I finally got a Miata! It's a 1990 to be more specific. Supposedly all it needs to run is a new Cam Angle Sensor...as in the old one is gone. Wish I would have priced one before buying, as they are 300 forking dollars. Anyway the plans are to get it running and auto crossing ASAP. Not that anything will be that radical I'll post updates on the car as it progresses. In other words questions to problems I don't understand. And humorous short comings of my mechanical ability. Pics otw!
In reply to JordoCone :
Nice! I love my 90, way more than I did my 96 honestly.
Great color! I am sure you're going to have fun. This is a great source of Miata coaching and advice.
JordoCone said:I finally got a Miata! It's a 1990 to be more specific. Supposedly all it needs to run is a new Cam Angle Sensor...as in the old one is gone. Wish I would have priced one before buying, as they are 300 forking dollars.
You can always get a used CAS like this one for $85:
So the wiring in the car is completely butchered. I've seen some questionable wiring, but this is next level. I was at first considering repairing the harnesses, but now i'm looking in other directions. A friend recommended microsquirt with their 8' harness. The NA 1.6 uses batch fire/injection, so the limitations of the Microsquirt wouldnt be an issue there, though i would like sequential. Which leads me to the question of should i pay the extra 300-400 for the MS2? Also does anyone has experience with using a DSM cam angle sensor for their miata? Anyway any info or recommendations would be appreciated, thanks!
and
Fix it for under $300. I mean you could do MS but all of the PNP options will need a new wiring harness. Otherwise you are rewiring the entire car. Up to you but I'd go this route.
That's a good find on the harness! With the current junkyard ECU old AFM that's expensive to replace if necessary, I think I'm going to go with Microsquirt. Plus I have someone that has put together a few stand alone systems that's nice enough to help. Hope to get this going within the next couple weeks. I'll post updates!
Check that TDC with the dipstick in the #1 cylinder agrees with the marks on the crank pulley. The early 1.6 had a short nose crank - short in stickout and diameter. The crank cog starts to slip on the snout in the retarded direction, widening out the keyway slot. From memory 20 years ago you should get a new bolt, (new cog optional), woodruff key, Loctite 660 and a front crank seal while you are in there. Don't panic if the crankshaft slot has been widened. apply 660 to fresh parts and hold the cog tight to the unmolested shoulder of the crank slot, the advance side of the slot. The retarded side of the slot will be widened out. Loctite 660 is anerobic - it sets up in the absence of air. How strong is it? I bent a steering wheel puller trying to remove the cog a year later to replace the seal. I was able to start and move the car with no bolt. Then I read the MSDS sheet, applied a little heat, (was it 250 F?) and it slid right off with NO effort. 
I wanted to to upload the pictures in one post, but it kept redirecting....anyway these pics don't do the sketchy wiring justice, but it's you get the general theme. I found and cleaned or replaced most of the grounds. Looking at the wiring diagrams there should be a ground somewhere by the throttle body. I finally found it and a few other wires that had just been cut. Which leads me to the recurring question WHY?? Where exactly is this supposed to be grounded btw? I've seen the location on the 1.8 but not 1.6. So I started going over more necessary wires. Wires to AFM were hacked, there was a bare wire wrapped around the wires to the connector. Wires to the igniter were cut up. The fuel pump is haggardly wired without a relay. I dig the repurposed wire from the 1800s for the coolant temp, but I just don't think it's sound anymore. There is what I was told was a siren horn wired in very poorly under the dash, amongst other random jumbles of wires for god knows what. I don't understand this level of half ass butchery. Anyway just wanted to vent a bit. More positive updates coming soon...
She's coming along finally. All the wiring is out, getting everything cleaned up for the new wiring. I did go with Microsquirt and the 8' harness. Also doing a new fuse box and harness, though I haven't decided on which one just yet. I would like to de-pin most connectors instead of butt connectors, but I'm having a hard time figuring out which pins I need. If anyone's knows which I need, that would be greatly appreciated!!
BrianC72gt (Forum Supporter) said:Check that TDC with the dipstick in the #1 cylinder agrees with the marks on the crank pulley. The early 1.6 had a short nose crank - short in stickout and diameter. The crank cog starts to slip on the snout in the retarded direction, widening out the keyway slot. From memory 20 years ago you should get a new bolt, (new cog optional), woodruff key, Loctite 660 and a front crank seal while you are in there. Don't panic if the crankshaft slot has been widened. apply 660 to fresh parts and hold the cog tight to the unmolested shoulder of the crank slot, the advance side of the slot. The retarded side of the slot will be widened out. Loctite 660 is anerobic - it sets up in the absence of air. How strong is it? I bent a steering wheel puller trying to remove the cog a year later to replace the seal. I was able to start and move the car with no bolt. Then I read the MSDS sheet, applied a little heat, (was it 250 F?) and it slid right off with NO effort.
Before anyone diagnoses a damaged crank nose (it can happen to any NA/NB Miata if the crank bolt backs off) - it's far more common for the rubber bond in the harmonic damper to fail and the two halves slip relative to each other. This shows up as an inaccurate timing mark or even one that moves as you watch with a timing light. Easy fix with a new part.
Nice project!
I'd have to agree that you should check the pulley/harmonic balancer situation before proceeding.
Microsquirt and a simplified harness should be cool. Get it closer to the classic sports cars Mazda studied when making the Miata. Do carry on.
The drivers side floor definitely wasn't great. This is after I ground it down.
The panel turned out ok. The welding, not so much. No offense to my buddy that helped me out with welding lol. Also when cutting a giant hole in the floor, really pay attention to the underside. This started to get into the frame rail. A bit more work to fix that...
Finding a pinhole led to another patch. Just have the little panel left. The welding isn't terrible for my first welding attempt. The floors took wayy longer to clean up and fix than I thought. Now it's time to figure out where the ecu will go, and start rewiring...
If nothing else the car will be clean..ish
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