Well……, Decisions were made in Feb 2025. Ever since we got it running in late December, I’ve been suffering from excessive blue smoke out of the tailpipe. I also had a few new leaks under the engine, but I could address those. I was hopeful that I had a ring, perhaps, that needed to be unstuck so I did some aggressive driving, several times, after warm up with hard acceleration and hard de-acceleration just wishing that my blue smoke situation would magically disappear. Did. Not. Happen. Unfortunately.
I took as much outside recommendations & consultations as possible. Some were long distance Pelicans – most were local air-cooled Raleigh-area folks. One of those that I visited with the smoking car is a local celeb in my eyes. He knows air-cooled engines, has decades of experience, and has a knowledge base rooted in practical experience with these motors. He said I have a certain case of burned-up valve guides. Made me sad that I knew I would need to remove the engine. But it also brought out some relief that I now knew we could make a plan to split the case, inspect the bearings, and start from scratch to build a solid motor to take me to my final sunset, lol!
He advised against just a top-end as I have no real knowledge of what’s been done to this 3.0L. I only had verbal confirmation that this motor had a top-end done 15-18 years ago – but no receipts for solid proof.
So, my local engine builder (who will remain nameless unless he suggests it’s okay to share his name here) requested that I pull the motor, take it down to a long block, and get ready to drop it off at his shop in the next few weeks! I’m quite excited to have him do the work and get the party started sooner than later. It looks like I’ll miss out on some upcoming mtn rallies in late Spring/ early Summer – maybe. But, I don’t want to rush him for the wrong reasons. So there is that.
Dressed down and rolling on furniture dollies
Using the above steel I-beam and two chain hoists, I can yank off the transmission.
Located a Flyin Miata crankshaft holder tool to secure my flywheel and remove the nine 12mm triple square bolts and three pilot bearing bolts.
She is now ready to be loaded in the back of the pickup for an hour journey to engine builder. As soon as he says the word GO, I’m ready!
