I did it again!

Ok, you got great ears but what's going on in between them? An 8 being "reliable"? LMAO Fingers crossed that you found the culprit and it was really that simple.

Gotcha on the move part.
 
Well, good news on several fronts...

My engine really does appear to be fine. I haven't been able to track down the noise i've been hearing, but it's not in the engine block. I've confirmed myself with a mechanics stethescope (really handy btw, i should have gotten one years ago) that all 4 cylinders sound identical at the valve cover, at the intake ports, at the exhaust ports, and in the bottom end, and nothing is audible that would correlate to what i've been hearing. The guys at the shop had tested and didn't hear anything, but then they couldn't hear what i was hearing anyway, so I got my own to see if i can find it.

My 2nd rear main seal failure is almost certainly not a rear main seal failure. After an extended discussion with my shop's owner and FM's owner, we agree that it is almost certainly that the shop's tech didn't adjsut the clutch properly, which can block off the master cylinder bleed hole, and when the clutch fluid expands as it heats up (like from sitting idling in traffic), that fluid can't go anywhere except down to the slave cylinder, applying the clutch for me and partially disengaging the clutch. So as soon as the temps get to be somewhat reasonable, i'll be re-adjusting everything to see if this diagnosis is correct.

The PCV valve leak was not pressurizing the crankcase. I ended up testing it with my old FM boost gauge hooked up to the PCV line, and idling, cruising, long WOT pulls in boost (6psi), it all stays at ambient. Still replaced the PCV anyway, since it was failing.
 
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Well some welcome good news mike!!! Happy new year!


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Finally back on summer tires. Not much news. It's racked up a hell of a lot of miles over the winter.

Took this video today for the FB MSM group as I got a lot of questions over the winter in relation to the 3.63 gears and FM2 difference. Figured I'd share it here too.

https://youtu.be/qGPjqoXA7T0
 
RR ABS sensor failure, got the replacement sensor yesterday.

Scheduled full tuning for Friday the 22nd at my normal tuner's. I've got another tune with Ken Hill scheduled for August 1st, to get the firmware/hydra stuff figured out, and get a dynojet number comparison. If I go full track car with the MSM, I will need to supply dynojet numbers for classing purposes.

Registered for another weekend at the track, Summit Point WV on June 6-7.

Seriously considering pulling out the rest of the emissions gear and the AC hardware before then.
 
Running the numbers and thinking hard about what all is involved... but I'm headed more and more toward turning the MSM into a full track car AND swapping in a ~250-300whp 13B from an RX-7. Non-turbo, I'd have to have it built and ported for high compression N/A power.

It would actually be a pretty straight forward swap, since it wouldn't be a street car. Most of the complication is getting it mounted correctly, then wiring up an aftermarket ECU. Exhaust would be a short straight run (REALLY loud), cooling would probably be reworked, but wouldn't be complicated. Can mate to the MSM's transmission with a bit of simple work.
 
He's wanted to do this for years now! It's his therapy!! [emoji2]


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Running the numbers and thinking hard about what all is involved... but I'm headed more and more toward turning the MSM into a full track car AND swapping in a ~250-300whp 13B from an RX-7. Non-turbo, I'd have to have it built and ported for high compression N/A power.

It would actually be a pretty straight forward swap, since it wouldn't be a street car. Most of the complication is getting it mounted correctly, then wiring up an aftermarket ECU. Exhaust would be a short straight run (REALLY loud), cooling would probably be reworked, but wouldn't be complicated. Can mate to the MSM's transmission with a bit of simple work.

My friend Lui owns Wankel Works. He's a rotary guru, can do anything with the engine.
 
Mike, can ever just leave a car alone?? I amazed at what you think of next.

:)

Well, i want a full track car. I can either use one I've got (the MSM) or I can try to recoupe a little bit of money from it and buy something else to use. If I turn the MSM into a full track car, I'd build it to be competitive in the NASA TTB class, which in part means I'd need to have the engine up to about 260whp. At that power level, I'd need to have the engine built in order to make sure it stays reliable on track. Since I'm not inclined to go budget build on something so important, I'd hand the engine off to FM for a full build, which would run me around $8.5k for the engine, plus shipping and other costs associated with removing and installing the engine. (there is a lot more unrelated to the engine on my list) I'd still have an engine that at best I would only marginally tolerate. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy how fast my MSM is, but I have never liked the BP engine. Everything I dislike about the MSM is centered in that raspy thrashy rough engine. Getting it built would probably change the characteristics a bit, probably smoother (better balancing), probably lots of tone changes from different breathing, but it would still be the same basic engine, and I don't think I could ever love it.

Now, if instead of spending almost $10k on a built engine I pull the engine, and everything related to the engine (both ECUs, wiring harness, engine accessories, turbo setup, exhaust) I'd be able to sell it all for somewhere around $8k-9k (conservatively). I would then have about $18k on hand to cover an engine swap. And that can get me a whole lot of engine swap. A 13b can mate to a Miata transmission (might not be the MSMs) with some bellhousing swapping and milling of the transmission input shaft. The motor mounts are similarly located and could be modified for the 13b. The ECU would be an AEM, and wiring up the ECU would be a custom job that doesn't worry me. From there it is just solving the various other oil and coolant cooling items, having the exhaust fabbed up, and getting it tuned. Doable for less than $12k ($6k ish for the built 13b), even if I hand over the whole car to a shop to do the work for me, which I wouldn't need to do.

It would actually save me money to get rid of the one part of the MSM I don't like. For more power, more reliably, less weight, more enjoyable engine, more uniqueness, cheaper rebuilds if needed.


It's a bit of a pipe dream at first glance. Too crazy at second glance. But digging deeper it's actually very very reasonable. Not much reason not to actually :)
 
Retuned. Not much peak gain, but if the lower comparison line is the first pull of the day at minimum boost, and you can see the torque climb angle. The tuner added quite a bit to the front end of the torque band, more rapid spool. He compared it to my highest run on the stock turbo (202whp 197wtq peak), and I'm spooling 700rpm earlier, holding boost more easily, and holding torque hugely better. The torque 'curve' before was literally just a single peak.

The torque hit is substantial, enough that the skill level needed to be fast on track went up a notch or two.

80-img_20150522_130910_e574ff6b92b5681506c39e772c4771c6b08320e8.jpg


The peak numbers are also less favorable SAE correction than before, and still what is supposed to be a low reading dyno. I'll be on a Dynojet in August to see what the comparison actually is. So I'm ignoring the numeric values at the moment. Too much uncertainty of how they compare.
 
About to pass 100,000 miles, and the MSM is going into storage soon. At some point in early spring, it will be headed to the west coast with me. The engine hasn't blown up yet, a fact that I continually find surprising.

But I'm definitely going to be rotary swapping it.

One of these basically, though this is in an FD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQkhE6BOwK4
 
Sorry man! I hear they're all rough, I understand. You'll post a build thread when the times comes though?


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Sorry man! I hear they're all rough, I understand. You'll post a build thread when the times comes though?

It will be in this thread :)

Keep your chin up Mike.

Oh I am. Things are always looking up for me in every facet of life. There are just simple precautions that I have to take to ensure my safety, and while I doubt she is hanging out this particular forum ... shrug. You never know.
 
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