Mazda3 2.3 rebuild

[lablue96]

Hello everybody, I started my rebuild in December of last year, which is when I found out about CMZC, also when I joined. I haven't posted because I haven't gotten anywhere with my build. between having the block machined, and ordering parts it was a huge hassle, mainly the ordering from an incompetent shop!. anyway just wanted to start posting since all the machining will be done early next week and I'll be putting the car back together. This is just a daily driver, but I couldn't help putting some performance goodies since I'm doing the rebuild. Light weight ranger crank, light weight flywheel, stage 1 exedy clutch. Incresed the compression ratio to 11.1 and some tuning from dynotronics. I should've waited on the tuning and found a local shop that does live tuning but I have heard good things about dynotronics.
anyhow I'll load some pictures as I go
thanks in advance.

[lablue96]

got the short block done this past weekend.. sooooo purty!
I'm trying to have the engine done by this weekend. hopefully

here's a picture of the Mazda, a bad one but a picture at least. I took the headlights out too and will be sanding them see if they go back to being clear, and while I'm at it, the driver side headlight was leaking when it rained so i'll fix that too.

[RX-7 Chris]

looking good

[Shadowden]

Nice. I sold my MZ3 hatch at a considerable loss because it developed a rod knock and estimates to replace were ridiculous. I couldn't find a place to even get the engine out to do the work myself. How did you get the car up high enough to pull the engine out the bottom?

[I`m Batman]

Nice!

[OrangeVirus]

staying on stock Con rods?

[lablue96]

Nice. I sold my MZ3 hatch at a considerable loss because it developed a rod knock and estimates to replace were ridiculous. I couldn't find a place to even get the engine out to do the work myself. How did you get the car up high enough to pull the engine out the bottom?

Repair quote's were crazy when we first where trying to get the car fixed, I figured I could do better for half the cost
The car is up on two of my truck stands, it's just high enough for the engine to slide under the front if you tilt it a little bit, but the engine and transmission came out together and it was cake to take them apart once out on the floor. I took the front fender off.

staying on stock Con rods?

No I got eagle H connecting rods, I don't know if you can notice on the picture.

I got to work on it yesterday morning, and hoping later today i'll have more time to get things together. almost done!

here's my idea of a crank lever to tighten the crankshaft bolt, just bolts to the crank with two flywheel bolts. sorry for the sideway picture

No more TTY bolts anywhere. arp bolt + 140 ft lbs and the crank pulley is good to go.


and one more picture of the clean oil pan!

[OrangeVirus]

I shoulda posted on this forum earlier, I could of tuned you live for 100 bucks.

[lablue96]

Here's where I'm at, since I don't really have anything to base it off, I'm trying to make the car a little more quiet on the inside, if I remember the road noise and the wind noise was kind of high. eventually I'll get to the interior, but since I had the engine out I cleaned the firewall really well and then used a alcohol wipe to make sure there was nothing there. I ordered some thermotec liner and placed it as far down as I could get and on every piece of firewall that was accessible. I think I did pretty good, the only place I didn't get to was behind the brake booster. If anything it has to help a little bit right? what you think?








I then installed the stock padding over the thermotec so it looks somewhat stock. you can't really see the bright silver color. I was surprised how far down onto the floor I got. I have a soundmeter app on my phone, whish I could've taken some before and reading to see if it actually does anything usefull.
Also since I was inside the engine bay I installed a front sway bar from a masdaspeed3. :-) progress is being made

[RX-7 Chris]

That looks really clean.

[Shadowden]

Keep up the good work on it. It will sure be a nice MZ3 sedan.

[lablue96]

thanks everybody!

[lablue96]

well I got it installed last night, and today I got off work early and started it! drove it around the block after it warmed a bit and IT'S AWESOME (having just watched The Lego Movie I said it in that voice) It runs smooth and overall it sounds nice, Except for the dam VVT noise, It's horrible. so back to the garage it went. I doubt it's the solenoid because I made sure I installed the one I had just bought from my original engine, it had maybe 3k miles on it.
Thinking back when I installed my timing chain, I used sealant around the bolt holes but not around the oil feed holes. is it possible I'm loosing oil pressure at the timing chain and the solenoid isn't getting any pressure? I think I'm going to have to pull the timing chain and fix this. thought's? or should I look into the vvt gear.
It's all in the little details doh!
I found these pictures online. post #27
http://www.mazda3forums.com/showthread.php?t=380257&page=3

[OrangeVirus]

well I got it installed last night, and today I got off work early and started it! drove it around the block after it warmed a bit and IT'S AWESOME (having just watched The Lego Movie I said it in that voice) It runs smooth and overall it sounds nice, Except for the dam VVT noise, It's horrible. so back to the garage it went. I doubt it's the solenoid because I made sure I installed the one I had just bought from my original engine, it had maybe 3k miles on it.
Thinking back when I installed my timing chain, I used sealant around the bolt holes but not around the oil feed holes. is it possible I'm loosing oil pressure at the timing chain and the solenoid isn't getting any pressure? I think I'm going to have to pull the timing chain and fix this. thought's? or should I look into the vvt gear.
It's all in the little details doh!
I found these pictures online. post #27
http://www.mazda3forums.com/showthread.php?t=380257&page=3

If the VVT wasn't getting any pressure you would get a CEL just driving, as the ECU is desiring and calling a certain advance on the cam, and if the cam timing sensor says it's not advancing..CEL.

how sure are you the noise you are hearing is the VVT? where is it coming from, does it do it at idle? because the VVT timing at idle is 0*, so it wouldn't even be phasing. ( on a warm idle )

[lablue96]

If the VVT wasn't getting any pressure you would get a CEL just driving, as the ECU is desiring and calling a certain advance on the cam, and if the cam timing sensor says it's not advancing..CEL.

how sure are you the noise you are hearing is the VVT? where is it coming from, does it do it at idle? because the VVT timing at idle is 0*, so it wouldn't even be phasing. ( on a warm idle )

well it has the classic really loud rattle on start up, it just doesn't go away. I thought it could be the valves and that I somehow accidentally changed the order of all the tappets, but that didn't happen, I'm sure of it. plus I checked all the valve lash and it's good within spec. dead center actually. also the sound changes and varies as the rpms go up and down, most noticeably at 3k rpms.
Oh by the way, I had the info on that link backwards. the oil supply on the timing chain is from older cars. newer engines have the oil supply for the vvc through the block. after some searching and looking through all my parts, I realized that the gasket I got doesn't have this supply hole so it's blocking it. I'm kicking myself for not noticing this when I was building it, I thought I was being so careful. too bad not one dealer in the state has the oem head gasket in stock. I'm still planning on changing the vvt actuator just to have peace of mind. but again nobody has it stock so it wont be until Tuesday until the parts come in.