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equiraptor | |
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I went by J Long Autoworks / Japanese Motor Specialists today for the first time. Dan is selling his engine and it looks like I'm going to buy it, or at least parts of it. I'll get the block/built bottom end, but his header won't quite fit my car, so my head will most likely be rebuilt as a frankenstein of his parts, my parts, and new parts. Once this is done, my car will be ready for an Ubercharger. If only my pocketbook were. One of the advantages of going to the shop to discuss the engine swap is actually being around the vehicles... John suggested I should get to drive the Ubercharger car to "see what I'm getting." I think it was a plan to get me to purchase an Uber sooner. It was great fun to drive, and it was really confidence inspiring. Even with Dan's different ECU, the car was easy to drive. We made our way through a bit of traffic before finding an empty road, and dealing with the slow traffic was a breeze (well, except for my lack of patience, but that's a personal problem). Then, on the empty segment of road, it took me a couple of passes before I was willing to really punch the gas. That car had more go than... than... I dunno. It was just fast. Driving back to the shop, among stopsigns and lights, was easy as could be (except for my slight shaking and complete loss of ability to judge speed). I'm looking forward to having a similar system in my car and getting to know the ins and outs. John and Dan also seem happy to answer my ignorant questions about engines - I only hope I can be so patient with non-computer people. Tags: miata Current Mood: excited Current Music: Nugget playing Half Life
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I don't currently have a reason to need a new block, other than my current one has 104,000+ miles on it, 89,000 of which were with unknown maintenance, and I'm going to be putting a great deal of forced induction into it. I'd rather have a known situation, especially with 102,000 fewer miles, than a mostly-unknown block. Also, the parts I'd need to add, new, cost about the same amount as the bottom end I'm buying from Dan. The lifters are in the head (DOHC), and are currently hydraulic lifters. They'll be replaced with mechanical ones (and I will never had the lifter noise again!).
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What I've been told is that I shouldn't put more than about 12, 13psi on the stock bottom end. The block itself isn't the issue - it's the rods and pistons. The pistons recommended for forced induction have a lower compression ratio, and the stock rods just can't take much more power than that. The thing is, I'm going from ~99hp, 95 torque at the rear wheels to (probably) over 200 of each. It's a hell of a difference.
I know the hydraulic lifters in the Miata are less-than-perfect. Mine make a clacking noise that isn't supposed to be a problem, but it still drives me insane. And, from talking to John, they apparently can collapse at high rpms, reducing flow in and out of the engine. :/ If the adjustment is every 150,000 miles, well, I'm going ~15,000 a year right now, so that's in 10 years. ;)
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