Nowak1981

Had to bust out the snowblower....again....so I took a few pics of the miata in the garage.

I noticed the car has the bottom half covered in a rock chip paint..was this an option or were all miatas done this way.

The top isn't in great shape, I hope I can salvage it long enough to get a hard top. I'm gonna have to check the local miata guy and see if he has any spares lying around.

Nowak1981

so the last couple days ive been going over a lot of stuff in my head. what i want the car to look like when im done, what drivetrain to use, what and where to get a donor car. and any special tools i may need.

looks department would ideally be be a permanent hardtop, fastback. there was one being built over at miata.net that i really liked. i think for my purposes i would like to stick with a steel room and hatch. possibly from an older tiberon. or i might even go with the a more lotus elise style roof line.

the tail lights would be reminisce of the older rx7, but i havent really found anything that really fits my style, i know i want to take out as much of the rounded edges and circles as i can and make it a more aggressive styled car.

but this in itself is a lot of work. and I have long time to think about what direction i want to go in.

drivetrain has been narrowed down to an ls series engine, i am mostly a ford guy, but i feel cars are cars, everybody is a little different. i prefer the look of the ls engines when I pop the hood. they just look mean. the new ford coyote engine looks sweet, but it is far to new and expensive to attempt on a first run. i was seriously considering an ls2, there are lots of good examples to pick through, but after searching i found that this particular engine isnt all that common, when compared to the ls1.

what i like about the ls1 is that i can purchase a complete donor car and pretty much have everything i need for the swap. and not be too overwhelmed by trying to figure out the really custom work. i like the idea of having a distributor less ignition system, and the ls1 seems to have a considersble aftermarket for it, which means that i can start with something in my budget and gradually put more into it as time goes on.

so with the drivetrain decided its on to the task of finding a car. i think my best bet would be to locate a wrecked camaro z28. the ls1 come in a few other flavors that i have read, such as firebird, corvettes, trailblazer ss, among a few others. i beleive the camaro will be the most common platform and relatively easiest to acquire.

while not set in stone, i have been searching insurance auction sites and craigslist for a donor car. Copart is a large public auction site that handles wrecked and salvaged cars, i know of a few other insurance wreckers that auction cars, and i feel this will be my best place to locate a suitable car.

i have considered purchasing dealer license to try my hand at the non public auctions, but i am unsure if a salvagers license would be accepted at these.



now on to tools. i have most of the tools require and then some. i am not a mechanic by trade, i merely do the work for fun. its a good hobby, but it can be expensive. i have a decent garage to work in, but i am missing a few important tools.

one being a large air compressor. i have air but its small 20g loud as hell 20 year old tired piece of kmart junk. its old, but it still works, but id like to invest into a large unit, especially with this project that will require a lot of grinding. so possibly a 2 stage 80+ gallon upright. i think something along those lines would be a good investment for the future, id prolly never have to buy another one ever again.

however one problem is that i currently only have 110v out to the garage, i believe i have existing wiring for 220v but i have never had it working that way in the 12+ years that i have lived here. i will need to consult an electrician to see if this is doable.

the other tools i feel i require is a mig welder and a plasma cutter. the cutter is prolly the most unnecessary of the tools i would like to have, but it sure would come in handy.

the welder on the other hand is something i would like to get my hands on. i have never welded before in my life, id be interested in learning and i believe it will be required for this build. so now what kind of welder do i need? what brand? ive been reading about what welders to stay away from, but there seem to be soo many different ones to choose from. its hard to pick what would be correct for your application. i dont want to by a cheap one and not have it perform as well as i could have hoped, or it may be missing some features that would have been helpful. but i dont have a ton of money to spend on this either. or is it possible that i am just overthinking this and a small 100v unit would fine. obviously i have more thinking and reading to do. luckily i dont mind. its useful information to have. and i kinda like reading about it.

as of now, thats whats on my mind. now i just wish the weather would get warmer so i can get out in the garage and start working...

charchri4

Great to see your plan coming together. You really don't need any more compressor than you have unless you just want a bigger compressor. It is nice to have the air hose to blow things off but that is about all I really used it for. Air tools are nice but not the end of the world if you don't use them. For grinding I have a $25 black and decker grinder I got at walmart and it was all I ever needed.

Plasma cutter - not sure. You really only make 2 cuts so it might be handy but no biggie.

This is the welder I used. FREE SHIPPING — Hobart Handler 140 Wire-Feed MIG Welder — 115 Volt, Model# 500559 | Wirefeed Welders| Northern Tool + Equipment It worked great and was all I needed. Never turned it up past 2 and it goes to 5. But I am no welder by any imagination so no clue what is the best way is to go on that.

Good light and good jack stands are really nice to have and you need one big socket for the rear hubs you probably don't have in your box now. Other than that basic hand tools got mine on the road.

If you go hunting for F bodies try and get a 00-02. It's not a huge difference but if you have an option go with the newer one for the better intake.

Thanks for posting!

Nowak1981

thanks for all the great advice. i figure i can do without the plasma cutter, the air compressor is more of, "if i ever have to replace it" item. im glad a smaller welder did the job. i was worried i would over buy in this area. i tend to have a lot of tools that end up that way. i buy way more then i really need becuase i assume that i will use it at some point. only to realize later that i really didnt need it. lol.

i will def keep an eye out for the newer camaros.. what is the difference between the cars?

charchri4

The short answer is 20 hp. They dropped the EGR valve, use a truck cam with more overlap and the biggie is ls6 injectors and intake manifold. Now depending on what you read some say the change happened in 00 and some in 01. Easy to tell if you see an egr valve on the passenger side exhaust manifold by the oil fill it is not the preferred motor.

That being said I would not pass up a good deal on a clean EGR motor. I'd put a hot or asa cam in it anyway and you are looking at the difference of 0-60 in 3.7 vs 3.8 at best...

PS the newer cars also had a torsen rear end in them that might bring 25 bucks more to sell it. If the car you buy has a 3.23 axle (don't care if it's torsen or auburn) I'll take that off your hands for sure.

Nowak1981

id actually prefer a non egr motor, so that is def good information to know. i havent really decided on a rearend yet, i feel like i can get a thunderbird 7.5 rear pretty easy at the local pick and pull. ill def keep an eye out for one. thanks again!!

Nowak1981

So i pulled the fuel sending out of the front seat, the strainer was absolutley trashed. the pump itself looked just as bad. the previous owner said he was in the middle of changing it when i bought it. The tank had not been uncovered for more then a few days. when i bought the car, i peeked in the tank, it looked good and clean, it still had fuel in it and it was clear, so i covered it up with a bunch of duct tape.

the previous owner gave me a new fuel pump kit with the car, but i noticed that the furl strainers were not even close to being the same shape. i know in the past that sometimes these can change, but since i did not purchase this kit, i was wondering if anyone else had come across this style. i would imagine i should be ok.

i also finally found the transmission dipstick hiding under some hoses and pulled it out. it did not look promising. it appeared full, but dark and when wiped on a paper towel, there was a defenite difference in color. hopefully this weekend i can get the fuel pump in and the car started. then i will jack up the car and pull the pan. i hope i can salvage this tranny, id like to be able to drive the car. at the very least so i can figure out what is working and sellable and what is trash.

Nowak1981

so i pulled the old assembly apart, i noticed that the wires were very dry rotten, as you will notice in the pics, a lot of them had begun to split. the new wire that was supplied doesnt not have the correct connecter on the end that plugs into the housing. at least they got the pump socket correct.

Nowak1981

went to the local salvage yard today before work and walked around...i started off in ford section looking for some escorts, instead i found a boat load of thunderbirds and cougars. so i decided to take some pictures, saw a two tone tbird and a cougar special editon. i totally forgot what to look for on the tag. so i just took pictures of evertthing.

unfortunatly they had zero miatas, booo...i was hoping to strike it rich with a hardtop...hah...

they also had a prety large gm section, but alas no camaros, or firebirds either. that kinda surprised me.

this yard is actually prretty small but the specialize in letting people pull their own parts, their inventory changes every day. so they always seem to have new cars to wrench on.

charchri4

The Blue one wins the prize! That code E is a 3.27 locker.

TCCoA Tech Articles

Nowak1981

ya, i was thinking i might try and grab that one. i found about 5-6 tbirds and cougars there, i couldnt get to all the stickers. one door was smashed shut, one was missing the door handles inside and outside.

this place lists all their prices on their website, they list rear axles for about $150 but since this is an IRS, im not sure what they want. cv axles are about 25$ each...i think im gonna do a little reading to see if i can this apart without power tools.

i guess im wondering if these prices are in line with what i should expect for this part. it seems a little steep to me considering its not a solid axle.

besides a socket large enough for the axle nut, are there any special tools i need to pack up?

charchri4

You probably won't need anything but the diff and drive shaft flange because for most kit set ups you would not need the tbird axles. So what is your plan for axles?

I would think that diff is worth 75 at the most. 50 would be ideal...

Nowak1981

i thought i read somewhere that i needed the inner and outer cups from the tbird to use with the miata.

here

https://www.v8miata.net/general-miat...nfo-fords-779/

granted its ford, but the rear end should still apply?

charchri4

Oh my bad you are right. I had that in mind because a lot of guys buy new axles to get new cv joints but you sure could use the ones from the bone yard if they are good. If you can get them really cheap you could use them for a core on new ones but you can also send back your Miata ones as cores. I ended up selling my miata axles and eating the core charge.

Nowak1981

yea i think i might go that route, i stopped by the yard again and took a closer look at it. its got the right tags on it and doesnt appear to leak any where, even the cv axles look decent.

I also doubled check the price, looks to be about 57.99 plus 5$ core. The cv axles are a different story, those are bout 20 apiece. New ones are 100 a piece. With no core charge.

So I dunno, gonna try and hit it this weekend I hope I can get the ujoint out.

I totally forgot to look at the mileage. Hope it's not too bad

Nowak1981

I got the fuel pump wiring all soldered up and installed the new pump, I've also been nursing the battery back to full health. After cranking on it for a few seconds she roared to life. She blew lots of smoke out the tailpipe but the car has been sitting for a long while. It cleared up after a bit.

I ran the motor for about a half hour. She seemed to idle and accelerate fine, but the motor has some loud ticking to it, this could just be inherent of the 1.8l. At least she runs.

I tried to put her into gear but it wouldn't budge. I have reverse, but I have no drive. Reverse seemed really strong when I applied some gas to it. I was always under the impression that reverse is the first to go when a transmission fails.

Nevertheless, I purchased some new fluid, I may try dropping the pan and seeing what it looks like in there. I haven't been able to find anyone with a similar problem. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

tbone heller

An oil change with a Mazda factory filter may solve your engine noise. I installed a Motorcraft Filter on my noisy 1.6, & it increased oil pressure & stopped the clicking lifters.

Nowak1981

Had a nice day outside. Did a little work on the house, then I went out to the garage and worked on the miata a little bit. I should have gone down to the salvage yard and pulled that rear dif, but i just didnt feel like getting up very early.

I took some more pics of the car on jacks. The underneath looks pretty damn good. No rust anywhere. Lots of oil everywhere though.























And this is what the pan looked like when I dropped it. I think it might be pretty safe to say that the auto tranny is toast. I really wanted to drive the car for a while before i torn into it. I might see if i can find a cheap auto tranny to put in for a little while.

charchri4

Wow that is one sick trans! If it makes you feel any better I did not get to drive mine before I tore it apart either. It usually makes for an surprised reaction when people ask how different is the V8 car and I tell them don't know never driven a 4cyl one!

5.0MX5

Unlikely as the odds are, I'd still try a fluid/filter change. You May get lucky and it doesn't cost much.

Yep, pretty clean underneath, that's how most Arkansas cars are. That's assuming they didn't spent their formative years up north. I missed a Smurf the otherday for $300. Absolutely no rust or dents, just no engine. Shoulda checked on it the instant i heard about it rather than waiting a couple days.

Nowak1981

So i got around to pulling the filter off tonight. Decided that I would try and do a filter change anyway. Its a good thing i waited on buying a filter because all the filter kits i am finding are the wrong shape. Advance auto parts was the only place that even listed an additional part number that happened to be the correct one. However it was fairly expensive and special order. So after some research I found that the rx-7 and 929 used the filter kit I needed. Low and behold, i looked up the 929 and the correct filter showed up with a part number that was much more common and accessible. So im gonna get one headed this way and give it a shot.

This tranny does show that it came in a miata 94-97, but for some reason it must have been an uncommon tranny. I cant imagine this being an oddball car. Can anyone else with an auto tranny tell me if they have seen this style of filter?

Nowak1981

I took the oil pan and bolts with me to work, we have a decent parts washer, As I was cleaning up the magnets, If found some bits of metal that were a lot larger then i was hoping for. Im gonna go out on a limb and say that a bearing failed somewhere. I found bits of needle bearings. Figures i just got the filter ordered...

I may try putting it anyway, ive not nothing to lose at this point. Its not like im gonna reuse the tranny if its dead. and the fluid i bought was just the cheapo wal-mart brand. im not planning on using it for the v8 build.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Nowak1981

so i decided to just quit with the transmission, since im a pretty certain it is toast. i decided to put the pan on and all the bolts back in their spots so i dont loose the.

once that was done i made a video of this engine. This will prolly be the last time i hear it run. The plan is to part it out and make some money for the v8 swap. the video is just there to give buyers an idea of what they are getting..

lets hope this works



i also did a commpression test on all the cylinders. They looked pretty decent to me. you be the judge.

ill have to bring pics of that later, computer is sucking atm....

Nowak1981

Here are the compression test results

charchri4

Nice!