Pictures of piston, valves & spark plus: what does this tell you?

"Steven Spits" > wrote:

> Disassemble the head to replace some valve seals seems like a lot
> of work with minimal gain. Does that make sense?

Yes.

"Steven Spits" > wrote in message ynet.net...
"Zog The Undeniable" wrote:

> Plugs are fine. May be a stem seal leak on nos 2 and 3 (I assume you'll
> replace the stem seals at this sort of mileage anyway)

Wasn't planning to...

I checked the manual, seems like there's a lot of work involved (remove
cams, spring, lifters, ...). If I'm only burning a little bit of oil, so I'm
not sure it's worth the time.

It might be better to clean the valves a bit, and drive the car for a few
more years until it needs a serious overhaul. At that point I might swap the
complete head or do a full valve lapping job.

Disassemble the head to replace some valve seals seems like a lot of work
with minimal gain. Does that make sense?

Since I'm still waiting for parts to arrive, I cleaned the pistons. In the
picture I was halfway, by now I'm finished. Let's hope you can see the
difference with the naked eye :-)

http://www.netwave.be/Images/Pistons.jpg

I want to do something similar with the head. My idea was to clean each
chambre & valves with a wire brush when all 4 valves are fully closed.
What's the group opinion on this one?

Steven

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The motor is still very young w/115k , you could leave it along or you could have it all done by a proffessional ( the head ). Which in that isn't all that much money. The Miata is a very solid, well built car . Maybe if you were to keep it, you would enjoy it more to find out what it's like to own a new one. If you were to do the machining to it , it will be the boss !
I bought a '90 new, Didn't know to much about it at the time . I was amazed by it , and still am. What ever you decide to do. Enjoy , It will last a long time.

BRUCE HASKIN wrote:

> I run Chevron gas and you can run your fingers around the inside of the
> tailpipe and not get any soot on them ! It runs that clean!! I have
> 60,000+ miles on my 2003 LS.

My 1997 NA also runs very clean at the tailpipe - generally Esso petrol
and NGK iridium plugs, 14 deg advance, 67,000 miles on the clock.

"Steven Spits" > wrote:

>"Zog The Undeniable" wrote:
>
>> Plugs are fine. May be a stem seal leak on nos 2 and 3 (I assume you'll
>> replace the stem seals at this sort of mileage anyway)
>
>Wasn't planning to...
>
>I checked the manual, seems like there's a lot of work involved (remove
>cams, spring, lifters, ...). If I'm only burning a little bit of oil, so I'm
>not sure it's worth the time.
>
>It might be better to clean the valves a bit, and drive the car for a few
>more years until it needs a serious overhaul. At that point I might swap the
>complete head or do a full valve lapping job.
>
>Disassemble the head to replace some valve seals seems like a lot of work
>with minimal gain. Does that make sense?
>
>Since I'm still waiting for parts to arrive, I cleaned the pistons. In the
>picture I was halfway, by now I'm finished. Let's hope you can see the
>difference with the naked eye :-)
>
>http://www.netwave.be/Images/Pistons.jpg
>
>I want to do something similar with the head. My idea was to clean each
>chambre & valves with a wire brush when all 4 valves are fully closed.
>What's the group opinion on this one?

Wire brush? Won't they scratch the surface?

Leon

>Steven
>
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--
Leon van Dommelen Bess, the Miata Bozo, the Miata
http://www.dommelen.net/miata
The only thing better than a white Miata is two white Miatas

(Leon van Dommelen) wrote:

> Wire brush? Won't they scratch the surface?

Shouldn't, some wire brushes can be pretty stiff but the softer ones
work OK on alloys.

"XS11E" wrote:

>> Wire brush? Won't they scratch the surface?
>
> Shouldn't, some wire brushes can be pretty stiff but the softer ones
> work OK on alloys.

Hakuna Miata had her valves cleaned like this:

http://www.miata.net/hakuna/port2mages/14562974.html

I tried the Loctite cleaner I used on the pistons, but that didn't do the
trick... So I figured a wire brush would be okay to use...?

Steven

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