Seeking advice about an engine pull

Koru

Member
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2003 Protg LX, White, Auto
Greetings fellow Mazdaites. Mazdans? (Mazda owners sounds too generic). I also hope this thread is in the correct place.

To the point...I am currently ready to pull the engine from my 03 Protege LX w/auto tranny and would like some advice, hints, tricks, or whatever that could assist with the process going smoothly. I've got everything else out except the axles and mounts. I took off the P/S and A/C Pumps, but everything else is still there (intake, alternator, throttle body, tranny, starter).

I am pulling it because the engine is terrible at telling knock-knock jokes. The knocking is moderate and only happens when I'm coasting/engine braking/decelerating (all RPM ranges). It has about 150k miles on it so I hoping to nip the problem now before any serious damage occurs (if it has not already). I was on my way to work when I noticed it (5 miles) and then had it towed home. It starts and runs without any issues and oil level is fine. I've been running Amsoil 0w30 for the last 3 years. In my experience I'm leaning toward a wrist pin, but does anyone have any other theories?

I had a previous incident where the upper rad hose blew off (radiator inlet cracked) while I was at 80 mph on the freeway, so the engine did overheat for a short period. It tripped the CEL, but after a rad, thermostat, and upper and lower hose replacement it started and ran well (for 6 weeks) until the knocking started.

Moving on...While I have the engine out I was also thinking about replacing other things to avoid having to do this whole process again. I'll be doing a full rebuild with new timing kit, pistons (wrist pins and rings), oil pump, bearings, freeze plugs, gaskets, etc. For the transmission, will add a cooler, replacing the filter and fluid, and testing the solenoids as well. Would it be worth it, or even obvious, to rebuild the tranny, replace the torque converter, etc. preemptively or "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

Money isn't a real factor (i'll just have to wait between paychecks) and time is not a problem as I still have my motorcycle for transportation. I'm not looking to "power-up" per se, but if I need to take it to a machinist, I'll likely overbore the engine while it's there to squeeze out a few more cc's. I plan on adding intake, header, exhaust, and remove the VTCS(?) butterflies to reduce the engine's asthma later down the road (I'll def do the butterflies now though while it's torn apart). I've also heard some folks use an intake from a 626 that doesn't have the VCIS and VTCS valves (I'm not sure those acronyms are correct). Is that true/a difficult mod/needed w/o turbo?

That's about it. I hope this wasn't TLDR. I hope I covered everything, but please ask if you need more information. Thanks everyone for looking!
 
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