What Am I Missing? Engine Rebuild Help

I'm planning my engine rebuild, hopefully getting it done in the next few months or so. I've been working on a list of everything I need; I'm aiming for 400whp on pump gas, and around 450 on an e85 tune, so my fueling needs to be E85 safe, which is important since I am looking at injectors.

I want this car to be an overbuilt, as reliable as it can be daily. I've been planning to do upgrade pistons and rods, all new OEM gaskets, bearings, and seals, I want to do my timing chain, guides, and tensioners. Is it worth doing my VVT actuator and OCV valve? Should I run stock cams for what i'm looking for?

For air induction, I'm upgrading to the corksport CST5 since it's a good moderately sized option for just the horsepower range I'm looking for. What intake system should I look at to accomodate the turbo? Is it worth going with an EWG? My current BCS is damaged, so that will be replaced as well. What BCS is recommended, and what setup should I go with for my build?

What FMIC should I go with?

I'm planning to lap my valves and inspect my valve guides, as stated earlier, I'm also doing injectors, and ITFP. What would y'all recommend for those as well? I've been running 1-step colder NGK plugs without issue, should I change that due to any variables? Would E85 benefit from a hotter or colder plug? Looking at my horsepower goal, what pistons and rods should I go with?

Is it worth looking at injector seals?

While I'm in there, is it worth doing a balance shaft delete, or should I not bother?

Finally, any recommendations for clutch/flywheel? I track my car, but also daily it. I don't mind a stiffer clutch, but something I can take to work pretty easily. Anything at all I need to think about that I'm not thinking about? Should I do an OCC along with everything? I'd also like to add an oil pressure gauge, so any suggestions for good bang for your buck options are appreciated.

Sorry for the wall of questions, this is my first engine build, and I want to be as safe as I can be with it. Thanks for any help!

 

FMIC - Treadstone TR8 good for 500WHP - Treadstone Performance Inc., Turbo Kits, Intercoolers, Turbo Manifolds, Silicone Hose
Injectors & Seals - Have them cleaned with new top seals, and put on Overspeed Injector seals
HPFP - Get an E85 safe O Ring kit from Corksport or Rey's HPFP O ring Kit, and fuel pump internals (Autotech or Corksport)
Balance Shaft Delete - Yes, not worth retaining.
Plugs - talk to your tuner (Purple Drank or Freektune) - Likely staying on One Step Colder plugs given expected power level.

That's where I can confidently contribute. I'd also recommend reading through this thread - JohnnyTightlips Build "Maximum Carnage" | Mazdaspeeds.org, The New Era in Mazdaspeed, CX-7 & Ecoboost Forums!

 

Sounds like you already have a good knowledge base for what is generally required which is great. I would suggest

Rods ---- Manley H -Beams
For your power goals which I think are rated for like 500-550hp but many have went even higher with them.
Pistons- I have Weiseco 2618 88mm pistons and haven't had any issues at all but heard they aren't the best. I suggest a 2618 piston and piston slap shouldn't be an issue as long as your builder does the machining correctly. Mine has zero piston slap and I have daily'd my car in zero degrees and colder.

EBCS - If buying a turbo from CS I think it comes with it. I would personally get an ewg jist because they sound amazing and actually control boost better than an IWG style turbo.

Motor mounts- Damond Motorsports mounts are easily the best from a performance AND DD friendly standpoint. Street duro bushings imo unless you track your car a lot then do race duro option.

Timing Chain - OEM ALL THE WAY.
Cams - Stock
VVT Actuator - Replace new oem recommended but I used a Rock Auto actuator for cost reasons.

Get head and block decked. BSD (balance shaft delete) is commonly done on built motor and gives you more oil capacity which is great.

Finally, make sure that whoever builds it clearances the pistons and oil squirters as the wieseco pistons I used have a longer skirt which can break them off of not bent out of the way or whatever.

 

Machining my block and head was also something I was going to ask about. Thank you for reminding me! So I'll go ahead and make arrangements to deck my head and block, I assume the machine shop will inspect my cylinders and I could bring in my crankshaft for them to check over while I'm there, but I am planning on building myself. Is there anything else I should look at getting done at the shop?

As for the EBCS, the reason I asked was because I heard the corksport one is kinda crappy, I'm wondering if that's a common thing, and if there are any other go-to options.

I'll go ahead with the manley H beams, as for pistons, what should I look for in a piston? Any specific reasons to go with something other than the Weisecos? For avoiding piston slap, do you just mean not taking too much off when decking? I'm newish to understanding engine machining.

EWG sounds good, what should I be looking at in terms of wastegates in that case? Going with the addon EWG tube with the CST5 seems like a pretty straight forward option.

What kind of oil capacity would I be looking at after the BSD?

Thanks for the reply

 

With my BSD and Spin on oil filter, its knocking on 6.5ish quarts.

 

So as for the machining work, in my case another place done the balancing and the engine shop done the other machine work. I would make an easy list of what you want done with it all when you drop it off like this for an example:
-- Deck block and head
-- Cylinder bored for the 88mm pistons with .0035 PWC as recommended
-- rotating assembly all balanced separately and then together including flywheel
-- lap valves in head
-- crosshatch cylinder walls
Give them piston size and tell them it is a boosted application. I would personally go with a different piston but not sure which one. 2618 material pistons are the strongest but got a bad rap on the platform at first as guys were reporting "piston slap". That is basically the pistons slapping around in the cylinder for a few seconds on a cold start up because the material of the piston takes a second to expand and actually seal up the cylinder for full compression basically.

I'm assuming the guys that had those issues probably machined the piston to wall clearances to big which caused those problems which would lead to early cylinder wear and piston wear I'm guessing.

Piston - https://edgeautosport.com/manley-pl...AljgpktNHhguesBQx0U-OTmvU9Dbcsf8aAhIwEALw_wcB

Wastegate depends on if money is a worry.