NA miata, good short crank!

Catching up on deferred maintenance from PO (said changed timing belt and waterpump, but pump is so bad it looses all coolant in 5 min.. but some evidence someone was in there) Plan is WP, timing belt, seals and hoses.

Engine never revved right off no-load, felt ignition miss, but new plugs and wires (notable when attempting to rev-match shifts) so I dreaded a bad crank. Has the 4 hole balance, early 91, vin window for short crank.

Filthy from bad waterpump and leaky crank seal, crank sproket required a pulley to get off so I feared a mangled crank, but good news! its okay!

There is some dried grease, and the keyway looks like it got wedged against the crank, but no horizontal deflection! (somewhat see keyway mangled crank as white/reflective in photo)

Here you can see the dried grease and keyway stuck in the sproket.

So I'm pretty stoked, a 130,000 mile NA with obvious deferred maintenance and a good crank! They exist!

Plan is new seal (one I have is incorrect) then torque everything on dry, I have a new sproket, key, and bolt. Was prepared to do a locktite fix... phew..

Anyone have recommendations for a good crank and new parts? I don't feel as though locktite would be appropriate as the crank is good and I have new parts and know how to use a torque wrench? Opinions?

I have to source some hoses too, so this thing isn't getting buttoned up tonight. This spring I might even wash it, havent washed it since I bought it last summer.

I would definitely put a little of the removable locktite on the crank bolt when you put it back together. Damage to the keyway comes from that bolt backing out and I don't think it's worth risking when the solution is so easy.

I'd replace the woodruff key and get a new crank bolt and put it back together right. There's a weak spot there, and incorrect reassembly is faulted for most of the failures. Congrats on getting lucky!

You know, most of them are working just fine. It's not that much of a miracle

I agree with Johny, I think most of the failures come from the bolt backing out. I've seen a bunch of long-nose engines suffer as well. Incorrect assembly certainly doesn't help, but should also be immediately visible.