94 Miata - Engine Rebuild, Part 2

Since my last post I've removed the engine from the car and disassembled it. I was hoping to be able to simply hone the cylinders and put the engine back together with new rings and bearings, but I found there was too much wear for that. I didn't even make any measurements. There's obviously a lot of scuffing on the piston skirts and there are enough scratches on the crank journals that I figured I'd better have it polished and maybe even ground down one size if necessary. So off to the machine shop it will go this week. I'm taking them the block, rods, new pistons, and the crank from a spare 2002 engine I previously tore down. Here are a few pics of the pieces.

In this photo you can see quite a bit of scuffing on the piston skirt. The oil control rings on all these pistons did not appear to be stuck, so I believe my oil consumption issue was simply due to wear in the bores.  

This is one of the main crank bearings. It's probably the worst one but they all looked similar. It's not the worst I've seen, but you can tell this is an engine with 175,000 miles on it. It's worse than I expected it to be. This engine has always had synthetic oil in it, and although I've pushed the change intervals pretty long a few times, it's had regular oil changes. I chalk up the increased wear to several factors, though. 1) I had a very crappy cold air induction system for several years that didn't filter the intake air very well. It was an oiled foam filter and several times I found actual grit in the airbox. Most of the bearings showed deep scratches indicating large particles in the oil. This is usually due to ingested silicon grains. 2) I had a supercharger on this engine for about 10000 miles, and 3) this engine saw some track mileage where it was at very high rpm for extended periods of time.  

On the left is a rod from the '94 engine and on the right is a rod from the 2002 engine I previously tore down. I didn't weigh them but to me the 94 rod looks like it might weigh a little less. The webbing on the I-beam portion of the rod is definitely thicker on the 02 rod. Maybe they beefed them up in later years to compensate for the higher compression the NB engines run. At any rate, I decided to stick with the '94 rods for my rebuild. I'm sure they're still strong enough and I just thought the construction looked a little better. If I was going with forced induction I'd probably use the '02 rods.  

I bought some new pistons in 0.5mm oversize (83.5mm) because I figure it's safer to oversize rather than just hone this block, based on the amount of wear I'm seeing. The bores in the block look pretty good, but the amount of scuffing on the old pistons tells me there's gotta be some wear. So just to be safe we're going to overbore.  

This pic just shows the crank still assembled to the block. The main bearing caps are stamped with numbers 1 through 5 and there are cast arrows indicating the direction to the front. The numbers are hard to see but they are there. I elected not to use this crank and will instead use the one from the 2002 engine I took apart because that one looks brand new and this one shows some wear on the bearing journals and seal surfaces.  

Here's the bare block in all its glory. Not much to it when it really comes down to it. Part three of this series is here.

94 Miata - Engine Rebuild, Part 1

Going back about 3 years on this blog you'll find a long series of posts about how I went through my Miata and refreshed a bunch of stuff. Highlights of the project included installing a '99 cylinder head on my '94 motor and painting the entire car myself in my garage. What I didn't do back then was rebuild the bottom end of the engine. Since then it's been burning oil pretty rapidly and showing some rather poor compression when cold. So, I decided it's time to pull the engine again and do a complete rebuild on the bottom end.

I'm picking this project up sort of in the middle here, because I've already got the engine out and on a stand. When I last had the engine out in 2012, the cylinder bores looked very good, so I think I can get away with a simple hone and re-ring job, with new crank and rod bearings. I plan to use a Flex-Hone rotary brush type honing tool. These are inexpensive, can be done by hand with a drill, and provides a high-quality finish with the proper cross-hatch angle to ensure a good seal by the rings. I've torn down a spare 2002 engine block we had at the Gorilla Garage and I plan to use it to practice my honing technique. I also plan to use the pistons from that engine to take advantage of the 10:1 compression ratio enjoyed by the 2002 Miata engine. This will be a true budget-build, because if the block looks and measures ok, I'm going to get by without doing any machine work. We'll see if that pans out! The head only has maybe 35k miles on it, so I'm hoping to leave it alone at this time.

To sum up part 1 of this series, here are my goals for this project:

• Rebuild engine bottom end
• Inspect head and correct any issues (don't expect any)
• Refresh suspension
• Install soft top
• Install Flyin' Miata frame-rail braces
• Detail engine compartment
• Repaint hardtop

This list is subject to change and I probably won't get to all of it before I put the car back into service as a daily driver, but it's all the stuff I'd like to get done, so I can drive this car for another three years. Stay tuned for part 2 of the series as I get into the engine over the next few weeks.

E46 M3 Cooling System Refresh

I've owned this 2004 BMW M3 for well over five years now. It had 82,000 miles on it when I bought it in 2009 and at the time of this writing has just over 128,000 on it. I got it completely caught up on maintenance when I first got it, but other than regular periodic maintenance, it's needed very little else in that time. The only unplanned repair it has gone down for was a seized front brake caliper which I replaced. At this mileage, though, I know I've been driving on borrowed time for a while. The E46 does not suffer from the same cooling system weaknesses that the E36 did, but it's still a very critical system on the car and the consequences for poor maintenance are dire. So I decided it was time to completely go through the cooling system and renew everything I touch.

As usual with my blog, this is not a how-to. It's a you-can. There are plenty of forum posts and blog entries elsewhere that will tell you everything you need to know to complete this maintenance.

I started with an order of parts from ECS Tuning.

• Genuine BMW Remanufactured Water pump #11517838118
• Genuine BMW Radiator #17102228941
• Genuine BMW Thermostat #11531318274
• Water pump gasket #11517831099
• Thermostat O-ring #11531318402
• Water pump O-ring #11537830709 (qty 2)
• Coolant pipe O-rings #11537830712 (qty 2)

This order with shipping came to $710.

Thankfully the water pump for the M3 has come down a LOT in price since a few years ago. It used to be over $500. This one was $300 and I've seen a few other cheaper options as well. Shop around. Make sure you get a pump with a polymer impeller. It will last forever. The front bearing of the pump will wear out, not the impeller. If you get a metal impeller I can't say the same will be true. Here's a pic of my removed water pump (right). The impeller is perfect. This pump was not leaking but the bearing is pretty loose. This also shows how well the BMW coolant protects the engine from corrosion. There simply is none.

To start I removed the lower engine shield, fan with clutch, fan shroud, intake filter housing, hoses, belts, and finally the radiator. The lower radiator hose was impossible to get loose from the rad so I left it in place and removed both through the bottom of the car. You have to move the oil cooler out of the way but you can leave it attached. Support it with something so it's not hanging by the oil hoses.

When removing the thermostat housing there's a coolant pipe that runs between the housing and the bigger pipe that runs to the back of the engine. It's about 2 inches long and machined from aluminum. It is sealed with O-rings (#11537830709) on both ends. Mine pulled free from the engine end, not the thermostat housing end, and thus the whole housing was too big to remove from the space it occupies. I had to work for quite a few minutes to get the pipe loose from the housing side so I could remove it. Most write-ups I've seen don't tell you to remove that pipe at all, but there is an o-ring on the engine end that you should replace as well, so it's just as well that it came out that way.

Once the thermostat housing and thermostat are out of the way, you can unbolt the water pump. A firm pull disengages the pipes on the back side and it easily comes out.

At this point I assessed where I was and decided I needed a few more parts to do a more thorough job. Again from ECS, I ordered:

• Radiator Fan Clutch #11527831619
• Aux fan switch O-ring #13621433077S
• Expanding rivet (qty 4) #17111712963
• Heater hose #64216902679
• Heater hose #64216902680
• Hose #64216902678
• Air filter #13721730946
• Cooling fan blade #11521712058

This order came to about $160.

Replacing the heater hoses requires removal of the intake manifold. Due to the M3's six individual throttle body design, there are six individual hose clamps to remove. The factory clamps are Oetiker-style clamps that require a special pair of pliers to remove without destroying them. The Lisle 30500 CV Boot Pliers will do the trick. Using the pliers I was able to remove the clamps without damaging them. The intake manifold, having never been removed before, was very hard to dislodge from the throttle bodies. The throttle body boots are pliable rubber, but were VERY stuck. Rather than risk breaking something, I opted to carefully cut the boots with a knife and pry them loose a bit. After unclipping all of the hoses and wires that run along and around the manifold, it finally came out. This means I had to order new throttle body boots, part #11617830265. About 17 bucks a piece. I also ordered new clamps for the manifold side of the boots (#11617830306). While the throttle-side clamps can be reused, the manifold-side clamps are one-time only. They're a bit over $3 each, and I had to buy a tool to crimp them, the Lisle 30800 CV Boot Clamp which was about $25 at Amazon (photo above). You can use traditional hose clamps, but these are simple and look factory.

Once you have the intake manifold off it's easy to replace the coolant hoses that feed the heater core. There's one other hose that doesn't connect to the core, but rather connects the heater valve to the back of the coolant pipe alongside the cylinder head. I found it rather hard to find the part numbers for these hoses. Even ECS's website doesn't tell whether they fit the E46 M3 or not. They do, and the correct part numbers are in my list above. The photo here shows them fairly well. For what it's worth, my original hoses were still nice and soft, and looked pretty much like new. I think I could have easily gone another 50k miles on them.

Once I had the hoses replaced, everything went back together quite quickly. Access to the cooling system on the M3 is very good and doesn't require many contortions (except for those three hoses under the intake manifold). While I was in there, I also replaced the main serpentine belt tensioner spring and pulley. I had bought them a long time ago so they are not listed in the parts list above. The bolts that hold the water pump to the block should be tightened to 7 lb-ft of torque. That is NOT VERY MUCH. I don't even have a torque wrench that will read that low. I used a 1/4-inch ratchet and very gently torqued these bolts down. The bolts that hold the pulley to the water pump snout are also torqued to 7 lb-ft. Be careful!

Updating 2014 Mazda3 Infotainment System

So the Mazda3s Grand Touring that we bought back in February has been great. Honestly it's one of the best cars I've ever had. The amount of performance, luxury, and tech Mazda packed into this car for 26 grand is astounding. Our only complaint has been how flaky the software on the infotainment system is. Now, I realize the absurdity of what I just said. What car needs an infotainment system in the first place? We got along for more than a century without them. Do you really need a system that integrates radio, satellite radio, internet-audio, navigation, backup camera, and telephone functions into one system with a touch screen, voice control, and input-wheel/button control? No you don't but it sure is fun to use, convenient, and useful. So, given that we don't need it and would have bought the car even without it, it's extraordinarily frustrating when it doesn't work right! The 3 is my wife Jen's primary transport, and she complains bitterly when her car acts up. It should just work.

The infotainment software on the 3 is a linux-based operating system that runs on an ARM processor. The UI is customized for Mazda by a third-party supplier (Visteon, at the time of this writing). As delivered on our car in February 2014, it had already been updated at the port to version 25.00.400. Even after the update this software was not quite ready for prime time! We experienced random crashes, reboots, blue screens, flickering display, stuttering audio, and all kinds of weird glitches. Don't get me wrong - most of the time it worked ok. It's just infuriating when it randomly craps out. Updating the software would be covered under the warranty, but requires a trip to the dealer (who told me they couldn't do it on a Saturday) and we just haven't had the time to mess with it. So the frustrations continued.

As with most small sporty cars, there is a vibrant online community for the newest Mazda3, and I have been a frequent visitor to Mazda3revolution.com. The guys there have well documented the problems with the infotainment system, and have been working on a way to hack into the software so that customizations are possible. I don't have much interest in that - I just want it to work right, but along the way those guys have worked out how to update the software at home without a trip to the dealer. Bingo! Just what I was waiting for. They even put up a wiki at MazdaCMUhacks.com, and the instructions for doing the update are at that page.

Now, you do need the update files. The latest version as of this writing is 33.00.500. This is the US version of the update. If you're outside the US, find the version for your region.
That should get you a file called "Mazda33UpdateUSA.rar". If you don't have a program to unpack a 'rar' file, download WinRar for free. Unpack the rar file and you should have two files:

• cmu140_NA_33.00.500A_failsafe.up
• cmu140_NA_33.00.500A_reinstall.up

Put these on a USB drive formatted to FAT32 and follow the instructions at the Mazda3hacks site. If the system doesn't recognize the files on the USB drive, try a different drive. The first one I tried didn't work but I switched to a different USB drive and it worked. The whole process took about 20 minutes and I didn't even lose the radio favorites or audio settings.

New updates are coming out every couple months, but if v33 is pretty stable I probably won't see the need to keep updating. Time will tell.

The 2015 Mazda3 comes with the same Infotainment system, but from the looks of it is coming with at least v31, so there may not be as much of a reason to update those cars.

UPDATE: since installing v33 a couple months ago, the system has been quite stable. There's still some weirdness with bluetooth audio on the iPhone (and we think this is Apple's fault, not Mazda's), but everything else seems pretty solid. The frustration level for my wife has gone way down.

Update 2: The latest version of the software is now v55 (September 2015). Also note that this Infotainment System is also used in the 2016 Miata/MX-5

Update 3: The Mazda3 Hacks site has been revived and is now mazdacmuhacks.com. It has everything you need including links to the installation files. The same software and update procedure also applies to most of the current models in Mazda's lineup including the 2016+ MX-5 Miata, 2016 CX-5, CX-5, Mazda6, and the 2017 CX-9. The latest version as of April 2016 is 55.00.753A

Update 4: The latest version as of April 2017 is v59.

Update 5: as of September 2017 mazdacmuhacks.com is gone. There's now a site called mazdatweaks.com but I haven't found the latest firmware there. It's all about installing tweaks, which I have no interest in doing. It might be a good resource for knowledge, though.

Quick Update

I'm sorry for the lack of new posts for the last year or so. I hope to get back to actively blogging in the next few months. It's just that I've been devoting most of my time to my house and property for the last year. It's been long overdue, and we're getting a bit closer to the end of the major projects. I wish I could say one of the projects was a big new garage, but I don't have the room for that, and other things became more important. I still have Gorilla Garage Tampa, though, where I have plenty of room for my workshop.

I will give a quick update on each of my project cars.

• 
  2004 BMW M3: has been pretty bullet proof, but has 127,000 miles on it now and I feel the need for some pre-emptive maintenance. I plan to go ahead and replace the radiator, water pump, and a couple of hoses that I have not already replaced once. Then it needs new shocks as it still rides on the originals. I have a fuel filter waiting to go in it, and the brakes need to be bled. I'll install a new/reconditioned steering wheel as the leather on the original one is getting worn, and the B and C pillars have some of the cloth lining peeling off, so I'll replace those with new. All of that adds up to a couple thousand dollars, but this BMW has been pretty easy on me so far, so I'll treat it right and get what it needs to be 100%.
• 
  1994 Mazda Miata: as always, my reliable daily driver. It's been over 2 years since my major reconditioning of it, and I've hardly done so much as wash it. It would benefit from new shocks as the Tein suspension is now 10 years old, and it needs brake pads all around. It's still a joy to drive and looks pretty decent considering my amateur painting skills.
• 
  1992 Jeep Cherokee: As primitive and unrefined as it is, I love this vehicle. I've been using it for almost 2 years as a utility vehicle and occasionally driving it to work. Other than the initial tune-up I did on it and a little cosmetic restoration, I've not done much to it. The brake lines still need replacing, the shocks are still dead, the tires are hard as rocks, the driver window is still balky going up and down, the A/C still (despite my best efforts) does not work. I have replaced the entire A/C system, with the exception of the evaporator, and it still isn't cooling. So I have a new evaporator ready to go in, just waiting for a free weekend to pull the dashboard out and install it. If that doesn't work I give up. I plan to install new shocks and maybe a minimal lift kit, get new tires, and get the thing painted. If the A/C works, it'll be a decent vehicle. If it doesn't, I'll probably end up selling it.

I also hope for the garage at the house itself to be a project in the next year or so. It just needs some cleaning up, paint, and I'd like to put down a new floor. I don't expect we'll be in this house for more than 5 years or so, but I also know how 5 years can suddenly turn into 10, so I need to keep it together.

A Step Back in Time to My Great Uncle's Service Station

This photo is shows my great uncle Dutch at his Sinclair station in Gulfport, Mississippi circa 1938. Based on the signage on the building, this is one of the Sinclair "castle" style stations built by the thousands between 1931 and 1940. The car in the background is a 1937 or 1938 Chrysler. I only have very faint memories of Uncle Dutch, as he passed away when I was a very small child in the 70's, and then I believe he was pushing 90 years old. The little girl is his daughter Caroline, whom I remember very well. How I wish I could go back in time and pay a visit to this old gas station!

The Juke Game

So my wife and I have invented this game we play whenever we are in the car. It's similar to the old "Slug Bug" game where every time you see a VW Beetle you yell "Slug Bug!" and punch the person next to you in the arm or leg as hard as you can. This version doesn't require anyone to get punched. In fact, my wife specifically objected to the prospect of being punched, and I am not really for it either, so our game is much more friendly. It sort of evolved naturally when we were shopping for cars a few months ago. The Nissan Juke was one of the cars my wife was interested in for her daily driver. I just got in the habit of calling out whenever we would see one on the road. It's so quick and easy to say "Juke!". It's kind of fun, too!

Well, after a while we bought the Mazda3 for her and even though we were no longer shopping for cars I couldn't stop myself from yelling "Juke!" every time I'd see one on the road. You can probably guess what happened next, but Jen is pretty competitive by nature and pretty soon she was trying to spot the Jukes before me and beat me to the "Juke!". Naturally, we started keeping score and the game of Juke was born.

The Juke is the perfect car for this game because 1) it's quick and easy to blurt out "Juke". It wouldn't work with car like a Camry or an Explorer. 2) Jukes are common enough (around here anyway) that you do see at least one most times you go somewhere. 3) Jukes are rare enough that you feel like you've accomplished something when you spot one. You don't see them at every intersection like more common cars. Sometimes we will drive for an hour in city traffic and only see one. 4) The Juke is really weird looking so it stands out in a crowd. 5) Some of Nissan's other models have some common styling elements to the Juke, so you have to really look before you yell "Juke!" because it might be a Rogue or a Leaf.

The Rules

1. The first person to sight a Juke and yell or say "Juke!" gets one point.
2. If you say "Juke!" and it's not a Juke you lose one point.
3. If two people simultaneously call a Juke the points cancel out.
4. To win, you have to score 5 more points than your opponent. It's like tennis where you have to win by two but it's five. Alternatively, you can just have the first to five be the winner. That makes it go quite a bit faster.

The scoring method isn't critical. Play however you like. We just found that we needed to define an end to the game so that if one player gets way behind there's a way to wipe the slate clean and start a new game. If you get 10 Jukes behind you'll never catch up.

What do you get when you win? This is up to you but we decided that the loser has to make the morning coffee and being it to the winner in bed for the next weekend. It's not much but the game is a LOT more competitive when there are stakes, no matter how small.

Caveats
It's possible in other parts of the USA there are not enough Jukes to make this game fun. In that case I'd suggest changing it to something more common - perhaps Jeeps, but they may be too common.
Play safely! Don't get in a wreck because you're scanning all over for Jukes. Most often you'll see them in oncoming traffic. Stay in your lane and don't rear end the guy in front of you because you were looking off to the side.

Here's a side rear view of a Juke, to help you spot them.

Here's a front view of an approaching Rogue at a distance. These are easy to mistake for Jukes if you try to call it too quickly. Be careful!

Give it a try and let me know how you like The Juke Game. My wife and I often end up laughing til we cry, as we try to out-Juke each other. Maybe we're just weird, though.

2014 Mazda3s Grand Touring

So, we just picked this up last night. It's going to be my lovely wife Jen's daily driver. She has a long commute and needed something new, and something that gets decent gas mileage. We were looking at a lot of different cars - everything from BMW 3 series to Subaru Outbacks. She came to the conclusion, though, that she needed a big improvement in gas mileage over her old Forester. This thing is supposed to get around 38 mpg on the highway, while her Forester got 24 on a good day. So, with commuting 350 miles per week, the Mazda3 is going to save her around $1000 per year. Sorry the photos pretty much suck. I'll try to take some decent ones soon.

We got the hatchback model. We just thought it looks a little more snazzy and should be quite useful as well.

Jen has a dislike of black interiors so the sand interior was a must. We just got lucky because this was the only s-model Grand Touring hatchback the dealership (or any other dealership nearby) had, and it just happened to have the sand interior. Being the GT model, this is really nice leather.

This is the Skyactiv-G 2.5L engine that produces 184 horsepower. It feels really strong in this application. The car accelerates smartly, and makes a nice snarl when doing it. The fact that this engine has a 13:1 compression ratio and runs on regular fuel is remarkable. I don't think a lot of people appreciate the engineering feat Mazda has achieved here.

The Grand Touring trim brings with it a LOT of features, including Bi-Xenon headlamps, heated seats, an infotainment system with navigation, Bluetooth integration, and a bunch of other neat features. I'll write more as I get to know this car better.

Gorilla Garage Tampa Octoberfest

The first annual GGT Octoberfest is on for October 13, 2013. We'll have our project cars on hand, along with some brews, cooked meat products, and plenty of bench racing.

Gorilla Garage

So it's been a long time since I've posted. Life has been busy and I've not had a lot of time to do car stuff, and even less to write blog posts. Nevertheless, there is news afoot in Morrison's Garage. We've moved into an actual garage; namely, Gorilla Garage Tampa. Formerly the site of the Gorilla Theatre (the name kinda stuck) and housed within the walls of a nondescript warehouse in the strip-club and industrial warehouse district of Tampa, the GGT is almost 3000 square feet of space, shared between myself and three other gearhead enthusiasts.
 

	Panorama of the GGT showing a couple of the other residents' projects.
	My M3 in for a rear brake job.
	It's nice working with a TON of space. I'm still working on getting my work area set up and sorting out which tools stay at the house and which go to GGT.
	A pic from up in the loft. My neighbor is a '61 Austin-Healey 3000 that is in show-winning condition. I think my cheap Jeep and Miata will feel a little inferior.

My plans for the GGT include finishing the Cheap Jeep and possibly getting it ready to sell, sprucing up the BMW a bit and bringing it up to A+ condition, and maybe another engine project for the Miata. I'd also like to purchase and restore an older BMW or Porsche. More to come...