Meet Ol Smokey! I’m relatively new to this forum, but not new to car audio fomokey

Meh...a little JB Weld and it'll be good as new

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Originally Posted by littlemissGTO

Sometimes you can pick up a dye to put in the oil. UV light and cool glasses, will allow you to find the leak pretty quickly.

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For air conditioning systems , that is what we use.

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Originally Posted by LumbermanSVO

I think I found the problem, look at these holes in the dipstick tube!


https://i.imgur.com/wu1DUq9h.jpg


The mounting bracket fell off and took a bit of tube with it. I've ordered a new one.

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damn snakes.....

I got home on Tuesday and tried to install the new dipstick tube on Wednesday, it was a no go. It was the right part, but to get around the headers would require too much bending. So i did the next best thing, I ordered a flexible one from Lokar. It arrived yesterday, and it took minutes to install. I went for a drive through the neighborhood in first gear, letting it rev up quite a bit, and it didn't lose a drop of oil!


So now I can get back to working on smaller things.

I did a bunch of research and ended up ordering the v-belt alternator mounting kit from CVF Racing, I think it'll work well with my existing pulleys.


In addition to the missing alternator bracket, I was missing some bolts. Thankfully I keep EVERY factory bolt I pull off a project car, even if I'll never need it again. That bin of bolts allowed me to bolt up the power steering pump. I don't have an HVAC system right now, so I bolted the ignition coil in place of the A/C compressor.


I need to order some 1/0 wire terminals, and a harmonic balancer bolt, and then it should be ready to run. If I had that wire terminal I could have started it up today.


Pic of how it sits right now:


https://i.imgur.com/e2iSMTjh.jpg

I spent a little time in the garage today. I finished getting everything bolted to the crank, then worked on the alternator. The new mount looks pretty great!


https://i.imgur.com/QCdGDmjh.jpg


The mount is intended to use inner pulley groove on the whole system. However, the stock power steering pump uses that groove. Because I have that trick double pulley on the alternator, I was able to "misalign" the alternator enough to use the middle groove for the alternator. The only issue now is that my belt is about 1/2" too short, but that's an easy fix.


One way I was able to push the alternator forward was to use the ground lug as a spacer, and put a spacer in the kit between the head and ground lug. While I was at it I trimmed the charge and ground cables for a cleaner look, then bundled them with the starter wires.


After all that was done I fired it up. He ran, but on ok, and died shortly after. The EFI has a "learn" table that makes adjustments once your tune is done, I think I need to clear the table to reset it back to a good tune. Also, I think I need to reset the idle from scratch. But first I have to put the cooling system back together, do an oil change, check the timing, and put the rest of the oil pan bolts in. All of these I can do the day after I get back from the trip I leave for tomorrow.

I got him running great, better than ever before, but I had another massive oil leak from the il pan gasket. Ugh. So yesterday I dropped the oil pan and learned that the previous owner wasn't really into oil changes.


So today I spent some time prepping the pull the engine, trans, and transfer case. If I'm going to rebuild one, I might as well rebuild them all.


Here is what he looks like right now:


https://i.imgur.com/tGT6leeh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/HItoWTBh.jpg

It turns out, you can fit a 2-ton engine hoist in a Miata, the top even closed!


https://i.imgur.com/oK4zsm1h.jpg


Everything is disconnected from the engine and trans, and It's partially pulled. This is what it looks like right now:


https://i.imgur.com/QVi7fQsh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/khdNjPDh.jpg


I have friends coming over later to day to help wrestle it out and push the Bronco it's it's parking spot.


I can't wait to pull the engine apart and see what it looks like inside.

The garage is a mess!

https://i.imgur.com/pyf6k6ih.jpg

I tore down the engine tonight, the garage is a mess! The bores look fine and I can still see crosshatching through most of the walls. The cam has a weird wear pattern, but the lifters are fine. The top of the pistons have a ton of carbon build up, same with the combustion chambers in the heads. Everything the oil touched is pretty black as well.


https://i.imgur.com/c1S5DLIh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/8vJSkcIh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/0LTlwwmh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/0liTpxhh.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/zr3Q9iZh.jpg


But man, take a look at the rod bearings! The bottom row is the cap side, the far left is the front of the engine.


https://i.imgur.com/MI4G48Ah.jpg


And the main bearings. Again, the bottom row is the cap side, left is #1.


https://i.imgur.com/92wpMakh.jpg


It was definitely time for a rebuild!