would you know what i would need to keep the car running reliable with a street port?

 

just for the hack of it...try taking out the thermostat.

you have nothing to lose

 

If you mean changes in your setup, you should have a new cat and an upgraded exhaust system to compliment the extra hp potential of the new engine. You may have some emissons problems for the frst 5-7k miles until the engine is well broken in. But it should run real sweet and fairly clean after that. I got an engine rebuild with street porting about 6k miles ago, last summer, and my 89 NA continues to improve with the mileage. I had the builder put on a Bonez hi-flow cat and an RB catback exhaust system.

 

Make SURE that you are bleeding the system properly and use OEM mazda thermostat and radiator cap. I chased an overheating problem for a week a couple years back and you'll NEVER guess what it actually was...

It turns out it was a combination of 3 things:
-bad motor mounts
-a parts store radiator cap
-my GREX strut bar

The motor mounts allowed the engine to shift too much during on/off throttle and the parts store radiator cap (which was a bit taller than OEM) would hit my GREX strut brace and gradually loosen after a few miles allowing air into the system and the car to start loosing coolant and heating up. UN-REAL I fixed the mounts and got an OEM radiator cap which I will never drive without again...the mazda piece and parts store pieces are completely different!!