9/15/05 - Today she drives! I picked up two quarts of Mobil 1 75w-90 and some 5/16" clear tubing the other day and decided to finally fill up the transmission.

I jacked up the driver's side of the car, put 2 jack stands in, removed the fill plug (ALWAYS do this first!!!), removed the drain plug, and drained what little oil remained in the transmission. Once that was done, I cleaned up the plugs and put the drain plug back in.

To fill the transmission by yourself you need to remove the shift boots and snake the clear tubing down under the car. Crawl under and put the tubing way down in the fill hole. I shoved about six inches of it in the transmission - you DO NOT want that hose coming out while filling it with that high dollar Mobil 1! Put the car back down level on the ground and squeeze the oil bottles to get the oil down the tube & into the transmission. 1.9 quarts later and it was full!

I jacked the car back up, put the jackstands under it, and put the fill plug back in. Once the car was back on the ground, the shift boots were put back on and I started her up & drove her around the cul-de-sac!

Next stop - Muffler shop, registration, and inspection!

Well... The city code enforcement people are idiots... "You can get your registration without getting the car inspected" - WRONG! It doesn't work that way in Texas. It's an out of state car so it has to be inspected first. Oh, and they penalize you in CASH if you take too long to register it & transfer the title. But it's not much cash... from the end of April to the end of September was less than six dollars.

So off for an inspection, which it failed immediately... exhaust leak... So got that fixed and a small crack in a weld on the resonator fixed too. Drove it home and the temp gauge went to 3/4... replaced the temperature activated switch on top of the thermostat housing and now the cooling fan works.

After that I decided to track down why the temp gauge wasn't working. It turns out there are two temp sensors on the back of the head. The extra wire that NOBODY seemed to know of went to the second sensor. Now that works.

I take the car for a drive and it's running doggy. Give it very little gas or 2/3 pedal and it runs... anything inbetween and it wants to die. Time for a timing light! Set the timing to 10 degrees BTDC - Standard timing for a Miata. Runs like crud. I take it back for inspection and it didn't have enough power to turn the rollers on the dyno in second gear!

So back to the drawing board.

I disassemble the front of the engine then double and triple-check the timing belt. It's perfect. The plugs are white - running lean. The fuel filter is horribly clogged. A quick trip to AutoZone and a nasty bath in gasoline under the car and that gets replaced. It didn't matter that I used hemostats to clamp off the gas lines since that filter is HUGE and holds a lot of gas. But, after replacing the filter, the car idles smooth now. I set the idle speed and take it for a quick drive. Still doggy on power.

After all of this, I just throw the book out the window and I set the timing by ear. It runs great! I checked the timing and discovered it shows to be running at 21 degrees BTDC - the crazy crank pulley is messed up! The outside has spun around about an inch & 1/2 making the timing marks off.

Now the car finally passed inspection! It now has Texas plates on it and a new Texas title is on the way in the mail to me. That code enforcement guy can (use your imagination here)!!!! He was mad that the car had out of state plates on it still...

Now that it runs, it's on to other things - like finish gutting the AC, interior, and trunk... Racing seat, harness, and roll cage... And tearing down the spare motor to put in a new crankshaft to replace the failed infamous short nosed crank.

I'll replace that crank pulley one day, but for now the car is running. The other motor will get my attention first since this one has low oil pressure issues. I think it has some mains that need replacing.

In the middle of all this engine reassembly, I learned that there is a part on the Miata that is not in ANY of the parts diagrams. I couldn't find it and the parts guys at the dealership could not find it. It's the bolt that holds the air tube to the engine. It fits right on the tab that is on the resonating chamber under the tube. They gave up and looked in the service bay and found an older Miata in for service and took the bolt out and matched it up with one in a tool box and gave it to me free. YAY! When's the last time a dealership ever gave you a part?

- To be continued! -