If it were you, what would you do?

[Billy Blaze]

Well, by the things I have read, seen, heard, and saw in the past and currently....my gut tells me that I may be looking at some serious money to fix my car again. (Engine work) my gut says bottom end rebuild.
I am basing this on what I hear and the actions of the car when cranking, when it dies, and when it's running.

I do plan on having it towed and looked at by someone who knows the Miata engine enough to give me assesment. and I will check some things mon-tues.
Here's what I am thinking.

Since I have had the car, I have put about 28,000 miles on it, and had the engine rebuilt and timing belt maint. around 14,000 miles ago....if it is the engine again I just can't justify putting more money into another engine.

So..... I thought about parting the car out.
Taking the big hit, and putting it towards a slightly used NC.
I'm sure it will take a looong time to get rid of the whole car, but it would take probably just as long to save enough money to have another rebuild.
I have enough in the car now to have bought one for cash, but that is neither here nor there.

What would you do if this were you, and you found out that it needed another rebuild?

If this is the case i will have a ton of aftermarket parts for sale.

Thanks for listening to a very frustrated Billy Blaze.

[POS Racing]

Didn't Gary ever come out and look at it, I thought you had mentioned in another post that he was going to come take a peek at it??

[Billy Blaze]

yes, it's only holding 11lbs vacuum instead of 18lbs.
extremely slow to spool up etc etc.
I am checking with a vacuum gauge to see if the cat is bad, that's the first thing I am checking.
Then i will be looking to see if it jumped time, and if the timing belt is off a tooth or two.....that's kind of where it is right now.
Rogue volunteered to come take a look to see if it might be the harmonic balancer, and or timing belt.

I'm just trying to find out at this point what happened, and how to make it not happen again, and if something is perm. screwed or not.

If I can get it running again I will probably give up the idea of extra horsepower and sell the Supercharger and intercooler, ppf etc etc etc.

If it is a bottom end motor rebuild issue I will probably part it and look at getting a used NC.

[altiain]

So I don't understand... did Gary look at it or not? If so, what was his diagnosis?

[Billy Blaze]

Gary did look at it, he thought it was either the cat or timing has jumped.

[sammm]

Instead of guessing what could be wrong, have it diagnosed by a mechanic. Rogue is always a good choice.

It could just be timing jumped or something that simple. If you part it out you will lose your shirt considering all the money you have dumped in it. Good luck and I hope it all works out for you.

[Billy Blaze]

Thanks Sammm, I am hoping for the best still.
It's not like I am trying to talk myself into an NC, I love my 99 but I just need it to run.

[gabkwong]

Money wise you better off find out what is wrong than taking a big hit on your non-running car and a new ride! You will take a hit of at least 1/3rd to 1/2 of the $$$ on your after market parts and gets pennies on your non-running car since it does not have a clean tittle.

[Billy Blaze]

Yeah I know, I have already planned on that.

this is the most costly endeavor to date, the only reason I haven't got rid of it yet is I am no longer working and dont have to have it everyday.
If I were still working, it would have been gone last year.

I guess bottom line is either way i will be sitting here for a few more months since I have no real income.

I am trying to figure out if i want to gamble with my time some more, by throwing money at the car and hoping this time it will stay running or using my time to start gaining a down payment.

here's a list of what I have on the car....
Engine rebuild 14K ago
KYB AGX 4 way shocks
FM springs
FM sways
Power Plant frame Brace
Spec Stage 2 Clutch
Roadster Sport 3 muffler
Mazda Speed Motor mounts
Jackson Racing header
Track Dog Header blanket
Track Dog Strut Tower brace
Oil catch can
Falken Hannabi wheels, with TR-1's
PWR double core radiator
Track Dog intercooler
MP-62 supercharger
New Live Wire plug wires
Hard Dog single diagonal Sport roll bar, and harness tabs
Luisi steering wheel w/ Miata center cap
corresponding K&N intake setup with the SC
The rest is stock parts with 66656 miles on them

[Majik]

I agree with everyone else. Have Rogue look at it. Depending on what the problem is, it could be a very cheap fix compared to basically throwing money away, since you just got all of the add-ons. Most of the guys running Track Dog stuff are pretty reliable. I dont hear of many problems like this. So it is hopefully some thing simple like Gary guessed. But like others said have Rogue check it out. Just think how easy it could have been to kill the cat when you were having fueling issues early on.

[altiain]

here's a list of what I have on the car....

You forgot to mention the custom angle iron chassis reinforcements!

Billy, I think you're overreacting. Whatever is wrong with your car is likely a pretty inexpensive fix. If you give up now and part it out you're going to lose your shirt.

That being said, you might want to think about the long term implications of this situation. Boosted Miatas tend to require a little more owner involvement than, say, a Toyota Camry. They will require a bit more mechanical understanding from their owners simply because they are significantly modified cars. Any time you up the power output of an engine by over 50%, reliability is going to decrease. Factor in the, umm... "unique" circumstances of your car, and you have a car that is going to require more upkeep and attention to keep running right.

Things like this are going to happen from time to time with any significantly modified car. If you don't have the mechanical aptitude to diagnose the problem yourself nor the money to take it to a knowledgeable mechanic, then perhaps you'd be better off with something a bit closer to stock.

That's just my $.02.

[Sharpie]

+1 on killing cat, it's very possible. Too many symptoms to try and sort out over a forum for me. Good luck.

[channelmaniac]

Billy,

If you have some simple tools it's easy to check the timing belt.

Take the spark plugs out, remove the valve cover, remove the upper timing belt cover, put the car in neutral, and turn the crank by hand using a socket wrench until it is at top dead center. Look at the marks on the cam sprockets. If they don't line up then turn the crank another revolution. If they never line up properly then you jumped timing.

On the 1.6L there are 19 teeth of the belt between the marks. Not sure if that's the same on the 1.8L or not but the timing marks should line up the same way.

RJ

[Billy Blaze]

Thatnks for the pic, and directions....sounds very doable.

I'm thinking the same thing, if the car is fine....I'm about ready to return it to stock. I don't need any more problems.

[Tim the Teacher]

Billy.....I have had my setup for over a year which is identical to yours except for the M62 and absolutely no problems at all with 20K on the supercharger. Tracked the car hard half a dozen times this year and not one hiccup. Give it a chance and have it looked at by someone that can locate the problem....

[Billy Blaze]

Billy.....I have had my setup for over a year which is identical to yours except for the M62 and absolutely no problems at all with 20K on the supercharger. Tracked the car hard half a dozen times this year and not one hiccup. Give it a chance and have it looked at by someone that can locate the problem....

I keep hearing others have great results, for whatever reason I aint that guy.

[Ataim]

I am of the camp that a Factory built motor is much more reliable than a rebuilt motor. Unless the rebuilt motor is really "rebuilt", usually costing thousands of dollars for a long block. A 750 to 1000 dollar rebuilt, imo is just tossing money out the window.

[MadMerv]

The last thing YOU need to be doing is trying to fix whatever is wrong. Seems as though eveytime you touch it, something else goes wrong. I agree with many of the posts, that you need to put it back to stock and enjoy the car, instead of tying to keep up with the Jones. It's not worth it.

[Billy Blaze]

I had a full rebuild top and bottom, and if memory serves it was around 2800.

[Billy Blaze]

dropped the today, and the car is still doing the same thing as before only much louder.

On second thought....when I looked at it it seemed as if it was partialy blocket by the outer flange.
I dropped it all the way off and it is keeping idle but still sluggish, so it looks as if the cat is part of the problem.