Wait /really/?
As long as the head isn't warped at all I can actually just clean off the old gasket, slap a new one on, and reassemble? Then put in new coolant and oil?
Do I not have to find the cause of the problem to begin with? Like how do I even begin to do that? It has to be a cooling issue for it to even happen right? Does anything other than the head bolts have to meet a specific torque specification?
Most Miatas will be better taken care of than a vapewagon. They will also be way more fun than a regular Impreza. If you're looking at WRX or STIs, the Miata won't be as fast in a straight line, but it will destroy the Subaru in the corners.
Miatas are more fun to hoon too because you can drive them harder without shit breaking, you can put the pedal to the floor without going to prison, and they fly under most cops' radars, especially if you're in an area where they're mostly popular with seniors.
Well, the way Mazda modified the cooling system when they made the 1.6 a longitudinal engine causes the rear 2 cylinders to get hotter than the front 2 so sometimes(albeit very rarely) the head gasket fails in the rear of the block under normal operating conditions.
I've heard the same condition exists in the 1.8 but I've only worked on 1.6's
Other causes are failing pump (they are cheap might as well buy a new one anyways) and bad radiator
I've done the whole "pull head clean and slap it back on with new head gasket" thing twice now, and both have about 15k miles with no problems so far
charlottesville.craigslist.org
A man that knows what he has?
My NA is going to need brakes soon, so I figure I'd might as well upgrade while I'm at it. What's a decent rotor and pad setup that won't cover everything in brake dust, but still has better stopping power than factory-ish parts?
always, and it makes my day every time :)
And everything has a specification user, I only have the head bolt specs and on my 1.6's the crank bolt is at 120 ft/lbs
You'll need to look around for the rest of the specs, or maybe someone here knows them if you care enough
This is actually amazing news. I was getting mentally ready to drop a few hundred dollars on replacing absolutely everything, getting the head machined, and buying tools. But if I can get by by just replacing the broken head gasket and /maybe/ the radiator and water pump, that's incredible.
I'll definitely look up the torque specs for everything and at least get that exactly.
But you guys definitely make me feel like I can just work in O'Reilly's parking lot for a couple hours and happily drive away and enjoy the rest of my day.
I'll do more supplementary research, but this definitely seems to not be as big of a deal as I initially feared it was.
Thanks guys.
>craigslist
>manual transmission
>min: 1994
>max: 1997
>lsd
every day
one day
So fresh, so clean, so Shoney's.