Cool, now I don't have to try find out what that slight engine noise on the Miata was

Or chase the politely-farting-into-the-exhaust misfire, either.

Laydeeeez and Gentleman, the compression numbers are in, courtesy of my HF compression tester:

1 - 95 "dry", 130 "wet"

2 - 92.5 "dry", 125 "wet"

3 - 100 "dry", 140 "wet", woohoo, winner!

4 - 90 "dry", 135 "wet"

Guess I'm back to figuring out if I want another car instead or on top of the necessary suspension work, now also have to change/rebuild the engine (something I have never done before).

Don't measure if you'd rather not know, I guess.

They are consistently bad in all cylinders if they are bad :) thats good right ;p?

Being consistent can be overrated .

Warm or cold ? Throttle wide open ?

Full operating temperature, throttle wide open.

Since they are consistent, you should to a leakdown test to get a better idea of exactly what's going on.

How's your oil pressure? Do you have a real oil pressure gauge in there or just the factory one? The stock gauge in a '95 is just an idiot light with a needle. It's almost useless.

That's a good point. Guess I'll have a word with the local mechanic of least mistrust to see if they've got the gear for that before I pay more money to HF.

This couldn't come at a better time, the 'vette has been in the shop for a few weeks now - started with a leaking gearbox that has mutated into a leaking intake gasket and a nicely corroded intake manifold .

Seems that my inverse Midas touch is still fully operational.

Woody wrote: How's your oil pressure? Do you have a real oil pressure gauge in there or just the factory one? The stock gauge in a '95 is just an idiot light with a needle. It's almost useless.

I retrofitted a "real" gauge. Oil pressure is a little low in normal operation but Keith mentioned in one post on here a while back (in someone elses thread) that the numbers I'm seeing are fairly consistent with an engine that has seen 130k miles.

Mind you, after the last session on the track on Saturday, oil pressure at idle was somewhere around the 15psi mark with Mobil 1 15W50. Normally it's closer to 26-28.

BoxheadTim wrote:

Woody wrote: How's your oil pressure? Do you have a real oil pressure gauge in there or just the factory one? The stock gauge in a '95 is just an idiot light with a needle. It's almost useless.

I retrofitted a "real" gauge. Oil pressure is a little low in normal operation but Keith mentioned in one post on here a while back (in someone elses thread) that the numbers I'm seeing are fairly consistent with an engine that has seen 130k miles. Mind you, after the last session on the track on Saturday, oil pressure at idle was somewhere around the 15psi mark with Mobil 1 15W50. Normally it's closer to 26-28.

One of my '96s would drop below 20 at idle when the oil was hot.

You could always try the rebuild in a can. Or those pellets you drop down into the cylinders.

Someone here tried those pellets some years ago. Said they worked a lot better than you'd think, and actually were lasting for a while.

what year of miata has "real" gauges & when did they go to the none-fine-toomuch ?

The real pressure gauges were fitted up to 94, the 95 on ones like mine came from the factory with a gauge-shaped idiot light. They're easy to tell apart though, the "real" gauge has a psi or bar scale, the fake ones only read "L" and "H".

@foxtrapper, I am still somewhat tempted to dribble a little Seafoam into the combustion chambers and let it sit for a few days. If the rings are caked up, this might help.

The really odd thing is that about 99% of the time the car starts fine as if the engine was in good condition - the other 1% it starts on three cylinders. The only reason I got the compression tester out was because the engine felt a little down on power on the track...

One of the guys on the local SCCA forum pointed me into the direction of a company down in Sacramento that sells used JDM Yo! engines. His shop has got used engines from them before and they were pretty happy with the quality, but for me the big question is if it is worth doing swapping out the engine on top of all the other work the car needs or if I'm better off with another car. Back to square one, I guess.

Miata isnt that painful to replace the engine in. I pulled mine without the trans, biggest PITA was the upper bellhousing bolts and getting the input shaft lined up on the reinstall. (might be easier pulling the trans as well)

Got my (30k mile) motor from a junkyard for $675, though that was a screaming deal.

Dont feel like you have to go JDMy0 on the engine. Same thing and no advantage IIRC.

I realise there isn't much advantage in a JDM engine if I go with the non-VVT engine, it's just that the place that sells them was recommended to me. In absence of any other criteria, that might make a difference especially as they supposedly check the engine over and do compression tests etc before selling it.

The difficulty of pulling the engine is only one part of the puzzle, it's also a question of money that I don't have floating around at the moment - the car also needs wheels, tires, shocks and some other work so depending on the cost of the engine I have to dump anywhere between $3k-$5k into the car without any extravagant mods. If it was a really really nice Miata the decision would be easier, but it's somewhere between OK and nice.

So the car needs an engine, wheels, tires, and a suspension. And you're having a hard time deciding? DUMP IT!!!!

I'd just bite the bullet and get it to where you want. Devil you know.

Or you can dump it... and probably have to do at least wheels, tires, and a suspension anyways.

Dumping it and getting a new one seems like a lot of work to save $500.

BoxheadTim wrote: @foxtrapper, I am still somewhat tempted to dribble a little Seafoam into the combustion chambers and let it sit for a few days. If the rings are caked up, this might help.

^ this. except, use the whole can.

I think any Miata you buy for a low price is going to need wheels, tires, and suspension. Unless you buy it from a fellow enthusiast, it's probably running on stock worn out shocks, low end all season tires, etc.

In my opinion, you can replace all those things for a lot less than you can buy a race prepped Miata for. But then I'm known to have a savior complex when it comes to worn out cars, so take that for what it's worth.

BoxheadTim wrote: One of the guys on the local SCCA forum pointed me into the direction of a company down in Sacramento that sells used JDM Yo! engines. His shop has got used engines from them before and they were pretty happy with the quality, but for me the big question is if it is worth doing swapping out the engine on top of all the other work the car needs or if I'm better off with another car. Back to square one, I guess.

I am shopping for used replacement engine for my '91. What is the name of recommended place in Sacramento? PM me if you don't want to inadvertently canoe this thread.

PM'd to avoid boating accidents.

BoxheadTim wrote: PM'd to avoid boating accidents.

Thanks. There seems to be no shortage of used 1.6 engines in the bay area. There does seem to be shortage of anything with less than 150,000 miles on it.

Javelin wrote: So the car needs an engine, wheels, tires, and a suspension. And you're having a hard time deciding? DUMP IT!!!!

The problem for is that I am essentially faced with these options:

• Dump a whole stack of cash into the Me-Otter. That way I know what has been done and it should last a while, but it's still a well used Miata. The advantage is that I've already got assembled most of the other bits I wanted to put on it like race seats etc, I have the hardtop and I know my way around the car. It's had a little Oops in the past and it has been repaired cosmetically but I still have to change a couple of plastic panels underneath the car to finish off the job.
• Dump it for something in better shape, both mechanically and bodywise. I don't want anything that is going to be much more expensive to run so I'd be looking at the likes of E30s, E36 318ti, non-turbo 944s or MR2s. With any of these I probably still have to go through the suspension and need to get wheels and tires, but I might end up with a more practical car compared to the Miata.
• Forget about doing anything track related for a year or two, sell the Miata and pile up cash plus wait until my credit rating has recovered enough from the current house purchase, then buy something more expensive with hopefully fewer problems. And still have to buy it wheels, tires and suspension, but hopefully it'll be in better shape mechanically.

I'm currently trying to balance the whole thing between not going too deep in (again) and trying to avoid buying another car with problems. I seem to have been extremely good at that over here for some reason (most likely I'm too cheap).

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: I'd just bite the bullet and get it to where you want. Devil you know. Or you can dump it... and probably have to do at least wheels, tires, and a suspension anyways. Dumping it and getting a new one seems like a lot of work to save $500.

I lean toward this answer.

Of course the other option would be to Seafoam the engine and wait with the replacement until it blows. No sure how clever an idea that is, though.