Thanks bro.

Happy birthday sir.

Happy bday! I work in IT too. SAN/Storage for 9 years etc. Maybe I'll meet you at the dyno day if I can put my car back together by then..

Are these pistons cheaper than forged weseco pistons?

Answer

Great build. I'm taking notes:)

Neo... that looks like an excellent build....

Wish I had skills like that....

I think you'll find a lot of geeks in the "real world" around here... (yeah, one more here)

Dave,

Nice build. I am doing a similar cheap rebuild except for keeping the stock pistons and I am still debating the oil pump.

I was impressed at how little wear my 146K engine had on it. I didn't really have to do any machine work but I went ahead and had them hot tank everything and hone the block. I just have to find the time to port the head and get it back to the shop so they can do the valve job and get it back together.

What rpms are you looking at sustaining with this motor? Im looking at most raising the factory rev limiter by 500 rpm or so I am reluctant to get a upgraded oil pump.

How did the ebay gasket kit look? Which seller did you buy from? From all the pics it seems like most of the stuff is as good as any other gasket set for a hell of alot more. I wish I could justify the FM gasket kit but seriously why does it have to be that much more expensive just cause it has Mazda on most of the parts? As long as you have a good headgasket and shaft seals it should all work just fine, Right? I figure I will be refreshing my head every 30k or so when doing a timing belt in any case.

Did you look at balancing the rods/pistons any? All my factory stuff was real close, I only had one piston that was 5 grams heavier than the other three which weighed exactly the same.

I'm going to be keeping RPMs stock, but I plan on pushing close to 300whp. I didn't want the OP to even be a worry in my head so I picked up the gears from travis.

The gasket kit is great. For many motor builds now I have gotten my water pump, timing belt, bearing set, and gasket set from "domesticgaskets" on ebay. They have fast shipping, and amazing prices. I personally will also be using a Cometic HG that I forgot to add in the original post. I picked it up brand new on ebay for $50.

I did not have any machine work done, including balancing. This build was planned, and executed to be under $1k in total cost.

Funny story, I ordered sealed power premium rings for my recent rebuild, and the oil control ringset was completely wrong. Like, Absolutely wrong. Kind of put a cloud over my day.

Explain completely wrong, cuz mine fit perfectly...

yes please elaborate, I have a package of them sitting next to me.

http://boostedmiata.com/engine_work/rebuild_kit.jpg

I can buildz you new motor too?

please do, master obi won.

Cool build. I like it.

And out your exhaust!

Been a while....Just got the motor in today with the help of Scott, Lars, and Scott(ScottFW). Got the motor pulled in less than and hour, unfortunately swapping the rest of the stuff took longer than I thought it would (I should have expected it...). Anyways, got the wheel from the 89 Buick GN Turbo and 6spd on also. Its got wheel dimensions and compressor map almost identical to a 48trim 2871r wheel. Here is some eye candy, no ebc hooked up, 6th gear.

I plan on using those Mtuned rods, they seem like a really good deal.

That they are, best deal on the market really for what you get.

What was the purpose of this post, other than to waste bandwidth?

Don't hate in my thread!