UPDATE TIME!!!!
So I've finally gotten a bit of work done, was slowly stripping down the engine bay to get ready for pulling her out. Here's a few shots from that..
Inside the water pump housing.
I'll give you three guesses (and one hint) of what that residue is...
Hint: It might start with a "B" and ends with "earing residue"
I was disconnecting the downpipe from the Turbo/Manifold and I think I may have figured out why I was getting an exhaust leak here..
Here's the way she looked after everything attached to the car was disconnected from the engine. I know it's not a proper short block, but it's good enough to pull out.
And yes, this time I made sure to get ALL the tranny bolts out first (the handy-dandy spare rear iron was stellar for making sure I had them all... they came out of the tranny, and went into the spare iron. Not only did this ensure I got them all, but it also will help me remember where they go when it's coming back together!!)
One more for posterity sake of how she looked yesterday when Bianca and I left for the afternoon to look at houses/places to rent. We're moving in like two weeks so figured it would be best to make sure we know where we're going to
Vlad (Max_Spd) and his buddy Si (I NEVER know if I'm spelling his name right, I feel really bad, but it's pronounced like the ninja weapon that could double as a hand-held rotisserie) came over when Bianca and I got home that evening. They brought some toys, we fed them dinner (traditional/typical Brazilian fare of Rice, Pinto Beans, and Steak cooked in a pot... Pretty goddamned good imo!) and then we got a little more progress done.
They went home after a couple hours and we went to bed...
This morning Bianca and I woke up early, and this is what I had waiting for me in the garage.
That bitch got EVICTED last night
I spent a decent chunk of the morning bleeding the clutch in the Miata. It needed it BAD!!! I'm fairly certain that if samples were taken from the fluid in the clutch line they could grow some sort of new, mutant, Transformers Penicillin.. It was UGLY. And there was TONS of air in the line... A full flush with ATE Super Blue (and what felt like a couple hours of Bianca bitching about being cold) later I was able to start stripping down my engine to a short block.
Shit was DUUURRRRTTTTYY!!!
It's hard to believe that this engine only had 3k-4k miles on it.. I guess a catastrophic oil loss will kinda attract dirt and grime though...
Even though I *thought* I had drained all the fluids it seems that there was still some water in the engine..
YAY!!! Bearing Juice!!!
We've struck GOLD Captain!!! Bearing Sea gold...
Bearing material was everywhere...
After getting the engine stripped to a short block today I took the Miata out for a test drive to make sure my mystery issue of the clutch slipping BAD when the engine bay heated up had gone away... I drove to Vlads neck of the woods and picked up the Rotary Adapter for the engine stand he left at mine last night.
While further stripping down the engine I "accidentally" and removed the front stack before dislodging the rear Counter Weight.... I suppose the plus side is that the front stat gear slid out with no complaints
The bearing material was clearly trashed where it meets the E-Shaft, it looks like I should be able to press fresh bearings in and either reuse this, or sell them to recoup a slight bit of cost..
(disregard Bianca in the background...
)
So yeah... now I've got me a handy-dandy square of 2x4 to help smack the rear Counter Weight free with. Tomorrow after work I'll reassemble the front stack, reattach the Flywheel, pop loose the CW and continue with the strip down.
Here's how I left the engine tonight:
