Sound advice! I just had the battery tested and it was bad, so I'll try that first, then spray fuel all over the place

 

New battery installed. Starter is trying to turn over much better now, but still nadda. Started poking around more and found that 1 spark plug wire had gotten pulled out of the boot on the coil pack. Cleaned it off/crimped/reinstalled. Also found the CPS came loose as well. Dropped the exhaust and took care of that. Must have got pulled when matting up the tranny or something. Still have everything from the coils up off the car, so will have to wait till tomorrow to see if that was it.

 

 

^saw that video, best video ever.

"car on fire, must turn it on!!!!!"

'Idiot Kid' Explains Why He Caught On Fire Working On His Miata

 

Got it running. Seems like it's only got 7 cylinders (low power and vibrates too much). Probably a bad wire, but I'm going to let the mechanic trace that down. I hate diagnosing anything with an ECU.

 

just move the plug and wire to another cylinder and see if the problem follows

 

Had to drop it off anyway for a couple exhaust studs I couldn't drill out (broke 2 cobalt bits) and 1 PS pump bolt that I couldn't get to thread. Also wanted them to give all the systems a once over anyway so adding this disgnostic piece is really not going to cost me much.

 

Finally got pics uploaded. Sorry it doesn't look any different than a cleaned up version of the stock motor without the heads off (I bought the long block), so not too exciting to look at.
Pretty much how it arrived.


Out she comes...

My beautifully bronzed baby!

Nathan helping me switch stuff over to the new block:

Found a way to get better gas mileage!

In she went...


Not too complicated, but you'll need every version of 13 and 10 mm sockets (deep, shallow, 6/12 pt, 1/4, 3,8, 1/2" drive w/extensions), plus 12mm 12-pt socket for the heads and 8mm 12 pt for the Valve Covers. Speaking of, put the VCGs on the VCs first. If you press the lip around the outside, it'll hold while you put them on...too easy. Take copious pictures of wires and hoses...especially if you have SAI. In fact, if you have SAI, sell the truck first, buy one w/o SAI and then start the procedure. Mark your throttle cable settings before you remove them (I had to remove mine to get the upper intake far enough out of the way). Hardest part of the whole thing was the side bolts of the bell housing and top nut of the Dr Side motor mount. Of course on mine, the exhaust studs broke off. Depending on what the shop wants to drill them out, may go with Magnaflow cat-back, which will probably compliment my more aggressive cams well.

 

OK, got it fired up after taking care of couple last minute issues. Those exhaust studs I broke off bang out easily after being heat up. Got some O2 sensor codes...probably from all the smoke that was bellowing out on start-up but I'm pretty sure they were the factory sensors anyway and AB is having a sale

Driving impressions: best way I know how to describe it is it feels like a lighter truck. Accelerates faster and more effortlessly. Runs more smoothly with less vibration. Testing MPG differences now may be skewed from installing new O2 sensors. Either way, I'm a HUGE fan of the hot cams. There is a "seat of the pants" difference I can feel. How much of this is contributed to the cams and how much to a newly balanced/rebuilt block and valvetrain, I don't know. But my previous block only had 65K mi, so it wasn't tired. The real reason for the conversion was to have the piece of mind. Also, it was looking more and more like it would need a Head Gasket job, so I put that money towards a new engine. No more ticking!

Gotta send the core back now...anyone recommend a good shipping co?

 

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