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Ok, the long anticipated work log if finally here. I've sure you've all been waiting on it Anyways, I have always loved cars and since my first car I have always been doing things myself. I changed the oil, plugs, tranny fluid, put a cone filter on it but I had never done anything major before. I wanted to get my hands dirty and really do something big.

Well I was looking on ebay for a car for my brother because someone had wrecked his and he had insurance money and needed a car. I stumbled upon a white Mazda Mx-3 on ebay and liked the price. I decided to buy the car because it was real cheap and because I wanted to do some real engine work. When I bought the car it didn't run and the engine was REALLY dirty. The car had been sitting for a while and I wasn't really sure what was wrong with it. I decided I would take the whole thing apart and do an engine rebuild. So that is what I did.

Here's some pics. The paint is in bad shape. Some dings and nicks here and there but no rust on the body.




I should have checked this out before I bought it. This is what I found when I took off the Lebra cover




the mx-3 has a big rear


This picture does not do the engine justice. It was MUCH dirtier than that.


This is what I found when I took the head off. Can someone say "oil change please"? Makes me glad I did an engine rebuild. I had never seen sludge before this. Man, I'm not sure there could have been more. The machine shop said the head was in the tank for about a week straight.

ok, almost done.



I highly recommend valvoline carb cleaner. Haven't found a better carb cleaner.


yeah that is rust. The car had been sitting a while apparently. The machine shop had to bore it out to .020.




that's one dirty tranny. It's all clean now though.


finally. The block is ready to go back in. Man that thing is heavy for a 1.6L.


I highly recommend not doing it this way. Although I did it, it was unnecessarily hard. Get a engine hoist or an engine support.




This is one of my favorite pics. I got smart and bought an engine support. This is the shot before the tranny went in.


look at how much cleaner the head is. The machine shop had to shave off .027 so I couldn't put on the timing plate because the bolts wouldn't line up. Although the head was soaked for about a week there is still a little black on the bottom.


the painted vc looks a whole lot better than the regular non-painted one. The paint was lighter than what I thought, but I kind of like it.


Accessory belt on, timing on - I hope I timed it right. I'm pretty sure I did.

All in all, rebuilding an engine isn't that hard. Just takes a lot of time and some money. Although it looked like the previous owners never changed the oil the bearings were all standard. Just had to get a bore and hone and a tad bit shaved off of the head. I wonder if the engine is still non interference? Doing the timing wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Had to take off the engine mount to put the belt on though which was a bummer. Putting the acc belts on was def. not as hard as I thought it would be.

What's left to do? I need to get the axles back in. Get a battery for it. Fill it up with fluids. Bleed the clutch and brakes along with new front brakes. Put the rad back in and do a few small things. Hopefully it will start up fine. More to come. Hopefully I will have this car for a long time. If you are thinking of doing an engine rebuild go for it. The hardest thing I had done before this was take off a throttle body which is pretty dang easy.

I want to mention something.



You can barely see it but there is a ground wire hiding behind the wiper spray hoses. It is not connected to anything. The car used to have an aftermarket cruise control installed and I think that what the ground wire went to. Does anybody know what the ground wire goes to? I searched but couldn't find any cut wires or anything it might have been connected to.

Nice! I like white MX-3s. Hey if you need an after market header, I got one and I'm selling it for $100 + shipping. You can check out the for sale section for it.

I've seen a few MX-3s around town but I don't recognize yours. Your engine looks exactly like mine did when I first bought mine. Good Luck.

miessau0 wrote:I've seen a few MX-3s around town but I don't recognize yours. Your engine looks exactly like mine did when I first bought mine. Good Luck.

I'm about 40 miles outside knoxville plus I haven't even driven the car yet so that explains a few things.