Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / surgery

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JayPar
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Joined: Wed May 01, 2013 9:25 am
Car: '96 Gray Miata (LATRL G)
CDC Member#: 96
Location: Boyds, MD

Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / surgery

Post by JayPar »

On the way home from the last autocross we had an incident that involved both belts coming off the pulleys of our black '96 Miata (LATRL G). The car overheated and boiled over, so we pulled over as quickly as possible and waited on the side of I-495 for a couple hours for the tow truck (but that's another story). Dan was with us and was a trooper to wait with us as well. Luckily we fit on the back of the rollback tow truck with a few inches to spare, as the tire trailer was attached.

Ironically, we had just finished replacing almost the entire cooling system including radiator, fans, hoses, and thermostat less than one week prior to this happening, due to previous (but unrelated) overheating issues.

It turns out that the belts coming off and overheating was caused by the harmonic balancer coming loose, which made the crank shaft pulley wobble, throwing the belts off. The water pump was no longer being driven by the belts, resulting in the boilover. The pulley (or perhaps the key) scoured and ate away the outer surface of the crankshaft where the pulley sits, making it impossible for a pulley to seat correctly on the crankshaft.

It was cheaper to replace the whole engine than to replace just the crankshaft. So my wife Denise found one and drove up to Scranton to pick it up. It's a JDM import that supposedly has 37K miles. We couldn't prove the mileage, but it certainly looked clean - much cleaner than our old one that had 150K miles.

The work was done Ed York and crew at York Automotive in Mt Airy and they did a good job and it only took a day to swap the engine and re-tune. The (fixed) price wasn't bad at all for the amount of work that was likely involved.

We also had him repair an 18-inch gash in the frame rail caused by the tow truck driver attaching to a hole in the frame rail, as we have no tow hook on the car or other decent spot to attach to. We'll be adding a tow hook to the car as well.

Anyway, she's feeling better now and sounding good and hopefully will be none the worse for wear this weekend.
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vettegirl
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Re: Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / sur

Post by vettegirl »

And the moral to this story: when replacing a timing belt and water pump, make sure everything, especially the bolt that goes on the front of the crank, is properly torqued. Save yourself a drive to some obscure part of the east coast for a motor and emergency engine transplant surgery.
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vettegirl
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Re: Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / sur

Post by vettegirl »

ps. the timing belt in Latrl G was replaced long before we bought the car, didn't think to have the torque checked. Live and learn.
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echan
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Re: Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / sur

Post by echan »

I'm glad to hear that the car is back together! The new engine might result in even faster times for everyone driving the car!
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vettegirl
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Re: Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / sur

Post by vettegirl »

Well, everyone but me, but I'm getting there :-) I think it's going to definitely be a positive in the long run. With 150K, replacement was inevitable.
JayPar
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Joined: Wed May 01, 2013 9:25 am
Car: '96 Gray Miata (LATRL G)
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Location: Boyds, MD

Re: Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / sur

Post by JayPar »

According to the dyno she gained a few horsepower and foot pounds in the mid-RPM range while still staying under 100 hp. Not exactly my preferred manner of making a performance mod, but hopefully this ordeal will end up with some benefit. I'm not sure I can tell the difference but am curious to see what Frank and Dan can do. My biggest hurdle at the moment is performing a faster shift to 2nd...
ferris
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Re: Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / sur

Post by ferris »

Wow!

So sorry to hear guys. I wish I had known or even known to check.

When I purchased the car it had a new timing belt and water pump and I never did anything to the engine except check the timing and drive it to and from autox.

Glad she is all back together and ready for more CDC autox.
JayPar
Posts: 126
Joined: Wed May 01, 2013 9:25 am
Car: '96 Gray Miata (LATRL G)
CDC Member#: 96
Location: Boyds, MD

Re: Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / sur

Post by JayPar »

No worries Jeff. I hope it didn't come across that we might be trying to imply fault for what happened. We drove it at least 1000 miles including several autocrosses before this, so it was fine for a good while. Sometimes stuff just happens and vibrations cause things to come loose, and as far as I'm concerned that's what happened. As Denise said at 150K it was only a matter of time anyway, and we're happy with the final result.
ferris
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Re: Our 17 y.o. girl is recovering from a broken heart / sur

Post by ferris »

I didn't think you guys were mad/upset with me or blaming me ... if anything, we should both blame the guy I bought it from :lol:

eitherway ... I'm glad she's all back together and ready to take FTD again ... even if only at Mike's hand :lol: (sorry frank/dan/jay/denise)
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