aidandj

iTrader: (5)

Vlad doesn't all that dirt and grime just turn you on.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

So the Oil rings were stuck on every piston, and caked in carbon and soot.

Cylinder 3- I did indeed jam something into the ring or PTW gap when I decarboned the pistons. There is a decent scare in hole 3 that wasnt there before. Which is odd as # was one of the "dryer" holes. Honing cleaned it up OK, but it should probably be bored. bored=1.8. So we are going to let it eat.

Other than that, this engine looks new inside, the bearings look wonderful... almost to good to have not been replaced in the past. Every crank journal is almost perfect. pistons look great, lands are smooth with no wear, skirts have very little wear.



















the windage tray damage lol




The flywheel had some hotspots, and was warped, the clutch disc is pretty worn, probably 60%, with less than 10k on it. F1 stg 2. jdm, tyte. Flywheel resurfaced for $55 in 2 hours by some kind fellows down the street, and ACT clutch showed up earlier.

Arca_ex

iTrader: (2)

Right on.

Sucks about the scoring in 3 but oh well. Will probably eat less oil than before lol.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

Thats kind of our thought. The corrugated oil rings were packed full of carbon, so they couldnt corrugate anymore. I havnt seen many as bad as these, and definitely not a jap 4 cyl at only 150k. It can only be better than it was.

Upon reflection of my cleaning process, and studying the small indentation in the piston, I realized a 2mm long or so piece of bristle from the wire brush broke off between the cylinder wall and piston.


stuff




cleaned piston vs one as it came out of the motor




I didnt have to file a single ring. The top rings all came out to 0.015-0.016" which is perfect for boost. 2nd rings all came to about the same with a few just a little tighter, and the oil rings were all between 0.018 and 0.022".

FSM states
top- 0.006-0.012"
2nd- 0.006-0.012"
oil- 0.009-0.0028"

I dont understand the 0.006". In my experience the rings would slam shut before the thermostat even opened. 0.004" per inch of bore has been the standard I am used to for N/A with cast or hypereutectic pistons, so that works out to 0.012". Add a thou or 2 per inch of bore for boost or NO2.

I forgot to measure some of the rings that came out of the motor before I honed the cylinders, but I dont think end gap was the issue anyhow, more of a curiosity.


Fully floating pins FTW. Since I didnt have to press anything, I only had to take out one circlip from each piston, so I only needed 4 total. Still havnt got my replacement (1) from rosenthal, so **** them. And never mind that, those of you who have had to press pins out of rods without hurting the piston can appreciate this simplicity. The wife also hates when I bake reciprocating engine parts in the oven, so theres that.

hornetball

iTrader: (4)

Your wife hates baking car parts too!?! Haha.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

She is actually very tolerant. HLAs all over the kitchen table, I rebuilt a 2 stoke on the island a few months ago. There is now a permanent spot for a wire brush and toothbrush on the back of the kitchen sink after she gave up trying to hide them

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

Not bad. The kitchen is Hailey's sanctuary, I'm barely allowed to be in it when she's there.
<br />Cooking to her is working in cars to me though, so that makes sense.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

In my defense, I am also the resident chef. Another hobby of mine, other than all things internal combustion related, is baking. Ill make you some badass scones Aidan.

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

<p>Damn, lucky. My best cooking skill is working the dominos delivery website.</p><p>She calls dominos my &quot;backup girlfriend&quot;</p>

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

Tell Hailey that in order for you 2 to grow together, as a couple, she needs to teach you how to cook. Tell her, it will only strengthen your bond in ways she cant even conceive or imagine. Then once you have the skillz, and the kicthen and Hailey have accepted you as one of their own, slowly start migrating throw out bearings and timing belt tensioners into the kitchen area. Start small, do a little at a time. Its harder to notice small, consistent changes than big changes all at once; do not start with an engine and trans on the island.

keep me posted

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

<p>Just started. Issue is I have no motivation to cook. Because her food is so good, and takes so much time.</p><p>Maybe I'll bake. I like that more.</p>

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

So I guess this was a little ambitious for one day, we ran into a few problems that just took up time. Got the short block mostly assembled by about 3pm yesterday when we called it quits.







I spent a few hours today just cleaning the oil pan, intake brace, odds and ends. Now that ive gotten intimate with the oil pan, I can tell its never been off the motor, I broke the original seal. So these bearings are original to the motor. Im going to see if I can verify the motor is original to the chassis. Is the tag on the pan a VIN that I can match up to the chassis?

Hopefully ill have the long block done here in the next few hours

Leafy

iTrader: (1)

The vin tag on the oil pan should match the chassis.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

Cool, I still need to go look.


Interesting story and good news for fellow cheap asses:

Bearings can be cheap and are important, and relatively hard to replace if they go bad, so I was a little nervous going with the DNJ brand as they are a chinese importer(previously known as ROCK brand sold at rockauto). But, knowing how supply chains work to some extent and that there are only a few manufacturers of bearings in the world, I was positive they are just reboxed, it was just a question of whos bearing are being reboxed as DNJ. I almost went with the clevites or sealed power made by federal mogul that had to be ordered in for 2.5 times the $$$. It would have been about $140, instead of ~$60.

The manufacturers stamp on the back of the bearings that came out of the motor is a theta with a circle around it. Ive seen this before many times, never really cared who it was, didnt think much of it this go around either....

....Until I opened the DNJ bearings. They have the exact same manufacturers mark on the back! You mean to tell me cheap DNJs are re branded OEM?!?!?!?

So I looked up the theta symbol, and lo and behold FEDERAL MOGUL!!!!!!

Whats this mean? You can get good bearings made by fed mog for less than $40 on rockauto. I also find it interesting that mazda contracted with fed mog back in the 80s/90s and maybe even currently.

The only 2 caveats are that the thrust set was DNJ branded, stamped right onto the substrate. And who knows how the supply chain will change from week to week, so next week you may get something else in a DNJ box. But who else would it be? king, clevite or ACL... none of them suck.


Having said all that, this doesnt mean the DNJ branded stuff is held to the same tolerances or made of the same materials that the bearings sold under sealed power/perfect circle/total seal/etc. name may be. But without getting a set of each and some plastigages, and sending luke samples, well never know.





1990 MAZDA MX-5 MIATA Crankshaft Main Bearing

1990 MAZDA MX-5 MIATA Connecting Rod Bearing

the miata gods want me to build a 1.6 after all

TL;DR- DNJ bearings are federal mogul

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

I really cant believe it, but VINs match. Motor and bearings are original.

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

In!



Should have done the block green, need more green. Also, sanded all the rust off the engine bay shelf and threw a few coats down for good measure. Should have gone with an eggshell, off white.

Aidan, nice avatar. You pissed in joes cheerios huh?

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

<p>Isn't the intake mani green? Timing covers should be green too.</p><p>Also the intercooler should be too.</p><p>And the brake booster</p><p>And the coolant overflow. I did mine in this awesome ******* plastic paint: </p><p>And the intercooler pipes.</p><p>and the washer fluid. wait why is that not gone.</p><p>Delete washer fluid, and then paint the fues box bracket green.</p>

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

timing covers are plastic, no.

intercooler will never get paint because #thermodynamics

brake fluid eats paint.

does that **** work? is it holding up? in any case it, the green is "grass" not "grabber"

pipes? see intercooler, besides, i like the aluminum

washer fluid bottle was supposed to be gone already, will do

green fuse bracket will really set the whole bay off. #awesomesauce


what do you think about the water pump pulley bolt heads? or maybe the exhaust mani?

hi_im_sean

iTrader: (3)

Im getting really sick of seeing a cat *****.

Wife is a vet tech, she walks in: "why the **** does that guy have a cat ***** avatar?"

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

<p></p><p>Plastic paint = amazing. Like seriously. Laid down like sex and has held up amazing. Search their real website for other colors.</p><p>I need to go google, but mighty car mods did a test and showed paint was actually better.</p><p>I need to get some sheet aluminum and make an overflow, practice my aluminum welding.</p><p>I painted the alternator pulley red, it looks ****.</p><p>And the alternator bracket.</p><p>Water pump bolts would be cool too. Painted bolts for me never look good because tightening them ruins the finish. Maybe anodize.</p><p>Exhaust mani will look **** after 10 minutes.</p>