Darth Vader Miata

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:07 pm

Hey Team,

We just bought the ex-habanero666 car with the GReddy kit - unfortunately its running badly but hopefully mainly just due to a blown exhaust manifold gasket. Dodsons Motorsport the GReddy Agents tell us these kits are no longer and neither are the GReddy Spares - anyway we've gone and gotten ourselves a OEM B6T gasket - was hoping to have it done by a shop today but the shop has 'stood us up' (guess they are already rich enough

Anyone got any good ideas on how to get someone w/ some decent skill and mechanical sympathy to do the job?

Otherwise I'm gonna have a crack myself which will likely end in tears

Cheers,

Harlan

Vader at Homer Tunnel en-route to Auckland from the Mainland last month.

punkoutnz · Post by **punkoutnz** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:38 pm

Does it have hard lines or braided hoses for the oil/water feed and return for the turbo? If they're braided lines (ie flexible ones) you should be able to do it yourself without too much drama. There's plenty of room on mine to get to the manifold bots with the turbo still attached to it and move the manifold enough to replace the gasket.

Make sure you clear away any old gasket on both mating surfaces and give both faces a sand with some rough emery paper before you put it all back together.

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 4:25 pm

I'm not in front of it right now and I'm on a cellphone, there's engine bay shots in gravelben's for sale post, what does it look like there (I'm on a 1" screen Lol)?

punkoutnz · Post by **punkoutnz** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 5:31 pm

Hard to say from that pic. The oil feed is a braided line and easy to move, given that I'd just undo the banjo bolt and move it right out of the way, I can't see the rest of the hoses to tell.

WideOpenThrottle · Post by **WideOpenThrottle** » Tue Mar 13, 2012 8:21 pm

Dont forget the bracket down by the bell housing

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:39 am

Thanks Team,

I broke the ratchet spanner yesterday doing up a wheel nut so this arvo will go get another one, and I'll take a decent look at this.. am going to have a go myself.

I'll whack a couple of pics out and load them up here for reference and review.

What do I stuff into that 'oil feed' or does not much dribble/squirt out!

Awesome... the shop said 1-2hrs so I figure on 1-2 days and it'll probably cost me more (time & breakages taken into account) but at least I will learn something!

Cheers, Harlan

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 9:59 am

Just took some crap pics so I can come home tonight & get straight into it... What are the chances of the studs snapping, anyone hazard a stab at this?

You can probably see the rocker cover is also pissing oil so I have a new gasket for that as well to install at the same time.

...actually can't see the bracket 'down by the bell housing WOT is referring to, or am I blind (likely)?

WideOpenThrottle wrote:Dont forget the bracket down by the bell housing

Euen · Post by **Euen** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 2:48 pm

If you are worried about snapping studs, get yourself a torque wrench. The torque settings for most of the commonly undone nuts and bolts is available in the garage section of miata.net. ( http://www.miata.net/garage/torque.html )

An even torque on all the nuts, tightened down in the proper sequence will reduce the risk of further blown gaskets.

WideOpenThrottle · Post by **WideOpenThrottle** » Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:00 pm

Take your time with the exhaust studs & use lubricating fluid- i generally do two or three unwinds,spray more fluid & then tighten a bit then unwind two or three again then tighten again with fluid.Mind you this engine has been put together fairly recently so the studs might undo problem free!

It may not have the bell housing bracket if its got an oversize exhaust!

Your gasket should be stainless & your manifold must be flat & true!

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:45 am

Ok, so I have asked a mate to drop round a torque wrench... looks like I need to go get some lubricating fluid for the removal just in case... I do have a 2nd car but actually can't get it out of the driveway today, but I can take the Mazda down to the shops and find some lubricating fluid - I'll have to take the whole thing off (off of the turbo) will I to put a ruler across the manifold face... its been leaking ever since O got it (10 tanks worth of driving round the South Island and back to Auckland, haven't done a tan yet up here but...

'Yes' o/size exhaust that bracket isn't there anymore I don't think.

WideOpenThrottle wrote:Take your time with the exhaust studs & use lubricating fluid... It may not have the bell housing bracket if its got an oversize exhaust! Your gasket should be stainless & your manifold must be flat & true!

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:46 pm

I was right!!!

We're making a massive cock-up;)

Managed to place a healthy amount of oil on the driveway...

It's really hard to tell exactly where it's leaking... pretty much everything's loose (manifold bolts all loose plus the ones which hold the turbo onto the manifold are loose (yet again I tighten them every 300kms) and some of the studs are bent.

Also, the turbo where it splits at the back of the turbo well this interface wobbles when you shake the exhaust...

Have tightened the Mani bolts... have tightened the 4 at the back where the turbo splits

Driving round Albany now looking for 35mm x 6mm studs for holding the turbo to the manifold... no luck so far...

Repco sold me the wrong rocker cover gasket so I'm also heading back there to hopefully get the correct one (I tried to avoid this by taking the guy out to look at my motor, obviously I didn't do enough!!)

The oil is going to get changes I may as well get a filter and some oil...

Studs studs studs can I just use a bolt, why do they have to be studs?

Born_disturbed · Post by **Born_disturbed** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:52 pm

Go to Altech Diesel and Turbo in Wairau Park, Ask for Chris Tell him David (with the MX5) sent you and tell him what you need

Then ignore all his smart ass remarks about me heh

O and you really should get your rocker cover gasket from mazda, less prone to leaks as the edges are different, at least that is what the 323 guys think

Euen · Post by **Euen** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 3:25 pm

Try and find some copper coated lock nuts for your manifold studs as well. These do not vibrate loose and the copper coating means they don't seize on the stud. I thought that Wurth had them but I cannot see them in their catalogue. I managed to get a few from Al's Mufflers when they were still open and a few more from "The Italian Job" behind Al's. Alternatively you could try the Bolt Shop on Archers Rd.

For the cam cover gasket, I normally get mine from BNT, haven't had a bad one yet. Just make sure you put a dab of sealant in the sharp corners. Also as mentioned earlier, make sure you get the stainless exhaust gasket. The multi-layer aluminium ones will burn out.

Edit: Had another look and found on page A05-114 of Wurth's online catalogue.

Only problem is it looks like they may only sell in packs of 100 for M8 and 50 for M10. I suppose if you could get a group buy for 4 or 5 people it may be OK.

sprsta · Post by **sprsta** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 4:37 pm

im sure you will pay less for a rocker cover gasket from north harbour ford than you would from repco

WideOpenThrottle · Post by **WideOpenThrottle** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:41 pm

Also when you do up the manifold studs disconnect the exhaust if you can to enable the manifold to tighten up tension free so as to mate together as parallel as possible.

Mad Kiwi · Post by **Mad Kiwi** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:17 pm

One of the problems with my car was the exhaust manifold was not flat.

The engine reconditioners in Barrys point properly planed mine flat for a reasonable fee.

The reason my down pipe kept cracking was the lack of bell housing support bracket. I would not call that an "optional" part....If you go to Takapuna muflers and ask for Carl, he will sort you out. I have seen a few MX5's in there over the past few months.

Good luck
Mark

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:01 pm

the greddy manifolds are NOTORIOUS for cracking.
do a search on greddy manifold relief cuts and you ll see what i mean.

i used the copper manifold nuts and they are still perfectly tight after years.
i got mine from the exhaust guy when i booked my car in for the new exhaust to be fitted.

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:52 pm

Hi Guys,

Just like SDU this is a great place, Ihope to ultimately get to meet a few of you over a beer.

I'm tired, and filthy and have just driven home from my mates... we had a mare when they sterted it with the oil feed for the turbo unattached for 30 s idling so the back of the bell housing etc got covered in about a 1/2 litre of oil... very very messy.

We know where the leak is coming from, it is the 3 layer gasket between the turbo and the GReddy manifild, it is squirting onto the exhauset manifold and it 'makes it look like its there that the leak is!

So it is not the exhaust manifold/head interface, nor the split in the turbo although both these areas were very loose it is as we find eventually (using pieces of paper) the gasket which appears to be 3 layer metal between the manifold and turbo which must have 5mm or so blown out of it.

Would a flexi in the pipe (2.5') take some load off this interface… seems to me from asking 10 people the vote is 50:50 for a brace but a flexi might work (and can't crack)?

Thank you heaps for all the suggestions, I'll chase this issue up and I'm going to get ot sorted because apart from the fact the suspension is fat to soft for road use the only other thing I don't like are the rims (want 8' not 6.5').

It's a great car, I still love the non-turbo one though and it has never missed a beat or given a single iota of drama.

(PS) - we changed the oil with a $30 Mobil 10-40 and a fram filter and I have some expensive oil and hks filter to go on on a few more tanks of fuel… sort of doing a flush.

FWIW: oil was black, we drained it, then poured in about 3 x 0.5l and on that final flush the oil amazingly went from black to red… and now it has 3.5l of new oil again… I have a oil cooler and relocation kit from a RB30DET but it's a bit big by the looks of things… a relocator and appropriate cooler will be looked into one day too:)

Cheers again, thanks a lot.

Mad Kiwi · Post by **Mad Kiwi** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 7:54 am

I am fairly new here but if i recall previous posts of this car it had cracking in the down pipe problems before. I was seriousley considering buying it (the fact ididn't was a combination of more $$$ than I wanted to spend and too far away to go and be tempted anyway...)

I "think" the previous owner was the one who told me to get the bracket done.

All my reading on the US forums say you need a bracket, that any movement there leads to the type of issues it sounds like you are dealing with...I would go and see Carl, he can have a look and see what could be added if space is a problem.....for the sake of $50 - $100.00 and piece of mind for ever after....

Your call though

I don't think I could go back to non turbo now....WAY too much fun.

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:13 am

MK,

Thanks for the intelligible inout - I have shown about 10 people this issue.... it was there when I bought the car (I said, 'I know nothing but it sounds like there is an exhaust leak?') - I have even taken the car to show Jim (habanero666) the builder in Palmerston North because by that stage I was 110% positive the thing had an issue - I met Jim at his mate performance shop and they took one look and said 'it's leaking'.

Jim and his buddy reckoned a brace would crack.

After showing 10 people the vote is 50/50 on whether a brace will work.

My idea to throw in is a flexi.

I'll take the car this afternoon and show Carl.

Will report back then.

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:15 am

Actually what I need to be getting 1st is a new gasket for this Garrett TD04/GReddy Manifold interface.

Any ideas where I go for this?

Mad Kiwi · Post by **Mad Kiwi** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 11:46 am

Being exhaust related, I would check with Carl on that too. May not have the answer but it's a start...

I work just down the road, give me a yell if you go, I am keen to see the car! 021 75 7772.

RMS · Post by **RMS** » Fri Mar 16, 2012 12:40 pm

sprsta wrote:im sure you will pay less for a rocker cover gasket from north harbour ford than you would from repco

They are pretty similar in price although when I got one from Repco the guy charged me $40 instead of the $70 he quoted

That said, the Repco one hardened in under six months and caused massive oil leakage which was not cool, now have the stock item and no problems.

Btw, I have no gasket between my turbo and manifold and it's fine. There is i'm sure a small amount of leakage but nothing significant.

I would recommend fixing the exhaust to the gearbox if it's not already. The exhaust makes for a very big lever.

harlansmart · Post by **harlansmart** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 10:29 am

Mark (mad Kiwi) - good talking with you yesterday... ok so Carl from Takapuna Mufflers is away fishing till Tuesday so I will see if I can get in then to talk with him, be sure to give you a hollar.

The 1st Rocker Cover Gasket I got which was for earlier model MX5 motor was $45 from Repco but the correct one when I went back cost me $78.

I am starting to lean more and more toward a brace... yeah a fresh gasket (or maybe no gasket like the gent (above)) along with nice new studs and a brace.

last_resort14 · Post by **last_resort14** » Sat Mar 17, 2012 11:19 am

I had similar issues with my greddy setup, originally had it just braced to the bellhousing, this mount tore itself off leaving a hole in the downpipe, best way would to have a brace to the bellhousing and then a flexi join in the exhaust just after that,

Darth Vader Miata

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