Kevin as far as I know, there’s no off the shelf custom pistons for B2000 engines. I’ll take what I can get.
Right now I’m waiting for a coworker to talk to his Ford hotrodding buddy to see if they’ll help me rebuild the engine and get a quote. Even though it’s being rebuilt under ideal conditions and no blown gaskets, I’d like to get the Deck and Head looked at by a machinist and maybe levelled if need be. Maybe he can get this engine running hot and ready for woodgas octane.
Sounds good, have them check the bore wear- but as long as it wassant smokeing-i would just ring it is all checks out ok- from your friends connections. I have heard of raising the compression from milling the deck-but then you have to make sure there is enough metal too be safe on block surface possible warping-not sure how one would know what is not too much metal shaved off the deck, maybe can shave a little on head and block,with out looseing any strength. or how to tell how much compression gained.KEEP US POSTED ON WHAT YOU FIND OUT THANKS
Been thirty years since I built a performance engine. Even then machine shop work was barely in my budget and Mechanics weren’t going for $140 an hour then. To get an engine hot tanked and line bored would be way out side my social security checks ability now. I think that unless you are planning to run 8000 rpm with maybe 11 to 1 CR it’s not worth the expense.
Just thought the same thing. didint your engine not run well when you drove it?
Jan it ran okay, it’s just a matter of it being overdue for a rebuild. It smokes a little on startup, so it definitely needs new rings. If I’m going to replace the rings I may as well rebuild the rest.
Ok, it’s not just the valve seals then?
The engine has 200,000 Miles so I’m not sure. I doubt it’s ever been rebuilt because the previous owner didn’t put any notes down for that in the manual. I just want to set this truck up for success by having the engine in top condition.
Carbon in the piston rings is a common issue in Japanese engines. I also would like to replace all my bearings simply due to its age and rough life.
keep in mind there is a stigma that follows the imports about smoke: they all smoke. Honda, Mazda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Suzuki all of them they are known to smoke at start up and under hard accelerations. I have seen 50,000 mile engines do it and a common mistake people make is assuming the smoke is due to worn valve seals and rings they will run a thicker oil 10w30 or 10w40 the idea is the thicker oil will slow the consumption which isnt really true, but what it does do all these imports share a common factor in that their oil return passages are much smaller in size then American made engines of the same era. This means the thicker oil resides in the top end longer then needed, giving valve seals a better chance to leak in oil. Another common issue is cheap aftermarket heads which do not line up the oil return passages correctly causing the same issue of the oil stays in the top end to long submerging the valve seals. Suzuki samurais, sidekick and the geo metro and Suzuki swift Honda accords and civics i have seen this many many many times over the years. Experienced it first hand on a Suzuki samurai of my own previous owner had swapped on a new head when the head gasket blew some years ago and it had smoked like a freight train ever since. When i pulled that engine down the oil return drain hole in the head was covered 3/4 by improper alignment. Under a hard sustained pull i could watch oil pressure drop slowly, the head was filling with oil the valves would get quiter and bottom end would get louder. When i found the problem it had already smoked 2 rod bearings. Also ran into something similar on a first gen 20r Toyota i owned some years ago where a 22r head gasket was used and it covered most of the coolant passages that engine ran hot from the day i got it. little details inspecting parts as you tear down the motor can explain a lot of things. i would wager even more important to inspect the new parts you get before they ever get bolted on the engine
Got my insurance renewed on the Mazda. Now I just need to take a day off to re-register the truck.
It’s funny though, because the online DMV service says I can still just renew my old registration. Only problem is I already turned in the tag last year!
Got the old dash out and my original dash out, ready to swap mine into the donor truck.
After that I’ll need to work on the door seals and window channels, change the door locks, and figure out if my driver’s side door panel works on the donor truck’s door.
THEN I’ll swap my engine over to the donor since it’s engine threw a rod. Allegedly the transmission is like new rebuilt.
I was going to rebuild my engine but in all honesty I’m going to try Marcus’ solution to the smoking on startup by just using 5w30 instead of 10w30, as well as being strict about using marvel mystery oil to clean up the engine. I will be changing the water pump and timing belt etc, maybe the head gasket and intake gasket.
Apparently the head bolts on a Mazda FE engine are reusable as they are not Torque to Yield.
I still wonder what the heck makes that God awful knocking/tapping noise when the engine is running, some people blame the mechanical lifters. I drove it for two years with that noise, if it was rod knock I’m sure it would have blown up in that time.