new miata guy here

[gene501]

i've posted before about my sick car with what maybe a bad crankcase <sniff>

Eugene, I live in Irving. Grew up in Irving, graduated from Irving '96. Hope to move to dallas soon though.

Just purchased a '90 white 5-speed, hardtop, 75K miles for $3K. thought it was a great deal, but have got a crank case that does the wah bah lee wah bah lee dance that's under investigation which I'm going to get one of you unlucky bastards to help me figure out if its bad or not :grin:

just changed the radiator last night using the directions from miata.net took me 4 hrs to change the radiator and replace the thermostat. it was all that gasket scraping that took forever i promise.

used to drive an '89 MK1 Mr2 which I dearly loved and had about as much of a community of followers--spent alot of time on mr2.com. that partnership ended abruptly due to a patch of black ice and a light pole. other notable past loves were an e36 M3 which met its fate due to a bad driver (not me of course) and finally a prelude type sh which will be sold as soon as I can get comfortable with this cars reliability.

have to do a lot of driving as I am an onsite computer consultant that usually has at least 3-4 appointments per day.

i plan on getting thecrankcase checked out by one of you doods to ensure we get the right diagnosis, and i'm planning for the worse. its looking like an engine rebuild or a replacement depending on price.

that's about all i have to say for now. look forward to getting to know youse guys

[sammm]

Welcome aboard Eugene. We have a great collective of Miatae here, and a bunch of knowledgeable wrench turners too. Take everything you read around here with a grain of salt!

[Kestrel]

Welcome to our little slice of heaven!

Your bad motor simply gives you the opportunity to purchase and install a nice new 1.8 Crate engine ala Mr. Hollis...

[Treibenschnell]

Welcome aboard!!

[MadMerv]

Gene,
Miatas with serial numbers earlier than 209446 (mid-1991) had a poor design on the nose of the vrank. They tend to wallow out the crank key and eventually break the snout. That sounds like your problem. You still got a good deal on the car, as used engines are cheap, and run forever.
Merv

[icepenguin66]

Welcome to our little slice of heaven!

Your bad motor simply gives you the opportunity to purchase and install a nice new 1.8 Crate engine ala Mr. Hollis...

Yes, like me! I have a white 90 that suffered the crank failure and now have a 97 motor in it. If it turns out the crank is bad, I would go ahead and do the 1.8 swap. Believe me, the tq increase is wonderfully noticable! If you do and I can give you advise or help out.

[gene501]

Yes, like me! I have a white 90 that suffered the crank failure and now have a 97 motor in it. If it turns out the crank is bad, I would go ahead and do the 1.8 swap. Believe me, the tq increase is wonderfully noticable! If you do and I can give you advise or help out.

How much did it cost to do it? did you do it yourself and how long did it take?

[altiain]

How much do you have to spend?

I've seen good junkyard 1.8L longblocks go for $500 or less. I've also seen people spend upwards of $5k on crate motors. Pick what's comfortable for you. If you've got a garage and want to make some new friends, buy some beer and clear a weekend (you might want to check the local Autocross schedule first though, as we've got a lot of cone-dodgers on this board) for an engine install, then send out the word. Depending on the quality of the beer, you may end up with more help than you need.

[icepenguin66]

How much did it cost to do it? did you do it yourself and how long did it take?

Like Altain said, depends on how nice of a motor you get. A new one will be a lot and used ones tend to go for around $500-800. Other than that all you would need are the motor mounts (usually come with the motor), the throttle body adapter plate, throttle cable bracket (or modify the stock one), and ignition coil bracket from Flyin Miata.

I spent about $1400 I think, but my motor cost $750 and I bought a clutch/flywheel from a 1.8 along with a new water pump and timing belt.

I took a real long time since I had another car to drive, but you should be able to do it in a weekend with the right tools and some help. I did a 1.6 replacement before in 1 day and the 1.8 swap only requires a tiny bit more work.

[gene501]

i've been giving this alot of thought.

i was quoted about $1300 for a 1.6 with installation. It sounds like I can get the 1.8 if I do the greasy labor at about the same price.

I might just go and borrow the pickup and get a 1.8 during this week. I'd order the upgrade kit from flyinmiata, reorganize my parents garage so I'll have enough room and get started this saturday evening after class at about 6pm. Anyone not doing anything july 4th weekend? Where might one get a hold of an engine lift temporarily?

My girlfriend will be out of town this weekend and I'd hate to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she was right about the car. plus, I need to get this car in reliable condition so I can hurry up and get the prelude in the paper and sold.

[Miata55]

Sorry about your motor thingy - does sound like a nose crank problem. Since this is July 5th, I guess i missed the engine swap party How did it go anyway?