1992 mx3 valve stem seals

[valk1317]

of course it can be done right on the car. but the car is going to be stored in a field until i insure or sell it. the timing/head gaskets have never been done so its a good opportunity.
I could probably do the seals while still fully assembled but the ones closest to firewall would be a real b---- depending on how tight with the compressors and trying to get the retainers in/out.
it really would just be so much more enjoyable to rip the heads out, clean everything up on my bench at home and just drop in freshly assembled heads ect.

agian, this is not a rush job, if it takes me a full weekend to pull the heads, then another full weekend or two to properly do the heads thats just fine. i wont take my msp apart until july/august anyway.

[RobMinhas]

Good call, doing valve stems on that rear bank with the head on is not gonna be fun. Pull them out, do the HG, clean up the mating surface there too and slap in some new head bolts. It's not fun to do valve stem seals in our cars because of how much of a pain it is to put the valve springs back in and it gets even harder trying to do it with the heads on.

[RX8SE3P]

Check the mazda manual's tolerance for the head bolts and re-use if well within spec.

I think the original mazda ones are potentially higher quality than any you can buy off ebay anyways.

Btw, yes to the gasket kit and try find a timing belt kit that has a water pump too. You can use a probe/mx6 2.5L v6 timing belt kit as it's exactly the same. Consider replacing the timing belt auto tensioner too. It's prone to failure but up to you really.

[valk1317]

is there a sticky around here with the v6 workshop manual? that will definitely be useful to have on hand.

after i pay for my custom turbo mani and downpipe for msp ill start aquireing these parts and get to work. I actually always wanted an mx3 and fitting that my wife had one.. too bad she never serviced it.
though i think the smoking problem is my fault as i put synthetic in it and it might have reacted poorly to the seals. hopefully the rest of the block is still ok but im not gonna do a complete tear down for a $500 car.

i did find the listings with cns timing belt/waterpump set and it seems to come with a set of pullies though not sure if the tensioner is included. also, should i replace the coil and distributor? car doesnt throw codes, just runs shitty.

[RX8SE3P]

Distributor is a known issue, I'd replace it or do the HEI mod but since you may be selling it, maybe get a second hand one and try that?

MX-3 manual should be - http://mx-3.com/manuals/index.php

Tear down the engine first and you will see the water pump style on there. It's either a round one or a square'ish one.

Hydraulic Tensioner is : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1-8L-2-5L-Ti ... 2328fe7628

[valk1317]

Just finished up a timing belt and waterpump swap on my wifes 2003 protege es.. that really wasnt a bad job aside from scraping the old gasket fragments off the block. that was pretty sweet. that car seems to run like its brand new, with my msp was as nice.

ill be picking up the head gasket kit pretty soon here and start doing the teardown. silly question though... when the heads are off, should i attempt to clean the piston tops with anything? just looking through the plug holes this is a really dirty banch. its leaking oil from somewhere down below too. hopefully something i can spot easily when the whole top end is off.
trying to keep the rebuild as cheap as i can, but if i can make this car decent, i might keep it as a winter beater or just burning around in whenever i need to work on the msp.
she handles great and drives very nicely so its a shame to sell her for scrap.

Its an auto.. not sure if futher mods are really worth it not. the tiptronic auto in her es is great cause it can be locked to gears, is there any modification i could do to this one to achieve similar effect?

[SuperK]

The only thing you should do to that transmission (and you REALLY should do it) is install a transmission fluid cooler.

[valk1317]

Is there a guide for doing that? or could i just look up any old auto guide? if i could get my hands on a valve body for it that would be pretty sweet but i dont know if the k8 makes enough power to really bother.
again, its not gonna get tricked out but ill definitely beat on it heh.
I wont lie, a quick look on ebay has me HALF tempted to put a china charger on it for giggles lol. $500 for an entire turbo kit lol... damn. just replacing the CHRA on my msp is almost $1000 lol.

OBVIOUSLY it would blow up with a cheap kit like that, but for giggles lol... the piping kit looks pretty sweet though.

[valk1317]

A few last minute things.

took the car for a good rip today to burn off anything in the motor before i take it apart. it has been sitting for some months and ran like total s--- lol.
anyway, its all clean and ready for me to start working on it, draining all the s--- and starting to unbolt things.

the exhaust is pretty fked up so i was thinking of getting some ebay headers or somthing cheap. Do KL exhaust systems fit? at least as far as headers go?
cant beat $160.. $240 even after shipping and duties.

id prob just custom something from the cat back, adapt a racing beat from somthing.


the door seals are looking pretty ghetto too.. can i replace them with something less ghetto looking?

visited my friendly neighboorhood autopaint jobber as well, have the scan codes and this car will likely get a full respray while im working on it.

no high hp goals. im just doing oem replacment business. I will lower it and fix the exhaust/intake, but its a daily driver. suddently ive become motivated to make the MSP a 400hp monster lol.

[valk1317]

heh. been working on getting the car apart for some good hours this weekend and holy crap i underestimated how much a pita this was gonna be. so much work to replace a couple $4 parts lol.

still havne't got the heads out just yet. probably get that done today and clean them up to bring inside to work on the valve seals. there is so much oil and dirt and general dirty inside this thing.. remarkable it ran the way it did for so long..
im actually really concerned that some of this s--- has scored the cylinder walls but maybe its just oil and im lucky.
the car DID run fine for the most part, just smokey.

also, what would allow so much oil to build up on the alternator ect? would it be just as simple as dropping the pan and putting in a new seal? the inside of the timing cover was pretty dirty as well. so maybe a front seal went bad. bleh.. so much work.. I think i had the timing belt and waterpump done in like 4 hours on wifes es..

[SuperK]

alternator gets soaked from the valve cover gaskets.

[valk1317]

heh. this car has obviously never been in for service.. everydamn thing on it is a nightmare to break loose and take out.

ive gone one head clear and ready to come out, just wanna double check before I borrow/buy sockets that im looking for a 12-13mm 12pt socket to remove the head bolts?
getting those exhaust downpipe bolts was sure awkward lol. after i do the rear one, both heads should be able to come out. sadly i cant afford the timing belt and tensioner out of this pay but thats ok. quite a messy job thus far.

[valk1317]

Still working on taking the car apart. spent some hours last weekend and plan to do more this weekend. had to buy a few tools lol. lots of little brackets holding s--- to s--- that are very annoying.. ill have a good time remembering all those when it goes back together, but thanks for the manual =D

so is there any way to drain the block of coolant without removing the water pump? this one still appears to have a good seal so id like to avoid if possible. got the first head off and sleeves are still full of water.
i guess this is normal, im just not a mechanic heh.

I suppose this is fine, but i dont want any of that contaminated water to go throguh the pump after ive cleaned up the mating surface for the new head gasket. im also worried about water getting past the rings and into the pan. though i intend to drop the pan and replace the seal on it.. is that somthing i should be worried about?

[SuperK]

sleeves are supposed to be full of water. the combustion chamber with the piston in it are not.
I would just leave the coolant alone. Once you reassemble you can just flush the coolant to rid of the contaminants.

[valk1317]

spent a bit of timing looking it up, but it seems there are a dozen different opinions on how to prep the surfaces for the new head gasket..

I got both heads out and ready to swap the seals on them after a little more disassembly and cleaning, but how should i go about removing the old headgasket material? the heads actually look pretty good, that a plastic scraper and some thinner should do the job just fine, but the block seems slightly more difficult. it may jsut be me, but it almost feels that the sleeves are slightly stepped which might just be the remaining gasket.

from what ive looked up, power tools are out of the question and im not taking this out to get it machined. Is a long block with fine sanding paper suitable for this task? maybe wet sand it with thinners?

ive done a fair amount of auto body work and I do industrial finishing so im definitly not noob to flat sanding just curious if its an option or will i just be in there for some hours with a razor blade and thinner bottle.