Recent content by DR. K

I last got to work on my MS3 in January and had just assembled my short block. I had hopes of driving it before spring. Well... four surgeries and a bunch of physical therapy later, I'm back to working on it! Two of the surgeries were routine Carpal Tunnel release and Cubital tunnel release...

I got the rotating assembly together for the most part. I got my piston ring gaps right where I wanted them, and all other clearances are great.

I can link it tomorrow. I believe it was over $300.

I've been picking away at cleaning the interior while waiting for the wood furnace to heat up. This car was nasty but will clean up a lot.

It turns out the supplier sent me a 50-1200 AEM fuel pump instead of the 50-1220. I did not catch it soon enough and tried making the 50-1200 fit. FYI, it's close, but a no go lol.

I got my crankshaft back from having the rotating assembly balanced and they were nice enough to polish the journals for me. I checked my rod-bearing clearances and they are smack dab in the middle of where I wanted them to be.

I got the transmission pivot shaft seal, bearing and breather swap knocked out recently. I went through the Mazda dealer but these kits are also on Amazon these days. Amazon $50.

I finally have my block back from the machine shop. After some deliberation about the precise measurement of the gauge point on these exact Manley pistons, I can now measure my piston-to-cylinder clearance! I ended up at .0034". It's not exactly where I wanted to be but damn close and I'm...

Can anyone link the part numbers for these parts? The sale number is still good, but the bearing and breather are not working for me, and the diagram on my RepairLink dealer link is not yielding any results for the bearing and breather either. I found the three-part kit on either Amazon or eBay...

That's where I'm at with things. I am already starting to plan for the north of 500 HP in some ways, but I'll upgrade this later at this point. Some of this thought process sparked from second-guessing my turbo choice. I'd like to see compressor maps for the CST5 and the PTE 5858 for...

When looking at these flow specs on some common MS3 intake manifold options, it's pretty clear that JMF is what I need eventually. Considering how cheap I got the Focus ST manifold it's still worth installing and tuning with, at this point.

I am designing my crankcase breathing system, and I am deciding how I want to develop my oil fill cap portion. I want to vent to a catch can rather than VTA directly. Have you seen anyone use something like this on an MS3? Of course, there are options like below, that I can put a 90* AN...

This thread was a great find as I'm about to begin assembly. I heard this was a viable option, and no surprise this thread popped up. Can anyone else speak to using this pump?

Thanks for the reference. That is a very nice write up. I'm tempted to open this gear box up and go through everything while it's out. I didn't get to test it when I bought it. I'm concerned about whoever was in it last based on seeing the orange silicone haha.

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. Once I'm up and running I'm going to put a monetary total by each section of my build list. It's good for people to see what goes into this stuff so they can make good decisions. I may start documenting my time also. These projects aren't for...