Tech Day: It's finally time for that '99 head swap

[trickyrix]

Due to idiocy on my part, I've gimped up my right hand to the point that it's just about useless (typing one-handed is slow and not much fun). I'm not sure I'll be doing much of anything this weekend if this doesn't magically get better...

Waiting on the doc to call me back as we speak.

[juxt3r]

What'd the doc say, Ricardo?

[trickyrix]

Well, one "doc" managed to pop my thumb back into its rightful place Thursday night after a couple of beers - it's not 100%, but at least it's useful. I'll be piddling around in my garage Saturday morning - but I will need to make runs to the hardware store and the Mazda house for misc parts... If you want to come over, call me first to make sure I'm home!

[POS Racing]

Rick I saw on Facepalm where you did the swap this weekend!

Tell us more!

[trickyrix]

Well, let's just say it took a little longer than a timing belt job...

HUGE thanks to Wags, Steve, and Andy. Things didn't go exactly according to plan, and we had to scramble to round up some parts (you know, like a fuel rail - thanks Gary!), but we took a victory lap around the 'hood last night around 9. I think we had 16 or 17 hours in it. I still need to get the VICS hooked up and do a little more tweaking, but it purrs like a kitten - no more lifter racket!

[juxt3r]

Lookin' forward to the dyno numbers, dude! Let us know when & where you plan to do that, and you might just be able to get a few other cars on the rollers...and maybe some (small) group pricing. :)

[jrj512]

Lookin' forward to the dyno numbers, dude! Let us know when & where you plan to do that, and you might just be able to get a few other cars on the rollers...and maybe some (small) group pricing. :)

Let's get POS Racing to set that up for us!

[trickyrix]

I'll probably go back to Jotech since that's where I got my baseline numbers. If they're amenable to a big group of Miatas taking over the place, I'll post back about a dyno day there. If not, I'll get a run in there for my benefit, then maybe we can get another day in at that place in Denton.

[mk2tmr2]

...at that place in Denton.

Just for the record and potential planning: That place was ATS Racing - http://www.atsracing.net/

[wolzen]

another tech day! yess now i don't have to install my coilovers myself

[Piff]

/thread resurrection

Hey Tricky, now that you've had this thing going a while, what are your impressions?

Regards.

[trickyrix]

I still have to get the VICS hooked up (yeah, I know), and I probably need to bump the timing (we dialed it all the way down to 10 degrees to make sure nothing blew up), but I'm pleased with the swap. Priority One for me going into it was to forever banish the noisy lifters, and that's obviously happened. Priority Two was to get more power and more potential for any future mods (forced induction, etc). Right now I'm sitting at about the same power level, but VICS and more timing will help that. We're also speculating that due to the shape of the '99 combustion chambers, the actual compression ratio might have dropped just a little. That's bad for N/A power, but it means more room for future boost.

All in all, I'm glad I did it. It's definitely not an easy project - it seemed like there were a ton of little things I didn't take into account. If you're thinking of doing it, definitely consult somebody who's done it before (paging johnwag).