1.6 intake cam/gears

[tnkopher1]

this is my first post on mazda forums so go me i guess.
I just got done pulling the head off my dads 1.6L protege. I have been trying to parts for it forever and its as if its not acknowledged that it exists.

his motor managed to shear both the guide pin and bolt on the intake cam holding the gear on. and its been sitting now for almost a year. He doesnt change the oil the way he's supposed to and it looked like someone had sh*t inside the valve cover. it looked liked fudge or something it was so thick. i had to scrape the cam gurdle bolts just to get to them and then i had to dig the crap out of the head bolts to get to those.

Anyways i was shocked to see the condition of the combustion chamber. not one piston was cracked and none of the valves are bent as far as i can tell.
which i have never seen. on a dsm you so much as look at the T-belt too long and your piston bends a valve.

I have come to the conclusion that i can just rebuild the motor like it is after i clean the crap out of it and probably change the rod/main bearings.

Anyways, sorry for a long post, i need to find a replacement intake camshaft for cheap not an hks, tomei, toda whatever.(I saw these for the 1.6 miata and i didnt know if they were the same.) Searching the web ive come up with nothing. would anyone happen to have a camshaft to sell or a decent head(i will have to polish 2 of the cam races? if i use the one i have.

also is it normal for these motors to have a seemingly catastrophic failure be nothing major.I also hear there short rods take boost well. if so i might buy a non cali/ manual one and boost the sh*t out of it to auto x.(my galant vr4 becomes a collectors car in the next year or so and i dont want to mess it up too bad)

[tnkopher1]

wow not even a welcome to the board or anything. such love.
I was browsing and i saw that i can get a stock cam out of a zl-ve or something like that and not only will it fit it will be a slight upgrade. I saw that corcksport sold them, but i cant find it on their website. does anyone know how much one of these runs. I can get a whole longblock for 400 plus shipping and i need to find out if this is a better option.

[TampaSport20]

wow not even a welcome to the board or anything. such love.
I was browsing and i saw that i can get a stock cam out of a zl-ve or something like that and not only will it fit it will be a slight upgrade. I saw that corcksport sold them, but i cant find it on their website. does anyone know how much one of these runs. I can get a whole longblock for 400 plus shipping and i need to find out if this is a better option.


Welcome !! There you go....thanks for researching first..rarely do newbs do that.

I have the zl-ve cams...waste of money...moved up my power band, like a 1 hp gain...not worth it...look on car-part.com for a new cam from the junkyard...and yes I swear these motors are almost indestructible...mine ate an electrode off my spark plug and spit it out....NO damage to the cylinder walls,perfect compression....also it's a non-interference engine...worst thing that will happen breaking a t-belt would be it will quit running...slap on a new belt and make sure the timing is correct and you're fine...gotta love mazda..they dont make many interference engines

[Protephile]

Welcome...and yep, the 1.6's are good for boosting, way less fragile than my 2.0.

[TampaSport20]

We need to get a side-by-side pic of a ZM rod and an FS rod (glare)

[tnkopher1]

Welcome !! There you go....thanks for researching first..rarely do newbs do that.


thanks I'm not a newb to car forums just to this one. Its the first mazda with a piston motor i've worked on. if the cam is a waste of money ill just go with a new stock one.

[steve_protege]

Do you think you would get more out of the cams with cam gears? Ive had my eye on the gears from SRmotorsports.com. Maybe in conjunction with the cams, the HP gains will be worth the spending price.



Welcome !! There you go....thanks for researching first..rarely do newbs do that.

I have the zl-ve cams...waste of money...moved up my power band, like a 1 hp gain...not worth it...look on car-part.com for a new cam from the junkyard...and yes I swear these motors are almost indestructible...mine ate an electrode off my spark plug and spit it out....NO damage to the cylinder walls,perfect compression....also it's a non-interference engine...worst thing that will happen breaking a t-belt would be it will quit running...slap on a new belt and make sure the timing is correct and you're fine...gotta love mazda..they dont make many interference engines

[tnkopher1]

Do you think you would get more out of the cams with cam gears? Ive had my eye on the gears from SRmotorsports.com. Maybe in conjunction with the cams, the HP gains will be worth the spending price.
no,
You arent going to get more than 5 hp naturally aspirated it would be noticeable with a turbo but not worth your money by itself.
also cam gears just let you finely adjust valve timing. you can do this with your stock gears and protractor. either way the more aggressive you time it the more risk you have slapping a valve with your piston.

[TampaSport20]

no,
. either way the more aggressive you time it the more risk you have slapping a valve with your piston.

doubtful, this is NOT an interference engine

[steve_protege]

doubtful, this is NOT an interference engine

So you think with the cams you have and either the SR motorsports cam gears or your stock ones slightly tuned, the HP gain could be more than 5? Without the possibility of any kind of damage to the engine?

[TampaSport20]

wow not even a welcome to the board or anything. such love.
I was browsing and i saw that i can get a stock cam out of a zl-ve or something like that and not only will it fit it will be a slight upgrade. I saw that corcksport sold them, but i cant find it on their website. does anyone know how much one of these runs. I can get a whole longblock for 400 plus shipping and i need to find out if this is a better option.

dont know if this helps but good deal

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazda-Protege-1999-1-6-liter-complete-cylinder-head_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33617QQitemZ803114 2921QQrdZ1

[TampaSport20]

So you think with the cams you have and either the SR motorsports cam gears or your stock ones slightly tuned, the HP gain could be more than 5? Without the possibility of any kind of damage to the engine?

possibly, but hardly worth it

I'm saving any BIG money for my S/C project...I have a thread going with Matty on pclub

[tnkopher1]

doubtful, this is NOT an interference engine
ah sorry,
I thought it was. my fault.(stupid mitsubishi always making shit difficult) that is why my dad's motor didnt slap a valve when the timing gear sheared off from the cam.

thanks for the ebay link that will probly work i have to ask my dad what he's willing to pay. a whole longblock is only 150 more than that buy it now.

[TampaSport20]

ah sorry,
I thought it was. my fault.(stupid mitsubishi always making shit difficult) that is why my dad's motor didnt slap a valve when the timing gear sheared off from the cam.

thanks for the ebay link that will probly work i have to ask my dad what he's willing to pay. a whole longblock is only 150 more than that buy it now.

If you are doing the work yourself, think "INSTALL DIFFICULTY", and explain this to him too.

[tnkopher1]

yeah the motor is being pulled either way. i am going to put it on an engine stand go through it and put it back in. even if i got a used engine i would do the timing belt so it isnt going to be any more work really to use the old shortblock.