The spare engine was removed from one of the Miatas after the great overheat incident on the way home from the Street Rod Nationals a couple of years ago.  I figured that I could repair/rebuild that engine with a minimum of fuss and then put it back into the car that it came out of.

I had recently had the cam cover on one of the Miatas powder coated.  I t looked so nice that I decided to have the cam cover and intake manifold for the engine I am rebuilding done.  Hey, if it don’t run at least it will look good.

I expected that the head gasket had blown when the engine over heated.  This suspicion was brought on by the number three cylinder doing the Old Faithful thing when I took out the spark plugs.

On disassembly I discovered that the head gasket was still good!  Score one for me!  Then I discovered that the head had cracked in order to save the head gasket, bummer.

While I had the head off I took the opportunity to check the ignition timing mark.  It turns out that there are two marks on the crank pulley that are ten degrees apart. 

Naturally I had the wrong one marked.  These marks are Continue Reading »