First time i've ever seen these. Are they worth it???? I mean, do you only use them for track use or daily use????

 

I use them for daily on sunny days, certainly turns some heads

I think they are only worth it if you think it looks good

 

ive heard of vents in rear windows in miatas... but i thought that was for airflow in the tiny cabin. what are there for? wouldn't windows down be worse for track days? all i can think of is to keep the cabin from getting too hot?

 

this is what I bought them for mostly. I live in FL and it gets really hot down here in the summer and I am a stickler for not using my A/C

I like the idea of having the vent instead of leaving my window cracked down.

 

So I heard a rattling coming from underneath my car yesterday (sounds like piece of metal inside a can, probably the cat) and was inspecting in the engine bay when I noticed two of the runners on my OBX headers are cracked. I think I can mostly attribute this to the amount of play my engine has due to the bad rear mount. Going to have a friend reweld it for me and am going to be doing a lot of work while she sits.






Plan on replacing:
Timing belt + Water pump + Tensioner
That pesky rear mount (any suggestions on the best way? lol)
Thermostat and radiator hoses and gaskets.

Also plan on removing the valve cover since I have an extra gasket. Any suggestions on what I should look for (bad or good)?

 

Went ahead and got a compression tester too just for giggles.

Since my exhaust manifold is off the car I couldn't warm it up like the test suggests so I had to test it cold.

From left to right (facing the engine bay from the front of car) my compression readings were
170 180 180 170.

Seems like my spark plugs could use a change:



Also ordered this Urethane to hopefully make my mounts last longer:
http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...%20Inserts.asp

 

Those are good numbers. You should paint or powdercoat your valve covers while you have them off. Adds another 15 hp.

 

hmm what kind of paint should I use for the valve cover? I am going to also paint the OBX rewelded header before I put it back in the car . Also, I have some scratches in my valve cover, how should I go about those?

Getting myself into a lot of maintenance work, kinda feels good to tear the lancer down a bit once in while though .



Had a small leak coming from god knows where near the bottom radiator hose, which is where my radiator had previously cracked and I fixed with JB weld . I think it is a bad radiator hose cause I have had the radiator off the car for a little while now with fluid in it and the bottom hose port sealed and its not leaking.

Tomorrow is the timing belt + water pump

 

So I am a master at our timing belt now (after my 2nd and 3rd try lol) but it is a little too late for that since I already possibly bent a valve doing it wrong the first time.

Removing the valve cover was relatively easy, hardest part was getting it to release from the head after removing all the bolts.



To remove the "rocker" cover (in the FSM) aka the valve cover just remove the 6 valve cover bolts(circled in red), the two hoses connecting to the valve cover (circled in green), and the four other clips/brackets (circled in light blue).

 

and here are a bunch of pictures with the rocker cover off:





from what I can see the head looks really clean, I don't see any noticeable damage or wear.

This is the side of the head that was getting bad compression:





If you would like to see larger pics you can view them in my photostream clipfallingoff | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

Ok after a good long stare at the engine I noticed that his clip seemed out of position.



Now that the rocker cover is off... would turning the crank with a wrench allow me to see/hear any damage in the head?

or should this be avoided, can it cause more damage?

Can I remove the head without removing the fuel injectors/rail? They are attached to the intake manifold and you don't need to remove the intake manifold to remove the head.

 

You should powdercoat the valve covers!

 

I ordered a head gasket kit for a 4G94 and a cam position sensor for the 4G93. Anything else I need?

Picked up the 4G93 head today, doesn't look the greatest (mine actually looks better, probably because I use Mobil 1 and change every 3000 miles) but it looks like it will do the job. Only cost me ~$130 with tax picked up.

The lighting isn't great because I took the pics with the head still in the trunk of my car, I am going to take it to a machine shop to be cleaned and make sure its good to slap on the car.

 

Just got it back from the machine shop, only cost me $40 to have it cleaned, lubed and checked up to make sure it was good.





still have yet to get the old head out of the car, this is not a small job

overall have spent about $130 for the head + $100 for head gasket kit + $60 for 4g93 camshaft position sensor + $40 machine shop costs.
Total $330.

 

Not bad. Good luck with the install! Take your time and triple check your work, mark and label bolts, and you will be fine.