Most liked posts in thread: Cams, headwork and track build

So... after what seems like forever. I finally have the car back together. I have been racing Spec Miata so it has been hard to keep up with putting this car back together as well as the building, racing and maintaining that car as well.

I picked up the head from Endyn and Larry said the porting showed a 28% increase in flow through the head. I have the Schrick cams installed and the engine is back in the car. I did discover when I first cranked it (yes it started and sounded fine) that I have a pretty decent oil leak in the oil line that goes from the block to the top side of the turbo. So, I will have some additional work to do in order to replace the line.

I got the carbon fiber replacement for the sunroof that I removed, it looks and fits great. I have some work to do to get the interior buttoned back up, but it is very close.

Here are some pics of the head work:

 

Good question, I am not exactly sure. My understanding was that he was going to create a C&C plan for it, but the work does look hand done. Honestly it took so long to get it done, I didn't really ask that many questions. I was just happy to have the work finished.

 

Honestly, I would just take up crack instead of SM racing.... It's less addictive and has to be cheaper! In all seriousness, the cars handle great (sorry much better than the Mini) and the racing is SUPER close. In qualifying the top 10 positions are usually covered by 1/2 to 3/4 of a second on a 2 minute lap. Basically, every tenth of a second gets you another grid position.

 

I have bought a bunch of stuff from them for my Miata. Dave Wheeler, the guy that owns Advanced, is a good guy.

 

I replaced the oil line tonight, turns out if remove the downpipe, heat shielding and the turbo bracket you can slip it through. All in all it only took about an hour and a half to remove and replace it, not too bad. I thought it was going to take longer than that. I ran the car for a good 5 or 10 minutes and everything seemed good. It was still up on jack stands and the interior is pretty torn apart. Another couple of hours with that and I will take it out for a test drive. I am keeping my fingers crossed there are no major issues I havent discovered yet.

 

Nothing yet. I didn't have any codes, but I have yet to actually drive the car and hence haven't produced any boost yet. I suspect if there is anything it will not like it will be under those conditions.

 

It was the first R56 they have done. All in all there were numerous reasons for the delay, they are working on a large job for the USPS and it looked like quite a bit of work to build and flow test the porting job on the head. I would not imagine that they have this large a delay in all their projects.

 

So far so good. I did have the oil line that goes to the oil cooler come off and dump about 3 quarts of oil on the driveway. Not cool!!!! That wasn't so much a problem as it was a huge mess, the car was running at the time and the fan was on, so of course it sucked oil through the fins in the radiator and sprayed it ALL over the engine bay. I secured it back with a pinch clamp so I shouldn't have any more issues with that.

I have a couple of codes that keep trying to pop up, sometimes they are pending codes, sometimes they actually trigger a CEL. They are P0012, cam timing retarded, and P000A, intake cam slow to respond. I replaced the intake solenoid but that didn't net any change. I also removed the timing chain tensioner and inspected it, it seemed fine as well. I am fairly certain the timing is set right (for one the car idles fine), I have the crank pin, the cam blocks and the timing chain tensioner tool.

Even when the codes are present the car seems to drive fine. I just ordered the Access Port today, so that might shed some light on what exactly the car is doing. I am not 100% sure this is due to the cams and or head porting. I have noticed several of the parts not fair too well to not being in use for over a year.