mrpham's summer build

[mrpham]

Hey all.

My previous car was a Nissan S15, built for track and street duties. Served me well but I sold so I could get an RX-7. Well instead of doing that, I've invested the money and bought an MX-5 instead. Should keep me entertained for the next 6 months or so, that's when I'll hopefully get my rotary fix.



My blog - http://omgpham.com/

Modifications so far:

• 1.6L Engine from the NB6 (solid lifters etc...)
• HKS headers
• 42 Draft Designs Catch Can
• GarageStar radiator cooling panel
• 52mm aluminium radiator
• MX-5 Plus custom exhaust
• Yellowspeed Racing coilovers
• Garage Vary front lip
• Side Skirt Diffusers
• R-Package rear lip
• MX-5 Plus offset number plate bracket
• Genuine hard top
• Momo Team 280mm steering wheel
• Sparco Sprint V fixed back seat
• MX-5 Plus Tall Boy roll bar
• Whiteline sway bars
• Genuine strut tower brace
• Hankook RS-3 225/45/15 tyres
• OG-San 15x8 +25mm with 5mm spacers to make it +20mm

Parts purchased:

• Toyota AE101 ITBs
• Garage Star/T3 ITB adapter
• MegaSquirt DIYPNP ECU

How she currently sits:








Side Skirt Diffusers installed.

[mrpham]

She's Heartless - http://omgpham.com/shes-heartless

10/11/2011

Had some time today so went ahead with removing the engine out, I like to call it a heart transplant. Was a pretty straight forward process and easy enough to do by my self. Tried to take as many photos as I could remember, enjoy =)


Before I could start, had to remove the front lip because it couldn't clear the engine crane. Stupid ride height...



Chained up and slowly lift and tilt it out.



And it's out!!!!!


Once the engine was safely outside of the engine bay, I split the gearbox away from the engine. Once that ws done, I saw that the clutch was getting old so decided to replace it while everything was out.



Picked up a Exedy Heavy Duty clutch kit from NPC. Price was awesome and came with the clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing.

That's it for now, should be picking up the replacement engine tomorrow. Then more fun =)

[mrpham]

My New Engine... NB6 - http://omgpham.com/my-new-engine-nb6

14/11/2011

Bought my replacement engine on Saturday from MX-5 Plus, but instead of picking up a regular 1.6L B6 engine from a NA6 I purchased a 1.6L long engine from the NB6. In Japan, the NB series Roadster (MX-5) had the 1.6L engine up until 2005. The cast iron block is identical, but the head and intake are different. The hydraulic lash adjusters are replaced with solid lifters and cams have more lift. The CAS is no longer used and replaced with a cam position sensor and crank angle sensor. The NB6 also uses the crank-shaft nose/pulley/cog, water pump and oil pump from the 1.8L BP engine.

To run the NB6 engine in a NA6, there are two options. First option is to swap the entire NB6 wiring and ECU into the NA6, the other option is to use the following NA6 items on your NB6 head/block.

• intake
• exhaust
• CAS
• rear water outlet
• front water outlet
• alternator (using the NB6 pulley)
• air con (if you have it)
• power steering (if you have it)

In addition to this, you will need a modified intake cam-shaft. The NB6 intake cam-shaft doesn't have a slot for the CAS, so the NA6 cam-shaft end is cut off and pressed into the NB6 cam-shaft. Pretty straight forward and costs $100 to do.

Now all that info is out of the way, here are some photos of my progress so far.


Showing the revised crank nose, difference between the short nose crank-shaft bolt (right) and the revised crank bolt.


Removing the old front seal, new front seal in. May as well replace all the seals and gaskets while the engine is out.



Removing the sump was a bitch because the baffle is bolted under the oil pickup, and this results in the sump being stuck until you seperate the baffle from the sump.


Brand spanking new water pump =)



Pulley boss attached, and most of the external parts attached.


Engine finally off the stand =)


New rear main seal in and flywheel on (nearly anyways).

[sailaholic]

Check the club roaster forum for details on the t3 stuff., they have worked out most of the problems now.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[mrpham]

Check the club roaster forum for details on the t3 stuff., they have worked out most of the problems now.

Thanks mate, I've gone through the numerous threads. Some good info in there, sorted through the confusion and have a good idea of how I'm going to do it all.

Did I meet you the other day to pick up that exhaust?

[Apu]

Niiiice! Where did you get the sideskirt diffuser from?

[NitroDann]

What cams/valvegear is going in it?

Dann

[mrpham]

What cams/valvegear is going in it?

Dann

If I stick with the NB6 head I'll probably be getting some cams from Toda, not sure on the specifics yet because I need to research more on that. It sucks that there aren't too many choices for NB6 cams....

Another idea was to get a spare NA6 head and modify that on the side, much more cam options as well as 2nd hand stuff. Maybe learn to port the head myself? Who knows.

Any recommendations for a newbie like me?

[mrpham]

Niiiice! Where did you get the sideskirt diffuser from?

I imported a whole bunch of them for my blog. Trying to get in contact with the moderators to work our sponsorship or something, but they haven't gotten back to me yet.

[NitroDann]

What cams/valvegear is going in it?

Dann

If I stick with the NB6 head I'll probably be getting some cams from Toda, not sure on the specifics yet because I need to research more on that. It sucks that there aren't too many choices for NB6 cams....

Another idea was to get a spare NA6 head and modify that on the side, much more cam options as well as 2nd hand stuff. Maybe learn to port the head myself? Who knows.

Any recommendations for a newbie like me?

Nah, this isnt correct, its just that nb6 head has solids, so you need Mazda B6 solid cams. Contact wozzah1975.

Dann

[sailaholic]

Should check your info. I was sure the nb 6 was a bp based engine. The na engine was a b6.

bp blocks are longer due to the different bore spacing.

if the engine is a bp (engine number should confirm) then an bp cams should be able to fix with some work on valve clearance.

Also rather than buy from Japan think about buying local. Tighe do cams for under 800 a pair based on using you're stock for base material and about 1100 for new billet items. obviously you could get the profile tweaked to suit I'd they are local.

Finally, more than,9mm lift requires new springs. Depending on how old the engine is the valve springs may have softened anyway.

Single spring set up would set you back 400 odd to suit 10MM lift.

Yah that was me with the exhaust. Saw your car last night at jdmst too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[NitroDann]

As said, contact wazzah.

Dann

[RecursiveLoop]

Question: how do you guys learn how to do complex things like remove the engine, transmission, etc? Do you have any formal automotive training or did you just learn by internet research/experimentation?

Reason I'm asking is because I'm an IT guy and trying to do anything more complex than an oil change myself stumps me....

[NitroDann]

Should check your info.

http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=46725&hilit=EOI%3A+Toda+na6+cams+and+gears

Read this,

Then half a dozen PMs later between charlie and me and..

So I got the car back yesterday from tuners. It made 219rwhp on 12psi

Pretty stoked with that. Also the bbs now fit thanks to a fair bit of guard work last night

And

cams are just the 256 8.5mm toda ones.

Dann

[mrpham]

Question: how do you guys learn how to do complex things like remove the engine, transmission, etc? Do you have any formal automotive training or did you just learn by internet research/experimentation?

Reason I'm asking is because I'm an IT guy and trying to do anything more complex than an oil change myself stumps me....

I learned from friends, google and forums. It's only scary the first time

As said, contact wazzah.

Dann

Will do mate, thanks!