well I started my 2.3 rebuild

[lablue96]

Hello again, well I finally started the engine rebuild so that our Mazda3 can finally be back on the road. The block is at the machine shop so while I'm patiently or I should say impatiently waiting here are some pictures of what came in the mail... I have two daughters 6 and 4 and they can't escape from being in any of the pictures, you'll see them a lot through the build. I'd like to think that if we take care of the car they will drive a classic Mazda one day (by the time the oldest is 16 It should be a kind of a classic)

I Ordered a exedy stage 1 clutch an a exedy light weight flywheel

ARP main studs, and head studs

This one is just for fun, Bella likes to help and get her hands dirty, the youngest, Elena likes to just be in the pictures

I am also waiting for a SCE copper head gasket and a kit from gp-werks which comes with a ranger crankshaft, supertech pistons, eagle rods with arp bolts.
Some engine mounts are in the works too but I haven't ordered those, not sure which ones I'm getting.
I'm exited, I think this will be a fun project and hopefully i'll get to share much of it with y'all. Thanks in advance since I'll have plenty of questions.

 

[philrab]

Subbed. What's your plan with the rebuild? Obviously with the Ranger crank, light flywheel you're looking for better engine response, but what compression are you looking at? Thinking a mild street motor, or going to be leaning on it?

Definitely keeping up with this.

 

[lablue96]

It'll be a mild street motor. maybe a good starting point for future mods. I would like to have at least a good bottom end to start with. Honestly this is my wife's car, but since I'm doing the rebuild I couldn't just keep it stock and an increase in responsiveness and more hp is always good to have. I'm looking at increasing the compression some to 11-1. I'll definitely will keep posting and loading pictures as I go along with this.

 

[philrab]

It'll be a mild street motor. maybe a good starting point for future mods. I would like to have at least a good bottom end to start with. Honestly this is my wife's car, but since I'm doing the rebuild I couldn't just keep it stock and an increase in responsiveness and more hp is always good to have. I'm looking at increasing the compression some to 11-1. I'll definitely will keep posting and loading pictures as I go along with this.

If you're increasing compression, what are you doing for tuning? Not sure I'd trust the stock fuel/timing map even with 93 octane with higher compression.

Maybe need to contact Dynotronics about their remote tuning service.

 

[lablue96]

Tuning was one of the first things I started thinking about. Originally I wanted to get a camshaft as well for the engine, so I called Dynotronics and talked to their sales rep for a while. I liked that they send you the software, you download it and send them some data and then they send you the tunes. Now I'm more inclined to get their tunes, to me it seems a lot more accurate even if it's more work sending information back and forth. specially since I don't have to send my ecu like I had read. When you look up mazda3 n/a tuning there's is very little options that I could find, on the other side everybody wants to tune Mazdaspeed. oh well. Dyotronics looks good to me.

 

[philrab]

Tuning was one of the first things I started thinking about. Originally I wanted to get a camshaft as well for the engine, so I called Dynotronics and talked to their sales rep for a while. I liked that they send you the software, you download it and send them some data and then they send you the tunes. Now I'm more inclined to get their tunes, to me it seems a lot more accurate even if it's more work sending information back and forth. specially since I don't have to send my ecu like I had read. When you look up mazda3 n/a tuning there's is very little options that I could find, on the other side everybody wants to tune Mazdaspeed. oh well. Dyotronics looks good to me.

1. Be sure you tell them in advance what you're building. Just to safely run a higher compression engine, I'd want them to send you a tune with more fuel/less timing so you don't mealt down a piston while they try to tune it.

2. Be patient. The forum I'm a moderator at ran a GB with these guys for remote tuning of Mazda 3's, and while they are doing the work they are SWAMPED with work. Guess I'm saying, don't expect you're going to email them your data, and you'll be off to the races the next day. It'll take some time, but what you end up with is a factory ecu flash tuned perfectly to your setup, not some off the shelf tune you hope works.

What year is your car? As I recall, the earlier ones required installation of a wideband O2 sensor (04-05 as I recall) so that the data they get is accurate enough to tune from, while the later ones had a wideband factory installed. Just something to consider so you go into this with your eyes open.

 

[lablue96]

argghhh Snailmail

growing impatient waiting on the snail mail. I was expecting some waiting time because I was ordering around the holidays, but... what can I do.
to pass time I was messing around with the intake, I removed the shutter valves just to keep me occupied in the mean time, I don't see how this can be a negative thing.

here's a pic with two of them off.

I Ordered the Dynotronics software and cable last week so it should be here soon too. Phil, I managed to find the thread on the dynotronics at the other forum, that is a long read but it has a bunch of info. I wish I had found it before I ordered, it would've answered a lot of my questions, although talking to Joe from Dynotronics was very nice when I ordered. To give you an idea, when I called I was still under the impression that you had to send the ecu to them to have it reflashed.
I have an 06, it seems I'm all set with the o2 sensor.

 

[philrab]

Things with DT have progressed a bit. Keep the hardware you removed handy just in case. Some ran I to trouble afterwards. In theory, it shouldn't affect anything other than cold running/warmup/cold start emissions.

 

[lablue96]

Well it's been a while, but after having a 2+ month long tedious process dealing with the people over at werks, I finally got my pistons and crank, so now the block is at the machine shop. I'll get it back in a couple of weeks. They wouldn't do any work until the pistons where delivered just to be sure of the bore and clearance.
Another exiting thing is today I picked up this!!!! I think you all know what that is.

 

[Rickster66]

Lablue, good luck with the project. I'm the middle of the same thing with my 2007 2.3 hatch. I also had a tough time dealing with GPW. I got my refund many months after. I'm doing the same internals as you. 11.6:1 Supertech/Eagle Rods/Clevite Bearings - rod/mains/ARP studs main and head. The only thing I didn't do was the ranger crank. they're really expensive now, almost double the price of what they were a few years ago.

I'm also doing the Exedy Stag 1 clutch and flywheel. I've added a Godspeed intake (poor cosworth knockoff - lots of finish work required), a corksport catback exhaust and a corksport short-ram intake.

I'm also doing a dynotronics tune. I just finished assembling the bottom end and heads (replaced valve stem seals and valves). I didn't change cams or springs.

Next step is to put the head on and adjust the valve lash with the buckets. I'm hoping to get the block all done in the next two weekends.

I wasn't planning on doing a Piston-to-Valve clearance test (not sure how VVT) affects it. Do you know if you're machine top is checking the Piston to Valve clearance?