My Head Hurts

[1st Gen]

Yup. That's what I did.
RTV black and no gasket?
Ditch it all together huh.

[FamiliaGT]

Lookin good! Bout time this thing is getting closer. Let me know if you need a hand.

[FE3-323]

just use the SS gasket for the intake manifold. you don't need RTV with it. not unless you nick the sealing surface

[1st Gen]

The problem I created is this.

I used the wrong tool to modify the intake and accidentally hogged out the opening a bit. It's now bigger than the seal that the metal gasket uses. If I use the metal gasket by itself, I'll have leaks. If I ditch it and go with the sealant, I think I'll be okay. I've got half a tube of Permatex copper and a whole afternoon to mess with it.

I was cleaning the GTX intake manifold at the car wash with the pressure washer and discovered that if I spray the powerful pressure washer into the intake, I can get a pretty good sense of the flow of the different runners. It was very difficult to get the spray to come out the 2nd and 4th runners. (Dammit). That's why I'm back to the BP intake.

Sorry to be such an idiot sometimes. I should have known when I used that big grinder that this would happen. I just got tired of putting it off and decided to get it done, no matter what. In a sense, it worked. I'm making progress again and I'm formulating an end game. I've got a 4 day weekend coming up, and a vacation after that. I think I have most of the tedious stuff done.
I still have a stripped bolt hole where the clutch slave attaches to the tranny,
an iffy clutch line connection under the master cylinder,
a tire that's out of round,
a radiator that has a pin hole in it,
and I still don't have a wide band.
I still need to disassemble my other VAF's and clean them so I don't have to take the A code off my B4pro. I like it on there for some reason.

I'm thinking of going with my spare turbo set up too. It's the OEM GTX turbo, just newer. The coolant lines aren't all corroded and such.
I've been thinking about having my injectors cleaned and flow tested but I'm having a hard time spending the money.


I find that I'm spending most of my time just trying to track stuff down. I spent over an hour looking for the water pump gasket that I thought would have come in the gasket kit. I finally just went and bought a whole new water pump. Too much time has gone by. I tried to be organized when I took the thing apart but it's still a nuisance.

[1st Gen]

Engine is all together and ready to be mated up the the tranny. This tranny has some problems though. There are at least two bolt holes that are stripped out from the previous owner. I can tap them but they're shallow holes and I'm not sure exactly how that's going to work. One is for the clutch master cylinder which seems secure enough as is, but the other is for the front motor mount bracket and I'd really like to fix that.

I've been spending most of my time looking for bolts and parts. I work on it all day long only to look back and see I've only gotten one side of the engine assembled. I'm learning so much though, and there were so many problems to be fixed. The new alternator will be here tomorrow. It's not the upgraded version but a quality, OEM style unit. I also replace the water pump and timing belt. If everything goes well, this engine should be good for many many miles.

I'm using OEM heater hosed sourced from the j/k so I won't have problem with bends cutting off circulation. Yea, it's a compromise. I'll just have to keep an eye on it and make sure those hoses are up the job.

I have an SD card reader coming in the mail so I'll be able to upload pics pretty soon. I can now but it's a nuisance transferring them from the laptop to the desktop and I don't like doing it. Am thinking of starting a whole new thread with nothing but pics and stats. IDK, we'll see.

Again, thanks for all the help.

[FE3-323]

heli coil kits can be had cheaply. I do suggest having a few of the basic metric sizes handy in your tool selection. browse on ebay for M8/M10/M12 X 1.25 helicoil kits.

[1st Gen]

I have the helicoil set coming in the mail. I wish the parts houses were more DIY friendly but they don't seem to have very good selections of things like this. Since I live near the auto mall, I have six auto parts stores within 2 miles of me. It's cool, but it's annoying too. They all carry the same prepackaged stuff. When I took the cylinder head to the machine shop to be shaved, Mike had to remove a few of the exhaust head studs, I presume so it would fit in the machine. Trying to replace those studs was a huge hassle. It was Sunday so Vancouver Bolt was closed. Costless was the only place that still has any kind of selection of nuts and bolts, and they were out of what I needed. As it turned out, I already had the studs from the BP head removal at the j/y. :blush: That was a rough day to try and get stuff done.


The waiting is going to push my work schedule back a bit but I'm not sure what can be done. I guess I'll use that time to worry over the steps of the install.

[1st Gen]

The intake brace got taken out when I was trying to route the alternator wires and such. No biggy. I took the opportunity to attach the main ground wire to the starter bracket. I have the notion that it will take less current to start the engine which will bean advantage when the battery is low.

Everything is back together accept the intake piping and radiator. I believe this BP intake positions the TB a little to the right from the GTX intake. As a result, I'm going to have to modify some stuff. I hate this part too. It seems like it always ends up looking ghetto. I still need to figure out where I'm going to get the vacuum for the BOV and the waste gate actuator. Not a huge challenge, but I do want to make sure I do it right.

I have fixed a lot of problem in this rebuild. One thing that won't get fixed is the exhaust system. It's going to be the same leaking POS that it's always been.

[1st Gen]

I fired it up today and let it run for a little while. It smoked and ticked and put up all kinds of fuss, but it settled down after about 15 minutes. It runs and sounds like beef steak now.

I never was able to fix the radiator leak. The shop I called wanted $110 dollars an hour, minimum 1 hour to fix it. I can't find it without the pressure equipment they use so I guess I'll just have a leaking radiator for a while. I'll figure it out eventually.

On the way home from our drive tonight, a preying mantis landed on the hood and just looked at me. Cool, but weird.

[boosted94]

I never was able to fix the radiator leak. The shop I called wanted $110 dollars an hour, minimum 1 hour to fix it.

That's insane considering a new rad from Summitt is less than $100.

What piston rings did you use?

[FamiliaGT]

I have a stock GTX radiator I'm not using youre welcome to if you would like. Let me know. And glad to hear it fired off!

[1st Gen]

That's insane considering a new rad from Summitt is less than $100.

What piston rings did you use?

I know shops have to survive, but that's just outrageous. It's things like this that started me working on my own stuff in the first place.
The rings came with the pistons. DNJ for a 2005 Miata, bored .020 over. 10:1 compression

I have a stock GTX radiator I'm not using youre welcome to if you would like. Let me know. And glad to hear it fired off!

I have a viscous LSD I'd trade you for it. It's just the unit, no case. Someone gave it to me a while back and I really don't need a spare.
If you want to swing by some time, or if you're where you can be found, we can trade. I'm just hanging out today trying to tie up loose ends.

[boosted94]

The rings came with the pistons. DNJ for a 2005 Miata, bored .020 over. 10:1 compression

Just out of curiosity, did the ring profiles match the OE rings? The BP05 DNJ rings I installed didn't match the OE rings I took off. Top ring was supposed to have a chamfer, DNJ profile was rectangular. 2nd ring was supposed to have a chamfer and a 90° cut on the bottom, only had the cut.

[FamiliaGT]

Sorry, been in and out of work. I'm around this weekend however! Its in the garage in Vancouver. I can swing it over to you, or vise versa. I'm right next to orchards park, off fourth plain. let me know!

[1st Gen]

So there's this ground wire left over and I'm not sure where it goes. I might have brought it home with me from the j/y when I sourced the head. It looks just like the one that goes on the front of the cylinder head where the hanger support is. Should I find a home for it, or throw it in the bin?

Got around and fixed the sticking drivers side door latch, replaced that same door panel, sealed the tail lights so no more leaking in the trunk, replaced all the trunk garnish so it looks oem again, and just generally cleaned it up. The steering has been a little foobar since I put the new bushings in and I'm not sure what to do about it. I guess that will be the focus of my next project.

All in all, I'm very happy with it. I'm over 120 miles now and no problems. I wish I could time it better though. The darn power steering belt makes it hard to see what I'm doing. And no, I still haven't put a wide band on it yet. I'm having a hard time parting with that money right now.