NA6 lack of power up hill

[oozmakappa]

Before swapping parts, I would visually check for the obvious first. Since you have a NA6, your engine could have a short nose crank. The common problem for lack of power while going uphill is worn crank nose keyway. Visually check whether the main crank pulley wobbles.

When my previous NA6 started to have problem with the spark plug wires, the car had no problem going uphill but it would miss or hesitate while accelerating at speed.

i actually did a look on my engine, and i saw that the crank pulley was actually wobbling slightly in idle, but it could just be the belt pulling on it, i suppose the only sure way to check is to pull the engine apart and take out my timing belt to check the keyway?

[project.r.racing]

if it is wobbling. it is stuffed.

[speed]

if it is wobbling. it is stuffed.

Yep. But the good news is that you've found the problem and can now go for a 1.8 ;)

[oozmakappa]

if it is wobbling. it is stuffed.

Yep. But the good news is that you've found the problem and can now go for a 1.8 ;)

but.... couldn't it just be tension from the belt (?) goddamn... how much would an engine swap cost? excluding cost of engine and respective parts... and if that's the case should i go for NA8 or the NBs?

[TrackAttack]

If you suspect a short nose crank failure (4 slots in balancer for SNC, 8 slots for LNC, LNC's can fail at the keyway as well) a good test is to loosen the main 21mm crank bolt, but only a few turns. Put the car in 4th gear (hopefully its manual) and rock it back and forth to get the engine to rock over. If you find the bolt moves independently from the balancer, the keyway is worn and allowing your timing to vary. Of course if the damage is bad enough, the pulley is seized, or someone has tried the loctite fix, this method may not work. You might have to remove the balancer and crank pulley boss to inspect the crank key visually.

This is all assuming the problem is with the crank, so identify SNC/LNC first. I stand over the engine bay and push from the rad support. It doesn't take too much effort.

[speed]

if it is wobbling. it is stuffed.

Yep. But the good news is that you've found the problem and can now go for a 1.8 ;)

but.... couldn't it just be tension from the belt (?) goddamn... how much would an engine swap cost? excluding cost of engine and respective parts... and if that's the case should i go for NA8 or the NBs?

Depends what you want from the car.
If I was doing this again, I'd probably go for a Nitrodann turbo 1.6

Might seem like a bit if dosh but really is the best bang for buck.

It's very easy to spend money on performance.

Or you could easily find another 1.6 and throw it in or rebuild what you have.
All depends what you want.

[project.r.racing]

if it is wobbling. it is stuffed.

Yep. But the good news is that you've found the problem and can now go for a 1.8 ;)

but.... couldn't it just be tension from the belt (?)

no.

[oozmakappa]

question:

does anyone know a decent mechanic around sydney area to bring my MX5 to? i've heard of MX5 mania and all that stuff but just asking around.. reckon it'll be better for a mechanic to take a look at the engine instead of me fumbling around in the dark here trying to find different faults

[NitroDann]

If you know mx5 mania exist why are you asking about other "decent mechanic around sydney area"?

[oozmakappa]

its about an hours drive for me all the way up there, was just wondering if there's any nearer to my area (i live in kingsford, near city area)

[NitroDann]

Lol at sydney spec response.

"but the experts are 40km away, I couldnt put up with that kind of drive, the horror"

Gets me every time. Sorry for baiting you.

[project.r.racing]

any mechanic can tell it the keyway is stuffed or not.

[Nevyn72]

Lol at sydney spec response.

"but the experts are 40km away........

You dríven in Sydney recently Dann?
A 40km trip is about a 7 hour drive!