Making Some Decent Progress on the NB Miata.

So, like I said in my previous post, I’m not screwing around this time. I’m getting right down to work, so I pulled the NB in today to get started on pulling the motor. This thing is M I N T Y, I totally lucked out on such a clean, well maintained car. Here’s our starting point, one blown up NB. Poor 1.8.

Looks pretty damn good right? Check out the inside of this air box:

It looks brand fucking new! Maybe they replaced it recently trying to diagnose the problem, but if so they suck, because this shouldn’t be too terribly difficult to diagnose:

That’s cylinder number three, and I’m guessing that’s some part of a valve, but whatever the fuck it is, it’s not supposed to be chillin on top of the piston. Anyway. The car is super clean, and I’m actually being super careful taking it apart, preserving all the clips and shit. I’m trying to keep it nice bros. I did crack the radiator, but it was the 20 year old original, and judging by the pint or two of coolant in it and the coolant in cylinder number 3, it got HOT, so I’m not going to lose my sleep over it. As soon as I get done posting this I’m going to try and find me a good aluminum radiator, because this won’t be going back in.

It took a comically long time for me to find all of the bolts on this splash shield, primarily because none of my hoopties have ever had this by the time I got them 😂

And this is where I stopped today, it was getting late and I had actual work stuff to do. Exhaust side is totally taken apart. The manifold is unbolted, just have to disconnect at the cat and pull it off. The wiring harness is pulled back out of the way, the cooling system is drained and removed. I basically need to pull the fuel lines, the bellhousing bolts, and the motor mount and I should be able to drop it right out.

Not two bad for two hours with a heat index of 105 while also dealing with normal work stuff. I feel like I burned a million calories, maybe “Car Repair Yoga” should be my new workout routine. Here’s a picture I took for Daisy to demonstrate just how hot it was outside.

Anyway, Tuesday I should be able to push it over to the lift and do the last few things and snatch the engine out of it. My maintenance stuff for the new motor is coming from RockAuto.com on Monday, my clutch happy meal is coming from Flyin Miata on Wednesday. My new motor will be in from a junkyard on Tuesday. Starting to come together pretty quick, I’m gonna stay on top of it and get this car built. I’ll update next week with an empty engine bay.