Ls1Mx-5

iTrader: (3)

Thanks, thats what someone else suggested as well. People are telling me I might have destroyed my main and rod bearings. It ran for such a short time at zero pressure before I cut it. Any opinions? Any way I'll know for sure after I replace the pump and start it up? Thanks

Ls1Mx-5

iTrader: (3)

Also, anybody have a part number for the bolt that attaches the oil pickup to the pump? I'd like to replace that while I'm in there.

reamo04

iTrader: (9)

just take it to a hardware store and match it up

silicone boy

Soooo sorry to hear about that. I've been lurking here, admiring your work. You have a lot more detail here than you do at the miata.net site I'm the guy doing the 427 LS motor into an NA). I can empathize with you about the oil starvation. I killed a brand stinking new LS7 because I inadvertently blocked off an oil passage (I was not familiar with the LS oiling system at the time). I had to rebuild it but it was well worth it. I really admire the fact that you are just 18 and are able to pull this off. It took me half a lifetime to gather the skill to do the swap you are doing. Keep up the good work.

Ls1Mx-5

iTrader: (3)

Bet that 427 mx5 is pretty damn fast, and thanks for the concern but its copasetic. Today we fired her up again with the new oil pump. She ran like a champ and purred like a kitten at 45-55 psi of oil pressure. No knocks or bad noises, just the sound of a happy healthy engine. I'm back in business

Ls1Mx-5

iTrader: (3)

Unfortunatly I was wrong again. I jumped the gun. I let it warm up to about 180 degrees and reved it. "Thunka thunka thunka" solid rod knocking. Also my dad checked the oil and he thinks coolant was mixing in. Blown head gasket? Good news is we're going all out, gonna tear it all apart and rebuild it. Piston rings, rod bearings, main bearings, gaskets, timing chain, micropolished crank, honed cylinder walls, valve seals and a Cam!! I was thinking about this kit from Texas Speed Shop that includes pushrods and valve springs with an Ms4 cam.

http://texas-speed.com/shop/item.asp...d=175&catid=44

It seems like the ms4 is a tried and true really big cam. I saw some videos on youtube and I like the way it sounds. What do you guys think? Also any tips, suggestions, hints or otherwise on rebuilding my engine would be greatly appreciated. In the words of my dad "we built everything on this car...the engine will be the icing on the cake"

remauto1187

iTrader: (1)

Nothing more depressing than the sound of a rod knocking! Im sorry to hear you got that mess to deal with. Keep on it! Ignore the a$$holes that are...well....being a$$holes. Really ignore their age comments. Age has nothing to with it. I am 38 and ive worked around just as many idiots in their 40-50's as i have 20-30's! So age has nothing to do with anything. Age is not a prereq to being smart or knowledgeable...... Experience is though!

You get that ls tore apart...take pics throughout its rebuilding if you can and good luck to you "kid".

Mike

LS88FoxBody

iTrader: (2)

I dunno about you but I street race. The last thing I want is people wondering whats under my hood .

silicone boy

I feel your pain. At least you'll get the cam you want while the motor is out of the car. I originally put in a Katech Torquer cam in the engine that I used for my RX7 swap (FD3s). It was a torque monster, but I would have preferred the power band shifted a little higher (a swapped, lightened FD only weighs 150 pounds or so more than a swapped Miata). With the heads ported and a higher RPM cam, coated pistons, I'm much happier with it.

Ls1Mx-5

iTrader: (3)

Thanks man, I appreciate this allot. I like to think I have a fair amount of experience now and I know I will earn allot more through rebuilding this sucker at which point I will document everything with photographs.

I used to street race my Crx but I love this car to much to endanger it. As much as I like to think I'm a great driver, street racing jeopardizes the safety of everyone involved, including innocent by-standers who are involved involuntarily. I don't know about where you live, but I'm in the most densely populated state, and the roads around here are less then acceptable. I'll bring this thing to English Town (local 1/4 mile track) and probably get kicked out for running to fast without a cage. Or I'll spin through 4th and run 13's. Either way it'll be legal and fun

You have some ridiculous cars man. I've always been a huge fan of high end hp vs low end torque. A car this lightweight won't need much torque anyway

Thanks for the support guys, please be prepared to answer allot of intelligent, and dumb questions over the next two months. My dad and I see us having this thing running again by mid April. Lets see how we do...

LS88FoxBody

iTrader: (2)

I'm near Chicago. When we get down the only people there are the ones racing. I realize if puts people in danger. That's why the ones in danger are racing.

remauto1187

iTrader: (1)

There is no suck thing as a dumb question....its only dumb to not ask and have to find out the hard way that you are doing something wrong. Would you rather be embarrassed to ask how to properly set clearance on rod and main bearings or do it wrong and have your newly rebuilt engine come apart after 20mins of run time?

We all have to learn somewhere and not everyone knows all the answers....If we/they did...they wouldn't be on ls1 tech giving info away for free, they would be in a shop with business stacked so high that they get zero breaks and live at work.

chpmnsws6

iTrader: (70)

Any updates on the engine? I'm surprised you don't have it out and at the machine shop by now! Be happy you didn't do fuel injection and AC...... Its proving to be a real pain as far as wiring to do it right

Ls1Mx-5

iTrader: (3)

Hey your absolutely tight. Here are couple of questions, I saw a test on horsepower tv where they determined bearing clearances by using this puddy stuff. They put the puddy between the bearing and the crank, torqued down the main and rod caps which compressed the puddy, then measured the width of the puddy to determine bearing clearance. You know what product that was? How do you check for bearing clearances? Thanks man

Yep, that's why I kept it simple, hope it works out for you. The machine shop is not going to have much to do with the rebuild. All they are going to do is micropolish the crank, we are going to hone the block.

Someone on the Miata forum mentioned potential piston to valve clearance issues with the Ms4. I thought the purpose of the Ms4 was to be the biggest cam possible without the necessity of notching the pistons.

chpmnsws6

iTrader: (70)

Plastigauge is the stuff you use to measure bearing tolerances on rod/mains, and feeler gauges for piston to wall and ring gap.

Look around Barnes and Noble for an LS1 engine builders book. My book is at the barn with the Miata, but tonight I'll get you the SKU number for it and the right name. Even after building 2-3 of these, it is a cool book to use as reference.

Ls1Mx-5

iTrader: (3)

We got the Ls1 down to a bare block and it looks pretty good. The cylinder walls look real nice, the rings almost reusable and the main bearings showed a small bit of wear as expected. The rod bearings on the other handman the crank definitely needs to be micro-polished to say the least. I have the rod piston assemblies in individual bags marked 1-8 in 3 different places, and all bolts in marked plastic bags. Here's the cylinder hone we ordered

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-1-8...#ht_1433wt_796

Next weekend we're going to Promar Engines where the crank is getting micro-polished and we're purchasing new rings, and correct sized bearings. Then online we'll order the Ms4 Cam kit and Ls2 Timing chain. From Gm we'll pick up new valve seals, crank pulley bolt, oil pan bolt, and head-gaskets. We also ordered a new air compressor to help get the block cleaned out. I see us having having the rotating assembly together by 2 weekends from now provided the plastigage shows proper bearing clearances. We should have this thing out on the road again before too long.

My steering linkage:


the other side where the bolt runs through the framerail




Miata left s2000 right


Bearings looking toasted






Exhaust System almost finnished


How she sits on the Tein Coilovers


Cylinder walls lookin good






Contents of my trunk, bolts and what not in marked bags


Artsy Cam bearing pic

Just for kicks here's what else is in my driveway...

Friend of mine got this for Christmas, 3 days later he put it into a rock sideways; of course I was called on to remedy the situation with a new rear k-frame he has yet to order


Back wheel shouldn't be turned


A friend of mine's tin can civic complete with a dash, seats, a steering wheel and nothing else. I just welded in some new quarters. This sucker has a 3" exhaust and $450+ hytech header. Soon we'll drop in a gsr/b16 trans swap. Eventually I'll finnish up the body work and rattle can it black


My daily driven Carb'd Metro


Dad's daily driven automatic Miata


One half of a JDM S2000

Ls1Mx-5

iTrader: (3)

I know its been a long time since I updated last, but I've been more focused on making steps toward moving from high school to college then updating my threads. However I now have time so I figured I'd bring my threads up to date.

Since last I left off, I honed the cylinder walls with a 400 grit ball hone, re seated the valves with a suction cup and valve grinding compound. We insured all the bearing clearances were on point unsing plastigauge, and the rods were in round using a micrometer borrowed from school. We cleaned everything up which included blowing out every water and oil passage numorous times with compressed air, scraping every gasket surface clean with little box cutter blades, and getting all the carbon off each piston and rod using brake cleaner. After putting each piston and rod assembly marked 1-8 back into the correct spot, we finished assembling my engine using katech rod bolts, a melling high pressure standard volume oil pump, new main and rod bearings, new rings, new head gaskets, new head bolts, an Ls2 timing chain and an ms4 cam kit which included duel valve springs, retainers, seals, pushrods, and of course the cam. Then we attached the fresh motor to the trans, put that on the k-member, and lowered the car onto that completed assembly. After hooking everything back up we turned off the oldies station, checked everything 3 times, gave each other excied yet cocerned looks and turned her over. She cranked for 3 seconds at best before fireing to life in all her furious glory. It sounded like a drag car through those open headers with the lobie cam had it sounding like a real monster. On top of that, my oil pressure gaquge displayed a healthy 50-60 psi of oil pressure at idle.

After re installing the exhaust modified with better welds done using the welder at school, we took her out on the highways and beat the you know what out of it to properly seal the rings to the walls. The car was feeling great until bam. It started making some very disconcerting drivetrain noises. I quickly got it home and on jack stands after which I ran it in 6th gear in the air. The noise was coming from the trans along with an ominous black sludge originating from the rear seal. Next day we had the engine, trans and k-member out again (only takes us a couple of hours now as we've done it so many times). The trans needed some new seals and bearings which we bought but had installed at a local shop.

As everything was being disassembled I discovered that part of the differential casing that had one of the studs had cracked off, which had ruined the rear part of the torque arm. I took the diff out, brought it to school and welded the piece back on along with allot of extra metal bracing. Then was the problem with the torque arm. I thought about starting from scratch but I decided it was too over built and strong to repudiate so instead I hacked off the rear section with the holes drilled for the studs. I then got some plate steel from school that was three times as thick and drilled 3 perfect holes using a 31/64 bit and a drill press. After installing a new front seal and some rvc sealant l I got the diff back in the car and mounted up the torque arm. We got the car level, set the pinion angle with the plate bolted to the diff and tack welded it to the torque arm. I carefully took everything out and brought the arm to school. I carefully welded
it up along with more bracing. I would melt one small bead then go to another part and melt another small bead, then another part etc as not to warp anything. It worked great, the torque arm fit in like a glove.

Other things we did: ngk tr55 plugs and msd wires sold to us as a kit from texas speed, a copper oil pressure line to take the place of the plastic one from summit racing that kept leaking, and a reverse lockout solenoid switch mounted right next to the shifter that works flawlessly.

Now the only problem is; if I floor it when both fans are on along with my reverse solenoid, it sputters and doesn't pull properly as if its misfiring. My theory is that the msd isn't getting enough juice. A relay like the Edelbrock unit #1795 I'm using for my fuel pump would solve this problem right? Next update I'll try and put up a video, its running really well now