Bought someone else's problem Miata.

I think it will work out okay, but it's pretty obvious previous owner has a lot to learn. The first few repairs were pretty simple.

First thing was the AC belt squealing, which he attributed to needing a new belt.  The belt looked new, so I adjusted the tensioner. Tensioners add tension, right? Thought that was obvious, but I could have pulled the belt off with fingers. 

Next was the non-working dome light switch for the driver's door. He said he'd been locked out by the automatic door locks, since the car would re-lock itself after he opened the door. That I fixed with a shot of contact cleaner. 

I was getting lots of exhaust fumes in the cockpit, so I pulled off the heat shield and saw the front O2 sensor hanging loose in the bung. Had to buy a tube of exhaust system anti-seize, so now I'm into my repairs for a few dollars. The donut gasket is missing from behind the cat, so after I fix that, it will take care of the exhaust leaks (unless that bung is stripped, we'll see). 

The exhaust repair leads off the  to-do list, but it's not the biggest issue. I'm not familiar enough with Miatas, so I didn't spot what is probably the reason he had the car for sale.  One of the bolts that holds the back of the exhaust camshaft is broken off. He tried to drill it out, got off center, and now there's a piece of the bolt deep in the threaded portion of the cylinder head. You can see around it when looking down through the hole, so there's only a small piece left. I suspect that the threads in the aluminum are destroyed. 

Here's my plan: I'm going to try to plug the bottom of the hole with some RTV, then fill it with an alum solution, see if it works to dissolve the steel.  Here's a demo. If I can get the remnants of the bolt out, I'll see if the threads are intact enough to hold a bolt. If not, then it's either through-bolt it, heli-coil (although I prefer the Time-sert brand), or replace the head. 

There's some other issues to contend with, like the non-working cruise control (lots of flat straight roads here in FL).  He disabled the clutch lock out so he could start the engine without depressing the clutch, so I am going to start there. 

On a better note, the car was on the lift at the tire store today, and it's really clean and straight. Few leaks, but nothing looks critical other than the broken bolt. 

Here's the site of the missing bolt.

IIRC, that doesn't actually touch the cam at all.  It just holds the seal that covers the spot where the distributor went on the FWD engines (or the cam angle sensor on the 90-97 Miatas).  So yeah, should be fixable.

codrus said:

IIRC, that doesn't actually touch the cam at all.  It just holds the seal that covers the spot where the distributor went on the FWD engines (or the cam angle sensor on the 90-97 Miatas).  So yeah, should be fixable.

 

Thanks for the reply . If that's the case, then hopefully I won't have to be as precise with the torque on the fastener. 

Heck, a bit of RTV would probably do the trick. It doesn’t see pressurized oil, just splash. If it’s even leaking, it may not be. 

Thanks for signing on Kieth.  That reminded me to check the mail, the box with my first Flyin' Miata came today! I've got "the books!"

I didn't want to clutter up the forum by asking this question in multiple places, but I've been a bit stressed after talking to a mechanic at the tire shop.  He thought the camshaft extended into the seal, and and that the cam might break. Honest mistake, he does good work but he's not real familiar with miatas. 

Yes, there is an oil leak, coming from this area. I will try to seal it up with an application of RTV, but it's probably going to continue to concern me. I think I'll move it down the list, though, I'd rather get the exhaust sealed next so I'm not breathing fumes!  

Other things on the list: pull the Momo wheel off and find the wiring for the horn, then install a Tornado horn.  I feel vulnerable in something this small without a loud horn. 

It was suggested that I install a quick release hub, but does it matter? It's not a track car at this point.  

Resistor for the air bag light.

PO had a tablet in the double DIN radio location, running torque with real time monitoring via bluetooth. Not a bad option, but it's often hunting for the adaptor instead of giving me information, so I'm going to remove the tablet and install regular gauges. 

Timing belt, water pump, all hoses, and coolant bypass. Radiator looks fresh, so I don't think I'll change it yet. 

A couple of questions: how do I get the stock passenger seat belt to stop binding now that it has the roll bar and harness bar? What do I do with the seat belt light now that there's a harness on the driver's seat, just pull the bulb?

Oh, and here's what I'm working with, 2001 LS, sport package, six speed. Lava orange paint chosen by the PO, was BRG. 

Seat belts and roll bars are tough. You can cock the reel sideways at the time of installation to help, but it's almost impossible to do later as the reel is sandwiched between the bar and body. Pics of the bar might help. 

You can probably pull the bulb or jumper a connector. You don't need a quick release wheel. 

I like to pull the airbag brain and backup battery if I'm removing the bag. Seems more complete than the resistor trick. 

The car looks great! You’ll get through these issues and really enjoy it I’m sure. 

In reply to dculberson :

Already having fun, not having buyer's remorse at all. Never owned a Miata, and never had a project car that had much aftermarket support. 

Every used car has some issue, and I've almost always had old cars. My attitude is realistic when I buy a 16 year old car. 

Trying to get the horn button working. Here's a picture of the wires behind the momo wheel adaptor. The yellow connector  with yellow wires is attached to the yellow box in the center of the picture. That is not a connector, it has two wires, both attached to the connector. 

I was looking for the green wire with red stripe, but the only other wire is the short black wire that is cut off from the small white connector that's visible on the clock spring. Is that the ground for the horn? I don't see the green wire with red stripe that Kieth describes here on the forum and in the book. 

I have not had an NB wheel apart, but Iwhat you're holding looks like airbag wiring, and that's possibly a resistor that's supposed to fool it into thinking the airbag is still there, but you said you have a light, so... ??  It's possible there's an issue on the passenger side that's triggering the light.  Is the passenger airbag switch still in the center console in front of the shifter?  Some folks remove them if they disable the driver's side...

That book was written before your car was built, I think. Very likely the cut wire is the horn wire. Try grounding it. 

I wanted some encouragement before grounding that wire, didn't want to chance setting off the passenger bag. Unfortunately, didn't work when I grounded it to the steering shaft. I also pulled out the plug that that wire is attached to, and tried grounding each of the four terminals. No go. 

I may end up rewiring the whole thing. I have a relay. I'm just barely functional when it comes to electrical issues. I put air horns in my truck. I ran a direct lead to the relay from the battery terminal for power, and used the factory horn lead to activate it. Took me an hour to figure it out and wire it, and that was with a diagram. 

Update, found the working horn wire that plugs into the bottom of the clockspring. 

I think that there is a problem with the connection inside of the clockspring, and that grounding the black wire as was suggested should have completed the curcuit. 

Not sure what to do next, but I'll revisit it tomorrow. 

$30 will get you a used clock spring on eBay. 

Just be careful with them, it's easy to overrotate them when dinking around and break the spring. The symptom is a horn button that doesn't work

Keith Tanner said:

Just be careful with them, it's easy to overrotate them when dinking around and break the spring. The symptom is a horn button that doesn't work

Well, that explains that! I wonder if all of the wires are damaged. I'll check for continuity, but if the airbag wiring still works I'm going to try some thing else. 

We'll see if it makes sense: the horn wire doesn't work where it exits the clock spring. I've unplugged the air bag resistor from the inside of the wheel hub, and transferred it to the wiring harness where the air bag harness plugs into the clock spring.

The clock spring wiring for the air bag is no longer needed,  so I'll connect one of the air bag wires from the clock spring connector to the ground wire for the horn.  Finally, I'll  attach the horn button to the other end of the clock spring wiring where it exits under the hub. 

And, no continuity through the clock spring wires. Any of them. So, off to ebay.

I was parting out a wrecked MR2 Spyder and after removing the steering shaft thought I’d have a bit of fun and spun the steering wheel. Snap! No more clockspring. It wasn’t worth enough to sell but it still bummed me out a bit. 

In reply to dculberson :

Yeah, I'm the same way. Hate to break something for no reason. 

Ordered a clockspring on ebay, shipping was super fast. It arrived on a Sunday!  Only problem was when I opened the box, it was a trunk release cable. 

Hit the junkyard this morning, there were two NB2 miatas. Got the clock spring and also picked up a few other parts. I replaced the column mounted switches, since the cruise isn't working in my car (Florida roads are really straight and flat). I also wasn't real into this modification by the previous owner, so I got a stock cluster, which I like much more:

I also picked up a stock Nardi wheel, to use until I get the Momo wheel rigged with a working horn. PO also messed up the  wheel installation, so I've got to reattach the wheel to the hub adaptor so it's on straight. He put it on crooked, then damaged the tabs on the plastic plate on the turn signal; luckily I had bought the new part or I wouldn't have known. 

Anyone interested in an custom pokemon NB cluster?

Revlimiter custom gauges!

http://revlimiter.net/store/gauges-modified1.php

Agree with Keith. I like Adam's (Revlimiter) stuff. He can do the gauge switcharoo deal where zero is up top too so you can see your needles whist driving down the road with a smaller steering wheels. With my Momo, at highway speeds, my tach and speedo needles are hidden by the steering wheel. I'm going to get a set of Revlimiter gauges myself next time I need to pull the dash apart for any reason.

Keith Tanner said:

That book was written before your car was built, I think. Very likely the cut wire is the horn wire. Try grounding it. 

*airbag goes off*

:P

well probably not but but it would make for good tv...

Did a short 15 minute drive, pulled in the driveway and noticed that the coolant temperature was 221, but dropping as the car idled. 

221 was the maximum it reached according to the torque app. The heater hose had come off the back of the engine.

I just closed the hood. I'm off work tomorrow, I'll add it to the list. 

Need to reattach the hose, fix the exhaust leak and try to figure out how to adjust the clutch. Clutch begins to engage about an inch off the floor at the most, and it seems like it's getting even lower. Does that mean I might be losing pressure in the hydraulics? 

Count down has started. First autocross in one month.