Rebuild started but seems like it's been done before

[RX8SE3P]

Yeah coming along well, I didn't take enough pics but the engine is all together now. I am going to NZ tomorrow so I've been preparing for that recently. Won't be back for a couple weeks but hope to finish it all off and have the engine fully in the car the weekend I get back.

[Ryan]

Back to the HLA topic, the whole unit comes apart into 2, 3, 4, 5,6 pieces.

Note: Mazda does NOT reccommend trying to repair/clean HLA in ANY way. Personally, I don't see why not.

The cylinder in the middle that you're trying to compress comes out. It doesn't matter if you scratch the side of it, but don't scratch and sliding faces.

If you dislodge the now exposed check ball with something like a toothpick, the cylinder will pull apart. Beware there is a spring inside, remeber its orientation intside the small cylinder.

The cap holding the check ball from running away pops off. You can do this to clean the check ball itself and the passage it blocks.


Once its all clean (use something aggressive like carb cleaner) reassemble.

Hold it under fuild (ATF, regular oil, w/e) and dislodge the check ball w/ toothpick again. Squeeze untill it makes squishy noise and no air comes out. Hold it so the check valve end faces up... because air floats. Let the ball go and squeeze it one more time. It should get really stiff.

If the HLA is stiff, and you cannot compress it, it is working CORRECTLY!

[RX8SE3P]

I tried to take one apart and I couldn't get it apart at all. I looked at a guide with pics on how to and it's described just like you say. I ended up just leaving them soaked in new oil for a week. A lot of old oil came out. I could not compress any by hand either so I think they are ok.

[stoker100]

hows the rebuild coming along? engine back in yet?
I sent you a PM on MX6.com a while ago, what rings did you use?

[RX8SE3P]

Just got back from New Zealand, sorry I have not replied to many things. Engine will hopefully be in this weekend. Maybe not running but at least in the engine bay.

I got NPR rings. They are on ebay and they seemed of decent quality. We will see. They are a decent price too, but you can get other pistons rings like ross racing or probably wiseco if you're upgrading the pistons themselves etc. Much more expensive though.

My goal at the moment is to stop burning oil and gain some power. Hopefully that will work out.

[fowljesse]

Hey.. just 2¢..
I read a few times that Ebay piston rings wore out quickly. Please disregard this if you've done research, and trust the brand. I just wanted to throw it out there, because it sucks really bad to have to do that 2x

[RX8SE3P]

They are NPR piston rings, made in Japan. Not to sound anal or anything but I bought mostly brand name stuff, simply off ebay because it was cheap. So it's not really ebay no name brands or anything.

My rings were NPR, bearings were ACL, headgasket was Fel Pro and gasket kit was eristic (from Ebay). I've not read anything bad about the gasket set and to be honest, the stuff in there looked pretty darn good. Better than the crap I could buy from any auto store. The Import place that bought me the kit (I told them to get it for me) also said it looked pretty good to them.

For example, the head gaskets in it (although I did not use) were multi layered steel and looked real good. The valve cover gaskets fit way nicer than the crap I got from my local auto store. The exhaust manifold was a nice three piece metal IIRC and it looked and felt great compared to the rubbish around at the auto store, which was one piece graphite.

The gasket kit was also about 10x cheaper too! They even supplied both DE and ZE intake manifold gaskets in the kit. I saved money buying from America (especially on those ACL bearings). Funnily enough ACL seems to be made in Australia, yet I am buying it from America for a third of the price lol.

I tried searching about NPR rings but only came up with one Honda thread, which gave positive feedback. Whether you'd believe them or not, at least it's not a bad review.

[Ryan]

I have NPR rings, and a freshly reground head. Its been on for maybe 10k, and I run her good. I'll get compressions numbers as soon as I remember...

[fowljesse]

Cool. Just making sure
I'm looking forward to it being finished.

[RX8SE3P]

Cool. Just making sure
I'm looking forward to it being finished.

Me too lol! Should be done this weekend

[stoker100]

so hows the car running?

[RX8SE3P]

Was too busy last weekend, this weekend will know hopefully. God this is taking too long

[stoker100]

any luck getting it all back in and going?

[RX8SE3P]

It's alive

It started in only a few cranks and sucked up the oil really nicely, the oil warning light didn't even flash at all (I expected it might) but my friend must have done a good job at prepping up the oil pump. He did something to it, I can't remember, but he said it would start working quicker.

Sounded fairly good. Got a massive shock when this massive high pitched squeal started happening. But then I went.... wait it's ok the power steering pump has no fluid in it. Filled it and it was nice and quiet.

Still a little bit of lifter noise but I couldn't care. Didn't blow much smoke either, I expected massive clouds after seeing some rebuild vids. But yeah, it ran ok. Car is not on the road yet. Had a b---- of a time with that bloody straight neck IM and using the stock air box (it cracked so I had to come up with something new). Man, I know why everyone just uses a curved Eunos 800 IM.....

I'm gonna have to go to a shop and get something custom made up, I don't care if it costs 300 bucks, it will look way better and won't be dodgy.

[RX8SE3P]

Changed oil after managing 190kms over the last few days. (Still using non synthetic). I'm getting some vibration when the car is idling at about 600rpms. Also when I take off slowly in 1st gear it vibrated when the rpms are very low (the whole car vibrates, not engine, though I think the engine is causing it). This never happened before the rebuild but I did get ARW solid motor mounts.

Changed spark plugs. They came out nice and clean compared to before the rebuild lol. Changed them anyways since they were old ones.

Will be getting a custom intake made up soon. My revs are popping up and down from time to time. To be clear as possible, when I change from 5th gear to neutral and come to a stop, they get stuck at 1000rpms unless I put it in first and make them drop, then they stay at 500-600. Weird, it did do this before. I'm thinking it's intake, or intake manifold related, somewhere in that area!

Things to do:

1. Get new intake pipe made
2. Put on the good disty that stoker100 gave me and reset timing (thanks )
3. Get some MX6 spark plug leads that are longer and will look neater
4. Change fuel pump (feel like changing it, it's done 237,000kms...)