I read all that before and decided 60 was fine, perhaps I will do 65 next time. I used the ARP lube on the washers and threads which works very well. My head was properly torqued, but I rolled the dice on the cheap gasket because the OEM one I have is scuffed a bit, the machine shop did think it was fine though.

Upon first glance, my head is still perfectly flat. I didn't actually use feeler gauges yet, just wanted to look with my new gauge. I will go back and check in a little while.

 

65 is too much

 

I can't fit an .0025" feeler through on the block anywhere.
On the head I can fit an .003" feeler between 2&3 and 3&4 but I can't fit an .004" anywhere.

Should I resurface the head? The spec is .006" for the block and .004" for the head. Kinda seems like I should just slap this OEM head gasket on an reassemble.

 

I do the checks as the factory manual says, and if I can't get a 2 thou under anything, it's flat enough for me, if it fails this, I surface the head. I can't say if this is overkill or not, but a couple machine shops I've talked to said if it's under 2 thou, they don't surface it.

 

Thanks Pat!
Ok, went back over the block with an .002, can't squeeze it in anywhere, but I definitely have .003" of warp on the head.
I will take the head to the machine shop and see what they think. Maybe if I get it in first thing Monday, they could have it ready by Tuesday afternoon. I think I will set my overboost to 21psi until I get my coil upgrade figured out. I think spark blow out above 20psi is a very bad thing. Maybe decrease my spark gap a little bit too.

 

.0015 in the head means it needs to be surfaced. Every motor I build gets touched in a surfacer, deck and head, even if it's just .0005" to clean up the fire rings. MLS does not tolerate any fuckery when it comes to flat. Not .003", not .001", flat.

65ft.lbs is just fine with ARP studs, that's what they used as the spec in their kits in ~2009 when I did my first motor. They went up to 80 for a while, which is definitely too much. About 18mos ago they changed the spec on their kits with a revised washer (larger than OEM now) and a reduction in the torque spec to 65ft.lbs. I would use OEM washers or the updated ARP washers and torque to 65ft.lbs.

Cheap head gasket? Come on, man. The OEM MLS is like $50.

 

Thanks Andrew! I will definitely get it surfaced Monday morning

I know, I know, I had the cheap gasket laying around. My local Mazda dealer just moved and it has been difficult to get things in a timely manner. You don't stock OEM head gaskets do you?

 

The coolant re-route will really help that #4 cylinder. I think that with a MLS OEM gasket you'll be golden.

 

Ok I went back over the block with an .0015, the smallest feeler I have, seems perfectly flat.

I am just going to prep all my fasteners for reassembly, then see if I can figure out my reroute, I think I have all the parts I need. Maybe do some research on running D585 coils.

I will stop by Mazda after I drop off the head, who knows, maybe they have a head gasket in stock.

 

I am 95% sure TFB has one on hand. I could have sworn I saw it last week when I was there.

The head gasket you want with the re-route is different than the one without. Pretty sure you want the 97-99 head gasket. The later VVT one addresses coolant issues in another manner by redirecting flow to compensate for the poor circulation.

 

*94-00

 

Part number BP26-10-271
So they said it's at their warehouse and will be there tomorrow morning, although last time, it was 3 days.

The guys at the machine shop said come by same time tomorrow morning. I think they were trying not to laugh at me about the cheap gasket. I examined the 2 gaskets, along the edge is where the difference is obvious. The real one shines of stainless, and has a thicker middle layer. The phony one has a painted edge, and all 3 layers are the same, it's actually not as thick as the old OEM one.

 

Correction, the OEM head gasket has 4 layers, all the same thickness. The cheap one had 3 equal layers, I don't know which one has the shiny edges, perhaps fel-pro? The mystery one also has raised lips around the cylinders.

 

BP26-10-271 is the one you want yeah.

 

I want to pay special thanks to NigelT for my short block, patsmx5 for a bunch of advice, and Savington for getting me all the fasteners I needed.
Thanks you guys!

Thanks to everyone else as well for all the advice and information to make this possible.

I really need to upgrade my ignition now, and finish my reroute.

 

HE'S BACK!!

time for cops and moar boost

 

Special thanks to 18psi as well!

 

ever think of the ign1a coils? they would be a pretty banging upgrade.

 

yeah if you upgrade might as well go with LS coils

 

IGN1A are better coils I believe. Not sure on pricing between them though. I can run .040" gap @ 40 PSI boost with IGN1A coils.