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I rang in the morning gave them the money and in the afternoon this arrived for my car! In a Mazda E2000 van. While was repairing a silver GW - cooling system failure - leaking radiator stuck thermostat and leaking coolant pipes, those pain in the bum ones under the exhaust manifold. I got a replacement pipe today from the junkyard and also picked up the mounts for the strut brace from the blue MS SP20. They wanted $40 - the cost of the brace, so I didn't bother with that, rip off for just 2 mounts and no brace! Going to get it from the Mazda wrecker instead.
By chance I happened to go to the Mazda wrecker today for a customer's car (Starter motor). Asked about the SP20 tiptronic - none in stock and they weren't sure when any would arrive. $495, so my guess of $450 wasn't far off. Extra $240 to swap it to tiptronic, I'd rather pay that to go manual. They did have a dual sump GW box, the same year with 128,000 km tested with 3 months warranty at $300. Not bad and it's plug and play. New fluid and filter for sure once its in. I said I'd get it once I confirmed how many sumps my current box has. Looked under the car - 2 sumps. Think I found my gearbox! FN4A-EL is in a variety of different flavors. Single sump and double sump, regular auto and tiptronic and all seem to be labeled on the tag as "4EC-AT". Which can be traced back to the GD. I love GD's. I have love for this too. I took the (junk) Spark plugs off the $50 engine. It is surprisingly clean - no sludge in the head or pistons, just some minor carbon as expected with use which I'll clean. Phone flat so no pics of the fun engine stuff. There's average ones of the gearbox though. I dropped some oil down the plug holes to turn the engine. Turns nicely with good compression kick! I'm still going to go over it all I'm not just chucking it in and hoping it works. Half the battle won. I need to save up for the seal kit. And I realized I forgot to ask about a torque converter since this one is junk.
Ford 4F27E/Mazda FN4A-EL is the tiptronic gearbox the Sport20 uses. Tag inside the driver door on my car says "4EC-AT" for the transmission, single sump in the front, there's a sticker but its faded and can't read whats printed. I've checked tags on a few Sport 20 Familia's in the junkyard they say the same thing inside the door - 4EC-AT. So essentially the same gearbox. Only if I want the tiptronic stuff I'll need the ECU, gearbox loom and cluster. Research shows the body/interior loom is the same between 5 speed and auto cars, which I read as close to plug and play. A few minor things I'll need to iron out generally though I'm thinking of going with it. I won't be getting a pick a part transmission as likely the car is there for that reason. I'll spend a bit more for a working one with warranty. ECU clutser and loom I'll likely get. $350 trade price for a full engine gasket kit. I'll need front and rear main seals too ($60-80 there). $45 for bearings. Waiting on figures for rings. Next up is cost up a trans. $45 for a cluster $30 for the loom. Gearbox $350 for the exact one I have. Or $450 for the tiptronic. $175 more approx..... it's tempting.
The $40 genuine MS headers. Excited to put these on. I'll get a high flow cat converter and a sport mid muffler later down the road once its actually drive able without smoke/ imminent transmission failure. Sounds good as it is just quiet like its 100% stock with one muffler cut out. Too quiet. I want it a bit louder just not TX5 loud (hear it blocks away).
So I am getting figures together. Around $350 trade gets me a full gasket set - rocker cover, sparkplug, intake, exhaust, cam, head gasket, sump and valve stem seals and a few others I've forgotten to mention. Perma seal; aftermarket I have one of their headgaskets in my TX5 and its still good 10 years on. I'm waiting to hear back for the cost of standard NPR rings. Same deal with the bearings. I figure another $350 or so here. I'll have to get front and rear main seals. Around $45 each. I'm going to replace accessory belts - they have cracks. $55 both. I'm re-using cambelt and waterpump from the smokey lump that will save me a little money they both only have 30,000 km on them - 1/3 of their lifespan. Replacement slushbox is $350. I don't know about the converter; it will be extra which I'll need - I don't trust this one (noisy). $900 for a diy engine build and replacement gearbox. It could be possible! So far I've spent $40 on the exhaust manifold. $50 for the long block.
A pity looked to be a nice car overall.
Lol I go forwards and backwards on this. I really need to have it going. So I'm replacing the auto - yuck - (used tested unit with 6 months warranty - $350 trade price). When my wife is done with it I'll probably go 5 speed then. I am hunting for a full gasket kit, rings and bearings, I can see it being around $800, so I try and get small cheap bits first. I plan on stripping the $50 engine at home, cleaning it at work in spare time and then assembling when I have all the parts together, then bring the car to work - hopefully the gearbox will hold for 40 kms, swap over the bits from the smokey engine onto the freshed up one. Someone took this engine in the pic - not that it bothered me as I already have a FS-ZE long block. I wanted the intake manifold but it was gone. I did get the exhaust manifold from this exact car - genuine FS-ZE Mazdaspeed Protege/Familia ex japan, which suffered a big front end hit. Wouldn't have minded the yellow brace, only on the MS cars but it was gone. I already have the common red one which will do anyway lol. Its happening! Just slowly as I save and get parts together. If my wallet was full of money and everything was on the shelf I'd take the car tomorrow and get right into it.
Thanks man. Red is a bit faded since I did it, may redo it in vinyl. Car still going. Replaced a tire and changed the oil late December. Due for a timing belt and water pump soon ($50 pump, $90 belt), right engine mount needs changing (trying to find one for less than $100) I also need to machine the rotors (hopefully less than $100 for all 4) And change the brake pads ($50) and also brake fluid (Got some). The axle seals are average so it drips a bit of oil, I topped up the gearbox last night and it shifts nicer and seems happier/less noise. This is while getting bits for the Capella slowly, still need the internal bits on that - rings bearings etc. And my CBR badly needs a CCT and a fuel tap $27 tap, $180 CCT. Thankfully I can get the car parts at cost - perk of being a mechanic. Also there is finding the time to do it all. CBR is first because its easy and wont take long plus I commute on it 40 miles a day.
A/C out? Belt loose? Can the pulley turn? If you can hear the pump but it still feels hot its probably low on refrigerant. Can't hear the pump? Its likely faulty and/or the electronics around it. Depending where you are you can get a recharge kit from some auto parts stores. Likely though being a 1992 the seals inside could be breaking down, and compressor oil is mixing in, diluting everything preventing it from cooling. That is best sent in to the experts. Or if you know of a good functioning pump, swap it in. Be sure to safely drain the refrigerant though.
Death trap? Not really. It'll make some noises and rub. Fwd Mazda offset is generally around +40 to +50. Its +45 on 14" wheels for the GE 626. Possibly a combination of too wide tyres with slightly different offset - max I'd go for is 225 myself. Jack it up and take a wheel off to see where its rubbing.
So I got the injectors back - I sent them to be tested, cleaned and rebuilt. Put them in. I got new spark plugs because its been years since I'd done them and they were nearing the end of their service interval. Still had the miss. Started playing with the plugs to check if they were connected properly. And suddenly the car ran as it should! Traced the injector loom down the firewall. Found a plug. Pushed on it and it slid in a fraction and clicked. I laughed. I don't think it was a bad investment having my injectors rebuilt. Car seems a bit happier anyway. I got a new temp sensor. Idle has dropped a bit. Spent the previous weekend repainting the side skirts, front bumper (top) and rear spoiler. Sanded the rust off the rear wheel. I used a clay bar, went with Ultimate Compound and my machine polisher over the whole car and finished it with Carnauba wax so it looked its best come the special day. And then on the day of the wedding an o-ring on injector 1 split. I wondered why the car seemed a bit difficult to start that morning (way too rich). When I stopped I smelled fuel. I saw fuel all over the intake manifold I knew it had a broken seal. That day of all the days! Fortunately I wasn't in my suit yet and it was early morning so I took my injector, got on my CBR and rode to the closest auto store - Repco. Asked if they had any o-rings. They did. Just none in the size I needed. So I got oil resistant RTV and prayed. This was THE car team groom were going to arrive in. And like I would let something as trivial as an o-ring ruin that on the big day - no way. It held. Not the proper fix, I know I didn't have the luxury of time to find the proper part. The car was great and has done another few hundred kms since. Pics to come.
So I don't lose this, although I have already changed a few clutches and replaced my TX5's gearbox I've never done an auto to manual swap before. As well as a rebuild. I've taken a junk motor out and put another in. Done a couple of head gaskets. But this will be the biggest mechanical project I've ever undertaken. Exciting. And nervous. But will be fun.