Mazda BP question

I am tearing down my 92 Protege LX to put a new head gasket on it, thanks to my sister-in-law. (long story)

Anyhow, I pulled the head with both manifolds attached so that I could pull them off on the workbench and save my back. After wrestling the head/manifolds combo out of the engine bay, I sat it on its side and this little thing fell out on the floor:

I've got two questions:

What is it? Where does it go? I didn't even notice it.

Second question: Do I have to have that stupid, stupid intake manifold brace? If not, I'm going to fling it into the woods as hard as I can.

You don't HAVE to have it. I hate them, too. You think THAT one is bad, try messing around with one on a 5th gen Celica. But i'd put it back on. If i can put it back on the Celica, you can put it back on your BG.

The spring... throttle body maybe? Maybe it's part of a belt tensioner?

Mazda isn't exactly known for tacking on extra stuff that the engineers didn't think needed to be there but added anyway... do you think you know more than the engineers at Mazda who were being watched by the accountants at Ford?

p.s. no idea on that spring & pin.

All I have heard from the Miata guys is that the brace is not critical but that not having it in place will allow the aluminum manifold to crack over time. It did make my Miata alternator change a pain but I put it back in. Don't know about the spring.

"All I have heard from the Miata guys is that the brace is not critical but that not having it in place will allow the aluminum manifold to crack over time."

How is that not critical?

93celicaGT2 wrote: You don't HAVE to have it. I hate them, too. You think THAT one is bad, try messing around with one on a 5th gen Celica. But i'd put it back on. If i can put it back on the Celica, you can put it back on your BG. The spring... throttle body maybe? Maybe it's part of a belt tensioner?

Oh, I've got no problem with putting it back on. It's probably a lot easier than taking it off was. I just wanted to leave it off so changing the oil filter isn't such a PITA.

Depends on what you consider a reasonable amount of time. A car that is autocross only would probably never have a problem. A daily driver would probably see a problem. I am going by conventional wisdom from Miata.net. I did not tell the OP to leave it off.

bamalama wrote:

93celicaGT2 wrote: You don't HAVE to have it. I hate them, too. You think THAT one is bad, try messing around with one on a 5th gen Celica. But i'd put it back on. If i can put it back on the Celica, you can put it back on your BG. The spring... throttle body maybe? Maybe it's part of a belt tensioner?

Oh, I've got no problem with putting it back on. It's probably a lot easier than taking it off was. I just wanted to leave it off so changing the oil filter isn't such a PITA.

Solution: Buy another one. Throw one into the woods as far as you can. Install the other.

I've never seen a Miata intake manifold crack from the brace removal. I know that it's SOP to pull the intake manifold brace off a GTX and throw it as far away as possible.

I'll let you know, though. We're only about 15 years in testing the effects of intake manifold brace removal on Miatas I don't think there's a single car at FM that has one, except maybe Igor. And that's only because we haven't started doing anything on that car yet. Go ahead and remove it.

As for your little bolt and spring - it came out of the head? Doesn't look familiar to me. I don't know what's on the intake manifold and throttle body on a Protege BP, but I'd be looking at the various coolant lines or the idle speed control valve to start.

What year Protege? IIRC, the '02-'03s had an issue with a screw/spring coming loose & getting sucked into the intake, I think there was a recall for it.

Keith wrote: As for your little bolt and spring - it came out of the head? Doesn't look familiar to me. I don't know what's on the intake manifold and throttle body on a Protege BP, but I'd be looking at the various coolant lines or the idle speed control valve to start.

I'm not sure where it came from. I heard it hit the floor, and I've been befuddled by it ever since.

I'll poke around the intake and see what I can find.

Keith wrote: I've never seen a Miata intake manifold crack from the brace removal. I know that it's SOP to pull the intake manifold brace off a GTX and throw it as far away as possible. I'll let you know, though. We're only about 15 years in testing the effects of intake manifold brace removal on Miatas I don't think there's a single car at FM that has one, except maybe Igor. And that's only because we haven't started doing anything on that car yet. Go ahead and remove it.

Well, there's your answer.

Keith, I have a Miata question. I have just finished cleaning the top side intake manifold half on my 99. This is in hopes of clearing the excess egr flow code. I have read numerous posts about changing the vacuum hose routing to help prevent the problem from happening again but some people say this causes a change in the way the engine runs. Can you give me a definite answer?

Mapper, I can't. That's not something I've ever spent any time on. We don't tend to run cars on stock computers, so I'm not as familiar with keeping them happy as I should be. Let me look at what the excess EGR code means and I'll see what I can figure out. What's the code number?

Keith, the code is P0402. From the garage section of Miata.net comes a link that talks about the re-route: http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/june2006/techtips.htm

This quote also comes from the garage section: "PERMANENT FIX: Remove the vacuum hose (about 1' long) going from the EGR Booster on the fender wall to the vacuum port on the side of the intake manifold (Ref: schematic on hood). Install a new hose that goes from the EGR Booster to the vacuum port (unused) on the top front of the intake manifold. Cap the port on the side of the intake manifold with the cap from the formerly unused port. That's all there is to it!! Couldn't believe it was so simple there are even unused clips next to the throttle assembly you can use to hold the new hose in place."

Or I can just replace the old piece of vacuum tubing and keep it in the original configuration. The ports on the manifold are now nice and clean. FYI, I live in Metro Atlanta so I have to have the original computer and full emissions system. The car has been sitting awhile which probably didn't help.

In reply to mapper:

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but I've come across this same issue with my '99 Miata. Did you end up doing this or something else?