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Removing head, advice on other things to do?

Hi all,

Another question; I'm removing the head on my Miata 1.8L, probably going to do a valve job, definitely going to clean out some carbon. Any advice on anything else I might want to do while I've got it this far apart (repairs, maintenance or improvements)? I've got some high RPM (4500+) pinging with smoke and have some cooling problems on really hot days (often here in Phoenix) when I run the a/c (although I'm putting in a new, bigger, radiator and a new thermostat and may have that licked). I used to have lots of pinging at all speeds, but cleaning out the EGR passages took care of most of that. I don't think the previous owner ever got it over 3000 rpm or drove more than 3 miles at a time.

I was going to do a timing belt as it has 93K on it and I didn't know if the previous owner had done it or not. Got the valve cover off and saw that the belt says Gates on it. I think I'm safe in asuming that the factory didn't use Gates belts. There's one thing I guess I don't have to do.

TIA, John ('94 Miata)

Reply to
mngineer
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Reply to
ilike2eat cookes .com

Your point about the timing is well taken; the belt looks good but it looks to me like the intake cam is retarded by one tooth. That's about 8 degrees. I've messed with the cam timing on small block V8s and know that you can see significant differences from a 4 degree change (of course that's intake and exhaust together). I'd be interested to see how much difference it makes when I correct this, but unfortunately I'll be changing other variables simultaneously.

Thanks, John ('94 Miata)

Reply to
mngineer

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