Cheap drop in build

Hi,
My forged short block journey started from a need for more power and not wanting to zzb randomly. My build consisted of a built short block and DIY mildly ported head with a goal of 600-650whp DD. I had a phrase in mind "more boost than tire psi" it sounded ridiculous and doable. At this point in time I am self tuned FBO bnrs3 on e35+meth 26PSI minus exhaust manifold. I wanted it to last at 400/400 however I knew it wouldn't especially with the heat where I live AZ (120*+)

Parts: order OEM spec rod bearings and pistons due to my low mileage of 32k 2012 Mazdaspeed 3. I ordered Mahle Clevite bearings OEM spec, 87.5 Platinum series Manley Pistons (2618), Manley H-Beam rods, Crank pulley bolt and 3x friction washers, L19 Headstuds and Cometic MLX head gasket.

As soon as all the parts arrived I started to disassemble everything to remove the head it was easy just took time about 6 hours with breaks by myself. Hardest part was the crank bolt, I had my sister hold the brakes while I cranked the 2ft breaker bar. I was nervous as this would be my first time going this in depth and wouldn't know what to expect to find whether it be scoring in the cylinder, broken pistons causing bad out of round measurements or crank journals were toast because the whole goal was to not do any machine work with a budget, yet all was well from bearings measurements to cylinders to crank journals.

Time for short block assembly; I assembled the connecting rod and piston by matching the new rod and rod bearings to the stock clearances with stock bearings in the stock rods.No hone because the cylinders still had faint but hatching nonetheless and did not want to risk creating out of round issues. It all went smooth I had no hiccups and next thing I know the short block was assembled. I chose to do .020 top and .024. bottom ring due to my research. I made a DIY BSD delete/baffle and drilled out 2 5/8 holes in the stock PCV plate to run to lines VTA to the ground.

Head: I ported and gasket matched the exhaust side no bowl work just get rid of edges to reduce hot spots and slightly ported the intake side. I am not satisfied with it nevertheless will soon turn it into a single runner and install 70lb springs. During the head install I torqued the L19s to 90ftlb in steps 0-35ftlb 4x then in 3 steps to 90ftlb. marked all the cam buckets easily installed and timed it and started to assemble all the accessories for the first start up.

Time for start up. It took 2 tries #1 did not start because fuel needed to be primed #2 it started but with a misfire, at this moment I instantly shit the pantaloons but found out cylinder 2 coil was not fully plugged in. After that it ran smoother than a mf no piston slap or weird sounds other than a cheap JBR 88 TMM I picked up and 2 DIY aluminum blocks in the stock PMM for minimal vibes with slighty better performance feels almost stock even with BSD.
Test drive/breakin, I used supertech 5w30 let it idle till coolant got to 160* and verified no leaks. I drove 20 miles with my 400whp map hitting 22psi within it with lots of engine braking. Came home dumped the oil no metals in the oil, changed with 5w30 supertech again drove it to 150 miles everything was going great feeling stronger than ever. Changed to supertech 20w50. So far the build has gone great I have 500 miles on it.

TOTAL COST & TIME = 1600$ and 2 days for a built motor 600-650hp

Currently sitting at 420/450

0 blow by/oil consumption so far will update with any issues. Future goal 600whp, Any questions PM or comment here

 

Nice work! Historically our community has done very poorly with "pop n drop" builds. I don't know a single one off the top of my head that's lasted more than a couple thousand miles. I certainly wish you the best. You seem like you know what you're doing and in theory there isn't anything inherently wrong with what you did assuming you were as diligent about checking your tolerances as you claim. Did you check or calculate piston to wall clearance at all or do you have any idea what it is?

What tolerance did the Mahle bearings end up giving you? Did you use a dial gauge and micrometer to calculate, or plastigage?

 

Doug the law student from mass had good luck with a pop and drop. He had a bent rod so he was in worse shape to start

 

Sweet deal. Hoping you the best of luck with this build. Hope she holds!

 

I did not bother checking pwc because it would be inaccurate without a bore gauge and torque plate since the l19s can change that pretty drastically, that being said I did use 1 new piston ring to check all the cylinders with and see what kind of variance i get and matched the pistons to the bores.

The mahle bearings themselves were within .001-.002 of stock and matched them to the big end best i can and were within .002-.003 to stock. I used a micrometer

Awesome how many miles and power is he pushing?

Thanks I hope so too!

 

It got him through law school and into a BMW so don't know

These motors don't need torque plates, the head stud threads are deep enough in the block that they do not distort the cylinder.

 

That's good to hear, hopefully mine will last just as long. I did not know that.. fail research on my part thanks for the information

 

I reeeeeeally hope this works.

I do have a few questions though.

1. how did you clean the head and head gasket sealing surfaces? Did you block any of the coolant passages or cylinders?
and
2. I'm a bit confused on the bearings. Did you measure thickness of the Mahle bearing halves, then try to match them with thicknesses of the used OEM bearings you took out? I also don't know what you mean by big end (I'm a noob)

looks great, hope it works out for you!

 

I'm praying for it to work out haha but I can't see why not plenty of evo and sti guys have had success with this method. I will update this periodically with certain mileage and any issues if they arise

I just used a razor to clean off the left over gasket rtv I didn't block anything just took my time to not gouge the aluminium or drop any rtv into critical spots.

I measured the halves by themselves then put them into the rods and torqued to 65ftlb and remeasured final assembly torqued them to 65ftlb with 30wt oil.

Big end as in the rod to crank journal.

 

Curious to see what happens!

 

following

 

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My subbing dot.

 

Looks good, hope it all works out.

 

I'm definitely subbing to see how this continues. I have very little knowledge on this stuff and more than half of what you guys talk about sounds like greek, but I know in time with with enough reading/research I will get it .

 

Nice preventative measure. I looks forward to hears the progresses. Carry on

 

Update: I have 900 miles now everything is running strong with some races on the build it seems promising.

Did a compression test twice, results were 180 180 180 182. I will check again at 1500 miles to see if it rises anymore.

 

Oh boy I am excited for you to get more miles on this! Can’t wait to see where it’s at in 10k.

 

Can you do a leakdown test and post the results? I would be interested to see what the numbers are like.

 

I probably will not do a leak down unless issues arise that warrant it. I don't have the tester or a compressor and it's a hassle but when I do I will post them.

 

Updates?

Blew the head gasket on my gen 1 speed , since I am gonna take the head off thinking about doing the pop and drop method!