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92 b2200 engine rebuild parts?

3K views 21 replies 6 participants last post by  Cussboy 
#1 ·
Hello everyone!

I've had this little truck for a few years and its finally shit the bed completely. Multiple oil leaks, burns coolant, can't keep it running at all. WE SHALL REBUILD! Looking for recommendations on part suppliers for rebuild kits as it been years since I've done anything like this on a vehicle. Can someone point me towards a rebuild thread or parts list somewhere on the forum here? I'm new. thanks!
 
#3 ·
The machine work was done locally.
The machine work is an important part that some overlook - necessary if you want a long-lasting non-smoking engine.
 
#4 ·
Yes. Machine work and good rings haha. I just did a head gasket and top end on mine because of it pushing coolant out and wanting to over heat. And nasty smoke at start up. Tore head off straight edge it and looks great. Put back together and a have a little smoke still. Thinking it's the rings now... And actually still having some over heat issue. Gonna flush system and hope it's not the head...
 
#6 ·
If you're having a smoking issue, then it's you're rings.

Particularly, the oil control rings. And it is not really the ring's themselves, but the gunk in the piston ring grooves that keep the rings stuck to the pistons, and therefore not allowing them to "scrape" the oil from the cylinder walls as they are designed to do......once the engine heats up to operating temperature, the rings will expand and overcome the gunk in the ring grooves and start to do their job. When the engine cools down, the oil control rings are stuck once again.

Now, this is just my observations, but I have rebuilt more than a dozen of these Mazda engines.....and to some people, not the "correct" way! Very seldom do I have the cylinders bored out and order oversized pistons, I have only gone the "typical rebuild way" with 2 of the Mazda engines that I have rebuilt.......over the last 20 years or so.

If you pull a 100,000 mile or more Mazda FE, F2, or G6 engine apart, there is a good chance that when you clean the block up, you will still see the original cross hatch pattern from the factory honing process in the cylinders! What does that tell you? It tells you that the engine block cylinders are NOT worn very much!

Mazda used narrow, low tension rings when compared to domestic engines of the past.......and most manufactures do the same now.......but the engine metal in the Mazda engine blocks (in my opinion) seems to be much better (more nickel maybe?) and harder than the domestic engines of the past. I have rebuild SBC engines, Pontiac engines, and several V6 chevy engines......and I believe that the Mazda blocks are definitely "harder" to score and/or wear down. Again, my opinions.

But, after rebuilding more than a handful of these Mazda engines, and NOT using new pistons but rather cleaning them to look new again, and installing new standard size quality rings (Sealed Power, Mahle, NPR, etc.) I have never had an engine smoke (when it did beforehand) after I rebuilt it. I currently own a 1989 Mazda B2200 that I rebuilt the engine in, sold it twice, bought it back twice, and drive it currently almost daily, and it still doesn't smoke, and it is actually quite fast.......for a Mazda! I don't know the exact miles on the engine since it's rebuild, but it is definitely over 50,000 miles now......might be over 60,000.

The things you want to look for when tearing one of these Mazda engines down is,

Heavy or deep vertical scoring on the piston skirts, or the cylinder bores......if they are present (some light vertical scoring WILL be present) then you may want to have the engine cylinders bored, or replace the pistons, or both.....however, it's been my experience that light vertical scoring is all you may see.

Of course, rod & main bearing damage, crankshaft journal rotational scoring, thrust bearing surface conditions on the crankshaft, crankshaft keyway condition (usually only the B2000 & B2200 engines), etc.

And you want to measure everything and log it when pulling the engine apart.......so you'll need a decent Dial Caliper, 1", 2" & 3" Micrometers, Magnetic base Dial Indicator, and some telescoping or snap gauges, or a Dial Bore Gauge, and a good set of feeler gauges. Then also measure the new bearing oil clearances, ring end gaps, and crankshaft end play.......and record them also. This way you KNOW the exact condition of the engine at teardown AND at rebuild.
You can use Plasti-gage also, but I prefer to measure it all with tools.

Anyway, for parts and gaskets I usually buy quality name brand products from RockAuto.com......as well as Amazon sometimes, because I get free shipping most of the time with them. Find out the manufacturers part numbers, then search them on Amazon.

I will dig up some rebuild pictures of the past, and post them here in a day or two.......I gotta go work on a project or two now!
 
#7 ·
Unfortunately that site is gone; attempts were made to keep it going, but owner of the site could not be contacted, and almost all the content was lost except for this http://mazdatrucking.com/B2200/B2200.html

But I still have my shirt !!!
Cloud Sky Water Travel Cap

Building Tire Wheel Vehicle Tree
 
#8 ·
I wanted to also say that most people you ask will mention changing the Valve Stem Seals if you're smoking on engine start up.......while this may be true on older domestic engines, it will not typically cure you're smoking condition with these Mazda engines......it is almost always the rings at fault on these engines. You will see the valve stem seals comment on Facebook and other social media sites.......a lot of keyboard certified Mechanics on there!! ;)
 
#11 ·
I believe that I bought two (to help support the site); one is red, and one is blue, and still in great condition. I have well over 75 T-shirts from my decades at Dial soap, its softball teams and 10K races, my own softball teams, my daughter's softball teams, and then each season in the Prescott Senior Softball league we get another team shirt and hat. And the last two summers (5-month season) the team I was drafted on won the league, so we got nice lettered zip-front hoodies,

So I've bought very little clothes in the last decade, and Mrs. Cusser doesn't let me go outside naked !!!
 
#10 ·
I rebuilt the top end of my daily driver 1988 B2200 in 2011, used brand-new pistons and rings, new connecting rod bearings, and head remanufactured. By 2020 it had started smoking again, and using too much oil. I didn't have physical space or a hoist or help to install a remanufactured engine myself; I'm in Arizona, and rather than junk the truck I had a local engine remanufacturing company do its stuff, including the R&R. They found the bores to be out of round, and by then the bearings were bad. So they bored to first oversize.

So if you're doing the entire engine, I'd have a machine shop check the bores, crankshaft, etc.

With Covid and retirement, I just completed 9K miles on the new engine, and nearing the end of the 3-year warranty. I just re-sealed the Weber carb adapters and installed a new distributor last weekend, and it runs better.
 
#16 ·
36 years ago. Married one year to the day after she moved in.
Face Flower Smile Plant Wedding dress

Hair Smile Shorts Muscle Leg
 
#20 ·
Here's what my pistons and connecting rod bearings looked like in 2020 when the engine shop in Phoenix remanufactured my B2200 engine.
Nickel Wood Metal Composite material Gas

Automotive tire Automotive lighting Rim Nickel Bumper
 
#22 ·
Yes, those were the pistons and connecting rod bearings I'd installed in 2011, believe it was NPR pistons and rings. In 2011, the original 1988 connecting rod bearings and crankshaft looked pristine. So even though I'd gotten quite a few years of smokeless life out of the engine 2011-2018 as my daily driver, by 2019 even though the truck did "drive" OK, there was too much smoke (I could've lived with the oil consumption part of the issue).

Engine rebuild shop told me in 2019 that bores needed to be made round, for one oversize pistons/rings. And I believe that the crankshaft was also re-ground and oversize bearings used. Anyway, that was way out of my league as by 2019 very few machine shops around. So I used the local shop to "let them" do the R&R too.

Note that I had a few hiccups with that engine in first 2 months; my oil pan was leaking, a thread in the new oil pump was stripped so I added a longer bolt and a nut, the shop still could not stop the oil leak so I had them R&R the oil pan and use Permatex Ultra Grey instead of the originally-installed gasket (took workshop manual in with me to instruct them), and a couple of miles from home noticed a freeze plug leak near the starter and a miles from hole the freeze plug blew out, so they towed it in and replaced that, all under warranty. I was so happy with the smoke-free, leak-free engine that I even installed my used power steering gearbox to replace my leaky one.

After my recent Weber adapter re-seal and new distributor, I did an oil change as per warranty needed to do that every 3 months. I was surprised - pleasantly - that the underside was still leak-free. My 3-year warranty expires in the spring. The rebuild cost me over $3K but I wouldn't be still driving this truck otherwise !!!
 
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