I think a sn95 upper hose will work. Going to order one today. No way I can get my foxbody one to work. Even if I have to use a coupler to cut and join the 2.

 

Mock up what you need out of a coat hanger, & go visit your local part store. They will usually let you browse their hose inventory.

 

^^^ What tbone said. That's exactly what I did. Had to hit a couple stores but it's the best way with our sometimes one-off customs.

Good Luck, RR

 

I'm in a small hick town. We don't have a lot of inventory to choose from here. Anything I want to try has be ordered, and they're generally not keen on returns.
Anyways, the sn95 upper hose works except that it is 1 1/2" in/out where I need 1 1/4". Crap. I tried clamping it down anyways but I think it's a no go.
How about silicone flexible rad hose?

 

Maybe a piece of 1 1/4 an inch long to put on the neck then put the 1 1/2 hose over it.

I live in a town of 1100, 90 miles from the nearest anything you could call a city so I feel your pain! Both my hoses have a splice in them and it took 4 hoses to make 2 that fit well. It's expensive and annoying but you only do it once.

 

I am using a 1 1/2" barbed nylon hose splice on the lower hose that I got at Home Depot in the plumbing section.

 

They couldn't get me 1 1/4" couplers so I ordered flex hose. I want to get this thing running this weekend, so even if it's temporary at least it'll work for now. Eventually I'll look for a better solution. Maybe next Summit order I place I'll grab a couple.

 

Got the flex hose. It will work for now....now that I look back at this thread I'm not sure why I didn't just order another foxbody hose and use it like Mike's setup.
Oh well, the flex hose will make it easy to flush the block during first run.

 

Finished up a couple small things tonight. Engine wiring done, ecu in and grounded, tranny fluid in, engine oil in- hey I have my first oil leak and the engine hasn't even run yet. Forgot to tighten down the valve cover bolts. Front sway bar on. Diff fluid already in.
So, all that's left for first crank is to check fuel pump operation, hook up fuel lines, attach the throttle cable, tighten down the suspension under load, bleed the brakes, hook up the rear ground cable, prime the oil pump, and install the distributor. Should be able to get most of that done tomorrow, and hopefully fire it up Sunday. Guess I better charge the battery up too. Getting pumped here.

 

You'll be cruisin' in no time! And just in time for the good weather!

 

Have to post video of it running. I am so far behind in mine, still a long time away from hearing it run.

 

Wow, getting close... I'm just at the engine test fit (3rd time in), but have been following your thread, its been very helpful.

Question: So far I have only had the engine test fitted by itself. Can I install the engine and tranny as one? Martin's manual recommends dropping in the engine, then clutch, bell, tranny. It would be so much easier to put them together and drop them in as one.

Thanks,
Denis

 

FAIL :
Worked all day on it, got everything done in my pre start checklist. Checked battery (11.8v) turned key to RUN, verified fuel pump operation, so I hooked up the fuel lines, turned key to RUN, held my breath and turned to START......no crank. Dead.
I'm beat and packed up for the night but when I get a chance to trace this out where do I start? Any suggestions?
Cheers,
Brad



edited to add:
battery is on a charger right now, thinking i might need more juice

 

Did you push in the clutch when trying to start?

 

lol, good question. Not sure if I did. Likely did out of habit, but it shouldn't matter as my tranny doesn't have a neutral safety switch so I just joined the wires together.


Scratch that. I woke up this morning and it dawned on me that the clutch switch and NSS are 2 different unrelated things. Will check it out again later.

 

I was all gung ho to do it that way too, (was actally thinking of installing from the bottom) but I think you'd have a difficult time getting enough angle. Maybe if you had the back end jacked way up. TBH, I didn't find it that difficult to install in the traditional way. i bought a cheap HF or Princess Auto tranny jack, and mated things up for a test fit before installing, just to be sure. Toughest part for me was torquing down the flywheel bolts. I had to jam a prybar on the flywheel dowels and jammed against the floor. Prybar kept slipping loose. The rest was pretty easy. Tranny slid right in.
As you can tell from my posts, I'm not as mechanically inclined as most folks here, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

I wouldn't have been able to sleep! After a couple of hours laying there thinking about it I would have gone back out and messed with it some more!

The starter solenoid "pick" goes from the ignition switch through the clutch depressed switch through the fuse/relay block then down to the starter solenoid. Black/Red wire. At least on my '91 it did. I think it is really just a "jumper" inside the fuse/relay block under the hood - no fuse or relay involved just a pass through.

Mike

 

Just had to check before going to work. Clutch in, it attempted to crank. Just one short groaning shot that barely turned the engine a quarter turn. Will leave battery on charger all day and try again tonight.

 

Success at last. I was hoping for a decent crank over tonight. Surprise! I gave it a quick crank and the engine ROARED to life. Scared the crap outta me. I shut off after about 2 seconds as I don't have coolant in it....I'll flush the block during initial run per Martin's instructions but I need to do that outside and it was a miserable wet night out there. So there you have it. Use a good charged battery, and use the old "push in the clutch pedal" trick. lol

Next, since I'm now confident it will run, I thought I'd spend some time on the clutch adjustment so maybe I can go for a quick spin once I get it running for good. With the clutch engaged (no pedal) and in gear, I should not be able to spin a back wheel, should I?
I turned the slave nut so loose the the fork is loose but i can still turn a back tire by hand. Car is on jackstands, tranny in gear. Suggestions?
Thanks. Brad

 

You may be able to turn one back tire but you shouldn't be able to turn them both in the same direction. With the car on jack stands, it will let the rear tires turn independently. Depends on what kind of posi unit you have installed. But they should not both turn in the same direction at the same time.

 

My $.02

Make sure the master cylinder push rod under the dash is fully adjusted so there is as little pre-load on the master as possible - and the clutch pedal just touches its floor stop (nice tip I got from a forum member). When I first installed my master cylinder, the push rod moved the master cylinder in at least 1/2 inch... My clutch pedal was also bottoming the master cylinder before hitting the floor stop initially.

This will give you maximum stroke in terms of the master cylinder capabilities.

Next, crack the slave cylinder to remove pressure (make sure it is all the way retracted) and adjust the slave push rod to have just a touch/no pre-load on the throw out bearing. Bleed if necessary. Done.

My experience with this setup is that no matter how much you try to have no throw out bearing pre-load (like with a cable clutch set up, you can have that small space where the throw out bearing is not touching the pressure plate and will not be spinning), the slave will always have a little pressure on it and the throw out bearing will always be touching/spinning... Maybe others can comment on this as well. My concern is that the bearing will wear out quickly however this seems to be normal with a hydraulic setup.

Mike.

 

Good advice. Will check pedal range first, then redo the slave adjustment. I was more concerned about being able to turn the rear wheels while in gear, but as noted above that may not be an issue. The LSD unit is the one Martin installs in his rearends. I believe it's a Eaton Trutrak or whatever they call it now. Torsen style- no clutch packs.
We are in the middle of another cold snap after a nice weekend. It's just killing my motivation.

 

First of all congrats on the first start! What a thrilling moment that is. Second of all who cares about the weather mitty is in 5 days!

I'm with Mike on the clutch set up and mine did nearly the same thing when I swapped the slave a few weeks ago. Just relax and focus on the basics and the issue will reveal itself in short order.

I'm really excited for you and to have another V8 Miata born into the world!

 

You guys are all great with the tips and encouragement. Thanks so much to you all I'm getting close to getting this beast on the road.

Today I checked my pedal travel. it's good. I had previously adjusted the rod for less Master preload. There's still quite a bit, but Martin said not to worry about it as he doesn't even bother to adjust that rod.
Then I went to adjust the the slave. Loosened it out, cracked the bleeder, closed it, tightened the nut a couple turns. looked under the car while hand pressing the pedal. I have decent travel, but when I went to start it up, the clutch pedal pulsed and it felt like the rod may have been contacting the pressure plate. Is it possible the slave rod is too long? I did eventually run the car for a few minutes but whenever I pressed the clutch i got the grinding sound. Maybe i'm missing something here, but if the the rod is contacting the PP adjusting the nut won't help as the rod still stays the same length. Right?
I'll reread these replies again in case I missed something.

 

I know that the slave rod I have was more than long enough. No issues though. Maybe it needs to be trimmed a bit? You may need someone to push the clutch in so you can look inside there to really understand the situation.

Mike