings before installation, which I did not do. I also bought secondhand injectors, any possibility of it being a dud?
Thanks! Motivated to get it going. It needs to be able to be driven and idling by January 31st, LOL
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5,123 Posts
Nice to see you got it back together and running...more or less. Hope you get it figured out quickly and as cheap as possible! :icon_cheers:
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2,203 Posts
WHOO! IT RUNS!
It's been a long year (?). If this car were my only project, it would have been done in a few months. But since starting this I've had to move houses, begin a renovation, I bought/modded a truck for a daily...it's been a wild ride.
To recap, this is what I've done in order to prepare the car for the supercharger install.
-Replaced intake manifold (powdercoated/shaved ports)
-Replaced VC with a new, custom one
-Coolant reroute, which meant battling the leaks
-Radiator replacement
-Oil/coolant flush & change
-Oil catch can & plumbing
-Powdercoated timing gears/advanced timing
Along the lines of this, we had an issue with the gas tank leaking and having a cross threaded bolt from the previous owner which we discovered once we tried backing the bolt out to drain the old fuel, so that was fun. We cut the bolt off flush with the tank and applied a liberal amount of JB Weld. It was our only option, trust me. We tried it all.
Then of course once we got it running, we had to iron out the kinks, which involved...
-Erroneous timing
-Gas tank leak
-Fuel injector leaks...again and again and again...
-Coolant leak at the back of the head
-Valve cover gasket leak
-Oil catch can plumbing being erroneous and needing a breather (it was spraying from the dipstick)
-Burning an insane amount of oil due to the catch can not doing its job LOL
But it's running. I beat on it good and hard for a few hours yesterday just burning through gas, doing donuts, and keeping check on it. There is a small drip-drip coolant leak at the back of the head, but that can be postponed.
I also ran out of gas 500 feet from the gas station. Hahahaha.
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So yeah, huge wall of text, but I'll update with photos soon enough. It's raining
It's been a long year (?). If this car were my only project, it would have been done in a few months. But since starting this I've had to move houses, begin a renovation, I bought/modded a truck for a daily...it's been a wild ride.
To recap, this is what I've done in order to prepare the car for the supercharger install.
-Replaced intake manifold (powdercoated/shaved ports)
-Replaced VC with a new, custom one
-Coolant reroute, which meant battling the leaks
-Radiator replacement
-Oil/coolant flush & change
-Oil catch can & plumbing
-Powdercoated timing gears/advanced timing
Along the lines of this, we had an issue with the gas tank leaking and having a cross threaded bolt from the previous owner which we discovered once we tried backing the bolt out to drain the old fuel, so that was fun. We cut the bolt off flush with the tank and applied a liberal amount of JB Weld. It was our only option, trust me. We tried it all.
Then of course once we got it running, we had to iron out the kinks, which involved...
-Erroneous timing
-Gas tank leak
-Fuel injector leaks...again and again and again...
-Coolant leak at the back of the head
-Valve cover gasket leak
-Oil catch can plumbing being erroneous and needing a breather (it was spraying from the dipstick)
-Burning an insane amount of oil due to the catch can not doing its job LOL
But it's running. I beat on it good and hard for a few hours yesterday just burning through gas, doing donuts, and keeping check on it. There is a small drip-drip coolant leak at the back of the head, but that can be postponed.
I also ran out of gas 500 feet from the gas station. Hahahaha.
So yeah, huge wall of text, but I'll update with photos soon enough. It's raining
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That is the most problems I've ever seen with a BP assembly. Glad to see it going again.
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2,203 Posts
Most of it was because of only being able to do one step every week or so. For the last month it sat at my neighbor's place so we had to coordinate schedules from across town lol. That and all the custom plumbing. The biggest annoyance was that try as we might, no matter how much lube (giggity), the O rings would always rip around the injectors.
Oh yeah, and a snapped VC bolt lol, forgot to mention that one!
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8,696 Posts
Bizarre. I've never once had that issue.
I've had this issue. Oh lordy have I had this issue.
181 - 200 of 206 Posts
