Case closed! (hopefully)
Thanks for all the help here on the forum. Thanks to some cool friends who spent the time to help me install the wastegate actuator (also thx to jmv for offering to help out and JDM Sam for phone support).... also want to thank my producer, mom and dad ... LOL, feel like I just won an award.
It was a real PITA to install for such a simple part! I didn't have a camera handy, but I doubt that I was going to be able to take step-by-step photos of what we did (I wanted to do that in the first place). All the wires in the way, the steel pipes in the way, stripped screw, broken bracket that we had to deal with made the task that much more difficult... it wasn't as simple as "do this" and "do that" and be done with the replacement. One positive was that we did not have to remove the manifold at all. We removed the heatshield to remove the O2 sensor.
I didn't buy my car new, so I have no idea how some these misc items broke and others are missing. Could have been modification by previous owner? Or Mazda service department being careless handling previous repairs/inspection on my car (surprise, surprise ... not)? I'm not sure, but it does not keep the Zoom Zoom from running.
Some issues that we discovered:
I'm missing two bolts that holds the manifold heatshield in place, I'm missing one center bolt for the manifold (I can see someone not wanting to put the bolt back on... but still...), the bracket (with 3 bolts) that holds the J-pipe in place is cracked (need to find a replacement later) and chipped in one area (but still able to hold the J-pipe in place), had a stripped hex bolt (easily replaced) for a bracket that holds the tubes and steel pipes (3 of them, but I don't know what they are for) near the wastegate actuator... and finally the wastegate rubber tube (to the BPV?) was removed (mechanics chunked it away without telling me, they only said they cut and sealed it... had a spare tube that was used as replacement).
Removing the clip wasn't too hard but it was a bit of work trying to rotate it to get the screw driver wedged under the pin.
With three people helping (two was enough, but had room for extra hand, LOL) we were able to get the new actuator arm on and clip it back in place.
The nipple is facing upwards instead of downwards ... just like the photos Rogue posted... wasn't switched on purpose, I just wasn't paying attention until we were done struggling with it. We didn't really want to mess with it after getting the pin/clip placed on successfully.
Was wondering.. is the wastegate heatshield necessary to keep? I kept it anyways, but I see Rogue's photo doesn't have the heatshield.
I noticed that my air intake box has a big hole in the front and it's sucking in all the hot air from the radiator fan. I would like to research a bit more to see if I can improve this ... any suggestions would be great. Was thinking about CAI ... or something less expensive and homemade (aluminum duct hose to redirect the air intake to the wheel well, etc). hehe.
Hmm, that's basically it ... but we got the darn wastegate replaced... cleared the service engine codes with an OBDII scanner... I've been boosting all day to see if the engine check code would come back, but haven't had any problems yet. I can feel the boost kick in around 3500 rpm... but wish I had a boost gauge to tell the truth! haha... every time I fix something I get drawn to the idea of upgrading something else. Trying to find a picture of a stock engine bay to make sure that the rubber tube we replace is plugged into the right end opposite of the wastegate actuator nipple... should be the right spot though. Will drive it rest of this week and see if any issues pop up... great experience though, enjoyed working on the car, especially when things turn out well.
(drive2)