D-town R2

Your comments/ suggestions Please.

History:

Mostly stock 94 R2 63K mi, bought in Massachusetts October 2000. Delivered to my door on a snowy December morning covered in 2 feet of snow and 1000 miles of winter slime. Drove it off the flatbed and went no where. Temp gauge pegged immediately so I pushed it into the garage where it sat until spring. Thawed it out, changed the fluids, and drove it with not too many problems. The car had a tendency to smoke after I shut it down. There looked to be a small oil pan leak. Either way, boost remained pretty good and continued to drive. Water temps went high real quick, and the engine gurgled and popped when is shut it off.
A little while before I cooked the motor, the primary boost tended to hover around 3-4 psi and then kick up when the second came in.

Well I got pulled over one night after a period of extended boosting and all is history. The next day the car started and idled very rough. Within a minute, white clouds of sweet smelling smoke pourd out the exhaust. Coolant in the combustion chambers. That was almost a year ago. Haven't touched the car for a long time.

Present time:

Have pulled the engine out completely. That Mazda manual could have been a little better organized. Had done eveything from the engine removal section and the engine would not come out. Finally found out the clutch release bearing neeed to be released from the clutch thing-a-ma-gigger. Ended up unbolting the pressure plate from the fly wheel, its toast.

I have a street ported motor with 3mm apex seals from Atkins arriving Monday. I have a huge list of modifications/ replacements to be done and am looking for your insights.

My goal is to get this thing running by the end of may. we'll see.

So far the mods include:

rebuilt turbos w/ 1.23 milled wastegate
Rebuilt transmission (I had to match speeds in 5th)
New Water pump and gaskets
all new cooling hoses
PWR Radiator (rx7store.net)
Thinking of running Evans Coolant (comments please)
Silicon Vacuum hoses
Apexi turbo timer
New engine mounts (both mine were shattered causing the air pump pulley to cut through the turbo in take hoses) Effect on turbos?
All new gaskets
Oil pan (mine is dented)
Supra fuel pump
Cleaned, balanced and blueprinted injectors (RC engineering)
ACT street clutch
engine torque brace
HKS downpipe Ceramic coating? Yay or nay
Apexi intake
new belts
new intake pipes
H20 temp gauge install
A/F gauge? are these accurate?
suspension mods / replacement coming soon


I'm keeping it sequential, and don't want to replace the ECU yet. I'm looking for reliability first, then the power.
My list so far totals close to $8K, so I'm hesitant to do much more.

Let me know what you think. This car looks like the previous owner was a hack. He used silicone as a thread lock! WTF. The ECU also has some strange markings on it and says mazda remanufactured. No a real confidence builder.

jpandes

D-town,

I don't have any opinons on your engine rebuild. I do have questions, since I am in the process of reasearching for my own rebuild/motor swap.

I am trying to decide on which motor builder to buy a motor from. I have heard both good and bad about Atkins. What led you to go with them? Also, I am going with a ported motor as well. Don't you NEED an upgraded ECU?

John

DamonB

What is the question you are asking? Looks like you will have a nice reliable engine install.

(The Mazda manual does explain how to release the cltuch release bearing from the pressure plate. Shall I give you the page number? )

D-town R2

I finally found the page with the release information, but when we tried it, it was too late, already had the trans unbolted from the engine. Removing the pressure plate worked well, but its junk now.

DamonB: My question is this: How can I run the engine without doing any more to the fuel system and not grenading my motor?

jpandes: I chose atkins because If they make engines that can last in an airplane, the must be reliable. I have sent them numerous emails and they are very knowledgable. Of course I hadn't talked to Pineapple yet either. I spoke with them yesterday, and they also seem to know a ton. I think they also replace more parts than Atkins does. It is worth your time to call and find out exactly what will be replaced and what reliability mods they do and why.

I bought my motor through a very shady ebay deal. It will be here Monday. I have no warranty because it is a second party sale. Needless to say I'm a little worried

I have a complete second engine that needs to be rebuilt. If the Atkins goes smoothly, I'd have them do another one. I might even do it myself. That's a ways off though.

DamonB

It is generally accepted conventional wisdom here that a stock port engine and a stock computer will allow you a catback, a downpipe and an intake. Personally I stopped with the catback and downpipe because I flog the crap at of my car at the track and in the end need the utmost in reliability (and confidence in the motor).

At the minimum I would get a reprogrammed ecu for the streetport and exhaust mods. Don't tempt fate without reprogramming the ecu.

jpandes

GOOD POINT!

I wish you luck with your engine swap. Keep us posted.

D-town R2

I am fretting about the fuel situation. Here are some of my ideas:

Ghetto style: Increase fuel pressure. New fuel pressure regulator and gauge.

Home depot boost limiter

Sure bet: PFC with pressure regulator and stock injectors?

aftermarket wastegate? A friend threw this one out there.

I've got to do some more research re: the capability of the current stock injectors. I figure if I can get them to flow enough for 350bhp, I should be ok.

Gonna go chase this one down.

D-town R2

Finished removing accessories from the engine this weekend. Went almost too smoothly.

Upon removing the stock turbos, I noticed the cause of my engine troubles. Blown hole through exhaust manifold. see pic. I don't know how this happened, but I'll bet its from excess heat. There is an aluminum disk on the the other side, that is incenerated and caked on my turbine.

Needless to say I will be needing a new manifold. Crap.

cavellm

If you're even somewhat considering upgrading the fuel system, get an ECU!

Otherwise your brand new engine won't last you past the first time you floor it.

If reliability is your first concern, drop some of your other mods and get yourself a PFC.

paw140

I can't tell from the pic, but are you sure that hole is not supposed to be there? I don't see how exhaust could burn a hole through cast iron without melting the whole thing, not to mention melting the aluminum rotor housings too. I've heard of manifolds cracking, but not this.

es

That hole is supposed to be there. If you pull the manifold off of the short block you'll see that it runs to an EGR port.

Aluminum disk? That doesn't make any sense to me. Aluminum in any exhaust system will melt, & burn away...

D-town R2

This engine had problems. When the engine blew I was just getting ready to replace the radiator.

Check out the turbo manifold. Your comments please:

DamonB

Dear god! Those cracks are huge!

I have never seen an exhaust manifold in such poor condition!

dubulup

Holy COW! That's bad...

paw140

Cracks are normal, but good lord! I've never seen one nearly that bad!

Nameless

jpandes play it safe and go with Pineapple.

D-town R2

es:

You are right as far as I can tell. I thought the hole looked way to jagged for a Mazda part. Those edges can't be good for flow.

How come the other port has a small silver disc that covers an identical sized hole? What is that disc for?

I thought that hole was part the water jacked, not EGR. Maybe because mine is filled with coolant from some other source. I'll post a pic tomm. I haven't seen another manifold, so I don't know what to compare it to.

Later

paw140

I think the disk and hole you are referring to is your wastegate.

D-town R2

That hole is in the manifold that mates the turbos to the engine block. I have seen it on other manifolds, but it still looks way too sketchy.

The new engine has arrived. Guess I should order my parts now.

D-town R2

Update:

I finally have all the little parts. Billy at Malloy Mazda did an excellent job making sure I had the right parts. Cost a fortune, but less expensive than anywhere else.

Radiator, DP, MP, ACT clutch, RB flywheel, Toe links, trailing arms, supra pump, EGT, H2O, gauge, turbo timer,
Sway bar mounts and reinforcement, all gaskets and o rings, balanced injectors from RC engineering, and a bunch of broken screws and nuts. All ready to install.

Bryan at BNR did a stage 2 upgrade to my turbos and replaced my burnt housings. I should have those by the end of the week.

My transmission should be rebuilt by Friday as well.

I'm trying to find the source of an oil leak that gummed up the radiator and caused the engine failure.

It has taken forever to clean the car. There is oil everywhere and on everything.

Discovered my sway bar mounts were cracked where they attach to the subframe, RB replacements and Sway bar support.

My brake booster has leaked fluid ruining the paint on the drivers side engine compartment; which should be repainted by the end of today. I'll post some before and after pictures when I get a chance.

The radiator will be installed tomorrow as well as the RB flywheel.

I'm still trying to find someone to pressure check my oil coolers.

The plan is to have it back together by the 15th. We'll see.

dubulup

Nice work...I like the update.

7racer

Glad to see you "saving" a seven....

I'm with cavell, if your going that far I think you need to get a PFC.

BTW, which turbo rebuild are you opting for? BNR? M2? 99spec?

D-town R2

I am hoping to get the car to run with the stock ECU. After I confirm the car functions correctly I'll switch to the PFC. I just want it running. I will be removing the pills to keep the boost down while I put around.

With proper discilpline, It should be fine.

7racer: I have had extensive converstaions with Bryan at BNR. We decided to go with Stage 2 and keep it sequential. I'll lose enough driveability with the lightened flywheel, I didn't want to make it worse by increasing the lag even further. He is also installing an Autometer EGT bung into the centersection of the exhaust just before the down pipe but after the turbine blades.

I had looked at getting 99 J-spec turbos, but could not speak enough Japanese to get what I was looking for. I wanted the warranty.

My turbos we the most destroyed Bryan had ever seen. He is convinced they have well over 100,000 miles on them, which is funny because my engine only had 66K. Now I'm starting to think something is up with my stock ECU since it has a "Mazda Remanufactured" stivker & some strange paint pen marking on it. I have no idea what happened to this car before I got it. ****. I'm going to have to make sure the ECU hasn't been modded.

93blackrx

holy **** dude those have got to be the largest cracks I've ever seen!!!

D-town R2

yes, crack kills. Any idea why they're so huge?

93blackrx: are you running sequential and at what rpm do you launch from for daily driving? Is there a driveability issue with the lightened flywheel? I have a lot of stop signs on my street.