Thanks.

It almost seemed it was epoxied in, but that may be just heat and time. I like the idea of a flexible urethane better.


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I agree, It was something hard. That probably got harder over time. I wouldn't have a clue what I was use with similar properties. I figure something soft is better, especially if some were to get loose internally

I removed the baffle plate off of a 91 Mazda B2200 valve cover to clean and recondition the PCV system. Those have screws and RTV. I used the urethane sealant and it's still holding up after 20k miles or so.

So 3 months later we're at it again. So we worked on getting the timing set on and prepping the head gasket. The dark gasket i the old gasket off the L16. I believe the new gasket i off a KA motor??

It needs a number of holes added

So I tried a round hole punch but the metal in the gasket just stretched

Then we tried drilling the holes

I finally settled on dremel tools

We put the guides on and found out the chain in our timing set was too short. In actuality I have the wrong timing set, which is too bad because I can't return it now. 😞 So I ordered the correct one. We are also concerned about piston valve interference, so I ordered some clay to do some measuring

3 hours ago, Patcon said:

It needs a number of holes added

Who says it needs holes added? If the four cylinder is anything like the six, then they kept reducing the number of holes over the years. By the time they got to the end of the ZX there were a number of holes that were completely blocked by the gasket. I wasn't there when they did the engineering, but it appears to me that they were trying to encourage more flow to the back of the block. Maybe they did the same thing on the four? The point is... Just because there is a passageway there, it doesn't mean you have to (or even should) use it?

And I spy some photo trickery.... I suspect you had more than one new gasket in your possession?      Haha!!!

Good eye!!

The first gasket Rockauto shipped me was bent in shipping. So it was trash. We experimented with it to try to figure out how to add holes.

It could be I don't need all of those holes but they were open on the L16 gasket with matching ports in the head and block, so I made the new one match. I guess if I were willing to experiment and had lots of spare time, I could try it both ways and see what the temps did, but obviously I don't have that kind of spare time. I think at this point we have been working on this engine a year!!

Hi Charles.

It's a little late, but the trick I use to drill holes through a head gasket or something similar is to sandwich the gasket between two 1/2" thick MDF blocks or similar.

1. First drill a 1/8" hole through the blocks and a 1/8" hole through the gasket where you want the new hole.

2. Push the drill bit through the first MDF block then through the hole in the gasket and finally through the other MDF block.

3. Clamp it all together with a bench vice or a pair of g-clamps.

4. Remove the 1/8" drill bit and drill it out to the required size.

5. Repeat procedure for each hole.

Clamping the gasket between two pieces of wood stops the drill from chewing up the edges as the bit passes through.

It might be handy for someone else doing this.

We made a little more progress. The new chain didn't have 2 shiny links. So we used the old one and marked it ourselves.

We used clay and checked the clearance. It wasn't close at all. Barely touched it. We then got the head torqued down and the guides in. The long straight guide was touching the inside of the cylinder head pretty good but we got the bolt in regardless.

We're trying to find timing cover bolts now. Who knows what we did with the originals!

Timing cover cover gaskets are also a real issue. The timing set was correct for the L20 but the gaskets weren't. Fortunately the gasket set I bought originally for the motor had the correct gaskets.

I also need to order a valve cover gasket.

We might button it up next weekend. We'll see

This was at the end of February

There was some hardware that needed plating. So I had to get my bench back up and running. Didn't wanted to use ugly hardware on a new engine 😉

 

So has it been adjudicated a water ump with a cast impeller is superior to the stamped steel impellers? I need to source a water pump for this motor. I did find one on Rockauto out of maybe 8 that had a cast impeller.

You may want to look for Aisin water pumps. I saw some on ebay and CardID

The issue might be whether or not you need a pump with a fan clutch. Those are rare.

 

I just noticed that the Aisin is available via Rockauto but I had to click a button to unhide it.

Edited April 7, 20231 yr by SteveJ

4 hours ago, SteveJ said:

You may want to look for Aisin water pumps. I saw some on ebay and CardID

The issue might be whether or not you need a pump with a fan clutch. Those are rare.

 

I just noticed that the Aisin is available via Rockauto but I had to click a button to unhide it.

The 510 doesn't have the fan clutch. The fan bolts directly to the water pump pulley.

I'll look around