Post by 4ndy on Jul 2, 2020 8:00:01 GMT
Hello all, fairly new to the MX5 scene - picked up a 1997 Monza a few weeks ago and I've just been slowly working through the standard fix-up jobs you'd expect with a 'new' 23 year-old car! 
I noticed a fair amount of oil residue on the manifold side of the engine a while ago when I was fiddling in the engine bay and assumed it was a perished rocker cover gasket so replaced that hoping it would solve it, but it doesn't seem to have. I took off the manifold the other day and strangely, the stud that holds the heater pipe bracket was coated in oil, but none of the others were. Now, I'm not losing a noticeable mount of oil and pressure is still good, but I was wondering if there were any obvious parts I need to look into?
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On a side note, are there any visible differences between the 114hp and 89hp 1.6s? The car came with paperwork to say the engine was replaced back in 2004 but there's no information whatsoever about the donor engine. It feels almost as nippy as my old R53 Cooper S and I'd be staggered if that was from just 89hp!
Cheers!
I noticed a fair amount of oil residue on the manifold side of the engine a while ago when I was fiddling in the engine bay and assumed it was a perished rocker cover gasket so replaced that hoping it would solve it, but it doesn't seem to have. I took off the manifold the other day and strangely, the stud that holds the heater pipe bracket was coated in oil, but none of the others were. Now, I'm not losing a noticeable mount of oil and pressure is still good, but I was wondering if there were any obvious parts I need to look into?
On a side note, are there any visible differences between the 114hp and 89hp 1.6s? The car came with paperwork to say the engine was replaced back in 2004 but there's no information whatsoever about the donor engine. It feels almost as nippy as my old R53 Cooper S and I'd be staggered if that was from just 89hp!
Cheers!
le sigh