A Racing Dog

Engine and trans are comfortably resting in the car, engine mounts torqued to spec, trans supported with a ratchet strap through the shift hole until I get the rear clip prepped, painted and the sub frame repaired. I had to cut a stud off the rear sub frame and while the assemble is square, I’ll need to replace that stud. For the engine and trans install I mostly followed the Veloce Publishing/Grainger and Shoemark book for the 1.6 NA as it’s much more detailed than the FSM and offers tips and guidence. The 1.6 NA book went out of print last year but another printing is due in May. I paid 39 bucks or so last year at Amazon, new, and when I went to get a link for someone else it was out of print with new issues going for over a hundred bucks. It’s a great addition to have to the FSM. Thanks to the gang at specmiata.com/mazdaacers.com for the heads up.

I did manage to fix one of the toasted bolts, the other is the bolt used on the bottom of the exhaust bracket and I’m hopeful Mc Fadden Dale will have one. No Miatas at the local salvage yards which is par for the course. Frustrated with my weak set of HF tap and dies, I bought an almost new a Snap On TDM117A as there are going to be more threading jobs on this build and I got a great price. Once I joined the engine and trans I used drift pin punches to line them up. We’ll be seeing more use of these in the suspension hang. Very handy tool.

Once I got it lined up and flush, I was able to get the two upper and two lower bolts tight enough to hold it together. The rest of the hardware, including the exhaust mounting bracket and hardware for the downpipe was rusty and oily. I had cleaned the first four bolts with WD40 but put the rest in a dip of Berryman Chem Dip. It’s great stuff, right up there with Seafoam (even though Seafoam is an engine treatment and not a cleaner, works great as a cleaner particularly on hard carbon buildup). I tried to use as much new hardware as I could but some of it I started to recycle due to budget reasons. Here is the whole assembly bolted and floating.

I couldn’t remember if I took both the cam angle sensor off and the coil pack or just the coil pack. I screwed the pooch and didn’t put the CAS on as I thought I could do it in frame. Damn it, Janet. Since it’s just the engine and trans, I’ll leave the engine mounts on the sub frame and float the block from the mounts far enough to get the CAS back on. NFG mistake but fairly easily fixed at this point.

The bitch about the 1 ton engine hoist from HF is the reach. And that Shitty orange. For the last few seasons I’ve been threatening to paint all my HF orange shop gear blue to match the shop. Yeah, right… On the stock cars we could remove the entire from cross section at the front clip. No such luck on the chick car but I can strip enough to make it pretty painless, even for one guy. The whole thing when in like butter following the tips in the Grainger book. Leave the driver side mount off the block but finger tight to the sub frame. Fully assemble the passenger side mount, the one that uses a slot in the sub frame and land the block as close as you can to the slot. Then I used a big ass pry bar to move it the 1/4″ or so to the whole. Finger tight on the connecting bolt on that one. Back the drivers side, we slack the hoist a bit and use a floor jack under the oil pan to position the block to the mount. The only real bitch is the rear most bolt, easy to get snugged with a 3/8″ stubby flex head, universal and short extension. Torquing it with the 1/2″ requires either a wobble head extension or a universal joint and long extension. The rest are a piece of cake and the passenger side you do prior to installation.

With the exception of the CAS not getting installed, here’s what it looks like….

This next one is me realizing that I can’t get the CAS in. Shit. I’ll put all the accessories back on, populate the engine bay, hang the front suspension them wrap the whole thing in shrink plastic while I start on the rear. Remember, it’s a complete tub up build. There are still hard lines and wiring harnesses in addition to every thing else. It will keep me busy, that’s for sure.

Ran into a bit of an issue with a couple of the trans bolts I used to attach the engine to the stand. I don’t have a real tap and die set, just a couple from HF and some Craftsman that I used on the kart and a couple on the stock car. I needed a M12x1.50 and the kart had nothing that big. Looks like a trip to the truck to get a real set of metric tap and dies. Mc Fadden Dale will have something as well, same quality and likely the same price range. Now that I’ve found where they stock the hardware I need for the chick car I can get just what I need. Put the stock clutch and plate back on. That will likely burn up soon as I start racing.

With Honey not working, all my medical bills, trying to get here vintage/muscle car biz off the ground and what not we’re making ends meet, but not enough to keep funding the car like I was. I do have most of the bits, sans a containment seat and wheels and tires for the big items. I’ll need to get a few plumbing items, like a fuel check system. I can build something with hardware from Mc Fadden Dale or Silver State Hydraulic. I was hoping to get the engine and trans in frame just to get it out of the way to clear some room and get the front suspension hung. There might be a couple of wrecked Miatas at Pic a Part so I’ll hit them up early Sun morning with a battery impact and take what bolts I need to get the power plant in frame.

Ready to drop in the power plant and get the front back together. With any luck I’ll get well into that over the weekend.

Front sub frame, a photo by Dave Stevens on Flickr.

Front sub frame