New acquisition

wither48

Member
Hey everyone! Picked this bad boy up recently for a song and in need of some love. I'm waiting on parts at the moment, but I'm gonna be doing a head gasket, water pump, timing set, and some small maintenance items to go with it. I'm going to have a machine shop look at the head to make sure its all squared away, and I was wondering if there's anything else I should have then to to help with longevity or performance. Looking for some best practice type things, not intending to build the head or motor. Depending on how money shakes out I may fix her up for my little brother or I may swap in a 5 speed from my buddies parts car and keep her as a nice little daily. I've messed with bp motors in Miatas but this is my first protege.

Thanks all


P.s. I was looking at Haynes books but apparently the one for the protege is 90-03 and reviews say it's really spotty for the later cars. What do y'all think?
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Our FS engine is notorious for burning oil. Up to a quart every 250 miles.

The oil rings on the pistons seize up and let oil past them while the compression stays fine.

You might consider doing a ring job while you're in there.

 
Our FS engine is notorious for burning oil. Up to a quart every 250 miles.

The oil rings on the pistons seize up and let oil past them while the compression stays fine.

You might consider doing a ring job while you're in there.

Is there any way to do that without pulling the engine? I was hoping to make this somewhat quick in terms of tear down
 
I managed to pull that from my parts car without removing the engine.

You remove the oil pan then the upper oil pan to gain access to the connecting rods.

You have to drill through the housing to gain access to two bolts on the edge of the upper oil pan.

There's some pictures and info on my "unbuild thread".
I just wanted to quickly tear into my parts car to look at a piston.

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123867976-PCB-s-Unbuild-Thread

I remember MrGiggles did a "quick and sloppy" ring job on his car. I'm not quite sure what all that entails.
 
I managed to pull that from my parts car without removing the engine.

You remove the oil pan then the upper oil pan to gain access to the connecting rods.

You have to drill through the housing to gain access to two bolts on the edge of the upper oil pan.

There's some pictures and info on my "unbuild thread".
I just wanted to quickly tear into my parts car to look at a piston.

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123867976-PCB-s-Unbuild-Thread

I remember MrGiggles did a "quick and sloppy" ring job on his car. I'm not quite sure what all that entails.
I'll probably hold off on the rings then tbh. If it ends up needing them I'd rather do it properly and with bearings too
 
A bunch of people have had some luck with engine oil treatments to free up their oil rings.

It would suck for you to do all that work then to find your engine is burning oil like a mofo.

Can you drive the car now to get a sense if it burning oil before you tear into it ??
 
A bunch of people have had some luck with engine oil treatments to free up their oil rings.

It would suck for you to do all that work then to find your engine is burning oil like a mofo.

Can you drive the car now to get a sense if it burning oil before you tear into it ??
It wasn't smoking at all before the head gasket went, but now it's making very bad compression. The head gasket is total toast, so it won't even start
 
Don't forget to rotate your engine over a couple of times after the belt is installed to check your timing again.

I had my belt on and off a dozen times before I finally got it right.
 
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