'99 Miata - Not My Problem

TWO Miatas?

For someone who doesn't like them, you certainly have.. er... two of them on your property.

I'm babysitting a MazdaSpeed car that belongs to a friend. Nice low mileage example that was flooded to the middle of the door speakers in Harvey. I haven't driven it much because it's on the other side of the V in the garage and, well, I don't actually like driving them on the road enough to bother shuffling cars to take it out. I've got it for about six more weeks with full permission to drive it, so now I'm thinking I should give it a proper chance once I have it easily accessible.

So yes, I don't really like Miatas, and and have two of them, neither of which are mine. Life is funny.

That's a good point, you really do need to stop tempting fate w/ the thread titles.

I often read through threads and see stuff that causes an inner monologue about the merits of commenting on things and pointing them out vs being that guy that mostly comments to point out where people have, or might go wrong. 

When looking at the keyway it looked like the sheared portion of key had slightly upset the end of the crank making it slightly larger at the end. 

I debated the need to say anything about the crank pulley getting stuck as a result, and now regret not pestering you. 

Who knows if that's actually why it's stuck on there or not, but I do wish now I had said something. 

All that said, I'm betting the crank snout has been worn and won't actually center a new pulley anyway. 

I'd clean it up real well and mic it before proceeding. 

You have discovered the Miata's Achilles heel.   Seen more miata engines go because of that keyway and it really is an issue caused by someone working on it (not the factory), but it IS very susceptible to it if not done perfectly right. 

I would stab in a new shortblock just to take any questions out.  I had one fail (95 bignose) and the loctite fix didnt take, found a 30k mile motor for $675 and stabbed it in and have driven it for 8 trouble free years (well, melting the injection harness on the EGR tube after a header install was my fault.)   

Fun to race, until you drive one with a turbo, then you just want...  more...  That said for street fun, you dont want more.

Looking like I might sell mine this spring, a bit of rust setting in and a baby on the way (and two other 2 seat convertibles). But it really is a fun trouble free brap-about.

degrease the hell out of the assembly when you do the timing belt. Dry thoroughly to be sure the loctite (be it fix OR just threadlocker) works.  You did a mercedes engine, so you will get it. This is the one miata job that really needs an anal retentive clean-freak touch.

Oh yeah, Mazda seems to use hardware that isnt much better than it needs to be, dont overtorque things like water pump pulley bolts as they shear on you.

bluej said:

That's a good point, you really do need to stop tempting fate w/ the thread titles.

Indeed. There's a fine line between guarded expectations, and self fulfilling prophecies. 

bluej said:

That's a good point, you really do need to stop tempting fate w/ the thread titles.

But it doesn't work in reverse.  You can't start with "Maserati Biturbo that constantly breaks and never runs for more than five miles" expecting to force a reliable car.

In reply to Dusterbd13 :

short version is I BOUGHT a new oil pump and gaskets and got a bunch more free labor, to inspect the clutch and throwout bearing, as a side item.

Fair enough!

When i ran shop, i always bought parts i broke.  Probably why i lost my ass

Keep in mind that spacecsdet has confidence in me, but I have his broken car. We'll see how this one works out. 

I had someone ask me why I was attempting to do the timing belt outside instead of just rolling it inside and using the lift. Well........ 
This is how many cars I need to move. Anyone wonder why I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the fleet? 

Even though the Miata is light, the path is still uphill through gravel. Not hard, but not trivial. Rolls easy once inside though.  

And here we are on the lift. It's still cold and I have kid stuff to do that I should probably be showered for, so that's it for today. Still planning on a bottom drop. Looks straight forward. 

You can bring it right down on the subframe, but you still have to get the trans decoupled at one end or the other if you do that. I'd pull from the top, I think it would be easier.

Trans is going to come off anyway to check clutch and throwout bearing, but your advice carries extra weight, so I'll look closely. 

Clutch is on motor side of things - bolted to flywheel - and comes out with the motor. Throwout bearing can be checked easily with trans in the car once the engine is out of the way.

FYI, we always pull from the top at FM unless we're doing a V8 or we're pulling the whole suspension along with the drivetrain.

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

Nothing that a chain saw and small bulldozer can't solve. What's another project to resolve an on going project.

Volt , V , Ferd, Ferg, FJ, M's2, 911, PU.....this makes nine , where's numero diez?

In reply to 759NRNG :

You're going to stand there, reading this thread, and tell me that you can't remember the car that made me famous? 

I'm with Keith on pulling it from the top.  I don't do as many as FM does, but I've done three since Thanksgiving... 

mazdeuce - Seth said:

In reply to 759NRNG :

You're going to stand there, reading this thread, and tell me that you can't remember the car that made me famous? 

What a knucklehead I am, of course how could one forget the 'VolksPanzerVagen R63' from a year ago is what started my descent into this world of chaos and motorsport  MAYHEM!!!!! Thank you so very much  peace out.........

I decided to pull the motor from the top. Mostly because you guys are smarter than me, but also because it occured to me that by pulling it from the top I could leave the AC and power steering sealed and in the car, and because then I would have the wheels still on it so I could roll it outside and wash the filth out of the engine bay. That will make me happy. 
With only a bit of time today I drained the oil and started to pull things off the engine. Pictures are blurry because the new camera body came and I don't think I have it set right for low light Grosh pics. Sorry. 

This is the first car where not one, but two owners might be looking at the thread. As many of you know, one of my favorite pastimes when working on a project is to throw horrible words at PO's and manufacturers and people that love whatever car it is I'm working on. It makes me feel better. Of course I'm struggling, everything and everyone who has ever touched this car is horrible! But now they're watching.......... not sure how that's going to play out. Anyway, I'm no Miata expert but I suspect that both ends of this brace under the transmission are supposed to have bolts in them. On top of that, perhaps the two remaining bolts should be more than finger tight? Might need to do something about that during reassembly. 

Heading to Austin this weeked to work on the One Lap car so actually pulling the motor will need to wait until next week. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

When I point out previous bad workmanship on cars it's usually my own workmanship. 

Stampie said:

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

When I point out previous bad workmanship on cars it's usually my own workmanship. 

Yeah. I've owned my cars long enough now to replace the same parts more than once, and finding my own work is sometimes humbling. I suppose it counts as "growth" that I view bodge by younger me as crap now.

I still own my first car - a Miata that I did a lot of things to over the years. I can never sell it because of what I know can be found inside. Not if my name is attached to the car.

Keith Tanner said:

I still own my first car - a Miata that I did a lot of things to over the years. I can never sell it because of what I know can be found inside. Not if my name is attached to the car.

Weed behind the horn button is easily removed