Darve's Build Diary

[darve]

move a bed into the garage? I did discuss storing the donor parts in the spare bedroom until sold too keep the garage free. I think you can guess the response I got

[ajpearson]

move a bed into the garage? I did discuss storing the donor parts in the spare bedroom until sold too keep the garage free. I think you can guess the response I got

I am getting married in three weeks, and the spare room is already full of various parts i dont want to be stored in the garage, luckily for me though we have other spare rooms or she would have gone mental by now

Good luck with the build

[darve]

When I pull the engine out I will give it a good clean and paint to make it look

Would it be a good idea to replace all of the gaskets? What about the stem seals, piston rings and bearings?

Shall I thank Smokey in advance

[Dommo]

The approach I took with mine was if it wasn't broke, don't fix it. Unfortunately, some of it was broke. I wouldn't pull the engine apart for the sake of it. If it works now and doesn't leak anything, it should theoretically work and not leak when you refit it. And if it doesn't work, there'll be less avenues that need exploring!

[darve]

Those are some wise words that make sense

[Mark (smokey mow)]

I agree with Dom, and that's very much the approach I took for the first year and it ran faultlessly. My problems came in the second year when I upped the compression and we later found the engine had been built with a missmatch of parts from an auto and manual car.

If it's running sweet and not smoking then leave as is. there's a few things I would howevever replace now as service items

cam position sensor oil seal

crankshaft rear oil seal

crankshaft front oil seal

clutch spigot bearing

cam cover gasket

You may also want to check and do the following depending on their age

Clutch release bearing

water pump

water pump gasket

cambelt and idler pulleys

and if you get the sump shorterned (which I strongly reccomend) then also replace the half moon sump gaskets

Other than that give it a quick visual check to see if there is oil comming from anywhere else and then a service. I can reccomend the K&N oil filters as they're much easier to remove with the nut on the end in a restricted westfield engine bay tha the cheeper alternatives.

[KugaWestie]

My engine was in bits when I got it.

It had done 145k, and the bores in the pistons were like new. Also the cams were in great nick, so as Dommo says, if it aint broke, dont fix it, but also some wise words from smokey

[darve]

do have a recommended motor factors you use in our part of the world smokey?

[TIG Brother]

Mine was broken and subsequently needed a lot of fixing

[Mark (smokey mow)]

For all the new bits I use MX5 Parts www.mx5parts.co.uk

Anything second hand was either ebay or MX5 Heaven www.mx5heaven.co.uk

Everything else I used my local mazda dealer, Ipswich are brilliant, Colchester are hopeless.

Shopping at your local mazda dealer can be a bit hit an miss as the first thing they'll want is the vehicle registration number so they can bring up the parts list on their system. I notice yours is an Eunos (import) as was mine so mazda UK have to call mazda japan to find the correct part It easier to find the part number in advance and just tell them what you need

Have a look at these two sites for parts listsw and exploded diagrams

http://www.japancars...?h=L&model=MX-5

http://www.miata.net...arts/index.html

If you need a local fabricator I can also reccomend Martin nr Maldon http://www.mjsfabrication.co.uk/

[KugaWestie]

Autolink are also another good source http://www.autolinkmx5.com/

I got a few bits from them like the gear lever gaitor. Also on E-bay they trade as Boundville

[darve]

yay

[Cleggy the Spyder Man]

hey you cannot beat shiney new tools

[Mooch]

That breaker bar will pay for itself in no time when stripping the donor. You'll be glad you got it!

[KugaWestie]

I take it you already have a FBH Darve ready to use on the stripdown