[Roverjosh]

First and foremost, wow! I can't believe how awesome you guys are! Axel Breaker Earl, your engine build looks SO GOOD!
I cant emphasize enough how appreciative I am for all this amazing info....
Seriously. SO GOOD!
I am ordering basically ALL new seals (oil cooler included), new timing chains and guides, and all new gaskets. This poor motor was NOT happy... LOL 279k miles and severely blown head gasket. When I drained the coolant oil mixture (yes it was chocolate milk) some timing chain guide material was coming out with it. My chain guide were disintegrating in this motor probably before the head blew.
So, I have so far, just received my reman head from CCH. Its beautiful.

I did check the Crank End Play before I pulled the crank and it was within tolerance. I bought an official Mazda Service Manual from eBay and it has already paid for itself in how unbelievably straight forward it is.
Seeing as how this is my first engine rebuild (and how horrifically dirty this truck is) I am going to take the block to a really good machine shop near my house and have them give it and the crank a once over. I don't have a big enough micrometer to check the journals and I don't really know how to measure them anyway. LOL

Questions:
Do I just reuse my Valve train caps (not correct term)? My rockers arm are still assembled on the old cam caps.
I will email CCH to confirm but I don't have a clue how I would disassemble the rocker assembly so I planned on just moving the new caps to the old head Im sending back to CCH as a core. Thoughts? (I'll attach pics)

A.B. Earl, it looks like you just cleaned up your original pistons. Mine "looked" great and I planned on reusing them. Sounds like thats not a problem?

I am going to transfer the intake and exhaust threaded bolts over to the new head tonight. I assume I should use some Red loctite? Or is blue sufficient (loctite only on threads in the head?)

Im sure I will have a ton more question as assembly continues but here are some pics of the fun...

Here is the original Rocker Assembly

You can see some scoring on the guide. This is the only one that is only one that has any scoring. The rest are looking pretty good.

Heres some reman head "eye candy." Isn't it beautiful?!

 

[Roverjosh]

A.B. Earl, again great info. I definitely used the "two nuts" (no pun intended) method to remove the studs. My dad taught me that trick a long time ago. Love that one.
I appreciate the parts suggestions. Im not sure where to even start on the rocker assembly so I'll just take it to the machine shop. I dropped off my block, crank, and pistons to get checked and cleaned today.
Im going online to buy parts now. I will get OEM Mazda parts for those oil seals to make sure they are up to snuff as well as the hoses. This truck is a bit rough so a lot of those wear and tear items are better off being replaced.

Im adding some pics of the truck and the tear down fun me and the kid had.
Thanks again Earl and everyone!

Day I bought it for $500. Facebook special

Motor out. Look closely and you can see the peanut butter thick coating of oil on EVERYTHING in the engine bay.
The boy (my son) will be scrubbing that clean this weekend.

The truck was driven so much on farms that the entire undercarriage is covered with a thick coating of mud mixed with cow manure... Doesn't really smell all that great but it managed to keep it from rusting. So silver linings?! LOL

 

[Roverjosh]

In hindsight, I am going to attempt to disassemble the rocker assembly myself this weekend. How hard can it be? I have the Official service manual, youtube and the forum. I am sure I can figure out how to do it. You guys know if I need any special tools for that? Does it require a press or anything? Im gonna hit youtube and check it out. Im sure someone has done it before...

 

[Roverjosh]

A.B. Earl, again super helpful info. It is crazy what people will do. They will just throw it together and call it good.
I am a big fan of taking my time and asking questions (as you have probably already figured out.)
I am going to add new HLAs to my parts list.
I have reassembled the Rocker assembly but I only to get the old head shipped out. I will disassemble again and do a thorough cleaning before mounting to the new head. Also, the old rocker arm bolts from Mazda looked/felt better than the ones CCH sent with the new head. I am going to reuse the original bolt and send the CCH bolts back with my old head. Sound good?
Next question is should I replaced some off these rocker arms? A few have some pretty significant scoring. At least it looks that way to me. See pics below.

Thanks again and more as it develops!

Scoring on Rocker pad

New carriers with old bolts and original rocker arms.

 

[Roverjosh]

Hell.......you gotta see this.......right?



The thrust bearing was on the #1 Main Cap.......and the crank was rubbing the back of the oil pump......

View attachment 11255

This was the GOOD side of the thrust bearing....

View attachment 11256

And the BAD side.....

View attachment 11258

View attachment 11259

View attachment 11260

View attachment 11261

Backside of the oil pump.....

View attachment 11262

View attachment 11263

In hindsight, I probably nasty-ed up your thread here.......if you want me to remove the nastiness, just say so!

A.B. Earl, don't remove a thing. This will only serve to help me and others down the road. Shared experiences are a great way to teach others without them learning the hard way... LOL

Love the pics too! (edited for spelling)

 

[Roverjosh]

Good call on the bolts......I always use the factory bolts when possible......I trust them way more than "off the shelf" bolts that others may use and call it good.

Hard to tell what amount of scoring is on the rocker arm cam follower pads, from the pics......Are there any "flat" spots? They should be nice and rounded.....no flat areas. Most of the hardened "cam follower" pads that are bonded to the rocker arms will show some wear, but it should not be scored. If they are, then you may need a camshaft also.......because it will be worn as well.

Yes, they are definitely flattened in spots. Not all of them but some. The cam looks OK but looks don't mean much do they...?

So, I have a huge list of stuff collected on RockAuto.com (going to save the hoses and main seals for OEM Mazda parts) should I look for rocker arms? Do they rebuild them, replace them? I will start my research but any suggestions are always appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Roverjosh]

Engine build update. I got the Block, crank and pistons back to day. All cleaned up and Machine shop guy (Steve's Machine Shop in Chesapeake, VA) says everything is good and within factory tolerance so Im good there. Thats the good news.
Bad news is, Cam and 5 of my Cam followers are shot. too much grooving and flattening. Looked a few local and online parts suppliers and new stuff is all "out of stock."
So anyone have a cam and some rockers lying around they want to sell me?

Ebay had few but rockers were $40-60 a piece and they didn't have enough.

Ill be posting an add in the WTB section but Im putting the request out for either a full rocker/cam assembly and cam or the cam and a few rockers.... whatever you got.

 

[Roverjosh]

A.B. Earl, yes definitely. I did my research and they are definitely different depending on which way they bend (followers that is.) That Jim Ellis Mazda site out of Florida has the part diagrams blowups on their webpage so it makes it easy to find part #s etc. Just full dollar prices and last I checked they didn't have the cam either... bummer.

I put up and add in Classifieds for the stuff I need and I will update with the part #'s later when I get some more time tonight. work work work.....but AB Earl, I'll take whatever you got. The least I can do is throw you some money for all your awesome help by buying your parts!!!! LOL

Thanks all!!!

 

[Roverjosh]

Well, status update. No luck on finding a camshaft and rockers yet, at a decent price.... I have found a few new camshafts in Malaysia on ebay. Roughly $160 shipped. So not ideal. Still looking for the Rockers (cam followers) and not getting much luck. No responses to my classifieds ad. I am going to call a couple local auto recyclers see if they have any motors/parts etc. (kinda wishing I had just gone out and found a recycled motor at this point for $600, but its about the journey, right? LOL)

So I will keep looking.

In the mean time, I got the block prepped and painted. Still need to smooth off the top to get rid of some residual head gasket material. Still waiting on parts to get delivered.
Heres the painted block. I want to get this thing built already!!!!

Here are some parts.

Still waiting on the rings and bearings so I can get started on this thing.........

 

[Roverjosh]

Block painted. Crankshaft placed. Bearing clearance checked with Plasti-guage. Crankshaft final placed (with assembly lube) and torqued to specs. I went with 62 ft-lbs. Spec said 61-65.
I have NOT checked crank end play yet cuz Im tired and want to go to bed... lol

So I'll finish that tomorrow.

 

[Roverjosh]

Update:
I checked Crankshaft End play last night and it was .0005 in. with the new bearings installed and torqued to spec. I think thats good right?
Got the rings in the mail yesterday. I will be jumping into installing them this weekend.
I still need a damn camshaft and some followers but Ill be looking. I found some new ones in Malaysia but Camshaft is $131. So not excited about having to go that route.

Anyone know if Cam Followers can be repaired? Get new roller surfaces? Just curious.

Cheers!

 

[Roverjosh]

UPDATE: Connecting Rod Bearings I think are wrong.

I ordered MAHLE CB-1455A(4) bearings from Rock Auto. I confirmed from their website and I saw the same part in AB Earls Pics but didn't look closely enough. Looks like I need the CB-1455 AL not 4.
So my assembly had ground to a halt.

Jegs has them but the Bearings are cheaper than the shipping! UGH. $14 for bearings but $15 to ship it... LAME.
Gonna keep looking but Im realizing how hard it is getting to get parts for the 2.6l G6 motor....

Anyone got some Cam Followers? LOL

Thanks.

 

[Roverjosh]

Really enjoying watching all of this!

Its a Thrillride, CJ, let me tell you....

At this point I am going to have to buy the new camshaft from Malaysia because I have had NO luck on finding a used one. I will have to just reuse my existing cam followers as I can't even find the new ones on eBay any more.

Im considering using the original cam and followers, even though they are definitely NOT even close to spec because they at least can only reunion themselves more and not necessarily affect anything else. The concern with doing that is having more microscopic metal particles floating around my new motor... again, this was supposed to be an inexpensive rebuild for the kid to drive around but its getting expensive fast.

So... Ill just have to make some big decisions here in the next day or so if I don't get some progress on that darn Camshaft!

Thanks ya'll!

 

[Roverjosh]

Hey thanks Earl! I totally know about those long days and nights. No worries and thanks a million! I can totally wait a few days. Thanks again for looking. I have to reorder my connecting rod bearings anyway. The ones I got from Rock Auto didn't match up right. See my previous post. So I saw from your build picks I need the CB-1455 AL not A4.... I guess that was the difference? Who knows...
Again, thanks for looking. I appreciate it.

 

[Roverjosh]

And just like that I found a pair of the correct bearings on eBay for $23 shipped free. So progress is being made!

* EDIT UPDATE *

And just like that it got cancelled by Ebay seller because it was actually Crank bearings and not connecting rod bearings.
So Im going back to Rockauto for a different brand and hoping they are the correct part.... We'll see.
ITM ENGINE COMPONENTS 4B9536
Picture has the alignment tab on the correct/left side.

 

[Roverjosh]

Any thought of buying a used engine that is in better shape?

So CJ, yeah, I had originally thought of buying a used motor and just throwing it in. When I first got the truck I wasn't finding much and I wanted to the "fun experience" of building a motor with my kid.

LOL!!!!

Well hindsight is 20/20. These are not LS based motors with TONs of aftermarket support and deep deep deep piles of spares floating around. So if I were to do it again, I would go used. But I still am loving the experience and learning alot... its just not a convenient or cost effective at this point. Still its all good.

 

[Roverjosh]

The time you spend with your kid is worth all of the money in the world in my opinion. They grow up and move out so quickly!

Amen to that. He’s a typical 16 yr old but we’re having fun with it.

 

[Roverjosh]

Ok, Earl, you are my new hero. Honestly, don't worry about the cleanliness, all I care about is that the Cam and the Cam followers are not damaged (scored or grooved.)

I can clean it when it gets here. Again, I can't thank you enough for looking. I'll DM you with my details.

Thanks Boss!!! So cool!

 

[Roverjosh]

Earl,
That setup is monumentally better than what I have. I can piece together the two sets to make one complete valve assembly. I have 5 rockers that are severely worn but they are really not all the same part # so I should be good. My can is the worst off. There is one exhaust lobe that has almost a 1 mm deep groove and few others that are close to that so yours looks WAY better.

Thank you again so much for digging this out of storage for me!

DM me the details.