Green With Envy
iMike got his truck running today. I wish I had mine running. It is also St. Patties day.

Breath Deeply
This evening I took the heat shield off the exhaust manifold on the Miata. I also had to move the K&N filter. I looked around but didn't see any cracks in the exhaust manifold. Next I cranked her up and felt around in there. I found it! Or rather felt the air flow, and then saw the problem.

The Miata sure has a lot of stuff packed in tightly under the hood.

On the 2nd exhaust port from the back, the manifold connects to a tube. The tube sneaks behind the engine and disappears. The nut connecting the tub to the manifold had come loose and slid down the tub. I connected it back. Hand tightened and then used a pair of plyers to give it another twist. I didn't have a metric wrench big enough to fit it. Assuming I had one the handle would have been to long.

The heat shield is held in place by a handful of 10 mm bolts and 3 nuts. The heat had really affected the bolts. I twisted the head off of one will removing it and off another while reinstalling it. A previous owner had already removed the head from yet another. It should be fun removing the headless bolts and putting new ones it. It is fortunate that the bolts connect to tabs with thru holes. I can probably spin them out the back. Hopefully.

No more exhaust leak.

The car is clean, the top is down, and the tires are shiney (sp?). It is ready to roll and it did for just a few minutes this evening. I wish it was warmer.