As the title says, I get to tear into my miata a bit earlier than I wanted to. Apparently my bad radiator wasn't so bad, as much as the water pump was going out. Well it's officially gone, I pour it in, less than a mile down the street it says give me more. So, while I'm in there it's time to do the timing belt anyway, and while I've got that out, cam and crank seals? Anything else I could/should do while I'm in there? I mean I drive the hell out of this car, I want it to be reliable as it can be for a 20+ year old car. with 203k on the clock it's time for some lovin' anyway. Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure I have a short nose crank, and after the horror stories I've heard, I want to make sure it's done right, any suggestions, or tricks to make life easier while doing this particular task? 8)
Part of me wants to go ahead and pull the head, rebuild it, and do a little port and polish on it, but if I've got it that far, might as well do rings and bearings, oh and I'm sure I can snag a set of rods and pistons somewhere for that eventual added pressure I want.....see where this is going? A full build isn't in the cards right now, so I put it to the GRM collective; what should I really do? oh and after purchasing a new radiator my budget is about 200$ max, I've already priced out a water pump, timing set, etc from rock auto, which brings it down to around 130ish.
Might want to consider the timing belt idler and tensioner pulleys -- they're expensive, but you've probably got the originals in there and 200K is a lot.
Front main seal? cam seals? O-ring for the cam angle sensor.
If it's a short-nose crank, the conventional wisdom is that you want a new woodruff key and a new crank bolt.
Just do the water pump and crank seal/bolt/key/loctite (is that still the recommended fix?). If the cam seals are leaking, do them too. If not, don't. If the t-belt looks new-ish, leave it (non-interference engine). Forget about the pullies unless they're bad. Certainly don't open up the engine.
Unless you have maintenance records, who knows how old any of those parts are. They could have all been changed 30k miles ago; you don't know (or do you?). At any rate, "while I'm in there" gets expensive. In my years I've learned my lesson on that. Just do the minimum to fix the engine and keep it from grenading. With 200k you're just trying to keep it going. It could get rod knock next week... you might decide to sell the car next month... it might get totaled this summer... etc.
(knock on wood I hope none of the bad stuff happens, I'm just sayin' that any of those things will make you upset at having a bunch of time and money in that engine when it didn't actually need all of that work to be done... )
Do the belt. It's foolish not to. While it won't damage the engine if it breaks, it will ruin your day. You'll have it in your hands and they're cheap.
I'd do all belts, the cam and crank seals, valve cover gasket, pulleys and that's about it. Basically, a 60k service. Check the condition of the key and the bolt, and use blue loctite and the correct torque. That's all a short nose needs.
Hey...it's easy to overdrive the crank seal and leak oil and have to buy a new one and do the job all over. Ask me how I know.
Theres this really nifty company that makes a nice affordable crank seal installation tool that makes it idiot proof. 
I'm pretty sure the belt is due anyway, and I won't do a timing belt anymore without doing the idler/tensioner pulley as well. I purchased the car from a fellow GRM'r while it rarely got a bath, it don't think I ever heard of him neglecting it in anyway(other than shoehorning an optima yellowtop in place of the battery. Not that I'm complaining about it mind you, that battery rocks!). I keep meaning to purchase a spare motor and do a bench build on it for forced induction.
And as for selling it anytime soon??? NO CHANCE IN HELL is my miata going anywhere anytime soon, even if it was totaled, it would come home and have some of it's parts put on the next one. Not planning on kids anytime soon(knock on wood 
)I usually take a 3-5 hour road trip(one way) with this car once a month or so. I love it, getting in a bone stock miata just feels numb after getting out of this car. A co worker was giving me crap about driving a miata a week or so ago, and I took him for a slightly spirited drive. He saw my side of the argument after that.
