Last Saturday my engine decided, much like any new drummer, that timing doesn’t matter and hitting as much as possible was the new goal. I don’t know exactly what happened but something slipped and all the valves were bent and stuck open. 16 valves, all open at once. The resulting lack of compression made running tricky.
Luckily I’ve been in and around the Mazdaspeed community for 8+ years now and I know people who know people, and one of those people had an engine for sale, a lower-mile-age than mine gen 2 which is what I needed. For other reasons I also got a new main engine harness, and while I going this far I also put in a new clutch, plugs, all fluids, and a few new gaskets. Also found front brakes ready to be replaced and the set that’s been on the shelf for 3 years came in handy.
At 12:45 Saturday the car looked like the header, by 7:30 it was running and by 8:30 it was a complete car again. The windshield will be replaced soon, been putting that off, and it needs shocks.
My car is new again
