Feeling defeated and frustrated, I decided to take apart the top of the engine. I have been planning this for a while and was at least fairly familiar wit the process. After reading the write ups here... I jumped in and got to work. It was pretty straight forward to do. I will say that getting the dynamic chamber unstuck was tricky. I used the razor blade method to get some of the sealant split and still struggled. I ended up lightly tapping on top with a hammer with a 2x4 between the hammer and the intake. That did the trick, I then rocked it in the opposite direction. It came off perfectly after that. I will not post many pictures as the threads by @WondrousBread @rlynchster are quite good, thank you two, I appreciate the threads!!

I will say, do not take the injectors off or anything else after the top section is off before you clean off the dirt and oil if you have any. This is the dirt that fell into the injector hole after I did not clean first.




I did see see that the primary injector seals were hard and one of them seemed to be leaking or just had dirt jammed between the seal and the engine. I will send those out for an cleaning and new seals soon. Hopefully it solves the miss I was hearing.

Under there was quite oily and dirty.




I used a small brass brush and some Gunk Foamy. While cleaning it gives you a chance to familiarize yourself with the layout. After many rounds of cleaning and rinsing with water, I can actually see what is going on much better. I removed the engine hoist parts. I then took out the wiring harness after loosening the rack and then took out the solenoid rack with fuel lines.

Not super clean in there, it is still a far sight better than it was.





I did label everything and took a bunch of pictures. I am still worried that this could become an absolute disaster. I have some ideas to keep the hose routing from becoming an issue because I will be replacing all vacuum lines and as many coolant lines as I can that haven't been replaced already. Considering I know very little about throttle body refurbishing.... that part has me very worried.... maybe more than hose routing. I will continue on though and do my best.....

 

Use a hand vacuum pump to check the EGR valve in that picture. . . .If it does not hold vacuum, blank it off with a kit.

Move slow and don't break plastic .. . Now would be a good time to change the vacuum lines to silicone.. . . Always spin the tubing off a plastic nipple. never pull.

 

Thanks for the write-up and the heads up about the EGR. The engine is clean enough now that I am not worried if I need to take it off. I have read a lot of posts and you have been very diligent about telling people about the EGR, otherwise I may have overlooked it, thanks.

I will likely hold off on more engine work until I get jack stands. My back cramped up a lot while doing the work with flat tires. An extra 6" of height or less will be a big help. My old stands are death traps so, the back of the car is on bricks now.

I was hoping to do some more work on the car today tomorrow and the weekend. However, life had different plans. The clutch master on my daily that was replaced in November just gave out.

 

If you only pull, it is like a Chinese finger lock.

I'm reusing my 35-year-old stock vacuum hoses. After cleaning them with soap & water, I coat the outside with silicon grease and wipe it off the next day.
If the hose slips loosely onto the nipple, I add a drop of ATF to swell the end of the old vacuum line.

What do you think of my fix?

 

Most of my hoses were stuck on very tight. When they were removed, they stretched out and didn't fit well again. I was considering re-using the molded hoses with very small high pressure hose clamps on them. I did buy lengths of silicone hose based on the Mazdatrix estimated length and size needed for the 13B. I suppose we'll see how it goes. I know of at least one odd shaped one on the BAC will likely need reused.

As for your idea, only you can really make the decision that is right for you. Just be sure to pressure/time test your work before the engine is fully assembled. You have been working very hard at getting your car finished, having something go completely sideways at the end would be a bit deflating.

 

Not much of an update for now. I lost some time with the clutch issues on my daily driver. Otherwise mostly cleaning and taking apart the upper intake and solenoid rack.

I did receive my DIY compression tester. I modified the box for a 9vdc jack and and extension cable. I ordered the jack for 9vdc and the wall wart. I had some extra panel mount XLR jacks from building an amp rack and some XLR cable ends from making Mic cables so, I used a panel mount female on the top of the box and a male cable end on the sensor wire. I set it up so you can add an extra cable when needed. I will likely use a five foot cable. Up to a nine foot cable can be used per the manual.

I will mod the box for a power switch eventually. I just couldn't find a small flush panel mount switch. I want to add a switched jack if I can find one as well with an internal battery. When plugged into the power jack, it will bypass the battery with a switch in the jack. With the main power switch, you won't drain the battery when you disconnect the wall wart. For now a 9v battery with a proper cable end will be sufficient for remote use.

Having a battery powered compression tester in your bin at a rotary meet or when buying a car would be pretty handy.

I only have one picture. I didn't think anyone wanted to see my questionable solider work or the accidental scratches that I left on the box.

 

I am not just another person with a half finished project car yet..... I had many half finished projects on the car at the same time, lately. I will try to make sense of what I have completed or mostly completed.

I started by taking apart the solenoid rack.




I then bought a cheap pan to sit it in Evaporust. That started to leak so, I stuck it in the 5 gallon bucket of what is left of the Evaporust that I bought.




After that I soaked it in the Rust Kutter, let it dry and scrubbed it clean. I painted it with brake paint and baked the paint on there.




I then cleaned/tested and labeled the solenoids with paint markers. I then reassembled the rack with new silicone hose and the labeled solenoids.




Some old hose was on for now, it was easier to see old routing to the dynamic chamber and LIM.
I took good pictures of the old setup with labels, refrenced my Haynes manual and looked at my spare engine for stuff I was confused on.

 

While paint was drying, etc, I was cleaning.... a really long drawn out cleaning. Inside and out of the intake parts and dynamic chamber. The chamber had paint on it from the factory so, epoxy paint stripper was used. The insides were cleaned with Gunk Foaming, Wax and grease remover and various small tools and rags. Were these parts ever gummed up, wow

Just as a side note, when you use throttle body cleaner without the engine at high rev's, the dirty cleaner sits in the bottom of the intake and hardens.





I thought that I had more pictures of the insides and the hardening but I don't. There were many days soaking, cleaning, and scrubbing on the inside.

 

I did take out the diffusers. The trick is to clean all of the gum that is holding them in place first, then gently push and wiggle. Mine came out very easily and did not break. I replaced the rubber gasket later when reinstalling.

 

While these were soaking I was scraping the old gasket.... for a very long time. Never again for these parts, I used some Mazda grey on the parts when installing.

I don't have any before of the nasty gasket but the above pics show it pretty well. I stupidly thought that the LIM was stuck and jammed a screw driver in there to pop it loose only to realize I remove the exhaust manifold nuts instead. It left some marks on the LIM, live and learn I suppose.

I then wire wheeled the outside of the removed parts.



After I cleaned the outside I took 600 and 1000 grit wet paper to the mating surfaces. I cleaned everything with wax and grease remover. I then prepped for paint.

 

This is the carbon in the irons.




And the carbon blocked EGR that I took off to replace with a block off plate.

 

I had some cleaning to do before the LIM came off, to back up a little. All the water I cleaned with was stuck in the valley. I dried that up first.




Over the years this valley collected, maybe some leaked antifreeze from me not draining it correctly from the bottom of the radiator before removing hoses and coolant seaped into some into the gasket area.





More cleaning to do, too.

 

I installed the secondary injectors into the primary holes to keep out the dirt while I sent the prinaries to be cleaned and seals replaced. My injectors were in good condition besides the leaking seals. This should cure the slight miss the engine had. The gasket clearly was leaking on one of them, just a little bit.

Much of this process of the LIM,UIM has been well documented here before so, I don't have many pictures of the processes, step by step.

While this was happening I was painting parts and adding a sensor ground wire to the front harness. I needed to stop and start a lot while adding the ground. My back gets very stiff bending like that and then I can't stand straight.

I used old sub amp power cable that I used in another 7 that I owned years ago. I will never have a sub box in my car so, I put it to use. As a side note, this is the first step in me doing a star grounding scheme conversion to this car.




This is either 4 or 2AWG. probably overkill, I m ok with that. I took off the old tape from the harness, added the new ground while removing the old ground. Very little by way of brittle wires were found. This harness has a few exposed wires very close to the engine that were cooked. Otherwise it is all good.
I really don't have anything new to add to wrapping a harness. Watch some youtube videos. They will do it better than me. I use one layer of electrical tape and one layer of harness tape anywhere the harness was close to the engine and one layer of electrical tape elsewhere.
I only have one thing to add to this... I found a factory splice in the sensor ground wire. This looks like the factory fix for the pressure sensor grounding issue, if I had to guess.




I left one side attached that went back to the ECU and cut the remainder. So the story here is, on a car that is an 87 or above, DO NOT remove the ground wire at the rack and the ECU and cut the ends. If you are running a new cable. You will be missing a sensor ground!!
I added solider, sealed it up and moved on.



I did this all the way to the ECU and removed the harness from the firewall. I then traced the sensor grounds and cut all of them free. I added long 14awg tails for later.

To utilize such a big sensor ground wire, I used a buss bar. I cut a 12" piece to 6" and drilled holes.


I didn't lay out the holes very well and had dull bits so, the smaller bits walked some, it looked a bit sloppy. The bigger bits worked well. You know your bits are sharp and your drill speed is good when you get the curls.




I then decided on a place to float the bar. I added lugs to the wires, cleaned the bar and coated with no-ox. I then added lugs with more no-ox and nuts/bolts. A bit sloppy, but done.






I then added tape around the bar and stuffed it back into the firewall. That part is not completed yet though. The remaining harness was left disconnected and laying loose in the engine bay until later.

There is more but I am out of time today to post.

 

I was starting to need to really get the LIM back on again by now. I had finished much of the work possible before this happened so, I did a group bake for all the intake parts. I needed to add the black lettering on the dynamic chamber before baking.






I had used brake paint on all parts, I was concerned if I sprayed the letters I would get some leakage and over-spray. Since I didn't have a brush, I sprayed brake paint on a piece of paper and dabbed black paint on with a q-tip. Not a good way to do it but it worked ok. I hand sanded the cooling fins, I should have went a bit deeper, I like the look though. As this ages, it will darken so that will be neat to watch.

I really don't have before and after pics of the other stuff. This was the most dramatic change though, you get the idea.

 

Just as a side note, I forgot that I also used some throttle body cleaner to clean the intake track. I did test the purple cleaner on the stock port sleeves. Overnight, it worked very well. I have options now when I tear down my spare engine. I forgot to buy the Atkins sleeves when I made the order. So, back in these went.




While above mentioned was baking I replaced the last of the hard to get to coolant hoses. After the LIM was on and torqued, it was time to redo the oil injectors and OMP hoses. Mine were not brittle at all, I tried to break one and nada. Looking at this one very dark hose, I just decided to go for it anyway. Seeing the oil in the new hose here is a good thing.




This is pretty well documented here so, I don't have much to add to the conversation. I blew through the injectors and one seemed just a little clogged. I cleaned the injectors and annealed the washers.



I took off one hose at a time and made a hose to match. reusing the banjo fitting after cleaning, painting and sanding smooth the mating surfaces. I didn't try to mimic the original bends much, I just got it close enough.



I then rebuilt the vacuum spider. I sliced the hose of with a razor to avoid breaking the spider. and again, not perfect but close enough.





Can you see where I messed up...? The OMP rod is on the wrong side of the new hoses. Luckily, I did not torque the lower banjo's yet.

 

I cleaned and painted the injectors with a paint marker after they returned from getting redone. I realized that the secondaries fit tighter in the holes than the primaries so, I swapped them. I think the other company I used for these ones were using cheaper seals, They seem just a bit smaller. I am hoping for the best.




I tied to install the fuel rail after I painted it and the EGR block off plate was to far over to get the rail back on correctly, So, I loosened the plate bolts and slightly shifted it over. I then tightened the rail and and then the plate. I then installed a new damper and the other fitting with new hose and clips.

I then needed to put in the wire harness. One braket is connected to the LIM so I backed the bolt from the LIM and mounted the harness to the LIM. I got the engine front part of the harness in and routed the cable around the engine. I added a lug to the new ground for use in an unused bolt hole. I then made a ground jumper from the engine to the firewall. I used another piece of the large gauge wire with loom/tape and ran it to the stock firewall postion. The routing for the ground strap looked good while test fitting with the rack. I did not test fit the rear part of the wire harness correctly.




If you have done this work before, you'll see what I did wrong. The rear harness is to far to the rear. it needed to be closer to the front to fit with the rack. I then needed to swap postitions with the other ground because if i left the ground there with a tighter bend, the minimum bend radius would have been way beyond max.




To you eagle eyed people out there, you will see small ground wires with the larger wires Those are coil grounds. After doing some reading it is recommended to ground the coils to the engine. I will isolate the coils from the chassis and ground them with the 16awg wire ran to the engine. It is an easy mod to reverse so, I went for it.

 

With this done and other stuff that I can't remember now, it was time for reassembly.






I coated the mating surfaces with a very light painting of Mazda grey after cleaning with wax and grease until it was clean on the rag. After everything was in place and torqued, it was time to connect the new hoses.





I don't care for the look of silicone on the dynamic chamber as they are not formed. Maybe it will grow on me?

There is some more to post but this is all for now.

 

Thanks for the pictures, I need to see how the harnesses route!

 

This is looking great! Really brings me back too, except your work is much better than mine, I wish I took more photos when I did my GXL's first rebuild. Can't wait to see it all finished up!

 

Funny enough, my next post was going to mention how I messed up twice while putting this back in. Don't forget there is a harness mounting spot on the nut for the alternator.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I have taken more pictures while doing this than every picture I have taken in my whole life and I am almost 50, it does help for more than forum posts.
Your car looks great, keep at it. You might "finish" some day. As many know these cars are a work in progress for a long time. Whether it be money or time constraints.

Most of the work I am doing now, most will never see. As it in the engine compartment or under the car. For the most part I am just doing my take on "write-ups" "What would I do in conjunction with all the great information on here?" I would have regretted not adding the ground wire or painting the intake parts. It is time consuming and labor intensive but very cheap to do DIY. I call it a refurbishing because this is far short of a restoration.

Unfortunately, the outside of the car will look kinda bad for quite a few years. I just can't justify spending that kind of money right now. And considering I am doing the paint work on the fender and bumper myself. The car has almost 40 year old paint with multiple digs, etc, too.

The interior is in good shape yet beside the damage that I have dine since owning it. So, not much work there besides cleaning, which should be kinda easy and taking off the dash which is not.

The original idea was to replace the rear tow bushings and get the car ready for inspection. Then it became, "while I am here, I might as well do this other thing too." 2 years of warm weather work later, I am still at it and it isn't even inspected yet.
The "just good enough build" on here is what I was aiming for and I over did it. It's OK because I don't regret a minute of it.

 

Ok, thanks for the info, I will try to figure out the harness mounting spot on the alternator.

Common sense would assume that this spot is under the pivot mounting bolt nut.

I hooked up all transmission and starter wiring, Found the oil pressure sensor wire and hooked that up also.

Close to the pressure sensor is the coolant temp sensor, but there isn't a connector coming from this harness that fits!

I did find a round connector on the other harness on the passenger side, how the hell is that going to reach!?

Oh yeah, I'll remember all these connections two years later.

Yesterday I only broke the condenser wire! You know, the one that bolts to the clutch slave cylinder! Can't even see that bolt.

Anyway, can you please post some pictures showing the correct routing of the harnesses for a S4 N/A?
Thanks!

 

The easy one first, round one on the passenger side is a ground.



The remaining passenger side.





The alternator bracket, I smashed flat and re-bent it. I was struggling to figure out how it fit with no pictures. This could be wrong.

 

Near the CAS



It has a weird kind of twist there and curves down.



The wires in the back of the curve go to the sensor ground part on the clutch slave.

 

It makes another curve and on to the firewall.