so my sister borrowed the miata....

Is that detonation crud built up on the plug? Looks like from the rust on the plug body there was some water in the spark plug well too. I run strait NGK on boosted everything not the Iridiums. FWIW

Yeah, I've heard from a number of people with force-fed engines that iridium and platinum plugs don't live very long in those situations. Which is odd since they seem to work well in high compression motors.

My guess? You had a problem that eventually manifested fully itself while your sis was driving it. She compounded it by not paying attention to the signs that the car was in trouble and ran it until it died, instead of taking care of another person's stuff.

In reply to clownkiller:

Coppers are considered a failsafe on boosted cars.

I dont know who put those in. I always kept splitfires in it. Dads been driving it past couple of years. The plug is melted, its not buildup as much as theres not much left. Sister had it about 4 months. And it sat for 2 after it "stopped running". On the way driving it back from apoka couldnt go into boost without it going full lean. Dont know whats all wrong with it yet. and yes. Gunna be lots of used parts. No worries about that tho, you get used to it owning a neon.

Splitfires?

The Iridiums aren't really a problem per se... they're a good "set it and forget it" plug for this sort of thing, but aren't optimal performance, and when they aren't put in with grease, this sort of thing happens.

Also: detonation.

What's being used to control this car?

Pc pro. Been boosted for 80k miles. Never had a problem. I know it was detination. That or somehow it went real lean and melted the silly thing. Other plugs came out fine if not a little rich. Still waiting on a leakdown from my dad. I cant touch the car till next week if im lucky. Splitfires are old ngks. They are copper. so 2 votes bigger blower and one for a turbo?

With a $4000 budget, i'd vote for VVT motor swap, leave it n/a.

Is vvt better now? What about a 3rd gen swap? My dad mentioned that. I coild always gobback n, boost is addicting tho. Lol

Nvm. Google is my friend.

Blown headgasket. 3 leaks into 2 and 4. Time to pull the head. Doubt I can machine it anymore eother which sucks. 3rd time to mill head. Last time was 7 thousands. First time I forgot.

You can go 0.060" or even .080" before it's interference motor. Now, would i suggest going that far if you're going to continue boosting it? No.

punch your sister in the throat. twice. 60% of the time, it works every time.

Jaxmadine wrote: I dont know who put those in. I always kept splitfires in it. Dads been driving it past couple of years. The plug is melted, its not buildup as much as theres not much left. Sister had it about 4 months. And it sat for 2 after it "stopped running". On the way driving it back from apoka couldnt go into boost without it going full lean. Dont know whats all wrong with it yet. and yes. Gunna be lots of used parts. No worries about that tho, you get used to it owning a neon.

That's what an Iridium looks like new, they don't have the big fat electrodes that other plugs do. FYI.

DUDE! Dude... dude.

Jax,

After looking at the photo that plug has not melted that is how they are normally. The crud on the plug looks like leakage from bad head gasket got in there and corroded and probably accentuated the galvanic reaction between the plug and the alu head. Probably occurred as much from the problem as it did from it just sitting there for a couple months. Cars hate to sit especially ones that are used to being driven regularly.

About lending things to family. In particular cars. I only do this with the understanding that I expect to get it back as a complete pile of junk. That way what ever condition I get the car back in it is better than my expectations and thus I am not upset. Lets face it to most a car is an appliance that gets used up and discarded. If we expect anything more than this kind of treatment from others you will always be disappointed.

Ya. After it got shaved the .07 the last time u had to do some funny things ot the timing so it would run right without falling on its face in the upper rpms. While im kindof glad it broke so I can rebuild, im alsi sad it broke like that. btw 10 year ase master tech. Not totally clueless about most things.
And thats not really crud. Its missing half the plug. Just a bad angle pic I guess. Someone buy my triumph so I can fix the miata. Lol also narrowed itndown to Either and s16g. 20g twinscroll or gt2560r2-d2

Ah ok... so when you said it got shaved 7 thou, you really meant 7 hundredths?

No idea. Lol. My dad was the one talking to the machine shop. He wasnt totally sure. They just told him they couldnt shave it anymore. Know anyone who wants a high compression head for a miata? Bp4w. Ported and polished like a mug too.

Jaxmadine wrote: No idea. Lol. My dad was the one talking to the machine shop. He wasnt totally sure. They just told him they couldnt shave it anymore. Know anyone who wants a high compression head for a miata? Bp4w. Ported and polished like a mug too.

Depends on price and condition after the blown head gasket.

Id get it fixed if its fixable, I dont sell junk. Lol. btw ubercharger on miataturbo is very tempting right now...need monies!

I've heard people talk about the "bolt it to a steel plate and bake in the oven" approach to unwarping heads, but I know nothing about it other than that. :)

swank! since im having such a hard time finding a 99 motor, and I havnt been in the Miata scene in such a long time. Do vvts like boost better than 99 heads? also, what standalone controls the vvt? talked to my dad. machine shop did the head to .07 last time. gunna seen how much needs off this time and then ill see if I can sell it. it has such a pretty port and polish on it too, would be a shame.

You can get a VVT controller from DIYAutotune. Not sure if there is a standalone out there that controls the VVT without additional controllers.

The Hydra has for years.

The VVT cars don't seem to act much differently under boost, other than the fact that they're higher compression.

Good tune fixes the higher compression issues. Didnt know the hydra did vvt. Might have to look into that. Still gotta try the local junkyards tho. Dads in a real hurry since his onlybotjer car is an armada, and they live in the sticks. Gas hurts them big time on a foxed income.