94 M-Edition Miata Build

fg3_colton

fg3_colton

Well-Known Member
299
308
Tampa
Vehicle Model
Civic, LX
Body Style
Coupe
If anyone reading this saw my previous posts, you may be wondering what happened to the 1990 NA I originally purchased. Long story short, I sold the car after realizing how extensive the rust damage was. The entire floor pan would have had to been replaced, so off she went. Shortly after selling the '90 NA, I found a 94 1.8 M Edition for sale and quickly jumped on it.

Now the fun stuff, I want to daily drive it for a while so I am only rebuilding the head. Thats because the engine had amazing compression on all cylinders (179,180,171,179) for having 185K miles. When I decide to boost it later on, ill go ahead and rebuild the bottom end, but for right now, a simple head job is all she needs. Of course while im in there, ill be replacing the timing belt and other components , water pump, thermostat, ALL the gaskets, valve springs, Oil pump,and what ever else i see thats worn. The interior however, is gonna need a lot of work and to be quite honest, im more concerned about getting the powertrain in good health before moving onto the interior. Ill be updating this thread as I work on it, I look forward to sharing my progress with you all!
Interior.JPG First day.JPG With Civic (2).JPG
 

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    First day.JPG
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1/23/19:

Today marked the start of the tear-down. Had enough time before work to remove the Radiator, intake, cruise control, fuel rail and injectors. Next up is going to be the manifolds followed by the cylinder head itself.
She doesn't run terribly

Link to her first startup:
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsd_tZjAZ9T/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet , but in a couple months, shes gonna run better than my civic!

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1/31/19:

Decided while I have a little spare time, I’d pull the intake manifold off and a few other accessories like the power steering pump and AC compressor. That turned into 3 hours and pulling the engine lol
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Link to time lapse:
View: https://www.instagram.com/p/BtUvw17FIQ2/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=nvxq7ezzoc0o





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A lot has happened in the past couple weeks! I recently picked up a MINT set of 97 M Edition seats with tan door cards, as well as black interior carpet. I now have everything I need to restore the interior.

As for the engine, the other day I removed the head and was genuinely surprised at the condition of the pistons and cylinder walls. Some time this month I’ll be completely disassembling the head for cleaning and resurfacing. I’ve now got all the parts I need to bring the engine back to life, just fighting with my work and school schedule!






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Last edited:
I know, its been a long time since ive posted an update, but i promise ill make it up to everyone!

Ill start right where I left off back in February:

After pulling apart the head, i had it hot tanked to get off the 25+ years and 185K miles worth of gunk off. When I got the head back, I installed it along with a new Oil pump, Water pump, and timing components.
bare engine.jpg
And completed:
complete engine.jpeg
A good friend of mine was able to spray the valve cover in a nice wrinkle black, and soon after this picture was taken, i installed the engine without hitting record on my phone.......ANYWAY
After the engine was in, i battled several issues with it starting replacing pretty much everything ignition related until: (The file type for the video is not allowed)

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0obLj-Qsm0A5g997aLdLNcXEw

While it didnt sound the healthiest at the time, it was a start and gave me that extra boost i needed to get her running. After some tinkering, i was able to take her on her first rip:

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0kHMyD1yYqETpWD85Iol2mMIQ

After this, the car sat for a while. It did sound good, but i could tell all of the power was not there and i spent weeks trying to figure out why. Replacing the majority of the fuel system, right before i gave up, i decided to take a look at my injector seals which literally disintegrated in my hand. 2 Days later, amazon dropped off new seals, threw those in she was ALIVE! Topped it off with new headers and a Jackson racing high flow cat which brought back all of the power i was so desperately needed. As of right now, the car is currently with a good friend of mine while he is looking for a car to replace his recently wrecked EK hatch. Once i get her back, i can take a lot more pictures to show all the progress this little $700 POS has made
headers installed.JPG
miata and civic.jpeg
 
Its been a long, tedious 7 months since my last visit to this site. I have been in and out of different jobs, while trying to finish up my senior year of college. But now that my life has settled down, im glad to report that ill start posting regular updates to this thread. Since the last post, my lovely Miata (aptly named Mary Jane) has been through a lot. After my friend got into an accident with her in mid November, she was parked for a while. Since the case is still ongoing, ill have to refrain from posting pictures of the incident however, the damage was rather significant. The bash bar support was pushed into the condenser and twisted, the already damaged passenger fender, was now bent and prevented the passenger door from opening. The hood and latch had also been eternally mated together and surprisingly the bumper remained mostly intact and is still on the car to this day lol- although i do have a new one to replace it. After the accident, my lovely grandmother offered her garage to MJ, where she stayed for 3 months while I got through the rest of college and settled down. Since the accident, its been nothing but good news. She received a new fender, windshield, starter, hood and even a MINT hard top that i got for an absolute steal. Now that y'all are caught up, ill be sure to keep this thread updated with the many installs i will be doing over the next few weeks! In the meantime, here are some of the most recent pictures of my lovely Mary Jane as she sits today. Hardtop 2.jpeg Hartop.jpeg
 
Glad to see you back at the build. At least it can still be fixed up
 
bootyluvr said:
Nice: thumbsup:

Why can't you work on her? Is she not at your house?
Click to expand...

Nah, I keep her at a storage unit. But since everyone is home, I don’t have garage space to work on her, and the damn HOA doesn’t allow street parking. Really sucks [emoji25]


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Working on the miata has unfortunately been put on hold since the recent spike in corona cases in my area. But before **** hit the fan, I was able to get a couple parts thrown on her last week, the first and most important of which were the coils. I've actually had them sitting in a box for close to 6 months before I actually installed them, mainly due to me moving. But alas, they're finally on and MAN I regret not installing them sooner! Since they're some older racelands, they dont ride the best, but I got them for free and they're not blown, so I cant complain too much. With them installed MJ handles so much better than before, but now squeaks like an old ford IFYKYK, definitely time for some new sway bar bushings, links (Maybe new sway bars just for shits and giggles) and control arm bushings.
miata 2.jpeg
Along with the coils, I finally replaced the terrible factory intake box, with an aftermarket intake from DDM works. The stock intake "Worked" but was in dire need for replacing. Under power, it would split letting in all the hot air from the headers. This caused a sometimes dramatic loss in power during pulls and would even cause her to die out while idling. Now that a proper intake has been fitted, she finally runs like I wanted her to from the beginning. Heres a video right after the intake install- the last time i drove her-
View: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SQNQn7hYtFHzzS1MYPyvXS_xZJk_f3xo/view?usp=sharing
I somehow never managed to get a picture of the intake installed, this image comes from their website. The heat shield is realllllly close to the headers, so a friend and I took the time to apply DEI Gold heat reflective tape all over the heat shield
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