SaturnOnSteroids’s 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5

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This page will showcase the bent rod and the aftermath, which is the engine build!So the story begins in July. I was doing a ton of maintenance on the car to get it ready to go to Tail of The Dragon with the Saturn Tuners Club (I still keep in touch with these guys, they're like family). In any case, along with a timing belt, water pump, and main seal change, I decided to use a discount I had available and get the injectors completely serviced.On July 17th, I get the injectors back, and eager to get the car running again, I immediately set to work on reinstalling the injectors. Did everything by the book. Checked everything 2, 3, and 4 times just to make sure. Then I had my roommate come out to start the car for me while I stayed under the hood and made sure things were proper under there. I gave him the go ahead and before the starter could really get the engine turned over a loud CLUNK occured and then there was no more motion out of the engine. Pressing the start button only result in the starter clicking. Turning the crank by hand resulted in almost a complete revolution, and then it would stop.Now let me pause here for a minute, I knew exactly what had happened, my years of reading similar cases on multiple car forums told me that I had a very specific problem. Did I listen though? Hell no, that couldn't happen to me. Boy was I was wrong. I went through checking the starter, checking the the clutch and flywheel through the fork boot with an electronic eye, checking to see if I somehow dropped a valve or that one of the valves was contacting the piston (on a non-interference engine, but what if right?), everything I could think of while keeping that steady thought in the back of my mind that I would be taking the engine out and tearing it down.Finally, I trailered the car up to the dealership I worked at...

Appreciation This first part of this page is to show my appreciation for the people that have helped me make my car what it is over the past couple of years. Without them, their knowledge, or their help, I would not have a machine that gets the constant attention that it does.First and foremost, my wonderful girlfriend Brittney. Even though she does not completely understand my love of cars and need to modify them, she does completely support me, even when the bill is larger than normal.Jared, without this crazy guy, I would not have the car in the first place.My friends from Honda: Chad, Scotty, and Scott, who over the course of time spent hours of wrench time with me helping through even the most aggrivating of installs. And of course the other techs there who shared time, tools, and knowledge of all things mechanical.To the many local friends, Ben, Bryan, Steve, Mike, Sean, and Kris, who all have helped repeatedly and without hesitation when I have needed their assistance.To the knowledgeable members of MiataTurbo.net, it is amazing the mass amount of knowledge that is on that forum, and I'm thankful almost every day to be able to access it and the brains behind it, not to mention the parts for sale.Recognition While car modification is mainly done to satisfy one's own tastes, it's a great feeling to know that someone else appreciates the time and effort that you put into a vehicle. I've not had my car in any major auto magazine (although I'm not opposed to that happening at all), I have had my share of recognition.- September 2007 - I took home the 3rd Place Sport Compact Custom Miata trophy at the NOPI Nationals (pictures on Page 2).- November 2007 - The Editor-In-Chief of this site recognized my car because of it's altered appearance: 9 From The ’90s: Mazda Miata- January 2009 - A member of GrassRoots Motorsports apparently liked my car enough to post it in his request for a "Guide to a Manly Miata". Very cool in my book. GRM: Guide to a Manly Miata

Walkthroughs For Assorted ProjectsDisclaimer: I do not assume any responsibility for you following these walkthroughs. What works for me may not work for you. Just so you know. :)Radiator Shroud w/ Slim Fans I've put this project off for way too long. It cost about $40 for the sheet of plexiglass from Home Depot, plus a few bucks for the weather stripping, and about $75/shipped for the fans. Better than other options out there that are hundreds of dollars. Depending on your skill level (or in my case how many times you like to check measurements and drill locations), figure a couple of hours for this job.

Bride Vios III LowMax Seat (Installed: 07/29/09) I snagged a great deal on the seat locally, and found the seat rail online through one of Bride's Authorized Vendors. This seat makes a huge difference in how the car feels to the driver and the seating position is a lot better. Now I can drive and my thighs aren't pressed against the steering wheel and I have a better range of motion with my feet. I can still lower the seat a notch too if I decide I want to sit even lower. Now I need to find a good harness setup.

So let's just say that I knew that a bent rod was the case all along, and now that I saw it, I had to accept it. But what can I say, no one wants a bent rod right?So then the selling of old parts and the acquisition of new parts began. This is my favorite part of any car build!Starting with the block, I knew the rods were the first thing I wanted to upgrade, so I got a set of CAT forged H-Beams:

- July 24, 2009 - I met Norman Garrett, the layout engineer for the Miata. Very nice guy and very knowledgeable! He said he really liked what I did with my car. Quite pleasing to hear coming from the person who played a large role in bringing these cars about. He asked me to also take a picture with him in front of my car. Then I was a nerd and asked him to sign the valve cover. Great day!  - May 2010 - My car is featured in the Premier Issue of MiataJournal, a new online-only Miata specific magazine.

Revision I decided that instead of running both fans at once that I'd keep the OEM system intact and run the main fain independently of the a/c fan. Because of that, I had to add a strip in between the fans to seperate the "chambers". This is a must, otherwise the idle fan will not prevent air from circulating backwards through it.

Coolant Reroute The point of the coolant reroute on our cars is to prevent overheating of the 3rd and 4th cylinders. The reason this can happen is because of the dual outlet design our cars have, so more coolant circulates in the front of the engine, and stays pretty stagnant in the rear. There are multiple methods of doing a reroute, but the route I went is the most daily-driver friendly.First, you must remove the front waterneck and install a 30mm freeze plug. I also put some threadlocker on the perimeter of the freeze plug to ensure a good seal.

- July 24, 2009 - I met Norman Garrett, the layout engineer for the Miata. Very nice guy and very knowledgeable! He said he really liked what I did with my car. Quite pleasing to hear coming from the person who played a large role in bringing these cars about. He asked me to also take a picture with him in front of my car. Then I was a nerd and asked him to sign the valve cover. Great day!  - May 2010 - My car is featured in the Premier Issue of MiataJournal, a new online-only Miata specific magazine.

Then I was weighing the pros and cons of forged pistons. There were many discussions, first hand experiences, and other factors that played a part in my decision. But finally, I settled on taking a set of OEM pistons and having them tri-coated (thermal coating on top to reflect heat, dry-film lubricant on the skirts, and an oil shedding coat on the underside). The reason I decided against forged pistons is the amount of wear they cause on any engine, slower thermal expansion, and I did not want to risk piston slap. I daily drive the car, so the amount of wear would occur faster than a weekend driver.

Stage21 Extraction Hood - 10/19/09I've wanted one of these hoods for 2 years now. There were 6 NA and 5 NB hoods imported from Japan in 2007, and it costs anywhere from $850-1000 shipped to import it yourself. This is one of the six imported, still brand new. It arrived with a little bend on one corner, but hopefully someone with some fiberglass knowledge will be able to fix it right. Can't wait to get it on the car!

Next, you need a way to get the coolant back to the radiator. You can either use the front water neck from a 1.6L Miata, or if you don't want to deal with plugging the sensor port on those, you can use a Kia waterneck, P/N 0K24715172A, which is what I did. The water neck is slightly larger, so your OEM radiator hoses will not fit on it, but you're going to need custom hoses anyway, so that doesn't matter much, just be sure to keep them tight, you don't want hose issues with coolant.

With more power comes more crank flex, and while the machine shop will be properly balancing the rotating assembly, I figured a little extra security would not hurt anything. I was considering the ATi Super Damper for a while, but at $500 for one, I could not justify the overall cost when the damper pulley has never been considered a source of any problems anyway (except for underdrive pulleys, which I don't ever care to have). So I decided a new OEM damper pulley would work just as well. And it just so happened that a group buy occured on a set of billet oil pump gears, and the timing could not have been any better.

As for a hose to start the return trip to the radiator, I found that with the Kia waterneck (being about 1 3/8" in outer diameter) not many hoses work well (OEM is 1.25"), however I found a universal flexible hose (that's metal coil reinforced) from Advance Auto Parts that has a 1.25" ID that fits perfectly. It's about 17" long, so perfect for the curve needed to clear the intake manifold and then some. Hopefully it going on something 1/8" larger won't hurt it. Time will tell.