scannon

Loose women, free horsepower!!! Mazda, what happened? I'm well past 1,000 posts, where are my loose women and free horsepower???

http://wimp.com/dolphinbubbles

An update: I got the car running yesterday with a new head gasket. After warming it up I ran a compression test with a friend's gauge. This time it read 125, 95, 95, 140. My old gauge is in the garbage can. The engine runs fine and hasn't overheated so far but it was only in the high 80s today and of course, nothing I can do on the street will put the heat stress on the system like a track day does. It runs fine although stumbles a bit before it idles when I come off the throttle. I adjusted the idle bypass screw but couldn't get any change in idle RPM. I'll tinker with it a bit more to see if I can fix that minor problem. I'm going to leave it as is for the time being and plan on doing a build up of my spare engine with forged internals and maybe some head work this winter.

http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/2394860/620858458/name/Flying_lawnmower.wmv

That story was on the Denver news with video of the inside of the Toyota. The bear thoroughly trashed the interior, nothing was left untouched. Even the dash wiring was chewed up. Hope the bear survives eating all that toxic plastic. And yes, bears really do sh!t in the woods, the car had rolled into a thicket, natural habitat for a bear.

Tom brought his Caterham ESL to the LOCO club meeting on Tuesday evening. It drew a crowd, people were standing out in the rain to look at the car and talk to Tom about it. It got far more attention than a new Evora parked a few cars away.

There is a Tatra which I think is also a T87 in the Clive Cussler collection here in Denver. Cool car. Check out the previous year's winner, the Marques de Soto. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/02/22/automobiles/collectibles/20090222-desoto/index.html

Gert, Tom is at Jeff's in Colorado but doesn't have his laptop with him. I left him a voice mail to respond to your post on Jeff's computer. I saw him on Tuesday and he said he was leaving for LA about August 2nd.

Someone posted the article a few weeks ago on this forum but I don't recall which thread it was.

Speaking of clutches, I'm not confident that a clutch designed for a 7,300 RPM fuel cut will be safe at 13,000 RPM. I'd be looking for something that was rated for that level.

1999 - 2005 Miata 5 speed includes integral bell housing - 84 lb. This one was from a 2000 Miata. I forgot to take the driveshaft yoke out that I use to keep the dirt out and the oil in when installing/removing the transmission so take another 2 lb or so off for that. The oil was drained and the gear lever installed when weighed. I suspect the 1990 -1997 transmissions might be a few lb less as the '99 and up added an additional syncro ring and a 5th - R lock out mechanism. 2004 - 2005 Mazdaspeed Miata (factory turbo) pressure plate, disk, throwout bearing, pilot bearing and 6 bolts for flywheel to crankshaft - 14 lb including the boxes that probably weigh less than 1 lb total. Weights taken on my trusty bathroom scale which is usually within a pound against the post office and UPS scales.

Now you need to tweak it back up to where it runs the best. Congrats on the new car and passing smog, time for the real fun to start.

Miata 5 speed transmissions weigh about 85 lb. I have one sitting in my shop that I could weigh if someone wanted exact weight, at least to bathroom scale accuracy. I also have a new clutch and disk from the Mazdaspeed Miata turbo engine I could weigh. Its the same clutch I use in my Caterham. I'm running an 8.5 lb flywheel in both my Miata and Miata powered Caterham. Works well on both cars.

If taking off only .005" would do it, the increase in compression ratio would probably not be a big issue. I recall some thicker gaskets being available but also recall they were very troublesome. I am going to put it back together with a new OEM gasket and see what happens. If that doesn't fix the problem and I cannot find anything else wrong I will just swap out the engine for the spare and use this one to build up a proper high HP motor with all the forged internals and such. Should be able to easily get 350 - 375 hp on pump gas with a built motor.

One trick some people have used around here is to add a few gallons of E85 to the tank just before the test but long enough to get it mixed in and through the system. I have a new Caterham one piece catalytic/muffler for a side exit exhaust for sale that may work for you. It was designed for a Zetec motor but should work on most any Seven. PM me if you are interested.

http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs13/f/2007/077/2/e/Animator_vs__Animation_by_alanbecker.swf

I checked the head and block for flatness and everything is within tolerance per the factory service manual. One spot is .005" while the spec is .006". Of course, it is in the worst possible place, the divider between #2 & 3 cylinders on the head. However, there is absolutely no indication of leakage through the head gasket at this point. Now I have to decide if I want to do a cleanup cut on the head or live with it. I really do not want to up the compression ratio since I am running a turbo with the stock compression ratio. Any opinions?

The flight was being served by an obviously gay flight attendant, who seemed to put everyone in a good mood as he served food and drinks. As the plane prepared to descend, he came swishing down the aisle and said.... 'Captain Marvey has asked me to announce that he'll be landing the big scary plane shortly, so lovely people, if you could just put your trays up, that would be super.' On his trip back up the aisle, he noticed this well-dressed and rather Arabic looking woman hadn't moved a muscle. 'Perhaps you didn't hear me over those big brute engines when I asked you to raise your trazy-poo, so the main man can pitty-pat us on the ground.' She calmly turned her head and said, 'In my country, I am called a Princess and I take orders from no one.' To which the flight attendant replied, without missing a beat, 'Well, sweet-cheeks, in my country I'm called a Queen, so I outrank you. Tray-up, Bitch'

I'd be happy to transfer some of the footwell heat from my Caterham to anyone's Stalker. With a cast iron exhaust manifold, turbo and two down pipes just in front of the driver's footwell, I have heat to spare even with extra layers of insulation under the carpet, on the outside of the footwell and an aluminum heat shield standing between the heat sources and the footwell.

This engine has a cast iron block and aluminum head. Visual inspection of the cylinder walls didn't reveal any cracks no does the head show any. Oil was down about a half quart, most of which was in the catch can. This is normal for this engine on a track day. No lumps or crud in it when I emptied the catch can into the recycle jug. I haven't checked for a warped head yet, Rob is dropping off a good straight edge in the morning. If I don't find anything I will put in a new gasket, get it running and buy a kit to do a full leak down test. The head gasket alone is a little over $70 from the dealer with a club discount. I thought NAPA might be cheaper but they want $90+ for theirs. I've been talking with Bill Cardell, owner of Flyin Miata and he has pretty much the same thoughts we are seeing here on the forum. He uses factory head gaskets on his engine builds and never has a problem with them. Neither of us have heard of a blown head gasket on a Miata but I'm sure it must have happened in the past.

Here are closeups of the block and the block side of the head gasket. If you look closely you can see that between the cylinders there is a complete line of the black paint between each pair of cylinders. Part of it is on the head and part on the gasket. I don't think any would be any paint left if combustion gases were passing through there. Every blown head gasket I can recall seeing had obvious flame tracks on it if it wasn't completely burned away between the cylinders or a between a cylinder and a water port. There is nothing like that on the head, block or gasket. I'd love for it to be a blown head gasket. For now I'll have to put a new gasket back in and see what happens.

Like Mazda, I've never had a vanity plate before. My Caterham has ONABLAT on its plate. I usually go for anonymous numbers and the lowest visibility plate available but I figured if someone wants to report me to the cops in my Caterham it probably won't matter what the plate number is. The plate on my Miata is the now discontinued Colorado "Denim" version. It was discontinued at the request of the cops because it was hard to read. Its old and faded a bit and pretty much cannot be read much beyond 10'. Every year they ask me to turn it in for a new one but I politely refuse and they give me a new sticker for it.

Pulled the head off this afternoon and NOTHING. No indication of a blown head gasket that I can see. There is a shiny ring around each cylinder on both the head and block with no breaks or burn through marks. The valves all "look" like they are closing properly. No cracks or gouges in the cylinder walls or combustion chambers. I can't come up with an explanation for the low compression, the dead cylinder sound when cranking the engine, the blowing air into #1 at TDC and hearing it come out the spark plug holes on #2 & 3 with an open tube engine stethoscope. No sign of a slipped tooth on the timing belt and even if it had slipped a tooth or two there is no way more than two cylinders can have open intake valves or exhaust valves at the same time. Any suggestions?

Loved the plate on the real Atom.

It's not the first time I've been off in that corner by a long shot. I think at least one off for every day I've been there. It is a popular place to go agricultural. It's the slowest turn on the course, it's blind and at the top of a hill and a little bit off camber. Great fun but hard to master.