MX-3.com

Dont want to use the 15:1 GS rack?

Excited to see the outcome of all this

I like the way you think as far as mods go... You like sleek and streamlined, with lots of free space under the hood. XD

I respect that, and fully intend to do similar.

Soundproofing material for entire car <$100 CAD?

Check.

The undercoat was on sale... $3 a can It'll go on the inside of panels, plastics, and everywhere peel and seal won't really reach.

Where'd you get your Peel n' Seal?

Lowe's. My bro and his wife made a black Friday trip. Only an hour or two drive for us.

Do the undercoating in a well ventilated area, it stinks

Also the cans tend to gum up if they aren't held almost perfectly upright

Busy day!



My home made varsol tank:



My neat little kit for my dremel ($12!)


WTF is with this one piston?




Some rod work:


Long day over:


I had to debur ALL of the pistons. The bright eyes that sent them to me sent them all just tossed in a box with an insulting 8"x8" sheet of bubble wrap, all disassembled, first to Cali by mistake, then to me. I've still not decided if I want to throw them in the garbage yet. they're pretty bad... but IDK, they might be salvageable. Either that or this will be a short lived ZE.

So, I'm being more and more convinced that I'm going to have to step this build down.

To build it PERFETLY, I'd have to drop like $2k on machining alone. Align boring the crank, properly decking and leveling the heads, properly re-machining the cylinder bores, properly cleaning the block, properly machining all the crank journals, and not to mention I'd definitely have to file the pistons under 'G'.

So it might be more of a slap-together-for-the-least-money-but-still-as-high-quality-as-possible.

I'm not going to balance those shitty pistons. I'm going to gently work on the rods/crank and hope she stays in balance. If I start it up and it runs like hell...then I'll deal with it then. I figure I'd have to remove a lot of material in an uneven fashion to take it out of factory balance. by evening it all out, I might even make it closer...

Not to mention this block has been overheated for sure.

I'll be assuming superb Mazda quality is holding my back on this one.

Seems like a lot of people on here want ZE engine parts. Maybe I should tear down my spare ZE and part it out? Pistons anyone?

If I can weasel a refund out of the guy I bought these from, perhaps

Ryan wrote:To build it PERFETLY, I'd have to drop like $2k on machining alone. Align boring the crank, properly decking and leveling the heads, properly re-machining the cylinder bores, properly cleaning the block, properly machining all the crank journals, and not to mention I'd definitely have to file the pistons under 'G'.

Oh machining isn't cheap. When people want to do these crazy all-motor builds (or crazy K8 build) and think they can do it on the cheap hasn't even gotten a quote for that stuff before. I figured on my motor that I had planned somewhere around $5000 in machine work. It's INSANE if you want to do it right.

Stupid question. I've always wondered why you can't just buy a good weight scale and do your own. Of course for things like the crank you still need to have it balanced by a shop.

Yup, same idea. Also, connecting rods are both rotating and reciprocating parts all in one... try balancing that on your kitchen scale.

Ryan wrote: Also, connecting rods are both rotating and reciprocating parts all in one... try balancing that on your kitchen scale.

IIRC, in one of the books I recommended there's an explanation on how to do that. You just need to weigh them end to end. If you have a sensitive enough scale, there's no reason why you can't do it.

Then you need a press to get the pins out.

regardless, you get the idea, machining is expensive, I am poor. Therefore, this build will be a little more redneck than anticipated.