College Student First Car Build

I have a head or two here if you need one for a core. Idk how much a p&p charge for them

Theyre $70 here with cams. Also doing this to gain more knowledge, never done anything like this.


Sounds like youre running a pick n pull at your house almost lmao
 
Story time, so I get to pick n pull (later than I wanted of course) and get to work taking everything off the car. Car was banged up pretty bad so I was also navigating around bent metal in order to not cut myself. Eventually I just stood on top of the crash bar and bumper supports and s*** to get them out of the way. It's crazy how much room is there to work with when there*s no radiator or condenser lol I'm surprised the poor car ran tbh. Only a few bolts/nuts holding the intake on, the oil pan was leaking like it had no rtv around it, exhaust manifold and valve cover had a few bolts barely finger tight.
I started by taking off the fuel rail, got one line off and got fuel everywhere, chopped off a line coming from the firewall, turns out it was still under pressure and fuel squirted everywhere and even on me a little, and any connectors I could find and hoses eventually I hit it with a **** it and started cutting lines. I wanted to simulate it as if I was doing it to my car but eventually just wanted the head. Next went to the coolant rail, exhaust manifold, then the intake manifold. I went under the car to get the intake manifold brace off, as I couldn't feel them from the top. Took off the valve cover and chopped the timing belt off, and then went to work removing the cams. Most of the cam caps came off without a problem but a few needed some love taps from a mallet. Got the cams out and went to work with the head bolts. Sometimes I like to test out my DeWalt impact but that had nowhere near the amount of force needed to break them. Pulled out the half inch breaker bar and got all the head bolts out. Tried to fit the socket into the intake side and it wouldn*t fit. Luckily, a tool kit my fianc*s dad got me years ago that I never used cause it was all awkward bits had a 3/8 10mm hex head and fit perfectly! I wasn't gonna take it, but something said grab it at the last moment. After that I went to work on the power steering pump, chopped the line and power steering fluid went everywhere. I honestly thought these cars would be bone dry, I was wrong. After ******* around with a bunch of bolts, I got the PS pump off and the head wiggled free. Now it was hung up on the bracket cause I disconnected it at the bottom, after a few minutes of wiggling, I couldn*t get it off, so I just unbolted the top of the manifold from the bottom. Still a few lines I can*t see connected, so I (without thinking and after I told myself multiple times not to and pcb told me not to) flipped the head over to see what was loose and started hearing clacking...the HLAs fell out. Chopped the last few lines and then the head was free! The engine looked to be in good condition, despite the numerous oil leaks. So, I get the HLAs in and throw the cams back in and start packing up, although I wanted to come back to the car to grab some more stuff. I couldn't find the wheelbarrow, so I ended up with about 45 pounds of tools in my left hand (2 bags) and the head under my right arm. The looks I got were funny to say the least lol I weighed the head when I got home and it was around 70 pounds and a quarter of a mile walk, so I'm feeling it now. Paid, went back and 323 said get the cross bars from the roof rack, broke as soon as I touched them, so I grabbed a passenger motor mount cause the sedan is shot and the tail lights cause I want to tint a pair to see how they look. Got those and 323 wanted a set of mazda6 brakes for one of his cars, so I went exploring and found a MS6, a few 3s and the 6. Grabbed the brakes (in 10 minutes this time) and a wiper stalk cause the sedan currently has one with rear wiper controls, which bothers me. So, I pay again and leave, get home shower and start cleaning up (I saved every bolt I grabbed including the head bolts. You never know what you're gonna need) to realize I left some s*** there. Go back and grab my stuff and the cupholders cause the sedan has the shallow ones and if you take a turn not holding your drink it spills (ask me how I know). All in all, about 2 hours to pull the head and another 2 exploring the yard grabbing other s*** and talking to people. Not a bad day!


Another one down, sad day
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Fuel rail out
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Oil leaks fo days and exhaust manifold off
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Trying to get a pic so I can reference where they are from on top of the car
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Valve cover off, cams out, tb cut
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Doing exactly what not to do
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Before I put all the parts back on the car
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Cracked motor mount that'll be filled
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Crumbling roof rails
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Man that's so cool. Some day, I'll work up the gumption and skill to take off the head of my engine for some reinforcement or whatever. Granted, I probably won't walk away with it with one arm while carrying my tool box!

Did taking apart a junkyard Protege give you any perspective or good ideas on taking yours apart? All this Protege surgery going on in these build threads is very interesting to read. Makes me want to do something involving the head.
 
Also, definitely know what you mean with those cupholders lol!

First delivery I took in the P5, I took a U-turn too hard for the cupholders to handle. Nothing like garbage soda fluids ruining the carpet!
 
Man that's so cool. Some day, I'll work up the gumption and skill to take off the head of my engine for some reinforcement or whatever. Granted, I probably won't walk away with it with one arm while carrying my tool box!

Did taking apart a junkyard Protege give you any perspective or good ideas on taking yours apart? All this Protege surgery going on in these build threads is very interesting to read. Makes me want to do something involving the head.

The courage more or less came from Im not leaving this head for someone else to pick up and definitely not my tools lol I hid a few cheaper tools in the back of the car, ones that I paid a few $ for and wouldnt miss or can easily be replaced to lighten my load a little bit apparently that wasnt any weight.

Honestly, it wasnt that bad to get off. I found a guy on YouTube (dj Devon I think) who has a whole video series on replacing the headgasket. I watched it once about 2 months ago and messaged pcb a little. But I definitely prefer wrenching on junkyard cars over mine. Learning to grab a head for $2 is way better than ******* mine up and paying lord knows how much to fix it.

As for things learned, dont even worry about the intake manifold. Take off the top half and leave the bottom and then remove it from the head. Take the throttle body off of the intake as 1 piece. Definitely remove the radiator since its 2 bolts and you have to drain coolant anyway. Along with learning where a few hidden bolts are. Like I thought the coolant rail was 2 bolts, turns out theres 4 with 2 being under and kinda hidden. And most importantly, take out cams, take out head bolts, and reinstall cams with a few caps to prevent HLAs from going everywhere. I dont know if theyre location or side sensitive but easier to not find out or marking them if they have to be removed. I also learned that swivel sockets and impacts dont go together. They get to spinning and slip off the bolt head and if the socket isnt on right it shoots off and hits you in the jaw lol

I forgot corksport made cams for our cars. A guy I follow on insta just grabbed one but I dont see them on the site, so besides adjustable cams idk if theres anything we can do which i dont see myself messing with
 
It's Easy !!

All's ya need is an axe or sledgehammer !!


Thats about how hard I whacked some of the HLAs in with a flat head and a hammer lol they have to be perfectly lined up or they get stuck. Nothing a few swift blows from a hammer cant fix tho [emoji275] also had to smack the s*** outta the brakes for 323. They were rust welded to the rotors, the head of my new mallet looks interesting after all this
 
... And most importantly, take out cams, take out head bolts, and reinstall cams with a few caps to prevent HLAs from going everywhere.

So I'm thinking "what the hell are HLA's " ??

Had to Google it.



I don't think we've got HLA's because we don't have hydraulic lifters.

I don't know what Mazda calls them because I don't have the engine manual.





... I also learned that swivel sockets and impacts dont go together. They get to spinning and slip off the bolt head and if the socket isnt on right it shoots off and hits you in the jaw lol

I learned that an impact driver doesn't work with five adaptors connected to it for much the same reason.







... I forgot corksport made cams for our cars. A guy I follow on insta just grabbed one but I dont see them on the site, so besides adjustable cams idk if theres anything we can do which i dont see myself messing with

Twiggy Cams !!
You need Twiggy Cams.

I don't know what they are but they're supposed to be all cool and s*** !!
 
Yeah, we have "Solid lifters", which are supposed to be much more durable than HLAs.

Although, Twiggy cams are stupid rare. You're probably going to have to regrind cams to match their profile.

Even then, you'll need cam gears for a proper timing, a piggyback to get their true power, and perhaps a better fuel rail.

Once you start diving into cams, timing, fueling, RPMs get weird and technical. At least, we have J-spec cams to drop in that don't require lots of fiddling!
 
Installshields thread is probably my favorite build thread, he made so much progress in the NA field and has tons of info for anyone trying to get a couple lessons in engine dynamics
 
Finally good news! Got the car back today with no check engine light on, but after a few miles it pops back on. P0171, so I need to hook up my gauges so I can see if its a vacuum leak. My semester is basically over so time for mods to start again!
 
what's the point in twiggy cams? Just adjustable or?
I've never got the chance to use them or even see them in person, but they have a crazy ramp rate from what I hear I don't think anyone has the ramp rate numbers.

intake : 252deg @ 0.003" lift, 8.763mm lift in total

exhaust : 254deg @ 0.003" lift, 9.017mm lift in total

Twiggy Bumpstix - Intake

seat duration =

.050" duration = 221 degrees

Gross cam lift = .341"

Hot valve lash =

Net cam lift = .343"

intake opens 0.8 degrees BTDC

intake closes 40.8 degrees AABDC


Exhaust

seat duration =

.050" duration = 230 degrees

Gross cam lift = .374"

Hot valve lash =

Net cam lift = .375"

exhaust opens 5.9 degrees BTDC

exhaust closes 44.4 degrees ABDC


The twiggy cam overlap is 45.2 degrees btw, not sure what it was for the turbo guys.
This was all pulled off of installshields thread pretty much word for word, figured I may as well copy it down in case someone wants to recreate them 'cough' 'cough'. If you go on YouTube and look up protege5 twiggy cams there's a couple vids up, some are from fellow 247 members I believe
 
gabe, you take some twigs from my yard and a few of your camron cd's and jam them under your valve cover. twiggy cams!
 
damnit. Got to your wiper before mine ):

Installs have started again! I want to drive the car more and no AC is a no go. Got the slim fan installed. First it barely fit, so I need to move the IC piping a little bit. Basically forced it on the radiator, now I see why people do this off the car. Get it down, but wanted to test it before I zip tied it down. Turn it on and start hearing a bad rubbing sound. My wiring was too long and it ended up getting grabbed by the serpentine belt and was slapping off the power steering pulley. So stupidly I grabbed it and got smacked by the pulley. I was gonna zip tie it to th AC lines but those are super cold, so I do not want to do that. Got that in and only room for 2 zip ties, so I'm hoping the piping will hold it in. Next time I have to drain thee coolant, I'll take the rad off and get the other ones in.
Got the BOV on and it is beautiful. I'm still having compressor surge so I have to look into that, but it felt great driving the car. I'm off this weekend but something in the water is happening so no car stuff is happening. Maybe next week!
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glad it's all coming along now. goodness it took me like 1.5 years to sort out random ass issues after my build. now that it's running well i don't want to do anything else to it lol.
 
glad it's all coming along now. goodness it took me like 1.5 years to sort out random ass issues after my build. now that it's running well i don't want to do anything else to it lol.

You have a clean MSP. Mine is an ugly work in progress lol
 
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