'06 Mazdaspeed 6 build for daily use

[mindys]

So, this is the first time I will be doing one of these post, so bear with me.

Two weeks ago on a Sunday I bought a 2006 Mazdaspeed 6 with 103k miles that lost compression on one of the cylinders. The car was 3 hours (around 180 miles) away from my location. So I called the guy up, asked to send me a few pictures, made a deal for $1,500 and arranged a meeting time.

I am keeping the car at my buddy's place because he has a large garage and I don't, so I also asked him if we could use his F150 and a trailer to get the car back home. He borrowed a trailer from one his friends and off we went. On the way there, we got pulled over by a cop because we almost lost one of the ramps from the trailer, and this set the stage for the rest of the day.

We got to the guys place, looked over the car, drove it, loaded it and were back on our way home. We decided to grab some food, so we stopped in town after driving maybe 10 miles. I looked at the trailer because I saw the car was sitting weird and found this:



Trailer was cracking because it was improperly welded. Luckily it didn't break while on the way home. So, I decided to drive the car back on three cylinders. Stopped for gas, picked up a few quarts of oil, filled up the tires with air and was on my way. Trip back took us about 5 hours because the car was burning through about a quart of oil every 50 miles, but the car is at his garage and is currently being disassembled for the engine removal. It took 5 quarts to get the car back.

The plan is to rebuild and reseal the engine, replace all the piston rings and see what kind of damage there is on cylinder 3. So far the other issues with the car are a leaking AC, three bad front LCA ball joint boots, CD player does not work and the driver side door panel has a melted region because the window switch melted. Luckily, the guy put in a new switch, but it still doesn't work. Other issues with the engine include a leaking oil pan and a stripped oil drain plug thread. The rear arches do have rust developing on them, too.

This car will be my full time winter vehicle and will share daily driving responsibilities with my 2015 Mustang GT PP. I do not plan on building the engine or adding much more power to the car (that is reserved for the Mustang). I may throw in H-beams into the engine just so the connecting rods are not a worry if the car gets a torque increase.

Anyways, here are some pictures of it. I should have the engine out of it this Sunday! Stay tuned

[Djohns]

Welp if you plan on doing rods you're going to have to do Pistons unless you plan on getting those fancy Carrillo rods that cost about 1k.

[mindys]

Originally Posted by Djohns Welp if you plan on doing rods you're going to have to do Pistons unless you plan on getting those fancy Carrillo rods that cost about 1k.

Oh so I cannot use the Manleys with the stock pistons huh? Got ya.

[Djohns]

Originally Posted by mindys Oh so I cannot use the Manleys with the stock pistons huh? Got ya.

Nope.

[BN00249]

Little more research. Can’t remember off top of my head but some rods will fit with a little grinding.
The width of aftermarket rods where wrist pin is are wider than the oe pistons allow.


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[mindys]

Originally Posted by BN00249 Little more research. Can’t remember off top of my head but some rods will fit with a little grinding. The width of aftermarket rods where wrist pin is are wider than the oe pistons allow. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got you. Yeah, I need to do a bit more research and see how much the stock rods can hold. I may end up just using stock internals because I do not plan on increasing power that much. I think my upper limit would be 285-300 whp, but I'm more worried about the torque.

[BN00249]

Stock rods will hold a lot. Lots of people are making well over 300. Just need to tune to ensure you’re not cramming a shit ton of boost into engine below 3k rpm. Ease into boost after 3k. You’ll be fine.


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[Thor Hammer]

Its not much more to go with forged internals. I would. But to each his own.

Nice find. Looks great other than the rust. Nice and straight. Where are you located?

[mindys]

Originally Posted by Thor Hammer Its not much more to go with forged internals. I would. But to each his own. Nice find. Looks great other than the rust. Nice and straight. Where are you located?

I think I should be completely fine with the stock internals because this car will not be a power monster. I just want it to be a reliable daily driver (reliable with an asterisk), so my modifications will be very minimal, which should not stress the stock rods or pistons at all.

Thanks! Yeah other than the rust on the arches the car looks pretty good! I'm located in the Chicago area.

[Djohns]

Originally Posted by mindys I think I should be completely fine with the stock internals because this car will not be a power monster. I just want it to be a reliable daily driver (reliable with an asterisk), so my modifications will be very minimal, which should not stress the stock rods or pistons at all. Thanks! Yeah other than the rust on the arches the car looks pretty good! I'm located in the Chicago area.

Ahh a local eh? What Chicago area?

[mindys]

Originally Posted by Djohns Ahh a local eh? What Chicago area?

Not too far off from you. I'm in Orland Park.

[Djohns]

Originally Posted by mindys Not too far off from you. I'm in Orland Park.

Ah okay I have family there.

[mindys]

Finally. Now just need need to start ripping the engine apart:

[kevace1]

Looking cool man. Great find. Ive been meaning to grab one of these myself. Im a current owner of a 2009 6 with aboht 170k on it, and not a lick of an issue at all. So i dont think reliability shoild be an issue.

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[Shottachris]

Nice build

[mindys]

A little update. Got everything apart and found a bit more damage than I anticipated. This is the piston from cylinder 3 (no compression cylinder):



An entire chunk of the ringland is gone. No surprise there, this was what I was kinda expecting.

Now what I was not expecting is cracks between the top two rings on pistons 2 and 4 (which had good compression):





Basically, will be replacing all four pistons even though piston 1 is ok, but I bet it would fail soon too. Will most likely go stock just because I am not planning on large power ever being put out by this engine. Luckily, bore on cylinder 3 is not damaged too bad, just a few scratches that I cannot even feel with my fingernail:



Sadly, two bearing surfaces on the crankshaft have a bit of marring, but hopefully the machine shop I will be taking the head and block to will be able to fix it.

[Djohns]

Well hate to be the one to say it but you’ll need aftermarket overbore pistons if you plan on using that block. Those cylinders will need to be bored out to fix the damage. Even if there wasn’t damage I’m betting those cylinders probably wouldn’t be within spec for an oem piston anyway just due to mileage.

[mindys]

Originally Posted by Djohns Well hate to be the one to say it but you’ll need aftermarket overbore pistons if you plan on using that block. Those cylinders will need to be bored out to fix the damage. Even if there wasn’t damage I’m betting those cylinders probably wouldn’t be within spec for an oem piston anyway just due to mileage.

I will have the machine shop check the bore sizes. If they are out of spec, I will look into what is the cheaper option. I do not know how much a used block is (assuming somewhere around the $500-700 dollar range), but in the end it may be cheaper and more worth it getting mine overbored to 88 mm and get matching pistons and connecting rods.

[BN00249]

Pffff. Dingleball hone and chuck ‘er back together.

No seriously though. Machine shop. Ensure the sleeves are all ok. You don’t want to screw around with it if one or more of the sleeves are cracked or something.
And ya used bare block should be able to find in that price range but that also comes with risks as well.


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[mindys]

Alright boys, got the head, cams, crank and block to a machine shop today. They will get it measured up and make suggestions. I'm not too happy about the journals for the cams and the crank.

By the looks of it the cylinders will be over bored to 88 mm so I am looking for new pistons. Your suggestions are welcome.

Right now I am thinking the SP63 4032 pistons and Manley H-beams. I think that 4032 material pistons will be the best choice for me to be daily driven. Any other suggestions? Doesn't seem like much choice for 4032.

[Djohns]

Exact set up I’m going with.

[mindys]

Originally Posted by Djohns Exact set up I’m going with.

Nice! It seems like that is the best piston solution for a daily driver. For it will be overkill for my application, but it will good to have the reassurance that the engine can hold a lot more power than stock (when I get the HPFP internals). When swapping pistons and rods and keeping the compression ratio the same, no retune is necessary, correct?

[Djohns]

Originally Posted by mindys Nice! It seems like that is the best piston solution for a daily driver. For it will be overkill for my application, but it will good to have the reassurance that the engine can hold a lot more power than stock (when I get the HPFP internals). When swapping pistons and rods and keeping the compression ratio the same, no retune is necessary, correct?

I mean technically no, but I would definitely get it tuned since the stock tune is garbage and I assume you would want your newly built motor to run as efficiently as possible?

[mindys]

Originally Posted by Djohns I mean technically no, but I would definitely get it tuned since the stock tune is garbage and I assume you would want your newly built motor to run as efficiently as possible?

You got a point there. I will consider it once I get the car running again. Thanks for your continual input.

[Rose City Speed6]

Good luck with the build.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but the front of the trailer was overloaded. The tongue weight must have been very high because the car was much too far forward.

[mindys]

Originally Posted by Rose City Speed6 Good luck with the build. Sorry to rain on your parade, but the front of the trailer was overloaded. The tongue weight must have been very high because the car was much too far forward.

Possibly. This trailer was already damaged before and was not welded fully as per the owner. We loaded the car as well as we could. There was not much space left in the rear, so I doubt we could have loaded any better. Either way, it's a moot point now. Definitely a learning experience.

[mituc]

Originally Posted by mindys Right now I am thinking the SP63 4032 pistons and Manley H-beams. I think that 4032 material pistons will be the best choice for me to be daily driven. Any other suggestions? Doesn't seem like much choice for 4032.

Just order them, I think it's the best choice for daily driven medium power cars.

[Rose City Speed6]

Originally Posted by mindys Possibly. This trailer was already damaged before and was not welded fully as per the owner. We loaded the car as well as we could. There was not much space left in the rear, so I doubt we could have loaded any better. Either way, it's a moot point now. Definitely a learning experience.

The trailer looks well-used. Perhaps corrosion was a factor, too. At least nothing happened.

[mindys]

Originally Posted by mituc Just order them, I think it's the best choice for daily driven medium power cars.

Will do next week once I get the results from the machine shop.

[mindys]

Well, I have some new things to consider:

Since I do not plan on increasing the power much, I could just get OE replacements pistons and rods that the machinist is suggesting as an alternative for $250. It is difficult to justify $1000 for pistons and rods that are meant for power levels that I will never run on this car. Need to consider my options.

[Djohns]

What did the cylinders measure at? I’m shocked you’ll be able to use OE pistons and not need to bore.

[mindys]

Originally Posted by Djohns What did the cylinders measure at? I’m shocked you’ll be able to use OE pistons and not need to bore.

Sorry, I worded it wrong. The block will be overbored and my guy is saying that he can get oversized pistons for the new bore size.

[Djohns]

Originally Posted by mindys Sorry, I worded it wrong. The block will be overbored and my guy is saying that he can get oversized pistons for the new bore size.

Overbore OE replacement pistons? I’ve never heard of that.

[mindys]

Originally Posted by Djohns Overbore OE replacement pistons? I’ve never heard of that.

As in OE quality. I assume what it means that it is supposed to meet the OE requirements, but quality control is probably nowhere near as good as OE.

[mituc]

Originally Posted by mindys As in OE quality. I assume what it means that it is supposed to meet the OE requirements, but quality control is probably nowhere near as good as OE.

No.
Simply because we don't know about it means you will most probably end up with shitty pistons, and with this stroke you simply don't want to cheap out on pistons (or anything from the rotating assembly).

Get 88mm 4032 alloy pistons.

[stockms3]

Get quality pistons this isn't a regular 3.

[mindys]

Yup will be going with SP63. Now just need to work out if I should get them treated and what are the correct PTW clearances since it seems there has been some confusion on what the correct specs are in the post here: Let's Talk About Forged Piston Alloys

[mituc]

Originally Posted by mindys Now just need to work out if I should get them treated

You don't need them treated in any way, they original coating is just perfect.
SP63 machines them to spec, no matter if we speak of 88mm pistons or factory sized 87.5mm pistons. I know, because I had 3 sets from them so far, all 3 flawless.

[mindys]

Originally Posted by mituc You don't need them treated in any way, they original coating is just perfect. SP63 machines them to spec, no matter if we speak of 88mm pistons or factory sized 87.5mm pistons. I know, because I had 3 sets from them so far, all 3 flawless.

What PTW clearances did you run? I saw that a guy posted a Wiseco spec sheet in the thread that I mentioned and said that the his builder used those numbers. Did you use these too?

[Djohns]

Originally Posted by mindys What PTW clearances did you run? I saw that a guy posted a Wiseco spec sheet in the thread that I mentioned and said that the his builder used those numbers. Did you use these too?

Noooo don’t use anything a wiseco uses. It’s totally different alloys. I spoke with mahle (company who makes those pistons for SP) and I believe they recommended .025 for clearance.