Status on my rebuild.. for those who are curious
 

I finally got it running decently yay!

Its a rebuilt engine with Atkins 2mm seals and teflon encapsulated water seals. Hylomar was used on all o-rings as well as all paper gaskets.

Engine also has 4 new fuel injectors w/ inline resitors wired in. New water pump, new clutch, all new rubber including hoses and belts.


Anyway.. I got it started relativly easy yesterday. It only smoked for about 30 seconds. Was idling at 1500rpm for a while. Low Coolant buzzer went off 4 times (eek). I guess there just wasnt enough coolant in it. that got me worried that i had a bad coolant seal. My worries about that are gone though... Car doesnt smoke, coolant doesnt overflow, and it has been running at 1/4 temp and hasnt set off a coolant light after about 2 hours of idling.

Only smoke present is a very light mist of smoke on startup which is premix i beleive (maybe i used a bit too much? that and the engine floods a little at startup therefore its getting too much premix)

Engine is running decently smooth. I drove around the block and its already got a good amount of power, i was very pleased.

Now im off to go play with the idle and whatnot. Thanks to everyone who helped me with this!

Oh, and you all will be glad to know where the car came from...

$500 88 SE that was badly abused and headed for the scrap pile.

I saved it :D

Your avatar is stikingly similar. Except yours runs now! Was this your first rebuild? How'd it go? I am still trying to figure out what to do with my turbo engine. Pineapple, J-spec, J-spec/rebuild, rebuild my own, etc.

sounds like things are going well for you. it's a good feeling when it starts up for the first time. the coolant light just came on b/c when the thermostat opens it sucks in more coolant through the system, you should let the car run for a while w/ the rad cap off the get the air out of the system

i'm starting the rebuild on my jspec motor now. I paid $650 for my TII w/ blown motor. thing sat for a year or two. I like to think i saved it too:)

how much for the atkins seals?
did you port it or anything?

I wish I had such good luck, my car's been sitting for a year without ever running right once!

It was my own rebuild. everything including a new clutch, water pump, injectors etc has cost me around $1500 not including tools.

Was also my first rebuild, it was somewhat easy. I had to pull the engine back apart 3 times before I got it right because I kept forgetting to measure things. I also lost a lot of money using Vasoline which expanded my o-rings. Use hylomar :D

I didnt do any porting on it since the consensus seems to be that 6 ports dont port very well. The atkins seals I got in a kit from rotaryaviation for $500 which also included teflon combustion rings, viton oil rings, FD corner seal springs, apex seal springs, side seal spings, and a few more misc o-rings. The atkins 2 pc seals were easy as pie to isntall and keep in place.

Their kit is NOT complete however as it does not include oil pan gasket, front cover gasket, intake and exhaust manifold gaskets etc etc. They instead provide you with a tube of Ultra Grey RTV. I did end up using RTV alone for the front cover and oil pan, I purchased new gaskets for exhaust and intake manifolds as well as the water pump.

I would HIGHLY recommend using Hylomar on all gaskets instead of RTV. I had to pull the ening apart a few times and the gaskets that I used hylomar on could simply be stuck back in place, often without even having to reapply more RTV.

Between the housings I used the supplied brushable sealant. So far there are no oil leaks from the engine itself (oil cooler lines are a different story). I ended up killing a few of the dowel pin o-rings, but isntead of paying $4 each form Mazda I bought a pack of similar sized ones from Autozone for a mere $1.79. Dont let the price fool you, they are made from the same BUNA-N material.

For cleaning I found the best method was actually a wire cup brush and a drill. Took about 15 minutes to get the rotor itself spotless clean with the wire brush. Dont worry about scratching as the soft steel brushes dont mar up the surface. In fact I used the same brush on the intake manifold and non only did it clean the flange surface without scratching, it also polished it to a beautiful polished aluminum finish! I used the brush on the outside of the aluminum as well to make it look pretty.

For cleaning internal parts I used the CHEM-DIP gallon bucket which I must say worked EXCELLENT. Carbon literally turned to goo and would simply wipe off parts. 12 hours of soaking left my 6P sleeves looking like new after a quick swipe of a dry rag. I also sprayed carb cleaner into all the ports while the engine was apart. I stuck a rag through one end of the port and pulled it out the other and pulled it back and forth. The ports afterwards were spotless clean and the 6PI sleeves slide like they are on ball bearings.

While I was at it I purchased rebuilt fuel injectors from NOPIonline.com for a mere $28 a piece. I simply wired in 10 ohm resitors at the CPU to use the low imp injectors. These injectors came with all new pintle caps,grommets, and o rings. I also replaced the dreaded pulsation dampner with a Banjo Bolt from baker precision parts.

In case anyone was wondering which vendors are good and not, I'll give yall a short review of ones I dealt with.

rotaryaviation.com
*****
Fast shipping, good price. Good to deal with.


Mazdatrix.com
*****
One of the best parts place out there. Most items are shipped to me in 3 days flat. Excellent service and decent prices. This is THE place for FC parts.


bakerprecision.com parts
**
Took 2 weeks to recive a simple banjo bolt. They also charged my $7 shipping to ship a 1/2 ounce bolt from CA to AZ. I wont buy from them again.


RacingBeat.com
*****
Another great vendor. Recived my order within 3 days. I plan to buy from them again. Good prices also.


NOPIonline.com
*****
Best prices ive found. My fuel injectors arrived in 6 days. DEFINETLY will buy from again.


Partsamerica.com
***
Good vendor with goog prices and quick shipping. You have to watch these guys tho bcause they will opccasionally send oyu the wrong part. They sent me intake gaskets for a turbo :(


Thats it for now. Hope this makes a good read :D

sounds like its going well, and glad you saved another seven, Please keep us informed,

-Chris

another RX saved :)

I saved my 89 TII...it's basically back from the dead :) $500 as well...of course that doesn't include the thousands ive poured into it.

Jameson

Nice Job!
Now I am even more inspired to go with my own rebuilt! (If the engine parts aren't messed up too bad..)

Good job man keep it up! :D

I hope it inspires more peopel to do it themselves lol

With the exception of Kevin, the price peopel charge to do a rebuild is mostly what i would cal rediculous. You can save $1000+ if you do it yourself.